Starting a new thread on the wuxia-variant of Sertorius we are working on. You see the original thread, when we first started with the idea, here: http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=28578

Right now the system is still in development but we have a few things set nearly in stone. We needed to port some things in from Sertorius to make the systems work together, however I feel the new system stands on its own pretty well.

I will start by reposting my recent blog entries on the game, then start posting here and the blog at the same time.

First here is our steps of character creation. Keep in mind it assumed knowledge of Sertorius and works off of that:

1: Pick Race
Human. All characters in Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate are assumed to be human. There are no skill bonuses, advantages, or disadvantages for being human.

2: Pick Two Primary Skill Groups
Unlike Sertorius, characters in Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate do not take Backgrounds to determine their skill groups. Instead when you make your character you choose which two of your six Skill Groups will be your Primary Skills. You have 12 points to spend in each of your Primary Skill Groups. In the remaining Skill Groups you have 6 points to spend in each (see Step Seven). In the Quxia genre characters abilities are not as impeded by their social class as in standard fantasy.

3: Choose Sect and Sifu
These are described in Chapter Three. Most characters are affiliated with a sect. Select from the following sects:

The Orthodox Sects: The Golden Dragon Sect, Heiping Sect , The Dehua Sect , Mount Hai'an Sect, The Nature-Loving Monk Sect, The Tree-Dwelling Nun Sect, Southern River Sect

Unorthodox Sects: The Purple Cavern Sect, Je Valley Sect, The Mystic Sword Sect, Temple of the Nine Suns, Zhaoze Sect, The Majestic Lion Cult

If you are not affiliated with a sect, you must at least select your master. This is a specific person who is the source of your knowledge of Kung Fu. Characters who belong to a sect, simply use the leader of the sect as their Sifu (though in actuality they may refer to many senior members as sifu).

Over the course of a campaign you can learn from multiple masters.

4: Choose Reputation
Choose your reputation in two parts. The first is how your friends and allies view you, the second how your enemies and detractors view you. This is described more fully at the beginning of CHAPTER ONE: NEW RULES.

Here is the list of potential reputations: Filial-Unfilial, Loyal-Disloyal, Brave-Cowardly, Righteous-Unjust, Pure-Shameful, Ferocious-Calm, Selfish-Selfless, Trustworthy-Untrustworthy, Vengeful-Merciful, Kind-Cruel, Orthodox-Unorthodox, Poisoner, Too Reckless-Cautious, Cunning-Truthful. This list is not exhaustive.  

5: Allocate Martial Discipline Ranks
You have four categories of Martial Discipline and need to distribute a total of four ranks among them. Your ranks in the disciplines represent your inherent talents. These ranks cannot adjust with time. The four Martial Disciplines are: Waijia (external kung fu), Qinggong (lightness kung fu), Neigong (internal kung fu), and Dianxue (pressure points). This produces your Balance Rating. Your BR equals the difference between your highest Martial Rank and Lowest subtracted from 3d10. This is explained in greater detail in CHAPTER ONE B: NEW RULES, below.

6: Select Initial Kung Fu Techniques
You can take 6 Kung Fu techniques at character creation. All techniques must be at your Qi level or lower. After character creation, Kung Fu Techniques are acquired by learning from teachers or manuals and require expending XP. Occasionally you can learn techniques on your own.

7: Select Skills
Purchase skills using the costs from CHAPTER TWO of the SERTORIUS rulebook. Unlike Sertorius the amount of points you have to spend are not based on Backgrounds. Instead you choose to make two Skill Categories your Primary Skill Groups. You have 12 points to spend in each of these, and six points to spend in each of your remaining Skill Groups (for a total of 48 Skill points).

9: Spend points on Expertise and Combat Techniques.
Purchase Expertise and Combat Techniques using the method in the Sertorius Rulebook. One important change is every character gains a free Combat Technique at character creation and the cost of acquiring them after character creation is different from in Sertorius.

10: Record Qi and Wounds
You begin the game with one level of Qi and 2 wounds. This also gives you one free dot to add to your Defenses. Every level of Qi you acquire raises your wounds by 2.

11: Select Flaws
You can take flaws for extra skill points using the method described in Sertorius. There are additional flaws listed in CHAPTER ONE: NEW RULES.

12: Choose homeland, name, occupation, age, etc
Consult with your gamemaster to help decide your homeland, name, occupation and other important character details.

