Alot of recent Wuxia movies and techno thrillers have started to be made in korea recently as china has sorta become abit tough to deal with for international buyers(in some cases they're already overcharging for films before they're even made), why not slap it down over south korea instead? they already have plenty of awesome tech gadgets and wuxia techno thriller stuff would work just as well there without the need for sino or nippon classifications.

Quote from: Broken-Serenity;734722Alot of recent Wuxia movies and techno thrillers have started to be made in korea recently

I'm gathering a list of martial arts books and movies for research. It sounds like I'll have to look these up. Thanks.

Quote from: Broken-Serenity;734722why not slap it down over south korea instead?

Like this: http://goo.gl/PVxmOR ?

(The next move is, of course, is to cross the East China Sea into Shanghai.)

Quote from: Broken-Serenity;734722without the need for sino or nippon classifications.

Well, the Reality is Nippon Tech, because it is. That's what it's called in Torg.

But Martial Arts Technothriller doesn't stumble across the same problems, includes the inspirations I wanted to, and allows for an even wider variety of source material. For me, it works.

Quote from: James Gillen;734714This all sounds very much like Feng Shui, which given the similarities to TORG is only appropriate.  

I hope it's not coming across as a ripoff of Feng Shui, because that's not my intent. I did read the game a year or two ago, and I definitely took some inspiration from it, but my original inspiration was:

• Big Trouble in Little China (hidden fantastic martial arts world)

• Far West (the first time I'd ever heard of Wuxia)

• Push (Chinese psychic wars, because it was cool)

After that I started looking at other sources, including Feng Shui. (Originally just to get a list of Wuxia books and movies. It's surprisingly hard to find that information on the web.)

Feng Shui is a great game, and I don't want people to think I ripped it off, when there's so many other works I did rip off.

Quote from: Daddy Warpig;734761I'm gathering a list of martial arts books and movies for research. It sounds like I'll have to look these up. Thanks.


Like this: http://goo.gl/PVxmOR ?

(The next move is, of course, is to cross the East China Sea into Shanghai.)


Well, the Reality is Nippon Tech, because it is. That's what it's called in Torg.

But Martial Arts Technothriller doesn't stumble across the same problems, includes the inspirations I wanted to, and allows for an even wider variety of source material. For me, it works.

Your link is restricted but i suspect i have a rough idea what your talking about, if you can find it give a film called Natural City a watch its a korean(though some people seem to think otherwise) scifi techno thriller type movie that has been compared to bladerunner by some, also there are a few comedy wuxia type films coming out of korea these days that may be of use for research (Woochi the demon slayer being a damn good example).

Quote from: Broken-Serenity;734876Your link is restricted

Mother- Google. Sorry about that. It should be fixed.

http://goo.gl/PVxmOR

Quote from: Broken-Serenity;734876if you can find it give a film called Natural City a watch

Definitely. Thanks!

Quote from: Daddy Warpig;734771I hope it's not coming across as a ripoff of Feng Shui, because that's not my intent. I did read the game a year or two ago, and I definitely took some inspiration from it, but my original inspiration was:

• Big Trouble in Little China (hidden fantastic martial arts world)

• Far West (the first time I'd ever heard of Wuxia)

• Push (Chinese psychic wars, because it was cool)

After that I started looking at other sources, including Feng Shui. (Originally just to get a list of Wuxia books and movies. It's surprisingly hard to find that information on the web.)

Feng Shui is a great game, and I don't want people to think I ripped it off, when there's so many other works I did rip off.

Well, it's just that the concept of elites from various dimensions/timelines seizing control of the metaphysical real estate is something that both Feng Shui and TORG have in common.

JG

Quote from: James Gillen;734915Well, it's just that the concept of elites from various dimensions/timelines seizing control of the metaphysical real estate is something that both Feng Shui and TORG have in common.

That honestly hadn't occurred to me, but you're right. Huh.

(One of the last couple of posts.)

The World of Nippon Tech

Tellus, the home cosm of Nippon Tech, is a near-Earth cosm. It has nearly the same continents, the same ethnicities, cultures, and languages, and a surprisingly similar history.

Like Core Earth, modern Tellus is a patchwork of various jurisdictions, some nations with billions of citizens, others city-states of a few thousand. Some are dictatorships, others democracies, yet others monarchies.

Calender-wise, Nippon Tech is about 10 years ahead of Earth, but technologically it is roughly 30 years ahead. Its computers are 30,000 times as powerful, and there is a corresponding increase in the ubiquity of computer usage and computer networks. AI's are common, though none are yet sentient. Wearable computing is ubiquitous, as is "augmented reality". Info-overload is a real problem, for those wealthy or connected enough to afford access.

