Nine Swords Under Heaven

Genre: Wuxia/Xianxia (Martial Arts Fantasy)

Tech Level (TL): Early TL 1

TL Exceptions: Much TL 0 gear in wide use; marginal Gadgeteer-produced TL 2+ gear.

Power Level: 400 points

Realism Level: Over-the-Top

Note: All place and organization names have Chinese and/or Nahuatl translations that are located in Chinese and Nahuatl Names for those interested. For ease of use, though, you won't be required to memorize these. You will have to remember peoples' names, though.

Campaign Synopsis and Recent Events:

About 5 years ago: The Nine Blades of Heaven reappear - the first time they have been seen in over five hundred years. The Jade Emperor sends out the Hounds to track down the swords and determine their would-be wielders.

Timeline of Significant Historical Events:

1 Celestial Era (CE):

Tiān Xūkōng, the Heavenly Nothingness, awakens in the void of chaos and forms the stars and the sky, simultaneously birthing Lixao Setsun (“Primal Flame”), Lixao Shaipei (“Enveloping Rivers”), and the Four Cardinal Beasts (the Azure Dragon of the East, the Vermilion Bird of the South, the White Tiger of the West, and the Black Tortoise of the North), who hold up the sky.

5 CE:

Lixao Setsun and Lixao Shaipei marry, and from their union comes Lixao Feicao (“Stone Prince”), who is born blind, lame, and mute, and Lixao Mai (“Silver Moon Princess”). Lixao Shaipei cries over her crippled son, creating the rivers, the lakes, and the oceans, from which spring hundreds of nature spirits.

8-15 CE:

A number of gods are born from the unions of these spirits, including Pao Tetl (“The Boar”), Uspa (“White Lotus”), and Taz-Khala (“Eternal Alchemist”). The plants and animals are born as a result of the trysts between Pao Tetl and a number of nature spirits. Experimenting with this new life, Taz-Khala creates the first medicines, offering them to Lixao Shaipei to use on her son. Lixao Feicao is cured, and in her gratitude Lixao Shaipei agrees to grant Taz-Khala one wish; he asks her to create a race of beings in the image of the gods. She agrees, and calls upon the other gods (with the exception of her husband, who she fears will be angered) to aid her: Pao Tetl provides meat from his hunts and molds it into human form (here the story diverges depending on who is telling it. In the tradition of the Stone Men, they were created first, using stone provided by Lixao Feicao instead of meat, with humanity being created afterwards), Lixao Shaipei creates the blood that flows through them, Uspa breathes life into them, Lixao Mai gives them their hopes and ambitions, and Taz-Khala grants them the knowledge they need to attain them.

Money and Currency

The previous three Jade Emperors have made a concerted effort to consolidate currency, and have been largely successful. Two coins are standard: the Copper piece and the silver piece (left over from Elven occupation and reprinted with the face of the current Jade Empire). However, rural communities still sometimes trade in cowrie shells, and most villages make at least partial use of barter systems. The Northlanders have no currency and use a barter system. Dwarves mint their own coins in copper (called Tepotzli), which have the same value as Tóng Bì.

Currency/$ Value: Tóng Bì (Copper Money)/$1

Currency/$ Value: Yín Bì (Silver Money)/$10

Is Slavery Legal? No, but indentured servitude is very common. Typically an agreement is made with the seller (or more rarely with the slave) detailing their length of service; 5-, 10-, and 20-year tenures and lifetime arrangements being the most common. Sometimes these "slaves" will be compensated. This need not be monetary; a poor peasant may agree to himself and any children he may have becoming slaves so that any of his grandchildren will be adopted into his master's family.

Major Nations

The Jade Empire is the only major human civilization known to exist. Apart from the lands under the domain of the Emperor and his administrators, there exist dozens, perhaps hundreds, of tribes of humans living in the surrounding jungles, as well as a group of seafaring merchant warriors simply calling themselves Northlanders. The latter group has stated that their infrastructure does not approach the Empire's, but none have ever been there to confirm this. Their numbers are unknown but presumably small. The Stone Men

Name: The Jade Empire

Capital: Jewel on the Lake

Ruler: Emperor Long Yún of the Heavenly Jade Dynasty

Population: 7,345,700

Cultural Familiarities: Jade Empire (Eastern), Jade Empire (Northern), Jade Empire (Southern)

Language(s): Northern Jade Tongue, Eastern Jade Tongue, Southern Jade Tongue

Typical Literacy: None

TL: 1

Society/Government: Theocratic Dictatorship

Control Rating (CR): 5

Corruption modifier: -3

Other Major Planes of Existence

Name: Sorrow Mist Land

Type: Afterlife (?) Description: This is the home plane of all the varieties of devils that plague tianxia. All that is known of it comes from divination, as nobody has ever been there and returned alive. Its terrain consists of endless gray swamps and plains, occasionally punctuated by a mountain or two. It is theorized that those who are killed by a demon have their souls removed from the cycle of reincarnation and dragged here to suffer for all of eternity.

