Blades of the Immortals (Early Access)

https://jagganoth.itch.io/boti-ea/purchase

It's pay-what-you-want, so if you want it for free, just hit the link that says "No thanks, just take me to the downloads" when the popup appears.

sparrow1 year ago(+1)

How is this so on point, I never thought I would see a good adaptation of xianxia to a ttrpg but here we go. Awesome! I will be following this closely.

Thanks for your kind words! ^___^ I've been busy with other obligations for the past few months and haven't had much time to work on this, but thankfully things have finally cleared up and I'll be able to start pushing updates again, so stay tuned!

Elonaplus121 year ago

By any chance are there plans for a character sheet?

Several people have asked for sheets, so it is on the agenda. I don't have an ETA for them yet, though ^^;

Hmm... I've been thinking on running a campaign through the game, with the specific intent to run my players through the setting of Will Wight's Cradle series, which might ring a bell to some fans of the genre. The main issue I'm trying to tackle is exactly how to pace the different stages of advancement. I'd welcome suggestions from anyone who knows what I'm talking about!

I've had several people recommend Cradle to me lol, but I haven't gotten around to it yet, so I can't offer any advice ^^;

@Aetava1 year ago

I love this game a ton! I’ve already got into a hole for writing up Cultivation systems and panoply items! The only complaint is that I wish I could find a group to play it with lol

I'm glad to hear it! ^___^ I wish you luck finding a group lol, please let me know how it goes if you find one. There's a thread on RPG.net about the game, you should share your homebrew there! I always enjoy seeing what people come up with.

KingCarnival1 year ago

Hello, I'm really like the game I just had two concerns to bring up

When looking at the Starting Panoply is there a way to make the indentation markers differ at different list levels? It makes some of the choose one options hard to read when seeing what falls under what list
- (Example indentation marker change)
What happens if the Assassin kills their Prey target? Is it assigned to another Faction/NPC?

Sure, I'll change up the list level bullets in v0.3.1! I can see how they'd get visually confusing, especially with the lists now being spread across two columns.

In re the Assassin, I hadn't put any specific thought into what happens if/when you manage to kill your Prey. In a real way, you've got a lot of mechanical incentives to keep them alive - they give you access to a higher-tier faction's resources, they can generate XP for you via the connection clock, etc. It is somewhat unsatisfying if you just lose a playbook ability for doing the thing your playbook is nominally about, I'll admit - I haven't yet figured out a good way to reconcile the fact that the Assassin is, conceptually, about not yet having gotten your revenge, with the inevitability that you will at some point get that revenge. Swapping the Prey over to another faction seems like a pretty straightforward and generally workable solution, though. I'll think on it and put something in the next update.

Thanks for reading the game, and for bringing that stuff to my attention! ^___^

Fantastic update, as usual! Though ive noticed that the file seems to have the text of the last example Heaven-Defying Chance ability cut off by the start of the next chapter. Also, when do you feel we'll get some form of character/playbook/faction sheets?

nooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!! i was so sure i'd gotten all the layout problems fixed T___T. thank you for catching that, rip. tbh character and faction sheets were not high on my priority list at all because I naively assumed that everyone was like me (literally has never used a provided sheet in any game), but I've come to understand through talking to people that this is very much not the case lol. so, sheets are on the agenda, but I've never built one before and I think it will probably require putting together some visual assets that I don't have yet, so I can't give a solid time estimate. hopefully i'll release them with v0.4?

Lracc1 year ago

I've got this game, and I'm looking forward to whatever progress you may make on it. I have some loose ideas about how to use it for superheroes, archmages, and so on, but I'd like to see what a "pure" cultivation (inspired by the actual real-world sources) would look like. (Also, dare I ask, what the hell is a corpse-puppet and how does one help you ascend to a higher Realm?)

Oh boy I'm so glad you asked. Various media have differing interpretations of corpse puppets, but the general idea is that it's an animated corpse, frankenstein, or other form of corporeal undead that obeys a cultivator's directions. I was principally inspired by the Black Fiend School arc of Record of a Mortal's Journey to Immortality (chs. ~279-330) in re the ascending-in-Realm thing; the main antagonist of that arc had several corpse-puppets that were possessed by spiritual clones of him and were capable of independently cultivating.

I am planning to include at least one "classical" cultivation system in the setting chapter in v0.3, which is like 80% of the way to being done rn I'd say, hopefully should be ready by the end of the month.

Lracc1 year ago

Yay! Looking forward to it!

Lovely to see this project moving forward! I know the system is designed so just about any setting-specific title can be slapped on the different Realms, but what would you say is a good scale to set them at?

It can vary enormously from table to table depending on your group's vision, which I realize isn't a terribly helpful answer. If we were doing like, the most stock and straightforward xianxia system possible, it would go like:
Realm 0: Qi Condensation
Realm 1: Foundation Establishment
Realm 2: Golden Core
Realm 3: Nascent Soul
Realm 4+: who knows
If I had to phrase it as generically and setting-agnostically as possible, I guess it would probably be like:
Realm 0: Minor supernatural feats; fights will involve one or two techniques at most, unleashed at critical moments.
Realm 1: You are a wielder of supernatural power. Conflicts become exchanges of spell arts.
Realm 2: You are capable of larger-scale miracles and sustained magical exertion. You have largely transcended mortal frailties.
Realm 3: You are an arch-wizard, capable of prodigious supernatural feats and only barely human anymore.
Realm 4: You are a demigod.
Realm 5: You are a god.
Realm 6: You are a cosmic sovereign, treading stars to dust beneath your feet and ruling over hundreds of worlds.

That's very helpful, thank you! And while I'm at it, how do you reckon would be a good way to handle a Heavenly Tribulation using your system?

I'd probably do it as a special kind of mission, sort of like a Major Entanglement. Smack em in a desperate position, mission objective "survive", etc.

Zaleramancer1 year ago(+1)

I'm really happy to see games tackling this genre! May play this with my friends!

Zaleramancer1 year ago(+1)

I have a few questions: My group is a bit uncertain about how you would write new cultivation methods, and their clock-size and base quality. The earlier chapter seems to indicate that the default quality required for a breakthrough is (Realm + 3), but the cultivation methods have varying qualities?

I'm really excited about the game, and hope my friends and I have fun playing it!

Thanks for bringing that to my attention, I did forget to add some explanatory text in the appendix. Cultivation methods set their required quality like any other panoply item (except for the fine/poor wrinkle discussed in the section on breakthroughs), based on their edges:flaws balance, linked techniques, etc. Then, you slap a +3 tax on top. The examples in the appendix don't include the +3 modifier (because of minor realms).

As for clock size, it's just based on vibes. Assume the default is an 8-clock: adjust that up for more powerful or time-intensive cultivation methods, adjust it down for more materials-intensive ones or ones with bigger drawbacks/harsher flaws.

I'm glad you're excited about the game overall though! I hope you have fun, and please let me know how it goes! ^___^

Zaleramancer1 year ago(+1)

Thanks for your answer! It's really helping clear things up. I do have another question, now. (^.^;) How do you price the addition of linked techniques on a cultivation method, I assumed they acted as either a minor or significant useful function. (I was doing the math on the example cultivation methods to get a feel for things), however, I'm not exactly sure. Should my group assume you can have 0-2 linked techniques on a cultivation method as part of the standard quality?