TTJP Season 1 Session 13

 Final episode before the break!

GM's Recap

Casting: Tiger Team!

• Jian Wu (Two) (Christian) 8M, strong guy
• Jiao Ting (Eight) (Chris D) 8M
• Liang Jing Min (Five) (Randy) 8M, Noble, on the outs with family
• Nongmin Chushi (Seven) (Rory) 8M, says he talks to spirits, inquisitive and charming more than creepy despite possibly being insane.
• Shang Yi (One) (Calvin) 8M, natural leader and archer.
• Zhiyu Zhige (Nine) (Laurie) 8F, sorcerer specializing in healing.
• He Bohi (Eleven) 8M, Twin, grew up near the docks.
• He Donghai (Twelve) 8M, grew up near the docks.
• He Qing (Four) 9M, bully of the group.
• Laoshu (Three aka Mouse) 9F, quiet and good with a knife.
• Meiyou Ren (Six) M Also good with a knife
• Rang Baozhai (Ten) 11F, our bookworm and nerd.

The Green Seer

Our team, minus the twins and Qing who remained at camp followed the elderly lady to her treehouse. Its a big tree and a big house. We made idle conversation while she finished making donner, surprisingly having more than enough for all of us. She explained there were blood speakers who sneak into the valley from time to time stealing the chi from the plants and such here. Most of the group did not quite get it, though Chushi and Zhige definitely did. After the nice venison stew she gave us some fantastic dumplings and candied fruit.  Not sure why some others were nervous, no one who is that good a cook can be bad right? Chushi is quite sure its a rule that good cooking is one of the best signs of good hospitality.

Anyhow, she told us a few things but it was mostly chit chat and good eating. Chushi decided to see if the tree would talk to him and it did, sorta. He invited it in (Channeling) but as usual he was not able to hear what it was saying. His friends tried, but were unhelpful as they described he was talking in weird sounds. The elderly lady, who had identified herself as the Green Seer smacked him to snap him out of it.  As dinner ended she offered to teach Zhige and Chushi if they wanted to come back, both eagerly accepted and the group headed back to camp.

Apparently Qing had hit He Bohi and given him a back eye. We shared food with the group and in the middle of the night Qing was mysteriously beaten with sticks in his bedroll.

Next day we headed back, horses a little less cooperative this time so it took longer. They also did not seem interested in our offerings of food. When we arrived we were told we were light and proudly replied we had trouble with the horses but brought all the wood and plenty of smoked meat. Because we killed a bear!  and Ghosts!!!

We got a mildly satisfied grunt in return and told to put it all away.

It was very late by the time we were done but we got to sleep in a bit, it was almost dawn when we were woken up for the days task.  Running. Up stairs, downstairs, repeat. A lot.

Bohi fell down the stars and hurt himself pretty badly, Zhige healed him, mostly and we continued. Mouse told her she had seen Qing trip him. On lunch break the group discussed options for dealing with Qing, though Ting wanted nothing to do with it.  Jing Min suggested breaking his arm but in the end we did nothing.

The next day was a lot more running, this time just in circles though and a few were exhausted but no injuries this time. That afternoon we were in a sparring match with another group, the Monkeys. We lost but not too badly, Chushi did not do well at all.

Our Trainer declared we had spirit at least, and as we were deemed healthy enough we could begin our unarmed combat training.

Aftermath

No game next week, one of the players is moving so we skip a week. Also this is a time skip as we will have three years training before the next session.

Fun game, we were a bit rowdy, almost felt like an in person game!

TTJP Season 1 Session 12 Beware of Ghosts!

GM Link Session 12 Part 2

Casting: Tiger Team!

• Jian Wu (Two) (Christian) 8M, strong guy
• Jiao Ting (Eight) (Chris D) 8M
• Liang Jing Min (Five) (Randy) 8M, Noble, on the outs with family
• Nongmin Chushi (Seven) (Rory) 8M, says he talks to spirits, inquisitive and charming more than creepy despite possibly being insane.
• Shang Yi (One) (Calvin) 8M, natural leader and archer.
• Zhiyu Zhige (Nine) (Laurie) 8F, sorcerer specializing in healing.
• He Bohi (Eleven) 8M, Twin, grew up near the docks.
• He Donghai (Twelve) 8M, grew up near the docks.
• He Qing (Four) 9M, bully of the group.
• Laoshu (Three aka Mouse) 9F, quiet and good with a knife.
• Meiyou Ren (Six) M Also good with a knife
• Rang Baozhai (Ten) 11F, our bookworm and nerd.

 A day off, what to do?  We talk about it a bit, some opt to relax around camp but most decide to go exploring. We follow a trail for a bit to a fork and opt for the less traveled one to the left.

About two hours from our camp we come across a small clearing with a cave and a big triskelion symbol carved into the stone ground. Chushi curiously walks right up to it, whereupon a ghost appears!

