Before I start I want to say this isn't a cultivation-themed game, fuck that.I want to run a game set in (basically) Mythic China with all the bullshit that comes with that: Evil eunuchs, tyrannical emperors, seductive court ladies, rebellious peasants, and the party roaming the world as wandering heroes who are constantly stirring up shit.What do I have to keep in mind to make things feel 'authentic'? I only have wuxia movies to go on, to be honest, and existing systems like Weapons of the Gods seem way too complicated to use.
The closest genre I know is Romance of The Three Kingdoms and that relied heavily on emphasizing the greatness of men and what they can achieve through force of will.
>>96712762There's really nothing to do but consume more media. What made it click for me was reading stuff by Jin Yong, Gu Long, Louis Cha, and Water Margin. All highly entertaining authors and works, all unique in their own ways, with more than enough content to give you a fairly comprehensive feel for wuxia as a whole.
>>96712772Yeah, I really want to capture that RotK vibe, if that makes sense.
>>96712762>Mythic China with all the bullshit that comes with that: Evil eunuchs, tyrannical emperors, seductive court ladies, rebellious peasants, and the party roaming the world as wandering heroes who are constantly stirring up shit.Probably pick an era of Chinese history during the fall of a dynasty, they usually involve a combination of those, and learn about it for inspiration.>>96712772Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a good example of one such era, although RotK is less wandering heroes and more of a story of great men attempting to unite China and the struggle between them. Liu Bei and his followers were basically wandering warriors that started fighting yellow turban rebels as a militiaman, and slowly became more prominent as he bounced from serving lord to lord over the years.>>96712808Thunderbolt Fantasy is also good inspiration, especially if you want a higher fantasy wuxia (that doesn't involve cultivation) with magic, demons, and mystical creatures. I'm still disappointed Season 5 got canned and Season 4 was rushed.
>>96712840>Thunderbolt Fantasy is also good inspirationIt's a great show, maybe even one of the best, but it's severely lacking in chineseisms.
>>96712762Watching media based on the actual time period would do the trick.Granted, I imagine everyone else has already suggested the really shit like Water Margin or Romance of the Three Kingdoms, so I'm going to bite the bullet and turn in my man card by suggesting you consider watching a Chinese palace drama if you can stand it and/or find them subtitled. If you want authentic Chinese melodrama and social backstabbing in between all the gory battles and death poems, there's your prime genre of choice.
>>96712888*really good shit, natchThough now that I think of it, you could also catch any of the adaptations of The Legend of the Condor Heroes or Legend of the White Snake too. Those tend to be pretty good.
One thing you probably want to focus on to keep it "authentic" is to really emphasize NPCs (and ideally players) maintaining face/personal honor, especially when various oaths and loyalties intersect in ways that cannot coexist. Shit like "Your mentor and my mentor were sworn enemies, and as such we are sworn enemies, even though we both serve the same lord."That said, I can't think of any systems that particularly model that off the top of my head.
>>96712888Yeah pretty much, one of those concubine dramas are good.
For inspiration, the non-fiction book The Golden Peaches of Samarkand, is an excellent look at how nuts the Chinese tribute system were and treasures they valued.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjNpRbNdR7EWould you add elements of this era?
>>96712762Let's do it!https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Oq-Md4SbOshttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnSsgRJmsCchttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j4qVhOaRBSY
>>96712762Are you actually setting it in a historical China or just made up not!China?
>>96712843>chineseisms
>>96725924Probably just means some of the ridiculous slang and proverbs found in shitty cultivation novels
>>96725949Nice meme. I mean that sincerely.
>>96725924>>96725949It's not about the memes, it's about what these memes stem from. You have to learn this if you want to come off authentic.
>>96712762Are we talking authentic for the historical setting? Or authentic as in to the Wuxia genre?
>>96712762You know, the Chinese FMV game 'Road to Princess' is basically exactly what you're looking for, it's about Wu Zetian.
I'm going to be the guy to say it. Exalted 3e is perfect for this kind of game.
