HuManBing wrote:.Martial arts: I do not like the D&D monk class. I believe it makes all monks too similar and the martial arts are too simplistic. I think the Quintessential Monk handbooks by Mongoose Publications does a much better job of this. They use existing feats and skills and add extra things you can do with them, rather than creating various new ones to tack on. Another thing I think can be done to improve martial arts is to make limited use of psionic powers, specfically those that enhance the user (rather than those that damage others). This would be a way of representing Zen Buddhism, or Qi Gong, or any other number of internally-focused martial arts. Psi Crystals could easily be replaced by jade bracelets, pearl pendants, and other materials.
I use a combination of two books for martial arts: RPGObject's Blood & Fists and Kenneth Hood's Skills & Feats- D20 Martial Arts System; the latter is a free download .pdf. You can easily find it with a search engine. Also, read the section in it about different ways to incorporate the system into you game instead of the way he does with his game. I use Blood & Fists' contemplative master and martial arts master advanced classes as sort of low-level prestige classes to replace the monk. The latter is more modern, as they they ignore the "mumbo jmbo" mysticism of old-fashioned martial arts, but there were always people who took a non-mystical approach to martial arts, so I just have them being in the minority.
Now I need to get offline and actually do some work on my submission QtR 13.
[i]I have come to accept the surrender of Hell.[/i] —From 101 Witty Paladin Sayings
I hav read Kenneth Hood's net-book, and found it interesting. I have a printout of that, which I admittedly have not finished reading. The different moves and techniques it introduces is varied and creative. However, even if you look at its most stripped down version, it is still one of these products that adds a large number of skills, feats, and half-feats to the game.
There's nothing wrong with that, if you're up for it. It also is culturally very close to the setting (it even includes the Psionic Martial Artist idea for an internal-focused martial art, which is cool).
Yes, Princess Mononoke is very good for myths and creatures. I also draw inspiration for the idea of firearms from that film. I think of most medieval Chinese firearms as being bamboo-based hollow barrels, maybe reinforced with pitch or tar, which fires an iron or lead ball from a charge of gunpowder.
The force of firing the shot effectively ruins the bamboo barrel, which is then discarded or saved for re-tarring. An effective army would have to stock up a lot of these in advance. This allows a well prepared Chinese army to be a huge threat on the field, while still making the sword and shield a useful sidearm to have.
If we go with the idea of one single domain as entirely lacking in magic, and being entirely focused on technological advances, then we might look into cast-iron cannon and muskets used by them.
The Chinese invented a mechanized crossbow that could fire multiple arrows, in order to deter enemy warriors.
The only problem was that it couldn't launch them too deeply, and that was circumvented by using poisoned arrows.
"Arrogant mortal! You are in my world now and you will never leave this attic alive! I will destroy you, and then I will possess she whom you love the most. And there is not a single thing in the world you can do to stop me!"
*poke*
"OW!"
-Dracula
Another very, very important thing I forgot to mention is the Taiping Rebellion. This occurred during the troubled Qing dynasty, when foreigners were making inroads and sending Christian missionaries to convert the Chinese.
A failed scholar named Hong Xiuquan (pronounced "Hung Show-ch'wen") believed himself to be the younger brother of Jesus, and led a rebellion against the Qing dynasty starting in the south. He had hopes of founding a "Divine Kingdom of Heavenly Peace" (Taiping Tianguo) with lofty aims such as emancipating women, abolishing foot-binding, ending prostitution, etc.
The kingdom's civil matters were fairly disastrous, with concubinage still rampant and the higher-ups carving out little fiefdoms of their own. However, the kingdom was able to inflict massive losses on Qing holdings in the south. At their highest point, they even pushed as far as Nanjing, the main southern city, and captured it.
Their fall came about after failed attempts to conquer Shanghai, the main port, and Beijing, the Imperial seat. They also lacked any port cities and lacked any support from Christian (Western) countries. When the Qing assembled their armies, they were able to retake Nanjing with brutal street-to-street fighting.
Hong Xiuchuan committed suicide and his body was found in a sewer in Nanjing. After losing the city, the kingdom rapidly dissolved, but not before some 20 million soldiers and civilians had been killed, making it one of the bloodiest civil wars in history.
To apply this to Ravenloft, I see the leader as being a torn individual, like Yagno Petrovna. Hong Xiuchuan certainly showed a conflict between being Chinese and being western. He rejected Confucianism and traditional Chinese teachings, in favor of lofty western goals, but failed to implement them. A Ravenloft Darklord like him would likely lead a fundamentalist regime that is superficially dictated in accordance with a certain religion. (Could be Ezra or Hala or any of the Western-style countries' religions.)
Underneath the surface, the kingdom domain would be a mass of contradictions. People still practice the old ways but pretend they do not. Women are still concubines and prostitutes while pretending to follow the religion. The so-called deliverance of humanity has been warped into bloodthirsty conquests and infighting amongst dictatorial prince-bishops.
Hong Xiuchuan is said to have dreamed that he spoke with God and Jesus, and Jesus addressed him as "di", which means "younger brother". The validity of this could be a big question in this domain. Perhaps the Ravenloft equivalent could even be Zhakata, with the rebellion's leader secretly wracked with guilt over why the god does not speak to him, and why the fellow High Priest, the Most Holy Brother Yagno Petrovna, does not offer his aid.
Politically, we would need to place this domain fairly far from the seat of power, as it is quite foreign and it could undermine the whole Asian flavor that we are trying for if we're not careful. It would fit nicely next to the "no dragon" technophile domain we talked of before. (Perhaps the fanatics of one domain consistently seek to infiltrate and overwhelm the disbelievers of the other?)
Geographically, if we could place it near a colony of G'Hennan or what-have-you colonists, it would explain why they were converted to the foreign faith.
Again, we would need to be culturally sensitive about this. Any debate about "my god is smitier than thine god" could well end up messy. I would suggest using Zhakata, as that is already established as being a false (Western style) god. However, I also know it is hard to reconcile that with the G'Hennans' introverted nature. Maybe a priest in Petrovna's church decided to turn missionary and sailed a mistship through to find new lands?