Everyone has to make a Fright Check, Chushi makes his possibly because though startled he thinks its likely a friendly spirit. Mouse of course makes here check, because well shes mouse! Chushi is startled (Not having Combat Reflexes that can happen a lot) so loses his first turn in surprise but cheerfully says ho to the ghost as it approaches him.

The Fight!

The ghost impolitely ignores Chushi's greeting and attacks him!  Chushi takes 2 FP damage and decides its not a friendly ghost,it has him grappled. He opts to run away but its not his turn so...  Mouse runs up and stabs the ghost to no effect, followed by half of the party. Rang ponders what she knows about ghosts. Jing Min runs up behind them tugging onto their sleeves suggesting its time to go and Zhige runs up behind Chushi.

Chushi manages to break free (and rolls 5 to resist the FP drain) and though he was going to run off, changes his mind. Not leaving Mouse there! He wonders if his bear claw might hurt it since its a fresh kill.  Right after that Rang calls out there vulnerable to bones so hes more confident in the idea and pulls it out.

Jing Min does the same, Jian Wu comes up and slashes at it with his axe, and Zhige does the first thing to make it nervous and casts a foxfire spell at it, though it dodges. Ting runs up and rushes into it, figuring he has bones but does not hurt it.

Ren and Rang run to the lip above the cave where we saw a bunch of bones.

Ting decides to bloody his knuckles in case it has to be exposed bone and smashes the ground. Unfortunately that releases two more ghosts! He then gets grappled for his trouble, while one ghost heads towards those going for the bones and the other goes after Jing Min.

Things looking kinda dicey here!

Jing Min stabs the first ghost and hurts it! Drawing first blood! Zhiges foxfire comes around for another pass (cool spell) and burns the ghost. Chushi slashes with the bear claw but misses.

Jing Ming backs up and goes for the ghost that came at him from behind, Chushi finishes off the first ghost with a very lucky slash. So half the party is on each remaining ghost and now armed with bones.

Ting gets grappled by the ghost and proceeds to get his energy drained, also he is prone from a really bad dodge attempt. Unfortunately in our efforts to kill the ghost the rest of us hurt him more than the ghost.  Chushi does a Telegraphic horizontal slash so if he misses he wont hit Ting, Zhige tries to heal Ting, and Jin Ming tries an armed grapple using the bone to pull it off Ting. We struggle a few rounds but Jin Wu lands a powerful hit and dispatches that ghost.  Meantime the others finished of their ghost as well.

Chushi figures the ghosts may come back and starts to make a warning sign. While Zhige is healing Ting up (hes still too exhausted to move fast but at least she heals the damage his friends inflicted on him. An old woman appears and tells us what a great job we did, she has been trying to exorcise them for some time but is too old to do much.  Since the ghosts wont be coming back, Chushi changes the sign to read "No more ghosts here, your welcome. Team Tiger"

She then invites us to her place, the right fork.

This Old House

The team follows her back to the house which is a really big and nice place.  Shes cooking venison in the oven and cuts up some greens to make a stew. We ask why another exorcist or warrior wasn't dispatched to help but she informs us some blood sorcerer is summoning them all over the place. We ask if she works for the Order, she laughs and tells she kinda works with the Order, she was here long before they were. Chushi thinks about it carefully but declines to directly ask how old she is, she might think it rude. He wanders around and tries to figure out if she is either a spirit or a Taoist Immortal, maybe even something else.

We end the session here, picking up next week.

Post-Mortem

See what I did there? 

Next week will likely be our last one before the time skip when we do off screen training and get a year or two older. One player is moving the next week so the timing worked out perfectly.

We started late, after about 30 minutes of chatting but needed no catchup after last time. It was a fun ride and we did surprisingly well.  Luckily their were bones available and we had the bear claws to help out.

TTJP Season 1 Session 11 The Tiger Team Lumberjacks!

After completing the choosing or initiation test  our group is moved to new barracks and given a days rest before their next assignment.

GM Link Session 11

Casting: Tiger Team!

• Jian Wu (Two) (Christian) 8M, strong guy
• Jiao Ting (Eight) (Chris D) 8M
• Liang Jing Min (Five) (Randy) 8M, sorcerer
• Nongmin Chushi (Seven) (Rory) 8M, says he talks to spirits, inquisitive and charming more than creepy despite possibly being insane.
• Shang Yi (One) (Calvin) 8M, natural leader and archer.
• Zhiyu Zhige (Nine) (Laurie) 8F, sorcerer specializing in healing.
• He Bohi (Eleven) 8M, Twin, grew up near the docks.
• He Donghai (Twelve) 8M, grew up near the docks.
• He Qing (Four) 9M, bully of the group.
• Laoshu (Three aka Mouse) 9F, quiet and good with a knife.
• Meiyou Ren (Six) M Also good with a knife
• Rang Baozhai (Ten) 11F, our bookworm and nerd.

GURPS Lumberjacking!

