My issues with Art of Wuxia has been on my mind most of the day. I had a fair amount of interest in it, but my experience was fairly lackluster. So, how would I fix it?
1. Replace the d00 lite system with Simple World.
2. Ability scores go out the window. You won't need them. Ability scores are used for resistance rolls and determining skill levels in the original.
3. The ten skill roles become Approaches per Fate Accelerated.
4. With the above in mind, a new character ranks one Approach at +2, three at +1 and the remainder are +0.
5. Descriptors and moral code can stay as XP generators.
6. Equipment can stay; replace the money system with Apocalypse World's barter system.
7. Body Points are replaced by the Harm track, or, if you want to roll dice for damage, 15 + Warrior.
8. Initiative is no longer needed; damage reduction is just another way of saying +armor.
9. Movement? No. Qi? If you want to; it's part of the genre, so why not?
10. Qi abilities can stay and are basic moves for player characters or make the Qi abilities moves that may be chosen, much like kung fu techniques.
11. Kung Fu damage can stay as is if you're rolling dice, or, perhaps, equal to Warrior rank as it now caps at +3.
12. Since the Approaches are capped at +3, perhaps rank based abilities are gained twice as fast?
With those cursory unplaytested adjustments, here's a different look at Harmony :
Lin Jingyi, "Harmony"
Harmony's small athletic form wears black cotton trousers and sash with a steel blue cross collar tunic. She has long ebony hair pulled into a tail and mahogany eyes.
Moral Code : somewhat kind, totally focused, somewhat selfish, very honorable, very brave
Descriptors Heart of silver; selfish but just
+2 Warrior
+1 Detective*, Scout, Thief*
+0 Alchemist, Leader, Mystic, Scholar, Sorcerer, Strategist
"Air is as Real as You or Me" : While you have one Qi, you may leap long distances as part of your movement, run on water and move on vertical surfaces.
Final Parry : Spend one Qi, you may destroy your weapon or shield and reduce incoming Harm to 0.
"Thundering Whirlwind Kick" : You may split your Harm inflicted against multiple opponents.
Gear : fine fan, grappling hook, jian (2-harm hand), needles (1-harm 3 ammo close), riding horse, survival pack, 3-tael
[:45] [:30] [:15] [:10] [:05] [:--]
XP : [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]
13. 13 is a good number. What about a custom move for cultivating Qi?
When you have several minutes to center and focus, roll +Mystic. You may spend your hold to activate Qi abilities that require a cost :
On a 10+ : hold 3.
On a 7-9 : hold 1.
Seeing as I've gotten this far, I may as well replay the same scenario with the new rules and try a brief playtest. And the result? 42 rolls from the previous version is resolved in two via Simple World. Much better.
"White Breath Cave"
The village of White Breath has a teahouse, The Green Lily, stables, a cobbler, cloth seller and a small general goods store. The early afternoon sun reminds Harmony that she has not eaten since last night. She sighs. Nine silver tael barely covers one, two if she stretched it, day of food and lodging. Still, Harmony enters The Green Lily.
The proprietress greets Harmony with a warm smile and beckons her to come inside. "Welcome to The Green Lily; I am Mother Chong. Please, come in."
The smell of fresh lacquer greets Harmony. Her eyes note that almost all of the furniture is practically newly repaired. Upstairs, Mother Chong seats Harmony at a square table and returns with a cup of chopsticks and a kettle filled with hot tea. Below her, two men are playing a game of weiqi by an open window. A skinny old man and another wild, disheveled man with a strip of faded fabric tied over his eyes. The blinded man reaches into the bowl of stones, placing a white stone on the board.
"Why did you do that?!" exclaims the old, weathered man. "Are you baiting me?"
The blind man sits back in his chair and reaches for his tea.
Four men burst into the teahouse, flipping over a couple of tables and kicking aside the chairs. Dirty and wearing simple tan trousers with black tunics, one of the four shouts, "Mother Chong! We're here to collect!"
Another from the gang chimes in, "And bring us some steamed buns, too!"
A third points up toward Harmony, "Get down here! We'll take your coin, too!"
Harmony's attack roll : In this case, it will be roll +Warrior. 11. 2-harm inflicted.
Harmony smiles and drops from the second floor on to a table below. First, they want to steal her coin; second, they are threatening these innocent people. She leaps at the closest bandit, the one that made the first demand, and kicks him in the chest. The bandit recoils from the force of impact, unconscious. The table he lands on breaks beneath his weight.
"And who's going to take it?" she asks.
Mother Chong and the rest of the staff hide in the kitchen. The old man ducks under the table, and the blind man simply sits in his chair, listening. The bandits circle Harmony. Fists and kicks fly towards her from several directions.
Harmony's attack roll +Warrior : 7. 2-harm inflicted. 2-harm received.
One bandit lands a solid punch against her back. Another strikes Harmony with a side kick. The third attempts an axe kick, his foot crashing down on a nearby chair and splintering it. Harmony looks back at the third bandit and kicks his knee followed by a palm strike beneath the chin.
"Wait! Wait wait wait!" exclaims one of the bandits.
Harmony pauses, fist drawn back and ready to attack.
"We just wanted food, and a bit of money, so we can get away from this village!"
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ReplyDeleteThis is cool. What the heck is Simple World? *Google Powers Activate*
ReplyDeleteAHHH A PbtA hack... Nice! I seem to remember it cause the Unicorn Riding campiagn sounded like fun and I remember that.. manybe another hack?
I'm unfamiliar with that campaign. I'll have to look it up. As you've probably uncovered Simple World is PbtA reduced to its most minimal form, and you tack on moves and such as your game requires.
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