Xia: Disharmony and Righteousness

Xia: Main Page -> Xia: Additional Game Systems -> Xia: Disharmony and Righteousness

This page includes a new optional game system for GMs and players who are interested in introducing morality mechanics into their game.

Be Most Righteous Unto One Another!

This game mechanic is introduce to encourage and reward Xia who act in the manner that befits their role as heroic servants of righteousness. Likewise, it punishes them for disharmonious behaviour, flinging ill fortune at them for their sins.

GMs and players who are interested in exploring this aspect of the game are encouraged to use these rules.

On the one hand, it emphasises the idea that Xia is a game of mystic China, and that Heaven and Hell are very real. Along with the core trigram and kung fu mechanics it helps define the game's "reality", with its own metaphysical laws.

On the other hand, some players resent being "straitjacketed" by rules-enforced morality. They want heroism to come from within rather than from the game system, or they want to be free to be villains if they choose. They also don't like being judged for their choice of actions, or being forced to work to anyone's system of morality other than their own.

For those recalcitrant players, it is acceptable to veto the introduction of this rule. A few points though that might persuade them:

• Righteousness and disharmony are not equal to right and wrong. The codes of morality here are enforced by the will of Heaven itself, and the code is only as correct as the Laws of Heaven are correct. Indeed, those who seek to serve Hell often do so because they consciously reject the Laws of Heaven. Xia follow these rules sometimes because they believe in them, but more often because they fear to be punished for disharmony, and hope to rewarded for righteousness. After all, their trigrams come from the gods!

• The system given here isn't designed to punish or reward players, but rather player characters. It could be argued that a player still has the choice of leading his Xia hero to damnation, and to rage against heaven. Yes, he'll be creating problems and dangers for himself by doing so, but what is the meat of drama in a game if not problems and obstacles? A player might even deliberately have his character be immoral, so as to create a more interesting story. This system isn't meant to be a straitjacket over player choice, but rather just an added layer of simulation to describe how the world of Xia works and what the in-game consequences of certain moral choices are.

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This page created by Asklepios.