Are there features or sections of the final Wandering Blades core book that you'd like to see? Anything that you believe would be helpful?
Post them here!
Lethal wuxia melodrama in an old-school inspired tabletop RPG package by Daniel Kwan · By
I would love to have dedicated sections of the book to lore about the world of the Wandering Blades, the jianghu and perhaps even the world outside of the jianghu.
The combat system right now looks really cool, but without more context about the world of the Wandering Blades, it might be difficult to begin roleplaying without a foundation to go off of.
In particular, I would love more information on the different Martial Art Sects featured in the Youxia class section, it could help with character creation and help create connections with NPCs and help build the jianghu the players will be a part of!
I think in the vein of lethal melodrama, I would also wish for mechanics to facilitate that, whether it be rolling for a tragic event that spurred the players on their journey, or rewarding players making dramatic moves!
If there's anything else I can think of I'll continue posting in this thread!
I’d love a section of random tables where you could roll up an adventure with factions, NPCs, and plots/schemes. Having something to riff off of when coming up with adventure scenarios is a godsend. Plus it could be a great way to show what Wuxia adventures might look like for a newcomer. Something similar to the adventure tables in Vaults of Vaarn would be cool!
A variant ability for the Youxia that allows for characters to use unarmed strikes (palm strikes or clawed fingers) instead of a weapon.
Another thing is that techniques in wuxia novels (especially Jin Yong, less so Gu Long) often fill the role of magic items you see in other OSR games; hidden, powerful discoveries that define the character. Typically these techniques allow a character to forge their own destiny rather than adhering strictly to a sect, especially when they are in conflict with any masters of their sect
Characters often move between different sects and I don't know if that is applicable to this game
Great suggestion(s)!
Given the short form nature of games (1-5 sessions), I opted to design the youxia around a fixed class. Now that said, I don't see why a player couldn't choose to switch their sect (and associated sect ability) through the course of a story. This would give them the starting sect technique(s) and then access to the others!
As for unarmed strikes, it could be an easy case of adding an amendment to the "signature weapon" ability to include their literal body!
On the note of "magic item" equivalents, I've actually written a section on martial arts manuals in the core rulebook manuscript!