Wind of the Steppe Will Blow You Away!

In several instances, the text of The Celestial Empire makes passing references to “a future extension dedicated to the nomad peoples of Inner Asia”. TCE was published in 2010 and, at the time, this supplement was really in its infancy. Well, four years on, I am thrilled to announce that Wind of the Steppe should be available through Alephtar Games at the end of this year, or at the beginning of the next at the very latest.

Much more than a mere extension, Wind of the Steppe will actually be a fully-fledged, stand-alone role-playing game (still based on the Basic Role-Playing System by the Chaosium) that will enable you to adventure into the harsh world of the steppe nomads. The game will still be compatible with TCE, and retain some of the mechanisms at its core, such as the Allegiance rules. But let me pass on the virtual pen to Olivier Dubreuil, the main author of WoS:

How To Be a Good Nomad:

• Demonstrate blind loyalty to the leader you believe deserves it. You can die for him. When called by your khan for war, do not ask for any compensation, even as a noyan, but follow his orders without hesitation.
• Be efficient: you learnt that all that you do is dictated by the best efficiency. “Chivalrous” does not belong to your vocabulary. If you have to flee, flee and come back later. If you have to die, die. If slaughtering people yields any benefit, do it. If skills from other people can be useful, use them. Exploits are made for duty, vengeance, ambition, to gain the favour of your fellow clansmen or of the spirits, or for any other benefits, not for sport.
• Be patient, wait for the optimal conditions whenever possible.
• Life is valuable when useful. Spare your fellow tribesmen but don’t be overburdened with unnecessary prisoners: slaughter them in cold blood when asked to or whenever it is useful.
• Be open to other religions, philosophies and knowledge: foreign wise men and craftsmen can bring you what you’re missing. Despise other settled people.
• Use slaves and despise them.
• Help your clan.
• Be fair to your anda [blood brother], even if you’re fighting on opposite sides.
• Fear the spirits, avoid making them angry. Some words may attract them.
• Do not boast about your own exploits; you have to thank the spirits, who may become upset or jealous.
• Be thankful to the good spirits.
• Observe the taboos.
• Don’t fear enemies. Don’t fear death either: it is a shame not to die on horseback and you’ll join your ancestors. But die usefully.
• Avenge your clansmen and tribesmen.
• Be proud of your clan.
• Travel with several horses.
• Be frugal, but get completely drunk on occasions. Eat whatever meat is edible. Eyes are delicious.
• Be welcoming to the friendly traveller. Don’t hesitate to ask for shelter from friendly or neutral nomads encountered whilst travelling.
• Share your hunt with anybody coming until you have attached it to your saddle.
• Ask the shamans for advice. Shamans are not holy but have scary powers and knowledge beyond your understanding: fear them.
• Take care of your mount: you can’t survive without it.
• Don’t bathe in a river or a lake. In your country, this often means don’t bathe at all.
• Keep your bows dry.
• Be disciplined in battle; do not plunder until the enemy is utterly destroyed.
• Plan your actions as you would prepare a hunt.
• Scout an unknown land instead of blindly getting there.

Inner Asian Nomads are Tengriist animists. They believe in spirits and in the powers of nature, first and foremost the sky god Tengri, the celestial deity who created the world and rules over it.

Numerous deities or spirits live under Tengri’s authority: superior spirits (fertility, thunder…), natural spirits (wood, sources, fire…) or evil spirits –the üör– (disease, insanity…). Some tribes worship Tengri in a quasi-monotheistic way, but even these never completely forget the spirits. They are very respectful of nature spirits.

The world is split into three planes: the lower plane where malevolent spirits dwell, the middle plane where humans and natural spirits live, and the upper plane where the celestial spirits reign. Every event is reputedly caused by spirits: a good hunt, disease, the rain… The Nomad fears them. It is necessary to please them and to make them friendly: this is the duty of the shamans.