Homelands: Chezou River Valley, Li Fan, Hu Qin, Hai'an, Suk, Dai Bien, Tsun River Valley, The Kushen Basin, The Yan Gu Plains, The Emerald Coast.
 
Male Personal Names: An, Ba, Bao, Buwei, Chengsi, Chun, Guo, Guozhong, Hui, Jiayin, Kang, Lingkan, Lushan, Mofeng,  Li, Min, Ping, Qui, Shaonan, Tieqiao, Ting, Wan, Xiaofeng, Xun, Yaoshi, Zhen'e.

Female Personal Names: Bao, Cui, Chun, Daniang, E'hua, Feiyan, Guanyin, Hui, Ju, Lian, Na,  Nuan, Li, Lei, Miaohui, Min, Mochou, Ping, Qixia, Qui, Ruomei, Rong, Shanhu, Xiannang, Xiaolongnu.

CLAN NAMES By Region
Tsun River Valley: Shan, Pan, Yao, Zhu, Lu, and Gui (Tsun Valley area)
Jian Shu: Zhen Liang, Dou, Yu, Sunan and Luo
Dai Bien: Yang, Wei, Hai, Hu, Se and Xi
The Empire: Most of the above plus Huo, Ban, Ruang, Qian, Feng, Pei and Qi.

GRUDGES (original post: http://thebedrockblog.blogspot.com/2014/07/contemplating-grudges-in-wandering.html)

I have been working out the encounter tables in Ogre Gate and adjusting the relevant rules from Sertorius to better fit the setting and genre. Yesterday I started toying with the idea of a Grudge table to make part of regular encounter rolls. Basically it would be a potential result on any standard encounter table, causing you to roll on a new sub-table. These sorts of encounters would involve characters with personal vendettas against the party and the GM would need to weave them in on the fly as smoothly as possible.

Here is what I have so far. Going to test it out tonight in our regular session:

ENCOUNTERS AND SURVIVAL SKILL ROLLS
Use the system for Survival Skill rolls and Encounters presented in the core Sertorius book (See TRAVEL AND ENCOUNTERS page 173 of the SERTORIUS RULEBOOK). However the martial world is far more dynamic and perilous than Gamandria, making encounters more frequent. This is partly due to grudges, which are common and often come from unexpected sources. Therefore the GM should ask for a roll once every ten miles of movement when the party is travelling. Otherwise use the time increments and suggestions from the book.

Grudges
A Grudge Encounter involves someone who is after the party, a particular character, or someone connected to the group indirectly. The individual holds a grudge that must be settled for personal or collective honor to be restored. The settlement of the grudge is entirely dependent on the situation and characters. Usually it is resolved through violence but other agreements can be reached. Running away and resorting to wits should always be an option. Also, once a grudge is established, through this encounter chart or prior through actual play, it is a good idea to use the same character when it comes up again.

When you roll on the Grudge table, come up with a quick character concept on the fly, using the stock stats from CHAPTER TEN: THREATS AND MONSTSERS. Try to make it fit the situation as best as possible and feel free to allow for creative interpretation—such as a terrible misunderstanding on the part of the aggrieved character.

Table: TSUN FOREST (TN 6)
Result             Encounter
2                      Roll on Grudge Table
3                      Ogre Demon
4                      Fox Demon
5                      Worm Wood
6                      Impasse
7                      Bandits (2d10)
8                      Tigers
9                      Blood Tree (Sertorius)
10                    Bandits (1d10)
11                    Lost
12                    Tsun City Merchants
13                    Tigers
14                    Blue Mushrooms
15                    Tree Dwelling Nuns (Initiates)
16                    Skeletons (1d10)
17                    Tree Dwelling Nuns (Junior Disciples)
18                    Skeletons (2d10)
19                    Tree Dwelling Nuns (Senior Disciples)
20                    Bandits (4d10)

