I’m super jazzed that you dig the game! We pitched an expansion to Osprey which would add more magical and supernatural elements. They passed but gave us the option of publishing it ourselves. Not sure if we’ll ever get that done and published on our own, fingers crossed. Thanks for your inspirational content, keep up the good work. P.S. I hope your players get their revenge on Bloody Hands!
You did good, sir. It's a fun game. No idea why Osprey doesn't want to add more. It seems weird. Once the holiday season is done, we need to get to Bloody Hands. The longer we wait the more elaborate his fortress is becoming. He's also recruited several enemies from the PCs' previous adventures.
@@FMD-FullMetalDragon Totally agree. We've actually created some really cool content already. Then we ran into scheduling issues. And beyond that, we would also have to deal with commissioning art and whatnot. Anyway, Brendan and I still talk about this regularly and we're trying to figure out a way to make it happen!
Re: The challenge of keeping track of a bunch of bad guys, each with a list of unique abilities. As a GM who frequently runs superhero games, I feel your pain...
I grew up on Champions, but it wasn't till I ran it that I realized the work my previous DM put in :P. I did find "modular" enemies work well in point-by games for that sort of thing.
@@himurogentoku7117 The system I use is Mighty Protectors (aka Villains & Vigilantes 3.0) from Monkey House Games. Has a lot of customization options, and you can generate characters either by random roll or point-buy.
The idea of a dedicated Talking phase of combat, that recurs every round, blows my mind. It really enforces the tropey nature of the game, and paces the fight out in a way that gives more room for roleplay. Players will WANT to do it, too, since it gives them mechanical bonuses.
And it's fun to mock your opponent in an over-the-top way. "Your kung fu is outdated, just like you, old man!" "Pshah, I was practicing kung fu long before when you were even born, whelp!"
For the arm wrestling example, having the table collapse while both contestants sit completely motionless with locked eyes sounds like a fun way to show how badass the scene is.
Again, impressed by the effort gone into in Jack's outfit and props. The contrast of the character dress with a broad US accent is fantastic. All you need him to do now is correctly pronounce some Chinese words compared to Seth. Yes, anything another other than expensive baijiu tastes like cigarette ash and metho. I recommend the Jing brand herbal baijiu: it tastes more like a cough syrup and is both affordable and drinkable.
I honestly forget that in real life, they inhabit the same man! Like Etrigan and Blood lol That baiju stuff sounds rougher than a pebble dashed driveway covered in broken glass! Drunken Masters must have basically no taste buds left 🤣
Thanks for the review. Very thorough and well thought out. Glad you enjoyed it. It looks like Jeremy addressed all of the questions that have come up but one thing I will add is something I appreciated about working with Osprey is they let us retain the rights to the game (which is not the norm). So we can put out a follow-up ourselves (there would be challenges to that so we are discussion what options are available).
That is great, hopefully we'll get to see more Righteous Blood, Ruthless Blades someday. I managed to pick up a physical copy recently with not much markup from the PDFs, so I'm a happy camper. Now all I need to do is to learn the system and pitch it to my group.
Totally agree with your comments re the load on GMs from the skills - is what gave me pause to run it. And thank you very much for that push to Osprey to release more material! I heard they had decided not to, which is a real shame. Cool game and needs a little support to get it done attention. So here's hoping that Osprey listen. I want to buy more of these beautifully made books.
@@SSkorkowsky Osprey's really weird about what gets support and what doesn't. I don't think they "get" roleplaying as well as they do miniatures and wargame rules. The support expectations are quite different between them. OTOH, it might just be sales related. No idea what the figures on any of their RPG stuff are like, or what they regard as a good seller to bet on for further books.
@@SSkorkowsky I wonder if their strategy is to just throw a bunch of hooks into the water and hope that something bites "super-big" and then they'll support it.
@@stephensimpson881 Yeah... Oathmark & Frostgrave by Joe McCullough both did well enough to warrant a lot of support (ok, both skirmish games, I grant you) but my beloved Napoleonic gothic horror Silver Bayonet just has the book and some minis... I think you're definitely on to something as regards their RPGs, which is a pity because they release some great stuff.
You know what I would love as a potential sequel/spin-off of this game? Something with very similar rules and character archetypes, but this time done in the style of Hong Kong action films like Hardboiled or movies like the Matrix or even John Wick rather than Wuxia movies. Still a lot of martial arts centric stuff, but now you also have characters that can dodge bullets, curve their bullets around walls, shoot while jumping Max Payne style, etc. I think that would be a genuine treat to see
I swear there is a that kind of a game, you could for example run across the bullets that are shot at you from an automatic weapon and similar stunts, but I cannot for the life of me remember the name. It's fairly old, since I remember reading about it in the early 2000s or even earlier. EDIT: Fairly certain it was _Hong Kong Action Theatre!_ but there might be others. I have no experience with the system, I just read about it in a magazine and thought "that's cool"
I’ve got what I think is a simple tie breaker for multiple players: Have as many popsickle sticks as you have players. Mark each stick with a number (1 through 4 for four players). In the event of a tie with multiple players, hold the sticks, numbers hidden, and have players draw sticks. Lowest number goes first among the tied players, second lowest number second, etc. Quickly gets things moving again without tons of rerolls.
Now I really want to hear about Bloody Hands and the whole campaign. I think I'll also be pitching this to my players to see if they'd be interested, what a great review.
Great review. Will be buying this. One of my biggest criticisms of Osprey that, while they put out a lot of good games, they tend to put them out and then move on with most of them. I imagine you could emulate more fantastical elements, if you wanted them, just through layering on and reskinning some of the massive list of abilities. Need a hopping vampire for a one-off? I am sure there are abilities in there that could net you one.
