Future D&D Content? Introducing, Wandering Blades! (Patreon)

It's been a wild week for the TTRPG industry with the leak of the 1.1 OGL. Since them, I've been carefully evaluating how I want to change the direction of my content. At the moment, it doesn't seem like making 5th edition supplements is in my best interest as Wizards may be able to just take anything I make for the mainline game. 

That said, in a stroke of extreme hyper fixation, I started designing my own OSR game with Liana Mackenzie of Valorous Games. We're calling it Wandering Blades. It's currently a hack of Errant and Vaults of Vaarn - both of which carry CC 4.0 licenses. While this is still a work in progress, I wanted to share a quick "replay" in the style of Japanese TTRPGs to give you a sample of what gameplay might look like - fast and deadly. 

The youxia class I've been designing will be a core part of this game alongside at least 3 other classes! The Land of Blades project will then be converted for this game!

- Daniel

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Ash falls upon Moon Sword Temple as members of the Sapphire Flame Cult surround you. The cries of your comrades echo through the mountains as they are slaughtered. Two cultists step forward from the crowd and slowly lift their taotie masks, revealing the face of a middle-aged man with a deep scar running horizontally across his nose and a young woman with striking eyes. They stand 20 feet from you.

In unison, they offer smug smiles before donning their masks and dashing forward with swords drawn.

GM - Ok, so combat’s begun. It’s two versus one. The rest of the party is on their way and you’re going to have to break free of this crowd. Let’s roll initiative.

*The GM and all players involved in the combat encounter roll 1d20 + their Agility bonus. Whoever wins will go first in both the Fast and Slow phases of this turn. The GM only makes one roll for the adversaries they control.

Daniel - Not sweat, I’ve got this. I rolled a 14.

GM - Alright, looks like you’re going first. I got an 11. Are you going to take a Fast Turn or a Slow Turn?

*Fast Turns allow for one action, while Slow Turns allow for two actions. Fast Turns happen first. This is decided in secret and then revealed at the same time. Actions can be used to Move, Attack, or use a Technique. A character can only use one Technique per turn.

Daniel - Since it isn’t a fair fight, I think it’s probably best that I go first. I’m going to take a Fast Turn.

GM - Makes sense. Since they’re charging in on you, I chose to have them both take Slow Turns. Since you won initiative this round, it’s your [Fast] turn.

Daniel - Since they are 20 feet away from me, and closing in, I don’t want to waste my one action moving. But I also don’t want to wait for them to close in on me. I’m going to spend 1 Qi Point to use one of my Youxia combat Techniques - Twilight Thrust.

*Techniques are powers and special abilities that characters choose from their class. There are three types of Techniques: Combat, Reactive, and Esoteric. Qi points are required to use Techniques. 

GM - Can you remind me of what that does?

Daniel - Sure. This technique allows me to Move in a straight line and make an Attack as a single action.

GM - Nice! They certainly weren’t expecting that. Who are you targeting?

Daniel - The scarred cultist looks like a serious threat, so I’ll be attacking him. With this technique, I’ll dash towards him and roll an attack with my jian (straight sword).

GM - Alright, you channel your qi into your legs and dash forward in a flash of speed in an attempt to strike the scarred cultist. Roll 1d20 + your Agility bonus.

Daniel - I got a 16. My roll was a 14 and I have +2 Agility. Is that greater than the scarred cultist’s Resilience?

*Resilience represents defence or hit protection, and is determined by a character’s Agility defence (in this replay, Daniel’s Youxia has an Agility Bonus of +2 and an Agility Defence of 12). This accounts for physical toughness, luck, skill, and stamina.

GM - It does, but in response to your attack, the scarred cultist will expend two out of two Guard that his dao (saber) provides to lower your incoming attack roll by two. That brings your total to 14, which is equal to his resilience.

*Items have a “Guard” value that a character can use to reduce the total of an attack roll. Once the guard of an item is depleted, it cannot be used to reduce damage until it is repaired.

