HEAVENLY FRAGRANCE SESSION TWO

This was the second session of my Heavenly Fragrance Campaign, a living adventure prepared using tools and procedures discussed in the Wuxia Sandbox blog posts. This campaign is intended to play as a sandbox but with more dramatic elements. It is a two player campaign where run in what I call "Condor Heroes Mode", where characters begin with only one Kung Fu technique, their family background established and connected to the setting, and using a level advancement system based on encounters with higher level masters who train them. It also makes use of a campaign Shake-Up table, rolled once each session, to manage an unfolding background situation (see STATE OF THE MARTIAL WORLD). I will include footnotes to explain what procedures were invoked during play. The campaign is set in Fan Xu, largely using the Sons of Lady 87 book. 

CHARACTERS

Bao Long: An orphaned street urchin who was adopted by Lady Eighty-Seven's son, Guan Shisu after he came to the aid of Guan Shisu's daughter, Little Guan Hua. All he knows about his background is that his mother died when he was young. Bao Long has been taught some martial arts by Lady Eighty-Four, Yuhuan. Bao Long is a bit dim-witted but tough. 

Little Guan Hua: The daughter of Guan Shisu and the disciple of Guan Nuan. Little Guan Hua is cowardly and feeble, but intelligent. 

A PLUM BLOSSOM SINKS IN THE RIVER 

The party finished training with their new teacher, Dancing Corpse Wan Mei, who instructed them to go and seek information on Fan Batu, then meet her in Tung-on in one month. Little Guan Hua had heard from a contact in the martial world that Fan Batu was staying at the Swallow's Nest Inn in Gao Cun, so they decided to head there. They departed and found passage on a merchant vessel called the Wild Cricket. They secured passage in exchange for Bao Long performing labor (his first task was to clean the deck of the ship). 

Onboard they spotted a woman in purple robes with three disciples. She sat in a chair staring at the water and her disciples stood at attention. 

Little Guan Hua tried to get their attention and approached, offering them complimentary bath beans. Her conversation irked the woman who said "You are not worthy to converse with me."

Just as the lady was about to turn to go below deck, Little Guan Hua placated her with some sweet language and secured a smile. She then followed in secret to give them a gift but overheard the woman talking about Dancing Corpse Queen. She used words like 'malicious' 'cruel' and a 'menace'*. Not thinking much of it, Little Guan Hua returned to the deck, but later came back, again overhearing conversation, but this time it appeared the lady was plotting to kill Dancing Corpse Wan Mei. 

Talking with Bao Long they decided to do something about it. Little Guan Hua went into the deck and searched, discovering that the real cargo was secreted celestial plume. Understanding the principles of ship building, she sabotaged the keel when the ship was briefly docked in a small town to unload some crates. Then they snuck off the ship and followed on foot to see what would happen. 

Within thirty minutes the ship sank, collapsing violently into the river. Some of the crew drowned but a number escaped. The woman and one of her disciples dragged two bodies from the river. It seemed that her two other disciples had drowned. They followed as the woman and her disciple walked on foot to Fan carrying the bodies with them. 

From there they went to Gao Cun and arrived at the gates of the city. 

*I discussed this in my post the State of the Party. This session they rolled a fated encounter with Lady Plum Blossom on the shake up table so I drew on my own example. 

WUXIA INSPIRATION: RAINING IN THE MOUNTAIN

This is part of a series I started when working on Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate, reviewing wuxia films and discussing their relevance to tabletop RPGs. I am a little rusty on these written reviews and my last one was a little long winded, so I am going to aim for brevity on this one. 

If you want to bring wuxia to your RPG table, try Righteous Blood Ruthless Blades or Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate. 

Note: I am writing these as a fan of the genre. I am not a movie expert or an expert in asian cinema. These are my own observations based on what I have learned by watching wuxia and kung fu movies, and by reading about them through interviews and books. But my knowledge is quite limited and I am an English speaker. So understand that my commentary comes from this perspective.  

This review contains many spoilers.

RAINING IN THE MOUNTAIN 

Raining in the Mountain is a 1979 Taiwanese film directed and written by King Hu and filmed in South Korea. It is something of a companion piece to Legend of the Mountain, which was filmed in the same year and location. The movie stars Hsu Feng (White Fox), Tung Lin (Chiu Ming), Sun Yueh (Esquire Wen An), Paul Chun Pui (Hui Ssu), Shih Chun (Hui Tung), Tien Feng (General Wang), Wu Chia-Hsiang (Master Wu Wai), and Chin Chang-Ken (the Abbot). Ng Ming-Choi, who also plays Chin Suo in the movie, did the action choreography and martial arts direction. 

Raining in the Mountain was not the movie I expected. Especially after seeing the King Hu films leading up to this one, I had thought it would be much heavier on the action. Instead it is much more dialogue and intrigue driven. Set in a remote temple in the mountains, the Abbot has invited three patrons (a general, a lay buddhist and a wealthy landowner) to visit prior to his retirement and help him choose a successor. But this temple houses an original copy of an ancient sutra that some of these people want for themselves. And it also is home to monks scheming for the position of head Abbot. One of the Abbot's guests has brought thieves to do his dirty work and steal the sutra.  

The temple setting feels very real. It strikes an interesting balance of reverence for the Buddhist ideas, but respect for making the people in the temple very earthbound and fallible. One of the delightful things about the movie is you never know quite who to root for. And you aren't ever fully invested in rooting against anyone. Different characters at different points display virtue and vice. There are certainly some characters who stand above that, but it takes time to know who they truly are and even the most nefarious characters in the movie gain our sympathy when they meet an untimely demise. 

And Hu provides an interesting array of people that kept me invested. While there are lofty and virtuous characters, most of the main protagonists are scoundrels. It reminded me a bit of Duel for Gold in that sense. Part of this I am sure is due to the premise of a heist set in a temple. 

The characters are sharply drawn and memorable. It is a movie filled with thieves, plotting monks, ex-convicts and corrupt officials. But they are also colorful. One character for example is an exemplary lay Buddhist, named Master Wu Wai, who has come to help advise the Abbot to choose his successor and one of the characters observes he is so immune to desires of the flesh that he surrounds himself with a retinue of beautiful attendants*. It is unclear initially to the viewer if he is truly so virtuous or if he is an "old lech" as White Fox suggests. 