So the first assignment under our new teacher is basically a team building exercise. Were given a cart and sent to the southern end of the valley to cut firewood. We have to bring back 3,000 pounds of firewood in 5 days. Naturally no one knows how to drive a cart, or even ride a horse. Chushi has Animal Handling (Goats) and that seems our best shot so he introduces himself to the horse, which kind of ignores him and figures "Didnt bite me! Good enough" and he drives the cart. Afew who have not taken the Hiking skill pile in and the rest walk. Chushi takes his time and gets used to the horse and it to him. The group requisitions with some basic gear, no food, a bow for the archer and a fishing pole for Chushi.

We find a good spot and most of the group decides to cut wood, but a few go off looking for food. Yi has the bow so goes hunting,while Ting and Zhige go out foraging.

Day 1 Woodcutting

• He Bohai (+30%) 112.32 lbs
• He Donghai (+25%) 108 lbs
• He Qing (+0%) 76.8 lbs.
• Meiyou Ren (+35%) 155.52 lbs.
• Jian Wu (+10%) 116.16 lbs.
• Liang Jing Min (+35%) 103.68
• Chushi (+30%) 99.84
• Rang Baozhai (Leadership) (+35%) 
• Sub-Total: 772.32 lbs Total: 1,042.64 lbs
• Sheng Yi (Hunting) Wasted 1st/400 lb. deer 2nd
• Jiao Ting (Foraging) +10 meals
• Zhiyu Zhige (Foraging) +8 meals

So 1/3 the wood we need on day 1 and 18 meals from our foragers plus the deer. However there was a complication. The 8 year old Sheng Yi was unable to bring the 400 pound deer back on his own and had to come back for help. When some people (5 of us) went to get it (notably those with Survival so we can butcher it properly) we found a bear had just come across it and was looking it over. Chushi wanted to back away and told the group to back away slowly. The bear however was pretty angry and reared up to challenge us. Sheng Yi promptly shot it with an arrow in the vitals so running away no longer an option.

Zhige tried to do something magical but nothing we could see happened, Meiyou charged with her axe and hit it, followed by Chushi getting in a lucky shot. Several of us gang up on the bear doing all out attacks to make up for our low skills (as in most using default axe) and though it takes a few swipes the shock penalties and some lucky rolls we manage to kill it without it actually hitting anyone. 

Chushi skins and dresses the bear (bad roll losing a lot of good ,meat and the deer (much better roll) getting 400 lbs. of bear and 280 lbs. of deer meat.

Day 2 

• He Bohai (+30%) 112.32 lbs
• He Donghai (+15%) 95.04 lbs
• He Qing (+15%) 88.32 lbs.
• Meiyou Ren (+50%) 172.8 lbs.
• Sheng Yi (+30%) 99.84 lbs.
• Zhiyu Zhige (+35%) 103.68 lbs.
• Jian Wu (+30%) 91.52 lbs
• Liang Jing Min (+10%) 84.48 lbs.
• Rang Baozhai (Leadership) (+25%) 
•  Sub-Total: 948 lbs. Total: 1,060 lbs.
• Chushi (Smoke Meat)
• Jiao Ting (Gather Water/Smoke Meat)
• Jian Wu (Made Smoker)
• Mouse (On Watch)

Day 3

• He Bohai (+0%) 86.4 lbs
• He Donghai (+15%) 99.36 lbs
• He Qing (+5%) 80.64 lbs.
• Meiyou Ren (+15%) 132.48 lbs.
• Sheng Yi (+25%) 96 lbs.
• Zhiyu Zhige (+35%) 103.68 lbs.
• Jian Wu (+45%) 153.12 lbs
• Liang Jing Min (+30%) 99.84 lbs.
• Rang Baozhai (Leadership) (+25%)
•  Sub-Total: 851.52 Total: 1064.4

4th Day

• He Bohai (+35%) 116.64 lbs
• He Donghai (+10%) 95.04 lbs
• He Qing (+15%) 88.32 lbs.
• Meiyou Ren (+50%) 172.8 lbs.
• Sheng Yi (+25%) 96 lbs.
• Zhiyu Zhige (+20%) 92.16 lbs.
• Jian Wu (+40%) 107.52 lbs
• Liang Jing Min (+30%) 99.84 lbs.
• Sub-Total: 868.32
• Total: 1128.82 Rang Baozhai (Leadership) (+30%)

At this point we reached our goal and will spend a day exploring or relaxing before heading back. Our cart will be full of excess meat thats been smoked for 3 days so should last and well have stories to tell about how we took down a bear.

Aftermath

So the numbers above are probably not interesting but I decided to include them anyway. It shows just how good GURPS is about handling all kinds of things if you want it to..

The GM could easily have set an arbitrary amount and had us make a die roll to see if we made it or not, instead he pulled out some rules,mostly from GURPS Low Tech and used the figure ST *0.8 for amount of wood per hour, we opted to work 12 hours most of us, our lazy bully only did 8 hours a day. Also we got a bonus from Extra Effort and Leadership to increase efficiency. The rules for how much meat and how long it took to cut it up and smoke it were also from the Low Tech series of books.

