Wuxia Relationship Maps & adapting for S&S

[wyrdlyng]

And we plan to make the "Relationship Charts" in the back of the novels a feature of how the GM sets up stories to be run in the game, since politics and relationships are very much a part of the setting, as opposed to just running about and beating up the bad guys.

The above is off of the Weapons of the Gods RPG forum.

I'm curious to see how they interpret and implement relationship maps into the game as they are crucial elements of the source material.

Additionally, the wuxia books are great examples of alternate sources of relationship map examples aside from the classic detective books.

And lastly, could these settings be migrated over into an alternate Sorcery & Sword game? Some of them chronicle weapons of power which easily translate but I'm not 100% on those who abilities are derived from fanatical training. And I'm also not sure what role cover would play as "Martial Artist" can be pretty generic.

[Bailywolf]

Yes to all!

When I started reading the Weapons of the Gods comics and watching more WU-XIA cinima, I realized- Hey!  This is S&S stuff!

When I say those relationship diagrams in the back of WotG (and other wu-xia comcis) I realized how easy it would be to set a Sorcerer game in such a setting.  They have everything that makes a game of Sorcerer great-  interpersonal conflict, conflicting loyalties, dangerous powers with real social and personal consequences, epic scope, and often tragic endings.

The really gnarly martial art styles are Demons- you sacrifice your time and energy, abandon your loved ones, and focus like a monominacle obsessive over mastering them... but do they ever bring you peace or hapiness?  Its the Wuxia version of the Lore 1 niave warrior from S&S- the martial artist who's style is really a complex parasite within him composed of ideas and movements and mastered only through absolute dedication (need- practice; desire- dominance [over other styles]).  The stories are filled with martial artists sacrificing everything to come by a new and powerful style- some even impose real classic demon needs on the martial artist (one character from WotG has to drink blood!).  

With the Lore 1, most warriors of this style can't create their own styles very easily (read- contact & summon) but they can search out styles from great teachers (who "conatct" and "summon" for them, leaving them to "bind" the style).  

The dynamic is fantastic- I have a S&S Wuxia game ready to go for my group when they decide they want a change.