*_Wu-Xia_* ("Martial Arts Chivalry") are cinematic martial arts novels or movies set in a legendary historical period. The characters are heroes and villains with superpowers derived from their mastery of the martial arts.
I just found this today and I'm so hyped I'm buying it right now and I watched this video 4 times already back to back. You gotta release some more reviews for this system when they come
Oh man oh man oh man, I LOVE wuxia, and can't believe YOU are reviewing this!! Can't wait to hear your thoughts about this! The greatest youtube surprise this year!
I'd also recommend checking out the 'Jackals' RPG from Osprey if you'd be interested in a Bronze Age fantasy game. It uses a customized & streamlined version of BRP's d100 system (similar to Call Of Cthulhu) with an action point facet and other interesting changes.
1:30 The Detective Dee film really throws me off with all the openly supernatural stuff. I'd read the translated-to-English stuff about the character and his historical counterpart, and all the novels by van Gulik well before the movie came out. They don't really feature any fantastic elements that can't be explained by rational means, they're pretty much straight mystery stories. Watching the film is like going to see a Sherlock Holmes movie where Moriarty suddenly starts summoning demons and Watson responds by handing Holmes Excalibur. Or to use an actually-produced example, Abraham Lincoln hunting vampires. It's not a bad concept for a film, but it's such a twist on a character I "knew" already it jars me. Nero Wolfe turning out to be an ex-guerrilla and freedom fighter couldn't be more....wait, that happened in the Stout books. Never mind. :)
Save for the Fire Beetles, the first film was all normal things posing as supernatural. 2nd and 3rd film, not so much. Loved the first one but the other 2 seemed to have lost their way in favor of special effects.
@@SSkorkowsky Huh. I guess I must have missed the first one, the ones I saw were CGI fests, which always leave me cold. The original (and van Gulik's books) have some elements of the supernatural suggested, but it's always unclear if any of it is real and they often debunk things, so the first film sounds pretty faithful the spirit of Cases of Judge Dee. Or Magistrate. "Detective" is kind of an odd translation, but not wholly wrong. Good reads, if you like mysteries. Lot less formulaic than half the stuff on the market today, and some dark enough to give pulp noir a run for its money.
Not familiar with game, but the ties with opposed skill rolls, I think fits genres too with your solution. Where two martial artists are in a draw? Think the back and forth fight until finally the draw is broken. Sounds like something fun to narrate.
Didn't come here expecting to be sold on the game, but just ordered it. Even without supplements, it sounds like there's plenty to get a good amount of play.
'Weapons of the Gods' (and their ot her game, 'Legends of the Wulin) is very heavily inspired by Jade Empire and superbly written. I encourage you to check them out. Also, if you read much, the character of 'Henpecked Hou' was taken from a novel called 'Bridge of Birds' by Barry Hughart; its 'magical China that never was' is brilliant and it is one of my favorite books.
I'm pushing 50, so I particularly love your old-school DnD reviews. Brings it all back! I watch all your vids, though, and I'm never disappointed. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, my good man!
You describing how character creation is more focused in skill investment and the d10 dice pools made me think "Man this sounds a lot like Storyteller." and this was all but confirmed when I saw the character sheet, which got me really excited because I love how versatile of a system Storyteller is.
In dice pool games, I generally rule that the person with the larger dice pool wins, being the naturally superior character, or the one whos environmental factors line up more favorably.
Hero might be in my top 10 favorite movies of all time. (Edit) Also your combat description suggestions sound a lot like how I already narrate. This might be a game I need.
I can imagine running this Savage Worlds-style, where combats consist mostly of weak mooks that can only take one wound each, backed up by one higher-level boss. I'd have the boss spend the first couple of rounds not fighting, just taunting players or yelling at his minions or something. "Get them, you fools!"
Where has this game been my whole life?! I just did a short campaign but used D&D 5E because it was what my players were familiar with. This sounds amazing! TY for the video.
There are many really cool small games around and some pretty large ones too. I mean, D&D is great and all (not as good as AD&D but that might just be me) but there are so many really good RPGs out there. A while ago I ran a Shadowrun campaign which is a weird fantasy cyberpunk game. After that I ran Infinity's edge which is a small indie game based on LITRPG (think "Ready player one") and now I am about to start 2 campaigns, one 1st edition AD&D (for players used to 5th ed and Pathfinder) and one with Delta Green which also is really fun, think of something close to "True detective" with an extra dash of Lovecraft. We also played Viral for Call of Cthulhu the weekend before the holidays as a one shot. However, it is a bit tough for the constant gamemaster to constantly learn new rules so my tip would be to Switch around, play a few different genres with different people running them. Only one person needs to learn all the rules, the game master. The players will pick them up as you go if they like the game. Honestly, always playing the same fantasy game gets a bit boring after a while. I mean, you have so many genres, like Western, space opera, cyberpunk, martial arts, historical games, horror, pulp and many more. Having a long running campaign is of course always fun but I tend to appreciate it more if I have some breaks with other games at times. :D
@@ms9ball "Once Upon a Time, There was a Sword Spirit Mountain" is pretty good, hilarious and had an anime. "Mo Dao Zu Shi" is awesome and "I Shall Seal the Heavens" is also quite good, but incredibly long. There is also "Legend of the Sun Knight". Not exactly wuxia, but has many elements and the comedic and epic feel of them while being downright hilarious, depressing and awesome at the same time
@@ms9ball I am personally fond of the A Thousand Li by Tao Wong. Its in the cultivation subset of Wuxia but is easily approachable. If you're searching for something more historical then A Hero Born by Jin Yong is a good start, though the first novel can at points be slow as it is setting up the primary hero and his back story. If you want something very easily approachable with its fantastic elements I would recommend Will Wight's Cradle series may more be your flavor, though it is more tangentially related to Chinese Martial Arts.
