I should say that, even by the standards of gamers, I know nothing about kung-fu or martial arts.

So, if this is hideously off base. Well... there you go.

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The characters, all of whom are martial artists, get together for a big martial arts tournament. They'll fight each other, they'll fight NPCs. There are big personalities.

• The aging grandmaster and his Cabinet of Thunder (a powerful group of warrior brethren)
• The secret cult of anonymous mystic warriors engaged in a shadow battle
• Serpent men looking for easy converts
• The emperors spies (he's concerned about the threat of this martial artists on order in the empire
• The aging grandmaster's failed and evil disciple, rumored to have returned to humiliate his master
• delegations from half a dozen major schools, and individuals from a score more

And the game really runs like a tournament. You can hang out and roleplay at inns with other martial artists, masters and wannabes, get your pocket picked, get approached by one or more interested power groups, watch various fights and make checks to see if you can identify weaknesses you could use in later matches, make alliances with other fighters, and even try to cheat.

The whole shebang.

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In a PbP game I think you'd want 12 - 18 pcs and you'd probably need a second or even third DM to keep the game going (refereeing PC fights and interactions, getting people involved in sub-plots, etc).

There would be an understanding that it would be possible for some members to "advance" to a campaign; so the stakes would be that you could keep playing your (presumably awesome) character if you "did well".

The 'catch' is that the campaign would involve another group that had been watching the game from the sidelines; so it wouldn't be based upon winning the tournament. PCs who showed the proper mindset (discipline, manners, grace in defeat) would be selected, not necessarily the guy who did the most damage.



Due to the tournament laws that only one person may challenge another on a given day no-one else may challenge the "renegade" and he becomes the master of the school.

The campaign?
He picks the PCs, or gets help from the hidden mystic brotherhood to pick the PCs, for a mission.
They are honor bound to accept.

The PCs have to work for this person, who, while being a terrible person on a personal level, wants very much to protect and maintain the school and it's area (now that its finally his or hers).

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In 4e you'd have to take a few liberties.

The monk is due out at some point, so you'd have a non-striker (hopefully a defender) open-handed-warrior type class.

On top of that "monk base" each character they'd get another class that represents the secret techiniques of their school.
In mechanics terms "free multiclassing".

They'd get an improved version of the multi-class benefit (probably sneak attack/quarry whatever as an encounter instead of a daily) as well as a "free" encounter or a daily power from that class list. And more "free" powers from their secondary class as they advanced in level.

These powers would be reflavored as martial arts powers.

You might need to do some tweaking -- handing out a few more attribution points -- to avoid MAD problems.

Graf