Wushu
Black Belt EditionBest For
Groups who want improvised, movie-style fight scenes in which the players describe the stunts themselves, played as one-shots or loose episodes with little preparation.
Core Mechanic
Players narrate actions in the present tense, and the details happen as described. Only the winner of a conflict may narrate victory. Each narrated detail earns one d6, up to a per-player limit the Director sets for the scene (usually 4–10). Players split their dice into Yang for offense and Yin for defense before everyone rolls at once. Each die at or under the most relevant Trait (rated 1–5, default 2) is a hit. Yang hits remove chips from a Threat or are cancelled one for one by an opponent's Yin hits. Hits that get past Yin are paid with Chi tokens. A hit that a character cannot cover with Yin or Chi defeats them. If a hero and a Nemesis are both defeated in the same round, the one with more uncovered hits loses, and ties go to the hero.
The core loop turns narrated details into roll-under d6 pools against a relevant Trait. Most of the remaining work is splitting dice between offense and defense and tracking Chi over repeated rounds.
- Free to tryFull core rulesLegally free as an SRD, PDF, or official web rules
- Get it nowAvailable nowFree to download or read online
- –IndexNo back-of-book index or page-keyed reference tables
- ✓GM guidanceA chapter on how to run the game
- ✓Examples of playRules shown in action at the table
- ✓Quick referenceCheat sheet or summary tables
- –Cross-referencesRules rarely point to each other by page
3 of 5 book tools found in the core book
Highlights
Dice pools are built from narrated details up to the scene's limit, so players are rewarded for elaborating their action rather than for their stats. Nameless mooks are a single stack of poker chips the heroes wear down, which lets players describe as many enemies falling as they like. A four-step zero-prep procedure aims to produce heroes, nemeses and a plot outline in thirty minutes or less.
Considerations
Characters do not gain experience or levels, and any mechanical change to a hero comes from optional Trait rules such as milestone Traits. Weapons and positioning carry no mechanical modifiers, so tactical choices count only as narrated details that earn dice. How a description is split into details, and whether it fits the agreed tone, rests on the Director's count and the table's judgment.
Third-Party Publishing
Under CC BY-SA 4.0, the Black Belt Edition text and its official web rules may be shared and adapted, including commercially, with attribution and a link to the licence. Shared adaptations must be marked as modified and carry the same or a compatible licence. The book's photographs carry individual credits to Wikimedia Commons and Flickr contributors and should be checked against their own licences.
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