| Developing New Qi Techniques by Plucky From what I've seen, gong fu goes along 2 axis. One axis is internal/external. Internal is qi (chi, ki, whatever) and external is the outer physical kung fu moves/reflex. The other axis is Hard and Soft. The philosophy of the Hard style tend to be a huge burst of power to overwhelm the enemy - like lightning striking a tree. The philosophy of the Soft style is to redirect and erode the enemy's force - much like yielding water creating a valley over time. Typically, Shaolin tends to be associated with Harder arts while Wu-Tan is associated with Softer arts (that's not always a fair accessment though). Internal can be further separated into Yang (heat) and Ying (cold). Amongst other things, this really means heat and cold effects. The 'qi veins' in the human body are separated into yang and ying. Depending on how the person practices qi, it is possible to build up yang qi or ying qi only. This is not necessarily harmful, by the way. Dragon Girl can be considered a mistress of Ying internal style. (The ultimate style practiced by Guo Jing/Yang Guo/Dragon Girl formally translates into the Scripture of Nine Ying while that practiced by Cheung Wu Zee translates to the Scripture of Nine Yang.) Frequently, the most powerful gong fu is a balanced blend of internal/external, hard/soft, and ying/yang. However, there are also some really powerful ones that are more focused along one axis or another. Here are some examples. (Since I don't know what the 'formal' translated names of the styles, I'll make up my own.) Tai-chi is both internal and external but primarily soft style. The "Sunflower scroll" practiced by Asia the Invincible is ying internal with hard external. "18 Palms of Dragon Slaying" practiced by Guo Jing (as taught to him by the North Beggar) is hard internal and hard external "Iron Shirt" is hard external In Heavenly Sword and Dragon Saber, Cheung Wu Zee (the main character) learned, from a scroll, gong fu that allows him to redirect forces and use the enemys' attack against them. In the novel, there were no "moves" associated with this gong fu so this is soft internal art. "Scripture of Nine Yang" would be yang, hard internal. "Scripture of Nine Ying" incorporates manuvers with qi practice so it's ying internal (with both hard and soft elements) and hard external. I am all for simplicity...as long as players don't ask to do things they saw on tv that's hard to define within the simplified structure. (Then, I've gotta learn to say NO!!) I wish the famous wuxia authors had been more organized. Anyway, for complex gaming purposes, I ended up somewhere around here: 1. A lot of the gong fu has different 'levels' to them - different moves for external or attainment for internal. The fact of the matter is, it's just increasing power of the same basicattack. Some people spend decades trying to advance to the next level. 2. I agree with you completely, by differentiating the external/internal/hard/soft qualities by limiting powers to certain qualities. [Rob's Note: What he's talking about is my suggestion to categorize HERO powers into 4 possible lists Hard External, Hard Internal, Soft External, Soft Internal, and depending on which the character's style was, he'd only have access to the powers from that list.] 3. There are gongfu that have no discernable qualities per se. Realistically, that had more to do with particular author's writing style than anything else. On the other hand, a lot of Asian philosophy goes in cycles - extreme yang becomes ying and extreme ying becomes yang. Practically speaking, elementary gongfu is too basic to have specialized qualities to them while really advanced gongfu has reconcile the differences between the extremes. So, I implement a martial arts skill. Anyone learning martial arts must successfully roll their martial arts. I figure one skill is enough. Before going further, I also want to say that 'side effects' (or losing control to the infernal flame) is a common theme, especially with regards to practicing qi. This happens when someone try to learn something too fast, becomes distracted in their meditation, or attempt to learn something incompatible to what they've already practiced. The effects can be anything from going crazy to losing their qi to losing their lives. Many old masters can no longer fight or walk because they messed up trying to learn some difficult, advanced gong fu. Okay, learning all gong fu, even to attain the next level of mastery, requires a skill roll. Next, any gongfu that people bring up, define it along the hard/soft (and Ying/Yang if desired) axis..say from -5 to 5. Advanced gongfu that are beyond categorization have the Advantage "able to work with any gongfu". All the flavor text become modifiers to the skill roll for advancement. Learning from typical books/scrolls is neutral (unless it's cryptic). Every 5 active points (or 10 point of END in the qi pool) is -1 to skill roll. Creating new gongfu on one's own doubles above penalty. Learning from a great sifu gives bonuses to the roll. Learning gongfu that has a different sign along either axis gives negative modifier (additive). For even more complication, add a 'time to learn' for any gongfu and apply modifiers for moving up and down the time chart. Any failures that miss by 4 or more is subject to the side effect. The severity and effect of the side effect depends on the gongfu this practitioner is trying to learn. Typically, side effects are difficult to get rid of and usually involves: 1. Finding a qi master willing to risk side effect to treat you. 2. Finding a master doctor who also knows a lot about qi. 3. Finding some rare, once-in-a-hundred-year herb or animal. 4. Practicing some ultra-powerful qigong. In novels, you frequently read about the established, 'white' school that teaches people to take one step at a time (this minimize the chance of something bad happening) and the 'black' schools that emphasizes maximum power in the shortest amount of time (with maximum risk...like trying to advance 40 active points in 1 shot). Incidentally, that's why the supreme Shaolin qigong, Yi-zin-zing, is so powerful. It's said to be the qigong that can blend any other qigong. Learning Yi-zin-zing can cure side effects and dramatically reduce incuring side effects in the future. Of course, there can also be specific conditions and effects of each gongfu. Gu Long had one where, before you've completely mastered the qigong, your qi comes and goes at random. And, there's the famous Xin Yun one about castration.... As to your question about how ying and yang oppose each other. Usually, greater qi wins regardless. However, ying or yang aligned powers also have the elemental damage kicker. Typically, only ying can heal yang damage and vice versa, however. Plucky Return to Index |