Also were kids but were extraordinary kids who will hopefully one day be notable adults.  So we have a lot of high wills, many adding Single-Minded, Less Sleep, and Reduced Consumption.

We had fun socializing and organizing ourselves, then killing the bear. A few got to show off some of our skills and abilities. These first several sessions were just kids in a secret martial arts school so its more about getting to know each other and character growth than exotic adventures.

TTJP B-Team Season 1, Episodes 9 & 10 A Fresh Beginning

This was our first and second session of the new characters. Also we picked up a new player (Randy) giving us 5 players in the group. With an announcement that another one would be taking over one of the NPCs for a total of 6 players.

GM Link Session 9

GM Link Session 10

Basic Concept

This new group is a bunch of youngsters 8 to 12 living in a monastery kind of thing called the Order. There are twelve kids per creche, each creche has a "minder"or chaperone till they are old and fit enough to begin formal training. Some of us have been here several years, brought in as orphans or sold to the Order.

The Order is a powerful training and quasi military organization run by the Empire that patrols the land and its borders looking for monsters, rebels, and unrest.  Pretty much anything that can pose a threat to the empire. The outlined plan is to have several sessions then a break of a year or two game time, then repeat the cycle a few times till were all adults. GURPS Social Engineering: Back to School will be used to help with training, and of course as its a Wuxia/Xianxia setting GURPS Martial Arts will be essential for its additional rules and listed martial styles.

This format has an advantage over the "You all meet at an Inn" in that our characters grow up knowing each other. Also the training sequence lets us figure out our characters as we slowly build them (25 point templates plus bonus to start, and most of us reserved much of the bonus points). So we can interact with the other players and the environment so we grow organically and hopefully cohesively. This will be my first time but two of the players already did this in the GMs prior campaign (Ceteri).

So with the intro out of the way....

Casting

• Jian Wu (Two) (Christian) 8M, strong guy
• Jiao Ting (Eight) (Chris D) 8M
• Liang Jing Min (Five) (Randy) 8M, sorcerer
• Nongmin Chushi (Seven) (Rory) 8M, says he talks to spirits, inquisitive and charming more than creepy despite possibly being insane.
• Shang Yi (One) (Calvin) 8M, natural leader and archer.
• Zhiyu Zhige (Nine) (Laurie) 8F, sorcerer specializing in healing.
• He Bohi (Eleven) 8M, Twin, grew up near the docks.
• He Donghai (Twelve) 8M, grew up near the docks.
• He Qing (Four) 9M, bully of the group.
• Laoshu (Three aka Mouse) 9F, quiet and good with a knife.
• Meiyou Ren (Six) M Also good with a knife
• Rang Baozhai (Ten) 11F, our bookworm and nerd.

The Choosing

The creche is out working the farm when were all called in early through the ringing of the bells. Were led to an auditorium and told to take a seat. Each seat has a backpack next to it, most refrain from examining it though the curious Chushi does. It has some clothing, money, a knife, and some basics.

The grandmaster of the Order walks in and tells us it is our time of choosing. We must decide to leave the Order or stay. If we stay we will not be later permitted to leave until we graduate as we will learn some of the Orders secrets. Those who stay are tasked with going up a nearby mountain and retrieving a Jade Heart flower. Were then dismissed!

Most of the crowd chooses to stay, one of our creche departs, the rest head up the mountain after determining that Chushi at least knows what the flower looks like. Many of the other creches have obviously not hiked before and run, we pass them exhausted along the way as we slowly but steadily pace ourselves. The one who left (Rang Baozhai) also catches up with us after changing her mind on leaving.

The first real obstacle is a short cliff face they have to climb up. Taking our time, using the provided equipment, and helping each other gives us a+5 Task Modifier; trouble is some have to resort to default Climbing skill, which is DX-5! Chushi fails and falls for 1 HP damage, another falls for 6 and has to be healed by Zhige.

Session is then called due to real life drama.

Look! Man Eating Plants!

Next session the group continues on up the mountain until just above the snowline we spot a bush of Jade Heart Flowers up on a rocky outcropping. Qing shoves pas the group to get the flowers first and as the rest of us advance Jing Min is grappled by a plant off to our right. He does not take it very well and screams in a squeeky voice as he panics (18 on Will roll)! Chushi is hit in the chest with a sharp thorn hurled by another plant. It hurts, a LOT but he keeps his calm as the others, now wary spread out and forward.

The two plants do not survive the 11 children attacking them, though we get pretty banged up.  Its a big fight and hard for Chushi to track everything, but some notable highlights were...