>>96731994no it isn't
>>96729924That's not really a Wuxia story, it's like saying Downtown Abby is a gritty WW1 epic
>>96731994Exalted is way too high powered for this kind of game. I've tried and it didn't really work out. You could do xianxia with Exalted, but not wuxia.
>>96712762>What do I have to keep in mind to make things feel 'authentic'?Delicious long pig meat buns.
>>96733041exalted isn't high powered at all
Pretty sure Righteous Blood, Ruthless Blades can help you out
>>96732053>Downtown Abby
>>96733750>Exalted is low powered>The game where every PC is imbued with a small shard of divinity and the basic splat has such achievements as literally ruling the world at one point and killing the primordial gods of the setting.I would call this bait, but that would denigrate actual bait.
>>96735470nogame buzzwordsin actual play the only time they're "broken" is if you abuse the shitty rules in unintended ways (none of which are taken into account by the setting's lore)
>>96735481Oh, you're one of those faggots that confuses a game's internal balance for actual power level. Yeah, sure, all the Exalts are broadly within the same power level, but that doesn't change the fact that they are literally supernatural demigods that can fight off mobs of mortals single-handedly. I guess as long as you don't use excellencies or any of your other charms, Exalted is low-powered, sure, but that's ignoring the basic premise of the game. Which I guess you would have known, if you actually played any edition of Exalted, even fucking Essence which is genuinely the closest that Exalted has ever gotten to low powered, mostly because they wrote it so that Dragonblooded can play alongside the Celestial Exalts and not be constantly mogged, and even then it's still pretty fucking high powered.
>>96733072You eat someone's concubine, ONE TIME, and you never get to live it down. Fuck man, you're like my arm; you know that right?
>>96735525>Oh, you're one of those faggots that confuses a game's internal balance for actual power levelnah that's you
Here's some games to look at:Wandering Heroes of Ogre GateRighteous Blood, Ruthless BladesFar WestIf you're the guy doing a concubine thriller in the Forbidden City then I can offer the idea of watching The Last Emperor.Pick up and read some books by Pearl S. Buck too.
>>96735535I accept your concession, nogames
>>96735551>>96735545Fuck, I was an asshole at the wrong anon. You're cool, concubine cannibal guy.
>>96735525>ExaltedWhite Wolf wrecked the hobby. Fuck those bastards forever.
>>96735525>excellenciesI get to be twice as good as a normal person for a few times a day, holy FUARKKKK such power!
>geography measured in billions and trillions of miles>heaven-defying cheat tools>tournament arcs>mystic realm arcs>more tournament arcs>auction arcs>outcast/amnesiac with famous father/mother/clan>x-colored, yin-yang, five-elements tribulation/divine lightning at regular intervals>impossibly beautiful female companion/weapon/spirit/rival/wife>blood spraying out of mouth>tumbling backwards x distance, like a kite with its string cut>intense sense of deadly crisis>jade-like skin/twin peaks/peerless beauty in every city/world/realm, each somehow more peerless than the last>x girl's primordial yin is a perfect cultivation furnace for young master y>x incense sticks of time>I, your father/grandfather am not someone you can afford to offend>trash believes he can jump cultivation levels to fight esteemed young master>I will give you this face today>frog in a well, could not recognize mt. tai, eyes but cannot see>you mildly inconvenienced me, so I will cripple your cultivation, kill your entire family and dig out your ancestor's graves>MC, you are going too far>don't know whether to laugh or cry>time it takes a spark to fly off a piece of flint>takes some time to describe, but happened in an instant>x flicking his sleeve>this cultivation ground in x world/realm is y times better than the one I just left, twice the results with half the effort>raping cute girls to cure their incurable illnesses>didn't know whether to laugh or cry>wry smile>time it takes for an incense stick to burn>trash from the XYZ clan!>her flawless white/jade-like skin>have eyes but cant see mt tai>the difference between heaven and earth>even though it takes a while to describe something, it happened within the span of a single breath/moment>bitter smile>young master, you dare?>I, your father/grandfather>you are courting death>how dare you not give me my face>spits blood/coughs up blood>arrogant young master
