A GAME OF CIVIL DEFENCE
Blackout is “A Game about Women & The Blitz.” I first approached this with knives drawn. I’m interested in The Blitz and I’ve read a good deal about it. The old TV series Danger: UXB remains a childhood terror. For several years one of my “grail” projects has been Danger: Unexploded Spell, a game set in a fantasy world under siege. I figured I could ransack Blackout for ideas. I was wrong. 

I was wrong because Blackout takes and delivers on its unique premise and setting. My favorite PbtA games have focus and coherency. The mechanics and structure continually reinforce the genre and theme. At the same time, those elements are lean. Take Night Witches and The Warren as examples. Blackout falls into that category. It’s tight, smartly designed, and it uses the Death Loop of PbtA. 

DEATH LOOP 3000
The Death Loop’s not entirely a real thing. It’s the term Sherri uses to describe the feeling of PbtA games—often snowballing from bad result to bad result. Characters burn through options and resources, digging themselves in deeper before they finally succumb. Not all games do this, but in many you can see the ground sliding slow out from under you. Monster of the Week’s limited Luck offers a constant clock for your mortality. Designer Erika Chappell has forged that feeling into a central element of a game which is almost literally powered by the apocalypse. 

Session Title
Gauntlet Comics: My Life With Mastermind #1/4

Date
1/10/2019

System
My Life With Master

GM
Jim Crocker

Players
Alejandro Duarte, Richard Rogers (orklord), Tom Fowler, Peter Mazzeo

Session Recap
This was a Session Zero episode, with character- and world-building. We started by piecing together our Mastermind, who turned out to be an ex-superhero who has become convinced that more extreme and societal solutions to crime are required. We tied his origin into the existing Gauntlet Comics Universe, and our characters will become part of the shared universe.

Highlight
When a player suggested that the Master be a former masked vigilante, it unlocked a floodgate of ideas for the world and characters.

Moment of Insight
MLwM is an early Forge-era game, and it's fiddly and arithmetic-intensive. I regret spending time going through the rules and formulas, and should have just rolled into play and explained the systems as we went along.

Actual Play (Content Advisory - Discussion of existence of sexual assault in Lines/Veils creation)

Star Wars Saturday

Primetime Adventures (Session 2 of 4)
Rich Rogers runs for Alejandro, Horst Wurst, Joshua Gilbreath, and Pawel S.
The Rebel cell hidden in the crew of the heavy cargo freighter the STS Archmage successfully ferry four Wookiees to freedom, fending off the attacks of the Jabba's Chosen Swoop Gang. Now, they must deal with Imperial Entanglements.

Gauntlet Sunday

Hearts of Wulin (Session 2 of 4)
Lowell Francis runs for Alejandro, Jim Crocker, Sabine V., and Yoshi Creelman
Tempers flare, forcing confrontations between Lin Su and Delan while Bao tries to return to Ming's tumultuous tofu shop. But forces have begun to gather and Shadowed Sabre may already be ahead of the PCs.

TGI Thursday

Hearts of Wulin (Session 1 of 3)
Lowell Francis runs for David L., Michael G. Barford, Sam Z., and Zak
When family draws Yin back, he fights off an ambush with the aid of Zemin, the man secretly behind his father's forced retirement. Meanwhile Master Ni Mo encounters Zhen, but leaves the young student facing a deadly foe alone.

Gauntlet Quarterly

Masks: A New Generation (Session 3)
Lowell Francis runs for Chris Newton, Jesse Larimer, John Campbell, and Steven desJardins
Sara welcomes Dynamo, once of teen S-Pop (Super Pop) group Break 23, onto the team creating tensions. As both Overclock and Mimic struggle with home issues, the team pursues Dame Canada but dissension complicates their battle.

The Gaunt Marches

Dungeon World: The Last Apprentice (Session 2 of 4)
Jim Crocker runs for Bryan, Horst Wurst, Ludovico Alves, and Pawel S.
Our heroes deal with the aftermath of last week's carnage, and try to track down the perpetrator with the help of new hallucinogens and old friends.

