The majority of the systems and rules for this game are very simple and not here. This system is based upon White Wolf's Street Fighter game mechanics. Retyping it and distributing it would not only be illegal but banal. The Street Fighter game has a good combat system and at fifteen bucks is nicely priced for an RPG. Its ISBN is 1-56504-118-6 if you have to order it which any bookstore should be able to do.
If the material I've presented here doesn't make sense it might be because you will need to see the actual system and rules to understand it. The Street Fighter's Storyteller system is easy to learn, flexible and enjoyable. With a little work it can be as simple or complex as you want. If you do try to use this and you don't understand something please write to me so that I can make corrections for future editions. This does not mean comprehension will be instantaneous - even the most lucid text may require effort on the part of the reader and mandate multiple readings.
I will reiterate one of the White Wolf rules here : There Are No Rules. This game is an experience shared between the Storyteller and players and it should reflect them. The rules given here should be thought of as suggestions. Mutilate, morph and alter the mechanics to explore your own desires. This should be a leisure activity and life is too short to be anal. Rules only exist to serve as a bridge between the players and keep disputes from coming up - if you prefer another method then use it.
There are new mechanics to add to the Street Fighter system in order to use it in the Ranma 1/2 setting. It became quickly apparent to me that there was an incredible difference between Street Fighter and Ranma 1/2. Although both use intense physical combat, chi attacks and such there is a quantitative difference in the worlds as well as a qualitative difference in the settings. While there may not be too much of a difference between Ken's Fireball and Ryouga's Roaring Lion Bullet I have yet to see any implication that a Street Fighter character could learn something like the Breaking Point Technique or drill a hot spring through a mountain with their chi. Thus, I created the Critical Roll.
The critical roll represents the body's response to a crisis situation. The martial artist uses the adrenaline to go beyond paralyzing fear and utilize it psychologically as power.
The critical roll is based on the use of adds. See the Advanced Traits chapter for more on adds. Once the Storyteller has decided that the critical roll can be attempted the player rolls of the relevant dice pool vs. the normal difficulty. The number of successes scored now becomes the number of a new dice pool which is rolled against a new difficulty. There are two special things about this roll. The first is that the difficulty can exceed ten and the second is that you add your adds score to the resulting numbers on the dice you rolled. Then the number of successes you scored is taken and used as a new dice pool and rolled against a yet higher difficulty number, again adding the Adds into the resulting numbers. This process is continued until there are no more successes to roll.
Here is an example of a critical roll in play :
Rogan has been playing his character Hibiki Satomi for a long time and she is advanced enough to have purchased adds. At the moment she is having a long drawn out battle with her cousin Ryouga who (as always) infuriates her. The Storyteller decides that the conflict has gotten serious since both have passions driving them so it is decided that Rogan needs to roll for a critical action on Satomi's part. Satomi is using a katana as a weapon and sweeps at Ryouga with it. Rogan rolls Satomi's Dexterity (5) + Slash (2) score against a difficulty appropriate for Ryouga's ability to dodge, 9. Knowing that this is for a critical roll Rogan spends a willpower point for an automatic success and rolls the six dice to get 3,3,5,6,8,9,9. While not great he does have an adds score of 3 in Dexterity, thus making the resulting numbers 6,6,8,9,11,12,12. Four of the resulting numbers are a nine or higher so Rogan has four dice for the next roll. The difficulty increases by one, to ten. The number of previous successes becomes the number of the next dice pool. Roll again and the results are (3,4,8,8)+3 = 6,7,11,11 providing two more successes. Difficulty increases to 11 and roll again. (6,6) +3 = 9,9 but the difficulty is 11 so there are no successes. Now add the total success together (4 + 2) = 6 and Rogan has six successes.
This may initially seem complicated but it does work very fluidly in play and goes quickly. This system allows degrees of success unimaginable even in Street Fighter.
Spending Willpower With Critical Rolls :
You can spend only one point of Willpower to affect the dice pool of the critical roll. Although multiple rolls are made in the Critical Roll it represents one "dice pool" or one result from an action. Thus, you can spend one point of willpower but it must be done at the beginning, before the rolling starts, just as with any other action.
The Rule of One with Critical Rolls :
Ones have no effect on critical rolls since there are always adds to boost the die results above one.
In Street Fighter characters start out with one die automatically in each attribute while in Ranma 1/2 it is possible for characters to have none in an attribute. What this means is that in Street Fighter for any given task a character will always have at least one die since all actions use one attribute and one ability combined into a dice pool. Thus, a player always has a chance.
The purpose of allowing characters to have a zero score in an attribute is to allow for more diversity in character creation, not stockpile points in other attributes. This can be a severe difficulty and not necessarily wise. If a player has no score in an attribute and no score in a related ability (dice pool : zero) he automatically fails that action.
Most martial artists are familiar enough with their body rhythms that they can heal at extraordinary rates as the martial artists' battle aura will redirect most damage very subtly into a type of stress on the body. Sometimes a type of damage is done that this can not be done for however. These damages are usually direct attacks on the body's systems, or unique types of damage. Damage done by by the supernatural or chi can do this. Martial artists who use these attacks are almost always considered unhonorable.
In the case of aggravated damage it is dealt with just as normal damage in terms of levels but it will take two days per level to heal or a specified amount of time based on the attack. Anything could do aggravated damage that the Storyteller decides should.
Experience is the life blood of playing a character. It allows a character to change and grow, developing new traits as he encounters more in his life. Page 65 of Street Fighter includes most of the rules necessary for dealing with experience and spending it.
Adds (as discussed in the Advanced Traits chapter) are bought at the same cost as the trait they are associated with on a level per level basis. For example, the first level in an Add associated with a knowledge costs as if it were a new knowledge and the second add costs the same as level two in that knowledge, and so on.
The cost for boosting an attribute from zero to one is ten experience. The cost for buying a new attribute may seem like very little until you understand what must be accomplished in the life of the character to achieve this. For a character to increase in proficiency in an attribute they must become more self aware of its nature and nuances but those with scores of less than one do not have this option as they have no initial proficiency. Thus, some some substantial change in the character's very life must occur as mandated and evaluated by the Storyteller.
For example a character may be allowed to purchase Wits after several humiliating losses resulting from a lack of cunning. A character could be allowed to increase his strength if he has risked his life trying to hold up a weight so that others could get free and save them. The point is that in pure numbers this system could easily be abused so it is up to the Storyteller to ensure that the game reflects how difficult the situation really is and keep the game fair and fun.