Styles were added to GURPS Fourth Edition in Martial Arts, and represent a great tool for characterisation and for widening the combat space. Player characters don't just know Broadsword, they know Iaijutsu, which distinguishes them from the random bandits that jump them. Having Style Familiarity also vastly increases the number of perks you have available, as shown in the table below, which can make or break a character. I defy you to build a samurai without at least Grip Mastery and Form Mastery!
For the GM, the use of combat styles can help with world-building by distinguishing some factions from others, or some players from others. It can also act as a justification for granting enemies abilities and options the players don't have access to, with the added bonus that it might be available at some point (after a long quest to prove their worth, of course). It subtly shifts the responsibility for remembering combat rules from the GM onto players, too: if everyone can Riposte, it's part of the GM's job to remind them of the rules. But if only one player character knows how to Riposte, that's his job - which makes it all the more exciting when he pulls it out to save the day.
So, styles make a great reward for players and the GM alike. Melee fighters are well-served by the styles in Martial Arts, which can be easily adapted to different settings by filing the serial numbers off, and Thaumatology: Magical Styles extends the concept to mages to great effect. But what about ranged combatants? Martial Arts describes four archery styles: Foot Archery, Kyujutsu, Kyudo, and Yabusame. They're nice - especially Foot Archery allowing up to Arm ST +3! - but we can do more by taking some pointers from Gun Fu, which did the same for action-movie gunslingers, and Tactical Shooting, which built styles for realistic shooters, and making some action hero archery styles, after the jump.