>>96735589>auction arcs>evil uncle/elder that wants to take over the clan/sect>mother is concubine that was bullied to death by main wife and was probably from famous sect/clan>awesome immediate family, shitty relatives>outer/inner/core disciples>sect contribution points>famous powerful mentor that saves the MC at the last minute1 - MC is eating at a restaurant when an arrogant young master arrives. Random side characters talk about how awesome the young master is, how he is one in a million, a dragon among men, yadda yadda.2 - Young master wants MC's table to which MC refuses causing random side characters to think MC is an idiot, and he is gonna get beaten up, crippled, yadda yadda.3 - Young master takes it as an insult, MC faceslap him, "You're courting death", random side characters talk.4 - Young master attacks, random side characters say MC will die, MC easily blocks.5 - "That was just luck, take this", random side characters say this time MC will die, MC blocks it once again.6 - "You have some ability, but this is the end of it. Take my ultimate attack" RSC say THIS time MC dies, MC Blocks once again.7 - "How is this possible!?", no one can believe their eyes, "Now taste my attack."8 - "MC may have some ability to defend, but defeating young master won't be that easy."9 - "My god, he defeated young master then crippled him. And MC took all his items and clothes to humiliate him. And the young master has a tiny little dick."10 - "How dare you do this to me, my uncle/father/grandfather will avenge this offense."Repeat 4 to 10 against uncle/father/grandfatherRinse and repeat when done, this time changing table at a restaurant for an item at an auction/an item at a shop/a rare treasure and add some heavenly beauties in between.Also, each paragraph was a chapter that you paid SS to read.
>>96735591Some mundane activities that are easy to do, but extremely difficult to do WELL. Can only be accomplished with insane amounts of Qi, Energy, Essence or Intents (whatever that means) and what-have-yous.Sitting down and meditating in hostile environments (extremely hot, extremely cold, infested with ghosts).Painting or practicing calligraphy. You think it's easy? Nope! Look at this letter "SWORD." Each stroke carries the sword intents of a warrior with thousands of years of experience! Just looking at this one character can make you level up eleventy times in sword use, and also makes you amazing in bed!Climbing a set of stairs. The higher you climb, the higher the pressure/ heat/ blah blah blah that will test your fortitude and willpower and whatchamacallit (I shit you not: Tales of Demons and Gods had like a dozen chapters just focusing on a stair-climbing competition).No matter how awesome or epic the description is, eventually you will sit back and realize you just watch a bunch of people doing inane shit and wonder why you wasted your time reading about them. Excellent entertainment value!Why do they gotta explain the entire cultivation process every couple chapters? That shit is retarded. Or, chapter starts, MC starts a sword swing, explains everything about sword from forging to enchants, explain years of practice of style of swing, sword connects, chapter ends. Wouldn't be so bad, except the previous 100 chapters explained all that in detail. Explaining the cultivation process over and over again is like if an alien were trying to write a story about humans, and felt the need to explain puberty ever 5 chapters, just in case you didn't understand it the first time it was explained.
>>96735597Your character is sitting down alone at a table, where dragons and snakes intermingle.An arrogant young master enters the establishment. Others present, including a peerless beauty with jade-like skin and eyes like limpid autumn water, comment on how the young master is a dragon among men, who produces clouds with one turn of the hand and rain with another.After tens breaths of time, the arrogant young master bares fangs and brandishes claws. The young master, as your character's grandfather, demands that your character vacate the table, lest your character court death.How does your character surmount these winds and waves, and overturn heaven and earth?
