Beautiful Violence & Wandering Blades
My new wuxia tabletop RPG is on Kickstarter!
If there’s one thing I love more than tabletop roleplaying games, it’s action movies. In the past few years, co-hosting the Asians Represent! podcast has really deepened my interest in Chinese media, particularly the wuxia genre.
For the past year and a half, I’ve been working on a new tabletop RPG of my own called Wandering Blades. I wanted to create a game that had old school design sensibilities, story game features, and kick ass combat that enables players of all experience levels to replicate the dynamic action scenes of their favourite wuxia films!
I designed the gameplay of Wandering Blades to emulate the cinematic language and tempo of wuxia action cinema and contemporary action video games, using these guiding principles:
Danger is Everywhere — The world of Wandering Blades is full of danger, and the smallest mistake can be deadly. The weapons and martial arts techniques wielded by player characters are instruments of death, but so are those of their adversaries.
Old-School Principles — The system of Wandering Blades is designed to create a gameplay experience that is open-ended, challenging, and supportive of emergent narratives. Players are encouraged to discover solutions within the game world, not on their character sheet.
Skillful and Dynamic Combat — Fights in Wandering Blades are designed to feel stylish, fast, and compelling. Success in combat relies heavily on skill, instead of luck. The martial arts skills of each class are not only narratively unique, but are expressed as such through their game mechanics. This system was designed to have a short “time to violence,” enabling players to dive into the action and hone their skills.
Toolbox Experience — The rules in Wandering Blades are written as guidelines for GMs (game masters). They are open to player interpretation, ingenuity, and expansion.
This has been a labour of love and I am so proud of what I’ve achieve so far alongside my publishing partner Plus One Exp. We are currently wrapping up our crowdfunding campaign and need your help to reach a major stretch goal milestone for the team!
So if you are reading this during the month of May 2025, there’s still a chance to support the project on Kickstarter! If you’re reading this after, you can pre-order the game at wanderingblades.com!
