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Xianxia Encompassing the World! (Xianxia Rec Discussion and Idea thread)

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destroyer72782 said:
But they dont do it correctly like the protagonist does :). They leave artifacts and treasures that are "beneath them" and do not pull up the furniture, and steal the the nails. The protagonist however steals even the grains of rice, the leftover wheat, and occasionally even entire stacks of corpses to serve as lootboxes for later.
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I forget which story it was, but I remember a protagonist once straight up ripping off the tiles from the place they were looting.
 
Probably more than once.
I remember it from I Shall Seal the Heavens, but it's actually a decently common setup.
The Ancient Sect With The Streets Paved With Spirit Stones... then the protagonist takes them all.
 
What are your favorite kinds of protagonists? And, furthermore, what are your preferred kinds of advantages or cheat powers?
 
I.F. Ister said:
What are your favorite kinds of protagonists? And, furthermore, what are your preferred kinds of advantages or cheat powers?
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"Favorite" is a weird one. Like, are you asking which ones I've enjoyed reading in the past, or which ones I like the idea of?

Favorite xianxia protagonist ideas: Shameless guile heroes. Crafters. Merchants. Guys who learn how to cultivate off of stuff that should be horribly lethal and/or damaging like cultivation lightning or qi poisons or whatever. In general, I'm a fan of "moral but not overly constrained by societal norms".

Favorite cheats? I tend to enjoy the reincarnator schtick where you already know all of those weird little tricks to make your cultivation base just a bit stronger every step of the way. I like systems when done well, but they are done badly *so often*. I tend to like cheats that come with some downside that the protag has to deal with and overcome
 
I.F. Ister said:
What are your favorite kinds of protagonists? And, furthermore, what are your preferred kinds of advantages or cheat powers?
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One of my favorite protagonists of all time is shi hao from perfect world. While I had problems with it I can say it's one of the best I've ever read. I'm a sucker for a talented Mc that knows their talented. A Mc that decides you know what I'm him so I'll just rebuild the entire cultivation system. A story where people don't underestimate or look down on the Mc because it's a well known fact that they are a true blue monster. I suppose that level of talent may count as a cheat in itself. I also like moral protagonists to an extent. Things like no killing and not doing what needs to be done bothers me. But so does deciding to wipe out a entire fucking bloodline because someone made fun of you. As for other cheats aside from base xianxia talent. Ehhh systems can be done well. Wouldn't say they are my favorite. I don't really like grandpa in the ring either. Maybe bullshit bloodline or physique count? I prefer those to random op treasure or technique. Reincarnation is always fun to and doesn't feel to outta place.
 
Weirdly, my favorite protagonists are people who have to exist in the context of their social class, position in the world, and available resources. I got spoiled by SV and QQ.
 
For cheats, I'd say less is more.
I'm more interested in someone using one tool in a lot of scenarios rather than having an endless toolbox for every scenario.
Give a cultivator an Immovable Rod and see what they can do with it!

For protagonists, I generally prefer less secretive ones.
Setting aside the various excuses for keeping everything secret, I think it usually hurts the story more than it helps.
 
For protagonists, I prefer ones that aren't blank slates, so that I can actually get invested in their journey. Though, while this isn't necessary for me to like them, my favorites are typically ones who do the right thing instead of the correct thing. With the caveat that complaining about how much the setting sucks in a deconstruction/parody fic does not endear me to them.

For cheats, I probably prefer ones that ones that are more specific, in terms of what the MC gets or what they need to do to get it, over more open-ended stuff like systems with huge shops or the ability to steal abilities. I also tend to prefer powers that exist within the context of the setting, rather than some sort of OCP that's distinct from all the talents and abilities that the foils have, though it doesn't need to be the same in terms of function. Sometimes I like the story where, no, the MC isn't some underdog with some cheat that allows them to surpass heavenly geniuses, but rather they are the heavenly genius, and have to use that to deal with the issues they face.
 
Sirrocco said:
"Favorite" is a weird one. Like, are you asking which ones I've enjoyed reading in the past, or which ones I like the idea of?
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However you interpret it is good for me

Seems like the general consensus (as far as the ~6 or so people that answered are concerned) is that you typically like main characters that have actual character and exist within the boundaries of the setting. In terms of 'cheat' powers, you prefer things like natural talent or reincarnation over systems and the like.

Is that about right?
 
Personally my dislike of systems is completely distinct from what my like or dislike of a protagonist, it just shows a profound disinterest on the author's part of actually grounding things in the nominal setting, and that's a really really really bad sign.
 
reignonyrparade said:
Personally my dislike of systems is completely distinct from what my like or dislike of a protagonist, it just shows a profound disinterest on the author's part of actually grounding things in the nominal setting, and that's a really really really bad sign.
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One caveat: if everybody has a system that aspect can actually be really interesting world building. It rarely is, but it is possible.
 
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BurnNote said:
One caveat the: if everybody has a system that aspect can actually be really interesting world building. It rarely is, but it is possible.
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Yeah, though I'd argue that systems have no place in xianxia settings. Or, at least, should be used exceedingly sparingly. Cultivation has so much depth to it already if writers do the bare minimum research on the topic that adding a system just serves to dilute the potential richness already available to them.
 
I.F. Ister said:
Yeah, though I'd argue that systems have no place in xianxia settings. Or, at least, should be used exceedingly sparingly. Cultivation has so much depth to it already if writers do the bare minimum research on the topic that adding a system just serves to dilute the potential richness already available to them.
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Eh, there's a bunch of things to Xianxia. You have the general setting of fantasy china, you have the general vibes (strong rule, face, all that stuff) and you have cultivation. You can take any or all of that, and it will be at least sorta Xianxiaish. If you want to do prog fantasy with vibes or fantasy china, but not get into cultivation weeds, replacing that aspect with a system can be a valid choice.