Other movies by King Hu, such as A Touch of Zen, get into similar Chan Buddhist themes, but Raining in the Mountain felt particularly focused on the subject. At times I found it to be quite moving on that level, and highly effective. In A Touch of Zen the spiritual theme of the film is largely conveyed through action and broad strokes of the story, here it is done primarily through the characters. 

But it is also a movie about the corruption of institutions, political, social and religious. And it levels a critique at the pretensions of virtue and holiness. There is a well done scene with a large group of monks being led in meditation on a river, as the Wu Wai's attendants bathe nearby. There is sharp cutting back and forth between the women bathing themselves and the monks desperate reactions as they can't help but catch a glimpse, until they are admonished by Master Wu Wai's gaze. And this is the just the most minor and humorous aspect of the human failings taking place within the sangha. We see monks plotting against rivals, helping thieves steel a priceless sutra in exchange for a recommendation as the Abbot's successor, smuggling food into the temple, and even planning murder. 

Ultimately the temple is a very human place with all the pettiness and political manipulation that entails. However there are characters who stand above this and prove more in tune with the teachings the temple promotes. Because so much of the film's effectiveness rests on discovering more about the characters, I don't want to spoil that with specifics here. But there is one figure who truly rises above the others and endeared himself to me. I found this interesting because he is actually quite aspirational, but it is all done within a film that is showing us the very human failings of this institution (so you never are quite sure if he is truly this pure). I don't know if it was intentional or not, but again I found some of the spiritual features of the movie, in particular through this character, to be quite touching at times. It also made me curious about Hu's aim with the film, something I won't pretend to have an answer for here/ He simply made me want to know more about what he thought as he made Raining on the Mountain and why he made it).

And ultimately no one seems above earthly considerations. Even one of the film's most noble character is subject to the realities of monastic politics when he must consider using the sacred sutra as collateral to take out a loan in order to satisfy a rebellion of monks tormented by one of his rivals. 

Yet in the end, what stood out to me was the way Hu handles the theme of atonement. It felt earnest and is the aspect of Raining in the Mountain I found most emotionally powerful. It is handled poignantly through the character of Chiu Ming, a convict sentenced to serve in the army who paid for a permit to become a monk. His character embodies most of the themes of the movie as well, as his backstory involves all the corruption seen on display at the temple, but he comes to best represent the teachings of the sacred sutra the thieves are after. I loved Tung Lin's performance he as it is subtle and believable. His character undergoes the biggest transformation in the film, and the change is evident while the essence of the character remains very much the same. He is changed but unchanged as his standing in the temple shifts over time. And the actor and camera together capture this transformation perfectly. 

I also felt this with the White Fox character played by Hsu Feng. She is less noble than Chiu Ming, but interesting because she is a thief who finds a certain amount of redemption. Much of the time we see her leaping and rushing through the halls of the temple seeking to steal the sutra, but every so often she sees or hears something that gives her pangs of conscience and she takes more noble actions. There seems to be an awakening of morality in the character, that restrains but never defeats her greed. In a way her story is a parallel to Chiu Ming's in that they were both once apprehended the same official, but whereas Chiu Ming is not guilty, yet reformed, she is guilty but begins a process of reformation by the end of the film. At least that was my impression of things. I think Raining on the Mountain is the sort of movie that lends itself well to discussion and debate about the characters and what it all meant. I could see other people having very different reads on each of the characters. 

The movie does require patient viewing. It isn't as long as some other King Hu films, but it takes time to unfold the story, and much of the story is told at a leisurely pace. I rather enjoyed this aspect of it because I like Kung Hu's use the screen. 

While martial arts feature into the story, it would be misleading to call this a martial arts film in the normal sense. Martial arts are involved, it takes place in a world that seems connected to the martial world, but the focus is really on an unfolding play of intrigue and awakening in a temple. Because of the location, the martial artists present must use restraint. So much of what occurs on temple grounds revolves around movement, leaping, bounding and chasing. There are also some exchanges of blows but most of these are light, with the exception of one clumsy attempt at murder. There is a wit to many of these action sequences, and their lightness makes for pleasant viewing. 

Once they leave the temple, there is an extended chase-fight in the forest and here things become more grave. It makes for a more shocking transition to have most of the fights preceding this feel lower stakes, more like polite slap battles over the sutra. While the body count of this movie is low, and there are probably far more leaps and jumps than punches and kicks, it manages to be more discomforting than if there were dozens or hundreds dead by the end. Sometimes one or two deaths lends more impact to the violence. 

There is something gentle about King Hu movies I quite like in terms of movement. And I don't quite know how to express it clearly in words, but a lot of the movie feels processional, in a very literal sense. Characters walk a lot and move. And it isn't boring to watch them do so. It helps you get a sense of place and the flow makes for some of the more fantastic looking shots. 

Raining in the Mountain is a beautiful film. King Hu not only directed but did the art design and film editing. Every frame feels well composed and elements like the costuming really stand out. The costumes are remarkable not just for the color contrast they provide (there are some amazing scenes with dozens of praying monks that are captivating for this reason) but for the sense of weight and movement they create. In some of the action sequences, especially the ones involving stealth, the flow and look of the robes are so perfect and enhance everything. The whole movie just looks perfectly arranged by the director. 

This is probably not a movie that everyone will enjoy. If you come seeking something action packed, this probably won't be your cup of tea, but if you don't mind something a little more subdued, more focused on drama and intrigue, with action on the periphery and in the finale, then this might be a film you would like. Personally I like Raining in the Mountain a lot. I do recommend it. While I normally do like  a lot of action, the effectiveness of the intrigue and the love I developed for the characters, made me more invested in the finale. I found I had to watch and rewatch it after seeing it, so for me that is definitive with a movie. 

