Wushu Fantasy?

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So yeah, I'd like to run a Fantasy game with a real sense of adventure and risk, but not a D&D number cruncher or a stale freestyle where no one takes any chances.

So I'm thinking Wushu, with specific scenes and an expectation of cinematic thrills.


I've cobbled some rules together below, but I have no idea if they'll work. Perhaps if there's some Wushu experts out there, they can advise me...


CHARACTERS

You start with 10 Character Points.

You must assign 1 point to a WEAKNESS.
The remaining points are assigned to TRAITS. No trait may have more than 5 points.

Example: Character Sheet: Bob Smith
TRAIT 4: Close Combat
TRAIT 2: Charming Conversation
TRAIT 3: Trap disabling
WEAKNESS: Vertigo


SCENES

The roleplay is divided into SCENES.

In each Scene, you get 3 points of LUCK.

In each Scene, your enemy has a THREAT RATING, representing how many hits it can take.

You make as many posts as you like during a scene, until the encounter is over.

Example: Scene 1: The Bar Fight
(Bob is fighting an Orc drinking party with a Threat Level of 8.)
BOB: I headbutt the first Orc, knocking him to the floor.Then I roll away from his friends and grab a broken bottle on the way. I stick it in the nearest greenskin's ankle and he drops like a bitch. Getting up, I throw the broken bottle upwards. It severs the rope holding up the chandelier and it crashes down on top of two more Orcs.


COMBAT RESOLUTION

Once you have posted, choose a TRAIT that best represents what you have done. Don't worry if some actions seem irrelevant to the trait - just choose the most suitable trait from what you have.

You get one DICE per described action, up to a limit set by the GM at the start of the scene.

For each dice, choose if it is an ATTACK DICE or a DEFENCE DICE.

Roll the Attack dice first, then the Defence dice.

Example: Barfight Resolution
Bob chooses Close Combat as his Trait for that scene.
He chooses to divide his 6 allotted dice into 4 Attack and 2 Defence
He rolls the Attack Dice: [dices=4]6][/dices]

He rolls the Defence Dice: [dices=2]6[/dices]

For every successful attack roll, he lowers the Enemy's threat rating by 1.

If every defence roll fails, he loses a point of Luck. The GM can write that character into peril or injury, forcing his teammates to assist him.

If all Luck is lost, you pass out / collapse from wounds / surrender / go into hiding, etc. The GM writes you out of the scene and then adds another weakness to your character sheet.

If the Enemy's threat rating is reduced to 0, the enemy is destroyed / routed / forced to surrender.



SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES

NEMESIS: Occasionally, the GM will introduce a Nemesis - a special character or trap that tests a particular player. The Nemesis does not have a Threat Rating but instead fights like a normal character. If the player defeats the Nemesis, he gains a Trait point which he can add to existing traits or use to start a new trait at Level 1.

SCENE-BREAKER: Once per scene, you may use ALL your remaining luck points to 'write out' an enemy. Roll 1 dice per Luck Point. If every dice roll beats the remaining threat level of your enemy, you can remove them from the game with a flashy stunt / awesome finishing move / witty one-liner. If the scene-breaker fails, the GM may introduce a new enemy with the same threat rating.

DEATH-SCENE: Once per scene, the GM may attempt to outright and tragically kill one of the players. The Enemy lowers the threat rating of an enemy to 1. He then rolls 1 dice for every Weakness the target character has. If the total beats the character's combined Character Points, they are killed.

 
Coffee! Get back here! >:[
 
I am so game. What do you need?

edit: LOL! My playlist jumped to a love song while I was reading this. Janet Jackson "This Can't Be Good." 0_o
 
... right.


The thing that confuses me at the moment is the dice rolls. Yes, I understand that successes take down the threat rating and failed Yin get you hurt. But what about all the rolls in between? Are they used to determine the next escalation of the scene? Like if an attack fails, does that mean I use that specific enemy in my next GM post to do something threatening?

And are you allowed to write 6 offensive actions and then choose 4 defence dice, even though you've roleplayed nothing of the sort? Or do we just say that those 4 attacks "defended" you by taking out potential threats.

