How to Get Wuxia Flavour?

[Nifft]

Martial Arts as Magic fits nicely in with the Wuxpsion idea. Burst, Up the Walls, Hustle, Mental Leap -- so much cinematic potential.

Anyway -- I'd like to propose a Wuxpsion thread over in House Rules (or "Wuxalted Psionics" maybe) where we re-name all the powers, feats, etc. and fight over which ones are and are not appropriate for appropriation.

Aaaaaaand.... here's the thread!

-- N

 

[grodog]

I recommend digging up a copy of DragonFist (as previously mentioned, it was available for free on the WotC site at http://www.wizards.com/dnd/DF_Welcome.asp but it's not there now, and the GR PR is at http://www.greenronin.com/press_releases/?id=DF_pr but as far as I know it hasn't been released in print yet). I'm sure electronic copies are out there somewhere on the net.

I also recommend checking out Atlas Games' Feng Shui game (web site at
http://www.atlas-games.com/fengshui/), and, if you can find a copy, Event Horizon's Swords of the Middle Kingdom (archived web site at http://web.archive.org/web/19991009183528/http://www.rpg.net/ehp/smk.html). Both detail a fair amount of info about how to emulate the wuxia genre, though SMK is more specifically grounded in Chinese history and mythology and the wuxia genre.

 

[Klaus]

Implement these from UA:

- Gestalt with Monk (you're already doing that)
- Variable modifiers (instead of +1, you have +1d2, for instance. Dragon Fist used this)
- Class-based Defense bonus (NPC mooks can wear armor, but true HEROES wear no such thing!)
- Weapon Groups (if you're proficient in a weapon group, you can flurry with any weapon there... It mimics Martial Arts Schools, with some being famous for their flails, while others being famous for their swords)
- Reputation
- Contacts
- Traits
- When Gestalting with monk, allow a player to choose PHB-monk, Fighting Style-monk or Damage Reduction-monk (also in UA, trades mobility for DR)
- Action Points

And add humour. Any wuxia movie has goofy apprentices of the serious hero, or overprotective mothers who fight women who want to marry her son, or innkeepers babbling about the hero's secret journey.

 

[GMSkarka]

Well, if you can wait a couple of months, and don't mind PDF products, Adamant Entertainment will be releasing The Dao of Wuxia, a D20 setting supplement specifically for running Wuxia campaigns, written by yours truly (the designer of Hong Kong Action Theatre! and initial developer of Swords of the Middle Kingdom, mentioned above).

Some of you might remember a mention of this project a couple of years back in Dungeon/Polyhedron...I'd back-burnered it--mostly since Green Ronin was planning on doing DragonFist. However, since there's no indication of when they're releasing, I decided to go ahead with it again. The core design work is mostly done, and I'm looking around for wuxia-appropriate artists right now.