I'm planning on creating a china-based setting for my campaign but I realise that I know basically nothing about it. What sort of things should I incorporate into my setting to make it interesting for my players?
All I have right now is the idea that it'll have a wuxia-esque setting and everything beyond that (ancient china, modern china, how high the fantasy is, the plot, etc) seems to require for me to already have a steady understanding of the entire culture of china.
Basically, what tips would you have for me in terms of running this quest? Should I first get a comprehensive idea of the values, customs and general knowledge of China? Or should I just get a hang of the terminology and just create whatever from there? Would it be better to create everything from scratch or should I build things off of already existing factions / events?
Find a copy of Legends of the Wulin or Weapons of the gods. they give excellent pointers for this type of game. GURPS China is also useful, having less rules and more "how the fuck do I run this" information.
Ryan Nguyen
Also, that whole "scream of rage and hot blooded power to defeat the enemy?" That's Japan, not China. In China, defeatign the enemy is about takign time out to train hard, learn things,. and prepare the shit out of yourself so you can defeat them. Hotblooded idiots are considered idiots and suicidal foolish in Chinese culture, especially in Wuxia.
James Young
While the system is a mess, Legends of the Wulin is a pretty good fluff primer on Wuxia, giving you a lot of cultural context as well as a list of sources and inspirations which are basically all good shit.
Pic related is also great, although more in depth than you necessarily need for a campaign it's good to pull bits and pieces from.
Brandon Wright
Damn, already posted!
/thread then
Ryan King
I should note that Legends of the Wulin blends together a lot of the separate 'layers' of the world, mixing elements from the low and high wuxia layers, along with a sprinkling of Xianxia at the higher ranks of play. Some people have claimed that this is inauthentic, but it kinda makes sense to me as a way of making it a consistent setting where all the key elements are available for players to interact with.
Nicholas Howard
In terms of moral values, be absurdly evil, but speak occasionally about righteousness. You will now be on parwith basically every Chinese hero.
Angel Rogers
The thing is, it's more about holding true to a code, even if you're an evil fucker. If you're insanely evil, you should still be - basically - Lawful Evil and classy.
Jonathan Scott
>you should still be - basically - Lawful Evil and classy
Bonus points if you look like this motherfucker.
Jayden Brown
This is of my interest as well, though not necessarily for a campaign. Mostly I want to know how to make it look and feel distinctly and specifically Chinese, and not just generally Asian ish, that people would be able to get.
Adrian Gray
You might look at Qin the Warring States, Legends of the Wulin or another wuxia RPG for background, or binge on the glorious old Shaw Bros wuxia movies. In fact, you should binge on the Shaw Bros movies. They're ace.
Benjamin Stewart
The problem with calling it 'evil' is that you're interpreting it from a western perspective, when the chinese view is very different.
LotW sums it up quite nicely with its Virtues, which are split into Chivalrous and Selfish virtues. Some are what you expect, others might surprise you-
It's an interesting thing to look at and consider. Obsession is easier to understand, but that the very idea of Individualism is seen as a selfish thing is an odd thing. Although it makes sense when you look at the other side of the list and see that between Honour and Loyalty, your duty and your code is often something you're supposed to put ahead of compassion.
Adam Harris
The core kernel of the idea I had was for a world where opposites work in harmony. When coming up with a world where that would make sense, something Chinese inspired made a lot of sense as a lot of people know and ar familiar with the concept of yin and yang. But it's tough as the setting I want to build for already has both a Japanese world and a just generally Asian world, in which there is in fact a shaolin/wuxia like faction among others like Mongols, Persians, etc. So I guess the question, in this instance, is a world specifically based on just China deep enough?
Dylan Foster
A long time ago I ran across this huge ass write up about Wuxia, its history, and how it relates to Dragon Ball.
It provides a lot of context for the cliches and tropes that Wuxia has and is a lot more than an essay about Dragon Ball.
I want to do something similar but the problem is it seems there are no options beyond weapons of god and Wulin, are they really the only martial arts RPG, or at least the best we have?
Camden Campbell
They're not the only options. Feng Shui, Wushu and Tianxia are all options on the lighter end.
I adore Legends of the Wulin, but the system has some serious fucking issues. Unless your group enjoy interacting with complex sets of mechanics and you're prepared to put in some work deciphering and tweaking it, you're probably better off with the lighter alternatives.
I'm currently working on my attempt at a simplified, clarified LotW, but it's progressing about as fast as most projects on Veeky Forums seem to.
Nathan Evans
Id say find what about China makes it different from your typical RPG setting i.e. Medieval Europe?
Jeremiah Harris
Casters and martials are the same thing now
Charles Sanders
No, actually. Daoist Sorcerers and Xia have very different capabilities, both in terms of what they can do and the metaphysical reasons behind them.
It's only true if you make the whole 'Martials = realistic, Casters = no limits' assumption, which is always dumb.
Samuel Wilson
Bump out of interest
Jace Green
...
Noah Williams
Grand tournament is the best place to have your pcs to meet up i'd say. Proud and ambitious young men and women eager to make his/her name, honour their factions/teachers, and meet like minded people. It's hundred times better than bland "you're in the same tavern...".
John Cox
Great to see people liked this. Thank you.
Henry Phillips
There's also Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate. It's PWYW at drivethru.
Mason Ortiz
>Feng Shui And HKAT. The Triad supplement is very good, if a little thin.
Chase Rogers
Glad to know you're still around! It's always nice to have people on Veeky Forums who actually know their shit.
Andrew Sullivan
Read a bunch of wuxia/xianxia web novels, OP. Most of them are trash, and are actually more like cultivation stories (xiuzhen, according to that guys post), but these should give you a general idea on how Chinese-style fantasy works. Plus, some of them are pretty decent, if you're looking for some light reading.
Or you could read about taoism, since most xianxia stories base their "magic" systems on that.
Wyatt Martinez
Modesty apart, I really know a lot of shit. Here's the list:
