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Fantasy [ ♡ ] gauging interest for a xianxia/wuxia story

mizton

𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘴𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘥
o/

i come humbly to this forum to gauge the interest of a xianxia story. i had the thought of making a proper interest check, but i haven't seen many rps of this kind being advertised here so this felt appropriate to do first!

what is xianxia/wuxia/xuanhuan?

✦ disclaimer: i'm not the most experienced! i've read mostly parodies, but they are popular setting for webnovels & i find myself coming back to them for rps :')
✦ if you're interested in learning more, let me know! i'll share all i know ^^

looking for . . .

✦ a casual group of about 4-6 people!
✦ attention to detail & realistic world building
✧ ( i love thinking about side characters & the mundane life an npc of a cultivation sect might lead; if those are the little details you enjoy including in your post, we'll get along well! )
✦ brainstorm friendly
✦ art friendly
✧ not too comfortable using real life people for characters
✦ 18+ writers
disclaimer . . .
✦ my knowledge of chinese history extends to one rotk rp i went in blind to when i was 12
✦ i love making things look cute - count on me to make our rp look nice!
✦ not interested in a heavy focus on fighting or power progression -- i love nuance, slice of life, & drama!
✦ cannot promise consistency, but can promise an honest attempt
✧ i feel as though if i admit this early on, i can set our expectations accordingly

thank you for reading! if something like this interests you, leave a message! feel free to drop a writing sample & a plot idea.

some of my (outdated) writing samples relating to these genres:
Aug 12, 2021 at 4:25pm QuoteEditlikePost OptionsPost by hearmeo3t on Aug 12, 2021 at 4:25pm
“Ah, apologies.”

“Ah…” With a sigh, a tall, but slouching man waved off a passerby who’d pushed past him as turned to leave a food stall, only to be stumbled into again by someone else. This time, however, the treat he’d just bought was caught in the crossfire & knocked out of his hold! So the man had made a mistake in coming out tonight, it seemed. When he looked down to mourn his loss, he spotted a smidge of sauce that had just then stained the woven hemp of his shirt, ‘Do these people walk without eyes? Seriously…’
This man, Huang Fengye, was a local cultivator, studying with a renown sect somewhat near this town, simply looking for a change of atmosphere. There was no doubt in his mind that others shared his thinking, as he could’ve sworn he’d spotted a familiar face or two in the crowds. Earlier that week, the upcoming festival had taken over the conversations of passing disciples within his sect. Fengye couldn’t take a step beyond his quarters without hearing about it, so when the topic had reached his own circles, he decided to take the hint the world had sent him. He’d been getting inexplicably stuck in research, more often than usually & it irked him to no end, which brought him out here tonight.
In his current state, he tried to pass as one of the locals. It had been awhile since he’d worn civilian’s clothing; the irritation to his skin reminded him all night why that was. Even wearing his hair up & having the bun flop about when he moved was a nuisance. Still, he felt that dressing down that evening was only necessary so as not to disrupt the festivities. The sight of cultivators tended to suggest trouble in the area, after all.

The way he was being that night was rather uncharacteristic for him. He couldn’t remember the last time he was possessed to do something he liked & without people around him to keep up appearances; there really was no pressure tonight. Such relief made him feel light that night, though that may have been the drink he’d had earlier in the spirit of the festival.
When he felt the streets he’d been wandering during the boat races fill back up, he ambled towards the now-thinning crowd near the river. Though without meaning to, he walked with a lour that lifted as a flurry of vibrant silks twirled around a particular figure dancing before a new crowd he’d now found himself a part of.

As she danced, Fengye had taken to clapping & whooping along to a forming rhythm, the sight of the man now not unlike an overgrown boy. Though he couldn’t say how long the little show lasted, he felt it ended much too soon. The crowd groaned & sighed when the little dancer before them started to slow down after accepting a couple drinks from people egging her on. Still, Fengye was having a nice little time & it seemed the rest were too, as a few bold men took her place in the middle & Fengye kept to clapping along with their drunken stomping.

When he’d been bumped into by the lady stumbling past the mass to take her leave, he gave a short yelp. See, when Fengye smiled, the tip of his tongue tended to stick itself between his bite & so he bit it!