• Zhige yanked out the thorn from Chushi's chest (causing more damage and evoking a scream, but a semi manly one at least -just ask him!) but she heals his damage and he charges one of the plants.
• Ting does an impressive belly flop on a plant, trying either a flying tackle or pretending to jump into bed, we cant tell.
• Mouse really impresses anyone watching with her combat skill, didnt miss or fail to dodge once!
• The plants are tough to cut with our knives but really flammable as Wu guesses. Confirmed by Jing Min walking into a spore could and one plant exploding on those fighting it. No one really objects though, the knives weren't doing much after all. Speaking of which, Baozhai helpfully remembers they are highly flammable about the time Jing Min walks up to one with a lit torch.
• Zhige is not to be trifled with or annoyed. She kicked Qing in the groin for 6 HP! after he got down from the rock with his flower and laughed about the rest of us (who were still fighting).
• It pays to listen to Yi as his directions helped us in the fight.

Chushi as a good gardener gets up on the rock and cuts out 11 flowers for the rest while doing his best to make sure the plant survives.  While up there he notices a cave a short distance away.  Climbing back down, slowly and with Jin Min's torchlight to guide him (getting dark) he tells the group about the cave as he passes out the flowers. Assuming no bear or other wild animal it might be a good shelter to rest while they recover from the battle,  However the group decided its not worth the risk as they have to return by dawn anyway. Undaunted Chushi opts to explore the cave anyhow while everyone else rests or gets healed. Jin Min carefully follows at a safe distance to keep an eye on him.  

Its not a deep cave and no bears, but inside is a hole in the ceiling providing plenty of light and some white jade heart flowers! Chushi asks the spirits if its ok to pick them and after a few minutes with no obvious objection he carefully does so.  He gets 11 flowers (the most he safely can) and carefully puts them in his pouch. The group ties some ropes together to make it easier getting back down that cliff, though sadly the last length unravels and Qing falls down, hurting himself a bit.  Hey, he insisted on going first!

The group makes its way back in plenty of time, not the first to rive but not the last either. They made sure to stick together, Wu even carrying Ting part of the way as he was still hurt. Chushi distributed the white Jade Flowers to everyone but Qing whom he determined the spirit of the cave did not want to get one for his behavior. No one seem to comment on the matter either way.

When we arrived the teachers took stock, made sure we passed the test and complimented us on killing two Dark Flowers. Apparently they lose several children a year to them on these quests. Chushi thanked them for letting us know ahead of time. The Alchemist made a tincture of all the flowers with each student getting one, he said we could drink it for its healing and health benefits or sell, as we choose. He was surprised at the white flowers  and asked Chushi f he knew what they were and how rare? Chushi only knew it was a mythical plant and when queried said he found it in a cave. Oddly enough neither he nor Jin Min could exactly recall quite how to find it again.

Aftermath

Fun game, our first with a new player. The flower rewards were a nice benefit (Green +5 pts, White +15 pts towards HT or a health related advantage - more if we let them steep a year or more). This was an obvious plot device to keep the group together as we all need HT 12 (including Fit bonus) to begin Intensive Training and not everyone in the group met that requirement.

It was kind of funny as the GM was mildly pained when the group opted not to go into the cave, I mean it was a pretty obvious hook but smart money was not exploring it since we had what we came for and were pretty banged up.  Luckily Chushi is more curious than smart (10 point disadvantage) and the GMs efforts were not foiled.

I got a better feel for Chushi and its still early yet with lots of tests and trials to shape him but with this adventure I filled out more of his concept and goals.  Currently looking at a Druid/Shaman or given that were also Martial Artists maybe a Ranger/Shaman without the bow (he started with Channeling and was going to be a shaman, had Green Thumb 2 but that was mostly for his cooking). Also going to play up the talks to spirits angle a bit more, its kinda fun. Shaman seem to be rarer than Sorcerers and of course martial artists so not everyone is sure about his ability. Especially the kids. Initially I had planned for more an urban than rural shaman as I expect most noncombat activity to occur in town and he will still be good in town since hes the designated Face.

The GM is still working out details but so far most shamanic abilities are heavily geared towards outdoors and reviewing that material plus the lucky plant plot seem good indicators.

TTJP B-Team Season 1 Session 7 & 8

The End, For Now

Session 7 was very short so I combined the reports for both sessions again.

GM Notes Session 7

GM Notes Session 8

The Final Trial

Gushou faced off against the temple guardian who calls himself the Gentle Master. This was an unarmed fight and Gushou took off his Shenshou so it would not help in the fight, even if it was just sitting on his arm.

His Brawling and Acrobatics skills against the Gentle Masters  mastery of 4 styles (Chin Na, Hsing I Chuan, Pa Ka Chuan, and T'ia Chi Chuan) but all he has to do is tag him three times before being tagged to win. Easy right? Oh, and the duel is among scattered rocks above a waterfall and falling in counts as a loss.

Gentle Master gets in the first hit and its not so gentle, though he pulled his punch.

Both have absurdly high Active Defense scores, though Gushou is relying on Acrobatic Dodge to help him out. After a few rounds of back and forth Gushou uses his saved Impulse Points to score a hit and his Wildcard points to assist his Acrobatic Dodges.

The player (me) forgot his style included Judo so he could have used wildcard points to hit with a sweep and maybe even used Rapid Strike at -3 to try a Throw,

Realizing it was just down to luck with who crit first Gushou used his saved points to improve his success to a crit and used Extra Effort for Flurry of Blows (So Brawling made two strikes at -3 skill or 15 or less). Without his Shenshou his fatigue was sharply limited though so this was an iffy strategy. In fact I miscounted and burned HP with rolls to stay conscious, a problem I would not have had if I remembered he had Judo as part of his wildcard style.

Gushou did manage to get in his three hits before the Master got in his second, but he was holding back as Masters sometimes do when just testing students. Also this cost him some points he was saving for the big fight with the head villain.

After the victory, everyone got complimented for their test, except Gushou who was told he needed serious training. But, he passed and thats what counted!

Training Montage!

After this the group was promised the sought after compass and they were offered personal training by the Gentle Master. This used the rules from GURPS Martial Arts, p. 147 The Training Sequence and allowed us to buy up our skills, specifically something he had or was part of our existing training (campaign limit of +1 level per training break or new skills up to base attribute level) and Gushou opted to learn Pa Ka Chuan as a new Wildcard style (trading in points he already had in Brawling, Meditation, and Wrestling) with a wildcard version of the Style Adaptation perk for Hsing I Chuan. That rounded out his unarmed combat abilities nicely, gave access to a couple of new Cinematic Skills and he still had enough points to increase his primary style and Flying Leap by +1 each.

Follow the Compass

At the end of the week our heroes were introduced to a young boy who we were told was the compass we were seeking. Basically this kid had the special ability to just find things and could lead us to whatever we wanted. After much debate we opted to chase the Dark Stranger in hopes of catching him before he reached his next target.

That ended session 7.

The Ambush!

We found the Dark Stranger and set up an ambush along the road for him. Gushou, having the best stealth went ahead in hopes he would pas him before rounding the bend and the rest of the group.  The idea was to cut off his escape and the rear group split into two parts, one on each side of the road.

As he passed Gushou and just before rounded the bend in the road Gushou struck him, though did not quite catch him by surprise. Gushou struck 5 times with his mighty magic chain whip (Using Rapid Strike and Flurry of Blows for 5 FP) but was dodged several so got in three hits. They hurt but seemed largely absorbed by his armor.

Shen Feng ran up using Heroic Charge and struck twice with Power Blow for massive damage,enough to require HT checks! Xhiu approached but could not reach him in time and Ann Rang also needed to close the distance to reach the target with his stars.

Had the latter two possessed the Stealth skill we might have had them closer but surprise was key here. For some reason our healer/artist and our burly man mountain never learned the skill.

The Dark Stranger summoned his jumping vampire minions and cast a large area spell that knocked Shen Feng unconscious.  Everyone else was out of range.

The jumping vampires quickly raced forward, 3 on the unconscious Shen Feng (who has a LOT of Chi)and 1 for everyone else. Gushou dodged his attacker and opted to attack the Dark Sorcerer again but critically failed and lost his turn (Jerk used his Villainous points), An Rang and Xhui were caught up with their vampires.  Xhui decapitated his and moved to do the same to the one on An Rang.

Gushou again went ll out on the Dark Sorcerer and pumped in some lightning this time.

The Sorcerer moved closer to Xhui and brought his glowing circle with him but with the aid of his protective tailsman he resisted and tried to cut off the targets head. Unfortunately the blade turned in his hand and he hit with the flat of the blade instead. Still did a lot of damage though. An Rang sunk a bunch of shuriken in him, though he dodged several. The next round Gushou took out a vampire and tried to hit the sorcerer but had exhausted most of his energy and did little damage.

Xhui got in another solid hit and then An Rang finished him off with a barrage of Shuriken (like a dozen).  That dropped the spell and Shen Feng woke up and the remaining 4? vampires fell unconscious and were quickly dispatched.

Xhui beheaded the sorcerer but we noticed the head inching towards the body so he staked it. Then when the body tried to craw to the head we shattered its limbs, finally deciding to cut it up into little pieces and bury them in separate boxes all over the countryside. Including at various temples.

Aftermath

This was our last session, the GM opted to restart us as kids with new characters. I opted to try another spirit based character as its something in the setting but so far I am 0 for 2 in the game lasting long enough for the character to grow in and explore that role.  Since a shaman fits well with the Face archetype and that appears to be my role in the group its time to try and break that streak.

I had fun with Gushou and learned what I wanted about the Kusari in GURPS. Two of the other players have decided on their characters, Calvin wants to try to be an archer and Christian is opting for a "guy with big weapon" which worked out rather well for him in this series.

We wont be playing next week, but hopefully have everything ready the week after that.

Why this Kickstarter is a Great Time to take a fresh look at GURPS!

