Through the looking glass (wushu game)

[Peasant Phill]

Ever since I've read about the RPG Wushu, I wanted to play/organise one. Not many of you may know of this rules light system but it seems ideal for forum use and is easy to learn.

Rules of wushu

A short example of play:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

In a scene where Lacie falls in a pool of her own town tears, she struggles to get on dry land. Dice cap is 6, her player has to throw at least 2 yin (defensive) successes every round to prevent her from losing chi. The scene is also near its end as Lacie’s player only needs to throw 1 yang (offensive) success to end it.

Her player describes:
Lacie feels the strength in her arms ebb away which is quickly replaced with a stinging pain. She can see the sun breaking through surface of the water getting dimmer and dimmer. A feeling of resignation takes control of her for just a moment: “This doesn’t seem so bad…”
“No she can’t give up now!” With the last ounces of strength left in her frail body, she thrusts towards the sun. Lacie breaks the surface near a large piece of wood. She climbs on it and crumples in a ball of exhaustion.

Now for the resolution:
Lacie’s player has described enough to earn 6 dice (the cap). He divides them evenly between yin (defensive) and yang (offensive). He also reckons that the most relevant trait Lacie used was her trait pigheaded 4.
The player rolls and gets yin 5, 5, 3 and yang 2, 6, 4. Every die equal or below 4 is a success.
This means that Lacie loses a point of chi (needed 2 successes and rolled only one) but it’s alright as she still has 1 point left( if Lacie went in to negative chi, her player would lose his narrative power over the scene). It also means that the scene has come to its conclusion (2 yang successes rolled, 1 needed), Lacie’s player gets to describe a coup de grace.

Coup de grace:
Seconds pass, minutes, hours? Lacie isn’t at all aware of the passage of time. A soft thud wakes her from her catatonic state. Her makeshift raft had drifted against the embankment of the pool. The girl leaves the piece of wood for dry land and exclaimed firmly “that’s the last time I’ll let THAT emotion get the best of me”. Lacie then wanders further into this strange land.

In short, everything can happen as long as you can imagine it (and it stays within the consensus of the group).

This first game will be played in the style 'Alice in wonderland' (dream logic, bizarre confrontations with bizarre characters, ...) but won't be the actual tale.

This game will require of the players to participate at least once everyday. Although it won't take more then a few moments.

Players:
Seon
Beskar
spL1tp3r50naL1ty
Diamondeye?


I'll keep it the number of participants to these 4 members but I'm still looking for reserves.

If there are any more questions, don't hesitate to ask.

[Chaotix]

I'd certainly be interested in playing, if there is room.

[Peasant Phill]

So far I've received 2 character sheets out of four. Chances are you'll be able to play.
I'll give everybody until sunday and I'll start on monday.

[Beskar]

I am guessing my submission was acceptable then.

[Peasant Phill]

Yes it was.

[Peasant Phill]

So we have:
- Shepard (Seon) an above average when it comes to physical tasks but a great puzzle-solver and a way with animals with a cowardly streak to him.
- John (Beskar) a small (but just at the right hight if you know what I mean), detemined snarker whith a knack for verbal swords play. He does have a big ego though.

Others can still send in there character sheet (or ask about it) but the story will start of tomorrow. Hope to see you then.

[Seon]

Confirming the desire to be in on this game :D

[Diamondeye]

I'd like to join in as a reserve. Do you want the character idea now, or when you need it?

[Peasant Phill]

Characters:
- Shepard (Seon), above average when it comes to physical tasks but a great puzzle-solver and a way with animals with a cowardly streak to him.
- John (Beskar) a small (but just at the right hight if you know what I mean), detemined snarker whith a knack for verbal swords play. He does have a big ego though.
- Jack (spL1tp3r50naL1ty) tall and lanky with a penchant for logic thinking.
- Liva (Diamondeye) a blunt girl who can be very convincing when talking about something she feels strongly for. She is a real master at solving riddles and possess nimble fingers. Her bluntness has caused her problems before

Prologue
In which curiosity follows boredom and our heroes follow a will-o'-wisp

Summer’s end, …, There isn’t much to do at the boarding school this early in the school year. No activities, no sports, no field trips, … It’s just the three of us, the caretaker and his daughter. And even the caretaker wasn’t that enthusiastic about being here.
The three of us, Sheppard, Jack and John were always the last to leave and the first to arrive at this institution. If you wouldn’t know any better you would start to think we actually liked it here. You would even think that we were the best of friends when we’re just … well, who wants to be lonely all the time ?