Gauntlet Hangouts

The Dark Between Stars: Emissary Lost (Session 2)
Fraser Simons runs for Darren Brockes, Lauren, Mathias, and Sam Z.
The crew splits up--one heading to the Ozone Plaza--the other to find where the comm signal is coming from.

Hearts of Wulin: The Romance of the Golden Dragon (Session 2 of 4)
Gerwyn Walters runs for Agatha, Alun R., David Morrison, and Lloyd
Our Heroes arrive at the capitol and a brawl breakout between Wu-hen and the father of Well Worn Ling, Iron-faced Bison. Harp strings and heart strings are tugged both before and during the theft of the legendary Golden Dragon Saber. Who is the dark woman lacing Black Fox Jian's drink with poison and what is their relationship to Unforgiving Fox? Blades will be drawn, Hearts will be broken in...The Romance of the Golden Dragon.

Melody of a Never-ending Summer (Session 2 of 4)
Luiz Ferraz runs for David Morrison, Leandro Pondoc, and Sabine V.
Just as Joel is forced to go home for a while, a new teen joins the ranch. More mons are befriended, relationships grow deeper, and the days seem to be slipping by so, so fast.

Alas for the Awful Sea: Gladhythe (Session 1 of 3)
Ryan M. runs for Jim Crocker, Peter, and Sarah J.
A surgeon, a scholar, and an old sea dog make it into safe(?) harbor in the Outer Hebrides.

Atitlan Riders: January Playtest (Session 2 of 3)
Gerrit Reininghaus runs for Barry, Bryan, Diana Moon, and Sabine V.
How does it feel like to open your heart when nobody understands you - literally? Or would you rather do it on the radio in front of the whole town? How do you feel like to deliver for your mighty aunt. Would you let your friends' dreams sink into mud for that?

Spire: The Kings of Silver (Session 2 of 12)
Darren Brockes runs for Greg G., J.D. Woodell, Josh DeGagné, and Rich Rogers
Umra and Ivaran make a deal for a death god's artifact while Shahran and Yend'reth preach for support of their enemy's god...then Umra and Yend put a preyhook in a drug dealer's shoulder and cut off supply to Umra's old master.

Dream Askew: From the Void (Session 1 of 3)
Bethany H. facilitates for Barry, Ben Swinden, João, and Sarah J.
After being attacked by an outlying gang, Lark is forced to settle down in the queer enclave and accept the support of others -- and face their old flame, Mischa. Robyn reluctantly participates in Mischa's ritual and is less than careful with Finch's belongings. Pity's source of stories is broken, affecting their relationship. And everyone needs Finch to fix something important ASAP.

Monsterhearts 2: Kingsport 1886 (Session 2 of 5)
Catherine Ramen runs for Bethany H., Darold Ross, David Morrison, and Leandro Pondoc
The Faery Queen tries to recruit Helen the Witch and Jonathon the Mortal; Finch the Queen tries to draw Jonathon deeper in his web and put down Magnus' rebellion; and Alice the Hollow learns who the mysterious poet is.

*Storm Riders! (Session 2 of 3)
Shane Liebling runs for David L., Jeff, and Kevin Marshall
Watch out for catapulting brain squids!

Urban Shadows: Kingsport's Boston (Session 3 of 5)
Jesse A. runs for Darold Ross, Leandro Pondoc, Owen Thompson, and Sawyer Rankin
In our latest installment, Amelia is offered a play, Tiberius goes looking for a friend, Fiore thinks about some new recipes and Sweet Mama Huang gets reminded of who she was, and who she is now.