TAKING IT TO THE TABLE

This movie has so much a GM can draw from, which was a surprise to me, as I usually get more broad inspiration for adventures from King Hu. But here you will find the attention to the inner workings of a temple, its politics, the thieves come to rob an ancient sutra and the manner in which the sutra is guarded and protected to all be helpful. This could very easily be turned into a scenario and done from a variety of angles. 

The first thing I find useful is the physical culture of the movie. You get a real sense of how the temple scripture hall is laid out, how books are stored, how the doors are locked, guarded, etc. For any adventure involving the potential theft of a manual or sacred scripture, this provides a strong blueprint for the necessary elements and challenges. 

You also get a clear impression of the temple geography. And this would be very useful I think to any GM trying to turn a map or picture of a temple into something more lived in. It also provides a sense of some of the more byzantine structures within the temple that could be used for exploration purposes. 

On top of that, the movie brings the temple to life with its politics and the intrigue around the appointing of a new Abbot. This is something that could certainly be a backdrop for an adventure. I also think the emphasis on everything occurring in a sacred place where bloodshed must be avoided. It can enable characters to have conflicts with opponents where they have to rely more on deception and wits, and any fighting needs to be done bloodlessly and with care. 

And of course it has the Sutra as the central object of desire. A wuxia heist adventure, or a wuxia sutra protecting adventure is certainly something you could get watching this movie. 

*I wasn't sure if these were nuns, but they are called such in the commentary track so I will use that language in this review. I am assuming they are lay nuns but I don't know enough about the topic. 

PATHS FROM NOWHERE SESSION FOUR

This is a sandbox campaign for Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate, operating in "Condor Heroes Mode". I used a lot of the procedures described in the wuxia sandbox posts. This is a campaign with three players. Before the campaign started we spent time establishing their family connections, rolling randomly for both their mothers and fathers (normally only one parent is randomly rolled, but in this case we wanted characters with potentially scandalous backgrounds). These characters each started play with just one Kung Fu Technique. 

CHARACTERS

XIANG GUIYING: The daughter of Jade Fist of Twin Fisted Eagle sect and Pale Fox, a notorious bandit. She is seeking pelts from Pearl Tigers. She is beautiful but wears a disguise to hide this from others. 

ZHENG BAO: Short and burly, he is the son of Zhang San of Bone Breaking Sect and of Reckless Storm. However San is married to Chen and has maintained the presence that Bao is Chen's son. Unfortunately due to crucial background information, Chen knows that Bao cannot be his son so is distant. Zheng Bao's uncle, Bone Breaker, is fond of him. He is seeking the Thousand Painful Deaths Flower to please his uncle. 

PAN JU (MOGHA): The son of the Witch of Zhaoze Zhou and Nergui Mogha, Pan Ju grew up in the Kushen Basin but has returned to the Banyan and Hai'an, where he knows his mother resides. 

PARTING WAYS 

After weeks of training with Hero Feng the party decided to part ways. Guiying told him that she wished to travel and practice the kung fu her 'father' had taught on the road. 

"But daughter," He said, "I had hoped to take you with me to confront Madame Wu."

When Guiying asked who Madame Wu was, he explained that he had a grudge with Madame Wu Dongmei, a notorious assassin and proprietor of the Autumn Inn. He had killed one of her friends, Copper Lobster, in a duel and this had led to a feud.

Art by Jackie Musto 

"I am not ready father," Guiying said. "But I will hopefully grow in power in my travels and return here so we can take on Madame Wu together."

Hero Feng agreed to this arrangement. Before leaving Zheng Bao asked him if there were any manuals of note in the region. Hero Feng told him about several he knew of, including the Silver Spear Manual, which Zheng Bao asked to learn more about. 

"All I know is it is in Hening, and in the possession of the head of the the Silver Spear School, Spear Immortal Xiang Di."

The party then sought a caravans in need of protection to help them find their way to Hening. They were hired by the Silent Erhu Society who agreed to take them on as an escort. 

When the party reached Hening Guiying discovered that the Autumn Inn was located in town. They decided to split, Pan Ju and Guiying would go to the Autumn Inn, while Zheng Bao would go to the Silver Spear School. 

THE SPEAR IMMORTAL 

At the school, Zheng Bao found the master teaching line drills to his students. He spoke to the master, Spear Immortal Xiang Di and told him he was interested in learning their techniques. When he mentioned that he was Bone Breaker's Nephew, Spear Immortal Xiang Di expressed admiration for his uncle and became very friendly. After seeing a minor demonstration of Zhang Bao's technique he told Zheng Bao to return in the morning early for training. 

"We do live training drills, against fully resisting opponents, so be ready," he said. 

THE AUTUMN INN 

Guiying and Ju went to the Autumn Inn where they found Madame Wu Dongmei, a stern looking woman with a scar extending from forehead to chin. Guiying approached and introduced herself saying "I am Xiang Guiying, daughter of Pale Fox and I wish to be your student Madame Wu."

Madame Wu pointed to a table. Guiying sat down and the waitresses brought tea.

"I am Mrs. Wu Dongmei, and I would like to know more, before considering you. Do you follow your in your mother's footsteps?"

"I am loyal to my mother, and she has taught me a few things, but I do not wish to be a bandit."

Mrs. Wu nodded and said "Good, because I only take on students who are righteous and only send my students to kill for righteous causes."

A waitress presented an Ox Tail Dao and Mrs. Wu retrieved it, placing it before Guiying. "This is the weapon you will use. Come with me to the courtyard where I will tell you more. 

In the courtyard, Mrs. Wu explained she was a former student of Lady White Blade, and a member of her elite squad, the Flying Phantoms. She would take Guiying on as a student, and train her to be one of her Autumn Killers, and teach her the Flying Phantoms slicing sword technique. She refused to take on Ju as a student, because she didn't feel her techniques were appropriate for men to learn, but she agreed to provide Ju with training in other martial arts she had learned and to take him on as a chef for the inn. 

THE BLOODY DRILLS OF XIAN DI 

When Zheng Bao returned to the Silver Spear School, Spear Immortal Xiang Di was waiting with some men and had black face coverings for everyone to wear and black uniforms. A carriage pulled into the courtyard and they all got inside. 