>>96735602there are two problems with the majority of chink shit (I still read the ones that avoid these problems tho):>1: cultivation is cancer.Worse than rpg systems. I could not give a fuck if grand junior elder young master dong is one of the top youngsters of the later outer ki grand blossoming heavenly soul stage and thus would normally destroy our protag, who is only of beginning inner ki grand budding heavenly body stageit's all fucking annoying. At least with rpg systems you get just "oh no he's level 40 and the protag is level 10" without the fucking grandiose prose.>2: the supporting cast is almost non-existantwhile reading jap light novels, the protag almost always is walking around with a friend/harem member who he can talk to, a lot of chink shit will spend 20 chapters in a row with nothing but the protag inner dialogue.>3: chinks are monsterstoo many chink protags are massive fucking assholes, and everyone who doesn't like them is portrayed as moustache-twirling villains>4: chinese love repeating phrasesyour grandaddy me is coughing blood after seeing all those maidens with jade-like skinjap novels also have the same problem, but I'll admit I'm a hipocrite and say for some reason "it can't be helped", "he's fast" and other jap cliches aren't as annoying to meThe chink novels that aren't xianxia tend to be much better, like amber sword, which while still having flaws, doesn't really have to deal with most of these
>>96735608I Shall Seal the Heavens has a word count of 3.3 million words.https://twitter.com/deathbladeissth/status/882429642346450945?lang=enFor comparison, the Wheel of Time has 4,082,987 words across 15 books.https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/6caja4/what_is_the_longest_fantasy_series_by_wordcount/What are the riveting developments to be found across ISSTH's 3.3 million words?https://i-shall-seal-the-heavens.fandom.com/wiki/Meng_Hao/CultivationQi Condensation First Layer — Chapter 3Qi Condensation Second Layer — Chapter 7Qi Condensation Third Layer — Chapter 9Qi Condensation Fourth Layer — Chapter 14Qi Condensation Fifth Layer — Chapter 22Qi Condensation Sixth Layer — Chapter 25Qi Condensation Seventh Layer — Chapter 44Qi Condensation Eighth Layer — Chapter 55Qi Condensation Ninth Layer — Chapter 71Qi Condensation Tenth Layer — Chapter 86Qi Condensation Eleventh Layer — Chapter 87Qi Condensation Twelfth Layer — Chapter 87Qi Condensation Thirteenth Layer — Chapter 88First Dao Pillar — Chapter 99Second Dao Pillar — Chapter 132Third Dao Pillar — Chapter 132Fourth Dao Pillar — Chapter 174Fifth Dao Pillar — Chapter 198Sixth Dao Pillar — Chapter 228Seventh Dao Pillar — Chapter 263Eighth Dao Pillar — Chapter 265Ninth Dao Pillar — Chapter 272Tenth Dao Pillar — Chapter 273Early Core Formation — Chapter 304Mid Core Formation — Chapter 338Late Core Formation — Chapter 386Wood - Greenwood Tree Totem — Chapter 409Metal - Golden Crow Totem — Chapter 432Fire - East Pill Everburning Flame Totem — Chapter 449Earth - Frost Soil Totem — Chapter 473Water (Life) - Blood Totem — Chapter 513Water (Death) - Violet Sea Totem — Chapter 521
>>96735613First Nascent Soul — Chapter 522Second Nascent Soul — Chapter 522Third Nascent Soul — Chapter 522Fourth Nascent Soul — Chapter 522Fifth Nascent Soul — Chapter 522Sixth Nascent Soul — Chapter 523Seventh Nascent Soul — Chapter 527Eighth Nascent Soul — Chapter 603Ninth Nascent Soul — Chapter 626First Spirit Severing — Chapter 677Second Spirit Severing — Chapter 693I am not going to bother with the rest. There are a total of 1,614 chapters.https://i-shall-seal-the-heavens.fandom.com/wiki/Bag_of_holding>Bags with varying inner storage. It is a spatial storage bag that cultivators use to store pills, magical items, scriptures, spirit stones, herbal plants and other miscellaneous items related to cultivation.>Bag of Cosmos - substantially bigger than a bag of holding; inner storage is big enough to store a mountainNever forget that Meng Hao has something as utilitarian as a Bag of Holding.
>>96735615For what it's worth, a lot of the more recent novels are derivative. They're the equivalent of what those awful LitRPG novels are to fantasy novels. For instance, a really old martial arts novel that was adapted into 'Secret Battles of His Majesty' had a monk who tried to learn a martial art that would let him assassinate the king. He manages to, after tremendous suffering.It turns out that the ultimate martial art gives him a single month to live. He storms the capital, battles his master (who sided with the Emperor) to near-death, and they agree to fight together to kill the tyrant. When they burst into his room, they're both promptly killed by his (formerly unseen) bodyguard, a sexy female martial artist held back for just this eventuality. The series ends with their deaths and his ascension to the throne, whereupon he rules harshly but justly for fifty years.
