Chinese Cultivation rpgs

[Mind of tempest]

I'm currently writing a game that is very much inspired by Chinese cultivation fiction (leaning towards Xianxia not Wuxia). Its using the Cortex Prime system. It won't be out until the Cortex Creators Studio is released, which is still being developed as well.

Here's the Cultivation mechanic I've developed for it:
I've simplified the cultivation realms for the sake of gameplay...and it is very much build on the Cortex Prime ruleset... https://www.cortexrpg.com

Characters of higher tiers are significant threats to lower tiers and within the tiers there are general any number of levels (most authors have their own versions of these). The goal with this is to represent a large advantage to the higher tiers while also giving advantages to the individual levels within each tier.

In addition, Cultivation power is also something that can be sensed by other characters, so I've implemented a way of suppressing your true Cultivation scale as well, allow you to power down to a lower tier if you wish. While powered down, other characters with the ability to sense your power will sense your powered down tier, however, you are also mechanically at that tier until you quit suppressing your power.

Cultivation Tiers/Levels
My take on the tiers is a simplified version of what is typically used in the fiction. The names and descriptions are also simplified for the ease of presentation.

Tiers
The above tiers are used to determine your Scale. Foundation Formation is has a scale of 2 Tiers over Mortals. Nascent Soul has a scale of 3 over Qi Condensation.

0 Mortal (Mortals always roll a d4 if they use Cultivation)
1 Qi Condensation (learning to harness the powers of Qi)
2 Foundation Formation (Building the foundation of Immortality with Qi)
3 Core Formation (Forming your Qi Core)
4 Nascent Soul (Birth of you Immortal Soul)
5 Immortal (Maturation of your Immortality)


Levels
Each of the above Tiers are broken up into 4 Levels that represent the character's power within the tier. I've simplified these levels for the benefit of game mechanics as well.

Early Stage - d6
Mid Stage - d8
Late Stage - d10
Peak Stage - d12

Trait
A character's Cultivation Trait is listed as the "Tier Name Level Die". A Foundation Formation stage character at the Mid Stage would be listed as Foundation Formation d8.

Using Cultivation
When using your cultivation you would compare you would add your Level die to the the pool. If your Tier is higher than your opposition, you get to add your Level die a second time and you can keep and additional die from your roll for either your Result or Effect for each Tier you are above the opposition.

Example
We have two Disciples, Meng Hao and Chen Fan.

Meng Hao
Foundation Formation d8

Chen Fan
Qi Condensation d8

Both would add a d8 to their pool when using their Cultivation and choose 2 Die for their Result as normal.
If these two were to get into a fight, they would both get their d8, however, Meng Hao would get an additional d8 due to the 1 Tier difference between them and could either choose 1 extra die for his result OR 1 extra effect die from the roll.

Lets add another example.

Master Li
Nascent Soul d10

Master Li comes across the above fight and decides to stop he and enters the conflict. He would add his Level, d10 to his pool against both Disciples. Against Meng Hao, he would get an additional 2d10 to his pool, and could get 2 extra dice for his Result OR Effect (in any combination). Against, Chen Fan it would be an extra 3d10 to his pool and 3 Extra Result/Effect dice.

The above is the early draft of a scale mod I created for Cortex Prime to model Cultivation levels for my game.

do you have any ideas on the different types of cultivation?

 

[RequiemMachine]

If you mean having different cultivation methods…I’m planning on building them kinda like Cortex Prime Power Sets and also tying to both Milestones and Growth. So each Cultivation method would have a name and description/philosophy..and would have specific milestones to earn xp in line with it. It would also have its own list of unlocks/upgrades you can spend xp on, including techniques (sfx).

 

[RequiemMachine]

For those of you interested in the progress of my Xianxia inspired Cortex hack...here's the current Trait layout I'm working with. Tier is now Realm. Level is now Stage.

In addition, after playtesting some, I've changed the way Cultivation scaling works a bit. Now your Realm has a die rating from d6 to d12. Anytime your Realm is higher than your opposition you add your Realm die to your pool as well and keep an additional die for your Result or Effect.
Realm 0 Mortal - No die (Mortals Stage die is always a d4 )
Realm 1 Qi Condensation - No die (Your power over Mortals is based on your Stage die)
Realm 2 Foundation - d6
Realm 3 Core - d8
Realm 4 Nascent - d10
Realm 5 Immortal - d12

Third Eye (aka Spirit Sense or Divine Sense) and Lightstep (qinggong) are SFX all cultivators can get. Lightstep at Realm 1 and Third Eye at Realm 2. (They basically allow you to add or add an extra Realm die to a pool when using them...the text in the picture is a remnant of an older concept that I had split the cultivation into to sets of Real/Stage for Internal (Spirit) and External (Body)..but I decided against using two sets...and didn't like the verbal since External Cultivation is technically more of an Alchemy reference, which I plan on having as well).

Multiple additional die and multiple additional results/effect ended up being a bit much in playtesting so I toned it down a bit and introduced the Realm die rating. Its still a big advantage and higher realm cultivators are bound to have larger collections of techniques and magical items as well to bolster their power. After doing that it dawned on me that a cultivators power isn't just their internal power, but powers and items as well. I think the changes fits in with that take.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I have recently started a Chinese video game called the way of the Immortal where the purpose is to become immortal using meditation and alchemy. From what understand this is known as cultivation.

Are there any tabletop RPGs that do something similar?

Bonus points if you know of any really good Chinese bestiaries? I got my old kara-tur books, and palladium mystic China as well as the two rift s China books, but have a feeling they aren't up to snuff.

I make a game called Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate (which is PWYW on Drivethru). It is mainly a wuxia RPG, but it does get into higher levels of cultivation (including becoming an Immortal through cultivation). So maybe some of it will be helpful. There are other games too like Weapons of the Gods (and Legends of the Wulin). Art of Wuxia is an excellent wuxia RPG and it includes cultivation rules. Again, these are mostly wuxia RPGs but some get into those higher levels or still have cultivation. If you want very high powered Xianxia level action that is a taller order (I am not sure what games would get you to that level as the scale of power is so high), but Anima might work (I played a few sessions a while back). Lone Wolf Fist is another that might fit the bill (full disclosure I know the designer). I haven't played it but Monkey the RPG is supposed to be for stuff like Journey to the West and that gets into immortal cultivation. You might also look into Tianxia (it is wuxia, but I thought I had heard there was an expansion for more supernatural stuff, and it woundn't surprise me if something related to immortals is available for it). There are other games to like Feng Shui and Hong Kong Action Theater that you might be able to use for this. There is a game called Hearts of the Wulin (which is connected to weapons of the gods) but I am not sure if that gets into immortal power levels (I know it is wuxia but I think it was largely inspired by drama series and a lot of the drama series do get into higher levels of power and cultivation so its possible it includes that). If you want something OSR you could look into Golden Scroll of Justice. I remember it being more about wuxia and kung fu, but I also recall it taking a lot of inspiration from other genres like hopping vampire movies, so it might be a good fit too.

 

[Bedrockgames]

Possibly Dragon Tiger Ox a Pathfinder Wuxia sourcebook.

Louis Porter Jr put out a d20 wuxia supplement called Xao that might appeal to a similar audience