[Interest check] High fantasy Wushu...with a twist!

[HolyMan]

(Note: Use that movie annoussers voice when you read this.)

Out if the fog come five warriors. Each a master of the mystic arts of Kung Fu, each ready to defend the city from invasion. War is coming. And only they can stop it.

Mowgli
WISO
Dr Simon
Boddynock
Songdragon

As the group (looks very awesome to me ) And yours truly playing the roll of the smoking man every now and again, oh yeah let's Wushu... um I mean Let's rock!

HM

 

[Dr Simon]

Hm, yes, I *say* this, but I've no ideas for a character. What kind of thing were you looking for for the playtest, grufflehead? Will the playtest characters go on to be used in WOTBS if the experiement is a success?

I'm thinking maybe something along the lines of an earth-based mage, but a bit like The Thing from the Fantastic Four (if not exactly in looks, but whose schtick is to be the immovable object).

 

[grufflehead]

Wow, I go away to a meeting all morning and by the time I get back, the place has gone mad! Looks like no chance of wriggling out of it now

OK, thanks to all the other responders. No problem with 5, I won't close the recruiting in case anyone else has a burning desire to get involved. Next stage is a discussion of the rules and general chinwag about how the game might work, followed by a bit of a test so if anyone else is swithering then jump in anytime. If I get more, I might split it into 2 groups rather than have 1 big one depending on how the test pans out.

To answer a few questions:

@ Dr Simon - I'll tell the players the dice cap for the scene and let them get on with it so everything can keep moving. If we do all the rolls in sequence, so each action can be tied to one dice, if a veto is called then it will just negate whichever part of the post it (and therefore the roll) applies to. See how that works out, and we can change it if someone has a better idea.

@ Songdragon - my feelings exactly about being 'easier' written rather than spoken. I'm pretty introverted round the table, and not quick enough to make up a lot of this on the fly - it would be brilliant to watch a group who could all do it - so having the luxury of a bit of thinking time suits me!

@ Dr Si # 2 - I'll post later about the extra rules I plan on using. I think there will be a bit of learning for all concerned, but if the playtest goes well then I'm open to people keeping their PC, making tweaks, or playing a completely different one if they prefer something else.

Still at work so I'll go away and think about what else I need to tell everybody, and we can start thinking about characters, and a game to test them in.

Oh, and last thing - while I'm not averse to doing this as a wire-fu extravaganza as per HolyMan's post, the 'narrate-a-detail-get-a-dice' idea seems to me to be equally well suited to more traditional fantasy (even quite gritty fantasy). Not very good examples:

Grufflehead narrowly swayed away from the wild slash/then generating power from his hips/buried his own blade in the man's groin./As his foe's lifeblood gouted onto the earth/Grufflehead wiped the sweat from his eyes as the next man stepped towards him is worth 5 dice in a 'Gladiator' style

Grufflehead sidesteps the clumsy thrust/dances forward on the balls of his feet/swinging his double-headed axe over his head/before smashing it into his foe's neck/causing his head to bounce down the stairs is also worth 5 dice in a 'Lord of the Rings' style

Grufflehead backflips away from the thrust,/spins on his heel/before leaping 20' through the air/whirling his axe as he does so/before cleaving his opponent clean in two with one mighty blow is also worth 5 dice in a 'Crouching Tiger' style.

I'm open to make it as ridiculously over the top as you want, or try to at least keep it along more trad fantasy lines. It may be worth discussing this *before* chargen as it may well affect the sort of abilities you give your characters.

 

[Songdragon]

I was kinda stumped myself for character idea for something Kung-fuish but looking more at the WotBS info I was able to get without actually buying it the idea of using this system for fantasy was very appealing. It will take some effort to get out of the normal D&D (Pathfinder for me)/Star Wars Saga mode of thinking and consider something more that I as a character already kick butt and do not have to plan out 20 levels of a character.

That said, I am still trying to think up how would a cleric/healer type of character be used. I can see something like:


"As the wisps of Vala's hair fly around her she notices her companion take a nasty gash from the ghoulish creature's knife-like claws with her keen elven vision. She rushes to his side, the thin armored plates of mithril barely making a sound of her passing. Clutching the symbol of her goddess she calls forth of her powers, "Goddess, grant me your blessings to heal this fallen warrior in your name!" Vala's hand glows with a golden light as she touches his wound, and he can feel an intense burning as the wound knits together. As the power fades, she raises her ancient blade and readies for more battle."

