10,000 SWORDS AGAINST HEAVEN — THE CULTIVATOR RPG
10,000 SWORDS AGAINST HEAVEN is a science fantasy spirit cultivation RPG about Cultivators struggling against unfair heavens seized by the Bourgeoisie. The setting is a technogothic weird realism xianxia nightmare at the Heat Death of the Universe, where life force is hoarded.
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You play as WANDERERS—violent and very much nascent Cultivators who find the truth of the world: that all of humanity’s birthright is Cultivation, but it has been stripped away from them by the occulted machinations of the Ruling Elite.
Game-wise it is a game of struggling to gain and maintain power. To gain a fighting chance, you must navigate the Martial Underworld, which is pincushioned by Sects. These Sects function like Classes—they grant social position, abilities, and skills. That is to say, they organize you.
It has a sleek core resolution system, rules for SMT--like social play through leverage and disposition, rules for discovering knowledge through exploration called Clarity, rules for dungeons, and rules for the most intensified moments in the cosmos: violence.
The combat rules are semi-turn based. Inspired by Fighting Game mechanics and Kung-Fu/Silat Films. They move thorugh Actions, count in Ticks (but isn’t really Tick-based), and emphasize Interrupts—everyone can spend Actions to Interrupt another, creating a brutal and kinetic cascade of blows akin to RWBY or Dead Fantasy, while at the same time serving as a point of tactical reads and anticipation.
To strike a blow against the lattice of heaven, one must first be organized. A hundred atoms arranged in the shape of a heaven-defying spear.
It is a game that is heavily inspired by Xianxia Fiction of China (Lord of the Mysteries, Reverend Insanity) and the old Weird Fiction (Perdido Street Station, Ashton Clark Smith, Neuromancer, Lord of Light, Book of the New Sun). It is a game inspired by Kung Fu Films (Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain, The Raid: Redemption and The Raid 2, Ip Man).
It is a game inspired by cosmic horror and alien-occult apocalyptic fiction of the 90s and early 00s: Shin Megami Tensei, Digital Devil Saga, Neon Genesis Evangelion, NieR Automata, Marathon, and so on.
It is a game inspired by the struggle of the Global South interconnected with the broader struggles of the working class across the world.
Arise, ye prisoners of Spirit! Awake, ye scorned of heaven! The keys to our emancipation lay before us, we must only needs seize the hammer and shatter these chains! Until all the hells are empty, until all beings are free!
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