The world of Once Upon A Time In China is similar to our own, but it is a world in which magic works and fantastic events are reality. The campaign is set in a 16th century China where there was no true reunification of the country after the fall of the Tang dynasty. A myriad of kingdoms struggle for survival in the shadow of the Ming Empire to the north, their existence as ephemeral as the changing of the seasons. It is a second Spring and Autumn period, when scholars travel the land from court to court seeking patronage with a master who will implement their philosophies for successful government. It is a time of great exploration, as rulers inspired by the armadas of Zheng He, send forth fleets of ships in search of the floating isles of the immortals, but instead rediscover the land of Fusang. It is a time when adventurers seek their fortune through their wits and martial prowess in the world of the River-lake...

Character Generation

Personal Data

Name

Homeland

    Within each of the regions, is the character's homeland. I will elaborate more eventually, but in reference to China's modern provinces, Yu Zhou would correspond (roughly) to Henan, the Henan-Hubei borderland, the southwest corner of the Henan-Shandong borderland, and the northwest corner of Anhui; Xu Zhou to Jiangsu and Anhui north of the Huai River, and the Jiangsu-Shandong borderland; Yang Zhou to Anhui and Jiangsu south of the Huai River, a large area of the Hebei-Anhui-Jiangxi borderlands, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Fujian, Hainan and Taiwan; Qing Zhou to Shandong; Yan Zhou to northwest Shandong, coastal Hebei, and the northeastern corner of Henan; Jing Zhou to Hubei, Hunan, large tracts of the Hunan-Jiangxi border region, and Guangxi; Liang Zhou to large regions of the Gansu-Sichuan and Shaanxi-Sichuan borderlands, a section of Hubei where it borders Sichuan and Hunan, Sichuan, Guizhou, and Yunnan; Ji Zhou to Shanxi, Hebei, the Henan-Shanxi borderland, Jilin, Heilongjiang, and Liaoning; Yong Zhou to Gansu, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Xinjiang, and Qinghai.

The Lands

Anhui	Guangxi	Henan	Jiangxi	Shandong	Xizang
Fujian	Guizhou	Hubei	Jilin	Shanxi	Yunnan
Gansu	Hainan	Hunan	Qinghai	Sichuan	Zhejiang
Guangdong	Hebei	Jiangsu	Shaanxi	Xinjiang

Culture

Northerners are stereotyped as tall, rugged and arrogant. They are stoic, and tend to be conservative, straightforward, and honest. Often these characteristics make them appear naive. Northerners can be stubborn, and their passive-aggressive truculence has lead them to be characterized as slothful and mentally dull by Southerners. Nanfang-ren also see Beifang-ren (aka "Steamed Bread") as large, clumsy, and ponderous.     The North also includes Dongbei (Northeast) and Xibei (Northwest) sub-regions. Dongbei includes the provinces of Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning. This is the traditional land of the Manchu, and has been settled by Chinese from Shandong and surrounding provinces. Xibei includes northern Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi and Gansu. The people of these regions are characterized as being inured to hardship and conservative, so that even the prosperous retain simple tastes.

Northern Girl

Southern Girl

Southerners are stereotyped as short, shrewd, crafty, and cunning. They are also known to be industrious and hard-working. Nanfang-ren have a reputation for being aggressive in business, and volatile in temper. They also have conflicting reputations for either being too vulgar, or overly effete and cultured. However, there is common consensus that the gentle maidens of the South are the most beautiful under heaven. Northerners see Nanfang-ren (aka "Southern Monkeys") as devious little pipsqueaks because of their quick wits and small stature.

The Peoples

Fujianren	Hebeiren	Jiangsuren	Shandongren	Sichuanren	Shuisang-ren
Guangdongren	Hubeiren	Jiangxiren	Shanxiren	Zhejiangren	Ke-ren
Guangxiren	Hunanren

Religion

The Chinese philosophy regarding religion has been for the gods, and men to follow their own ways. The duty of mankind is to develop sound and proper relations among each other. To have integrity and loyalty, and show due respect without bothering the gods with ceaseless entreaties. In return, the gods grant blessings (e.g. bountiful harvests), and cause no harm to man (e.g. floods, drought). They only ask that the people requite them with fitting sacrifices.

In fact, the word associated with religion in Chinese, is jiao, which actually means teachings. This is because in Chinese belief, all such philosophies have the common aim of teaching men to be good, even though their outward appearances may differ. Thus, proselyting religion is seen as meddling in the affairs of Heaven, and has always been associated with fostering superstition, divisiveness, and the breakdown of morals.

All characters regard themselves as Confucian, though they may also believe in other philosophies or religions.