When Jack starts saying how the gaming group felt when Seth pushed the game I had to wonder whether Jack is speaking for Seth's real life group or Seth is having some multiple personalities disorder going on.
Suggestion for faster character gen: make a deck of cards of the abilities you can have at first level and randomly deal each player five cards during character gen. They can choose from those.
Sold. I love wuxia games and this sounds fantastic. I loved the examples you showed us of the abilities, that really did a lot to make up my mind. My brother gave me a gift card for Amazon for Christmas and now it is gone.
TOPIC REQUEST: Hallo Seth (and Jack). For those of your subscribers that want to explore writing game scenarios, What five published adventures might you recommend as examples of excellent writing with regard to imaginative plot, player involvement, good use of the game mechanics, and possible replayability? What makes these examples shine? What are the pitfalls of beginners writing adventure scenarios? I think a video on this question might be very popular. Traveller seems the most adaptable to almost any other genre. Does this sound interesting to you? or Jack?
Another system like this is Legends of the Wulin.....a mechanic in the system that I find particularly attractive is that, if you get in good with the right factions, you can learn techniques that make your unarmed attacks also count as attacks with certain weapons, bonuses and all. Take the one that lets your unarmed attacks count also count as sabers, you can straight up Nanto Seiken any fool who opposes you.
Wuxia is a genre I want to see TTRPG explore and ultimate gain popularity. TTRPG is such a great format for telling wuxia stories. I hope one day to run a fully or partially mandarin speaking wuxia game for full immersion.
Terrific review, Seth. I really enjoyed listening. Great information, and really great energy. I really loved the additionl play sheets you've added. Thanks very much indeed (and thanks for taking the time to generate such an awesome video). Best regards.
I am not familiar with the Wuxia genre at all. But I am very familiar with the Shounen Battle genre. This sounds like something absolutely perfect for simulating Shounen Battle. Complete with power levels, stand offs between attacks, dedicated time for monologue-ing. It's great. I could see this easily getting adapted into some sort of anime RPG. Just add in some power of friendship mechanics, curse marks, how to roll for beam struggles, maybe even stats for mechs, and it would be perfect!
There is definitely a great deal of overlap between those genres. I could see this doing an anime-themed expansion like how Mutants & Masterminds came out with Mecha & Manga.
Speaking as a occasional Baiju-drinker? Yeah, that will make you question if you ever had tastebuds. This game sounds like it's something I need to commit to at a point. Thank you for covering it.
Says alot about the quality of a game if your biggest criticism of it is "We need more of this game right #%?& now, plz." But yeah, Chinese Mythology is jamed full of spirits, monsters, and magic ( See Big Trouble in Little China, Forbidden Kingdom, Etc/ yes I know those are American productions but still) A adventure where players have to fight a Jiang Shi Vampire or a bunch of E Gul Ghost Monks from an dishonored abandoned temple or defend a fishing village from a Kaiming Shou (Hydra like monster) or including a magic based class system would be cool
This sounds so cool and wasn't on my radar at all. Probably not eligible to contend in my Joshua/Riggs Lethal Weapon finale simulation, but definitely want to try this out. Totally different genre and culture, but I think this might be a good way to adapt something like Fist of the North Star as a TTRPG setting. A lot of the "boss" chapters seem to follow a similar pre-game analysis / boast flow turn structure. I'm betting Todd was the Black Feather to Silent Feather player. Something about your voice went in a Todd direction when you described it so I'm calling that tell.
Thanks for the review. I ended up purchasing a physical copy after watching it (sadly a physical copy was out of stock on Osprey's web site). I do think it was a missed opportunity not having the option to print on demand on Drive Thru RPG. Also made me think of my old Mutants and Masterminds character White Dragon. No he didn't have super powers he was just skilled at martial arts *runs across surface of water*.
Thank you so much for this comprehensive review! I've been looking for a game like this forever and this is exactly what I want! Just ordered and subscribed!
By the way, I love the extra touch of various film reel defects that pop up during Jack's segments. Really sells the Saturday Kung Fu Theater aspect. Now I have an itch for some old Shaw Brothers films.
This sounds like a fun game. Back in the olden days TSR (during the WoTC transition) released and rpg called Dragon Fist that was a proto AD&D 2e-3e wuxia ruleset. It was actually really fun. They did release two adventures for it (one came with the book). I only have the ancient pdf, and its no longer on their website sadly. But if you can track it down, I bet it wouldn't be too difficult for you to convert. There's is also the old outlaws of the water margin rpg you might be able to track down scenarios for it.
Actually another good couple of examples of this style is Enter the Badlands-The Man With the Iron Fists(1&2)-The Street Fighter Game's and Ninja Destruction along with Ninja 1&2.
Getting a digital version of the rulebook helps with the amount of NPCs and abilities in my experience. The pdf has all the page numbers hyperlinked which makes it easy to "flip" through
Been waiting for this 🍿🍿 Righteous Blood Society vs Ruthless Blade Cult; not even the Dharma of the Golden Temple can stop the chaos in the Rivers and Lakes.
This game seems kickass. While DnD excels at traditional western fantasy, there was always a lack of eastern/wuxia rpg. Honestly, change the aesthetic a little bit, you get an Akira Kurosawa film like Seven Samurai. Make it take place in modern times and jazz it up in the absurdity factor, you basically got a Golden Age shonen anime story like Fist of the North Star.
I gotta check out Righteous Blood, Ruthless Blade. As a World of Darkness player, the D10 dice pool system is incredibly familiar so this sounds like a good time. Now I just need to find a Gamemaster that I'll run it lol.
