Interest check - Qin (Roleplaying in mythic China)

Started by HairyHeretic, November 02, 2009, 03:39:09 PM

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HairyHeretic

MadPanda and I briefly discussed this idea last week, so I thought I'd toss out a post and see if anyone else is familiar with this game, and/or interested in playing it.

Qin is a wuxia game. If you've seen Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Hero, House of Flying Daggers, Red Cliff or to a lesser extent The Forbidden Kingdom, you should have an idea of how this would play.

Swordsmen dueling whilst leaping from rooftop to treetop, exorcists deal with ghosts and hopping vampires with a mixture of magic and martial arts, thieves disappearing into shadows, and so on.

Anyone interested in giving this a try?
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Cattle die, kinsmen die
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Quote from: HairyHeretic on November 02, 2009, 03:39:09 PM
MadPanda and I briefly discussed this idea last week, so I thought I'd toss out a post and see if anyone else is familiar with this game, and/or interested in playing it.

Qin is a wuxia game. If you've seen Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Hero, House of Flying Daggers, Red Cliff or to a lesser extent The Forbidden Kingdom, you should have an idea of how this would play.

Swordsmen dueling whilst leaping from rooftop to treetop, exorcists deal with ghosts and hopping vampires with a mixture of magic and martial arts, thieves disappearing into shadows, and so on.

Anyone interested in giving this a try?
I might be interested, depending on what you have in mind. As a general rule, I like wuxia!
Do you plan a character-driven or a plot-driven game? What time period? Which region of China would you set it in?
I'm assuming you would be the GM here, but correct me if I am wrong ;D!
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HairyHeretic

If someone wants to GM it, I have no objections :)

My own GMing style tends more towards character driven, but that needs characters willing to take the lead.

Giving the rules a quick glance, I can't see a particular time period mentioned.

The History of the Empire
The primordial egg gave birth to Pangu, the first being. Through him were born the Sky, home of the Gods, and the Earth, home of the mortals.

Soon, the people gathered under the guidance of the three Majestic Ones, and despite the rebellion of the Warlord Gonggong nearly destroying the world of yore, harmony finally prevailed thanks to the wisdom of the Gods. The people were finally united.

The mythical Yellow Emperor was the first enlightened ruler of an empire that covered all things under the Sky. First of the Five Sovereigns, his reign was followed by that of rulers as wise and benevolent as himself, and the Empire prospered.

Then followed the time of the great mortal dynasties: the Xia came first, then the Yin, and finally the Zhou. In succession, they received the Celestial Mandate from the Emperor of Jade, Ruler of the Gods.

But the power of the Zhou dynasty waned and the ambitious and traitorous Emperor’s vassals took their independence and created their own kingdoms in the name of the Dragons they revered. Many believed that the Empire had fallen into the invisible grasp of a malevolent sect dedicated to the power of death and disorder...

There followed a period of constant warring, but also of great intellectual progress, which saw wise thinkers like Lao Zi or Kong Fu Zi spread their teachings throughout a land devastated by the violence that the seven powerful Warring States inflicted on each other.

The Warring States
Seven large kingdoms occupy the land which was formerly the Empire of Zhou. They all have but one goal : to conquer the other kingdoms in order to recreate the Empire under their rule. Warfare, but also spying, diplomacy and economy are the weapons of this century-long conflict.

Qin is the most powerful of the kingdoms. It used to be semibarbaric, but harsh reforms have contributed to its rise. Its ruthlessly effective administration is a powerful tool allowing its resources to be focused towards the conquest of its rivals.

Zhao is a kingdom strongly influenced by the people of the bordering steppes. Its powerful cavalry and flourishing economy make it a state both respected and feared.

Chu was formerly an enemy of the Empire prior to its dislocation. It is now one of the major powers among the kingdoms,
with the largest and most exotic territory.

Qi is the kingdom of scholars and well-read men. Libraries and universities dot its land, and the ruler neglects military power in favour of cultural richness.

Yan, located at the extreme North-East, fights constantly against barbarian raids but must all the same deflect the invasion attempts from rival kingdoms.

Wei used to be a flourishing land, but its power has faded and it now constitutes an easy prey for its rapacious neighbours.

Han is circled by more powerful kingdoms and tries to keep its integrity through diplomatic means, its military strength might being the most limited.


That's the core setting, but it would probably be easy enough to come up with a generic setting, and play something out from there. The Water Margin has a nice setting .. the 108 reborn heros, fighting against a corrupt government .. lots of opportunities for mischief there :)
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Cattle die, kinsmen die
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Thufir Hawat

Sounds good, I like character-driven games. And no, I don't want to GM it ;D!
I'd say that the default setting is the kingdom of Qin, during the Warring States period. If we are not going with the default setting or system, let me know.