Additionally, legends talk about a subterranean world where supernatural telluric magical creatures live, like giants or ogres. This world is not to be confused with the lower plane where spirits live. It is separated from the surface world, but some gateways between the two worlds do exist in deep chasms or unfathomable caverns.

There is no organised clergy and church, but instead a class of more or less hereditary wise men or women: the shamans. Shamans are the mediators between humans and supernatural beings, and hold a special place in the social order. They have no specific hierarchy beyond the authority bestowed by power, reputation or social status. Their function is more practical than priestly, since they do not necessarily lead worship ceremonies. They are however central in the animist belief.

“In the Steppe, a man without friends is thinner than a finger; a man with friends is bigger than the Steppe itself”

Tentative Table of Contents of Wind of the Steppe:
  Foreword
SETTING
  Introduction
  Background
  Daily Life
  Warfare
RULES
  Character Creation
  Shamans
  Spirits
  Heroes
CAMPAIGN
  Peoples and Tribes
  The Silk Road
  Cities of the Nomads
  Bestiary
Appendices
  When the Wolves Wake Up
  Glossary

[A-Z April Blogging] [J] Joseon Korea

NB— All Korean names below are followed by their Chinese transcription

Ancient Korea corresponds to the provinces of Inner Manchuria and Korea on the map on p28 of The Celestial Empire. However, Ancient Korea can hardly be considered as a single entity in the time period corresponding to scope of TCE. Under the Táng, Ancient Korea is divided into several warring kingdoms whose people do not even always share a common culture and a common language. This period ends with the unification of the Korean Peninsula (i.e., Korea proper) by the Goryeo/Gāolí (高麗) dynasty, whilst the northernmost part of Ancient Korea (i.e., present-day Inner Manchuria) falls to the Georan/Qìdān empire (契丹, p30-1 of TCE), forever lost to the Koreans.

The Goryeo/Gāolí dynasty, which is more or less contemporary with the Sòng, introduces a Chinese-style administrative system and Chinese customs; place-names and peoples' names are Sinicised. Hanmun/Hànwén (漢文, Classical Chinese) is the medium of choice for formal writing among members of the élite. Eonmun/Yànwén (諺文, vernacular script) is the least prestigious and the least consistent, and is the province of women. The middle classes use a mixed script consisting in Chinese phrases with Korean conjunctions linked by Eonmun/Yànwén particles [Chinese and Korean have completely different word order and grammar]. Under the Goryeo/Gāolí dynasty, Buddhism flourishes.

In 1232, Korea becomes a province of the Mongol empire, and shares the fate of Mongol-dominated Yuán China. Korean troops and ships provide the bulk of the Mongol invasion force that unsuccessfully attempts to invade Japan, in two ill-fated attempts in 1274 and again in 1281.

Under the Míng, Korea becomes independent again under the Joseon/Cháoxiān dynasty (朝鮮, 1392-1910), a long period of unification and of stability (except for the devastating Imjin/Rénchén wars with Japan, 1592-8). Even though it is a sovereign kingdom, Joseon/Cháoxiān Korea is a tributary state of Míng and then of Qīng China, always considering herself as the 'daughter' of Greater China. The Joseon/Cháoxiān period is considered the height of classical Korean culture, trade, science, literature, and technology.

Joseon police constable

I am providing a few guidelines below to play Korean characters in Joseon/Cháoxiān Korea. As a long, stable and Sinicised country, a Korean setting under the Joseon/Cháoxiān dynasty can be satisfactorily approximated with the TCE rules, as long as said guidelines are taken into account.

