Chapter Text
It has been ten years since that Yiling Laozu guy died. Demonic cultivation is a small but growing art. You are a budding freelance demonic cultivator who has signed up to be part of a hired guard to retrieve a package from Jinlintai and deliver it. You have three goals.
- Complete the day job – earn money in order to survive
- Learn more about demonic cultivation and become ever more eviler
- Avoid getting caught by any of those pesky major sects who look down on demonic cultivators
Simple, right?
This is an RPG designed for a GM and 3-5 players using a 6-sided die (1d6). It can be customised for roughly 6-9 hours of gameplay across 2 or 3 sessions. The setting is in the world of Mo Dao Zu Shi/The Untamed, which the GM and players will need a working knowledge of; the setting is non-specific to either MDZS or The Untamed if the party is only familiar with one.
The CHARACTER CREATION and REFERENCE sections in Chapter 1 are for everyone; GM NOTES onwards in Chapter 2 should be read by the GM only.
CHARACTER CREATION
Feel free to create your own, or if you are lacking in inspiration for a tragic backstory, roll 3d6:
You are a/an:
- orphan
- bastard child
- former sect member
- former monk
- spy for Jin Guangyao
- spy for Jiang Cheng
Motivation:
- power
- revenge
- knowledge
- cheap thrills of illegal activity
- boredom
- peer pressure
Demonic Weapon:
- flute
- rope dart
- bow & arrow (12 arrows)
- horsetail whisk
- throwing needles (20 needles)
- staff
ITEMS
You each have:
- enough money to buy 3 normal things OR 1 expensive thing
- a sword (spiritual if you also have a golden core; non-spiritual if you do not) and one of the below:
- an empty qiankun bag: a bag that fits limitless items; does not reduce the weight of the items within
- a half-trained owl: roll 1d6 for an owl action
- 1. owl makes things worse!
- 2. owl ignores you
- 3. owl mostly manages to do the thing
- 4-5. owl does the thing!
- 6. owl does the thing with extra flair or subtlety (+1 for the next owl roll)
- talisman paper & writing supplies: enough to make 30 talismans
- Compass of Evil: can point out approximate direction of malicious creatures
- a jar of alcohol: enough to get 2 adults (or 15 Lans) drunk
ROLLS & STATS
Roll 1d6 for actions. Use Demonic Cultivation for actions related to demonic cultivation and Action for anything else (eg. persuasion, stealing, investigation, combat, etc).
Action
- 1. somehow, things get worse
- 2. fail; nothing happens
- 3-4. partial success with temporary consequence
- 5. success!
- 6. success! and you may ask the GM an info question about the situation and decide whether to proceed with your action after the answer
Demonic Cultivation
- 1. fail and you gain one Visible Aspect Of Being A Demonic Cultivator
- 2. fail; nothing happens
- 3-4. partial success with temporary consequence
- 5. success!
- 6. success! And you gain an extra Demonic Cultivation Ability
DEMONIC CULTIVATION ABILITY
Pick one to start with:
- can make spirit attraction talismans
- can make spirit capture talismans
- can summon up to 3 spirits/ghosts
- can raise a nearby dead body as a fierce corpse
- can cast a basic revenge curse
VISIBLE ASPECTS OF BEING A DEMONIC CULTIVATOR
+1 to Demonic Cultivation rolls (the resentful energy is strong within you)
-1 to Explore rolls (resentful energy takes over and stops you from logical thought)
Your GM will choose which one(s) you get:
- glowing red eyes
- vague wisps of black smoke emanate from your body
- recently deceased small creatures follow you around
- invisible demonic energy wafts your clothes & hair around even when there is no wind
- you must change into black robes at the earliest possible opportunity
REFERENCE
Demonic cultivation abilities:
spirit attraction talismans: attracts all types of undead from a 5 li (1.5 mile) radius to the talisman
spirit capture talismans: capture the 'essence' of a spirit within a talisman to be released later eg. the spirit of a fat man to weigh something down
summoning spirits/ghosts: using resentful energy and your demonic weapon to draw ghosts to yourself
raising fierce corpses: using resentful energy and your demonic weapon to raise a dead body as a fierce corpse
revenge curses: creates a curse mark that grows; saps strength & spiritual energy from the target until the caster removes it or is killed
Creatures:
Yao: living, non-human beings, eg. animal spirits.demons, shapeshifters, fairies
Mo: living humans, eg. possessed humans
Gui: dead humans, eg. spirits/ghosts; fierce corpses
Guai: non-living, non-human beings, - eg. inanimate objects with a consciousness
Approximate distances:
Lanling -> Gusu: 400 miles / 640 km
Lanling -> Qinghe: 250 miles / 400 km
Lanling -> Qishan: 680 miles / 1100 km
Lanling -> Yunmeng: 480 miles / 770 km
Resources for characters
Naming characters: link
Pronunciation guide: link
Music inspiration
The Untamed character songs album
YOUR CHARACTER SHEET (to be sent to your GM):
Name:
Motivation:
Demonic Weapon:
Demonic Cultivation Ability:
Backstory:
Brief physical description: