Wu Xing alternates back and forth between regional
sourcebooks and clan sourcebooks. At the beginning of the year we got the
latest clan sourcebook Truth and Lies,
covering the rival clans The Will of Iron and the Hidden Strands.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW: You will need the Wu Xing core rules
to use this, which is available in print for $20 and PDF for $10. The print
book is in black and white softcover. I got mine via the Truth and Lies
Kickstarter a while back.
The first chapter is an in-character “fluff” chapter
directed at a new recruit to the Will of Iron, filling him in on the Clan’s
purpose and methods. The Will of Iron are hardcore enforcers of the law (or
their law, anyway, known as The Tao of Steel, which is broken down law by law
in a sidebar, featuring such gems as “Stopping a crime is meaningless if the
criminal can commit it again”, “A starving innocent is tragic, but a fat
criminal is an outrage” and “To tolerate a crime today weakens the resolve to
enforce the law tomorrow”). Other sidebars cover notable members of the clan,
including the elderly boogeyman known as Justice’s Blade. Other cool and
notable tidbits about The Will of Iron include their hidden prison known as The
Repeating Prison, where they imprison criminals who should not be killed but
cannot be openly detained, trapping them in casks and forcing them to relive
their crimes. The structure of the clan is detailed as well, including a
treatise on how The Will of Iron trains. We also get a deeper discussion of The
Will of Iron feels about the other clans, though they generally find something
wrong with each clan.
The Hidden Strands of Fate are shadowy manipulators to The
Will of Iron’s hardcore enforcers. One of the first things we learn about the
Hidden Strands is that the new inductees are selected by existing members, who
manipulate the destruction of the potentials’ enemies to ensure that they
survive to become Hidden Strands. We also find out (from the Hidden Strands, if
they are to be believed) that they have manipulated each of the clans to ensure
that they have incarnated into their current forms. Greater good and all that,
I suppose. So you know, they don’t like the Will of Iron. The chapter ends with
a dirty tease about just precisely what role The Hidden Strands play in the
Ninja Crusade, though we don’t get to SEE it.
Chapter Three delves into the mechanics. Two new Passions
are introduced: Treachery (especially for the Hidden Strands) and Pursuit
(generally for the Will of Iron). The Will has new Gifts (like Sentaka, which
grants bonuses to hunting criminals) and Drawbacks (like being so Sadistic that
they lose control when attacking their target). Strand Gifts and Drawbacks
include 100-Year Thread (using silk soaked in the blood of the clan’s enemies
for 100 years) and Truthful (which is a huge problem when your whole clan is a
bunch of liars). New weapons include Butterfly Swords and the impressive
Seven-Branched Sword as well as the terrifying Heaven Splitter.
Two new Fighting Styles are included: Deer Style (which uses
sais and is a
defensive style that focuses on locking up weapons and breaking them, or striking
a crushing blow when attacking off of a Parry or Dodge) and Silkworm Style
(using chains and designed to take opponents down quickly). The Way of the
Metal provides new Wushu which lets the ninja sense metals, split metal pieces
into multiple shards and ultimately summon a magnetic storm of metal. The Way
of Spun Threads can increase the strength of threads, create a whirlwind that
turns their threads into wicked weapons and even transforming into a wicked
warrior protruding threads from their body. The Way of Heaven’s Judgment allows
the ninja to attack the guilty with increased accuracy and damage (while causing
the opponent to become sloppy), allow them to reduce damage taken (and turn
some of it into chi that they can use in return) and even become a walking
embodiment of justice.
Three new Celestial Animals are added: Spiders, Peacocks and
Silver Dragons, with an example of each, including a Celestial Spider that is
hunted by the Will of Iron.
The first of the new clans is called the Sons of Steel,
hardnosed warriors that make the Will of Iron look like softies. In fact, the
Sons of Steel are completely emotionless. They have the Way of the Iron Mind,
which allows them to shut out mind-altering effects, remove emotions from other
individuals and, at the height of their power, remove emotion from everyone
around them.
The second clan is Veiled Ones, an offshoot of the Hidden
Strands. They have the Way of Pulled Strings which allows them to see through
the eyes of their puppets, make their puppets look lifelike, and even control
victims directly with their wushu.
An adventure is included that involves altering the balance
of power in an Empire trade city, but both the Hidden Strands and the Will of
Iron insist on including members of their clans on the strike team.
WHAT WORKS: The cool new mechanics are a great addition and
some of the setting elements are nice. The options for playing the Will of Iron
as “not nice” as well as playing an “honest” Strand of Fate is really
intriguing as well.
WHAT DOESN’T WORK: The adventure left me a little cold for
some reason.
CONCLUSION: If you like Wu Xing, there’s a lot of great
setting elements here to play around with (like the Repeating Prison). There
are also some swell new rules like the wushu, new styles, new weapons (I do dig
the Seven-Branched Sword and Heaven’s Splitter). Unless you’re playing
troupe-style, your players won’t need a ton of clan options, but the Veiled
Ones or the Sons of Steel could make for great antagonists. Definitely
recommended for fans of Wu Xing as there are some cool elements to use even if
you don’t have Will of Iron or Hidden Strands PCs in your games.
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