Wandering Blades

Wandering Blades

In Wandering Blades, you and your friends take on the roles of highly skilled martial artists who roam the lands seeking to redress wrongs, help the downtrodden, and free the innocent from oppression. Using a streamlined system inspired by old-school renaissance games, Wandering Blades enables dynamic and lethal combat while empowering players to tell heroic and melodramatic stories inspired by Chinese wuxia media, Japanese animation, and action video games.

Wandering Blades is a game for a game master and 2-5 players. The book from Daniel Kwan and the Wandering Blades team will be 120+ pages with a cover by Leia Ham and interior art by Lim Li Wei.

Gorgeous Tabletop Violence

Daniel designed Wandering Blades gameplay to emulate the cinematic language and tempo of wuxia action cinema and contemporary action video games, using these guiding principles: 

• Danger is Everywhere — The world of Wandering Blades is full of danger, and the smallest mistake can be deadly. The weapons and martial arts techniques wielded by player characters are instruments of death, but so are those of their adversaries. 
• Old-School Principles — The system of Wandering Blades is designed to create a gameplay experience that is open-ended, challenging, and supportive of emergent narratives. Players are encouraged to discover solutions within the game world, not on their character sheet. 
• Skillful and Dynamic Combat — Fights in Wandering Blades are designed to feel stylish, fast, and compelling. Success in combat relies heavily on skill, instead of luck. The martial arts skills of each class are not only narratively unique, but are expressed as such through their game mechanics. This system was designed to have a short “time to violence,” enabling players to dive into the action and hone their skills. 
• Toolbox Experience — The rules in Wandering Blades are written as guidelines for GMs (game masters). They are open to player interpretation, ingenuity, and expansion.

Making a Hero

Wandering Blades includes three archetypal and highly customizable character classes.

The Youxia is a knight-errant style hero who often wanders the world in disguise, until someone recognizes their martial prowess. They are known for their signature weapons, each bearing a unique name, and the techniques they learned from the martial arts sects where they were disciples.

The Scholar has dedicated their life to developing their minds. Whether they are officials, physicians, an inquisitive busybody, or someone who studied for the imperial exams, they are known for their insights into locations, people, and objects. Their martial arts rely on keen, quick analysis and a deep understanding of their targets' acupoints.

The Outlaw is notorious for their life of crime and often has their ear to the ground. They have a range of special abilities that represent their criminal pasts, and their martial arts focus on trickery, control, and bravado.

In play, Wandering Blades features:

• Comprehensive procedures streamlined for ease of use to help emulate the narrative elements of heroic martial arts fiction
• Superhuman martial arts techniques strengthened by inner qi
• No skills: characters rely on their attributes to solve problems
• Easy to learn, yet tactical rules for dynamic and lethal martial arts combat

For GMs, the book includes:

• Guidelines to help craft wuxia stories
• Sandbox adventures inspired by classic martial arts media

Time for Action

Want to know what you'll get before you pledge? Pick up the quickstart and rules demo on Itch and preview all of the lethal melodrama!

The Book

Published by Plus One Exp with art direction and layout by Johnny Isorena, the book's design captures the spirit of classic OSR system books like Cairn, The Black Hack, and Old School Essentials, while highlighting the work of artists Leia Ham and Lim Li Wei.

The game also comes with both printable and form-fillable character sheets designed by Johnny and Daniel.

Add-Ons

Pick up any rewards, and you can add:

• A PDF copy of Daniel Kwan's Wicked Congregation: A solo journaling game about the last surviving member of a team investigating an evil cult.

Pick up any physical rewards, and you can add:

• Wandering Blades stickers
• Wandering Blades art cards
• A notepad of Wandering Blades character sheets
• Wandering Blades miniatures
• A print and PDF copy of Daniel Kwan's Wicked Congregation.