Solar Blades & Cosmic Spells: Dunnsmouth Asteroid Mines (Session 2 of 4)
Richard Ruane runs for David Miessler-Kubanek, Michael G. Barford, Peter, Rachelle Dube, and Robbie Boerth

Dark Streets & Darker Secrets: The Price of Evil (Session 3 of 3)
Richard Ruane runs for Eduardo L., Robbie Boerth, and Steven desJardins

Space Wurm vs. Moonicorn (Session 4 of 4)
Tyler Lominack runs for Gerwyn Walters, Leandro Pondoc, Patrick Knowles, and Yoshi Creelman
As Destruction reaches to consume the Galaxy, Moonicorn takes a stand, the Other is no longer alone, the Thief steals hearts, and Space Wurm finds peace.

PbtA Changeling the Lost: Month 3 (Session 3 of 4)
Tyler Lominack runs for Chris Newton, Dr. Jason Cox, and Patrick Knowles

Masks: Iron Red Soldiers (Session 3 of 4)
Leandro Pondoc runs for Andrew Hauge, Ludovico Alves, and Luiz Ferraz
In the island of Vyortovia, the Dread Queen awaits, holding captive Prospect City's superheroes for the Tangee occupation. Our heroes are tasked with infiltrating this oppressed nation to save their own city. Slipstream gets the chance to be a proper hero, Turn starts walking a darker path and Regicide confronts their past. Also, lasers!

Other Games

Dialect
Pat P. runs for David L., Michael G. Barford, Mikael Tysvær, and Yoshi Creelman
We are the first settlers on Mars, the Vanguard. Now we are cut off from Earth and changes are needed to survive.

Shadow of the Demon Lord (Session 2, Part 1)
Pat P. runs for Darren Brockes, Fernando "Dolan" Dolande, and Lu Quade
Blix discusses his actions with Hugo. Jonah finds out he has been robbed. Skive is told to stay safe and stay away. The party is summoned to a council meeting then learn of a job that pays well.

Shadow of the Demon Lord (Session 2, Part 2)
Pat P. runs for Darren Brockes, Fernando "Dolan" Dolande, and Lu Quade
Skive gets excited by magic. Blix demonstrates his skill with blades. Jonah makes a dark decision.

Shadow of the Demon Lord (Session 2, Part 3)
Pat P. runs for Darren Brockes, Fernando "Dolan" Dolande, and Lu Quade
With the help of an illusion, the party confronts the Rude Bois on an island.
​
Check out all the great videos on The Gauntlet YouTube channel and be sure check out the playlists to catch up on all your favorite games. If you'd like to play in games like these, check out the calendar of events and the Gauntlet Hangouts Google+ Community where new games are announced! To support The Gauntlet, please visit the Gauntlet Patreon at https://patreon.com/gauntlet. All are welcome to play Gauntlet Hangouts games, and Patreon supporters have extra options like priority RSVP for Gauntlet Hangouts games and joining the Gauntlet Slack team where special events are announced like Gauntlet Games Now. Enjoy, and everyone have a great weekend!

DEADLY CLANS
I love Laughing in the Wind, a Chinese TV drama from 2001. It’s not exactly pretty- weird camera work, early digital production, and highly variable subtitling. (You can find episodes on YouTube.) As a Patreon supporter of the Jianghu Hustle podcast I asked them to cover Laughing. Their episode hits on one of my favorite series bits: the variety of colorful factions with conflicting agendas. Inspired by LitW, tons of action in my Hearts of Wulin sessions has been driven by the rivalries of clans and sects, with PCs caught in the middle. 

I first remember factions as a thing in rpgs from Gamma World (1978). These groups struggled for power in the wasteland—Knights of Genetic Purity, Seekers, Followers of the Voice—included one led by a Nazi bear. The James Bond 007 RPG (1983) included villainous organizations, but listed intelligence agencies around the globe with the implication these could be allies and rivals. Paranoia (1987) leaned into the concept with every character belonging to a Secret Society (which might or might be functional or even real). Vampire the Masquerade’s (1991) clans focused the game on clashes between these groups. 

