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Threads Of Destiny(Eastern Fantasy, Sequel to Forge of Destiny)

Voted best in category in the Users' Choice awards.
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The big problem with doing any sort of xianxia in a tabletop setting is that your characters are necessarily going to pull apart from one another in power over time.
This is somewhat addressable narratively by having some characters play spirits and/or by having the players be what Han Jian was hoping the Golden Fields group was going to be, but any mechanics you have for advancement are going to need to be either unreasonably robust or extremely simple to avoid impossible intra-party balance issues.
In practice, that probably just means having a wuxia game that can exist at many different power levels and having a more traditional whole-party experience gain scheme which you just pretend has anything whatsoever to do with all the time your characters spend cultivating.
 
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Friendship?
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    • yrsillar said:
    Bai Meizhen glanced briefly at the other girl. "It would be foolish to insult the devotion of the Black Viper with less," she replied. "Regardless, allow me to make the full introduction. Bai Xiao Fen, this is Ling Qi, she is my best friend, I would like you to treat her with utmost respect."

    Ling Qi froze at that blunt declaration, and across from her the younger girl did the same. "Ah, Meizhen, are you sure…?"

    "Xiao Fen can be trusted," Bai Meizhen said with finality. "Though we are both younger than usual for this pairing."

    Uncertainty still roiled under the surface of Xiao Fen's expression even as she drew herself up. "Of course I would not reveal my cousins… business," she replied with afronttedly.
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    • Xepheria said:
    Excerpts from the Argent Bestiary:

    Crimson-Snouted Kingly Deer

    A reclusive spirit oft told of in fireside stories to small children. It is said that in the long, frozen nights of winter, those that hold the gift of giving within their hearts may hear a jingling of distant bells that lifts the spirits and warms the soul. Lost travellers caught in blizzards unaware may find their path illuminated by a crimson radiance that cuts through fog and snow alike, should they have lead a virtuous existence over the previous cycle of the seasons.

    (Core disciples of the Argent Sect have confirmed the existence of this flighty creature, sitting at the peak of the Cyan realm. It was deemed benevolent by Sect authorities, and allowed to continue its yearly wanderings uninterrupted.)
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    Just a nitpick, it's reindeer, not reigndeer. As in a deer that you puts reins on to pull a sleigh, not a deer that rules over a kingdom.
     
    hyperspacemage said:
    I wonder how hard it would be to turn this setting and rules into an actual tabletop rpg?

    I personally would love to play.
    I would totally make a wuxia Solaire expy heaven light and sun arts all the way for me.

    Great chapter I know I'm kinda late lol
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    Perhaps try Legends of the Wulin? It's designed for wuxia, but should be relatively easy to adapt to xianxia.
     
    Yeangst said:
    Just a nitpick, it's reindeer, not reigndeer. As in a deer that you puts reins on to pull a sleigh, not a deer that rules over a kingdom.
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    That was the pun yes.

    You may have noticed others in there. It's Christmas, I'm going to play with words and make wintery puns and no one can stop me!

    (And at peak cyan realm, who's to say it doesn't rule over a kingdom, huh?)
     
    I dunno, the way this vote has been approached feels kinda... video-gamey? Like the kind of schizophrenic decision making seen in RPGs where each quest is kinda isolated.

    Why would Ling Qi decide something that would likely cause another person's death so casually just because he looks shady? Mind you, the Bai are waaaaaay worse to the uninitiated.

    Though I suppose it actually makes a certain kind of sense. Of course it seems gamey, it's a dream involving no actual people and probably only has consequences for Shen Hu and Ling Qi. So why not got with your gut and take an unusual path?

    Also, say we win and the Ent promptly crushes the prince into paste
    How will that effect Ling Qi, psychologically? A little? A lot? Not at all?
     
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    @yrsillar I'm blanking on a thing from a while back in regards to the quilt of different comms formation networks which connect the empire. Can lower level formations users maintain and or repair formation systems whose original creator is dead or ascended?
     
    Vikram said:
    Also, say we win and the Ent promptly crushes the prince into paste
    How will that effect Ling Qi, psychologically? A little? A lot? Not at all?
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    Depends on which of them she thinks was in the right. Since this is a dream, I doubt she'd care that much about a memory of a long-dead prince dying, but if he turns out to have been the more reasonable one here, she may be less willing to follow her gut in the future when real people are at risk. Conversely, if her choice is vindicated, she'd probably be more willing to listen to hunches.
     
    BungieONI said:
    @yrsillar I'm blanking on a thing from a while back in regards to the quilt of different comms formation networks which connect the empire. Can lower level formations users maintain and or repair formation systems whose original creator is dead or ascended?
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    too an extent, thats what apprentices and such are for, if you have a good run of master->apprentice you can keep things going with slow modifications and development over time. This is also why periods of strife like the thousand year interrugnum between the first two dynasties hit so hard though.
     
    yrsillar said:
    too an extent, thats what apprentices and such are for, if you have a good run of master->apprentice you can keep things going with slow modifications and development over time. This is also why periods of strife like the thousand year interrugnum between the first two dynasties hit so hard though.
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    Interesting, interesting. Reason I ask is I was reminded of that particular conversation today, and was wondering about the consequences of a communication network focused White rejiggering the entire comm network for the Empire.

    The initial idea I came up with based on my initial assumption of it being impossible to maintain was that it would go pear shaped when that White died or ascended. With this idea that some maintenance can be done, how bad would it be when the hypothetical White died or ascended?
     
    BungieONI said:
    Interesting, interesting. Reason I ask is I was reminded of that particular conversation today, and was wondering about the consequences of a communication network focused White rejiggering the entire comm network for the Empire.

    The initial idea I came up with based on my initial assumption of it being impossible to maintain was that it would go pear shaped when that White died or ascended. With this idea that some maintenance can be done, how bad would it be when the hypothetical White died or ascended?
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    Died would be an issue.

    I suspect if they actually ascended though, it'd help add more... Permanence maybe to the design? Some kind of Great Spirit of Messengers that makes it easier to maintain or develop such systems.
     
    BungieONI said:
    Interesting, interesting. Reason I ask is I was reminded of that particular conversation today, and was wondering about the consequences of a communication network focused White rejiggering the entire comm network for the Empire.

    The initial idea I came up with based on my initial assumption of it being impossible to maintain was that it would go pear shaped when that White died or ascended. With this idea that some maintenance can be done, how bad would it be when the hypothetical White died or ascended?
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    As Alectai said, there would be some difference depending on whether they died or ascended. A lot would depend on the White's apprentices abilities to keep up though.
     
    Vikram said:
    I dunno, the way this vote has been approached feels kinda... video-gamey? Like the kind of schizophrenic decision making seen in RPGs where each quest is kinda isolated.

    Why would Ling Qi decide something that would likely cause another person's death so casually just because he looks shady? Mind you, the Bai are waaaaaay worse to the uninitiated.

    Though I suppose it actually makes a certain kind of sense. Of course it seems gamey, it's a dream involving no actual people and probably only has consequences for Shen Hu and Ling Qi. So why not got with your gut and take an unusual path?

    Also, say we win and the Ent promptly crushes the prince into paste
    How will that effect Ling Qi, psychologically? A little? A lot? Not at all?
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    Not at all, given what she pulled last thread.
     
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