d12 Death Blow (Martial Arts Game, Pt2)

I slept on it and I really like the two-player version of the simple fighting game I came up with.  In fact, I'm disowning the solo rules I proposed in the last post.  The two player version works great as a solo version as well; simply pit two shuffled decks against each other and watch them go!  I've decided to call the game d12 Death Blow.

I think this game would be a fun distraction for kids (or bored adults).  I've thought of a few improvements: first let's simplify the dice used.  Each fighter has two identically colored dice instead of four as before.  As the name of the game implies, players use d12 pairs exclusively.  Use these dice along with the Scale of Styles to determine the fighter's Attack and Defense scores; these dice are also compared to the fighter's current Reaction Speed to determine Initiative (see last post).  Since the same dice are now used both for Initiative and dealing/blocking damage, they reflect the aggressiveness of a fighter's move.  The use of two dice versus four results in some changes for the Signature Move rules.  A Joker now counts as an initial Mixed Offense style and grants the fighter an automatic Initiative of 2.  The fighter executing his signature move also gets a damage bonus equal to his experience Level!

I've created a little pdf with a simple fighter sheet which can be printed out, along with the Scale of Styles, and glued to a spare card.  Packs of cards typically come with a few promotional cards which work great for this purpose.  I've just set up my downloads page and I'll put this pdf up soon, as well as a one page summary rules-sheet.

Sample play-aid sheet