As Daniel’s Youxia dashes forward with a Twilight Thrust, the scarred cultist swiftly sidesteps and parries the blow with his dao.

Daniel - Oh no! Well, since I took a Fast Turn, I only had one action. I guess I’m on the defensive now.

GM - That’s right! It’s my turn. Since I chose for the cultists to take Slow Turns this round, they will each get two actions. Since you dashed towards the scarred cultist, he won’t have to Move. However, they can only attack once per turn. The other cultist with the striking eyes will use one of her actions to Move towards you. Both will now attack you. What’s your resilience?

Daniel - 12…

GM - Alright. Well, both of their attacks will hit you. One was a 13 and another was an 18. Would you like to spend any Guard?

Daniel - I don’t have enough Guard combined amongst the items on my character to reduce both of those attacks to my resilience. I’ll spend one of the two Guard from my jian to lower the 13 to a 12. I’ll have to take the damage from the 18.

GM - Sounds good. The dao has a damage category of medium, so it’s going to deal 1d8 damage.

*A weapons damage category determines the die rolled on a successful attack.

Daniel - This doesn’t sound good to me!

GM - How many hit points do you have?

*Hit points represent the health of a character and their susceptibility to severe injury. They are calculated by a hit die assigned by each class. A character’s hit points do not increase as they level up. When hit points are reduced to 0, a character is then open to taking Wounds.

Daniel - I have 6.

GM - Consider yourself lucky, because I just rolled a 2!

Daniel - Nice! I can still turn this around.

GM - Definitely! Now that all combatants have acted, it’s time for a new round. Time to roll initiative!

*Initiative is rolled every round to keep players engaged.

Daniel - This time, I got an 8.

GM - I got a 10, so not that much better! What type of turn are you taking?

Daniel - I’ve got to try taking out one of these cultists, so I’ll be taking a Fast Turn.

GM - Me too. Since I won the initiative for this round, both of my cultists will be using their one action to Attack you. A 14 and 13! With your resilience of 12, do you have any Guard you can spend? Looks like you’ve just got one left from your jian?

Daniel - Yup. I’m going to spend the remaining Guard on my jian to reduce the 13 to a 12. Since that’s equal to my resilience, the attack fails. I was saving this for later, but I think the time has come. I’m going to spend 1 Qi Point to use my Focused Defence reactive technique. It allows me to add my Focus bonus to my resilience to Guard against a single attack.

*Focus is one of the four attributes and represents wisdom, presence, perception, and mental fortitude.

As the two cultists strike in unison, Daniel’s youxia parries one blow with his jian and deflects the other blow with his bare hand!

GM - Well done! The attacks do nothing as you masterfully parry the blows. What will you do for your action?

Daniel - I’m going to attack the scarred cultist again. He used up all of the Guard provided by his sword blocking my Twilight Thrust. I got a 15!

GM - That’s greater than his 14 resilience. Roll for damage!

Daniel - Awesome. Since I’m attacking with my Signature Weapon, my jian deals damage one category up. So instead of 1d6, it rolls 1d8. I want to make sure I can take this guy out, so I’m going to spend my remaining three Qi Points to use the Heroic Strike Technique. This means that I deal maximum damage in a single, successful attack!

*Each class has Class Abilities. The Youxia has Signature Weapon, which allows the youxia to pick a weapon that they specialize in using. It deals damage one category higher without changing the weight category.

GM - Oh! That’s awesome! I wasn’t expecting that. Well, the scarred cultist only has 4 hit points, so you’ve reduced him to 0. Since he’s a follower-type adversary, he dies outright and does not take wounds.

*Follower adversaries are instantly killed when reduced. If the hit points of a character or Leader-type adversary are reduced to 0, they are susceptible to wounds.

Daniel’s youxia thrusts his jian forward, piercing the throat of the scarred cultist. He falls to the ground gurgling as a pool of blood quickly forms around him.

Daniel - Wait, he’s not the leader? I think I underestimated the other cultist.

GM - Correct! Looks can be deceiving! Time to roll initiative!

END