He whipped his head to try to catch sight of her, earning himself a couple pushes from the crowd for faltering suddenly. First his food, then the stain, and then this? This age of people really had no manners, it seemed! This was too much for one night! Fengye called after her, “You… Get back here!”

He pushed through & followed her to the pier with a quick pace, the tails of bright silk betraying her escape. When he’d caught up, the sight of her simply relaxing by the pier made him huff. The nerve! Were she perhaps in a better state of him, she might have been able to notice him approaching but he darted away as soon as she could have. He fell on his behind with a large rustling sound of whatever foliage or object he tried to take cover behind. He tried to collect himself & put together what he’d just seen: the lady became a snake before his very eyes, it would seem.
Had it spotted him? He’d approached way too loudly, as he hadn’t thought to have been on his guard, so it was possible. Perhaps against his better judgement, he crept out from his cover to take a second glance at the thing.
It was… wriggling? He tried to make sense of what was happening before him. It didn’t seem to notice him and he couldn’t help but think the festival’s staple of realgar was the reason as to why, but that wasn’t the breakthrough to be had here as that much felt obvious when he’d realized it. Why was she out tonight of all nights? Annoyance struck him at the thought of having been crossed by such a stupid serpent. He watched with a furrowed brow as she slunk away; he then came out from his hiding place to stand with his hands at his hips.
He wasn’t suicidal, so he didn’t immediately approach, but the thought crossed him. Oh, he was tempted. At this point, he didn’t concern himself as to whether or not he’d been caught, since he somehow knew he’d be safe even if she weren’t in the state she was now. His attention instead fell to the giant coil of skin she’d left behind. Assuming she was smart enough to not make a sudden movement so close to the festival, she must’ve still been close, he figured. If he came out now, maybe he’d be confronted & he could take her out right then and there.

That seemed fine, he decided. With little care to his step, Fengye approached the coil, looking around him and waving about, “Well then… Come out!”

He stood like that for a while, feeling a bit silly when no reply came. He tutted and crouched down to the shedding left out in the open. As it was, the coil was much too big to just carry. The man pulled at what he could and tore off a piece small enough to keep. If this encounter turned out to be fruitless, at least he’d have this, he thought, frowning at the bit of shedding. He’d find some use for it.

Stuffing it into a pocket, he straightened up and gave another look around. The pier was dimly lit from the night’s festivities and it was far from quiet. The air was full with the sounds of people, the cicadas, and the water below, but somehow Fengye heard a rustling just within the trees near the river. Had the circumstances that led him here been different, he would’ve thought nothing of it. Since they weren’t, Fengye crept toward the sound with a hand hovering above his pocket.

In the foot of a tree slept the dancer from before, her silks now a blanket around her. Not much time had passed at all, how did someone pass out so easily and after having so little to drink? Fengye’s head only pulsed at the thought of such simpleness taking him away from his evening. He could turn back, yes, but he felt he’d seen all there was to see that night at the festival. Not only that, but some scholar he’d be if he were to turn away such a grand prize. Still, in this state, there wasn’t much prize to be brought at all: the serpent was now just a human.

“Wakey-wakey… Come on, lady,” Fengye squatted down at her side to poke at her with a tiny branch from the ground.
The thought of the Spiritual Heart Fruit held Yan Huiyin's attention during that address. When she was a girl, such things were only of stories & the like. Ever since she's come to Zuigao, it's seemed even the wildest things have all come true. Today, it was the Spiritual Heart Fruit. The mention of it rang familiar; she thought maybe she'd heard of it last year. Back then, she'd had to watch as her shijie left her to take residence at the middle peak.
In terms of martial ability, she was about a year or two's worth of training behind the cusp of being able to take this exam comfortably. With this fruit, however... Nothing ventured, nothing gained, right? It seemed the girl beside her, likely 3 or 4 years her junior, shared this idea with her. To her left, she heard an audible gasp. "Is it true..?"

When the attendance was dismissed & the more brutish of the students left immediately for the forest, Yan Huiyin found herself holding back the thin wrist of this little shimei who tugged to join them. In a harsh tone, she told the girl, "If you can't even escape me, how can you expect to escape those spirit beasts?"
Having said this, she felt the girl slump & slightly pull her down. "A-Yan..." The girl whined. Faintly, she felt her brows raise. She knew her? Every time one of these addresses happened, it always surprised Yan Huiyin who tended to recognize her, while she couldn't even place a syllable to their faces. To Yan Huiyin, everybody tended to be a "you" or something of the like.
Never mind that. "Come on. At least have a pill before you leave," said Yan Huiyin, to which the little shimei happily obliged.


It seemed they weren't the only ones with this idea as, by the time the two got to the shop, the line had grown significantly. Chatter filled the air &, soon, one conversation — if it could even be called that — rang clearer above the rest's.

The nerve! Yan Huiyin shared a gasp with the smaller girl next to her. Hearing the retorts of the two boys at odds, they'd taken a moment to rubberneck towards the commotion. It was Lu Xue!
There wasn't a Zuigao disciple that didn't at least know of the prodigious Lu Xue. With this kind of celebrity, came knowing at least rumors of his past also came with that, though no one dared entertain the idea, at least not to his face. For somebody to blatantly announce that... Yan Huiyin felt her jaw clench on behalf of Lu Xue. Nothing was more annoying that those who couldn't act in accordance with civility.

Feng Tai, Lu Xue had said.

It was decided: Yan Huiyin didn't like this Feng Tai. Of course, none of this was easily shown outwardly. The girl beside her did share her thoughts, though. "To speak so plainly with Lu-shizhi... No wonder he walks alone everywhere. You know, this shimei has seen that Feng Tai before; he's always brooding."

The girl gave a nudge with her elbow, "Will A-Yan stop 'em?"

Yan Huiyin almost sneered, "A-Yan would die. Look at them."

"Oh, don't say that." It was true, though. The tension between them could cut stone. To even suggest getting between them was an idiot's idea & a death wish; Yan Huiyin eyed this passing "friend" of her with a bit of disdain at the mention of putting a stop to this herself. Truth be told, they were only talking because they'd happened to stand together during the address. She'd remember this little transgression: the suggestion.

However, the sight did bother her. Only brutes fought before elders &, even more so, in front of the damned shop! Compared to the two, there was no doubt in Yan Huiyin's mind that they surpassed her martial ability; one was a prized disciple & the other an idiot who dared pick a fight with said disciple. That alone made that Feng Tai dangerous.
If there was something that she had over the two, it was the fact that they weren't currently looking at her. Her mind sharp from it being midday & not yet bogged down from afternoon lessons, she turned to the smaller girl & urged, "Could Xiao-shimei share a snack?"

"What, I don't — hey!" In a gentle lunge, she reached into the other girl's sleeve & held up the pouch of huamei to her, a bit accusatorily. This troublesome girl... Lying: another transgression for Yan Huiyin to note. If there was one thing she knew about the younger disciples, it was that little things to nibble on between lessons weren't often far from their person.
This shimei gave a light half-laugh & plucked a plum from the pouch, plopping it into her mouth. Accepting the loss of her huamei, she asked, "A-Yan's not hungry, is she? Are you thinking perhaps they are?"

"Hm, maybe." Plucking one of the dried plums from its pouch, she held it up before a squinting eye. To consider Lu Xue as the target would've been social suicide, but this gloomy boy... Well, it didn't take much thought. Having lived in the sect for a little over half her life now, she'd gathered enough social points to be in a position to spare some with this little action. It wasn't often that she lashed out, if this could even have been called such. The thought of what was to come made her pull her furred collar up to her cheek, muffling a titter.

In a light motion, Yan Huiyin took aim & tossed the plum at that Feng Tai's temple.
 
Hello, I have an interest in this genre but it retains most by what kind of story we would be cultivating. In the past me and some players tried to do something like an MDZS roleplay with original characters (before that site had been run down), then a similar (though seemingly more fighting-oriented) rp that never took off back when I first joined RPN. I am more casual myself and won't be available for rapid-fire responses. I have a character in mind, and I'll wait to say much more to see if others are interested but maybe something maybe within that involves political intruge (spurring more drama), such as between factions, kingdoms, etc. marriages, or the more fantastical side of celestial and demonic encounters.

