WUXIA CHESS (SECOND TRY)

After another day of playing, made a small tweak to Wuxia Chess. This is a relatively minor adjustment that allows the Knight to attack when it uses its Technique. It made sense to limit it for balance considerations but in play it just made the Knight very boring compared to the other pieces. 

WUXIA CHESS

Here are some rules to spice up a regular game of chess with wuxia flavor. These are loosely inspired by techniques from our game Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate. 

What you will need:

•        A chess board and pieces
•        Poker Chips (or similar marker)

The rules for wuxia chess are the same as regular chess with one big difference. All Rooks, Knights and Bishops have special Wuxia Techniques they can use once during play (once used, they become normal Bishops, Rooks and Knights). In addition, a single pawn of your choice is designated as a Secret Hero and also has a special ability.

Poker Chips are better
but these worked just fine

Wuxia Techniques are assigned to pieces by their type and indicated by the placement of a poker chip beneath the piece. Rooks, Bishops and Knights all have Wuxia Techniques. Secret Hero Pawns can use one of four abilities listed in the Pawn Techniques section. When the ability is used, simply remove the poker chip so you know that the piece can no longer draw on its wuxia technique. 

To conceal your Secret Hero, take out some white poker chips and write an S on the bottom of one of them. Then take all the white poker chips and place them beneath your pawns (putting the one with the S under your Secret Hero).

Wuxia Techniques (including Pawn Techniques) never work on Kings or Queens. They are immune to these abilities. 

WUXIA TECHNIQUES

Every Rook, Bishop and Knight has the following Wuxia Technique. These are represented by placing a Poker Chip beneath the piece. Once the Wuxia Technique is used, the poker chip is removed and the Technique cannot be used again by that piece. 

Blazing Charge (Rook): You blast your foes in a blinding charge, leaving a trail of bodies in your wake. You may continue moving and capture one extra piece in your path. For example this allows a Rook to move forward two spaces, capture a piece, then continue forward until it captures another piece.

Qinggong Master (Knight): Your Lightness Kung Fu is profound and you may make an additional move this turn. The second move is your full movement. You can capture a piece on your first or second move, but not on both. 

Ricocheting Strike (Bishop): Your attack ricochets or sends fragments flying at another piece on the board. When you capture a piece, the nearest enemy piece is also captured.

PAWN TECHNIQUES

Pawns designated as Secret Heroes can use any of the four abilities listed below. Again, you may only select one pawn to be your Secret Hero. If your secret hero reaches the end of the board and becomes a Queen, it retains its Pawn Techniques. 

As with the other pieces, Pawn Techniques are represented by Poker Chips. Use the white poker chips and write an S on one of them (placing this piece beneath your Secret Hero and giving the others blank chips). When the Pawn Technique is used, it should be removed as the pawn can no longer use it. 

Suicidal Qi Blast: You unleash all your internal energy in a powerful wash of light that strikes surrounding enemies. You can use this ability when you are captured to take two adjacent pieces.

Three-Point Strike: You use your knowledge of pressure points to quickly tap your foe three times in the chest area, causing them to freeze. This can be used on any foe in an adjacent square. The affected piece cannot move for 2 turns. 

Swift Rebuttal: You sidestep and counter your foe’s attack, using their momentum against them. When any piece, except the kind or queen, tries to capture you from two or more spaces away, you counter and capture them instead

Grace of the Tiger: You effortless evade attacks and are difficult to capture. First attempt to capture you always fails. The piece that attempted the capture returns to its original position. This still counts as your opponent's move and ends their turn.

WUXIA CHESS

On Christmas Eve I threw together this chess variant inspired by wuxia to play with my family. It was quite a bit of fun and definitely altered the flow of the game. I tweaked the rules a bit based on the first few games and hope to play it some more over the holidays. When I do I will probably post an updated version of the rules. Note that poker chips are the best pieces to use to mark Kung Fu Techniques but in the images below we were using much smaller markers. 

WUXIA CHESS

Here are some rules to spice up a regular game of chess with wuxia flavor. These are loosely inspired by techniques from our game Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate.

What you will need:

•        A chess board and pieces
•        Poker Chips (or similar marker)

The rules for wuxia chess are the same as regular chess with one big difference. All Rooks, Knights and Bishops have special Wuxia Techniques they can use once during play (once used, they become normal Bishops, Rooks and Knights). In addition, a single pawn of your choice is designated as a Secret Hero and also has a special ability.

Poker Chips are better
but these worked just fine

Wuxia Techniques are assigned to pieces by their type and indicated by the placement of a poker chip beneath the piece. Rooks, Bishops and Knights all have Wuxia Techniques. Secret Hero Pawns can use one of four abilities listed in the Pawn Techniques section. When the ability is used, simply remove the poker chip so you know that the piece can no longer draw on its wuxia technique.