So the latest GURPS Kickstarter has achieved its funding and all stretch goals, I think to no ones surprise. As of this writing its at $50,740 with 2,401 backers.
1,062 at the $3 level to get all 12 PDFs.
407 at the $30 level to get all the PDFs and $30 credit towards additional GURPS PDFs.
280 at the $99 level to get 12 PDFs plus $125 credit towards additional GURPS PDFs.
98 at the $49 New to GURPS level to get the PDFs plus the GURPS Basic Set in PDF.
And we have 53 hours to go!

The number of total backers is great as many of those are new to GURPS, or at least the kickstarter GURPS.  And the New to GURPS level is an exciting benchmark as well, especially since some people will have chosen the higher $99 level instead so they get that sweet discount.
The $3 level is probably mostly current GURPS people who have most of the supplements they want already, though it likely also includes some just looking to get a taste.

I think this campaign was successful enough that we will see more like it, perhaps an annual event. The idea was inspired by the CEO Phil Reed who has done several systemless projects, including some like this. If you like ANY RPG you should follow him. Seriously.

A few people have posted ideas to help people figure out what to spend that credit on when Backerkit comes out in a week or two.
Matt Riggsby, a popular and prolific author posted this on his blog.
Peter Del'Orto the author of the Megadungeons book posted this list

So here is my list...
First, if your new to GURPs This page should be helpful, especially the linked FAQ and Primers. But it really boils down to build what you want (with setting and campaign guidelines) and to do something you typically roll 3d6 under the appropriate skill or attribute level.
Ok to my list...
Tricked Out Rides, Boardroom and Curia: Tomorrow Rides, and Action 7 Mercenaries support the GURPS Action line which is a series of supplements aimed at playing GURPS as a movie action hero.
Monster Hunters Encounters 1 and How to be a GURPS GM: Ritual Path Magic support the Monster Hunters line (Someday it will get a category on the main GURPS book page) which is designed to emulate modern secret magic or alien hunting settings. Series like The Dresden Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Shadow Hunters, The Librarian, Warehouse 13, Men in Black, and many more. Ritual Path Magic is also popular in fantasy settings or those where variety is desired over closed spell lists.
Dungeon Fantasy Adventures 3: Deep Night and the Star and Dungeon Fantasy 21: Megadungeons support the Dungeon Fantasy line, easily the most popular GURPS genre sub line. Basically its old school dungeon crawling but in GURPS so allows more flexibility and detail to those who want it. For those tired of constraining character classes or want extra options like specifically targeting hit locations, feints, and putting some tactics into your games its a great choice. And for those who want to skip some of those details they can, even in the same game where the swashbuckler stabs for the vitals the barbarian could swing for the neck or the warrior could just ignore all that and strike at the torso or rely on luck for a more deadly hit.
Reign of Steel: Read the Sky is an adventure set on the post apocalyptic Reign of Steel setting where the machines took over the world. Its a Third Edition setting but has had updates for the current and Fourth Edition. Worth mentioning that all the Third Edition settings (and there are many) are easy to update to the current edition.The change was more a matter of streamlining and very few rules actually changed, mostly the difference is point costs and a lot of clarification based on common questions.
Hot Spots: The Incense Trail is yet another in a series of historical Hot Spots and Locations (not all historical and even the historical are set up for dropping into your settings). These are good inspirational books helpful in a lot of ways.
Template Toolkit 3: Starship Crew by the GURPS line editor and publisher of many GURPS books will help players and GMs quickly build crew for starships (likely easily tweaked for sailing vessels too). This is a good example of a typical GURPS supplement, you wont need it to do the job or play that kind of campaign but it helps by saving time with examples and guidelines and makes missing important traits less likely.  Typically some rules are clarified or explained in how they can be applied to the subject and often add a few new traits to better model that subject.
SteamPunk Setting: The Broken Clockwork World is a setting book supporting the Steampunk genre, currently at three books and some Pyramid articles. Though its yet to get a Topic or Series entry in the GURPS book page (You would think the CEO merited more attention to his material!).
Horror: Beyond the Pale is a creepy horror adventure by two prolific authors and one of my favorite setting writers in J. Edward Tremlett. The horror genre has quite a few GURPS books in it.

Summary

 So what am I buying with my pledge? A few Pyramid back issues, GURPS Fantasy (I own a printed copy but PDFs are more handy) and a few Classics like GURPS China that I used to own in printed form but lost over the years.
The $3 pledge is a great value for anyone, 12 books for that price is awesome, even if your only interested in 1 of them. Likely several will have something of interest, even to non GURPS players. GURPS uses plain English measurements and terminology so adapting its material to other systems.
I and others are hoping newcomers will be impressed enough with the writing they decide to give my favorite system a try.
Maybe you'll even like and buy some of my work!

TTJP Season 1 Session 5 & 6 The Quest!

This is a combined report, session 5 didnt have much to report here.

GM Link

Session 5 We Get a Quest

So after slaying the giant 9 headed bird the group checks out the shrine. Its pretty and glows when they enter, but the caretaker has been killed and his head is in the central fountain. Gushou takes the head out and they bury it with Gushou preforming a burial ceremony. The place is infected with dark chi but the group is unable to figure anything out from the clues.