I have a few ideas for characters that might fit.
A thief from Qin, who wants to steal the most precious flower of Qi - the daughter of the First Minister! And then he would expose the fact in order to shame him and bring him down, which would put the kingdom in turmoil, allowing to be conquered easily.
A warrior from Qin, who wants to avenge his sister by defeating his rival, gaining fame and riches in the process. It helps that his rival is from another kingdom, or the mighty ruler of Qin might oppose him.
A sorcerer fighting off occult foes and secret societies, looking for the heritage of White Raven, said to contain the ultimate prize. The secret of immortality is at stake here, and there is no ruler or savant who doesn't want it for himself!
Alternatively, I could just make a reborn revolutionary hero. Depends on the setting and the game, as I said.
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NightFall

*Peers in*

Is this a system game or a make it up as you go along game? ;D

HairyHeretic

Well, let's see what other interest we get first. I tend to try and tailor games to the group.

I'm thinking a bit more XP than the default starting point may be in order. I think the starting characters are a little less epic than proper wuxia needs :)

Qin is a system. Fairly simple mechanic .. yin dice and yang dice. Roll both, take one from the other, add stat and skill, compare to target number. If both dice are 0 its a critical failure, if both dice are any other number its a critical success and you get that number.

Criticals gain or lose you chi, which is what is used to power your taos, the supernatural abilities.

An average difficulty roll is a 7.

On my dice I roll a 4 and a 2. Difference of 2, plus stat of 4, and skill of 2 (experienced) gives me a total of 8, so I pass the test.

For starting characters, stats would be between 2 and 4 (probably), maybe one on 5. Skills will be between 0 (Inexperienced) and 2 (experienced).
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Raveled

Don't you have a 40K game to get off the ground?  And an Exalted game?
O|O A|A Ideas

"Everybody has a secret world inside of them. All the people in the whole world. I mean everybody. No matter how boring or dull they are on the outside, inside them they've all got unimaginable, magnificent, stupid, wonderful worlds. Not just one world. Hundreds of them. Thousands, maybe." Neil Gaiman

HairyHeretic

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Cattle die, kinsmen die
You too one day shall die
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Thufir Hawat

That's good for you ;).

Anyway, got any comments on my concepts? I could write others, too, but I'd rather know what setting we'll play in.
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HairyHeretic

Well, lets see if we get any more definite interest first, then we can work up character concepts.
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Cattle die, kinsmen die
You too one day shall die
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Remiel

This definitely looks interesting.  I'd like to see how the dice mechanic translates into an rp forum.

Voichin

#11
Interested.

I'm thinking about a philosopher and Nei Dan practitioner who mostly lives on tea and fruits, but can get quite homicidal when someone disturbs his idea of harmony.

Can I have NPC students?
Notable for bad manners and lack of empathy.

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HairyHeretic

Nei dan (Internal alchemy if google is to be believed) is one of the magic systems in the game. The others are external alchemy, assorted divination and exorcism. As well as that, everyone has access to the Taos, which let you do the fun stuff you see in the films, running up walls, breaking large innoffensive objects into tiny pieces, catching arrows and so on :)

I'm not sure about the students. You'd need to get a skill to rank 3 to start teaching apprentices, and frankly that will eat a lot of character creation points.
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Cattle die, kinsmen die
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HairyHeretic

Quote from: Remiel on November 03, 2009, 10:43:26 PM
This definitely looks interesting.  I'd like to see how the dice mechanic translates into an rp forum.

I don't think it should be too much of a problem. I've played a number of forum games where dice have been involved.
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Cattle die, kinsmen die
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Quote from: HairyHeretic on November 04, 2009, 05:33:39 PM
I don't think it should be too much of a problem. I've played a number of forum games where dice have been involved.

Actually, I don't play in others, so they've got to work ;)!
Well, I could be tempted with a diceless system. But I've never seen Amber or Nobilis played on a forum, so I guess it doesn't count.
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HairyHeretic

I've never played those two, but I have played (on one forum or another)

Dark Heresy
Exalted
Legend of the Five Rings
7th Sea

and possibly some other dice / systems games I'm forgetting.
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Voichin

Notable for bad manners and lack of empathy.

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Thufir Hawat

And I was going to ask for NPC servants. Most of my concepts would almost require having a palanquin ;).

