Editing Wushu Open (section)

= Combat =

Because it's the centerpiece of any action game, and rightfully so, combat gets a few extra wrinkles. First of all, you have to worry about both offense and defense. That means splitting up your dice pool. '''Yang dice''' are used to injure people, run 'em off the road, kick ass, take names, and so forth. '''Yin dice''' are used to defend yourself from all of the above. (It might be a good idea to have two different colors of dice on the table.) Each successful Yin die negates one successful Yang die. If even one attack gets through, you're done!

Don't worry; it's not as dire as it sounds. Player-characters all get 3 points of '''Chi''' to protect them. Each point can be cashed in to negate one Yang success after the dice are rolled. (I use poker chips to keep track.) A character is removed from a fight when they take a hit and don't have any Chi left to counter it. When you're down to zero Chi, it just means you're teetering at the brink of exhaustion. GMs should give players back their Chi as dramatically appropriate, usually between scenes.

Since Wushu encourages (nay, expects!) players to carry out multiple actions with a single roll of the dice, you'll eventually have someone try to use two different Traits at once. During a fight, the last thing you want is to bog down play while you sort out which dice are going to be rolled against which Trait. Instead, just decide which Trait is _most_ relevant to the description as a whole and use that as the target number for everything. 

Take, for instance, someone who likes to use telekinesis with their kung-fu. If they say "I nail him with a Telekinetic Blast (tm), which knocks him through a wall, then I kick him hard in the face for good measure," they'd fold that kick into the telekinesis action and roll it all against their "Psychic" Trait. On the other hand, if they say "I duck under his kick, then deliver a telekinetically boosted open-hand strike that sends him plowing through a wall" they'd fold that TK boost into their combat action and roll it all against their "Kung-Fu" Trait.

== vs Mooks ==

Ninjas, zombies, gangers, cops... by any name, mooks are born to die in droves! In fact, Mooks are little more than set pieces whose only reason for being is to make the player-characters look good. They don't have Traits, they don't have Chi, and they never roll any dice. They're just an abstraction. Players are free to describe however many they want, wherever they want, in order to describe all the rapid-fire, ass kicking stunts they want. (Of course, GMs can reserve a few for guarding escape routes, taking hostages, and so forth.)

When the ninjas start jumping out of the woodwork, assign the whole lot of them a '''Threat Rating'''. (You can also assign them to non-human challenges like ticking time bombs, collapsing buildings, treacherous climbs, and so on.) The exact value depends on how many players you have, your dice pool limit, and how long you want the scene to last. Figure out how many Yang successes your players are likely to generate per round and multiply by the number of rounds you want to see. Season to taste.

As you may have guessed, each Yang success your players bring to bear reduces the Threat Rating by 1. When it reaches zero, the mooks are either all dead or running in abject terror. Conversely, you shouldn't let players describe taking out the whole group before the Threat gets close to zero. If such a thing does happen, and there's some Threat remaining after the dice are rolled, you'll have to bring in some reinforcements or let previously beaten mooks get up for another round.

Now, since mooks don't get to roll dice, they won't have any Yang dice to throw at the heros. Instead, you should assume that the mob gets in at least one good hit each round. Anyone who doesn't roll at least 1 Yin success has to cash in a point of Chi or get knocked out. (For more dangerous mooks, you can raise it to 2-3 hits per round.)

== vs Nemeses ==

If you think nothing can challenge someone who just tore through a whole legion of ninja, you're dead wrong. Mooks are just the warm-up. Nemeses have kung-fu of their own, they get to roll dice, and they even have Traits! Most harrowing of all, they get their own Chi (usually from 1-5 points, but feel free to go nuts).

As befits such worthy opponents, Nemeses must always be fought mono-a-mono. If two or more players absolutely need to gang up on a Nemesis, they'll have to do one of the following. First, they can take turns trading blows with the Nemesis, completing both their Description and Resolution phases before letting their allies have a go. If you've set a dice pool limit, the second option is to have the players split the max dice between them. If the Nemesis gets to roll 6 dice, two players would get 3 dice each, or three players would get 2 dice each. The Nemesis would then split their Yang successes between their opponents.

The other thing that elevates Nemeses above mooks is that they actually get to defend themselves. (Gasp!) This is where you get that furious back-and-forth pacing we talked about. The player and the GM should take turns providing 2-3 Details at a time, just enough for a defensive move and a counter-attack. When both sides have maxed out their dice pools, let 'em roll. If the kung-fu is really flying, feel free to disregard the pool limit and roll a whole fight's worth of dice at once!

'''Lethal moves''' (decapitations, kill shots, stakes through the heart, etc.) should be saved until after your victim has taken that final hit, the one they don't have the Chi to pay for. If both combatants run into negative Chi on the same turn, the loser is the one who goes deepest into the hole. As usual, ties go to the players. The winner is entitled to any dramatic killing blow (or other kind of scene resolution) they wish to inflict upon their helpless victim. No dice required. This is called the Coup de Grace, and if anyone tries to deliver one before the proper time, smack 'em with a veto!