Hearts of Wulin | A Wuxia Melodrama of Martial Heroes

Powered by the Apocalypse RPG on Role, Theater of the Mind

About the adventure

Take on the roles of skilled martial artists in a world of rival clans, conspiracies, and obligations—a world where romance is as dangerous as a blade. In Hearts of Wulin, everyone has ties to factions, loves they can’t quite express, and secrets which will shake them to their core. Emulating films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the game is driven by the characters’ duties, romantic desires, and entanglements with other characters. Please note that this game is heavy on roleplaying and extremely light on combat mechanics. Beginner-friendly 🔰 LGBTQ+ friendly 🌈 Roleplay-heavy 🎭 Immerse yourself in improvisatory and collaborative storytelling 💬 Play as martial heroes in ancient China 👘 Get mired in relationship entanglements 👨🏻👩🏻👦🏻 Be torn between duty vs desire 🚩🆚❤️ In this one-shot, we'll be playing an original adventure crafted from the responses players make during character creation, where your choices will help shape the world we'll play in and populate it with characters to interact with.

Additional Details

How to prepare

📜 Players do not to have read the rules ahead of time. The rules are pretty straightforward and will be explained at the beginning of the session and as we play. 🎙️ A mic is necessary. A webcam is optional.

What I provide

📊 A shared Google Sheet with all the playbooks and moves 🎲 A dice roller in Role

Gameplay details

✨ The aim of this session is to have a fun collaborative storytelling journey together and to have a positive experience interacting with others. To this end, players are expected to be compassionate, supportive, and respectful of others. 👘 In Hearts of Wulin, you play martial heroes in a fantastic version of classical China. You exist in a world slightly outside the normal order of society—like common folk and imperial authority. In this world, factions and orders compete and scheme. Your characters have extraordinary athletic and fighting skills, but you’re still bound by your heart. You’ll find yourself in conflict with your loves, duties, desires, and emotions. 🎭 The tone of the game is melodramatic—emotions, reactions and passions are heightened. Characters must maintain their facade in the face of trials. This should be played straight—serious but not grim. There’s room for comedy and humor, but that should complement the play rather than drive it. Characters may be laughing in one scene, and cradling their dying lover in another. It’s not always heartbreak. Sometimes you’ll find your love, but often the world will conspire against that. 💗 The game will involve combat to settle issues large and small. You’ll often be working to aid or advance your family or faction by solving problems. But possible stories might also revolve around betrayal, heartbreak, romance, unrequited love, duty, and saving face. Fighting will serve as an escape valve to the pressure of these emotional issues. 🏃‍♀️ This session will not feature supernatural elements—such stories belong to another subgenre called xianxia. However, it will still feature fantastical versions of neigong (internal technique) and qinggong (lightness technique), where it's not uncommon for martial heroes to run up vertical surfaces and leap great distances. 💡 Hearts of Wulin is also a game of discovery and creation. During the game, you will often be asked to answer questions by inventing new truths about the world, and be flexible when new secrets and huge revelations suddenly come into play. 🏳️‍🌈 Most importantly, this game celebrate diversity and therefore invite representation of all genders and sexuality (except where consent is not able to be given). 🚫 Feel free to line or veil any of the content warnings below.

Content warnings

Alcoholism
Alcohol Use
Animal Death
Blood
Character Death
Child Abandonment
Child Abuse
Child Death
Classism
Concentration Camps
Confronting Abuser
Controlling Parents
Death
Domestic Abuse
Drowning
Emotional Abuse
Execution
Fire
Genocide
Gore
Guns
Hangings
Hostages
Illness
Kidnapping
Language/Cursing
Lifechanging Injury
Mass Death
Medical Issues
Microaggressions
Miscarriages/Abortion
Misogyny
Murder
Mutilation
Mutilation of Corpses
Panic Attacks
Paralyzation
Pet Death
Police Brutality
Prejudice
Racial Profiling
Racism
Real World Religion
Scars
Self-Harm
Sexism
Suffocation
Suicide
Talk of Superior Race
Terrorism
Torture
Trauma
Violence
Warfare
Sexual Content

Safety tools used

Aftercare
Breaks
Debriefing
Lines and Veils
Open Door
Session 0
X, N, and O Cards

How will character creation work

📊A Google sheet will be handed out ahead of time. It contains all the playbooks, with step-by-step instructions on how to flesh out your character. The six playbooks, each with their role options listed, are: ☯ The Aware: master, scholar, or traveling teacher ☯ The Bravo: favored eldest, gallivant or thief ☯ The Loyal: devoted child, official, or swordsman ☯ The Outsider: rebel, trickster, or wanderer ☯ Student: hopeful apprentice, temple wanderer, or younger sibling ☯ Unorthodox (needs table approval): accidental, hidden, or prodigy

Players can expect

• Find a game to join solo or search for a professional game master for you and your friends/coworkers/family.
• Book your session and wait for the Game Master to approve you.
• If you don't have a blast with your first game, your next game is on us.