Wild Homebrew Jam Winner: Grappler’s Expansion

Today we will look at JcaLord’s entry, Grappler’s Expansion!

The second place winner is the gripping Grappler’s Expansion, your one-stop doc for all things wrestling! Feats, techniques, and even spells expand your grabbing options – and even non-grabbing options.

Here are JcaLord’s thoughts on his work:

So I’m not really an in depth planner. At the time, I was already doing other Homebrew for the system and thought the theme reminded me of the good old Heavenly Potemkin Buster. So I asked myself the question: “Can you make a Grappler in TTRPGs work?” I arrived at no for most, but this system’s guaranteed damage with Techniques gave me enough to work with for a “maybe”. So I took a look at Potemkin’s moves and asked myself how that would work.

The general idea was a committed unarmed or handsfree fighter who’d fuck up anything that came too close. The system has plenty of devastating damage techniques so there was no need to focus on that. But none that really relied on grappled targets, so that’s where the focus would be. The Feats were fairly easy to make in concept but balancing some of them in my head was tricky. For awhile, I thought Grappler’s Opportunity would be too crazy to keep. But it kind of stopped seeing overpowered when I considered the only thing the player gained was coming online one turn earlier. Not a huge deal, but a playstyle defining feat.

Techniques are where the main spice of the expansion would come in. The Busters are a blatant reference to Potemkin and his busters. Gigantic Claw is there to pay homage to the Technique that really paved the way for the document. The outliers are the Gerudo Combo Holds, which were inspired by King’s chain grabs in Tekken. Since it just made sense for Amazons to have skillful disabling grabs and holds.

Spells were something I wasn’t expecting to add, but ended up being some of the best general use things in the document. Greater Kai and Powered Shell are great ways to deal with those pesky projectiles (zoners) while either protecting the team or allowing you to rush in. The Minish Magic and Gigantic Gifts were very easy to do but feel like a very nice bow on the entire package.

Overall, I think the Expansion came out well. It won Second Place after all! It far surpassed my expectations of a silly idea thrown in for fun. But the people don’t lie, sometimes you just want to show the Big Bad Evil Guy of your campaign why you lifted at the gym, rather then the library. Bust those wizards good, and look out for the wizards who Buster you back!

If you want to try grip your foes into a vice, check out Jcalord’s Grappler’s Expansion!