MEDITATION AND LEVEL INCREASES IN RBRB

In Righteous Blood, Ruthless Blades, the dark wuxia RPG I co-wrote and co-designed with Jeremy Bai, in order to level, characters must make a number of successful Meditation Rolls equal to the level they are advancing into. These rolls reflect full undisturbed sessions that last an entire day (and in the case of shorter campaigns, an entire hour). If a character fails three in a row, they take a fire deviation. If they succeed on them, they go up by one level. 

This is meant to reflect the sort of thing you see in Jin Yong's Return of Condor Heroes and in stories that deal with cultivation. But it can be more than that simple abstraction. At its core it is about characters achieving a breakthrough that enables them to further develop their martial arts and take their skills to new heights. What this looks like in practice might vary from group to group and character to character. Here I will attempt to answer questions people have asked about it. In writing this post I spoke with Jeremy to make sure we were both on the same page. So this is a blend of both of our thoughts on the subject. 

SOME EXAMPLES 

The question is how do you take the Meditation rolls needed for leveling but do so in dramatically satisfying ways, and how do you describe them. Ultimately it is up to the GM and the players, but I think both Jeremy and I agree it should be flexible and need not necessarily reflect strictly meditative growth. The meditation is the crowning event, the culmination of training, study, physical discipline, and wisdom. The meditation itself can literally be about internal cultivation of Qi energy, attaining spiritual awakening or it can be more about insight into martial arts principles. 

To take an example most people will be familiar with, in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the character Li Bu Mai (Chow Yun-Fat) talks with Yu Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh) and explains that he has left secluded meditation to enter the world because of a challenge he encountered during his efforts. This is the dialogue from the film and I think it provides an interesting way a failed Meditation roll might be described. I don't speak Mandarin but according to Jeremy the language might be speaking more of entering the Dao than of Enlightenment, so just understand these are English subs from the film, and they might be oversimplified or misleading. Also in the Mandarin, it may not mention Wudang but be a line about the importance of this particular act of meditative seclusion: 

Li Mu Bai: I left the training early

Shu Lien: Why? You are a Wudang Fighter. Training....is everything

Li Mu Bai: During my meditation training...I came to a place of deep silence. I was surrounded by light. Time and space disappeared. I had come to a place my master had never told me about. 

Shu Lien: You were enlightened? 

Li Mu Bai: No. I didn't feel the bliss of enlightenment. Instead, I was surrounded by an endless sorrow. I couldn't bear it. I broke off my meditation. I couldn't go on. There was something pulling me back. 

Shu Lien: What was it? 

Li Mu Bai: Something I can't let go of. 

What is wonderful about this is it illustrates how a failed Meditation roll for leveling could lead to more drama, even a whole adventure if it is something the players and GM want to explore. And it is deeply ominous. I don't want to spoil the film but he spends the rest of the story dealing with this very problem and it comes to a close when he meditates in the final act after his battle with Jade Fox. 

In terms of bringing drama to the situation. I think there can be internal drama, like Li Mu Bai faced, and external drama. If you look at the Return of Condor Heroes example we mentioned, this is set during a battle where the Quanzhen Masters seclude in a cave to meditate and reach a higher level of mastery, while dramatic events unfold around them during the Mongolian invasion. Here is a passage from a fan translation by Noodles: 

Yin Zhiping knew he had summoned reinforcements and knew that danger was near. He was suddenly jolted into attention and commanded, “Brother Qi Zhicheng, watch this Mongolian official. Brother Yu Daoxian, Brother Wang Zhijin, take three brothers to help Brother Sun guard the Jade Cave at the back of the mountain to prevent any Mongol soldiers from distracting the Five Elder Masters from their meditation. Brother Chen Zhiyi, take six people to guard the front of the mountain. Fang Zhiqi, take six people to guard the left side of the mountain. Liu Daoning, take six people and guard the right side of the mountain.”

Such an event can easily arise in a RBRB campaign. And other characters, besides the PCs, going into seclusion to meditate can be an interesting challenge. Having a master in seclusion who might be able to help with a difficult problem is a staple of the genre. If that character achieving a breakthrough (i.e. advancing in level) could turn the tide of a battle unfolding around them, then that raises the stakes even more. 