Medical technology is greatly advanced, and some form of in vitro genetic engineering (increasing strengths) or surgery (removing genetic flaws) is common for most affluent people. Many other science-fictional concepts have been realized, including prototype cybernetic implants.

The many nations of Nippon Tech compete on a technological and military basis. Espionage and industrial espionage is common, as is counter-espionage. Spy wars are an endeavor all pursue, and when that fails, there is always war.

The Authority's moral code is nearly universal. Be they government leaders, criminal kingpins, or captains of industry, the powerful command great resources and use them to increase their own power. The powerful rule for their own benefit, and the oppressed suffer.

But above even the powerful is the mysterious Authority itself, whom all give precedence. Authority agents have carte blanche everywhere, and no one dares openly oppose them. Though rarely seen, they are universally feared.

The only hope for Tellus is the continued survival of the Youxia, the wandering heroes who fight for the oppressed against their overlords.

Psychic Thriller Anime reality? It has many similarities to anime in that area.

Quote from: Nexus;735218Psychic Thriller Anime reality? It has many similarities to anime in that area.

Yeah, there's definitely a lot of anime that GM's could take inspiration from for Nippon Tech adventures. (As well as manga.)

(Last post, I think, for now at least. Thanks to everyone who chimed in. Cheers!)

The World of Nippon Tech, cont

Qi shapes the morality of Tellus, and powers the fantastic abilities of Wushu. On Tellus, the Authority has a near-monopoly on Qi. It uses visions of the future to control the planet, and its powerful agents (all Wushu-trained warriors) to police the masses.

Despite this, the Authority isn't primarily interested in worldly power. It is seeking to invade and conquer the Otherworld. So far, it has failed.

Outside the Authority, only a rare few master Qi disciplines, and none practice them openly. Those who do have found ways to use Qi to enhance nearly any endeavor, including physical combat, gun fighting, and even computer hacking. The Youxia depend on Qi heavily, as it is what gives them the edge over those they fight, whether the footsoldiers of the powerful or agents of the Authority.

The portals that link Tellus and the Otherworld allow for travel between the worlds, though this requires the cooperation of those who control the portals. Adventuring in the Otherworld is a very different experience than adventures in Tellus, though there are strange parallels.

Youxia go there to discover new Wushu techniques, to use against the Authority. The Authority travels there (with difficulty, the Otherworld seems to mislike their agents) both to discover Wushu secrets and to establish dominion over the land. It is the Authority's belief that if they conquer enough of the Otherworld, they can enter it at will, and achieve their ancient goals.

Nippon Tech on Earth

Nippon Tech's invasions are stealthy affairs. The Authority, the head of which is the High Lord of the cosm, infiltrates their agents into existing institutions and uses them to facilitate their invasion.

In Japan, government ministers and politicians, heads of corporations, and street gangs and Yakuza have all become arms of the Authority. They serve Authority interests and are unwitting allies in its plans to conquer Earth. Similar infiltration and co-optation has occurred in South Korea and China.

At some point, Japanese Storm Knights will meet the Youxia and learn of their country's invasion. Working together, the two may yet defeat the Authority and save Asia and Core Earth.

(Eh, one more long post. Part of rewriting the Invading Realities has been trying to get inside the mind of the High Lords, to explain how they became master of their Reality. This is a piece of campaign background that tried to encapsulate what Kanawa is all about, and where he came from.)

Ryuichi Kanawa
In the Days of His Youth…

A young man, a wealthy man, a man of boundless ambition. Heir to a fortune, he travelled the globe with other moneyed dilettantes, indulging his whims to the fullest, whatever he desired: galas, fine clothes, rare wines, ease and luxury.

Wealth meant nothing to him: luxury cars, personal jets, sumptuous mansions filled with tanned and slender women from dozens of countries. He had everything; he wanted for nothing. He lusted for more.

He found a special delight in manipulating others, softly shifting their attitudes with subtle insinuations. He had a talent for discovering weaknesses, then using them to destroy.

He seduced men's wives, and rejoiced as their marriage collapsed. He set friend against friend, poisoning their admiration, turning them to bitterest enemies. He spun vast webs of financial chicanery, skillfully persuading investors to commit their money to failed causes and faked inventions, then smiled the tiniest and cruelest of smiles as the companies collapsed, leaving behind emptied accounts and impoverished investors.

He made money, of course, most of the time. The money didn't matter to him. The point wasn't profit, it was power. It always is.