Religious Virtues Table

Religion	Virtues
Confucian (Kongjiao)	Generous, Honest, Just, Merciful, Modest
Buddhist (Fojiao)	Chaste, Merciful, Modest, Temperate, Pious
Taoist (Daojiao)	Lazy, Prudent, Cowardly, Modest, Selfish

Religious Bonus Table

Religion	Religious Bonus
Confucian	Good Fortune +/-3 on one Family roll and one Experience Check roll in Winter Phase
Buddhist	Illumination +/-3 on Passion or Trait rolls
Taoist	Immortality +/-3 on Aging Table

Chinese Cosmology

Father's Name

Father's Occupation

Father's Occupation Tables

Son/Daughter Number

Liege Lord

Occupation

List of Occupations

Current Class

Sanjiao Jiuliu Table

Current Home

Age

Birthdate Table

Personality Traits and Passions

Personality Traits

1) Altruism (Generous, Merciful)
2) Justice (Just, Vengeful)
3) Personal Loyalty (Honest, Valorous)
4) Disregard for Wealth (Pious, Indulgent)
5) Fame (Proud, Reckless)
Characters who exhibit a total of 80 points or more in the sum of one trait from each category receive the +3 Armor of Virtue bonus.

Cultural Modifiers

Astrological Modifiers

Passions

Statistics

Thus a character will actually have 15 statistics (SIZ does not have a second dimension). I will add a more detailed description later. I will not make any distinction between the two for the time being, as it would only confuse matters.

Derived statistics are the same except as follows:

Replace Damage with Damage Bonus from Runequest.

Cultural Modifiers Table

Culture and Gender	Modifiers
Beifang Male	+2 APP +1 STR
Beifang Female	+1 STR +2 CON
Nanfang Male	-1 APP -1 SIZ +3 DEX +2 CON
Nanfang Female	+3 APP -1 SIZ +1 DEX

Astrological Modifiers

Family Characteristics Table

Replace 18 with the following:
Natural affection for writing (+10 Art (Calligraphy))

Luck Benefits Table

Replace denarii with silver yuan, and libra with gold yuan; in addition, replace the following numbers the accompanying descriptions:

08 Family Heirloom: sacred relic. Roll 1D6 (1=scroll, 2=pi-disk, 3-4=holy rice, 5=oracle bone, 6=tripod cauldron).
10 Family Heirloom: magic spear. Add +1 modifier to spear skill when using this spear until it breaks. Value 25 silver yuan.
14 Family Heirloom: valuable cloak worth 1 gold yuan from: (roll 1D6 1-2= Persia, 3=Japan, 4-5=Tibet, 6=India).

Skills

Add the following skills to the list:

Accounting (see Call of Cthulhu)
Acrobatics (see Tumble from Stormbringer)
Act (see Art from Call of Cthulhu)
Alchemy (a combination of chemistry and pharmacy; see Potions from Elric!)
Art (see Call of Cthulhu; includes Calligraphy, Literature, Painting, Poetry)
Astronomy (see Call of Cthulhu)
Bargain (see Call of Cthulhu)
Burglary (see Pick Lock from Call of Cthulhu)
Climb (see Runequest)
Divination (knowledge of the I Ching)
Farming (the skill of tilling the land and growing crops)
Herding (the skill of animal husbandry)
History (see Call of Cthulhu)
Jump (see Runequest)
Law (see Call of Cthulhu)
Meditation (the skill of clearing one's thoughts through contemplation)
Navigation (see Call of Cthulhu)
Occult (see Call of Cthulhu)
Philosophy (knowledge of the classical teaching of Confucius, Lao Tzu, etc.)
Puppetry (the skill of manipulating puppets; see Art from Call of Cthulhu)
Shiphandling (see Call of Cthulhu)
Stealth (a combination of Hide and Sneak skills from Runequest)
Thievery (a combination of Conceal and Sleight from Runequest and Pick Pocket from Call of Cthulhu)
Throw (see Runequest)

Combat

1) Declare actions
2) Allocate, then roll dice for martial art technique
3) Determine initiative (highest DEX goes first)
3) Movement and missile attacks (missile attacks use the "Base Range" system from Call of Cthulhu)
4) Determine attack roll (based on skill)
5) Modify attack roll with opponent's defense modifier
6) Opponent uses defense skill
7) Roll hit location and determine damage

Critical Hits
A critical results from a roll of 10% or less than the required percentage to hit. Round down all fractions. A character succeeding in a critical can choose to inflict double maximum damage, or ignore his foe's armor for purposes of damage (except for in certain instances).