To conceal your Secret Hero, take out some white poker chips and write an S on the bottom of one of them. Then take all the white poker chips and place them beneath your pawns (putting the one with the S under your Secret Hero).

Wuxia Techniques (including Pawn Techniques) never work on Kings or Queens. They are immune to these abilities.

WUXIA TECHNIQUES

Every Rook, Bishop and Knight has the following Wuxia Technique. These are represented by placing a Poker Chip beneath the piece. Once the Wuxia Technique is used, the poker chip is removed and the Technique cannot be used again by that piece.

Blazing Charge (Rook): You blast your foes in a blinding charge, leaving a trail of bodies in your wake. You may continue moving and capture one extra piece in your path. For example this allows a Rook to move forward two spaces, capture a piece, then continue forward until it captures another piece.

Qinggong Master (Knight): Your Lightness Kung Fu is profound and you may make an additional move this turn. The second move is your full movement but cannot be used to capture a piece.

Ricocheting Strike (Bishop): Your attack ricochets or sends fragments flying at another piece on the board. When you capture a piece, the nearest enemy piece is also captured.

PAWN TECHNIQUES

Pawns designated as Secret Heroes can use any of the four abilities listed below. Again, you may only select one pawn to be your Secret Hero. If your secret hero reaches the end of the board and becomes a Queen, it retains its Pawn Techniques.

As with the other pieces, Pawn Techniques are represented by Poker Chips. Use the white poker chips and write an S on one of them (placing this piece beneath your Secret Hero and giving the others blank chips). When the Pawn Technique is used, it should be removed as the pawn can no longer use it.

Suicidal Qi Blast: You unleash all your internal energy in a powerful wash of light that strikes surrounding enemies. You can use this ability when you are captured to take two adjacent pieces.

Three-Point Strike: You use your knowledge of pressure points to quickly tap your foe three times in the chest area, causing them to freeze. This can be used on any foe in an adjacent square. The affected piece cannot move for 2 turns.

Swift Rebuttal: You sidestep and counter your foe’s attack, using their momentum against them. When any piece, except the kind or queen, tries to capture you from two or more spaces away, you counter and capture them instead

Grace of the Tiger: You effortless evade attacks and are difficult to capture. First attempt to capture you always fails. The piece that attempted the capture returns to its original position. This still counts as your opponent's move and ends their turn.

BLOOD OF THE DEMON MOON CULT SESSION 16: BONE BREAKER CONSIDERS MERCY

This is the campaign log for the Sixteenth session of a google+run Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate campaign. The previous session is described HERE. 

Note: I am running two campaigns in the same setting and treating them as occurring in different realities with some vague similarities. Characters in one may appear in the other, but there are no direct causal effects from one campaign to the next. Partly this is to playtest, but this is also partly due to the multi-dimensional aspect of the universe I run all my games in. It would theoretically be possible for the party from the Blood of the Demon Moon cult campaign to dimension travel to the Secret of Je Valley Campaign, in which case direct interactions could occur (and they could even meet their counterparts in the alternate dimension). 

CHARACTERS

Player Characters

Zhang Wan (Bone Breaker): An unpredictable and violent martial expert who is the brother of Zhang San. First chief of Qui Pan Bandits. Married to Huo Ju (Little Venom)

Zhang San: A wandering hero and sister of Zhang Wan, more calm than her brother

Chen: A poisoner and healer known for his lazy ways.

Key NPCs

Jade Priestess: Bone Breaker's Sifu and former member of the Demon Moon Cult

Jade Butterfly: San's Sifu
Senior Grand Councilor Cai Yuanyu: Highest ranked official in the Empire below the emperor; plotting to 'invert heaven' and has recruited Bone Breaker into his plans

Prince Yuan: Son of the King of Li Fan, controls the eastern territories. 

General Dee: An important military commander in Hu Qin who pays Bone Breaker for services 

Iron Spear Tip: A magic weapon with a mind of its own, the bride of Zhang Kang.
Little Venom (Huo Ju): Bone Breaker's Wife
The Venom of Zhaoze (Huo Si): Leader of Zhaoze sect, father of Huo Ju (Little Venom) and Sifu to Chen

Last session the party had joined with Yang Tuo, the man who imprisoned them in the Jade Turtle to stop their schemes. They journeyed with him to the Kushen Basin, bringing the Face of Vaagu and restoring it. Once there Bone Breaker, San, Abbot Firebrand, Huo Ju, and Jade Priestess used the Talisman of Yao Feng to teleport into Iron Sky Realm (rather than take the gate and sky pole through the Face of Vaagu). They found themselves in a forest, and when they reached a village, San and Bonebreaker went on their own by ship to a neighboring mountain island (the whole place was a bunch of floating islands in the sky connected by waterways). 