Good luck getting support for any Osprey Game....they have never supported or fully marketed any of their RPG games, ever. They have 3 other games that are amazing that have never been supported, This games seems their best so far, shame that it most likely wont be supported, unless they take Seth's review to heart.
@@tazmokhan7614 on that we can probably agree, but as I understand Osprey, they will print if the book is made. As a publishing house, they've got an immense line of military history and wargames that is already filling up the presses. I bet if a product was pitched, they'd go for it. It seems like they publish anything that can justify a print run
Certainly sounds like something I'd be interested in. I do hope they do some form of supernatural supplement as wuxia vampire hunters (with hopping vampires) sounds so much fun. Just wondering is there a signature attack that lets you charge through walls/barriers to attack a target? And is insatiable curiosity an available quirk?
The wuxia rpg 'Qin the Warring States' is a historically authentic setting with a sliding scale of fantasy, from almost zero to high fantasy, as you like it. That game has many cool Chinese monsters and its 'Qin Bestiary' is very well written - presenting short adventures for several of the monsters. Whether you run this game, or that one, the setting info and advice will be incredibly valuable.
I've been tempted by this a few times, but never picked it up. However, after that review I will definitely be getting it. Thanks for another great video.
You may want to adapt the Traveler party system a bit more for bad guys and party motivation. Go around the table and each person describes how they were wronged by the big bad (which you have - great stuff), but then also how they are allies with/are owed a favor by someone else at the table. Maybe for extra spice, a grudge with or favor they owe someone else at the table. In some of these movies the heroes spend as much time fighting each other as the villain.
Thanks a lot, Seth! I'd never heard of this before but it really seems intriguing. One of the great laments in my life is that there are so many games out there that I'll almost certainly never get a chance to try. I play an excellent AD&D 1e game on Saturdays and a great Basic Fantasy RPG game on Weds. A year after getting the CoC books I've still not had a chance to join a campaign recently started by one of the guys from our AD&D game. Back in the 90s I played Vampire the Masquerade and enjoyed it but there's just no time. Plus my brother & I have been planning a new AD&D 2e game for at least the last year but there never seems to be time to get it started. Still, I'll probably buy the book and at last mine it for cool ideas.
I’m super jazzed that you dig the game!
We pitched an expansion to Osprey which would add more magical and supernatural elements. They passed but gave us the option of publishing it ourselves. Not sure if we’ll ever get that done and published on our own, fingers crossed.
Thanks for your inspirational content, keep up the good work.
P.S. I hope your players get their revenge on Bloody Hands!
You should do it. I've been working on a martial arts RPG for a while myself and always like to see some new inspiration.
You did good, sir. It's a fun game.
No idea why Osprey doesn't want to add more. It seems weird.
Once the holiday season is done, we need to get to Bloody Hands. The longer we wait the more elaborate his fortress is becoming. He's also recruited several enemies from the PCs' previous adventures.
More supernatural would be awesome. Way awesome.
@@SSkorkowsky Thank you sir!
@@FMD-FullMetalDragon Totally agree. We've actually created some really cool content already. Then we ran into scheduling issues. And beyond that, we would also have to deal with commissioning art and whatnot. Anyway, Brendan and I still talk about this regularly and we're trying to figure out a way to make it happen!
I'm convinced at least 50% of Seth's motivation for this review was to get Jack another costume!
I'm unable to refute this.
Re: The challenge of keeping track of a bunch of bad guys, each with a list of unique abilities. As a GM who frequently runs superhero games, I feel your pain...
My primary game is Exalted, so right there with ya.
Yeah, I was wondering about Combat with the heros vs. The small hoard of talentless soldiers. (AKA; Canon fodder)
I grew up on Champions, but it wasn't till I ran it that I realized the work my previous DM put in :P. I did find "modular" enemies work well in point-by games for that sort of thing.
What superhero game TTRPGs do you play if i may ask Kevin? I am still looking for a cool one for my short campaign.
@@himurogentoku7117 The system I use is Mighty Protectors (aka Villains & Vigilantes 3.0) from Monkey House Games. Has a lot of customization options, and you can generate characters either by random roll or point-buy.
I love that Jack always has a period & culturally appropriate flask 😂
This is the first time I have seen the words "culturally" and "appropriate" together in a sentence that does not make me cringe
@@arjunchoong8012 Aye. He is the chosen one.
Jyuack and his Gourd
This is a game that would benefit from a NPC card deck that has all the NPC stats on hand to avoid book flipping
Not a bad idea at all.
Every round should start with a talking phase. That is brilliant and on point for WuXia.
About to use my finest "Courting death!"
TSL kinda has such thing, essentially exchanging lines while crossing swords.
The idea of a dedicated Talking phase of combat, that recurs every round, blows my mind. It really enforces the tropey nature of the game, and paces the fight out in a way that gives more room for roleplay. Players will WANT to do it, too, since it gives them mechanical bonuses.
And it's fun to mock your opponent in an over-the-top way.
"Your kung fu is outdated, just like you, old man!"
"Pshah, I was practicing kung fu long before when you were even born, whelp!"
Hopefully the rash of orders spurred by this video will convince them to make more material for the game! Happy New Year! 🎉
When all the dice in an opposed contest come up ties, that's a perfect opportunity for a stalemate.
For the arm wrestling example, having the table collapse while both contestants sit completely motionless with locked eyes sounds like a fun way to show how badass the scene is.
the epic back and forth parrying of attacks
Again, impressed by the effort gone into in Jack's outfit and props. The contrast of the character dress with a broad US accent is fantastic. All you need him to do now is correctly pronounce some Chinese words compared to Seth.