Status (p79 of BRP) is paramount in Joseon/Cháoxiān Korea, which is a highly stratified society, with very strictly-enforced sumptuary laws (regulating the dress of each social class):

Status — Social Class
01‒10 — Nobi/Núbì (奴婢): slave
11‒20 — Baekjeong/Báidīng (白丁) or Cheonmin/Jiànmín (賤民): "vulgar commoner"
21‒50 — Sangmin/Chángmín (常民): commoner
51‒60 — Jungin/Zhōngrén (中人): middle class
61‒100 — Yangban/Liǎngbān (兩班): nobility


Relations between men and women are also strictly controlled because of the Neo-Confucian ideals of Joseon/Cháoxiān Korea. Female characters can only join female professions. This limitation must be even more strongly enforced by the GM than in a 'standard' game of The Celestial Empire (p9-10 and p42 of TCE).

Player Character Characteristics

Please use the following:
Male characters: SIZ 2D6+6
Female characters: SIZ 2D6+5

Religion & Allegiance

Even though most Koreans are deeply Buddhist (several Joseon/Cháoxiān kings have written very beautiful Buddhist hymns), the state itself is officially and strongly Neo-Confucian. Throughout the history of Joseon/Cháoxiān Korea, Neo-Confucianism is always strongly enforced as the only state religion, and Buddhism is often suppressed. As a result, Buddhist monks reside in large monasteries far from city life to avoid involvement in politics, and to avoid harassment by the authorities. Buddhist priests are rare. Daoism is restricted to the odd hermit or alchemist.
Korean folk religion is similar to Chinese folk religion mixed with Shamanism, which is still strong in Korea, especially in the countryside. Monotheistic religions are absent until the introduction of Catholicism at the end of the 18th century.

Religion Availability Table (replaces the one on p48 of TCE)
Buddhism (common)
Confucianism (common)
Korean folk religion (common)
Daoism (uncommon)
Christianity [post-1786] (very uncommon)
Esoteric Buddhism/Tantric Buddhism (very uncommon)

List of Professions
Male characters
Assassin-retainer – identical to TCE
Buddhist Monk – identical to TCE
Constable – identical to TCE
Fortune-teller – identical to TCE, except Status: 20%
Geomancer – identical to TCE, except Status: 20%
Gukseon/Guóxiān (國仙) – a kind of mountain ascetic; use the 'Esoteric Buddhist Monk' template from TCE, except Allegiance: Korean folk religion 20 points; replace Knowledge (Religion: Esoteric Buddhism) with Knowledge (Religion: Korean folk religion); replace Perform (Sing) with Perform (Dance); replace Language (Manchu/Mongolian) with Language (Chinese); restrict magic to Battle Magic only, add the spells Dark and Farsee.
Hwarang/Huāláng – see the relevant post.
Magistrate – identical to TCE, except Status: 65%
Merchant – identical to TCE
Outlaw – identical to TCE
Scholar – identical to TCE, except Status: 60%
Slave – use the 'Slave' profession from p20 of Dragon Lines
Soldier – identical to TCE
Yangban/Liǎngbān (兩班) – use the 'Noble' profession from p18 of Dragon Lines

Female characters
Assassin-retainer – identical to TCE
Damo/Chámǔ (茶母) – Damo are female servants working for the police: only they can enter women-only residential areas for investigation and interrogation. These are strong, intelligent, and arms-trained women. In the history of Joseon/Cháoxiān Korea police investigations, it has been demonstrated that Damo often played major roles. In spite of this, they were ill-treated by their male counterparts. Use the 'Constable' template from TCE, except Wealth: Poor, and Status: 10%.
Gisaeng/Jìshēng (妓生) – Gisaeng are female entertainers very similar in role and accoutrement to Japanese Geisha. Use the 'Entertainer' profession from p15 of Dragon Lines; add Perform (Play: Instrument) and Perform (Sing) to the list of Primary skills. Status: 15%
Outlaw – identical to TCE
Shamaness – identical to TCE, except Allegiance: Korean folk religion 20 points, Status: 20%
Yangban/Liǎngbān (兩班) – use the 'Noble' profession from p18 of Dragon Lines

Skills

Etiquette – Base chance: 20%. Etiquette is paramount in Neo-Confucian Joseon/Cháoxiān Korea.
Firearm – Base chance: 20%. No Status skill penalty for using a firearm (they are slightly more common than in China).
Knowledge (Religion) – Base chance: 10% for common religions, 5% for uncommon religions, 0% for any other religion.
Language (Chinese) – All Yangban characters speak Chinese with a Base chance equal to EDU×3.