They reached Superior Wisdom Sect, speaking with Sixth Brother of Iron Sky Maiden, an immortal and leader of the sect. He seemed uninterested in Bone Breaker or his troubles, simply telling him if he wished to see Iron Sky Maiden he should travel to Skylark Sect where Third Brother would be able to help. 

San and Bone Breaker asked directions and were told to follow the lake until they reached a river. That eventually they would see a mountain peak east of the river and that Skylark Sect was located there. It took several days. One evening they awoke to some movement in the forest. A group of dazed-looking people shambled from the trees and advanced toward them. San and Bone Breaker moved away, but the people pursued, breaking into a sprint when the twins moved into the lake. As the people closed in, a giant floating fish broke from the tree tops above the people. It was inflated like a puffer but had a mouth filled with long teeth. As it approached it sucked in the air and pulled the twins toward its jaws. 

They fled toward some trees, using them as a barrier. The people grasped at them. Trying to pull at their limbs. When the creature got close, it rammed at San and Bone Breaker, trying to impale them with its spiked body. The trees offered some protection and they used their Thunder Kick of the Zhang Twins technique to knock it back. This tactic eventually drove the creature, and its attending humans, off. 

A couple of the people, who Bone Breaker and San had killed in the melee, remained behind, so San searched their bodies (finding 100 taels and the Snake Lotus Manual). 

They resumed their trail along the lake. This brought them to a river, which they followed. However though the river continued to flow, the landscape came to an abrupt halt. Peering over the edge, they saw the river's waters course through empty space and fall several hundred yards to nearby floating mountain (where it continued to flow). San tried throwing stones into the water, only to watch them fall through the river. Bone Breaker placed a log and it seemed to float to the other side. 

Confident, Bone Breaker placed a larger log on the water. He attempted to ride across but slipped (failed Athletics roll) and sunk into the river. The moment he hit the water he took out the talisman and asked to be taken to Iron Sky Maiden. In that instant, he vanished. 

Back at the Kushen Basin, Chen was drinking fermented mare's milk with the Kailin Prince when a messenger from their information network arrived. He informed Chen that General Dee and Prince Yuan were planning to attack their holdings in the Ogre Gate Inn region. He estimated that they had 25,000 to 35,000 soldiers preparing to march. 

Chen convinced Prince Gol and Princess Samga to lead their 40,000 riders back to Ogre Gate with him. He also gave Prince Gol 50,000 spades if he could use it in the next three days to increase his forces. Chen also sent a letter to Bronze Master asking him to bring any martial heroes he could. 

The money had a modest but important impact, raising their numbers. When they reached Ogre Gate, they flooded a pass and laid traps. Bronze Master came with 100 heroes and offered to help assess the situation. They scattered their men in the hills and awaited the forces of General Dee and Prince Yuan. However once the army approached, things devolved to chaos pretty fast. 

Chen had superior numbers and they were able to ravage the invading army. However they lost 15,000 men in the process. They surrounded General Dee's army and slaughtered most of them; taking only 100 prisoners (including Prince Yuan and General Dee). 

Chen took the general for questioning, using their House of Paper Shadow musicians to summon shadow puppets to paralyze him. He laughed at Chen and asked how long he thought the House of Paper Shadows would remain loyal after they'd betrayed the Demon Emperor. 

Bronze Master and the Kailin expressed concern about the King of Li Fan, saying they had at least 100,000 soldiers and would be sure to use them when news reached the capital (to say nothing of the Empire itself). Chen persuaded Bronze Master to use his Shift of the Chameleon Technique to impersonate the general and return to Hu Qin with some men dressed as soldiers (to buy them time). 

In Iron Sky Realm, San cobbled together a raft from some local bamboo trees and set it afloat in the river, then floated over to the other side. She followed the river's course and found Bone Breaker passed out on the shore. He clutched the Talisman and it was glowing red. 

When Bone Breaker awoke, they continued and reached Skylark Sect on the Southern Peak. Third Brother was more friendly and offered them food. He then took them aboard his sky ship, The Restless Phoenix, transporting them to the Palace of Endless Splendor. They were brought before Iron Sky Maiden. Beside her was a large official with a beard (Supreme Judge Yu) and another official named Minister Dongmai). Iron Sky Maiden spoke:

"Bone Breaker has committed many sins, has been corrupted by demon magic and has entered into illegal agreements with the Demon Emperor; how does he plead?"

In the course of the trial, Bone Breaker admitted his faults and gave back the talisman to Supreme Judge Yu. He then asked for Iron Sky Maiden's help protecting his family and himself. 

