EdgeOfHeaven

From RPGnet
Jump to: navigation, search

When the Han lost the Mandate of Heaven, their legions abandoned the western border forts in an attempt — ultimately futile — to turn back the Xiongnu invaders. For the towns of Huangdi’s Path, the corridor formed by the Qilin Mountains and the westernmost section of the Great Wall, this spelled disaster. Raiders from the Empty Hand desert, long held in check by the legion based at the Jade Gate fortress, now preyed on both the Silk Road caravans and the towns the caravans passed through. Blazing Beacon, the town closest to the Jade Gate, was among the hardest hit. The raiders drove away the caravans; without the caravans, the populace fled Blazing Beacon; with fewer people, Blazing Beacon could not defend itself, and invited and emboldened the raiders.

This death spiral turned a prosperous, vibrant city into a veritable ghost town; eventually, Blazing Beacon was forgotten by the Empire, the caravans, and the raiders alike. The people who remained are a hardy, no-nonsense, even pessimistic folk. The oasis around which the town was built provides enough land for the few hundred inhabitants to sustain themselves, and though the Silk Road has found other (less profitable, but safer) routes into the heartland of Tian Xia, Huangdi’s Road is an ideal route for smugglers. Not enough for a life of luxury, but enough to survive.

But now messengers spread the news among the Silk Road caravans: “Await the reopening of Huangdi’s Path.” The Emperor, it seems, has set his sights on reopening the Jade Gate. An imperial concubine has been promised to the Kaagan of the Ten-Thousand Tribes in return for peace along the border, while the imperial palace hums with plans to transplant not only a new legion, not only governmental officials, but also thousands — maybe tens of thousands — of drought-ravaged families from the east. Blazing Beacon, long forgotten, is now remembered; its people, fiercely proud and independent, may not look upon the return of the caravans with favor if it means kowtowing to imperial grandees, paying imperial taxes and obeying imperial laws.


This is the wiki for The Edge of Heaven, a play-by-post Legends of the Wulin campaign.

Campaign Information[edit]

Game Threads[edit]

House Rules[edit]

  • Initiative rolls are treated as Opposed for the purposes of Joss and River.
  • Marvels can only be resisted by a Skill (or, in exceptional cases, internal kung fu); the difficulty to recover from Disrupt/Disorient marvels is based on the degree to which the marvel exceeds the defense, according to the chart found here.
  • Elemental Chi does not count toward Chi Threshold.
  • Sheltering Water Intercession (p. 268) can be resisted with a minor action on the attack or initiative roll, instead of initiative roll only.
  • You may not make your first Recovery roll against a Chi Condition until the scene in which it was Discovered has been completed.

Homebrew Kung Fu & Extraordinary Techniques[edit]

External Kung Fu[edit]

Patient & Humble Mason Style

Internal Kung Fu[edit]

Mountain Heart Sutra

Extraordinary Techniques[edit]

  • Uncanny Stylist Technique (Warrior) (Augment) (2D)

The trained warrior learns to evaluate his opponent's style by means of tell-tale features such as stance, gestures, and the like.
This knowledge can just as well be used to frustrate an opponent's efforts to evaluate your style. You may use a single die from your Initiative roll as the basis of a Minor Stealth- or Tactics-based Action to oppose opponents' attempts to evaluate your kung fu.

  • Sparrow Defends the Nest Technique (Warrior) (Augment/Flood) (2/4D)

Practitioners of this technique are prized as bodyguards; they become impassable obstacles to anyone who wishes to attack their charge.
For 2D, you may use a Tactics-based Shaping Wave to create a separate zone around no more than three tightly-bunched individuals. For another 2D, you may additionally flood a single die to mark yourself as the target of any zone-crossing attack; you must block the attack, and the attack is considered hard to block.

Loresheets[edit]

Campaign Loresheet
Other Loresheets

Dramatis Personae[edit]

Player Characters[edit]

Destiny and Entanglement Awards

Non-Player Characters[edit]

  • Duke Ko, head of the Stone Pigs and unofficial mayor of Blazing Beacon
  • Black Stag, Duke Ko's chief lieutenant
  • Iron Mouse, former Stone Pig, now disciple of Whispering Kick
  • Cao Yi-guo, newly arrived merchant and owner of Hua Tuo's Cabinet
  • General Song Bor-zeng, commander of the Owl Legion
  • Commissar Xi, chief of non-military justice for the Owl Legion
  • Blue-Sky Stallion, chief of the Storm Brothers Clan
  • Third Mason, head of the Mountain Heart Sect