TABLE: GRUDGES
Result             Encounter
2                      Profound Master (Highly Eccentric Gripe)
3                      Deadly Master (Personal Vendetta)
4                      Fearsome Master (Vendetta that goes back generations)
5                      Fearsome Master (Eccentric Gripe)
6                      Disciple (Vengeance for Master)
7                      Disciple (Personal Vendetta)
8                      Underling (Vengeance for Master)
9                      Underling (Personal Vendetta)
10                    Mundane Character (Vengeance for Family)
11                    Mundane Character (Reputation Sullied)
12                    Mundane Character (Personal loss of fortune, love, etc)
13                    Underling (Vengeance for Sect)
14                    Underling (Vengeance for Family or Friend)
15                    Disciple (Vengeance for Sect)
16                    Disciple (Personal Reputation Sullied)
17                    Fearsome Master (Eccentric Request)
18                    Fearsome Master (Personal Reputation Sullied)
19                    Deadly Master (Eccentric Gripe or Request)
20                    Profound Master (Reputation Sullied)

KUNG FU TECHNIQUES (Original post: http://thebedrockblog.blogspot.com/2014/07/design-table-pondering-kung-fu.html)

Tonight we have another session of Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate and I have been thinking a lot about Kung Fu Techniques. In Ogre Gate, Kung Fu Techniques operate mechanically much like spells in Sertorius, except they are divided into four types of Kung Fu: Lightness (Qinggong), Internal (Neigong), External (Waijia) and Pressure-point (Dianxue).   Characters have ratings of 0-3 in each of these categories and that determines how well they can execute such techniques. I will do a separate blog entry on this system and on individual Kung Fu Techniques we created. For now, I just want to focus on how new Techniques are gained.

Characters gain new Kung Fu Techniques through Experience Points and by finding a source to instruct them. Here is what the rules presently state on the subject:

QuoteGaining New Kung Fu TechniquesTechniques are gained by spending experience points AND through teachers, manuals or great individual training effort. Both requirements must be met for characters to learn new techniques. Teachers and manuals can instruct you in a given technique over the course of hours to weeks, while individual effort through training, meditation insight and other actions takes  months. In some cases, such as secret techniques, the presence of a teacher or manual is required. With GM approval characters can learn secret techniques on their own but only with years of effort.

Time to Learn Technique                     Method
Hours to Days                                    Teacher
Days to Weeks                                   Manual
Months                                              Individual Effort*

*This requires GM approval and should be rare.
Players must take an active role in obtaining new techniques. It is not enough to simply look through the rule book and spend XP. To gain new techniques start by finding teachers to instruct you or looking for manuals. As you meet people with greater martial skill than yourself, they may be willing to train you.

While the time increments are clearly not meant to reflect real world learning times, they are intended to reflect the accelerated learning rates seen in shows like Condor Heroes. The Gamemaster should determine the exact length based on the rarity, complexity and difficulty of the technique. The source of instruction may also be a factor. A Sifu who is particularly adept at teaching students, could help someone master a technique in less time than a Sifu who is difficult to work with.

In Wuxia television series, movies and books, obtaining new techniques serves an important function. Often times characters will face opponents too skilled for them to defeat. The enemy may have a particularly lethal attack that is hard to defend against, for example. Finding the right technique to overcome this enables heroes to defeat their foes in the end.

But it also serves another purpose. Characters in Wuxia are always changing and evolving. That ultra powerful master who crippled the main character's uncle at the beginning of the story, may be quite weak in relation to all the other characters in the end. By the same token, a character with below average skills who is mocked by his fellow disciples, may discover the secret manual of the Storming Phoenix and learn its techniques to become one of the great masters. The point is characters are constantly in flux, so we wanted to bring that to the game both in terms of NPCs and PCs.

I will give an example of how this might work based on our own campaign. Last session the characters were attacked by the Bronze Monks of Bao. They faced only one monk and he proved nearly impossible to defeat. They also learned that one of their enemies commands the monks and will likely keep sending them. This has the party on the run. Now there is tremendous pressure for them to seek out a master or manual with the right technique to make the monks less of a threat. There are a number of possibilities here, but the most favorable technique in the setting for their situation is The Third Fist of Yanshi, which enables practitioners to pulverize stone, metal and other solids with their fists. This is an Internal (Neigong) technique, and is only possessed by Master Yanshi (a man who does not teach his Kung Fu to just anyone). If the players really want this technique, they will need to seek out Master Yanshi and ask to learn his Third Fist Technique. Every master is different. Some are willing to share their knowledge, others require something of new students before training them, while some simply refuse (or have outrageous demands).

As you can probably see, this makes the acquisition of new Techniques quite important to the focus of play. I liken it to gaining treasure in games oriented toward dungeon crawls or exploration. It becomes a driving force of adventure on its own.