Later in the Return of Condor Heroes there is also a good example of how leveling itself might be handled. Here is a passage from the same fan translation by Noodles, Bee Dreamer, Xuelian and Xiao_long_nu (note I haven't changed the transliterations of character names here). It describes what a martial break through might look like in practical terms in some wuxia media: 

For the past decade, Fawang had been training his “Dragon/Elephant Moving Skill” (Long Xiang Ban Lao Gong) and he had reached an unprecedented level in this fearsome skill. The “Dragon/Elephant Moving Skill” has thirteen levels; the first being very easy and even an idiot could master it within two years with some guidance. The second is more difficult than the first and requires about three to four years. The third level is even more difficult than the second and needs seven to eight years. So the difficulty level increases exponentially for each new level. For the fifth level alone, it usually requires more than thirty years to master. This profound skill was created by some obscure monk but no one has actually passed the tenth level. This skill is so profound that it is nearly impossible to complete all thirteen levels unless one could live to a thousand years old. The creator himself only mastered it to the eighth level and could make no more progress as he had reached a dangerous obstacle which he could not overcome. During the Northern Song Dynasty, a monk who mastered the ninth level trained without rest and managed to reach the tenth level, but in his excitement he lost control (what some might call a ‘fire deviation’) and became insane, dancing crazily for seven days and nights before severing his arteries and dying.

This Golden Wheel Monk, however, is a prodigy and through his hard work and intelligence, he managed to break through the obstacle at the ninth level and reached the tenth level.

One thing I like about this scene is how explicitly and clearly it talks about levels of power. Obviously they are describing tiers of ability in a particular martial arts skill, but it is the kind of language one can easily bring into an RPG with levels. 

There is something else I like about the Golden Wheel Monk reaching the tenth level of his kung fu. Throughout the book he is a ferocious and terrifying antagonist. There is a moment where he makes an alliance of convenience with Yang Guo but for the most part he is one of the central villains of the tale. However his disciples have all left or otherwise proven unworthy, and when he reaches this great height, he has no one to transmit it to. And this leads to an interesting story development: 

Jinlun Fawang had three disciples. His first disciple was well versed in martial arts and literature. He was very talented and Fawang had intended to make him his successor. It's a pity he died very young. His second disciple, Da’erba, was naïve and simple; his talent was just average. His third disciple was Prince Hou Dou; he had an ill character and moreover, he betrayed his master and martial brother. Fawang was disappointed. He had reached the pinnacle of martial arts. He was a monk, therefore, no children. The only way he could pass on his skill was by taking on disciples. If not, in a hundred years, wouldn’t his exquisite martial arts vanish? Therefore, seeing Guo Xiang was talented and kind hearted, he immediately made a decision to take her as his successor. He did not care if Guo Xiang was his enemy’s daughter.

This humanizes him a bit. It makes him a touch more sympathetic. He is still a bad guy but it pays off later in the story and rounds out the character*. It also is a useful example on what leveling can mean for characters. If you want to see a visual representation of Golden Wheel Monk's breakthrough check out the 2006 version of Return of Condor Heroes, episode 38 (about 13-14 minutes in). You should be able to find it with English Subs. 

TAKING IT TO THE TABLE 

What follows is simply advice and some additional suggestions for rulings to bring this to life. This isn't a list of official procedures. All the core rules require is you make the necessary Meditation rolls. How those occur and what they mean are up to you. 

The classic approach to this would be some form of secluded mediation as in the above example. And if you want to up the stakes you can take a page out of Condor Heroes and not hesitate to have action occurring around or even imperiling the process. Exactly what is going on should largely be a matter of the type of style the player has. But the situation might require other players to protect the meditating character, or for the meditating character to occasionally step out of meditation to deal with the problem. 

That is an external approach to dramatization. But there is also the question of the internal drama, like in the Li Mu Bai case, which gets more into what the characters are actually experiencing and what they do when they meditate. 