We were just doing the usual, killing time at the lake, when something caught our eye. A hovering light near the lake bank.
“Let’s find out what it is!”
“Do we have to? It’s dangerously close to the water”
“It’s always the same with you. If you want to die of boredom be my guest scaredy cat”


Give your descriptions and the traits you're using (no danger so you do not need to give me the ying/yang split). This is just a practice run to see if everybody understands the rules.

I forgot, The dice cap is 6 for this scene, which means you can earn no more then 6 dice when telling your part of the story.

This game has Truly begun

[Diamondeye]

As the three boys pass a large, dead tree, one of them feels something land in his hair and finds it to be an intricately folded paper-bird. Stopping to look up, they see a dark-haired girl sitting on one of the few, solid branches of the tree some feet up, resting her back against the trunk and one feet resting on the brench, the other leg hanging lazily down. She's holding another paper folding and has a small bag thrown over her shoulder in a strop.

"Wotcher guys, where're ya going?"

EDIT: That'd be using the nimble-fingers thing, if anything.

[Peasant Phill]

To get a good idea how details work, I'll count them:

As the three boys pass a large, dead treen (1), one of them feels something land in his hair(2) and finds it to be an intricately folded paper-bird(3). Stopping to look up, they(4) see a dark-haired girl sitting on one of the few, solid branches of the tree some feet up(5), resting her back against the trunk and one feet resting on the brench, the other leg hanging lazily down(6). She's holding another paper folding and has a small bag thrown over her shoulder in a strop.(7)

"Wotcher guys, where're ya going?"(8)

You see how easy you earn the dice cap (6 in this scene). Nothing stops you to describe more than the dice cap but you can also go under it but then you earn less dice.

EDIT: That'd be using the nimble-fingers thing, if anything.

That's a hard one to pin down. A character doesn't always use one of his named traits. In cases he doesn't, the default number used is 2. In this case I would go for the default number as she wasn't busy folding the paper at the time of the description.

I'll show the mechanic side when everybody has put in their description and used trait.

[Beskar]

"Eerrr, it is a girl!" John says as he notices the dark haired female. The others boys laughed at John, and the girl didn't look much pleased either. John was a short, ruddy, young lad, looking around seven or eight. He wore long shorts, with a baggy shirt not tucked in and a waistcoat with a flat cap. He didn't mind the caretakers daughter, that doesn't stop it being fun to tease her.

[Seon]

Shepard hurriedly shoves the paper bird into his pocket; how the heck the girl managed make the paper bird, intricate and also dead, into his hair despite the wind he could not figure out despite his best efforts. Probably luck, he thought as he clasped tightly at the bag he was holding. Enough weird thing has happened for one day...

"Guys, I heard stories of people who went into a swamp to chase after some light though; I heard they never found the body," Shepard muttered. "I heard about sirens too, anyways, can't we chase after the light later? Hmm?"

[Diamondeye]

((I have some doubts as to how succesful a game that relies on equal participation will be. Especially since Spl1t seems to be MIA))

[Peasant Phill]

((I have some doubts as to how succesful a game that relies on equal participation will be. Especially since Spl1t seems to be MIA))

You btring up a good point. The inactivity of one of the players is not really a big problem BUT with so few players more than 1 player missing can stop the game. I'll be looking for reserve players.

I'll give it until tomorrow and than we start with or without Split.