RuneQuest 6: Firearms

In terms of a rules engine to power your Celestial Empire games, I have already mentioned RuneQuest 6 as a viable alternative to the Basic Role-Playing 'Big Gold Book'.

RuneQuest 6 has been available for a few months now, and I really wish I had the time to write an in-depth study of the consequences of using RuneQuest 6 as the engine of your TCE games. Some day I hope I'll be able to post something.

In the meanwhile, I really urge you to download the free Firearms supplement for RuneQuest 6 on the Design Mechanism's web-site.

Page 12 should be of particular interest for pre-European contact games, or for encounters with very early Portuguese or Dutch colonists.

Expanded Divination Skill

I have just bought Mythic Iceland by Pedro Ziviani. It is a Basic Role-Playing supplement designed to play in mediæval Iceland. Despite its title, Mythic Iceland is firmy set in real world history and is historically, linguistically, and culturally accurate. In that respect, it is similar to the Alephtar Games historical titles :)

Anyway, the nice thing about BRP games is that they are mutually compatible. And 'mutually compatible' means you can steal from a given game whatever you think is cool for your own.

The Celestial Empire features the skill of Divination (pages 59-62). Mythic Iceland similarly presents the skill of Prophecy (pages 206-208), which has a slightly different scope: instead of requiring to GM to come up with a cryptic sentence that somehow predicts future in-game events, it requires the player character using the Prophecy skill to try and give some input to the GM's game through the prophecy itself, i.e., it introduces player-driven narration. Also, the Mythic Iceland version of the skill is much more articulate, with scalable effects depending on the amount of power points spent by the player character.

This post adapts the ideas from Mythic Iceland to The Celestial Empire. By spending more than 1 Qì point, the player character may use the Divination skill as the Mythic Iceland Prophecy skill. Replace the following text from the Divination skill description on page 59 of TCE:

After spending 1 Qì point, the diviner performs a divination ritual according to the tenets of his religion, and consulting the appropriate source; then the GM rolls against the character's divination skill (the result of the roll must remain hidden from the player since he has no idea whether the attempts to prophesy the future was successful or not).

with:

After spending a variable amount of Qì points [see table], the diviner performs a divination ritual according to the tenets of his religion, and consulting the appropriate source; then the player rolls against the character's divination skill. Depending on the result, the player may or may not announce the prophecy.

Fumble > The player character has a prophetic vision of his own impending doom.

Failure > No prophecy.

Success > The player character has a prophetic vision of his future. The player may express it in a seven-word sentence.
Special > The player may express the prophecy in a nine-word sentence.
Critical > The GM cannot interfere with the prophecy.

The table referred to above is the following one:

The divination attempt only involves the diviner...........1 Qì point

The divination attempt involves another person...........2 Qì points

The divination attempt involves a group of people.........3 Qì points

A precise location is 'seen' in the prophecy.................+1 Qì points

Precise people are 'seen' in the prophecy....................+2 Qì points

The prophecy involves some misfortune......................cost×2

The prophecy involves death....................................cost×3


Example: a diviner attempts to prophesy what will happen to his brother who has set upon a dangerous endeavour in Bukhara with a band of fellow adventurers. The divination attempt involves a different person than the diviner: 2 Qì points. The divination attempt involves a precise person: +2 Qì point. The diviner would like the prophecy to involve death: cost×3. Total: a hefty 12 Qì points. The player successfully rolls against his skill and chooses the following prophecy: 'My brother kills the emir of Bukhara'. Now 12 Qì is a huge amount, but the GM may still think it's to easy to get away with it like that. That's where the GM may decide this will happen... several years in the future! maybe after the diviner's brother has escaped from a harrassing stay in the emir's penal labour camps...