Name: Great Peach Field

Type: Afterlife Description: The realm of Gods, Buddhas, and the Tiāntángniăo (Heaven Peach Bird). Here it is always Spring and the weather always temperate. It is said to be the final resting place of the soul who has completed his journey of reincarnation, but the enlightened denizens spend their time honing their minds and bodies, attempting to ascend further.

Name: Old Elf Forest

Type: Alternate Plane (?) Description: Little is known of this place other than that it is somehow related to the elves, having been inscribed on many of their old structures.

Name: Dragon Mountain Home

Type: Alternate Plane Description: Those dragons willing to answer the question, "Where are you from?" give this as their answer; hence, its existence has not been confirmed by human scholars. It is said to look much like the known world, but much larger, and dragons say they "go there when they dream".

Rules

House Rules

• Weapon Master has been merged with Trained by a Master, which has been given a variant pricing scheme. Choose one of:
  • A single unarmed combat skill (e.g. Judo): 15 points
  • One specific weapon (e.g. the Sword of Goujian): 15 points
  • A single kind of weapon (e.g. the Jian or Unarmed): 20 points
  • Any two weapons (e.g. the Jian and Unarmed): 25 points
  • All weapons used with a specific Skill (e.g. all weapons used with the Broadsword Skill): 25 points
  • A small class of three to five weapons (e.g. “Pak Hok Weapons”: Jian, Gùn, Qiang, and Jiǔjiébiān): 30 points
  • A medium class of six to fifteen weapons (e.g. all swords): 35 points
  • A large class of sixteen or more weapons (e.g. all bladed weapons or all one-handed weapons): 40 points
  • All muscle-powered weapons: 45 points.
    A warrior with Trained by a Master gains all of the benefits of Trained by a Master AND Weapon Master when using a weapon covered by his specialty (with the exception of unarmed skills, which do not gain another damage bonus).

• Any per-die damage bonuses (from high skill, Claws, Trained by a Master, etc.) are now flat bonuses.

• Attribute and Secondary Characteristics Changes: Per is now based on HT rather than IQ. The costs of IQ and HT have changed; they are now both 15 points/level. A new Attribute, Spirit (SI) has been added, covering supernatural "health". SI can take one modifier: No Fine Supernatural Manipulators, -40%, which prevents you from using your SI for anything other than resisting attacks. Will is now based on SI rather than IQ. A new Secondary Characteristic, Spirit Points (SP), has also been added:
  • SP start equal to your SI and can be bought up or down; see Attributes and Secondary Characteristics, below.
  • SP replace FP in all non-physical situations.
  • SP act as a buffer against supernatural effects; when expenditures or losses leave you with less than 1/3 of your SP, halve your SI and any bonuses from Resistant; when they leave you with 0 or fewer SP, quarter them instead.
  • Spent SP are regained at a rate of 1 per 10 minutes, regardless of whether or not you are resting. This recovery rate can be modified by purchasing one of the following new advantages, or via Breath Control (see Special Skills, below):
    • Resilient Spirit: You get +1 to all SI rolls (to go into SP debt, to avoid injury when going into SP debt, when resisting involuntary SP loss, etc.). This does not improve your SI attribute or SI-based skills! You also recover SP at twice the normal rate. Prerequisite: Spirit 10+. 5 points.
    • Very Resilient Spirit: As above, but the bonus to SI rolls is +2. In addition, whenever you lose SP to draining effects (but not when you voluntarily spend it), you lose it at only half the normal rate. Prerequisite: Spirit 12+. 15 points.
  • A desperate person may tap into “deeper” reserves. Doing this is dangerous. The character must have a current SP of 0 or less and either take a Concentrate maneuver or make an Spirit-4 roll. Tell the GM how many multiples of your base SP you want to access, up to two times your SI if you want to stay conscious. You may access up to 5x your SI, but you fall into a Coma (see p. B429) two turns after you gain access to the extra SP, with all that the condition entails; if you access up to 4x your SI, you must also make an immediate SI roll or else permanently lose a point of SI; if you access up to 5x your SI, this loss is automatic. Two turns after you get the extra Spirit Points, you must make a Spirit roll, at -2 if you accessed 2x your SI. Critical success means you lose 1d FP, success means you take 1d points of injury, failure means you take 3d points of injury and must make another SI roll or fall unconscious until your SP is above 0, and critical failure means you fall into a Coma, just as if you had accessed more than 2x your SP. These “extra points” are used exactly like standard SP.

GURPS Character Creation Guide

Starting Points: 400

Disadvantage Limit: -75 (Below-Native literacy and Innumerate do not count against this total)

Quirk Limit: Up to -8, of which a maximum of 5 can be “roleplay-only” (i.e. without occasional inherent penalties)

Suggested Character Types: See Character Templates, below. You must pick one of these.

Attributes and Secondary Characteristics

All levels are relative to the base; i.e. ST may noy be lower than 8 (10-2) or higher than 18 (10+8). See also House Rules, above.