A local lord who is respected for his martial arts is a classical character in Wu Xia, so it's not even a stretch.
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Doomsday

Hmm. I used to roleplay exclusively on a site dedicated to the Three Kingdoms era of China. For a few years. Lost interest in it when I found Elliquiy, actually, but I still know a lot about the era. Or at the least, enough. Though I'll mostly just be lurking this thread.

HairyHeretic

Give me time to check through the rules and see if it lists servants or followers.
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Cattle die, kinsmen die
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Fair fame of one who has earned it.

MadPanda

Somehow I missed the start-up on this one...  :-)
Theoretically here, definitely interesting.
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Thufir Hawat

How many people are we looking for?
So far, we've got interest expressed by MadPanda, Voichin, TH, NightFall. I'm not sure whether Remiel and DDD are going to be only lurking, or want to join the game.
By the way, did you mention something about more XP for starting characters? I'd say it's a good idea, since characters in PbP games advance more slowly anyway.
And we can start discussing the setting, too.
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MadPanda

I'm thinking of a humble wandering martial artist, myself...maybe a failed scholar who took up the ways of war to keep himself fed?
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Thufir Hawat

So, you would even know to read >:)?
I think it's a valid concept, although imperial exams start in the following Han dynasty :P. That said, there are quite a few scholars at this time, and if you are a mohist, you could easily be successful and disgraced at the same time ;D!
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MadPanda

Not necessarily a failed taker of bureaucratic exams, though--having a falling out with one's instructor and mentor works just as well!  And as you say, mohism is an option.  :-)
Voluptas ailuri fulgentis decretum est!
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Thufir Hawat

Quote from: MadPanda on November 06, 2009, 07:54:57 AM
Not necessarily a failed taker of bureaucratic exams, though--having a falling out with one's instructor and mentor works just as well!  And as you say, mohism is an option.  :-)
Yeah, that's a classical reason to enter the world of Jianghu ;).
I'd like to ask you, though, what does your character want? In my experience, it's definitely easier if we know this.
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MadPanda

I imagine his highest ambition is to find a nice cushy role as someone's trusted advisor on state matters, preferably in a wealthy land with good weather and beautiful women, where he can think profound thoughts all day without a care in the world.  This excellent ideal would be more easily attainable if only he weren't quite so principled...
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ReijiTabibito

Well, someone will have to get me the books, but I played a couple of the Dynasty Warriors games (go figure, my most recent exposure to Ancient China is a videogame, which is no real substitute), so I'm game.

But I call exorcist!

"The power of Tao compels you! The power of Tao compels you! The power of Tao compels you!"

Thufir Hawat

I think we are getting a classical Wu Xia mix here. Love, personal honour, ambition, thirst for knowledge, and who knows what else we are going to combine :D!
I'm looking forward to it!
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HairyHeretic

I think we have enough people to make a start. I'll open an OOC thread a little later (only just home) and we can kick things around further there.

And Exorcists are fun. I played one myself. He was very good at spotting when the yin energy of a village was out of place, many times before the peasents there would even realise it themselves, and be only too glad to help clean things up in return for a some food, a bottle or two of something to warm you of an evening, a few coins perhaps, and who knows, maybe even a little company for the night. :)
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Cattle die, kinsmen die
You too one day shall die
I know a thing that will never die
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Kotah

I might be interested in this, but I have never played a game like this here. >.>

So, yeah, if you don't mind a noob... I would like to play. I would need some help however.
Finally in a rage we scream at the top of our lungs into this lonely night, begging and pleading they stop sucking up dry.There as guilty as sin, still as they always do when faced with an angry mob: they wipe the blood from their mouths and calm us down with their words of milk and honey. So the play begins, we the once angry mob are now pacified and sit quietly entertained. But the curtain exists far from now becasue their lies have been spoken. My dear, have you forgotten what comes next? This is the part where we change the world.

HairyHeretic

Hairys Likes, Dislikes, Games n Stuff

Cattle die, kinsmen die
You too one day shall die
I know a thing that will never die
Fair fame of one who has earned it.

Kotah

Finally in a rage we scream at the top of our lungs into this lonely night, begging and pleading they stop sucking up dry.There as guilty as sin, still as they always do when faced with an angry mob: they wipe the blood from their mouths and calm us down with their words of milk and honey. So the play begins, we the once angry mob are now pacified and sit quietly entertained. But the curtain exists far from now becasue their lies have been spoken. My dear, have you forgotten what comes next? This is the part where we change the world.

HairyHeretic

Hairys Likes, Dislikes, Games n Stuff

Cattle die, kinsmen die
You too one day shall die
I know a thing that will never die
Fair fame of one who has earned it.