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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cronocke" data-source="post: 6345733" data-attributes="member: 63379">See, this is why I want to play a couple games of FATE before I ever try to run it. This sounds like great stuff.Let me break it down further, then.The way fights (and indeed, any contest of wills) work in Wulin is that there is no such thing as HP. Instead, a successful hit inflicts something called a "Ripple". Ripples represent a minor bruise, a slight doubt, or a minor hesitation. In and of themselves, they mean very little. However, particularly well-aimed hits will force you to make a roll of all the Ripples you've accumulated so far - and the attack that triggers this adds its Damage bonus to this roll. Depending on how this roll goes, a character could take an injury, which provides action penalties, or even be Taken Out of the fight entirely - which doesn't necessarily mean dying, but could instead mean no longer being able to stand unaided, or passing out from a concussion, or anything else believable.But being Taken Out isn't quite the end of the fight.Both characters now roll their Ripples. The other party declares what they want the resulting effect to be - it could be just an injury that hadn't been noticed until now, or it could be something like a burgeoning respect for their foe. Any sort of effect works - in the case of an emotional one, it's an impulse to act a certain way or face a temporary penalty for resisting the urge. The less likely the character is to suddenly suffer from that malady, or feel that curse, or have those doubts, the higher the GM may make the penalty to the Rippling roll - which may cause the effect to fail after the roll is already made.The end result is that two people could have a fist (or sword or staff) fight until one person passes out, at which point his opponent realizes the truth in his words, nurses him back to health, and agrees - reluctantly - to join in his quest.The fun part is that these rules also govern how persuading an enemy works, and indeed, with the right investment in abilities you can use verbal put-downs in place of physical attacks (or alongside them in the narrative, but mechanically only the words matter), or paper talismans and mystical hand gestures, or acupuncture needles laced with poisons and biles. These also inflict Ripples, but instead of standard injuries, they cause passions, curses, and illnesses. And, just like with combat, the end-of-battle roll can lead to any sort of effect. If you want to be Zhuge Liang and berate someone until they have a heart attack and die, Legends of the Wulin allows for it.</blockquote>

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