Special Hits
A special results from a roll of 20% or less than the required percentage to hit. Round down all fractions. A character succeeding in a special may either inflict double damage, or direct a blow to the hit location of his choice.

Damage and Hit Locations
Damage is divided into two major categories as follows:

Minor Wound
A minor wound is caused any time a character suffers more than 25% of his hit points in damage in a single blow. Two minor wounds is equivalent to a major wound.

Major Wound
A major wound is inflicted any time a character suffers more than 50% of his hit points in damage in a single blow. A character suffering a major wound is considered to be incapacitated, but can continue action by making a successful roll against CON each round. Double the minor damage wound effects for any character who does so.

The effect of each type of wound depends upon the location where the character is hit. Use the hit locations table from Runequest to determine where a character is hit.

Wound Effects Table

Hit Location	Minor Wound	Major Wound
Head	-5/-0/-2/-2	unconscious
Chest	-2/-0/-2/-2	fall
Abdomen	-2/-1/-2/-2	fall
Arm	-1/-0/-1/-1	lose use of arm
Leg	-1/-2/-1/-1	fall

Weapon Tables

New Combat Skills
Dodge (see Call of Cthulhu; reduces initiative by -5 on the following round)
Parry (see Call of Cthulhu. However, note that the attack and defense skills for each weapon is not split into two different skills)
Feint (reduces initiative by -5, but increases attack by +5)
Riposte (see Stormbringer; a character can perform one riposte for every 10 initiative)
Passing Attack (See Runequest; the character may either attack or defend against each foe that he passes. The foe is unable to react if the attacker's initiative is greater more than 10 points. However, for each foe attacked, reduce initiative by three points.)

Martial Arts
This skill allows the character to double his damage for all the weapon systems used in his martial art, and to triple damage for specials and criticals. It also allows the character to double the amount of damage he blocks with a successful parry. In addition, each martial art has a number of techniques that the practitioner can use in combat. Each technique is represented as a sequence of four numbers allocated to each of the following categories: initiative, movement, attack, and defense. The marvel category of CAoRP is not represented because of the mechanic of special and critical successes.

Each character is assigned a particular number of bonus dice depending upon POW. Dice are used to fill each mandatory allocation point of the technique to be used. A character who does not have enough dice to meet the minimum  for a technique can still use the technique, but for each die short, the chance for fumble increases 5% and skill rolls suffer a -3 penalty per die short.

Bonus Points for Martial Arts Techniques

POW/POW	Bonus
less than 10	1D6
10-12	2D6
13-15	3D6
16-18	4D6
19-21	5D6

Each die allocated to initiative gives the character one additional action. Each die allocated to movement increases MR by one. For attack, each die allocated from POW bonus increases damage by one, while each die from POW bonus increases the chance for a special or critical by 5%. For defense, each die allocated from POW bonus increases AP by one, while each die from POW bonus increases the chance for a special or critical by 5%.
The maximum number of dice that can be used to increase one of the four categories is 5 plus the mandatory.

The sum of the die rolls are used for increasing DEX for the purpose of determining initiative for initiative,  reducing the chance of the character to be hit by the enemy for movement, or increasing the chance to hit or defend for attack and defense respectively.
If a character rolls a six on any die, he may reroll that die, and add the new value rolled to the original total. This can be done for as many times as sixes are rolled.
 

Initiative	Movement	Attack	Defense
+1 action/die	+1MR/die	+5% critical or special/die	+5% critical or special/die
+1 action/die	+1MR/die	+1 damage/die	+1 AP/die
+1 initiative/point	-1 to be hit/point	+1 to hit/point	+1 to defend/point

Chi Skills
Chi is used to perform Chi skills and is similar to Runequest's magic points. Chi is recovered by making a successful Meditation or Martial Arts roll at a rate of 1D3 for each 10 minutes spent in meditation or practicing forms.

Chi skills are primarily an extension of a character's pre-existing skills, and require minimum scores in both the skill, and POW to perform. In certain instances, a sufficiently skilled adept can perform chi skills with no expenditure of Chi.

Examples of Chi Skills

Chronological Timelines

Once Upon A Time In China
Wuxia Fiction
Martial Arts
Inventions
 

Wuxia Fiction

• An unauthorized excerpt from a limited edition translation of Jin Yong's novel, The Deer and the Cauldron. I originally got this from alt.asian-movies or rec.martial-arts (I don't remember which).
• A chapter by chapter synopses of Link Cities translated by Kwok Cheung Yeung and "LingWu Chung."
• Graham Earnshaw's translation of  Romance of Book and Sword.
• A translation of Sword of the Yue Maiden.