Language (Own)

In the Skills section of the ‘Character Generation’ chapter of The Celestial Empire, on p58, I have written that the base chance for this skill is EDU×5.

Now there was such a divide in Imperial China (and in the neighbouring civilised lands) between spoken and written language, that I now wish I had given a different base chance for this skill. Most East Asian languages featured completely different sets of verbs and of pronouns depending on whether one was speaking in a relaxed way or in a codified, formal manner.

The optional rule I suggest is as follows:

• the base chance for the spoken vernacular of Language (Own) is INT×5;
• the base chance for the spoken variety of the learnt Language (Own) is EDU×5.

Using the sample character from the rule book:

White Fox has INT 14 and EDU 12. She speaks her Northern Chinese vernacular at 70%, but she only has 60% when trying to speak in an educated, formal way.

Asura

Asura are potent creatures from Vedic mythology: demonic and titanic spirits that are opposed to the Deva (the Indian gods), and in particular to Indra. There are four kinds of Asura, depending on their birth: born out of an egg, out of a womb, out of magic, out of water. Asura live deep in mountain caverns, in the underworld, and in the nether regions where the Asura architect-magician Maya has built them huge cities. Asura also live in the sea that surrounds Mount Sumeru.
In Buddhism, the Asura realm is the lowest of the six domains of rebirth. However the Asura are generally depicted as less evil than their Vedic counterparts; their behaviour stems from their karma: it is assumed that rebirth into an Asura is the consequence of having been a human being obsessed with force and violence, always looking for an excuse to get into a fight, angry with everyone and unable to maintain calm or solve problems peacefully.

Asura as creatures for a Celestial Empire game are described on p123 of the rule book. Depending on their birth, Asura may be further characterised as follows:

Egg-born Asura inhabit the flying fortresses that circle Mt Sumeru. They have huge bird-like wings which they use to glide down from their flying fortress when attacking the sky-realm of the Deva.
Womb-born Asura mostly live undergound. They are known for their armour and weapons, and in particular for their superior bows. They are mortal but their lifespan is still immeasurable by human standards. They are the most likely to strive for a better rebirth and hence lend an ear to Buddhist preaching.
Magic-born Asura shun the use of armour and weapons and prefer concentrate on the use of spells.
Water-born Asura are the most wicked ones. They have a craving for alcoholic drinks.

Chinese name: 阿修羅, Romanised as Āxiūluó

Geomancy (Fēngshuǐ 風水)

As written on page 52 of the rule book, Geomancy (fēngshuǐ 風水) is the art of adjusting the position and the orientation of buildings, tombs, and even fields, in relation to the magnetic compass, to the physical features of a given site, and to the nearest lóngmài (龍脈, the places where the qì 氣 of the earth flows strongest).

However, on page 62 the skill of Geomancy is mostly rendered as the mere ability to detect lóngmài.

In keeping with the list of abilities subsumed under the profession of Geomancer, and in order to beef up the profession, this post proposes a few more options in the use of the Geomancy skill.

1. A careful (3D6 minutes) examination of a given locale may give away clues as to any piece of furniture that may have been moved, or any modification that a room may have undergone. This obviously only applies to Civilised (Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese) locales, since the Barbarians do not follow the rules of fēngshuǐ when building their cities.

2. In the countryside, successful use of the Geomancy skill may indicate the presence of an underground stream of water, of a large cave beneath the surface, etc.

3. Successful roll under this skill with a Difficult modifier will tell the player character the cardinal directions. Of course, failure will give the player character a wrong direction (by ±90°); a fumble will give the player character a completely wrong direction (i.e., 180° of error).