"We are going to the hills just outside town," Said Xiang Di. "Conceal your face with the cloth and follow along."

In the hills they waited by some rocks. 

"A tea caravan is passing through in the next few hours," Said Xiang Di. "I will approach them, attack on my signal."

Understanding this was a robbery, Zheng Bao followed Spear Immortal with the others when the caravan approached. It was protected by about 8 men. 

Xiang Di strode directly toward the head of the caravan and said "We are the Black Spear Gang, and demand all your goods. If you don't give us what we want, we will kill you to the last man!"

The soldiers protecting the caravan rushed forward and a melee ensued. Xiang Di and his men made short work of them, slitting their throats with their spear tips. Zheng Bao managed to snap the neck of a soldier with his spear shaft. When it was done they came away with several bricks of black tea and 3 bricks of Dragon Tea. 

Spear Immortal was very pleased with Zheng Bao's performance and told him he could join their school. 

WUXIA SANDBOX: PINNING IT DOWN

This is part of my Wuxia Sandbox series. You can see the previous post HERE. These are all primarily written with Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate and Righteous Blood, Ruthless Blades in mind but can be applied to most wuxia RPG campaign where sandbox is the focus. This series discusses a wide variety of methods and procedures I use. These should be regarded as tools, not as required steps in building a sandbox. I may use all, some or none for any given campaign. Every time I run a campaign, I take a slightly different approach based on what the needs of the current campaign are. 

The purpose of this blog series isn't to set up proscriptive procedures. It is simply to give people a better idea how I run my wuxia sandbox campaigns. 

My view on wuxia in RPGs is every GM has their own take on the genre, their own sensibilities about how to best bring it to the gaming table. This is true of any genre, but with wuxia it seems especially the case. Please do not take my advice as definitive in any way. Watch and read wuxia for yourself and form your own conclusions. What works for one GM, will completely miss the point for another. 

THE ART OF PINNING IT DOWN 

One of the reasons I like to run sandboxes, is I want player choices to matter. I don't want the illusion of choice and I don't want a campaign that feels like I might as well just hand my players my notes so they can see what is on tap for the evening. I want a game where choices matter and choices drive the direction of the campaign. I also want a world that is always expanding beyond prepared material. One very useful tool is what I call 'pinning it down'. 

This is nothing new, nor is it anything I invented. It is basic note taking. But it is important. Obviously you have things prepared for the setting prior to play but players always go beyond what you have planned. You may have a heavily mapped out city but if the players throw you a curve ball and ask if there is a poetry society in town, and one likely would exist, you will need to flesh that out. But this presents a fork in the road, especially if you decide there is more than one in town. So you need to pin down your details in your notes the moment there is any hint of this coming up then stick to that pin. 

For example they are seeking a crazed killer and famed poet named Divine Calligrapher Zhu. He has killed several of the party's acquaintances and seems to have it in for them. And so they seek a poetry society in order to find a lead. Once they mention a desire to do this, you start making Poet Societies in your notes. These don't need to be magnificent, you just need something to grab hold of. And you want to establish the key facts prior to them arising in play. 

Start by jotting down names: 

The Society of Bao, The Four Wonders Association, and the Crimson Moon Society. 

Then you decide very quickly what any of them know. Since they are poets and you aren't trying to make things difficult you have each one know something of value. So you write down: 

Society of Bao-Heard that Divine Calligrapher was staying at an inn in Mai Cun, The Four Wonders Association-Knows that Divine Calligrapher Passes the Lucky Mountain Gambling Hall for a week of drinking every fall, The Crimson Moon Society-Knows knows that Divine Calligrapher is good friends with Fox Poet Hu. 

You then need to decide who the head of the poet society is, just a name will do with some basic motives, but importantly if any of these organizations would either obstruct the party or be difficult in handing out information. So you write: 

The Society of Bao is led by Poet Wan; greedy and desperate for funds. 

So not only will he require some kind of fiscal compensation he may act like he knows more than he does to get more money from the party. You then write: 

The Four Wonders association, led by Gao Yitai. He is is a prolific poet and is always looking for inspiration

From this you can deduce he wants nothing more than to learn about the party so he may incorporate their exploits into his works. Next you scribble, trying something a little more nefarious: 

Crimson Moon Society, led by Scarlet Dart Wuqing, Qi rank 4 Martial Expert, admires the poetry of Divine Calligrapher and wicked 

To get information from him will take the use of force or some other form of coercion. And it is likely given his admiration and his wickedness, he will try to lure the party into a trap to curry favor with the poet. Also you make a note that once the players go somewhere, word may spread to the other poet associations. Ideally with time, you are putting all these kinds of details together in a single scribbled block in your notes the moment any organization like this comes up (the above are all written out for clarity but in my notes I take all kinds of short cuts to make things compact and fast). 

The value of this is it really does make players choices matter. And it matters because you are delving deeper into he world as they probe the setting more. The GM making the setting is crucial but equally important is the players exploring unmapped places. Even places on the map have unmapped areas. You may have had the region and city mapped out but no poetry societies. 

Even in a relatively small location like the above where the players are simply choosing where to go, these decisions are important because who they go to first may determine if a villain like Scarlet Dart Wuqing is alerted to the presence and able to plan a trap easily, it may also matter in the above scenario because time might be a consideration when trying to find a killer (often in these kinds of scenarios the longer it takes the party to track a murderer down the more people die). And some of this information may be more accurate or current so it can impact the success of their efforts if they follow the first lead they obtain. 

This also matters because it makes the locations concrete before the players arrive. You have given yourself handholds so you aren't just making it up as you go. You are improvising and making things up on the fly, but when the players arrive at the Crimson Moon Society, you will have a solid idea of what that actually is. And this is an important process of world expansion. It is one of the things that makes the difference between a static exploration of maps and GM notes and a world that is alive and unlimited. 

GENERATING SETTING ON THE FLY

I don't know why but writing stuff down gives me more confidence than just making it up out loud. What I mean by this is if the players go into a restaurant and say they want to find the toughest looking man there. You suddenly need to know who that is. You can just say "Yes there is a tough guy by the door, drinking Emerald Phoenix Wine". And that can work. But if you note down just a few concrete details, I find it leads to better interactions and stronger sense of the world being real. This is another use of pinning it down. 