[Peasant Phill]

Mechanics
So all of you three got to the 6 dice maximum set for this round. There was no danger so no defensive dice needed.
Diamondeye used non of Liva's named traits so he must roll equal or below 2.
Beskar used the snarky (5) skill so he needs to roll equal or below 5.
Seon tried some puzzle solving (5) but also showed his weakness: cowardly (1). I opt for using his weakness as this was more relevant to the scene rather than figuring out how an origami bird was folded.

You can always step in and correct me if you believe I should be using another trait or if you think a certain character is doing something that doesn't fit into the genre.

Resolution:
I use this website for the dice rolls.
Liva gets 4,3,5,3,3,1 which means 1 success.
John gets 2,1,6,5,1,6 which means 4 successes
Sheppard gets 4,6,4,3,4,1 which means also 1 success.

Normally I would've set a number which you would have to reach in order to end the scene. ATM you get 6 points amongst yourselves.
When a scene has no more points left, then the person who 'ended' the scene can describe the ending. This was a practice scene without a number to reach so I'll describe the start of the next scene (tonight).

The next scene will involve danger so don't forget to mention your yin and yang split next time.

[Peasant Phill]

Scene1
In which the chase continues and perspectives are skewed

Specifics:
Mook conflict
Dice cap: 6
Threat rating (TR): 50 (the scene ends when you reach 50 yang successes together)
Yin successes needed per round per player: 1

Sheppard, John and Liva suddenly lost sight of their prey. It suddenly vanished into the ground.

"Ah...If you hadn't slowed us down, we wouldn't have lost it."
"You're mean. And you losing your shoe didn't help us either."

"Hey, look at this."
Sheppard was waving furiously near what looked from afar as a small grey hill. As the others got closer, it became clear that it was a corner of some building, eroded by weather and watery soil.

"My father told me about a castle that sunk into the ground long ago. He said that it was cursed and that I should stay away and ... and..."

John pushed her away hard. "And I'm afraid because I'm a useless girl. Nenenenenene."
"That thing went in there so I'm following you can tag along if you like as long both of you stop whining."

The castle lied slanted. The three had to be carefull not to slip, slide down walls or lose their orientation in this skewed mace.

"Over there, I see some light... That must be that thing we were chasing!"


Don't forget to mention the trait you'r character used and how many dice you use for Yin and Yang

[Diamondeye]

Liva turned from John, furious in her resolution to show that she wasn't just a useless girl. She trodded past him and quickly reached the slanted wall and carefully began climbing. Her anger fueled her and she forcefully dug her fingers in to catch hold whereever a small crack or loose gravel allowed it. "Hmpph! I'll give you useless", she mumbled as she began ascending the slippery plane.

Trait: Blunt personality (?)
Dice; 3 Yin, rest Yang.

[Seon]

"Wait! Come back!" Shepherd yelled after the girl. "It's too dangerou-" Shepherd immediately stopped as he realized that John was about to follow her up the slippery slope as well, living him all alone in the swamp.

"Oh forget whatever it is I said. I guess we can just all go together to dinner too! Yeah, DINNER FOR GHOSTS!" Shepherd let out a groan as he began to climb after Liva, he didn't get strong so that he can chase after some ghostly supernatural light, he did it so that he could RUN AWAY from it.

Trait: Athletic

Dice; 3 yin, rest Yang

[Beskar]

John sticks his tongue out at Liva, and followed her up the slippery slope, "Shepherd, I thought Liva was the girl here?" as he interrupts him in mid-speech, "Come on you silly light, we are going to get you!". Shepherd blushed and muttered something about dinner. John licked his lips, when he thought of turkey leg, stuffed cream pudding and chocolate, just to be greeted by Mrs. Maggiepies unseasoned oats at the boarding house, yuck! He wondered about Liva, she always seems to have a grandiose appearance, like she is some snooty princess, she probably would announce how a butler butters her crumpets layered with cream and jam.

John stopped and looked around, his mind went off-track, when he noticed a twinkle in the corner of his eye, "There you are, you glistening troll bogey!" and he followed on chasing the whisp, who seemed to react slightly to the mark, or was that his imagination? Like that thing he swore he saw Liva in a polka dot dress and an little umbrella, being huffy and puffy about his latest prank. It wouldn't been so bad but that night I woke up with my hand in a bowel of water, and I swear I saw the caretaker. I asked him in the morning about it, he just looked at me oddly then said something about staying away from his daughter. That wasn't too bad, I just put Mr. Cuddles, up in a tree. I like teasing Liva.

John easily walked under a branch, and flicked it as he went past. Hoping to catch Shepherd, but he was too far behind, darn. "Twinkle Twinkle Smelly Star, No one cares to wonder what you are". He put his arms by the sides of him outstretched for balance as he went along. "Is it a bird? It is a cannon ball? No, it's Super John!".

Trait: Snarky
3 Yin, 3 Yang.

[Chaotix]

As they were chasing the odd ball of light, the three companions suddenly realized they were missing one- specifically, Jack.

No sooner had one of them said the words, "Where's Jack?" than a figure leapt into their midst from a nearby tree.

"Did somebody call?"

The creature looked like Jack, and yet it was... not. Most of Jack's features were present, but exaggerated in their proportions: his tall, lanky self had become a towering figure of ridiculous thinness. He had a greenish glint in his eyes which matched the emerald suit with coattails that he was now wearing. And just barely visible on the top of his head were the tips of two horns.

"The name's Jackaloup, but I suppose Jack works for short. A pleasure to meet you all, and especially you, Miss Wildflower," he said with a brilliant smile as he turned to Liva.

Trait: Charm
2 Yin, 4 Yang

[Peasant Phill]

Resulution
Diamondeye: trait 5, 3 yin successes and 3 yang successes
Seon: trait 3, 1 yin and 2 yang
Beskar: trait 5, 3 yin and 2 yang
Chaotix: trait 4, 1 yin and 3 yang

So everybody has at least 1 yin success which means that nobody loses chi.
10 yang successes in total which means the scene has still 40 points left.

I'm sitting this round out. The stage has been set, I'm interested how you'll all react.

[Chaotix]

OOC:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

So, basically, we decide what happens for the rest of the seen? We have to figure out for ourselves what's inside this twisted castle?

In any case, I'm going to wait for someone else to go before I go again.

[Beskar]

John jumps from column to column, while he looks up and sees 'Jackaloup'. "Hurry up dowsing rod, we are almost there!".

He notices Liva paying attention to Jack and rolls his eyes "Always after the attention", as he makes his way towards the twisty castle. He goes under arch-ways, climbing across ledges, as it is an oversized assault course.

"Hey guys, it seems this place.. keeps changing, it doesn't seem like we are getting closer"

The strange orb is still there, glowing near the gate. The ground seems to be, fluid? as if the grass was placed on top of a pond, and there are little dips and quakes. "Perhaps Shepherd wet himself, or this place is just weird", John continued ahead, possibly getting ahead of Liva and the others. Why did he think of Liva first? Perhaps because she is the annoying one, makes sense.

Trait: Snarky
Yin 2, 4 Yang

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Yes, I got the annoying 'little brother' type role.

[Diamondeye]

Liva braved another steep climb and found a small niche she could sit down on to rest for a moment. John had disappeared ahead of them, but she could still hear his voice, snarky and loud, "... Perhaps shepherd wet himself...". She looked down and saw that Shepherd had only just begun the climb and was still quite the distance behind them. He, too, was yelling. Something about dinner and ghosts and what not. "Come on, Shep!", she yelled. "We don't wanna wait all day for you!"
She looked at Jackaloup and frowned - the guy looked very strange - then reminded herself that she was scaling a tilted wall of a castle ruin in the middle of a swamp, chasing a moving light; there was plenty of strange things going on. "Wotcher, mister", she replied before resuming the climbing with a backwards glance at Shepherd. She looked towards the moving light again... Strange? No, this was exciting!

