Wrestling not Grappling

I do martial arts in real life. In fact I've been doing forms of ju-jitsu since I was 5 years old. I love grappling. However, I don't think grappling fits in with D&D, at least not realistic grappling. When you watch old school fantasy shows, or sci-fi sword & planet adventures, you rarely see realistic arm bars and over-the-shoulder throws. You see two athletic guys pushing each other back and forth in a clinch, till one falls over a cliff. That's fun.

However I do play with a lot of guys who have real grappling experience, and they like to use it in the game. What I currently do is really simple, and I'm sure lots of you guys have done it too: I just use a saving throw for grappling. I use Swords & Wizardry's single saving throw, modified by attributes like Castles & Crusades: so depending on description/player choice I either apply strength or dexterity, or sometimes both.

This is a much simple abstraction than complex grappling tables, or "body combat defense scores". Not saying better, just simpler.

What's great is this doesn't penalize people who don't know how to grapple in real life. "Can I try and trip the guy?" "I"m going to try and throw him", etc. If they do take time to describe their actions, a simple -1 to their opponent's saving throw is good, or if they declare they're grappling with a weapon I might let them get away with just a normal attack.

The real benefit of this abstraction is that as you increase in level (including monsters), the saving throw gets easier to pass. Just like in real life, the better you are in combat, the easier it is to slip in and out of grappling. In Judo a lot of times it's more about avoiding getting thrown, and having that stable foot work. While it's not ultra-realistic, because obviously someone who is really good at their techniques will have a better chance of grappling you, it's a decent abstraction, that works. Furthermore if players choose to specialize their characters in grappling (however you handle that), you can give them bonuses (or penalties to their opponent's saving throws).

Not much to say on the matter, just thought I'd share.