In The Chronicles of Ceteri universe there are three types of divine gifts. The first is the province of Judeo-Christian saints and holy men. In Ceteri, there is a monotheistic deity who is the real deal and he gives powers over nature and reality to his chosen few. The second type are those who worship spirits, loa, small-g […]
Continue readingMelee Academy: Martial Arts Style – Tán Tuǐ
While preparing for my wuxia campaign, the Middle Kingdom, I wrote up a couple of styles for my players to use. The following was one of them. Technically, Tán Tuǐis mostly a series of forms or sub-style. I really stretch the GURPS definition of a martial arts style, but it’s cool and thematic and I […]
Continue readingThe Middle Kingdom – B-Team – Season 1, Session 2
Dramatis Personae Eiji Kurokaze, Taijutsu Stylist (402 points) (played by Merlin A.): TBA. Tagline: “TBA” Huoshan Shao, Wudong Stylist (491 points) (played by Chris G.): Half-fox spirit, all sass. Petter dabbler of the dark arts and practitioner of the ancient Wudong tradition. Tagline: “Before I become a star, I will leave my mark on this […]
Continue readingBoil and Bubble: Ritual Path Magic Inscriptions
Ritual Path Magic (and it’s flavors) has multiple ways to cast a spell now and be able to use it later. Between GURPS Thaumatology: Ritual Path Magic, GURPS Dungeon Fantasy 19: Incantation Magic, and Pyramid there are elixirs/infusions (liquid magic), scripts (scroll magic), tattoos (magic inked on skin), charms (magic in easily breakable form), conditional spells (magic […]
Continue readingCarpe Blogiem: The Middle Kingdom Primer – Final Thoughts
And here we are at the end of the primer for the Middle Kingdom. Some ideas in no particular order as I wrap this up: The Action framework is ideal for this sort of game. Lots of stripped down rules and good advice. I’m probably going to use it and just go with “Action: The Middle Kingdom” […]
Continue readingCarpe Blogiem: The Middle Kingdom Primer – Optional Rules
Like my previous posts this one is kind of an “outloud thinking” post. I’ve discussed doing research on Chinese history and folklore, the general thrust of the campaign, and how I was approaching character creation. This post is going to talk about the general optional rules I’d be using for the campaign. First, I decided […]
Continue readingCarpe Blogiem: The Middle Kingdom Primer – Magic
Exhales. Ok. Magic. Chinese magic is weird. It’s mixed up so much with the religion(s), regions, and other systems of supernatural influence. Honestly, it’s a mess and capturing the exact feel has been rather difficult. And that’s not even getting into Japanese magic which is more animistic then anything else. So where did I start. […]
Continue readingCarpe Blogiem: The Middle Kingdom Primer – Chi Powers
Chi powers will be the “main attraction” of the Middle Kingdom. I decided early on that I wouldn’t be using the typical chi skills available in GURPS. I did this intentionally. I wanted more powers than there were skills and I wanted unique powers for each player (if they wanted them). To get the latter I needed to […]
Continue readingGamemaster’s Guidepost: Narrative Focusing
So this post is going to be about how I go about preparing narrative/plots for a story arc. This is different from my writing process or how I take notes, or how I do game prep. But they are related to all of those. I call this process “narrative focusing”. Essentially, narrative focusing is an outline […]
Continue readingCarpe Blogiem: The Middle Kingdom Primer – Setting History II
Here are the Wū of the setting. The Wū Characters with martial arts powers can either declare for a Wū (or House) or choose to become houseless. Being houseless means you don’t have to be ordered about or must commit to the cause of a given Wū, but it also means you don’t have the […]
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