And you don't need much, but you at least need a name, Qi rank, basic martial arts abilities, personality and goals. Again, this doesn't have to be brilliant. The more you do it, the better the material will get. But you should just force yourself to pick things. Write some notes like this: 

Steel Fingers Yang, Qi Rank 3, Neigong 3, Waijia 1, Finger Flick, Stone Shattering Finger, Red Claw Strike (2d10 in all relevant skills, Hardiness 8); looking for his daughter Yue. In a bad mood because he learned she was kidnapped by The Ferrel Bat. 

It might seem like this would take too long to jot down but once you formulate your own shorthand for these things and once you have practice it becomes second nature and pinning these kinds of details to the page makes the encounter so much better than if you are just coming up with those details as they arise in conversation. For me, it has become rather easy to populate a restaurant with a number of noteworthy patrons like the one above (which creates a better sense of a world inhabited by real people). 

You also have everything written down so you know what to do. What I have there isn't complete character, but it is enough for me to run basic combat should that arise. I can intuit the remaining details from what I have written. Sometimes I even come up with a quick signature kung fu technique and jot that down too:

Steel Finger Strike: Stab fingers at -1d10 into chest. On success does 1d10 damage and 1 Extra wound. Cathartic: 3 Extra Wounds and drains 1 Hardiness for a week. 

Coming up with kung fu techniques on the fly is very important in a wuxia sandbox. Characters in the genre aren't just a personality. Characterization includes things like skillsets, which often are extensions of their personalities or even contrasts to their personalities. I may get more into this in a future post as it is quite crucial but developing a quick way to give an NPC a suite of techniques heightens everything. In some genres you can afford generic NPCs, and you will have to rely on them from time time, but in wuxia I think it is important to think of martial arts as a part of sketching a character. And these will often need to be unique to that NPC. 

Pinning isn't just about characters and poet societies, it also works for fleshed out places, even adventures. Pinning is really just coming up with key details on the fly and committing them to writing. Like I said, this isn't anything new. But in a sandbox, where players are going to be going off in new directions you don't expect, it is a very good reflex to develop because it honors a sandbox commitment to letting the players try anything they want, to set their own agenda. They also help you flesh out the world, because it is one thing to prepare setting material, but it doesn't really come to life until the players explore it. 

 

PATHS FROM NOWHERE SESSION THREE

This is a sandbox campaign for Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate, operating in "Condor Heroes Mode". I used a lot of the procedures described in the wuxia sandbox posts. This is a campaign with three players. Before the campaign started we spent time establishing their family connections, rolling randomly for both their mothers and fathers (normally only one parent is randomly rolled, but in this case we wanted characters with potentially scandalous backgrounds). These characters each started play with just one Kung Fu Technique. 

CHARACTERS

XIANG GUIYING: The daughter of Jade Fist of Twin Fisted Eagle sect and Pale Fox, a notorious bandit. She is seeking pelts from Pearl Tigers. She is beautiful but wears a disguise to hide this from others. 

ZHENG BAO: Short and burly, he is the son of Zhang San of Bone Breaking Sect and of Reckless Storm. However San is married to Chen and has maintained the presence that Bao is Chen's son. Unfortunately due to crucial background information, Chen knows that Bao cannot be his son so is distant. Zheng Bao's uncle, Bone Breaker, is fond of him. He is seeking the Thousand Painful Deaths Flower to please his uncle. 

PAN JU (MOGHA): The son of the Witch of Zhaoze Zhou and Nergui Mogha, Pan Ju grew up in the Kushen Basin but has returned to the Banyan and Hai'an, where he knows his mother resides. 

PALE FOX 

The party traveled south to the Pale Hills to see Guiying's mother. As they passed through a bamboo forest they were surprised by four people in blank porcelain masks, who approached them from either side. The people did not speak, but communicated with gestures, which the party understood to be a demand for money under threat of death. 

Guiying gave them two hundred spades but said her mother, Pale Fox, would come for the interest. They continued on, and made it to the Pale Hills in time for Pale Fox's birthday on the 13th of the Turtle Moon. 

Guiying presented her mother with the Phoenix Crown and introduced her two companions. When Zheng Bao explained that he was the nephew of Bone Breaker and seeking the Thousand Painful Deaths flower as a gift for his uncle, Pale Fox praised the venture and told Guiying to learn from Zheng Bao when choosing next year's birthday present. 

In private Pale Fox instructed her daughter to demonstrate her present master of martial arts. The results were quite poor and Pale Fox was irritated by her daughter's lack of talent with a range of weapons. She gave her a Jian and Axe and instructed her in a double strike technique for dealing with two opponents at once. She also trained her in some defenses and told her to work on her conditioning*.

Pale Fox then agreed to teach Guiying's companion some minor Kung Fu as thanks for traveling with her daughter. Pan Ju prepared a meal and Pale Fox was so impressed she insisted that he return and make meals for her regularly. 

After the meal, Pale Fox spoke with Guiying in private and said she had a task for her. She wanted her to seek a man named Hero Feng. Guiying knew who this was as it was someone who had once promised to marry her mother but abandoned her at the Singing Pavilion in an act of unbelievable cowardice. 

"I want you to find Hero Feng," Pale Fox said, "and tell him you are his daughter, he will not doubt this lie."

"Yes Mother."

"Then I want you to learn his martial arts, become his student and train. When you have mastered all of his skills and feel capable, kill him."

"Yes mother, Hero Feng is a cowardly wretch who doesn't deserve to live."

"After you kill him we will find you a real sifu, someone worthy who can teach you powerful Kung Fu."

TO QING LU 

They returned north, and hunted along the way**, finding a seven foot long giant salamander. They took the meat and brought it with them to sell along the way. Guiying fashioned a good from the skin. 

In He Dong they sold the meat and learned that Hero Feng had been seen going to Qing Lu. They also noticed that most of the adult villagers had no arms and learned that one of Twin Fisted Eagles sons had gone on an appendage tearing rampage years ago. 