While it is long and I would not expect dice for everything I described, it would reach the max you set out, as well sounds real cool. The question comes to, what would the healing do? Give back some Chi determined by yourself?

I can throw a few ideas into the mix...

A gnomish wizard/sorcerer type using cold/frost type of spells and such.
or kinda of draconic sorcerer little claws and such.

A half orc ranger, Kagan Wolfbrother, with falchion and bow, and maybe a wolf companion.

An elven type of cleric like above, long sword mithril armor (think Arwen from Lord of the Rings)

And yes, these are all characters I have played or wanted to play in other RPGs, and would be rather cool to play in a more free frorum style that Wushu offers.

I will stop running off now.

 

[grufflehead]

OK, time to throw a few ideas into the pot. I'll say up front, I'm looking for a bit of help in figuring out exactly how some of this is actually going to work in practice - hence the idea of a 'playtest' before we embark on something with a bit of meat to it. A very good example is Songdragon's idea of the cleric. There's no guidance on that in the game that I can see so we should work together to come up with some way of adjudicating it that everyone is happy with. I should also re-iterate, I see the fact we are using Wushu as a way of telling the story and roleplaying in the same way as any other pbp game, it's just that when it comes to combat or some other 'challenge', rather than get tied up with d20 style mechanics, especially for combat, then things are resolved using Wushu. This, I hope, means instead of interminable rounds of initiative and actions (which will only get worse if we progress through some sort of 'campaign'), that's the point you guys get to go all Michael Bay/Ridley Scott/James Cameron on the baddies.

So, first up is that I'm going to be using some of the rules from a supplement called BUDO: Hard Style Wushu by Mob United Media. It is only 5 dollars from DriveThruRpg and if you have some disposable income I'd encourage you to buy it to support the designer (nothing to do with me, I hasten to add). Link here:

http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=27807&it=1

It, like its parent Wushu, is written with eastern films in mind, but it has a darker tone, and adds a few rules to make life a little more difficult for our heroes.

First thing to do is think of your character's 'concept'. The examples they give include Samurai on a quest for vengeance, and taciturn Kung Fu master. So 'warrior-priest of the sun god', 'fast talking wizard', 'stylishly dressed rogue' would be the sort of thing I am looking for.

Second, rather than Wushu's idea of traits, we start with 3 'base' traits: Physical, Mental and Social. It suggest 6 points to divide between them with a minimum of 1 in each.

Next are your 'traits' which I'll call 'abilities' to try and avoid confusion. These can be a profession (wizard - I think I might ask people who are interested in playing a magic-using character to come up with a theme like 'earth mage' or 'mentalist' rather than just a generic wizard), a personality trait (fiendishly cunning), a skill (spear mastery) or anything else within reason. Each ability is linked with 1 of your traits; in fact, there is nothing stopping you taking the same ability twice, once each for 2 different traits. So you might have Thievery (Physical) to represent sneaking, climbing and that sort of thing, and/or you could have Thievery (Mental) to represent something like trapfinding and disabling (opening locks might be mental or physical so I'd let you away with either) and/or Thievery (Social) for conning, fast talking, intimidating etc. You get another 6 points to split amongst as many abilities as you want.

For every point of ability you assign, you get to pick a specific skill with that ability. So in the example above, if you had 2 in Thievery (Physical) you could pick sneaking and climbing as your skills.

As you may have guessed, now your success number is trait + ability + skill (if applicable) OR trait + ability if it's within the general area OR at the worst a straight trait check if you have no relevant ability. The difference is, it is now resolved on D10's NOT D6's.

Oh, and remember your starting concept? Well, if your action is something that is appropriate for your concept, then you can narrate an extra detail in your action - effectively raising your dice cap by 1.

This is one of the bits we can play with and see if it needs tweaking. In theory you should be able to do quite a bit, and remember because of the Principle of Narrative Truth, you do what you want, it's the level of success that determines things like how long it takes, whether the bad guys get a hit on you etc.