TICKING CLOCKS
Recent games have added interesting tech to the faction mix. The Sprawl focuses on corporations. Each player develops a corp they owe a debt to. These, plus one or two others, become the world that the PCs operate in. While some moves directly interact with corporations, what really matters is their threat clock. As you run jobs against them, their clock ticks up, eventually resulting in action against you. Your team has tools to mitigate this, but they’re costly. Playing one against the other offers a safer, but still dangerous, bet. It’s a good system because it’s strongly visible to the players and supported by the mechanics. 

Blades in the Dark also uses clocks for factions, specifically to track their plans and operations. Groups primarily have a tier (aka strength) and status in relation to the PC crew. The latter measures their attitude from -3 (at war) to +3 (tight friends). It’s a good and easily trackable system. Heat operates as a separate but related mechanic. As players do jobs, they generate heat which raises the level of problems they encounter between jobs. While heat is a general measure, Scum & Villainy tweaks this by having system to system heat. A more complex system might blend The Sprawl and Blades’s approach.

Both games offer useful mechanics, focused on the player side. Factions have importance in how they relate to and directly impact the PCs. But what about their interactions between one another? We don’t often get mechanics covering that. I can only think of a couple. In Mutant: Year Zero: Genlab Alpha players building up revolutionary cells among various groups and the game tracks those relations. The recent Sigmata focuses on similar ideas and has a robust rules for it. Urban Shadows has perhaps the simplest and most player facing, with its Start of Session move letting the player generate events within and between groups. 

WORLD OF THE DRAGON CLAN
Several years ago I ran a Legend of the Five Rings campaign with the party as members of a newly established samurai family. I borrowed a good deal from John Wick’s Blood & Honor, with characters having offices and seasonal actions. Much of the campaign involved dealing with the families and clans around the PCs domain. 

To simulate this and give a sense of the world in motion, I randomly generated seasonal events. I created a short list of the relevant families & forces. Then I rolled from a large table of random “events.” Some of these offered specific happenings (like Plague or Assassination). But abstract phrases made up the largest share of the table. I found a site with a complete card index for the L5R CCG. I collected the names from Actions and Event cards (A Test of Courage, Honor in Death, Refusing the Throne). 

When I rolled these, I’d consider the meaning in the context of that particular group. If the phrase suggested a connection to a second group, I randomly generated that. This system worked well and allowed me to create cool events quickly. This loosely meant I could usually think of a way to have new events build on previous ones. In many circumstances, the results spun the story (and the world) off in unexpected directions. Since it worked so well, I’ve been thinking how to retool it for my current campaigns.

PRACTICAL FACTIONS
I wanted a quick and dirty method to make factions change and breathe in my games. Importantly, any approach should generate material which evokes the world, run quickly, and provide actionable events. Equally, it should be fun to prep. The method I’m using steals a great, great deal from Brendan Conway’s The Green Law of Varkith. This Dungeon World setting has the PCs run a guild in the eponymous city. Play cycles between normal adventures and Guild turns. During the latter, the GM generates results, rolls conflicts, and tracks the stats of the most relevant guilds.

My approach drops tracking and resolution, while expanding possible actions. It’s purely a backdrop generator. I’m using this currently for my 13th Age campaign. I begin with a large grid, running the factions along the top and right hand side. I focus on factions connected to Icons the PCs have relationships with, plus a few other groups we’ve seen in play. I ended up with twelve—way too many, but it’s my tool. For each I generated one action from a table. 

If an action suggests fighting or friendship with another faction, I randomly generate that target. I write in the action on the matching grid line. If I roll the same faction for target, that indicates an internal split. Then I look and figure out what’s happening. I sketch a sentence or two about it in my notebook. This isn’t about resolution, but If I need a relative success level, I throw a simple fate d6 (1 being abject failure, 6 being full victory). 

TWELVE FACTION ACTIONS
1 Attack: This could be a concerted assault, whispering campaign, duel, assassination, or public debate. The nature depends on the initial group and relation to the target. If the group’s previously done Discern Strength, Expansion, or Big Magic I use that info rather than rolling a target. 
2 Expansion: The faction works to gain something from someone else: territory, patronage, recruits, rights, honor, status. This hasn’t yet risen to the level of an attack. Instead they’re beginning to push and prod. An internal target could indicate some kind of building project or gathering of power.
3 Gather Information: The group has begun to look into another faction—history, membership, plots, goals. This isn’t necessarily hostile; they could be exploring an alliance or searching for something. An internal target suggests a search for dissension, researching history, or even looking for spies. 
4 Discern Strengths: The more aggressive version of Gather Info. Here the group’s looking for weak points and avenues of assault. This could be the prelude to an attack or expansion. The faction might also decide that such a conflict isn’t worth it or store the info away for a rainy day. 
5 Big Magic: The group’s performing some kind of major working—magic or otherwise. This is fairly open ended and based on the faction’s resources, aspects, and target. They might be preparing defenses, summoning aid, inflicting a curse, changing the environment. It should be big and take time to put together. 
6 Bargains & Exchanges: The group publicly makes deals or arrangements with another faction. This could be an alliance, sales, or even exchange of prisoners. Interesting stories can come from odd couples here. An internal target suggests an alliance to bring the faction under tighter control (or the opposite). 
7 Secret Deals: The group carries out behind-the-scenes machinations. Perhaps they settle old debts, conspire against a third group, or agree to aid one another on something both want hidden. An internal target could represent a conspiracy within. 
8 Entrench Power: The faction works to bolster defenses, assure loyalties, or improve public image. If they’ve recently made gains, they work to secure those. This result doesn’t need a target unless you want to know who might be driving them to it. 
9 Send Expedition: Agents travel out for some purpose. They might be sending the vulnerable away, seeking an object of power, exploring a lost location, or attempting to reach a distant embassy. In any case, they dispatch people beyond the collective factions’ reach. Perhaps the PCs sign on to protect or disrupt the expedition. Or maybe they simply want to get there first. If targeted, then either expedition is a shared one or the faction’s objective strikes at a target’s interests. 
10 New Arrivals: New forces or faces appear. These may be members from another branch of the faction, a replacement for losses, or an old agent returning from travels. Their arrival should suggest a change in the status quo. 
11 Recruit Outsiders: An attempt to increase numbers. Depending on the group this could be enrolling students, preaching to converts, or hiring mercenaries. It could show a weakness in the group or preparations for a bigger operation. It should be an opportunity for the PCs to get hired or else put an agent in place. 
12 Change Approach: This should be a big event or shift. The faction could give up an ongoing project, dump old allies, or move into areas it’s never had interest in. Why is this happening? Has a new leader arisen? Has some prophecy come to light? Or have they been hiding their real intentions all along!!! 

ACTUALIZING FACTIONALIZING
I confine my prep to one hour before a session. This approach neatly fits into that. The material it generates can be used for multiple sessions. I call this kind of thing “Bicycle Prep.” You pump the pedals really hard for a little bit, coast for a while, and then pump again. I reuse the grid by writing in later results in a different color. 

For me it’s a super-rich set of details to mine. When I see that the Infernal General’s collecting info on Archdruid Lorthain, what’s that about? I look at the Archdruid’s result and see that his group’s bargaining with the High Priestess. Hmmm…is there a connection? I like when two results cross paths—Group A’s attacking Group B and Group B’s doing Big Magic. Is one in response to the other? It could be an attempt to stop the ceremony or maybe the ritual’s a defensive one. 

These events don’t have to come front and center in a session. They should be peppered throughout and alluded to. If the PCs hit the streets, obviously they provide a rich fodder for rumors. But if characters go to NPCs for other reasons, their contacts might mention bits in passing. It could also serve as an explanation for why a particular NPC can’t help them at that moment. Since the factions connect to Icons in my 13th Age game, it makes this great fodder for “5” results on the Icon die. 

OTHER WORLDS OF FACTIONS
I’ve been thinking of other games this could work well with. When I run Mutant: Year Zero again, I’ll definitely use this to generate ideas for things happening in the Ark. Event card draws would supersede these, but this technique could tell us how groups interact. In this case, the factions would be each of the different Bosses, the circle of scholars around the Elder, plus any other group with independent pull (like the Gearheads or Stalkers). I think this could offer the depth of detail missing from the Ark phase of the game

This system could be a useful bolt-on for Blades in the Dark. It could make the factions less static, offer ideas for clocks, and generate new jobs. The Sword, The Crown, and the Unspeakable Power has minimal tools for the factions. This could be an interesting way to generate GM hard moves and responses. Basically any game with different groups locked in a power struggle could use this--Coriolis, Changeling the Lost, Planescape. 

What tools have you used to manage groups & factions at your table? ​​
​For the full backlog of Age of Ravens posts on Blogger see here. ​​

Session Title
Masks: Gauntlet Quarterly S1

Date
1/2/2019

System
Masks: A New Generation

GM
Lowell Francis

Players
Steven desJardins, Chris Newton, Steven Watkins,

Session Recap
This was primarily a character creation session. The players settled on a mid-tone game set in Gauntlet City. We established three characters:

Sara Sparks aka Molly Kirby. She’s a smart and athletic third generation superhero. Sparks follows in the footsteps of her grandfather, Flag Waver, who is currently in an induced coma. Her father, once heir to the mantle, took the name Night Terror and is in prison for his vigilante extremism. Sara was raised and trained by her grandfather and uncle. (Legacy)

Gabriel is a lifeform sent by forces further up the timestream. Intended as a probe, Gabriel awoke a couple of millennia late during an alien invasion. Gabriel changes form, appearance, and gender, but always seems a little off. They communicate with a “caretaker” who may be in contact with their hypertime creators. (Newborn)

Overclock found a crashed time observation post that had been landed to assist Tachytron in its role as a slow creeping Empyreonix infection from a dark technopocalypse future/alternate dimension. The craft bonded with him in its malfunctioning state, but Will was infected by the damaged Empyreonix nanocode. (Doomed)

All three characters attend a Gauntlet City Anchor school which has provisions for unusual lifeforms (hence Gabriel’s presence there). The three characters have a mixed knowledge of each other’s secret IDs, with Overclock and Sara attending in their civilian identities. As they ate lunch in the cafeteria, mysterious flames appeared around people—burning the area but not the students. 

The team cleared the cafeteria and attempted to extinguish the flames. However this seemed to focus the inferno, which shifted and became a portal out of which a figure emerged. The team confronted him in the courtyard, where they discovered he was Asphyxia, a mercenary villain hired by the Empyreonix to capture Overclock. The team fought, but the villain used his powers to destroy the oxygen in the area, threatening students at the school.

Overclock confronted Asphyxia and landed a solid blow, but the villain took him out. Gabriel and Sara coordinated and tried to remove the villain’s armored suit, only to find it was a containment vessel and opening it sent things haywire. They eventually managed to reseal him and take him out. Overclock took off, embarrassed at his relative inability during the fight.

Dr. Nicholas Alset, leader of an AEON research division, arrived and put pressure on Sparks, but she resisted. The team took off in separate directions and we saw a little of their home life.

Highlight
Overclock's desperation at the end of the fight as he realized he'd endangered everyone and been (as he saw it) useless in the conflict.

Moment of Insight
Lot of time travel elements.

Actual Play

As you may know, I’ve been writing an rpg called Hearts of Wulin. Several GMs have been gracious enough to test drive it. In fact, we had three different HoW campaigns on the Gauntlet this weekend (thanks to Jason and Gerwyn). My niece has been running it, her first real GMing experience, for a trad-leaning group. She’s biased, but she claims they’re having a good time. Several folks also kindly mentioned Hearts of Wulin in our Favorite Games of 2018 podcast. So I wanted to talk about what Hearts of Wulin is and what we’re doing with it. 

While Heart of Wulin’s still in development, we have a robust playable version. Jason announced on Twitter that we will Kickstart it later this year. HoW’s only exists because of The Gauntlet. The community has gone along with my weird experiments—some successful (Changeling the Lost PbtA) and some not so much (Masks: ANG: Zombies). You can see some the development process on the earlier Age of Ravens blog, but I want to give an overview here.   ​​

THREE PILLARS OF WULIN 
Hearts of Wulin adds some tech to the PbtA mix. As we’ve played, three HoW elements have really shined. These elements have been critical in generating stories, driving action, and helping players embrace the genre. 

Entanglements: Player characters have relationships with one person which are complicated by another. We call these entanglements. These triangles offer a push and a pull. A couple of recent examples:

• I love Sedate Rao, who I overlooked for too long; now they love Perfect Mist.
• I’ve learned my friend Nightsky Ming has been lied to by her mother Coral Lantern, but she will never believe me.

Characters have one romantic and one standard entanglement. I’ve created large lists of samples; each has two blanks for names and you can tune the wording. You can even make up your own. At least one entanglement has to include a fellow PC. By the end of the process we have a small but rich network of connections.

Entanglements will change in play. Feedback encouraged creating an explicit start of session moment where players discuss, negotiate, and revise these entanglements. For example, by the end of the campaign, the two entanglements I mentioned above had changed.

• I still love Sedate Rao, but they are engaged to the villainess Whiphand Sheng.
• I allowed my sister Nightsky Ming’s adopted mother Coral Lantern to escape justice.  I can't bring myself to make Ming an orphan again, even if Coral Lantern means us harm.

Entanglements help create the world, often bringing us new NPCs and new details about the factions and clans. They’re also the main XP engine: PCs get XP for interacting with them in the session. Entanglements also frame another element that makes Hearts of Wulin work. 

Inner Conflict: I love this basic move: “When you come face to face with emotional turmoil and pressure from one of your entanglements, roll anything but your style element. On a 10+ you manage to keep yourself together. On a 7-9 you must flee the scene or mark a chi until you make a change in the entanglement.” 

The wording needs tweaking—in play we’ve refined when it triggers and what fleeing means. But right now that’s the heart of the game. You face entanglements and have to steel yourself. Sometimes you manage to hold it together, but often you must make a tough choice. In play I usually ask if a moment rises to the level of Inner Conflict. I want the players to choose their level of emotional stakes. They don’t roll every time they see their unrequited love, but when something or someone painfully reminds them of that distance, they roll. 

And I make sure to remind them. I’m super happy with the moments and stories which have rolled out of this move. There’s lots of feels at the table. On the other hand, sometimes players just want to fight, and that brings us to the third element. 

Scale: My earliest attempts at a wuxia game were crunchy to say the least. I wrote a full Storyteller-based system complete with styles, weapons, maneuvers, and on-the-fly combinations. Even my earliest PbtA thinking had lots of details: harm tracks, style moves, etc. That’s not to say that’s a bad approach; Weapons of the Gods, Tianxia, and Qin all do interesting stuff with that level of detail, especially for conflict. 

But those mechanics often don’t help with the romance side. I wanted to emulate those Chinese wuxia soap operas. I needed to spotlight combat, but make it quick and easy to figure out. Originally I had ideas about tiers and levels, with differences in levels impacting harm dealt. But the Jianghu Hustle podcast illuminated the idea of scale for me. In a fight, someone’s either worse, equal to, or better than you. That’s scale.

If they’re worse, you’re going to win most times. In a duel with them, even a 6- roll gives you the option to win at a cost. If they’re equal to you, then there’s a real question. A 7-9 result there offers choices, including taking a loss. But when you face someone of a higher scale, you lose. Your roll determines who gets to narrate that loss. Figuring out how to even that scale is one of the big challenges. In all of these cases, the fight’s determined with a single roll. It’s done and then we deal with the aftermath of the battle. 

99 CHAMBERS OF WULIN
There’s lots more to Hearts of Wulin. I’ve borrowed from Fraser Simon’s The Veil in how I handle stats. Characters have five stats, called chi, based loosely on Chinese Wu Xing philosophy. When you make a move, you decide your mood or approach and pick the chi which feels right. There’s a little bit of calculation. If a roll results in a GM move, they can have you mark chi and you always mark the chi you rolled with. While HoW has some exceptions to this, it’s a fairly straightforward means of marking harm. 

I’m happy with many other bits of the rules—the playbook moves have generated unexpected and wonderful moments. We have a simple set of guidelines for factions (with options for making that more robust). When PvP moments arise, if you started the exchange you make an offer to the other player about what you’ll give them if they let you win. I’ve seen wounds, XP, entanglement changes, revelations, and even narrative control offered. In future posts I’ll look further at some of these mechanics, with examples drawn from our play. 

Now that we’ve got a strong basic skeleton, I’m working on fleshing Hearts of Wulin out. In particular I want a lot of idea and glossary material: discussion of concepts from the genre, understanding Chinese historical elements in this media, describing combat, terminology, etc. I’m working on several toolsets to allow you to change the frame up a little to cover related Chinese drama types. If you’re an rpger familiar with the source material—the many, many TV shows and/or the novels of Jin Yong, Gu Long, and Liang Yusheng—I’d love to talk with you about it. I’d also like to talk with someone knowledgeable about Korean period dramas to see if this could work with those. 

ACTUAL PLAY+

• If you’re interested in watching some actual play videos, you can see my playlist of sessions here.  
• You can see the first session of Gerywn’s series here.
• Here’s Mathias running it for katyfaise’s Twitch channel.
• If you prefer podcasts, Fraser Simons brilliantly edited several sessions in Hearts of Wulin: Deadly Meldoy for Pocket-Sized Play which you can find here. 
• You can find the amazing Jianghu Hustle podcast here. 
• Agatha, co-host of the Asians Represent! podcast, found this great video talking about what jianghu and wuxia means in the context of Chinese dramas.

Thanks for reading! I will keep everyone updated with posts on the project here. Images in the post come from Gene Ha's awesome sketches for an earlier wuxia campaign. 
​For the full backlog of Age of Ravens posts on Blogger see here. ​​

a Dungeon World shrine by Will Patterson, Keeper of the Child's Dream

An entry in the Discern Realities Shrine Contest.

Out of the corner of your eye you notice the texture on a nearby wall shimmer and move, like oil upon the tide. But when you focus your attention on the wall, all appears normal aside from the sounds of a babbling brook. If you pass through the wall you will find a boat just large enough for you and your companions. Once boarded, the boat moves of its own accord, flowing gently down the stream towards a landing where a small white obelisk sits among soft grasses. A glowing script on the obelisk invites you to sleep and promises great wisdom, but the text will if you glance away. Lying before the Shrine you see numerous creatures in peaceful slumber, of species and races mostly unknown to you.

Life is but a dream
When you fall asleep before the Shrine of Shakyamuni, roll 2d6 and add the number of times you have visited the Black Gates. On a 7+, describe your brief time within the world of dreams before you are visited by Shakyamuni. Choose 1 and upon awakening you remember nothing of Shakyamuni’s visage:

• Gain the Dream Signs move from The Oneironaut Compendium Class (reprinted below)
• You may always negotiate with Death from a position of strength
• You and your party may awaken in any known location within the waking world

On a 10+, choose 2 and you vividly recall that Shakyamuni’s visage was your own.
On a 6-, Shakyamuni will offer you a bargain. Take it and awaken before the Shrine. Refuse and remain lost in the world of dreams forever, your sleeping body never to awaken.

The Journal of the First Yogi
The pristine pages of this journal describe your every visit to the world of dreams. Each morning new pages are added, written by your own hand. The bearer of this item cannot be deceived by any worldly illusion, and may add the following question to the Discern Realities list: What does this adversary most fear?

Dreamcraft
Level 5 Cleric Spell
You enter the dreams of a sleeping creature known to you. You may speak with the target and you may change any details of the dream. If you craft a nightmare with yourself as the object of your target’s horror, you may reroll your lowest die on any future CHA moves against the target.