Did you have any plots or ideas in mind?
 
Chimeric Chimeric : thank you for your interest! as far as ideas go, i can't say i'm too picky -- as long as i'm not expected to think of detailed martial abilities or a power scaling system, there's really nothing that i wouldn't consider so long as this is the setting.

i have a particularly soft spot for factions/realms in forced proximity or cultivators watching the world pass & exploring the short lives of regular people. i'm more character-driven, so i'm hoping that the group i find can cover my weak spot when it comes to plot development. do you have any plot ideas?
 
Hmm, I might be interested if we can get a group and the post requirements are light. I'm rusty on my Wuxia television (haven't watched many since I was a kid) but I certainly have thought about doing a re-watch of Red Cliff. Granted, it's more historical than this roleplay will be but I figure that the time period would be close enough.

As far as plot ideas go, I did used to have a group that wrote in this genre and we have done the following:
1. Journey to the West style adventure (where the PCs were each assigned a creature from one of the Chinese constellations).
2. Six people from modern day are whisked away to the past.
3. A riff on both academy RPs and Wuxia tropes by having each school represent a different type of character

I'm currently on mobile so I can't dredge a full sample but my posting history is public if you wish to look there.
 
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Steve Jobs Steve Jobs - i'm thinking the post requirements will be light! it's more fun when there's less expectation

regarding your ideas, they're awesome!
1 - i like the idea of everyone being assigned a constellation; character prompts like that always result in interesting characters o7
2 - as for isekais, i'm in love! my only concern might be that maybe half the cast should be from the current era to make things more interesting for us
3 - what were the different types of characters you were thinking of? i need to familiarize myself with more wuxia tropes, but i'm down!

phibglib phibglib - awesome! feel free to drop any ideas you were interested in
 
Steve Jobs Steve Jobs - i'm thinking the post requirements will be light! it's more fun when there's less expectation

regarding your ideas, they're awesome!
1 - i like the idea of everyone being assigned a constellation; character prompts like that always result in interesting characters o7
2 - as for isekais, i'm in love! my only concern might be that maybe half the cast should be from the current era to make things more interesting for us
3 - what were the different types of characters you were thinking of? i need to familiarize myself with more wuxia tropes, but i'm down!

phibglib phibglib - awesome! feel free to drop any ideas you were interested in
I’m pretty much content to go along for the ride while RPing. The only strong preference I have is for it to be a speculative fiction story and/or historical. That being said, I’m intrigued by the idea of an Isekai type plot, and I wonder, if we were to go down this route, if our characters would have to be of Chinese origin, or could they be a western character dropped into a Chinese-esque setting?
 
tentatively interested [will need to check if I will be able to divide my attention to handle one more rp, but I will leave a piece of my mind here]
For the isekai route it could be done in three ways:
1. Reincarnated into the world
2. Transported to the world as is
3. Transported into someone's body

with options 1 and 3, one would not need to worry about looking out of place.

And now for the general idea, as we all know china has provinces, now the idea is that each province has its great sect [aka the biggest/strongest/most important sect in the area].
But in the province the thing will be set in its great sect died out / vanished [whatever reason that the spot is now empty], so now various sects are fighting to take that spot and we so happen to be a member in one or many of those sects.
 
phibglib phibglib - that sounds cool! i will say that if it's a matter of reincarnation, then they likely have to be chinese. otherwise, i think it'd be cool to have diversity!

Megilagor Megilagor - if it helps, i think this rp will likely not be too much of a commitment! additionally, i love the idea of reincarnation or transmigration! straight transportation doesn't seem too bad either, especially if magic shenanigans can help the characters walk about unsuspected.

also the classic power struggle seems cool! i'm always into a cool political premise
 
seems like an interesting premise, I've been on a chinese wuxia drama marathon these days
 
Steve Jobs Steve Jobs - i'm thinking the post requirements will be light! it's more fun when there's less expectation

regarding your ideas, they're awesome!
1 - i like the idea of everyone being assigned a constellation; character prompts like that always result in interesting characters o7
2 - as for isekais, i'm in love! my only concern might be that maybe half the cast should be from the current era to make things more interesting for us
3 - what were the different types of characters you were thinking of? i need to familiarize myself with more wuxia tropes, but i'm down!

phibglib phibglib - awesome! feel free to drop any ideas you were interested in

The third plot was had each school be a different character archetypes so like one represented the "drunken master", another specialized in Wire Fu, etc, etc. It seems like everyone is going for the isekai idea though, which I don't mind.