In Qing Lu they learned from people at The Yu Vessel Restaurant that Hero Feng was staying at a brothel called the Many Banded Krait. The women there all dressed in snake skin robes and out of a sense of propriety Guiying decided to have a message sent inside telling Hero Feng his daughter would speak with him. 

Hero Feng was initially cautious towards Guiying's upon meeting her but when she asked to learn his martial arts, he seemed pleased and acknowledged her as his daughter. He told Pan Ju and Zheng Bao that they would need to work in town to fund his daughter's training, and that he might teach them a thing or two as well for their trouble. 

*We are not using XP this campaign. If characters work towards a skill, it will go up with appropriate time and effort. Kung Fu Techniques are learned during a down time period of training. The session with Pale Fox was about two weeks or training time. 

**Instead of an abstract survival roll for hunting, I had them make an inverted Survival Roll to see if they could find game, then rolled randomly on a list of local game animals 

WUXIA SANDBOX: THE STATE OF THE PARTY

Art by Jackie Musto 

This is part of my Wuxia Sandbox series. You can see the previous post HERE. These are all primarily written with Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate and Righteous Blood, Ruthless Blades in mind but can be applied to most wuxia RPG campaign where sandbox is the focus. This series discusses a wide variety of methods and procedures I use. These should be regarded as tools, not as required steps in building a sandbox. I may use all, some or none for any given campaign. Every time I run a campaign, I take a slightly different approach based on what the needs of the current campaign are. 

The purpose of this blog series isn't to set up proscriptive procedures. It is simply to give people a better idea how I run my wuxia sandbox campaigns. 

My view on wuxia in RPGs is every GM has their own take on the genre, their own sensibilities about how to best bring it to the gaming table. This is true of any genre, but with wuxia it seems especially the case. Please do not take my advice as definitive in any way. Watch and read wuxia for yourself and form your own conclusions. What works for one GM, will completely miss the point for another. 

CONNECTING THE SCENARIO TO THE PARTY

In the previous post I talked about establishing the state of the martial world, with a backstory and list of characters to reflect what is going on when the players enter the campaign. I also included some elements from that which tied to directly to the party, but much of it was simply related to an ongoing scenario they may never connect with. 

I fleshed out the scenario a little more by thinking about groups connected to the party. This led me to giving the players their own entry for their immediate allies and an entry for Yu Qing Manor, an obvious trade rival. The parties entry is The Heavenly Fragrance. This is made up mostly of people from the 87 Killers, but their relationship to the PCs is very different from their relationship to Lady 87. For example they were both raised by Guan Shisu who is Lady 87's son and the Magistrate of Gan District. Putting all this into the list just gives me a better sense of the player character's social geography. These are mostly NPCs and groups with existing entries, but the purpose of this list is to organize them for the campaign at a glance. This is how the revised list looks: 

ORIOLE VILLAGE

Dancing Corpse Wan mei 

FAN BATU AND HIS MEN

Fan Batu

Oriole Orphans 

HEN-SHI SECT

The Sandstone Nun

PURPLE CAVERN SECT

Lady Plum Blossom 

Senior Disciples (3)

Junior Disciples (10)

TWIN FISTED EAGLE SECT

Ho'elen 

Yao Tu-An

Junior Disciples 5

THE HEAVENLY FRAGRANCE

Bao Long

Little Guan Hua 

Guan Nuan

Guan Shisu 

Yuhuan 

Lin Ragua 

YU QING MANOR 

Yu Qing 

Wei Xiaoping 

Since I didn't really know what the players were going to do the first session, I prepped a single tier of my campaign shake-up table. The reason I only did one tier, was it gave me a shorter list of possibilities (which was more manageable without having any activity in the campaign yet) but it also left room for me to add things informed by their actions. After the session I made the next two tiers. I filled up every slot in the three tiers of the tables. And my aim going forward is to replace the weakest entries with things related to recent events in the campaign itself. This, in combination with Grudge Tables works quite well. 

This was my first Shake-Up Table for the campaign (note because it is only a single table, a result of 10 would be a re-roll: 

CAMPAIGN SHAKE-UP TABLE I

Roll 1d10         Result

1                      Campaign NPC goes up in level (roll NPC randomly)

2                      A new NPC becomes involved in the situation 

3                      Fan Batu learns of Li Lin’s death and goes on a rampage in a random location

4                      Players have a fated encounter with one of the Factions, roll on Scenario Faction Table 

5                      Fan Batu sends his men to rob the players bath beans 

6                      Dancing Corpse learns that Bao Long is the son of Fan Batu 

7                      Spies from a rival sent to the players’ workshop 

8                      Rival attacks the players interests or tries to rob them 

9                      A random campaign NPC tries to recruit the players in their efforts 

10                    Roll on CAMPAIGN SHAKE-UP TABLE II

We had our first session, in which the players went to open up a shop Wu Zhen. I rolled on the above table and the result was 6: Dancing Corpse Learns that Bao Long is the son of Fan Batu. So I thought how Dancing Corpse would respond to this information. I decided that she would probably try to lure Bao Long and capture him so she could force him to give her information about Fan Batu or be used as bait. I rolled to see if she could find them, and then had her send them a message lying about someone in their organization planning to betray them and suggesting a late night meeting outside town. 

They ended up having a meeting with Dancing Corpse Wan Mei in some wheat fields and Lin Ragua, the local sheriff was killed in the ensuing conflict. The players were abducted by Dancing Corpse but soon became her disciples after hearing her story and sympathizing with her plight (the events are described in more detail in the session log linked above). 

