Wuxia
Wuxia means Martial Hero or Armed Hero.
Part A: Your Character
Primary Attributes
As strength, intelligence, wisdom, dexterity, constitution, charisma are d&d stats, wuxia individual character attributes are defined by the code of xia:
- Ren (benevolence/kindness)
- Zhong (loyalty)
- Yong (courage/bravery)
- Yi (righteousness)
We can divide 6 initial points amongst these four attributes for starting characters and they will earn points through adventuring.
Life Debts
There is also life debt traits in what you owe to others:
- En (grace/favour- the importance of repaying to others/benefactors after having recieved gifts).
- Chou (vengance/revenge - the importance of bringing villains or evil to justice)
Imagine your character Kai Smith is in the village passing through with family in when bandits roll through and gun down his loved ones, before riding on. No one in the village will give kai a weapon or horse because they dont want to get involved except the store keepers daughter Meimei gives you her fathers handgun. your character owes serious chou to the villains riding off into the desert and En to meimei as the patron who gives you her fathers weapon.
These are basically starting story points.
Combat Skills
These are weapons and martial arts.
Weapons:
- Dao (broadsword)
- Jian (sword)
- Gun (Staff)
- Quian (spear)
- Firearms
- Every day objects (fan, stool, smoking pipe, hair needles, music instrument, and soforth)
Martial arts: these require initial training though your hero might find a scroll (miji- a secret manual) on accupuncture, the development of inner forces, or proper breathing and balance techniques to get your gun-using peasant hero a point in martial arts or was trained for years, or perhaps is holding a storehouse of energy transfered from the master training them.
- Quinggong (a chinese martial art, but story wise it covers circumventing gravity and flying, leaping across roof tops, tree tops, run across water, scale walls)
- Neili/Neigong (is your ability to store qi or inner energy that is unleashed as acts of super human strength, dexterity, stamina, healing as well as energy blasts)
- Dianxue (touching specific acupuncture points on the opponents body to kill, paralyze, immobilize, heal)
Current qi
qi......status
0 dead
1 unconscious
2+ functional
These will be earned through adventuring. The three martial arts should be inate abilities of all but developed from zero rank through years of training and adventuring.
1d6 to determine your characters Daily limit of qi.
Using Qi in combat
Use........................................cost
Every day 1
Skilled weapon 1/use
Qi energy blast 2-1 cancellation with target
Martial arts feats a preselected number/use
Obviously it needs further development.
Part B: The Story
Jianghu are the outcast class. Masters of martial arts, heroes, bandits. The code of the Jianghu (rivers and lakes) is about living apart or outside politics. its also involves sheltering others from the law. The hermit's life is a concept of Wuxia or martial heroes. these are merchants, craftsmen beggars, vagabonds, bandits, martial artists (shaolin or wudang).
- No using of dirty tricks such as eye gouging during fights unless one has a personal feud with the opponent.
- Personal feuds do not extend to family members.
- Always show respect for seniors and elders according to their status or age.
- Complete obedience to one's shifu (martial arts teacher).
- No learning of martial arts from another person without prior permission from one's shifu.
- No using of martial arts against those who are not trained in martial arts.
- No violating of women.
- No sexual relationships with the wives of friends.
- One's word is one's bond.
The themes, plots, settings might involve:
- the origin of the hero with a tragic loss of initial characters and involving the learning of great martial skills while righting wrongs amongst the outcast peoples culminating in the Confrontation with the BBEG.
- A mystery/murder investigation.
- Magic powers, martial arts, supernatural.
- Denied martial arts teaching, hero learns in secret.
- The rise from childhood to adulthood.
Our story
Kai Smith, Our hero seeking vengance, having picked up a few years of Neili thanks to breathing technique training from an old man encountered hunting his enemy has developed the ability to apply qi to his dexterity and fire arm accuracy. So he works out that Thog, the local warlord who was the bandit who gunned down his family, is now sitting at the head of the table of the town mayor eating meat while his men ravage the mayors daughter, can hear the distant screams and understands bad things are happening so climbs to the second floor of the tavern having been left for dead in a direct and futile confrontation, now at the edge of town with his rifle and shoots a sword off the wall in the mayors dining room providing the young woman a weapon and a moment to get to it. with his remaining shots he curves the next few bullets around the corner of the window off the blade the girl is holding and into Thog's men leaving Thog alone choking on his dinner in surprise with a girl and her sword.
Kai Smith has greatly expended most of his Qi that was keeping him alive and succumbs to death, unconciousness, or inability to burn further qi without death or unconsciousness. Qi will serve as our life points but it can be drawn on to perform these superheroic feats.
Our new girl heroine Nin Wa performs some serious Neili directing most of her angry young lady rage into a Qi enhanced shockwave and tries to blow a hole through Thog. Thog is a pretty powerful villain so while he is upset at the surprising death of his men, the fact Nin Wa caused his meal to spray all over him realy pisses him off. Nin Wa Escapes outside onto the roof top and Thog follows cautiously. For Kai Smith, down to his last bullet, its a skilled shot to hit the now fully exposed Thog in the head. Kai risks unconciousness to make the skilled shot leaving Nin Wa to behead Thogs corpse with her sword.
Our go to source for development here will be wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuxia
