Who wants to be an Emperor? [Flying Swordsman RPG]

[dojango]

The Immortal Emperor is dying. That thought itself is treason, and yet it is whispered all across the Empire of T'ien Ch'i. Rebels and dissidents and ambitious warlords plot how to profit by it, all while the imperial bureaucrats and palace eunuchs steadfastly deny it and carry out the emperor's mad dictates. Or at least, what they claim are his orders. And under it all, the peasants continue to toil in the fields, pay their taxes, and serve in the corvee. They at least understand the fundamental truth of things, that it can always get worse... But that doesn't matter to you. What does matter is that you have been conscripted to labor on one of the Emperor's projects in the remote Bowu Mountains. Heavy rains have delayed you, and you are going to be late. And the penalty for arriving late is death.

Someone posted a link to 'flying swordsmen' RPG, and it looks like it might be fun to try out. Going to upend the setting a bit, instead of the end of the Han dynasty, we're looking at the end of the Chin dynasty. Most of the schools of fighting have been suppressed, so you guys will be rebuilding them through ADVENTURE! And maybe get a chance at becoming the next Emperor? After all, the first Han Emperor was a charismatic Peasant. The first Ming Emperor was a bandit.

The timeline:

??? years ago: The Immortal Emperor unified the warring states, drove out the barbarians, and defeated the Yama King. He established the Imperial Bureaucracy and centralized Imperial rule. He abolished the old kingdoms and reorganized the empire into the 12 provinces, under the command of his own appointees. He also ordered all the history books in the empire destroyed, the old ways were dead.
50 years ago: After yet another failed assassination attempt, the Emperor begins to grow paranoid and withdraws from society and the direct rule of his Empire.
20 years ago: The Emperor banned all esoteric fighting schools, guilds, mystic brotherhoods, and unsanctioned spirit-worship. This prompted a massive uprising against the Emperor. When the rebels and the Imperial army clashed, the Emperor himself took the field, and reminded everyone that he was an unparalleled sorcerer. The rebels were utterly destroyed, their wealth and weapons seized, their ancient monasteries put to the torch.
10 years ago: The Emperor purged the Imperial alchemist schools, killing thousands, in order to conceal the secrets of immortality. His health apparently begins to decline rapidly afterwards.
6 months ago: The Crown Prince, Qiao Luoyang, is ordered to commit suicide. The order comes directly from the Emperor himself, at least, according to Prime Minister Cao Ping.
1 month ago: Whether it be a labor draft from your village, or as a criminal sentenced to hard labor, you have been ordered to report to Mount Cangyan to labor in the Emperors' name.

Spoiler: Game Details

Show

System: Flying Swordsman RPG
Player Count: Up to 5, one for each of the elements
Medium: PbP on these forums
Style of Play: Wuxia. Martial Arts Fantasy set in a China that never was.
Allowed Content: There's only one book, I think.
Character Creation: Per the book
Backstory: Something. Whoever you were, you've been conscripted into the corvee. What did you do? Who did you leave behind? What are your goals?
Experience: Start at the beginning, naturally. Although the fighting schools and old ways have been suppressed, perhaps you learned a few ancient secrets from a local hermit, or a wandering mercenary.
Wealth: Per rules.
Ability Scores: Per rules.

Other Notes: I'm as new to the system as you, so we will learn together!

[Holiday Warlock]

Seems like it'd be super fun. When would you be hoping to play?

[dojango]

PbP here on these forums, I usually say two weeks for character creation... so starting 6/19/2019, first post goes up in the evening.

[Holiday Warlock]

Cool, thanks. May I ask what timezone you are in? I live in Australia so a evening game for you might be a middle of the day game for me.

[dojango]

Pacific time, so I will usually put new posts up in the evening Pacific time.

[roko10]

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[Holiday Warlock]

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[dojango]

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You must have been exceptionally virtuous in your previous incarnation, the Yama kings have smiled upon you.

[KreenWarrior]

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[ybn1197]

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[Fearan]

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[dojango]

Anyone got any questions about character creation and the like?

[Holiday Warlock]

Yes, actually. How does the thief skill improvements work? Do you put points into it and each point raises the modifier by one? Do you need to buy the skills? If you are using a profile does that mean that the only thief skills that you can improve are the ones on that profiles's list?

[dojango]

It's not entirely clear in the rulebook, but I think you start out with the skills listed in the profile and the bonuses. Then yes, those are the ones you can improve as you level. I am assuming that the +13 for climbing is a typo, it should probably be +3. So a Level 1 Vagabond would have the skills Bribe 2, Climb Sheer Surfaces 3, Hear Noise 2, Hide in Shadows 1, Move Silently 3, Pick Pockets 3, and Trap Finding 0.

[rs2excelsior]

Tentative interest, looks like fun! I'll try and have a look over the rules tomorrow.

Might as well roll some stats while I'm here...

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[Holiday Warlock]

What is everyone hoping to play for their classes?

[Fearan]

Looking at Vagabond so far

[Holiday Warlock]

I was hoping to play a non-profiled Thief myself (some sort of guy sentenced to hard labour for multiple cases of petty theft)

[ybn1197]

I'm looking at playing an Ancestral Medium (Shaman).

[rs2excelsior]

Probably something in the fighter class. I haven’t decided whether I’m going for unarmed or weapons yet, but big dumb beat stick seems like a good way to get my feet wet in a semi-new system :D

[dojango]

Sounds good so far. Keep in mind, in the Immortal Emperor's lands, you don't need to be a criminal to be sent to forced labor. Could be something as simple as being in the wrong place when they decide that they need more warm bodies to throw at a project.

[roko10]

Probably a non-profiled Fighter of some kind, who was given some pointers by a vagabond warrior from a forbidden order and promptly conscripted when she used them to defend herself from some bandits.

[Wuming]

Interested...Reading the book first.

[omnitricks]

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[dojango]

Cool, any questions about character creation?

[dojango]

I guess interest seems to have waned on this game. A shame, I was hoping we'd get to suplex an emperor and rescue beautiful dragons from terrible princesses and other exciting adventures. Ah well, if anyone is still interested we can keep going, so let me know.

[Holiday Warlock]

Well, I was really hoping to give this a try so not doing this might be kinda eh

[dojango]

Well, I was really hoping to give this a try so not doing this might be kinda eh

Well, if people finish up the characters we can continue. I am looking forward to it too.

[Lord Gwydion]

It's not entirely clear in the rulebook, but I think you start out with the skills listed in the profile and the bonuses. Then yes, those are the ones you can improve as you level. I am assuming that the +13 for climbing is a typo, it should probably be +3. So a Level 1 Vagabond would have the skills Bribe 2, Climb Sheer Surfaces 3, Hear Noise 2, Hide in Shadows 1, Move Silently 3, Pick Pockets 3, and Trap Finding 0.

If you managed to get this campaign off the ground, I hope you are enjoying it!

You've got the thief skills right. Similar to 2E AD&D, thieves start with a certain bonus (the skills available and starting bonuses determined by their profile). At each level, they gain a certain number to distribute as they like to improve their skills.

And the +13 to climb isn't a typo. All the numbers are based on the starting chances for a Thief in BX/BECMI, where climb started out with an 87% chance of success, while the others start with a 10% to 20% chance of success.

[dojango]

OK, thanks for the clarification. Hopefully will get a game of this together on the forums at some point.