This gave me enough material to start expanding the Campaign Shake-up tables. Again these are still preliminary and subject to revision (as your campaign goes on, you will get a better sense of how to refine such tables). This is what I ended up with: 

CAMPAIGN SHAKE-UP TABLE II

Roll 1d10         Result

1                      Someone takes the manual from Dancing Corpse Wan Mei (roll randomly from campaign NPCS)

2                      A new NPC becomes involved 

3                      Fan Batu learns Bao Long is his real son 

4                      Random NPC battles with Dancing Corpse Wan Mei (roll for outcome) 

5                      Dancing Corpse 

6                      A great master joins the pursuit of the manual 

7                      Dancing Corpse Wan Mei seeks an alliance with a random powerful NPC 

8                      A random sect or NPC switches sides in the growing conflict 

9                      New sect conflict in the local martial world, roll randomly 

10                    Roll on Table III

 

CAMPAIGN SHAKE-UP TABLE III

Roll 1d10         Result

1                      A rival bath bean manufacturer with backing and martial experts arises in a neighboring district

2                      A rival bath bean manufacturer with powerful sect backing emerges in Mai Cun 

3                      Lin Ragua’s brother, Lin Yang, demands justice from Guan Shisu over his brother’s death 

4                      New sect alliance in the local martial world, roll randomly

5                      Enemies of Dancing Corpse Wan Mei learn that the players are her students  

6                      Bandits begin attacking the player’s shipments 

7                      Fan Batu Learns that Dancing Corpse is seeking revenge and he learns that her students are the children of Guan Shisu 

8                      A random but suitable personality in the martial world or existing NPC in the scenario (50% chance of one) wants the Five Ghost Hand Manual and befriends the PCs in order to manipulate them towards this goal

9                      Yu Qing decides hires someone to sabotage the Heavenly Fragrance 

10                    Lady 87 learns exactly how much money the players are making 

Some of these have a more specific and active style but others are intentionally more about NPCs, what they learn, etc. Having entries like this, lets me act more through the characters themselves. I like having to think about how an NPC handles information and what they try to do about it. Try is a key word here. Anything NPCs do, may not always succeed, just like PCs. They can try to ambush the party, but they might not find them, the players might learn their plans or notice them, etc. I use a variety of methods for figuring this stuff out. If I have time I will cover those methods in a later post, though I have blogged about many already. 

This all goes back to the living adventure concept where NPCs are living breathing characters. In the case of Dancing Corpse Wan Mei it was easy for me to intuit her actions. For other characters it may be harder. And because I am running this in what I call Condor Heroes Mode, I try to connect results directly to the party in some way (and if it is purely background events, then they at least hear news about it). 

One result on the above table worth noting, that is connected to the above points, is result 4: Players have a fated encounter with one of the Factions, roll on Scenario Faction Table. This is something that happens a lot in Condor Heroes and other wuxia. Happenstance encounters with greater significance for the overall story. In the context of a game, I use fate as an explanation. If the game were more narrative in nature, I might lean more on plot. But the aim in my campaigns is sandbox and drama so fate fits pretty well. 

The Scenario Faction Table is simply a table of the factions from the list above. Here is the one for this campaign: 

SCENARIO FACTION TABLE

Roll 1d10         Result

1                      Oriole Village

2-3                   Hen-Shi Sect

4-5                   Purple Cavern Sect

6-7                   Twin Fisted Eagle Sect 

8-9                   Yu Qing Manor 

10                    Fan Batu and his Men

 

Scenario Faction Table Fated encounters are not typical encounters. These often happen at a moment when the players are doing something else or attending to an important matter. And they are usually more social than combat focused, though they can easily lead to fighting. These are coincidental and a product of fate. I insert them when it feels most appropriate during the session. For example if I roll on the table and get Purple Cavern Sect and that session the party sneaks into South Wind Manor to eavesdrop on the Four Uglies, they may bump into or see Lady Plum Blossom who is visiting them to ask the whereabouts of the Five Ghost Hand Manual. It is possible they overhear her forming a plan against Dancing Corpse Wan Mei. Or perhaps they go to visit their father, Guan Shisu, and Lady Plum Blossom is visiting, but takes an interest in the PCs.  

Another way to connect things to the party is rumors. And I will discuss that next post. 

PATHS FROM NOWHERE SESSION TWO

This is a sandbox campaign for Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate, operating in "Condor Heroes Mode". I used a lot of the procedures described in the wuxia sandbox posts. This is a campaign with three players. Before the campaign started we spent time establishing their family connections, rolling randomly for both their mothers and fathers (normally only one parent is randomly rolled, but in this case we wanted characters with potentially scandalous backgrounds). These characters each started play with just one Kung Fu Technique. 

CHARACTERS

XIANG GUIYING: The daughter of Jade Fist of Twin Fisted Eagle sect and Pale Fox, a notorious bandit. She is seeking pelts from Pearl Tigers. She is beautiful but wears a disguise to hide this from others. 

ZHENG BAO: Short and burly, he is the son of Zhang San of Bone Breaking Sect and of Reckless Storm. However San is married to Chen and has maintained the presence that Bao is Chen's son. Unfortunately due to crucial background information, Chen knows that Bao cannot be his son so is distant. Zheng Bao's uncle, Bone Breaker, is fond of him. He is seeking the Thousand Painful Deaths Flower to please his uncle. 

PAN JU (MOGHA): The son of the Witch of Zhaoze Zhou and Nergui Mogha, Pan Ju grew up in the Kushen Basin but has returned to the Banyan and Hai'an, where he knows his mother resides. 

TO THE IRON TEMPLE

The characters headed back to Lu Hai after Guiying and Bao awakened from their pearl tiger induced slumber. Along the way, perhaps jovial from the influence of the tiger heart, Bao convinced the others to all join as sworn brothers and sisters. However the heart also made them groggy and it was a difficult journey back. 

They passed a group of priests and nuns from Perfect Heaven Lineage sect, who nodded to them. One of them engaged the party in a greeting. When Bao told himhe was the nephew of Bone Breaker, a nun of the sect grabbed the man's arm and told him they shouldn't be dealing with such folk. The party did little as the members of Perfect Heaven Lineage left. 

Along the way they took a path lad led to a ravine and Bao fell trying to navigate the slope. Injured but alive, they returned to Lu Hai and went to a local Geomancer to trade their tiger pelt and parts. 

The Geomancer's name was Xiang Ju, and during the conversation Bao realized this was the person he had mistaken his companions for. He was the one that knew where to found the Thousand Painful Deaths Flower. 