It would be interesting if everyone was scattered into different factions/families and had figure out whether to assimilate to their "new" life (which could include fighting other factions) or find a way to get back home.
 
Very interested, Ive been looking for a wuxia setting for a bit. If we're talking preference, I would be hoping its a bit more on the fantastical side; ghosts, monsters, magical taoist nonsense and all that jazz.
 
MisoraUni MisoraUni - nice! what have you been watching? also, any ideas for a plot?

Steve Jobs Steve Jobs - that sounds cool! i love the idea of longing to go back home; it brings up an interesting premise of wanting to go home, but then finding nice company along the way & asking oneself if they even want to go back.

Sepokku Sepokku - same here! every so often, i'll check these interest checks for something of this setting & never find anything.

also, i couldn't agree more - those fantasy elements are really fun. do you have any ideas or concepts for a plot or premise?
 
MisoraUni MisoraUni - nice! what have you been watching? also, any ideas for a plot?

Steve Jobs Steve Jobs - that sounds cool! i love the idea of longing to go back home; it brings up an interesting premise of wanting to go home, but then finding nice company along the way & asking oneself if they even want to go back.

Sepokku Sepokku - same here! every so often, i'll check these interest checks for something of this setting & never find anything.

also, i couldn't agree more - those fantasy elements are really fun. do you have any ideas or concepts for a plot or premise?
recently watched Who Rules the World, Legend of the White Snake, Love Between Fairy and Devil, and The Untamed - amongst those I really enjoyed the premise of Who Rules the World - both of the mc's are known throughout the martial arts world while hiding the fact that they are royalty.

Personally I would like something with martial arts and supernatural stuff. Like something where mystical skills can be learned or achieved through cultivation / and or something where people are born with an innate latent ability that then awakens at a certain age etc..
 
Personally I would like something with martial arts and supernatural stuff. Like something where mystical skills can be learned or achieved through cultivation / and or something where people are born with an innate latent ability that then awakens at a certain age etc..

so we are talking about something called a connate providence [or at least that's what it's called In most media that I read or watch.] as in within someone from birth but whatever it is active from such time is a different matter. Then there is acquired providence, which essentially amounts to stuff like people passing their providence onto others via inheritance or a series of tests.
 
One of the plots for a xianxia that I was part of that never got off the ground was that the Official Censor of the West, the Water Dragon, Lord Tempest's mistress had been kidnapped and the cast was tasked with retrieving her. It served to introduce us all to each other, as the censor had called us in from all over the land.

As for a premise, I'm not terribly sure! It depends on where everyone is leaning. The Isekai route seems popular so far. We could have something like X amount of the cast has been Isekai'd and then the rest are natives to the world.
 
i mean we can do mix and match really.
Some isekai'd, some native to the world and time, some who were whisked away from their time period but are still from the same world, some reincarnated people [either from the same world or from other], or some trope i saw recently that where the protagonist is from said world and time period but their future descendant goes back and gives something to them as to help them [like in the Nano Machine manga or a few others]
just general mishmash of various people it would diversify the RP and could help gather more people.
 
Very interested, love wuxia! My two cents, these are all IMO feel free to ignore me:
Isekai works best when it's a single defined flavor (another world, time leap, rebirth, etc) and it's the premise for every player character, that way you keep it simple and it's the immediate marker that the PCs are special like the protagonists that they are. Personally not a fan of isekai but if we're going with it then I can do it no problem!

Xianxia/cultivation scale tends to go crazy stacking new realms for characters to enter and while it works (arguably) for long running novel series, it's not so good for telling a smaller story that lets people interact regularly and at length with a setting and eachother. Keeping mystic elements but a relatively more mundane scale, so people can't retreat to their personal cloud and never have to interact with a grounding world, might be best.
 