And also, let's not pretend cultivation as seen in xianxia is any less made up than a system, there's homeopathic quantities of historical practice in there. They can be equally intricate or rich, because it works however the author decides, and it's as interesting and clever as the author invest in making it.
 
I.F. Ister said:
However you interpret it is good for me

Seems like the general consensus (as far as the ~6 or so people that answered are concerned) is that you typically like main characters that have actual character and exist within the boundaries of the setting. In terms of 'cheat' powers, you prefer things like natural talent or reincarnation over systems and the like.

Is that about right?
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I strongly prefer "I have a system" as a cheat to "I happened to run across this awesome thing", or, even worse, the ones where they just crank up the protagonist effect until the protagonist constantly gets amazing treasures and opportunities Just Because. I actively dislike the cases where the cheat is "people keep deciding that I'm awesome and they should give me stuff, while my enemies keep being stupid in whatever way is most profitable for me personally."

Systems that are ridiculously OP or just generic win buttons aren't worth paying attention to, but systems where the MC has to actually think and work to leverage them properly can be cool, especially if they have to figure out how to use the system to achieve goals it was never really intended to achieve. Admittedly, i actually like LitRPG, so I suspect that I like them better than many of the folks here. I also much prefer systems that are offering internal improvements to the character rather than just spitting out resources, but there's a good chance that that's even *more* me.

Oh... and in general I like protagonists who leverage that their cultivation is *different*. Like, in some way they're pursuing a different path than the people around them. It's not inherently a better path, but it is meaningfully different, which means that the resources that they need aren't the resources that everyone else needs (and are therefore cheaper) and they maybe don't register as being as powerful as they are, and they are separated enough from the local meta that they can gain tactical advantages because they totally know what the matchup between them and the local cultivators looks like, and the local cultivators *don't*. Even better if the path they're taking is one where you have to put in more effort to lay foundations, but get payoff in the long term
 
One of the big problems a System can have is when it basically replaces the decision-making process for the MC.

A normal MC ventures into the wilds to find the antidote to the poison, and enters the tournament to get a cool weapon.
An MC with the System [slaps himself with a fish] 1,000 times to get an antidote, and [slaps himself with a fish] 10,000 times to get a cool sword.
And since everything the System does is better than anything in the world, any rewards they get "normally" are less impressive than random rewards form the System.
It disconnects them both on the input and output of interacting with the world.

So a lot of the best systems are either really limited, or aimed for something the MC doesn't actually want to do.
Give a Cooking System to someone who hates cooking and watch them trying to adapt everything to what they want to do!
 
Any system that gives physical stuff to the MC is generally a bad idea. You can make it work if there's a clear relationship between stuff given and stuff done by MC, but even then you probably have to structure your story around that. Like that one story where the MC gets 100 times (amount or quality) what he gives to others. Which means it's not arbitrary, and because it only works for people he has a relationship with, he's got to put at least some work into it.

Any system that gives quest moves agency from the MC to the system, so that's a bad idea unless that is a core part of the story.
Also goes for any kind of talking or sentient system to a lesser degree.
 
I'd like to see a story where the system is purposefully made by some stupidly powerful ancient cultuvator as a way to raise up a heir. Sure, the ancient cultivator studied a wide variety of Daos, but there's still some that they didn't. As a result the system might not inherently have, like, gun techniques, but someone could develop their own by following the dao of the gun.
 
I would say "heirs" are a somewhat questionable motivation in Xianxia.
After all, any successful cultivator expects to live forever.
It can make sense for one that died and their ghost is hanging aorund, but otherwise it's odd.

Another way to do it would be to have the Jade Emperor creating a System to fill offices in the court.
For whatever reason they are mostly empty and the Jade Emperor is scrambling to do it all himself.
So the System allows multiple tracks for advancement (correlating to different offices) and how far they can push it by the time they reach the correct level determines how high an office they get.
It would also allow for multiple systems, either everyone or just other "applicants."
 
I Got Reincarnated In A Cultivation World With A System, But All It Does Is Make Me Great At Paperwork Because The Jade Emperor Is Sick Of Misfiled Reports, coming to an ebook store near you in 2025.
 
Blaflaix said:
I would say "heirs" are a somewhat questionable motivation in Xianxia.
After all, any successful cultivator expects to live forever.
It can make sense for one that died and their ghost is hanging aorund, but otherwise it's odd.

Another way to do it would be to have the Jade Emperor creating a System to fill offices in the court.
For whatever reason they are mostly empty and the Jade Emperor is scrambling to do it all himself.
So the System allows multiple tracks for advancement (correlating to different offices) and how far they can push it by the time they reach the correct level determines how high an office they get.
It would also allow for multiple systems, either everyone or just other "applicants."
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I wouldn't say that. While most self respecting cultivators want to live forever. making heirs isn't really all that non normal. Carrying on the bloodline seems like something they do regardless. Plus even immortals can retire
 
If you're a protagonist, you seem to mostly make heirs one of two ways: (1) by accident after shenanigans involving aphrodisiacs & primordial yin (2) in that mysterious time vacuum between the ending and the epilogue.
 
Systems feel like a hat on a hat to me. It's always something like "MC is a transmigrator with a system in xianxia" and that's already three concepts deep on page one. That's usually when I bail.
 
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