Power. The power to earn trust, then betray. The power to hide behind a smile, while coldly plotting revenge. The power to murder without consequences. The power to command others, to force them to act the way you willed, to bring them ruin and pain, to make them suffer. He spread suffering the way the wind spreads dandelion seeds. It was his joy.

He caused careers to crumble. He had weeping men jailed for grotesque indecencies they were innocent of. He bribed public officials, solely for the pleasure of watching them betray their beliefs for money. He destroyed many. But it wasn't enough. He lusted for more.

He set himself to matters financial, expanding his holdings with a ruthless will. He bought business after business, wresting control from investors and owners alike. He became the owner of industries on a world-wide scale.

He bought government bonds in massive quantities, until he owned the debts of whole nations. He grew practiced at arbitrage, causing national currencies to collapse. He cut wages and benefits in his many factories, forcing workers to strike, then watched as critical needs went unmet and those without food or medicines fought for scraps or laid down and died. As impoverished people rioted in the streets, he watched the chaos and basked in the suffering.

Cities burned at his word. Power. It wasn't enough.

He turned to matters political. He earned the loyalty of thugs and generals, politicians and terrorists. He supplied them weapons and training. He watched as country after country — overburdened with debt and besieged by a rioting citizenry demanding food and medicine — fell to palace coups and ideological revolutions. The victors took the throne, the losers were shot en masse in the courtyards of presidential palaces.

He watched the news on his television, lingering over shots of piled corpses and burning cars. After the chaos, the new rulers remembered their benefactor, as they remembered what he could do to them.

Nations bowed before him. He wanted more.

He turned to his industries and bade them make weapons of war. Swift spreading diseases. Potent and persistent toxins. Small explosives that produced megaton explosions. To his many client states, and many more beside, he offered these weapons at discount prices. International tensions, already high because of the wave of ousted regimes, ratcheted higher and higher and the newly empowered nations made demand after demand, not loudly rattling their sharp new sabers. The tension couldn't last.

Some besieged nation — maybe Israel, maybe India, maybe China — found itself pressed to the edge of collapse. A smaller neighbor, radiating smug glee because of their newfound power, made demand after demand. When the larger nation would not or could not comply, the smaller moved to take what they wanted, secure in the knowledge that no one would stop them. (Of this, Kanawa had well assured them.) To their shock, the larger nation fought back.

Thousands of soldiers rolled across their border, swamping their armed forces (still recovering from purges and civil strife). Their tanks and planes were destroyed, shot down by missiles two generations more advanced than any knew about (built, surprisingly, by a Kanawa-owned industry). The invaders pressed in, their regime crumbled, and in their terror and rage they unleashed the unthinkable.

Cities vanished, burned in an instant. Tens of thousands died, spasming violently as caustic chemicals burned their skin. Thousands of others fell in the streets retching, blood dripping from their pores and tear ducts.

The wars were horrific beyond imagining. Starting as regional wars, the multiple flashpoints threatened to go global. Nation after nation sent panicked delegates to warring states, begging for a ceasefire. The smaller nations, the larger nations — these both turned their backs to the diplomats and began planning revenge. Nations closed their embassies, evacuated their citizens. A small lull descended, but it was only a brief pause before all-consuming war erupted everywhere.

At this moment, an unknown young man stepped out onto the international stage. Quickly, quietly he used his connections and influence to reach the unreachable men with their fingers on the triggers. In each ear, he whispered the same words: Prosperity. Renewal. Rebuilding. Peace.

He flew from capitol to capitol, breaking the wills of the iron dictators. Great men, confronted with evidence of the deaths they caused, broke down in tears. How had they, a professor, a farmer, a loyal soldier become such a monster?

Against all rational expectations, against all belief, the armies retreated, across broken battlefields and away from the smoldering cities. Returning home, it was the same there. Torn up fields, collapsed silos. No spare parts, no oil, no gas. It would be famine.

Kanawa's industries began shipping relief packages in massive quantities, distributing food and medicines. Survivors slept on Kanawa's bunks, survivors ate Kanawa's food, survivors were treated with Kanawa's bandages and medicines. Kanawan nurses tended wounds, Kanawan doctors set bones, Kanawan engineers began removing debris, rebuilding bridges, clearing minefields, building shelters.

His aid in the crisis, his masterful diplomacy, the vast outpouring of generosity: the whole world knew him and all blessed his name. He was the most renowned man on the planet, a benefactor of humanity. He had more influence than most continents. He ruled the planet, in all but name.

Power, more power than had ever been granted to a single man anywhere, anywhen. The power to shape nations, to guide international organizations, to dictate policy and treaties to the whole world. The whole of the Earth was his.

It wasn't enough.