So far this has worked, but I after last session, when a character learned Tree Bounding Stride, I felt acquiring new techniques might need an additional mechanic to help determine success. This is just a thought at the moment, but presently I am leaning toward requiring a Skill roll for each increment of time it takes to know the technique (so learning from a teacher you might roll every hour or every day). When you get a Total Success (a result of 10) you know the technique. Here is what I have so far in rough (very rough) form:

QuoteMastering a new technique: For ease of play the GM may simply decide that at the end of a given period of training the new Technique has been mastered. However we recommend you require a single skill roll per increment of time it takes to learn (so one roll every hour, day, week, etc). This should be the skill used to perform the technique. The new Technique is learned when you get a Total Success on the Skill Roll.

This looks good on paper to me, but I need to actually see it in live play to know if it is workable. Should it prove successful in the next couple of sessions, we will discuss its merits and drawbacks (always with an aim for simplicity) and see what improvements should be made.

PLAYTEST VI (Original post: http://thebedrockblog.blogspot.com/2014/07/wandering-heroes-of-ogre-gate-playtest.html)

We resumed our Heroes of Ogre Playtest on Friday but technical issues with the video call forced us to stop early and play with one less person. So we only made a little bit of progress.

The game resumed on the outskirts of Rong Yao, with the characters heading north to speak with the leader of the Tree Dwelling Nun Sect about an alliance. As they were moving through a tall mountain pass, Shu heard something move behind him and saw a man made of bronze materialize from the soil. He was bald and adorned in golden robes.

Shu went into attack but was struck in the face by the monk's fist, this did 2 wounds. When the others saw the monk, Min recognized it, mentioning the Talisman of Bao. Min struck the the monk with the Wind Sabre of Sunan, she hit but was unable to harm it with the attack (because of her damage roll). Still this enabled her to freeze it in place for two rounds. Leng then attacked it with his fists, but its bronze body was too resilient and he did not damage (again the damage roll was too low).

On the next round, Min managed to harm the Monk, doing 2 wounds. But after that, the party continued to have difficulty damaging it. Before the monk unfroze, Shu took a boulder and used tree bounding stride to climb into a tree. Once he was high enough, he dropped the stone on the monk, doing considerable damage and pinning it. However he failed his athletics roll and began a 100 foot descent. Leng used Boundless Step to appear beside Shu as he was falling and grab him.

Realizing the monk was probably quite powerful, the party fled toward the north and Min explained that her Heiping Master possesses the Talisman of Bao, which allows her to send the Bronze Monks after foes (sometimes up to five monks at a time).

Unfortunately this is where our video platform crashed so we had to call it a night.

I did observe that the Bronze Monks are very powerful. If the party didn't have the Wind Sabre of Sunan, they likely would have died or had to flee. It may not look like it from the playtest report, but this was a potentially lethal encounter. The players had a lot of difficulty beating the Bronze Monks Hardiness and doing damage (his Hardiness was a 9). Even with the Wind Sabre, they had difficulty.

SECTS (Original Post: http://thebedrockblog.blogspot.com/2014/07/sects-in-wandering-heroes-of-ogre-gate.html)

Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate is set in a world of martial sects where grudges and revenge lead to frequent bloodshed. In my current campaign the players have embroiled the sects in a war over an artifact called the Wind Sabre of Sunan.

In preparation for tonights session, I put together a handy chart of the different sects. The sects to the left, in blue, are those who oppose the players and their allies. The sects to the right are those the players have formed an alliance with and those who are friendly toward members of the alliance. The purple entries below are the neutral sects, but each one is marked to show which side it leans toward. This will be helpful if the PCs try to engage in diplomacy and increase the size of their alliance.

On a separate sheet I have other details like the number of members and heroes in the sects.

I honestly have no idea how things are going to turn out. Much of it depends on what the players do and who they try to pull in (or push out of) their alliance. I am very much trying to emphasize the wandering aspect of Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate, being very open to the different directions and places the characters decide to explore. So this all evolved fairly organically and we have now reached a point where the politics are quite interesting.  

That makes sects very important to the game. I have created quite a few so far (all the ones in the above image are described in the rulebook). Each sect has its own history, style and martial philosophy. They also have their own interests, which is where things usually become interesting. They are divided between Orthodox and Unorthodox, with the Orthodox sects generally being viewed as the more righteous ones, but closer inspection often reveals these labels to be misleading.

