itch.io

Hey James! Great question (and to be compared to Kevin Crawford's work means a lot)!

I thought a lot about how many levels to provide each class. Since I envisioned Wandering Blades as a toolkit for wuxia movies and for the combat to be highly lethal, I opted for a lower maximum level. 

That said, even with the the current exp system, you can still engage in a longer form game (if the characters survive) if you include martial arts manuals. Rules for these aren't in the quickstart, but to put it simply...they enable players to trade exp for martial arts techniques! This way, you may have lower level characters with powerful techniques fighting alongside higher level characters with standard ones!

If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to post here or on the Wandering Blades Discord server: https://discord.gg/y4C3vynp8q

That's still good to hear, and one of the reasons why I set up this wish list. There are a lot of things I want to try with the system once I've got the main game finalized, and xianxia is one of them!

I'll see what I can do! 

Thank you!!!!!!

That's totally alright! I hope your hand recovers soon!

Great suggestion(s)!

Given the short form nature of games (1-5 sessions), I opted to design the youxia around a fixed class. Now that said, I don't see why a player couldn't choose to switch their sect (and associated sect ability) through the course of a story. This would give them the starting sect technique(s) and then access to the others!

As for unarmed strikes, it could be an easy case of adding an amendment to the "signature weapon" ability to include their literal body!

On the note of "magic item" equivalents, I've actually written a section on martial arts manuals in the core rulebook manuscript!

Great idea! I've been working on a "structure" for GMs to do this!

Yup! Those are being added!

Hey there! Yes, I am currently in the midst of finalizing a print version of the quickstart that will be sold at Gen Con this year through our publisher. An updated print version will be added to Itch in the coming weeks alongside a new character sheet. In the interim, I'll be uploaded a preliminary version soon (it has been on Patreon for a bit).

That said, this version of the quickstart will be the finalized version of the basic Wandering Blades rules. My attention will now be focused on the core rulebook, which will contain:

• Professional layout and interior art
• 1 additional class - the Scholar
• 1 additional sandbox adventure
• Advanced combat and exploration rules
• Expanded adversaries section
• Supplemental guides on character naming conventions, genre tropes, etc.

This thread can be used to ask questions or leave feedback related to the April 2024 playtest materials (i.e. quickstart guide v.2)!

Not at the moment, we want folks to be as creative as possible and to align with the "rulings, not rules" and "player skill over character skill" ideas. That said, certain classes like the outlaw (coming out soon) will have talents akin to skills that align with narrative themes. 

Hey everyone! Nominations for the CRIT AWARDS are open and Wandering Blades qualifies for the Best Indie TTRPG category! If you like what we're making, please consider nominating the quickstart by filling out this form! 

We definitely have plans for that!

Great idea! We are going to be working with a translator to make tables for names, but additional ones for factions, NPCs, and plot hooks is a great idea!

Thank you!!! I'm going to try doing this for famous fight scenes as well!

Exactly! Glad you like it!

I decided that changing STUNNED to "You may only take 1 ACTION and no REACTIONS on your next turn, but do so as a SLOW TURN." I think this accounts for your valid point about how fun-sucking it can be to lose your turn, but also keeping the status as something impactful. Being able to take a single action keeps you in the fight, but losing a reaction and going on a slow turn makes you think twice about what you'd want to do. If I were playing, I'd even use my action to take a stance!

I’m also exploring status effects from other classes and weapons!

Thanks for the feedback! Very good points! 

One thing I’m working on with the physician class is the ability to remove certain statuses from other characters in the heat of battle. In the interim though, being forced to take a slow turn might be a good interim solution! 

All feedback made up to this point has been addressed in the latest PDF update! Thanks everyone!

Thank you so much for your thoughtful review of the quickstart!!! I just got home from Japan and am currently making edits to the next PDF update and have made that change to Misdirect & Strike!

I’ve made the edit to my working doc on the meteor hammer (re blocking)! I won’t be able to upload a new PDF until I get home from my trip, but it will happen!

Hey there (replying from my phone while in Japan)! We should remove anything that says you can’t guard (a holdover from a previous version) since the party mechanic allows you to! I do like the idea of making it an exclusively agility weapon though!

Good catch! It should lower the damage die, not the value of the roll. I'm going to fix the typo and update the file!

Are there features or sections of the final Wandering Blades core book that you'd like to see? Anything that you believe would be helpful? Are there other genres you'd like to see this system applied to?

Post them here!

Great points! I think we can break it down like this in the next version:

• Guard - powerful way to negate attacks, but limited to shield users and has "charges"
• Counter - straightforward reaction based on missed attacks
  
• Bind - similar to counter in that it is triggered by a missed attack, but has functionality for group play (synergize with other abilities and create openings)
• Parry - change its trigger to being when an attack hits you. This way, it is similar to guard yet has a chance of failure. This also differentiates it from counter better. 

That's a good point! Our game is about as lethal as the average OSR product. We wanted to enable character survivability through mechanics (qi abilities, reactions, armour, etc.) and table interactions (player-first initiative, player-driven initiative orders, and player strategy). The next two classes we're working on will include a physician that, at the moment, will have a lot of abilities associated with adding/removing statuses and augmenting rests. One thing that is not in the quickstart are guidelines on encounters. Because the world is meant to feel deadly, the players are meant to learn that not every encounter is meant to be solved with violence. 

As for starting HP, I think a good rules amendment would simply have it that 1st level characters start with maximum HP! 

This thread can be used to ask questions or leave feedback related to the January 2024 playtest materials (i.e. quickstart guide v.1)!

*Please note: I will be in Japan on vacation until Feb 2, 2024 and will do my best to respond to posts here

That's a great idea!!! I will look into that!

Thank you!!! I'm excited to share it!

Thank you!!!!

https://danielhkwan.itch.io/paradise-mountain

https://danielhkwan.itch.io/wicked-congregation

You're very welcome!!

Try this! https://danielhkwan.itch.io/paradise-mountain/download/OlNs6nzlGPCKkMX_rMqq8WWdZ...

Absolutely! I don't know how to message via itch, but I have a form on my website - https://danielhkwan.carrd.co/

Hi there! Paradise Mountain is a part of a larger world I'm building! Send me a DM on Twitter (@danielhkwan) and I can make a copy available for you :)

It's been brought to my attention that a Spotify playlist for Wicked Congregation might be of value to you folks. So here it is! Right now, it contains music from Control, The Empty Man, and Resident Evil 7. I'll be updating this periodically!

Playlist: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/67vGX6YE9wpnCwXo4WoY5A?si=597c25e0a6294e9c

Thank you so much!!!!! That's so kind of you!!