Media & Reviews

Daniel's completed several interviews, reviews, and profiles, with even more coming. Learn about Wandering Blades at:

• A Love Letter to Violence on Talk of the Table
• Daniel Kwan Talks Wandering Blades, Designing RPGs & Action Movies!
• Daniel Kwan on Between Two Cairns Podcast
• The Cinematic Violence of Wandering Blades at Rascal News (Subscription)
• Weird Games & Weirder People Podcast with Diogo Nogueira
• ENWorld's Not DnD Video Series
• The What Am I Rolling Podcast
• Third Kingdom Games on RPG.net
• The Character Creation Cast (Part 1)
• The Character Creation Cast (Part 2)
• The Character Creation Cast (Part 3)

Stretch Goals

FUNDED! At $20,000, we add two digital zine supplements: one collecting short essays on the wuxia genre and another containing additional class options, wuxia-inspired adversaries/NPCs, and alternative rules adapting the Wandering Blades system to different genres.

FUNDED! At $25,000, we add more illustrations by Lim Li Wei to the core book.

FUNDED! At $30,000, we add a new sandbox adventure complete with isometric and top-down maps to the core rulebook. 

FUNDED! At $35,000, we produce an annotated scan of Daniel's design notebook to give you a deep dive into the design process behind Wandering Blades.

FUNDED! At $38,000, we sponsor an actual play of Wandering Blades with the One Shot Network.

SUCCESS! At 1000 Backers, we will create a printable initiative card for Fast & Slow declarations included at all pledge levels & commission as a customized set of initiative coins as a physical add-on.

What They're Saying

"Wandering Blades is a bold mix of OSR tradition, modern story game innovation, and fast, furious combat. As I read this book, I feel the hyper-violent action/drama potential blooming. It is a tightly constructed martial arts movie RPG generator, and I'm really excited about it."

— Brad Kerr, Co-Host of Between Two Cairns

“The combat system in Wandering Blades is an absolute blast, combining strategy and seamless action for an electrifying experience! It’s super intuitive for newcomers, yet packed with deep tactical choices for seasoned players. Every fight feels like an epic showdown, with martial arts techniques and dynamic actions that keep you on the edge of your seat. Get ready for fast-paced, skill-driven battles where every move matters and excitement is guaranteed!”

— B. Dave Walters (@BDaveWalters), Lead Developer of Into the Mother Lands and the UNDISPUTED Wizard of the Coast

“The game’s experience is driven so powerfully by its mechanics, the feeling of playing a session is distinct in the character of gameplay. With such a strong sense of identity, it is clear Wandering Blades is created and designed with deeply rooted passions. Daniel is executing on an inspired vision, and I could not be more excited watching something come to life.”

— Jesse T. William, professional GM on StartPlaying with over 900 hosted games 

“Wandering Blades is a beautifully written system, and I’m especially excited for the use of the Keepsake and Reputation in play. For the GM specifically, it’s great to see that character advancement encourages interactions between player characters (making a GM’s job much easier!) Looking forward to seeing Wandering Blades fund soon!”

— Banana Chan (@bananachangames), award-winning game designer and co-creator of Jiangshi: Blood in the Banquet Hall

Daniel & The Team

Daniel is a Canadian podcaster, game designer, and cultural consultant. He is the recipient of 5 Gold and 4 Silver ENnie Awards for his work in the tabletop gaming industry.

You might know him as the co-host and showrunner of the Asians Represent! podcast. As a freelance narrative designer, some of his notable works include Candlekeep Mysteries, The Ultimate Micro-RPG Book, Avatar Legends, Dark Archive, Ross Rifles, and the Tian Xia series. As a cultural consultant, he has worked for companies like Wizards of the Coast, Dimension 20, Critical Role Productions, and Asmodee.

Daniel Kwan - Lead Designer, Lead Writer, & Project Manager

Dawei Yao - Contributing Designer & Contributing Writer

Drew Quon - Contributing Designer & Contributing Writer

Agatha Cheng - Contributing Writer & Cultural Consultant

Leia Ham - Cover Art

Lim Li Wei - Interior Art

Jacky Leung - Copyeditor

Sarah Hill - Proofreader

Tony Vasinda - Publisher, Plus One Exp

Johnny Isorena - Layout & Graphic Designer

Richard Ruane - Crowdfunding Coordinator