That is when the dragon of the lake shows up, hes a big one, SM+7 at least!

Gushou takes the lead in talking with it, though most have various questions. The dragon explains that there are several temples, one for each element (this one is Water) and that should the dark chi sorcerer infect all of them something very bad will happen.  Something that hasn't happened for thousands of years. He asks the group if they will stop him and most of the group vow to do so. Then he asks Gushou to extend his arm and breaths on it. When hes done, Gushou has an animated map on his right arm showing the path to a temple with a powerful compass that can led them to the remaining temples.

Session 6 The Thunder Demon Encounter

As the group travels to the mountain temple they come across a shrine being attacked by a  large demon. Only SM+1, though a refreshing change...

Shen Feng and Xhui close in to attack, Gushou stays 3 hexes away taking advantage of his weapons long reach, and An Rang uses hos shurikens.

It attacks first as they close in and Shen Feng reflects its lighting back at it. Unfortunately that causes it to grow to SM+2.

It dodges some of our attacks and deals heavy damage with its claws,plus using a Kiai attack to stun.

Its a tough fight, Xhui takes some heavy damage, as does his horse but Gushou manages to absorb the damage using his weapon.

Xhui uses his trademark Deceptive -5 (-10 skill) double attack to the neck. He does pretty good damage, though never enough to cut the neck off.

Shen Feng does the most damage using his butterfly swords for two strikes a turn with the largest damage of thr group thanks to his Power Blow ability.

Gushou lost 3 turns to being stunned from the Kiai and hits the third hardest of the group but hits the most often. He can do a Rapid Strike 2 for three strikes with each being a Deceptive Attack for -3 defense at a net -4 skill due to a combination of his wildcard skill (house rules grant the half bonus as additional penalty when using Deceptive Attack so -2 skill nets him that -3) and his weapons magic properties plus Weapon Master so he only takes -1 per extra Rapid Strike. In this case he gets +3 from Demon Bane and uses Flurry of Blows, halving that Rapid Strike penalty so he was able to make 7! strikes per turn, though it burns up a lot of fatigue. Definitely a sprinting type move when desperate!

He opted out of doing lightning damage :)

An Rang does the least amount of raw damage in the group but is able to strike from range and with precision. He blinded the demon which was an important contribution to taking it down, and dealt the finishing blow. Plus he heals us after, probably should keep him around :)

Speaking of which we lost the mermaid, turns out she was the dragons daughter and she stayed with him.

Session 6 The Mountain Shrine

The group reached a stand alone mountain with a narrow path headed up. After some delay while AnRang tried and failed to convince the group to haul his camping gear for him he settled on taking just a blanket and pillow. At the top we find a caretaker who tells us to meditate in the temple and thetrials will be the next day. Everyone except An Rang manages to meditate and he has a less restful night. There are to be four trials.

Trial of Mind goes to An Rang who has to solve a riddle, he passes but takes some lightning damage for a misstep.

Trial of Body goes to our strongest member Xhui who has to lift a really heavy statue. He passes.

Trial of Will goes to Shen Feng who has to stick his hand in the statues mouth and hold it there, despite increasing levels of pain. He also passes.

Trial of Combat is a duel which goes to Gushou. He has to play tag, first person to touch the other three times wins. Its among some rocks at a waterfall and if he loses he is told he will die. We end the session there as its getting late and the fight is expected to take a bit.

Overall we probably chose the best member for each fight, Shen Feng probably would have been better at the duel as his unarmed combat skills are the best in the group, possibly his Acrobatics too. However Gushou is easily the second best with Brawling -18 and Acrobatics -18 as well. This is likely to go down to whomever gets lucky, though Gushou has some wildcard and Destiny points saved up.

Aftermath

This is a highly cinematic campaign, using Chambara rules from GURPS Martial Arts, Extra Effort, Wildcard skills, high point totals, and artifact level weapons.

Te above details and other behind the scenes stuff I post help showcase some of the capabilities of GURPS. In this setting were duplicating feats from various Wuxia and Xing novels and movies. Think Jackie Chan, Untamed, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, etc.

Hopefully Gushou wins his duel, I rather like him.  However I learned what I needed to about Kusari in GURPS so if I have to build a replacement I will, and go for something different. So far I am happy with his combat ability, he is third in damage but hits more often and at a better reach than most. Basically he is second or third place in pretty much everything the group has dealt with so far, though a bit disappointed in social aspect. Session 5 was supposed to be a social one but there were really no important skill rolls other than a HT roll to see if the map took.  He was specifically told to be the Face man for the group but two others can handle it pretty well if needed and the leader tends to do it the most, fitting as party leader so no complaints.

Social capability in GURPS is pretty cheap points wise, he has 37 points in advantages, 30 points in musical skills, and 48 points in Talker! a wildcard skill that handles all the influence skills at IQ+2, leaving room for improvement. His advantages pull the biggest weight in this regard.