MisoraUni MisoraUni - trust me, you & me both. i LOVE the supernatural & lean more towards xianxia because of it, but i'm hoping we can incorporate some elements regardless if we go the wuxia route! as for those shows, i'll definitely have to check them out; i've always wanted to watch tv dramas in this setting but never knew what to search for -- i'm gonna check out Who Rules the World first!

Megilagor Megilagor - i haven't heard of providence before, where's that from? from what i looked up, i understand it's like spiritual power?

additionally, i agree with your mix & match idea. having some of the cast being isekai'd & reincarnated sounds like it could be fun. i'm currently reading a story where someone from the cultivation world wakes up in like a modern-day cyperpunk world.

Sepokku Sepokku - i love that! having a save-the-damsel/retrieval kind of story makes for a really straightforward task that everyone can get behind -- when stories are too sandbox-y, it tends to make me lose focus :')

that premise is great! i mentioned it earlier, but my vote is for some of the cast to have the option to be from the current era. i know if we're going the isekai route, i'm likely going to write one of the current era people.

Perdict Perdict - that's a good point with xianxia - i hadn't really though about it, but it totally makes sense that, if our characters are like these all-powerful cultivators from the get-go, there's no saying the amount of godmodding or convenient teleporting that could happen that might ruin the story.

i tend to lean towards xianxia just because it allows for anything to be cultivated; i've always wanted to have a character be born from like a rock absorbing enough magical essence (lmao)



it sounds like most of us are looking for a wuxia story, so i might need some help with things like history/premise, but i do like Sepokku's mention of a retrieval type of story. that might be the most straightforward.

additionally, i'm curious how isekai/reincarnation will tie in -- is there going to be some event that prompts the sudden dragging of other souls to the current era?

my initial thoughts are like someone is building an group for a specific purpose & summons our characters in this way. i also like the idea of everyone not immediately being their powerful selves -- having some room for character growth, power or person-wise, makes things more fun for everyone, i believe.

in regards to powers, i mentioned this in the original post, but i'm really looking for this story to not be too heavily-focused on things like powers or abilities, but more character-driven.
 
You could just mix and match elements, keep the themes and general style and elements of a xianxia story (greater range of mysticism) but within a scale closer to wuxia (cultivators are a parallel society that intermixes with normal people, not an entirely separate plane of existence), no need to get trapped into one closed idea of a genre or another.

Isekai, while I do agree that it's overplayed and less interesting to me, is really easy to implement since the cycle of death and rebirth is such an important religious element in China. Any given thing that upsets the balance might make for characters being reincarnated, although then you're getting into a grander scale?
 
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i haven't heard of providence before, where's that from? from what i looked up, i understand it's like spiritual power?
There is a great manga that fully explains what providences albeit in a bit of a comedic way its called "Top Tier Providence: Secretly Cultivate for a Thousand Years"
But long story short if it was a game those would be passive skills one usually has since birth.
For example sword talent where they learn quickly and easier than rest.
Or pill body providence is the easiest to explain cause it relates to pill making and its only use is that your pills are slightly better than others and that you can ise your own body as a furnace so to speak.
Or another easy providence relates to tribulations where it just makes the tribulation easier but longer.
 
SomebodyElse SomebodyElse - right? i feel like everything i've read in this genre is some form of isekai. i'll have to see what we land with; Perdict brings up a good point, too! it seems like a theme that's hard to avoid, but i'm open to something other than isekai/reincarnation.

Perdict Perdict - i like that idea! the thought of mixing ideas feels fun, so i'll definitely look into doing something like that if this thing takes off.

Megilagor Megilagor - i see! i'll have to read that to learn a bit more. i have to admit, i'm not the most interested in like skills or things like that, but i love the idea of a character having some predestined aspect about them that they can't get away from
 
It’s not that difficult to write a non isekai tbh.
It really just depends on what kind of RP we want. Are we writing drama, action, adventure? Is there supernatural elements involved?
 
i've been lurking a few days. I've been absent for a long time from the site. and pretty much only been giving writing advice in a facebook group during my inactive time. But I'd like to get back out there. Wuxia themes are one I hold dear and love. From the Romance of the Three Kingdoms iterations (including the games) to pretty much any chinese Wuxia movie or tv series.

TL;DR I'm interested
 

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