Armour and Heat

Looking at the map on page 28 of the rule book, all the provinces south of the North India-Lower Yángzi line have a humid subtropical climate. The omnipresent daytime heat and humidity affect the inhabitants' choice in armour: people in these areas avoid carrying any piece of armour whose Burden is Moderate (or heavier). Should a player character insist on carrying such a piece of armour, he must succeed at a Stamina roll every time he is doing any activity more tiring than walking. A failed roll results in the character losing 1 general hit point of damage because of fatigue. A fumble results in the character passing out with exertion (on top of the hp loss).

Siddhaṃ (Xītán 悉曇)

Siddhaṃ is a South Asian alphabet that was used to write Sanskrit texts in North India during the period 600-1200 AD. When Buddhism dwindled in India, the use of Siddhaṃ was passed on to China with Mahāyāna and Vajrayāna Buddhist texts along the Silk Road. As a result, Siddhaṃ script is the only South Asian alphabet that is only used in East Asia and not in South Asia.

Mahāyāna Buddhism considers that the meaning of a text is of paramount importance, hence the great deal of translation work conducted under the Táng in China. On the contrary, Esoteric Buddhism places a lot of emphasis on the sounds contained in a given text, considering that they carry a hidden meaning that would be ruined by the translation. As Chinese characters are not suitable for writing the sounds of Sanskrit, the Siddhaṃ script has been preserved in Tantric Buddhism to conserve the original pronunciation of mantra.

In gaming terms, a calligraphed Siddhaṃ syllable plays exactly the same role as a mandala: it can be used to replace a mudrā while casting a spell, and also as a focus to store power points, by members of the Mìjiào 密教 and Mìzǒng 密宗 sects.

Edit (7 May 2013): I have found an extremely interesting and lengthy article about Siddhaṃ on the Sino-Platonic Papers scholarly site: Siddham in China and Japan. Enjoy!

Garrote

Today's post has been inspired by a recent thread on the RuneQuest mailing list that has focused on the garrote, an assassination weapon infamously used by the Thugs.

I don't know if this has any historical bases (sorry), but in The Celestial Empire, the garrote would ideally be used by assassin retainers (cìkè 刺客, as described on p49 of the rule book) because it is a weapon that can easily be hidden on oneself.

Now there is a word for garrote, in Chinese: 絞死 (jiǎosǐ), so the idea of cìkè using it may not be as far-fetched as it seems.

The 'stats' (there isn't much) for garrote are on p253 of BRP. Basically, the table refers the reader to the effects of choking on the victim, which are described on p218 of BRP.

I would like to add the following, as inspired by the RuneQuest version of the weapon:

• In melee, the hit location rolled must be the head or no damage is done, but if the victim is completely unaware of the attacker, the head will be hit automatically. Once hit, the garrote stays in place turn after turn, but successful attacks must be made to do additional damage. Give all successive attacks a +20% chance to succeed.
• To dislodge the attacker, compare the STR+DEX of the victim against that of his or her opponent, and make a successful attack on the Resistance Table. If 20% of the score needed is rolled, the garroter is thrown to the ground. If the victim fumbles, the garroter may roll additional damage against the victim.
• Once the garrote is in place, the attacker has the option to immobilise the victim rather than kill him or her, as per the entanglement rules on p196 of BRP.

The Plain Girl (Sùnǚ 素女)

The Plain Girl knows the sexual techniques to heal, but she also knows the ones to steal qì from a victim. A character who is a member of the Xié Sect, and who successfully resists the Plain Girl’s attempt to seduce him, may in turn try to seduce her trough an opposed skill roll of his Heterodoxy allegiance against the Plain Girl’s Charisma. If the character has rolled successfully, the Plain Girl will teach him her secret technique to steal qì from a sexual partner. For every night spent in company of a partner of the opposite sex, the character can now definitively ‘transfer’ 1 CON characteristic point from the victim to himself. The victim will appear to age 5 years for each characteristic point lost in this way – which may eventually arouse suspicion in her relationship.