Skill: Blunt Personality
3 Yin, rest Yang.

[Peasant Phill]

OOC: So, basically, we decide what happens for the rest of the seen? We have to figure out for ourselves what's inside this twisted castle?

In any case, I'm going to wait for someone else to go before I go again.

Well this is about me setting you guys up for the things you want to do. I kept aside as I wanted to let you guys free to confront this new character without me pushing you to one side or the other.
Also when I thought up the skewed castle scene, I had a short voyage in mind full of danger and wonders through the castle (rooms bigger than they should be, gravity shifting, enviroments changing from room to room, ...). But anyone can take the story in a different direction as long as everyone else is OK with it.
And don't worry, whatever happens I have a next chapter already prepared. It's very hard to derail dreams

Against better judgment, I'll wait 24 hours more so that Seon and Chaotix get there descriptions in.
Don't make a habit of this, That's what reserve players are for.

[Chaotix]

Jackaloup had now joined his three companions in scaling the sloped side of the twisted castle. He walked up the side on two legs, the rest of his body seemingly tilting at a ridiculous angle from the point of view of the others. The odd young man looked curiously at the kids crawling up the castle even as they looked at him just as curiously.

From Jackaloup's point of view, however, he was walking along a straight path. It was the kids who were crawling sideways up the castle wall, for the castle wall was indeed sideways and not on a slope at all. Jackaloup laughed at this thought.

Suddenly, the floating ball of light they had been chasing ducked down into a window in the twisted castle's side. When Jackaloup reached the window, young John was already there. Jackaloup looked down through the hole, and the sight that he saw boggled even his mind.

Trickster
Yin 2, Yang 4

[Seon]

Sheperd looked down into the hole that Jackaloup and John was staring down at.

Oh what the hell. Indeed, if the scale of insanity went from to the madness of a schizophrenic man to the schizophrenic man poisoned by mercury to the taste of the caretaker's grandmother's cookies, the sight before them would be a step below the cookies.

Why was there, for instance, pillars rising from the bottomless depth of hell and why, oh WHY was the light bouncing off the the top of the pillars towards the said bottomless pit of hell?

And who the hell put a staircase sideways?!

And why were the pillars moving?

Shepherd shook the thought out of his head. Now he wanted some answers. The pillars seemed to be moving randomly, but there was a certain pattern you could see... Shepherd hopped onto a pillar much the same way the light did.

"This is the single worst idea I have ever had!" he immediately shouted. He hopped off the pillar onto another one as the pillar nearly smashed into a wall. There was no way getting back up, Shepherd sadly thought as he began to leap down from pillar to pillar.

Puzzle-Solver

Yin 2 Yang 4

[Peasant Phill]

Resulution
Beskar: trait 5, 1 yin and 2 yang
Diamondeye: trait 5, 2 yin and 3 yang
Chaotix: trait 5, 2 yin and 3 yang
Seon: trait 5, 1 yin and 2 yang

So again everybody has at least 1 yin success which means that nobody loses chi. Everybody has 3 chi per scene but this will be more important when you're pressed for time or against something more dangerous/harder.
Coincidently again 10 yang successes in total which means the scene is down to 30 points.

I'll be adding a time limit. You'll have to complete the whole scene in 2 rounds otherwise the will-o'-wisp will get away and you may get lost inside the sunken castle.

[Diamondeye]

Liva notices a shut window, a couple of feet below the place where Shepherd, John and Jackaloup have found an open window. She fiddles with the rusty barring mechanism and manages to open it, but the window shutters open under her. The boys hear a yell of surprise as Liva falls into the room and starts sliding down the inclined floor, the smooth marble tiles not proving any way of slowing down. Finally, before skidding into a column, Liva managed to dig her fingers into the cavity of a shattered tile and break her descend. Slowly, she begins climbing her way up by carefully removing pieces of broken tiles or lifting loose tiles to find hold for hands and feet.
Skill: Nimble Fingers
1 Yin, rest Yang