Guiying and Bao traded the pelt, bone and other parts for a Phoenix Crown, 500 spades and the directions to the flower. They learned that it wasn't a literal flower but a powerful weapon. Xiang Ju also spoke of a disaster that occurred there some years ago*. 

Going to the temple they found the place scorched and saw several stone Raksha statues toward the entrance. The temple itself was part of a cave complex built into a hill, but the Rakshas formed a treacherous entryway upon a stone platform, reached by narrow stone steps. 

As they passed the statues, Guiying was attacked as one animated and clawed her. The statue was clearly rooted to the stone but able to reach. Ju took out tiger meat and offered it to one of the statues, which then allowed them to pass. 

When they entered the temple a woman dressed as a Yen-Li nun, staggered towards them, her flesh rotting off the bone. 

"Come with me," She said. "You will come with me."

"Where are you taking us?" Guiying asked.

"To the abbess."

They decided to follow. As they passed through the maze of stone passageways, they could hear the deep cackling of a man flowing through the halls. As they passed a pool of water the nun asked them to anoint themselves for protection, which they reluctantly did. 

Then they were brought to a long hall where they saw an ancient figure, a woman with taught leathering skin, seated and wearing the attire of an abbess. 

As she spoke to them, it was clear she was unnatural. But she was calm and purposeful.

They told her that they came for the Thousand Painful Deaths Flower. And she informed them that it had been stolen by the Sandstone Nun. 

They asked about her appearance and she said the Sandstone Nun was a nun of Hen-Shi, with a living third eye who wore the skeletal hands of Dancing Corpse Wan Mei and her two disciples around her belt.** She didn't know where the Sandstone Nun was but had heard she was roaming the southern areas. 

She wanted them to help her find the Sandstone Nun or get information about her whereabouts, but when Bao asked for the Thousand Painful Deaths Flower in return, she became angry. However he calmed her by explaining it was for his Uncle Bone Breaker, and that he was simply being honest with her about his wishes. Thinking about the matter, the Abbess said she would give him three of the Raksha Guardian statues to present to his uncle as a gift if he and they brought back Thousand Painful Deaths Flower. 

*Iron Temple is a location in the War of Swarming Beggars. For part of my twenty years back story I had The Sandstone Nun (a NPC in my other campaign) go to the temple at the behest of Jade Fist and take the flower, then hide it to protect the martial world from its powers. This was in part because the timeline was set in the year 112 of the Reign of the Glorious Emperor. I wanted to update the location for that time frame. Also because some players had been to Iron Temple in prior campaigns, I wanted it to be different this time around.

** Dancing Corpse Wan Mei is the Sifu of the characters in my other campaign (and one of the players from this game is in that one). Because that is set ten years earlier, I liked the idea of this being after a conflict with Dancing Corpse Wan Mei. I am treating these as different realities, so what happens in one campaign won't affect the other. But since one of the players is the disciple of Dancing Corpse, I thought this would be an interesting way to make the Sandstone Nun menacing. Also because of the time gap, the Sandstone Nun is much more powerful in this campaign than the other.  

PATHS FROM NOWHERE SESSION ONE

This is a sandbox campaign for Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate, operating in "Condor Heroes Mode". I used a lot of the procedures described in the wuxia sandbox posts. This is a campaign with three players. Before the campaign started we spent time establishing their family connections, rolling randomly for both their mothers and fathers (normally only one parent is randomly rolled, but in this case we wanted characters with potentially scandalous backgrounds). These characters each started play with just one Kung Fu Technique. 

Note: This session was mostly figuring out background information so session itself was fairly short. 

CHARACTERS

XIANG GUIYING: The daughter of Jade Fist of Twin Fisted Eagle sect and Pale Fox, a notorious bandit. She is seeking pelts from Pearl Tigers. She is beautiful but wears a disguise to hide this from others. 

ZHENG BAO: Short and burly, he is the son of Zhang San of Bone Breaking Sect and of Reckless Storm. However San is married to Chen and has maintained the presence that Bao is Chen's son. Unfortunately due to crucial background information, Chen knows that Bao cannot be his son so is distant. Zheng Bao's uncle, Bone Breaker, is fond of him. He is seeking the Thousand Painful Deaths Flower to please his uncle. 

PAN JU (MOGHA): The son of the Witch of Zhaoze Zhou and Nergui Mogha, Pan Ju grew up in the Kushen Basin but has returned to the Banyan and Hai'an, where he knows his mother resides. 

THE GOLDEN DUCK 

Zheng Bao came to the Lucky Duck in Lu Hai, having heard that men named Xiang and Ju knew the location of the Thousand Painful Deaths Flower. This information was incorrect as he had actually been given the name Xiang Ju and mistook it for two people. However he was told that there was a Xiang and Ju at the Lucky Duck. 

He saw two twins seated in the restaurant and approached asking if they were Xiang and Ju. They were cautious at first but eventually admitted they were. Pleased, Zheng Bao sat down to talk business, but when he explained he had no money they waved their hands and walked away**. He tried following them out of the inn but two others called him over. It turned out these  were Xiang Guiyang and Pan Ju.

They would consider helping him find the Thousand Painful Deaths Flower but first wanted his aid capturing pearl tiger pelts. Zheng Bao agreed and they set out to track tigers. 

The party traveled east over the hills and searched for the widely feared creatures*. On the second day they spotted one by a river and attacked. 

The fight was hard and they had great difficulty subduing the beast initially. At one point, the tiger sank its teeth into Zheng Bao's shoulder. However they eventually wore it down with attacks like Kick of the Golden Elephant, Heart Smashing Palm and Spear of the Infinite Emperor (these three were the only techniques they knew). 

Xiang Guiying skinned the pelt, treated it and began harvesting bone, organs, whiskers and hair. Xiang Guiying and Zheng Bao decided to both eat the heart. After consuming it, they quickly sank into a deep slumber. Pan Ju shook his head as he watched them succumb to the creatures special properties. 

*I used an inverted encounter roll for this. 

**These two are the Luo Twins, who planned on robbing Zheng Bao by pretending to show him the way to the Thousand Painful Deaths Flower so they could lure him to a remote area. When they found out he had no money, they felt he wasn't worth their time.