Yes, anything another other than expensive baijiu tastes like cigarette ash and metho. I recommend the Jing brand herbal baijiu: it tastes more like a cough syrup and is both affordable and drinkable.
I honestly forget that in real life, they inhabit the same man! Like Etrigan and Blood lol
That baiju stuff sounds rougher than a pebble dashed driveway covered in broken glass! Drunken Masters must have basically no taste buds left 🤣
Thanks for the review. Very thorough and well thought out. Glad you enjoyed it. It looks like Jeremy addressed all of the questions that have come up but one thing I will add is something I appreciated about working with Osprey is they let us retain the rights to the game (which is not the norm). So we can put out a follow-up ourselves (there would be challenges to that so we are discussion what options are available).
Awesome to hear the rights aren't locked away. It's a fun game. The two of you did a great job.
@@SSkorkowsky Thanks! They were very generous on this front. And they pretty much gave us total freedom to design what we wanted which was great
That is great, hopefully we'll get to see more Righteous Blood, Ruthless Blades someday. I managed to pick up a physical copy recently with not much markup from the PDFs, so I'm a happy camper. Now all I need to do is to learn the system and pitch it to my group.
The whole talk about Lightness :
"You can fly?!"
"No, jump good"
Nice to see this setting getting some love.
Totally agree with your comments re the load on GMs from the skills - is what gave me pause to run it. And thank you very much for that push to Osprey to release more material! I heard they had decided not to, which is a real shame. Cool game and needs a little support to get it done attention. So here's hoping that Osprey listen. I want to buy more of these beautifully made books.
It's a bit amazing they released the game to industry praise, but decided to do nothing more. Hopefully they hear enough demand to give us some more.
@@SSkorkowsky Osprey's really weird about what gets support and what doesn't. I don't think they "get" roleplaying as well as they do miniatures and wargame rules. The support expectations are quite different between them.
OTOH, it might just be sales related. No idea what the figures on any of their RPG stuff are like, or what they regard as a good seller to bet on for further books.
@@SSkorkowsky I wonder if their strategy is to just throw a bunch of hooks into the water and hope that something bites "super-big" and then they'll support it.
@@stephensimpson881 Yeah... Oathmark & Frostgrave by Joe McCullough both did well enough to warrant a lot of support (ok, both skirmish games, I grant you) but my beloved Napoleonic gothic horror Silver Bayonet just has the book and some minis... I think you're definitely on to something as regards their RPGs, which is a pity because they release some great stuff.
You know what I would love as a potential sequel/spin-off of this game? Something with very similar rules and character archetypes, but this time done in the style of Hong Kong action films like Hardboiled or movies like the Matrix or even John Wick rather than Wuxia movies.
Still a lot of martial arts centric stuff, but now you also have characters that can dodge bullets, curve their bullets around walls, shoot while jumping Max Payne style, etc. I think that would be a genuine treat to see
I swear there is a that kind of a game, you could for example run across the bullets that are shot at you from an automatic weapon and similar stunts, but I cannot for the life of me remember the name. It's fairly old, since I remember reading about it in the early 2000s or even earlier.
EDIT: Fairly certain it was _Hong Kong Action Theatre!_ but there might be others. I have no experience with the system, I just read about it in a magazine and thought "that's cool"
Feng Shui (1st & 2nd edition) is really fun. I’ll have to get this one off the shelf though. Great review.
I’ve got what I think is a simple tie breaker for multiple players: Have as many popsickle sticks as you have players. Mark each stick with a number (1 through 4 for four players). In the event of a tie with multiple players, hold the sticks, numbers hidden, and have players draw sticks. Lowest number goes first among the tied players, second lowest number second, etc.
Quickly gets things moving again without tons of rerolls.
This sounds perfect for running the Shaw Brothers homage campaign I've always wanted to run.
If this let's me run a game like" Kid with the golden arm" sign me up
Now I need to play this game. I wonder if my gamemaster will let my character have a young son... in a weapon-filled stroller.
Now I really want to hear about Bloody Hands and the whole campaign. I think I'll also be pitching this to my players to see if they'd be interested, what a great review.
Great review. Will be buying this.
One of my biggest criticisms of Osprey that, while they put out a lot of good games, they tend to put them out and then move on with most of them.
I imagine you could emulate more fantastical elements, if you wanted them, just through layering on and reskinning some of the massive list of abilities. Need a hopping vampire for a one-off? I am sure there are abilities in there that could net you one.
7:20
Dude this art is sick
Love it so much
The art was by Kagan McLeod, and he did an amazing job. He understood the film genre we were interested impeccably well
*_Wu-Xia_* ("Martial Arts Chivalry") are cinematic martial arts novels or movies set in a legendary historical period.
The characters are heroes and villains with superpowers derived from their mastery of the martial arts.
I just found this today and I'm so hyped I'm buying it right now and I watched this video 4 times already back to back. You gotta release some more reviews for this system when they come
I got a buddy who'd absolutely flip his shit for this, thanks for the heads up Seth!
Oh man oh man oh man, I LOVE wuxia, and can't believe YOU are reviewing this!! Can't wait to hear your thoughts about this! The greatest youtube surprise this year!
I'd also recommend checking out the 'Jackals' RPG from Osprey if you'd be interested in a Bronze Age fantasy game. It uses a customized & streamlined version of BRP's d100 system (similar to Call Of Cthulhu) with an action point facet and other interesting changes.
1:30 The Detective Dee film really throws me off with all the openly supernatural stuff. I'd read the translated-to-English stuff about the character and his historical counterpart, and all the novels by van Gulik well before the movie came out. They don't really feature any fantastic elements that can't be explained by rational means, they're pretty much straight mystery stories. Watching the film is like going to see a Sherlock Holmes movie where Moriarty suddenly starts summoning demons and Watson responds by handing Holmes Excalibur. Or to use an actually-produced example, Abraham Lincoln hunting vampires.