>>96735616Most modern Wuxia is shit. WTF happened. Golden Harvest, Shaw Brothers, and now our modern drivel? Sad times...
>>96712762>wuxia>cultivationFuck's the difference
>>96735616What the fuck, this is actually a post I made years ago. Is the bumpfag literally dredging up old posts now?
>>96735672You didn't notice when despite the thread being about running a wuxia game all his posts are about xanxia and specifically cultivation webnovels?
>>96736000People hear chinese and pic related flashes before their eyes.
A wise anon once pointed out that if you manage to implement the Chinese cultural concept of face (面子, miànzǐ) right, you may very well have (Western) dragons and kobolds instead of a xia and pearl-jade beauties, but the game would already feel Chinese.You would need a willing suspension of Western manners and morals because this is the ancient Chinese (and East Asian) art of making a big deal out of the most unimportant shit. *kills you over a disrespectful glance*>>96735664By cultivation people mean usually mean xianxia. Protagonists in xianxia attain a way higher power level.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3O3xlh-P1Uc&t=2m29shttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKGd5GUxQ_w&t=52shttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fi_ZHeb2YUE&t=43shttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ub1cpd2Qg90&t=2m21s>>96736000There's a selection of tropes and phrases that can be found in wuxia too in there, then again one would have to know what they're looking at.
>>96735525>supernatural demigods that can fight off mobs of mortals single-handedlyThat's literally what the Kung Fu warriors do in Wuxia stories. There are charms that let you srand atop trees or run along small wires. There's charms that will let you read by touching the ink on a parchment. That's basically the power level of a wuxia warrior.
>>96712762Wuxia has a lot of emphasis on interpersonal relationships. Being torn between love and duty is classic. Meeting as children, forgetting the encounter, and meeting again as rivals-turned-potential-lovers is also classic.
>>96736149Some anon posted this guide to the jianghu and wulin a long time ago, I pass it on to you.Also, Wandering Sword is a great wuxia vidya. Absolutely worth playing and perfectly captures the feel of the genre.
>>96736156That's the anon I meant in >>96736100 when talking about face.
>>96735608>all chinks are massive fucking assholes, and everyone who doesn't like them is portrayed as moustache-twirling villainsAs someone who both lives in Asia and reads a lot of chinese novels, I have corrected the statement for you.The Chinese are a nightmare, it's an entire society of brainwashed leftists who lust after capital, power and nouveau riche decadence that they claim to distain.The Chinese have a weird mix of a superiority complex and inferiority complex - partly this comes from living in a totalitarian state, partly this is a psychology inherent to the Chinese as a culture.The average Chinese has a distorted view of their own importance in the world and when confronted by something that opposes this view reacts like a toddler - they throw a tantrum either emotional or violent.Also this:>>96736100> You would need a willing suspension of Western manners and morals because this is the Chinese (and East Asian) art of making a big deal out of the most unimportant shit. *kills you over a disrespectful glance*The Western concept of morality is basically alien to the Chinese. The Koreans and Japanese adopted western morality and norms with Asiatic style - which is why their media is more 'normal' to western audiences. This is because the Japanese and Koreans have had a fairly long time to westernise. The Chinese resisted westernisation and then murdered everyone who was two western in the 1900s and again in the 1950s-60s.The Chinese, particularly their business and political class have a tendency to act like the robber barons of the Victorian era/Belle Epoch - except the Astors, Vanderbilts and their ilk at least abided by contracts and had the moral shame to at least attempt acts of charity.You should read some of their novels set in the 70s and 80s to really learn to hate them properly.
>>96736100>>96736297The US government apparently is trapped in a mimetic conflict with Chyna.
>>96736297>it's an entire society of brainwashed leftists who lust after capital, power and nouveau riche decadence that they claim to distain.What do you mean by leftist? Like they lust after wealth but are unwilling to work for it?
>>96712762Before D&D 3e, there was a prototype specifically made for wuxia games, posted for free by TSR, I think it was called Dragon Fist. If you can find it, it could probably give you some ideas.