I'll add the complications in another post tomorrow, but hopefully that gives you something to think about. Feel free to start throwing ideas round. If you are thinking ahead to possible WotBS, then also go and get the free campaign Player's Guide - it gives a bit of background and some ideas for characters/motivations that would be suitable.

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[Maidhc O Casain]

I'm thinking it would be cool to play a knife specialist. I've always liked the idea, but it's really hard to make small blades stack up against the big ones in traditional D&D. Now might be my chance.

Buckle knives, throwing knives, stilettos, butterfly knives, bowie knives, spring blades, straight razors, the Ilbarsi knife from Thieves World - if it's too short to be a sword, this guy is an expert.

 

[Dr Simon]

I'd still like to go with an earth mage of some kind, kind of capable of taking on an aspect of stone to fight with fists, or of pulling up earth as a shield, major weakness would be if he's not touching the ground. I'll see if I can get anything in this new format.

 

[GlassEye]

FYI, I'm very interested but this summer looks to be pretty busy for me so I haven't decided yet if I'm going to put my name in the pot.

 

[grufflehead]

GlassEye, you are always welcome. Keep an eye on the thread and if you decide before we start that you want in, I'll figure something out.

For everyone else, here's a little about those complications I told you about...

- Each 'scene' (determined by me) has a Hero. I'll pick somebody at random, and this scene is their moment in the spotlight. While you are the Hero, you can add an extra detail to your actions. Each scene also has a Judge - again we'll start at random. The judge has power of veto over ANYTHING in the game, including the GM! I can veto a player's action or a detail, as can the Judge, but the Judge can also take a red pen through something I've done if they think it is dramatically appropriate. Not sure how that is going to work, but we'll find out. At the end of the scene, these 2 roles move onto someone else.

- The BUDO rules have a section on equipment, which I'm afraid I'm having trouble figuring all the intricacies of. Remember, in Wushu you are assumed to have all the stuff you need to be who you are. Want to have a character who is decked out in full mail with a huge axe? Fine. Want one who wears only a loincloth. Equally fine. I've decided each player will get a pool of 'karma' dice. Treat these as equipment, sudden moments of happenstance in your favour, pretty much anything you want. In any action you can draw on your karma pool to add 1 dice to your details cap. It has to be thematically appropriate to your character or part of a very good description or it may be vetoed. The pool regains 1 dice per scene. Extra dice may be awarded by me or the Judge for particularly noteworthy play! Also, on occasion you may find 'loot' - this will be treated as a free 1 dice, but the item will be specified so will be more limited in scope.

- like Wushu, any round where you are attempting to overcome a challenge, you must divide your dice into effectively 'attack' and 'defend'. If you don't get 1 success on defense then you lose a point of Ki/Chi. Instead of a flat 3 Ki, you have a pool of 9 Ki which you must assign between your 3 traits - the lost point of Ki comes off the pool linked to the trait which you were 'testing' So in a fight it will be Physical, but in a contest of wills it might Social, trying to solve a puzzle it would be Mental.

If you lose all your Ki in one stat you are out of the game - incapacitated in some way. Lose all your Ki and you are open to the coup de grace from the bad guy! However, in any situation where you would lose Ki, you may, if you choose, opt to take a 'setback' against that trait instead. Setbacks LOWER your details cap by 1 AND in future turns, against a lieutenant or boss bad guy, they may, if they are able, try to exploit your setback. This nets them a bonus dice. They may also choose to take setbacks, and so you can use them to your advantage. For example, a character fails to defend against a bad guy and takes a physical setback. Next turn he describes limping due to the cut he suffered in his leg. On the bad guy's turn, he might narrate striking at the injury to get an extra detail. You can have as many setbacks against a trait as your base value. Once you reach that point, the only thing you can do with that trait is activate your style (ie character concept) which ALWAYS allows you 1 dice if you use it.

 

[grufflehead]

Has anybody had any flashes of inspiration regarding characters? Mowgli and Dr Simon have outlined roughly what sort of PC they fancy; what about the others? Anybody got as far as putting some numbers down - might help the others if one of you puts up something to stimulate ideas.

And how do people find the extra rules? Any queries about what I have posted? Anybody gone and bought the rules?