ST: Min. -2, Max. +8

HP: Min. 0.7xST, Max. 1.3xST

DX: Min. -2, Max. +6

Will: Min. -4, Max. +4

IQ: Min. -2, Max. +6

Per: Min. -4, Max. +4

HT: Min. -2, Max. +6

SI: Min. -2, Max. +6

SP: Min. 0.7xSI, Max. 1.3xSI

FP: Min. 0.7xHT, Max. 1.3xHT

Basic Speed: Min. -2.00, Max. +2.00

Basic Move: Min. -2, Max. +2

Social Traits

Low TL: Low TL 1 (giving a TL of 0) is allowed. This is appropriate for any human raised outside of the capital, though not for Stone Men.

High TL: No.

Status Levels (Min./Max.): -1/3

PC Starting Wealth: $500

Wealth Levels (Min./Max.): Dead Broke/Wealthy.

Cultures (for Cultural Familiarity): Jade Empire (Eastern), Jade Empire (Northern), Jade Empire (Southern), Northlander, Stone Men.

Languages: Old Elf Tongue, Stone Speech, Stone Man Pidgin, Northern Jade Tongue, Eastern Jade Tongue, Southern Jade Tongue, Ice Speech, Northlander Trade Pidgin.

Social Stigma: Of these, Criminal, Disowned, Ignorant, Minority Group, Second-Class Citizen, and Valuable Property are relevant to the players. Social Stigma (Subjugated) is widespread but concerns currently indentured servants. Escaped servants should take an Enemy instead. Stone Men in Human society, and vice-versa, suffer Social Stigma (Minority Group). The Jade Empire, and to a lesser extent the Stone Fellowships, have a history of applying Social Stigma (Minority Group) to minority religious or philosophical movements. As agriculture continues to develop, there is an increasing trend towards lowering the status of women. Except for at the fringes of its territory, women of the Jade Empire suffer Social Stigma (Valuable Property). Northlander women and Stone Women suffer no such stigma, their populations being for the most part decentralized and nomadic.

Social Regard: The elderly have Social Regard (Venerated) 1 or 2; Current and ex-bureaucrats have Social Regard (Respected) 1. Other types do not exist.

Rank: Starting PCs may be former members of an organization (take Courtesy Rank and consult the GM), but as of now you are freelancers.

Advantages

Required Advantages

Reawakened. This is included in all of the Character Templates; do not buy it seperately.

Allowed Special Advantages

Gadgeteer (Regular), Trained by a Master. At the GM's discretion, any Advantage can form the basis of a Chi Power; see Chi Powers.

Disadvantages

Required Disadvantages

None, but characters are very strongly encouraged to take at least one "good" Disadvantage (e.g. Code of Honor, Honesty, Sense of Duty, etc.). I find that these encourage you to act heroically, which is kind of the point. You needn't be a goody-two-shoes, but you shouldn't be a remorseless spree killer either.

Allowed Special Disadvantages

These may be potentially allowed on a case-by-case basis, particularly if they fit the "vibe" of your chi powers. In all cases, run these by the GM before taking them.

Prohibited Mundane Disadvantages

Dependents or Enemies with a Frequency of 12 or 15; Sadism. Crippling physical or mental disavantages will of course inhibit your kung fu-ness but they have a lot of precedence in the genre.

Appropriate Enemies

Name Power Intent Modifiers Base Point Cost The Jade Empire as a whole is too decentralized to be taken as an enemy, but a few of its subordinate groups qualify:

Wūshù Lièquǎn

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Skills

Special Skills

Alchemy and Herb Lore

See also Magic.

= Breath Control

In addition to this skills' benefits in the Basic Set, a successful skill roll lets you regain one SP in only two minutes. You may take an Optional Specialty: Chi OR Physical. Breath Control (Chi) only allows SP recovery, and Breath Control (Physical) only allows FP recovery.

New Skill: Expert Skill (Style Analysis)

Available Optional Specialties: Armed or Unarmed OR a particular region.

This skill replaces both Expert Skill (Hoplology) and Hidden Lore (Secret Styles), and is capable of doing everything either of those skills could do. Additionally, it can act as a Complementary Skill to a Tactics roll.

Cinematic Skills

None. These are Advantage-based instead; see Chi Powers.

Magic

See also Chi Powers, Alchemy and Herb Lore.

Jobs

I will not be using the Job rules in this game. You will be plenty occupied by your quest, anyway! Down time can be abstracted.

Common Equipment (Weapons, Armor, Vehicles, etc.)

All TL 0 gear and most TL 1 gear is available in the largest towns, but in more rural markets supplies of TL 1 gear will likely be limited. For the most part, equipment uses the rules in GURPS Low-Tech and its companions as written. The exception is with weapon, armor, and tool materials: For reasons of scarcity, all obsidian gear is 3x list price, copper gear is 5x list price, and bronze is 10x list price. For bronze, this price multiplier is in addition to existing modifiers (for example, bronze plate having +3 CF). In all cases, this price multiplier is separate from that of weapon quality, etc. (anything using the CF rules), and items made from metal are unlikely to be for sale far outside of the capital. Due to the existence of inventors and gadgeteers, some TL 2 or TL 3 gear may exist, with some even in circulation in small numbers. For the most part, however, these are one-off items.