It's not a bad concept for a film, but it's such a twist on a character I "knew" already it jars me. Nero Wolfe turning out to be an ex-guerrilla and freedom fighter couldn't be more....wait, that happened in the Stout books. Never mind. :)
Save for the Fire Beetles, the first film was all normal things posing as supernatural. 2nd and 3rd film, not so much. Loved the first one but the other 2 seemed to have lost their way in favor of special effects.
@@SSkorkowsky Huh. I guess I must have missed the first one, the ones I saw were CGI fests, which always leave me cold. The original (and van Gulik's books) have some elements of the supernatural suggested, but it's always unclear if any of it is real and they often debunk things, so the first film sounds pretty faithful the spirit of Cases of Judge Dee. Or Magistrate. "Detective" is kind of an odd translation, but not wholly wrong.
Good reads, if you like mysteries. Lot less formulaic than half the stuff on the market today, and some dark enough to give pulp noir a run for its money.
Not familiar with game, but the ties with opposed skill rolls, I think fits genres too with your solution. Where two martial artists are in a draw? Think the back and forth fight until finally the draw is broken.
Sounds like something fun to narrate.
Enjoyed the review. Thanks for giving little games some attention in the ocean of D&D content.
Didn't come here expecting to be sold on the game, but just ordered it. Even without supplements, it sounds like there's plenty to get a good amount of play.
This is such a fun game! I felt so free to go over the top in the role playing of my character. I can not recommend it enough!
I've been looking for something like this since playing Jade Empire in high school - I'm keenly interested, despite the flaws.
I *REALLY* should finish that game.
Sheev sez do it
'Weapons of the Gods' (and their ot her game, 'Legends of the Wulin) is very heavily inspired by Jade Empire and superbly written. I encourage you to check them out.
Also, if you read much, the character of 'Henpecked Hou' was taken from a novel called 'Bridge of Birds' by Barry Hughart; its 'magical China that never was' is brilliant and it is one of my favorite books.
They dare to challenge Bloody Hands? They are courting death! 😁
Ho ho ho, who dares to approach me?
I'm really a fan of this kind of style, and it looks pretty cool. Traveller was great so I might end up picking this up too
I'm pushing 50, so I particularly love your old-school DnD reviews. Brings it all back! I watch all your vids, though, and I'm never disappointed. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, my good man!
I love the way this game sounds
Edit: i hope the publishers release the npc/weapons with companion cards
Best review I've seen about this game. Hope Osprey has the stock for the increased sells they are about to get.
Alright, got me interested. I might need to buy the hardcover, I like owning physical books. It's right up my alley too.
Thank you so much for reviewing this! I am extremely hyped to listen to how you prepped for the scenarios as I intend to run them as well!
You describing how character creation is more focused in skill investment and the d10 dice pools made me think "Man this sounds a lot like Storyteller." and this was all but confirmed when I saw the character sheet, which got me really excited because I love how versatile of a system Storyteller is.
Also I just wanna say I think a better solution to the opposed rolls thing would be to simply see who has more successes.
In dice pool games, I generally rule that the person with the larger dice pool wins, being the naturally superior character, or the one whos environmental factors line up more favorably.
Ubiquity is a dice pool that allows the players to choose between the average or roll.
Awww that's sweet, a game designer fan sent you their product because they appreciate your reviews
❤️
I think I'll pick this one up!
I just discovered your channel and you've already talked me into buying a pdf lol
Hope you enjoy the game as much as we have.
Great informative review and gotta say too, yo King Hu films and One Armed Swordsman rec is legit. Classic films. Will be looking into this RPG soon.
Hero might be in my top 10 favorite movies of all time.
(Edit) Also your combat description suggestions sound a lot like how I already narrate. This might be a game I need.
I can imagine running this Savage Worlds-style, where combats consist mostly of weak mooks that can only take one wound each, backed up by one higher-level boss. I'd have the boss spend the first couple of rounds not fighting, just taunting players or yelling at his minions or something. "Get them, you fools!"
Where has this game been my whole life?! I just did a short campaign but used D&D 5E because it was what my players were familiar with. This sounds amazing! TY for the video.
There are many really cool small games around and some pretty large ones too. I mean, D&D is great and all (not as good as AD&D but that might just be me) but there are so many really good RPGs out there. A while ago I ran a Shadowrun campaign which is a weird fantasy cyberpunk game. After that I ran Infinity's edge which is a small indie game based on LITRPG (think "Ready player one") and now I am about to start 2 campaigns, one 1st edition AD&D (for players used to 5th ed and Pathfinder) and one with Delta Green which also is really fun, think of something close to "True detective" with an extra dash of Lovecraft. We also played Viral for Call of Cthulhu the weekend before the holidays as a one shot.
However, it is a bit tough for the constant gamemaster to constantly learn new rules so my tip would be to Switch around, play a few different genres with different people running them. Only one person needs to learn all the rules, the game master. The players will pick them up as you go if they like the game.
Honestly, always playing the same fantasy game gets a bit boring after a while. I mean, you have so many genres, like Western, space opera, cyberpunk, martial arts, historical games, horror, pulp and many more. Having a long running campaign is of course always fun but I tend to appreciate it more if I have some breaks with other games at times. :D
I really love wuxia novels and movies and have watch/read them for years. I am definitely going to check this out now. Thanks for the review!
What’s a good Wuxia novel you might recommend for a newbie?