FATE IN WANDERING HEROES OF OGRE GATE (Original post: http://thebedrockblog.blogspot.com/2014/02/fate-in-wandering-heroes-of-ogre-gate.html)

Fate is important in the Wuxia genre. It crops up all the time, whether it's coincidental meeting of characters or bad things that just keep happening to the same person, again and again. We've tried to incorporate that into Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate, but in a way that reflects the play style at our own table. This part of the game is still in development, and some of these ideas are either half-formed or just exploratory, so what I am about to discuss may change.

While we want to emulate the Wuxia genre, as a GM (and to a lesser degree as a player) my style is often described by the other people on the design team as tending toward realism. By that they don't mean I obsess of details or dig deep into the physics of a character falling thirty feet, they mean I care about the game feeling like it takes place in a real place. I tend not to push events or plot elements because they are convenient for what I want to do as a GM, I like them to flow from what is going on in the campaign naturally. This isn't said because I have disdain for other approaches, just to establish my own personal style in this regard.

So for me, the idea of just taking genre elements and making them so in a setting doesn't feel right. For me to do that, and for it to feel comfortable, the genre elements need to be a part of the setting itself. An example of this is our approach to fate.

In Wuxia characters talk a lot about things being fated. People were fated to meet, to fall in love, to be enemies, to lead a sect or suffer a series of personal tragedies. It becomes clear if you watch enough of it, that Fate is a real thing, it is the work of Heaven. In Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate Fate is also real, it is part of the cosmology, and believed to reside with The Enlightened Goddess (I will discuss The Enlightened Goddess in more detail in a later blog entry).

On the one hand, I picture Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate as a sandbox. I don't normally do pure sandboxes, but for some reason my Wuxia campaigns tend to fall mainly into that category. Maybe because the genre lends itself well to sandbox. So it is very much a game where the player characters wander around and explore the setting. On the other hand there is fate, and this is where the more active elements of the adventures can come in. In a way this gives the GM permission to go beyond simply having things happen because they flow logically from in-game events (though this is still a big default assumption of the setting). Sometimes things happen because of Fate. It isn't meant to be heavy handed, more of a light, and gentle presentation of developments to the players. Think of it as an occasional intrusion of Fate in the lives of the player characters.

There is also a Fated Flaw, that players can take at character creation. The Fated Flaw brings Fate into the game in a much heavier way than the light, occasional intrusion mentioned above. When a character takes the flaw, the GM secretly rolls on a chart, which presently has thirty possibilities. This is the characters Fate, and if you have the Flaw, it will come up often. Results can vary, but they can be anything from "fated to be adored by many admirers who want to be the one and only" to "fated to a life of grudges and blood".

We have only just developed this part of the game and began testing it this week. I had two players take the Fated Flaw, and incorporating those into the campaign has been interesting. As play tests continue, I will post about more about it. I imagine it will change a great deal from now until release of the Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate PDF.

Another playtest report:

Playtest report VII

Also some more relevant blog entries:

Pondering Kung Fu Techniques and Real World Knowledge

Contemplating Grudged

Weapons of Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate

Solid stuff! Can't wait to see the final product.

Quote from: Silverlion;774756Solid stuff! Can't wait to see the final product.

Thanks.

Provided I can smooth out the technical issues on skype and google plus this week, we should make some serious headway in the next couple of months. It is now playable and just needs fine-tuning, more setting material and a lot more NPC and Monster info.

The final product will be free, so bells and whistles a bit lean. However I do intend to commission a setting map, some location maps and a few pieces of art.

Here is a playtest report for our new Ogre Gate campaign: http://thebedrockblog.blogspot.com/2014/10/wandering-heroes-of-ogre-gate-golden.html

Here are some examples of Kung Fu Techniques and Rituals: LINK

Here is a post on Romance Ogre Gate campaigns: ROMANCE IN OGRE GATE

And a post on the dark side of the martial world: THE BLOOD-STAINED UNDERBELLY

Here is the latest playtest: The Secret of Je Valley

Last session really changed my approach to grudges for some reason, it just clicked in my head that our previous approach was wrong and I had a good idea of how to better approach it. This is all tentative and messy but this is how I am now handling it in the campaign:

Grudges
A Grudge Encounter involves a person or sect who is after the party, a particular character, or someone connected to the group indirectly. The individual or sect holds a grudge that must be settled for personal or collective honor to be restored. The settlement of the grudge is entirely dependent on the situation and characters. Usually it is resolved through violence but other agreements can be reached. Running away and resorting to wits should always be an option. Also, once a grudge is established, you should roll a Grudge Encounter Check regularly to see if it comes up. Every new Grudge the party acquires should also be placed on the Grudge encounter table.