You can treat this as an extended meditation where the character is visualizing themselves cultivate energy through their meridians, perhaps struggling to channel and retain it, as a process of meditating on principles relevant to the style, perhaps even playing out imaginary battles in their mind, or simply struggling to understand a philosophical or religious idea related to their style (a kind of Touch of Zen awakening). You could even play out a small adventure of the character visualizing and exploring the 'inner landscape' of their internal alchemy. This can also be long sessions of physical training and reading that end with meditation. 

Something you should be mindful of is the efforts players are making to improve their meditation sessions. For example, if a player character has learned a needle based signature ability and spends a whole month reading manuals on needle techniques, that might warrant a +1d10 bonus on their Meditation rolls to advance. If they seek out Sun Lan the Yama Queen and receive direct advice or training from her, then that might warrant a +2d10 or even +3d10 bonus to the Meditation Rolls for the next level. 

It should be pointed out that more is assumed to be going on in the background here. A martial character would be training daily. They would likely be contemplating key ideas all the time related to their style. So it isn't meditation alone that brings them to the next level, it is meditation on a foundation of their daily discipline. Generally this is assumed to occur without being stated. But you can take a more active approach and reward players who focus on their training with bonuses to their Meditation rolls. 

I want to use real world martial arts training to give greater clarity. When I trained in martial arts, at first you learned basic strikes, basic stances, basic blocks. When you first learn how to do a round house kick, you don't understand the full depth of its mechanics. Your kick will probably lack precision, speed, power and timing. As you train longer and longer, through hard physical work, through observation of others, through having the principles explained to you, and through meditation, you improve your understanding. A key part of advancement is gaining insight into the concepts that have been explained to you and that you are practicing. So you may start to understand what people mean when they say to put your hip into a kick. You may also begin to generate power from the foot. Eventually you gain enough understanding, and enough physical mastery, that you can use all of the elements of motion and posture to deliver more power into a kick. This is also one of the things I envision the meditation roll representing. In my own sessions I also often treat meditation quite loosely, as both literal meditation and the ability to meditate and reflect on what you are learning so you understanding (even if you aren't bodily mediating while you observe another fighter, your mind might be, and you might be stitching together key pieces of understanding). 

Another dramatic aspect to meditation for levels is the potential for fire deviation. Sometimes cultivation goes wrong and the players injure their meridians, leading to rolls on the Fire Deviation table. When this happens, it should be a dramatic change. Characters undergo physical and mental changes which can alarm them and those around them. This can also serve as a good backstory for an antagonist. 

Something you want to do as a GM is build up a genre vocabulary. You can do this by reading wuxia, watching movies, watching wuxia drama series, and reading about real world martial arts.  When you watch wuxia pay attention to how meditation is used, how characters speak about their increases in power. Not every movie or book handles this the same way. Some take more of a training montage approach, others emphasize finding a manual with key insights that helps the hero overcome a challenge in their growth, while others simply focus on the daily grind of improving. This is all assumed to be part of a character in RBRB getting better. 

You may also want to read about things like Qigong Meditation, Taoist Cultivation, Buddhist Meditation, Yoga, Tai Chi, as well as take a look at how real martial artists train and improve. Meditation is a practice that exists in many traditions and comes in a variety for forms. You can find useful videos covering these topics on youtube (including some that will demonstrate daily practices). I would also encourage Gamemasters to try meditation for themselves so they know what it is like. 

In the end, it is up to you what all this means. When we made RBRB, this was our vision of dark wuxia. It was what we wanted at the table when we watched Chor Yuen movies or read Gu Long. However everyone has a different eye for the genre and will key on on different aspects. Again the rolls are abstractions and RBRB is a game based on rulings and making the interpretations of the rules your own. While the default rules for meditation reflect the character going into deep or even secluded meditation in order to achieve a breakthrough, those meditation rolls can represent other things if it makes more sense for the character or situation. And you can always swap out Meditation for something else if you think it makes more sense in the moment. Just keep two questions in your mind if you choose to do this: 1) does it make sense and 2) what impact does this have on the game as a whole. 

I hope this is helpful to anyone with questions on the topic. I may explore it further in later blog entries. 

*I am going by the third edition here as the 1st and 2nd are different in key details around this plot development. Note that the translations themselves also impact character names.