She promised to help him if he pledged himself to her and to Hen-Shi, relinquished his demon magic and if he agreed to wear the Belt of Mercy. Placing the belt of mercy on him, she instructed that any act of cruelty he committed would inflict harm on him as well as the belt tightened. 

Bone Breaker then asked for compensation for losing his demon magic, as he could not serve her as well so hindered (he had lost his arm and his endurance in exchange for the powers). She agreed but on the condition that he unite the martial sects under a just and competent leader and promised to cultivate. 

When he agreed, she touched his temple and transmitted the Profound Technique: Dreams of Infinite Sky realm to him. She also instructed him in Adaptation of the Maimed (a technique for overcoming his physical limitations). 

She then instructed them to return with Supreme Judge Yu, who transported them back to the Human Realm. When they returned, they were joined by Jade Priestess, Sand Demon, Yang Tuo, Abbot Firebrand, Huo Ju and Abbot Ping. Bone Breaker headed south with Yang Tuo, Jade Priestess and Huo Ju to unite the sects, and San took the rest of the group to the Ogre Gate Inn to learn more about the situation there (they had received a message informing them of the invasion). 

Bone Breaker and his group went to the Nature Loving Monk sect, finding them in a grove deep in the south. They spoke with Green Beggar explaining they wanted to unite the sects. Green Beggar was open to the possibility but said the martial world would only follow someone who possessed the Phoenix Crown of Bao and the Wind Saber of Sunan. After a night of drinking with the beggars of Nature Loving Monk Sect, Bone Breaker and his group left for the mountains to cross into Hai'an. 

San reached the inn and discussed possible strategies with Chen. They hired a Zun Demon Master to secure the Ritual Vessel in Zhang Kang's lair, then shipped it as a gift to Fan. 

This is where the session ended. 

SOCIAL SKILL ROLLS

If you play any of our Network games, you know we have social skills in the system (Deception, Persuade, Command, etc). However, if you follow this blog or interact with me online about gaming, you know I have, perhaps a somewhat irrational, dislike of social mechanics. I use them, I include them in my own system, but my relationship with them has been complicated.

It took me a long time to realize what it was that troubled me about social skill rolls in RPGs. There are a lot of factors here, but two basic things stand out. One concern is they often become buttons the players press that replace things like talking in character or describing their actions (so "I use Command on the guard" rather than "I try to stare the guard down and shout 'open that door before I make an example out of you"). The other is skills like this can make the actions that the players do take, almost meaningless. They might ask the right questions, say the right things, but if they fail that social skill roll, suddenly all that roleplaying is a bit pointless (the only thing that really mattered was the roll and the roleplaying really had no bearing on the outcome). 

Illustration by Jackie Musto

These are extreme examples. I realize social skill rolls are not always used this way and don't always produce these sorts of results. But for me, these are issues that irk me as either a player or a GM. When they arise, I find it incredibly frustrating. This was something me and Bill talked about a lot between games and we eventually settled on the following approach (which slowly became how we advise GMs in the rulebook). It is actually pretty intuitive and simple and it allows you to use social skills without having them get in the way or replace roleplaying. I suspect lots of people do this and it just took me an extra long time to figure it out.

First, the most important thing to keep in mind is the GM asks for social skill rolls; the players don't intitiate them. Players can ask if it is appropriate for them to make a roll,but for the most part the focus here shifts to the players describing what they are trying to do. They talk in character and/or describe their character's actions, then the GM either decides what happens or, if there is some doubt about outcome, asks for a roll. 

Second, the GM needs to really think about when a social skill roll is appropriate. Every interaction with an NPC doesn't warrant a roll. Asking the innkeeper for a loaf of bread if you can pay for it (and if he has the bread) doesn't usually necessitate a roll (unless you've done something to offend him). The roll is only when the outcome is unclear for some reason. 

Third, let the player's actions and words have weight before deciding if a roll is necessary. This is about giving primacy to the role-play and the events in the game, and making sure they stand instead of being trumped by a random roll. It is only when something about the Player Character or something about the NPC would create resistance or difficulty, that you would ask for a roll. A fully cooperative witness, talking to a polite PC asking appropriate questions at a crime scene, is probably going to result in the player getting answers to his or her questions. But if that player character is strange and off-putting in some way, if the NPC has something to hide and doesn't want to reveal anything, then you might ask for a roll based on the interaction. 

These three points are really just part of one basic guideline: know when to ask for a social skill roll. This can apply to other skills as welll (and in our games it generally does), but for social skills it is especially important because they can undermine the in game details if you are not cautious in their use. I've found this approach not only allows me to live in peace with social skills at my table, it enhances play tremendously and avoids a lot of the problems I have had with social skill rolls in the past.