Weapons of the Gods (role-playing game)

Weapons of the Gods is a wuxia role-playing game based in an ancient Chinese setting. Created by Brad Elliott and Rebecca Borgstrom, ''Weapons of the Gods'' is published by Eos Press and is a license from the Hong Kong manhua by Wong Yuk Long of the . The first supplement for the game, ''The Weapons of the Gods Companion'', was due out in Winter 2006 but was delayed and ultimately released in December 2007.

Structure

The rulebook is split into five sections, according to the five Chinese elements. The first ‘Wood’ section is the basics of the game and essential rules and character creation; the second ‘Fire’ section details the combat aspects of the game; the third ‘Earth’ section gives the setting , the fourth ‘Metal’ section gives all of the martial arts and secret arts rules, and the fifth ‘Water’ section is the gamesmaster chapter that gives quick campaign generation systems, how to build the magical weapons of the gods, and a brief overview of the characters from the comics.

Setting

''Weapons of the Gods'' is set in an ancient fantasy history version of China where all the martial arts movies are set. ''Weapons of the Gods'' is a cinematic martial arts fantasy role-playing game, where kung fu heroes with fantastic weapon skills do deeds of virtue out of Chinese history and myth. The Weapons of the Gods book has a huge chapter devoted to a thematic and cultural presentation of ancient China as interpreted through a lens of its own myths and folktales, including an extensive section on how the culture works, including concepts such as filial piety and even covering attitudes concerning courtship and sexuality.

System

''Weapons of the Gods'' uses a custom-designed ruleset called the "Wuxia Action System". The player rolls the number of specified dice equal to the character's skill. The player then looks for matching dice. For each match, the player multiplies the number of matches by a specified amount and adds the value of the dice.

The Wuxia Action System is also notable for the concept of the ''River'', a small stock of dice that can be saved from any sets of matches for later use; this models the aspect of wuxia stories in which a badly battered combatant can summon a hidden reserve of strength later in the battle, even when badly wounded.