Rolling for Grudge Encounters
You should roll for Grudge Encounters regularly once a week (or on a regular increment of your choosing). This is separate from Survival Rolls or other encounter rolls. This is a check to see if anyone attacks the party due to a grudge at a time and place that is convenient for the attacker.

The Grudge Encounter Table is different from other tables. This is one you need to build yourself over time. Initially there are no grudges on the table, merely empty slots for future Grudges. As the party or individual characters acquire Grudges, you list them on the table, placing them first at the result of 2, then shifting down one with each grudge that is added. So, if your party kills a member of Purple Cavern Sect, and the table is empty, you would write "Purple Cavern Sect Grudge" in the result of 2 slot. Then if they gained a new Grudge by killing Lady White Blade of Mystic Sword Sect, you would shift Purple Cavern Sect grudge to the result of 3 Slot and add "Mystic Sword Sect Grudge" to the result of 2 slot.

When you roll, there are four possible results: Existing Grudge, No Encounter and Roll on Unknown or Mistaken Grudge Table and Roll on Grudge Encounter Table II. Here is an explanation of each.

No Encounter: This simply means there is no encounter due to grudges this week.

Existing Grudge: If this slot has an entry for a specific Grudge, then someone connected to the sect or person harboring that grudge attacks the party during the week. If the slot is not yet filled with a grudge treat it as "No Encounter".

Roll on Unknown or Mistaken Grudge Table: If you get this result then the players are attacked by someone nursing a grudge they did now know existed (or is the product of mistaken identity or confusion). Roll on the Unknown or Mistaken Grudge Table and use that result to create a Grudge Based encounter for the week. When you roll on the table, come up with a quick character concept on the fly, using the stock stats from CHAPTER TEN: THREATS AND MONSTSERS. Try to make it fit the situation as best as possible and feel free to allow for creative interpretation—such as a terrible misunderstanding on the part of the aggrieved character.

Roll on Grudge Encounter Table II: This is used when you have filled all 8 slots of the first Grudge Table and need to make a New Grudge Table to accommodate additional Grudges. If you haven't yet started a new table, simply treat this result as "No Encounter". If you have a new Grudge Table, then you roll on that when you get this result.

TABLE: GRUDGE ENCOUNTER
Roll      Result
2      Existing Grudge Slot
3      Existing Grudge Slot
4      Existing Grudge Slot
5      Existing Grudge Slot
6      Existing Grudge Slot
7      Existing Grudge Slot
8      Existing Grudge Slot
9      No encounter
10      No Encounter
11      No Encounter
12      No Encounter
13      No Encounter
14      No Encounter
15      No Encounter
16      No Encounter
17      No Encounter
18      Roll on Unknown or Mistaken Grudges Table
19      Roll on Unknown or Mistaken Grudges Table
20      Roll on Grudge Encounter Table II*
*This is simply a new Grudge table you build when you have 8 Grudges on the first table.


TABLE: UNKOWN OR MISTAKEN GRUDGES
Result      Probability
2      Profound Master (Highly Eccentric Gripe)
3      Deadly Master (Personal Vendetta)
4      Fearsome Master (Vendetta that goes back generations)
5      Fearsome Master (Eccentric Gripe)
6      Disciple (Vengeance for Master)
7      Disciple (Personal Vendetta)
8      Underling (Vengeance for Master)
9      Underling (Personal Vendetta)
10      Mundane Character (Vengeance for Family)
11      Mundane Character (Reputation Sullied)
12      Mundane Character (Personal loss of fortune, love, etc)
13      Underling (Vengeance for Sect)
14      Underling (Vengeance for Family or Friend)
15      Disciple (Vengeance for Sect)
16      Disciple (Personal Reputation Sullied)
17      Fearsome Master (Eccentric Request)
18      Fearsome Master (Personal Reputation Sullied)
19      Deadly Master (Eccentric Gripe or Request)
20      Profound Master (Reputation Sullied)

A bit on the focus of the setting section of the book: The Frontier