@@ms9ball "Once Upon a Time, There was a Sword Spirit Mountain" is pretty good, hilarious and had an anime. "Mo Dao Zu Shi" is awesome and "I Shall Seal the Heavens" is also quite good, but incredibly long. There is also "Legend of the Sun Knight". Not exactly wuxia, but has many elements and the comedic and epic feel of them while being downright hilarious, depressing and awesome at the same time
@@ms9ball I am personally fond of the A Thousand Li by Tao Wong. Its in the cultivation subset of Wuxia but is easily approachable. If you're searching for something more historical then A Hero Born by Jin Yong is a good start, though the first novel can at points be slow as it is setting up the primary hero and his back story. If you want something very easily approachable with its fantastic elements I would recommend Will Wight's Cradle series may more be your flavor, though it is more tangentially related to Chinese Martial Arts.
When Jack starts saying how the gaming group felt when Seth pushed the game I had to wonder whether Jack is speaking for Seth's real life group or Seth is having some multiple personalities disorder going on.
Suggestion for faster character gen: make a deck of cards of the abilities you can have at first level and randomly deal each player five cards during character gen. They can choose from those.
Brilliant!!
Sold. I love wuxia games and this sounds fantastic. I loved the examples you showed us of the abilities, that really did a lot to make up my mind. My brother gave me a gift card for Amazon for Christmas and now it is gone.
Sounds like fun. I went on a Shaw Brothers binge last year and saw Throne of Blood a couple months ago. I have some wicked ideas.
This one's been sitting on my shelf since May. It's looking good.
Thanks for the review and merry Christmas.
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TOPIC REQUEST: Hallo Seth (and Jack). For those of your subscribers that want to explore writing game scenarios, What five published adventures might you recommend as examples of excellent writing with regard to imaginative plot, player involvement, good use of the game mechanics, and possible replayability? What makes these examples shine? What are the pitfalls of beginners writing adventure scenarios? I think a video on this question might be very popular. Traveller seems the most adaptable to almost any other genre. Does this sound interesting to you? or Jack?
For some reason, I expected Jack at any moment to try to take a sip from the sword in his hand.
Another system like this is Legends of the Wulin.....a mechanic in the system that I find particularly attractive is that, if you get in good with the right factions, you can learn techniques that make your unarmed attacks also count as attacks with certain weapons, bonuses and all. Take the one that lets your unarmed attacks count also count as sabers, you can straight up Nanto Seiken any fool who opposes you.
I love their 'Loresheets' mechanic and adored the writing in their other game 'Weapons of the Gods'.
This looks awesome. I can imagine playing thru every shaw brothers film
Nice review! I set up this game in Foundry VTT months ago - OK now I had better actually go run it!!!
Wuxia is a genre I want to see TTRPG explore and ultimate gain popularity. TTRPG is such a great format for telling wuxia stories. I hope one day to run a fully or partially mandarin speaking wuxia game for full immersion.
Terrific review, Seth. I really enjoyed listening. Great information, and really great energy. I really loved the additionl play sheets you've added. Thanks very much indeed (and thanks for taking the time to generate such an awesome video). Best regards.
Oh cool, wasn't really expecting another Seth vid before end of year. And a review for a game I've been curious about too.
The player's backstory writing the Villain's abilities is a great idea for a ton of games systems.
A year later and I'm finally getting to play this next weekend. Thanks for the reference sheets. They're a god send!
Best of luck with the game. I hope your group loves it as much as mine did.
@@SSkorkowsky Thanks! And if they don't, they'll each be getting a free roll on the maim tables until morale improves!
I am not familiar with the Wuxia genre at all. But I am very familiar with the Shounen Battle genre. This sounds like something absolutely perfect for simulating Shounen Battle. Complete with power levels, stand offs between attacks, dedicated time for monologue-ing. It's great. I could see this easily getting adapted into some sort of anime RPG. Just add in some power of friendship mechanics, curse marks, how to roll for beam struggles, maybe even stats for mechs, and it would be perfect!
There is definitely a great deal of overlap between those genres. I could see this doing an anime-themed expansion like how Mutants & Masterminds came out with Mecha & Manga.
Wuxia is well worth investigating, some amazing stuff out of Hong Kong, and China.
Speaking as a occasional Baiju-drinker? Yeah, that will make you question if you ever had tastebuds.
This game sounds like it's something I need to commit to at a point. Thank you for covering it.
Found this video because a GM is going to run this game and I'm interested in joining because I absolutely love Wuxia genre. Very helpful video!
Says alot about the quality of a game if your biggest criticism of it is "We need more of this game right #%?& now, plz." But yeah, Chinese Mythology is jamed full of spirits, monsters, and magic ( See Big Trouble in Little China, Forbidden Kingdom, Etc/ yes I know those are American productions but still) A adventure where players have to fight a Jiang Shi Vampire or a bunch of E Gul Ghost Monks from an dishonored abandoned temple or defend a fishing village from a Kaiming Shou (Hydra like monster) or including a magic based class system would be cool
This sounds so cool and wasn't on my radar at all. Probably not eligible to contend in my Joshua/Riggs Lethal Weapon finale simulation, but definitely want to try this out. Totally different genre and culture, but I think this might be a good way to adapt something like Fist of the North Star as a TTRPG setting. A lot of the "boss" chapters seem to follow a similar pre-game analysis / boast flow turn structure.
I'm betting Todd was the Black Feather to Silent Feather player. Something about your voice went in a Todd direction when you described it so I'm calling that tell.
Would LOVE to see some kind of gameplay episode of this.
We run a lgs and sell Osprey games. This will definitely be added to our rpg collection.
While I am not a big fan of Wuxia I will have to try this out some day. It sounds like a blast. I'm a combat junky of a gm XD
Thanks for the review. I ended up purchasing a physical copy after watching it (sadly a physical copy was out of stock on Osprey's web site). I do think it was a missed opportunity not having the option to print on demand on Drive Thru RPG.
Also made me think of my old Mutants and Masterminds character White Dragon. No he didn't have super powers he was just skilled at martial arts *runs across surface of water*.
Thank you so much for this comprehensive review! I've been looking for a game like this forever and this is exactly what I want! Just ordered and subscribed!
Thanks for the review and the support sheets. I've had it in the pile by the bed for awhile now, and your charts will help get it going.
By the way, I love the extra touch of various film reel defects that pop up during Jack's segments. Really sells the Saturday Kung Fu Theater aspect. Now I have an itch for some old Shaw Brothers films.
This sounds like a fun game. Back in the olden days TSR (during the WoTC transition) released and rpg called Dragon Fist that was a proto AD&D 2e-3e wuxia ruleset. It was actually really fun. They did release two adventures for it (one came with the book). I only have the ancient pdf, and its no longer on their website sadly. But if you can track it down, I bet it wouldn't be too difficult for you to convert. There's is also the old outlaws of the water margin rpg you might be able to track down scenarios for it.
Thanks, Seth. This video was what finally convinced me to buy this book.
Another great review! Really enjoy these videos!
Actually another good couple of examples of this style is Enter the Badlands-The Man With the Iron Fists(1&2)-The Street Fighter Game's and Ninja Destruction along with Ninja 1&2.
Getting a digital version of the rulebook helps with the amount of NPCs and abilities in my experience. The pdf has all the page numbers hyperlinked which makes it easy to "flip" through
That is nice. Though there's no link to flip back, so you need to remember what page number the NPC is on.
That is one hell of a bold new look for Jack the NPC!
Fantastic stuff, Seth - you've convinced me to snag a copy of this.
Been waiting for this 🍿🍿
Righteous Blood Society vs Ruthless Blade Cult; not even the Dharma of the Golden Temple can stop the chaos in the Rivers and Lakes.
Really glad to see this review. This game has been criminally slept on, deserving way more recognition. Hopefully you can help shed some light on it.
This game seems kickass. While DnD excels at traditional western fantasy, there was always a lack of eastern/wuxia rpg.
Honestly, change the aesthetic a little bit, you get an Akira Kurosawa film like Seven Samurai. Make it take place in modern times and jazz it up in the absurdity factor, you basically got a Golden Age shonen anime story like Fist of the North Star.
'Murder Hobo taint'.... had me rolling.
cue Stefon voice: "this game has everything..."
Reminds me of The Water Margin, which I watched on TV when I was young.
Thank you for the cheat sheet Seth.
love Jack's outfit here XD
i love the drinking detail, amazing😂
I gotta check out Righteous Blood, Ruthless Blade. As a World of Darkness player, the D10 dice pool system is incredibly familiar so this sounds like a good time. Now I just need to find a Gamemaster that I'll run it lol.
Good luck getting support for any Osprey Game....they have never supported or fully marketed any of their RPG games, ever. They have 3 other games that are amazing that have never been supported, This games seems their best so far, shame that it most likely wont be supported, unless they take Seth's review to heart.
What are you talking about? Jackals' has had two supplements. Let's get those Osprey folks to the table!
@@Growls good to know, also how is that compared to the rest of their line, not hating on Osprey, but support is historically very lacking
@@tazmokhan7614 on that we can probably agree, but as I understand Osprey, they will print if the book is made. As a publishing house, they've got an immense line of military history and wargames that is already filling up the presses. I bet if a product was pitched, they'd go for it. It seems like they publish anything that can justify a print run
Certainly sounds like something I'd be interested in.
I do hope they do some form of supernatural supplement as wuxia vampire hunters (with hopping vampires) sounds so much fun.
Just wondering is there a signature attack that lets you charge through walls/barriers to attack a target? And is insatiable curiosity an available quirk?
The wuxia rpg 'Qin the Warring States' is a historically authentic setting with a sliding scale of fantasy, from almost zero to high fantasy, as you like it. That game has many cool Chinese monsters and its 'Qin Bestiary' is very well written - presenting short adventures for several of the monsters. Whether you run this game, or that one, the setting info and advice will be incredibly valuable.
I have a game from the 90s called "Swords of the Middle Kingdom" it reminds me of this and I sure am interested in it, thanks
This was a great review and Seth I always am a fan of your insights.
I've been tempted by this a few times, but never picked it up. However, after that review I will definitely be getting it. Thanks for another great video.
Hey hope you and your family had a great Christmas, and have a happy new year!
You may want to adapt the Traveler party system a bit more for bad guys and party motivation.
Go around the table and each person describes how they were wronged by the big bad (which you have - great stuff), but then also how they are allies with/are owed a favor by someone else at the table. Maybe for extra spice, a grudge with or favor they owe someone else at the table.
In some of these movies the heroes spend as much time fighting each other as the villain.
THIS IS A CHRISTMAS MIRACLE!!!! my favorite rpg CZcamsr reviewing my favorite rpg 💜💜
Thanks a lot, Seth! I'd never heard of this before but it really seems intriguing. One of the great laments in my life is that there are so many games out there that I'll almost certainly never get a chance to try. I play an excellent AD&D 1e game on Saturdays and a great Basic Fantasy RPG game on Weds. A year after getting the CoC books I've still not had a chance to join a campaign recently started by one of the guys from our AD&D game. Back in the 90s I played Vampire the Masquerade and enjoyed it but there's just no time. Plus my brother & I have been planning a new AD&D 2e game for at least the last year but there never seems to be time to get it started. Still, I'll probably buy the book and at last mine it for cool ideas.