It seems that if the principle of narrative truth holds, the dice are only there to determine how long you and your enemy stay in the scene, and nothing else. It's equivalent to putting a time-limit on posting... o_O

I was hoping as GM I'd be able to "surprise" myself by being forced to escalate the scene according to those in-between dice rolls. Like "Oh, he failed with a 2 - now I can bring the dragon in early. I didn't think he'd show up so soon!"



And.. and... and...
 
The thing that confuses me at the moment is the dice rolls. Yes, I understand that successes take down the threat rating and failed Yin get you hurt. But what about all the rolls in between? Are they used to determine the next escalation of the scene? Like if an attack fails, does that mean I use that specific enemy in my next GM post to do something threatening?
Not sure I understand, but if I do, that's an option. It's your call. The key to remember is that threats are abstractions. You can escalate the scene with anything that makes sense-instory.

And are you allowed to write 6 offensive actions and then choose 4 defence dice, even though you've roleplayed nothing of the sort? Or do we just say that those 4 attacks "defended" you by taking out potential threats.
Generally, as is? Yes. But a lot of people on the forum I got it from find that stupid, less challenging, and counterintuitive, so feel free to houserule as you see fit.

[Edit]Though in one discussion, someone used the counterexample of Neo's fight with Agent Smith in the subway in the first Matrix film as how to use the possible disconnect between dice rolls and description well for dramatic effect. He said that in theory, Neo's player was probably scoring successes throughout most of the scene, but he still narrated himself as getting beaten and placed in a headlock because he thought the "My name is Neo" one-liner and a sudden narrow escape would be cooler than than having him do the one-handed thing before getting to Totally Awesome and Symbolic Ressurection Sequence(which could be an even better example).[/Edit]


I like the above houserulings so far.



Oh, another thing to consider: some GMs have incorporated the idea that roleplaying your weakness or being incapacitated really well speeds up luck recovery or at least lets you roll to recover dice. I forget which. Never played with that one myself.

It seems that if the principle of narrative truth holds, the dice are only there to determine how long you and your enemy stay in the scene, and nothing else. It's equivalent to putting a time-limit on posting... o_O
Just about. This is what I tried to explain to Diana when she was all worried that I was turning CrunchyCake on her. That's exactly why I picked Wushu.

Nobody complaining about "too soon" or "too early" or whether or not a noob or oldbie is "worthy" to end the scene. No one feeling guilty about taking initiative. Just let the system handle it. :)

Oh, of course, many traditional roleplayers still prefer "roll to hit," so depending on the player, you, the GM will still have to describe what the players do. The games I played in were usually hybridized to personal tastes. I LOVE the PoNT myself.

Also, once there was this neat tension when the GM gave us two "threats"--choosing between saving innocents from a trap and pursuing the enemy--and a limited number of turns to try one or both before he switched things up on us again. I really liked that idea. If your group gets bored with minor "threats," depending on how they feel about the possibility of failure and tough choices, it can be an awesome change of pace and mood or the thing that makes them quit.



I was hoping as GM I'd be able to "surprise" myself by being forced to escalate the scene according to those in-between dice rolls. Like "Oh, he failed with a 2 - now I can bring the dragon in early. I didn't think he'd show up so soon!"
Feeling dense. Attention span depleted. Does not compute at the moment.
 
Oh, another thing to consider: some GMs have incorporated the idea that roleplaying your weakness or being incapacitated really well speeds up luck recovery or at least lets you roll to recover dice. I forget which. Never played with that one myself.
Tell me more...

I LOVE the PoNT myself.
Er... tell me more...?

Feeling dense. Attention span depleted. Does not compute at the moment.
What I meant was, I like systems where GMs don't necessarily know what's going to happen - i.e. an element of randomness. In most roleplays the players are so predictable that the excitement rests solely on me throwing things into the equation to keep people interested. But I don't to continually have a master plan for every scene. I want crazy things to happen that neither myself nor the players ever expected, and for the excitement to come from that uncertainty.
 
Fuck yeah, Wushu. Never used the system before, but colour me interested; I see this working in a forum-layout in a way other P&P systems wouldn't.
 
I'm interested, also recommend a look at the Don't rest your head system for a similar scene-based system.