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The Good: In play the system rarely slowed things down, was very intuitive for other players to grasp, and was easy to work with. The flavor of the setting is clearly communicated through the art and text. Stat + Skill + Die Roll is easy for everyone to understand.
The Bad: General character options and adversaries are small in number at times. Very little attention is paid to some key elements, such as martial arts societies, while a lot of attention is given to less useful elements, such as important NPCs. While it’s not really a ‘bad’ thing, the mechanics and game play are unexceptional.
The Physical Thing
This 274 page black, white, and brown hardcover showcases average production values for its $37.95 price tag. The interior full color map of the world along with some evocative art pieces do a good job of bringing the setting home for the reader. The lack of an index is largely balanced by a good table of contents, though an index would be handy considering all the different special powers that can be purchased. While the character sheet looks neat, I wish it included rules summaries and had more room for players to write in their own notes. Being pretty is great, but a functional character sheet can aid play and reduce the amount of player handouts needed.Under the Cover
The SettingQin kicks off with a solid piece of setting fiction and the creation myth for the world. The gods were formed from nothingness, ruled over the world for a time, and were ultimately driven away by an army of immortals (who left with them). A system of Emperors was devised by the gods and continued by mortals but, ultimately, this system failed and the empire fractured into seven different states who would continue to fight with one another into the future. Qin, due to its reorganization around principles of legalism and the bureaucratic state, has recently emerged as the most powerful of all of these states.
Each of these states receives several pages of detail, including information on history, geography, relations with other states, figures of note, and similar information. While each state is presented as being distinct, they share the same cultures and traditions such that it’s easy for the GM to set the game in any one state and not have to worry about spinning out more than a brief sentence or two about what makes that state unique. While I like that each state has its own unique aspects, I wish more attention had been paid to developing interesting plot hooks for the states generally rather than relying on write-ups of key NPCs that each have one or two hooks in their descriptions.
Other than the states, China sports a large number of independent martial arts clans which dwell on the boundaries of civilizations. Complete with their own codes of honor and unique lifestyles, these clans are highly varied but often reflect the outcasts and undesirables of society who have fled to try and find a better life for themselves elsewhere. Unfortunately, the book spares only a scant two pages on martial arts clans, which are part of very short chapter on the world of martial arts. In a game so focused on martial prowess it seeds very odd to touch on such an integral subject so lightly.
The remainder of the setting information is devoted to philosophy, culture, and behind the scenes players. Philosophy is explored in short discussions of Confucianism, Legalism, Mohism, and Taoism which are each integral philosophies to the setting. The text explores ancient Chinese culture through describing various aspects of community life, law, and the customs of China. Finally, some attention is given to powerful shape shifting dragons who control the world from behind the scenes.
The setting is well presented in that its sparse attention to detail provides just enough material for the GM and players to set the scene without getting bogged down in minutiae. However, the focus of some of the setting material strikes me as odd and unhelpful. While I find the idea of dragons ruling the world from the shadows to be interesting, I wish there were instead more martial arts clans.
In play my group didn’t engage the stock setting elements very often. Our setup was that the characters are members of the Ministry of Justice in Qin and have been asked to look into a gold mining town because of a decrease in the taxes being brought in by the Ministry of the Treasurey. While we collectively played up an ancient China sort of mood, largely from having watched various movies such as Hero, we intentionally left some of the established setting at the door. For example, the subservient role of women in the setting was highly unappealing to one of the women I play with. I understand her position and agree with it. I would be hard pressed to run a game in this setting with a strong female character that isn’t set in the world of martial arts. While I appreciate the historical aspects of the setting, including the role of women, some parts just weren’t for us in play.
The Rules
Qin primarily makes use of two ten sided dice, the Yin die and the Yang die. Players roll both of these dice and subtract the higher value from the lower, sometimes noting which die controls. So, for example, if Yin turned up 3 and Yang turned up 7 then the result is 7 – 3 = 4, 4 Yang controls. When the dice turn up the same value then a critical success occurs and the character not only does extremely well but also restores some of their Chi. When the dice turn up double zeroes then a critical failure occurs and the reverse happens. The odd thing is that critical successes are Yin/Yang balances, with balance being the best possible result, but otherwise players want to see extreme variations on the dice in order to get the highest number.
In play we had two problems with this mechanic. The first is that my group felt it was a gimmicky extra step of math they didn’t need. I liked it because I felt like it served to maintain the mood of the era in play, an unusual bit of praise for a mechanic, but I can certainly understand what they meant. The second problem for some of them was the general lack of variation on the dice. Stats and Skills counted for a whole lot, and while my players liked the consistency to an extent they also felt like doing things they weren’t well trained in was impossible. I don’t think this is true with a sufficient Chi expenditure, but groups that like relying on the die roll more than the character stats for success may not care for this method of resolution.
Characters have five Aspects (Attributes) rated 1 to 5 including Metal (martial prowess), Water (physical ability), Wood (mental acuity), Fire (social), and Earth (spiritual). Characters also have a number of Skills, rated 1 to 3 at the start of character creation. Task resolution occurs by rolling the Yin/Yang dice and adding the appropriate Aspect and Skill rating for a total value. Qin’s Skill list is moderately detailed for non-combat Skills, though it seems too detailed to me as starting characters are unable to purchase more than a very few Skills.
Here’s an example of character creation from my game:
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Example: Lien is the daughter of a high ranking member of the Ministry of Justice and has been raised by her magistrate father to become a warrior-magistrate. For character creation the goal was to have her be very martially skilled but to also have general ability with the law and not to be too unbalanced in any one area.
With 14 points to spend on Aspects Lien’s player buys Metal 4, Water 3, Wood 2, Fire 3, and Earth 2. Skills are purchased with 15 points, but Skill costs increase from 1 point for 1 rank to 3 points for 2 ranks to 6 points for 3 ranks, cumulatively. Lien takes Jianshu (Sword) at rank 3 for 10 points and then spends the other 5 points on rank 1 Skills – Horsemanship, Intimidation, Investigation, Law, and Etiquette. |
Characters may also optionally choose to purchase a Gift and a Weakness. The Gifts aren’t very interesting, as most of them amount to nothing more than one reroll of one Skill per session. The Flaws are a little more interesting, if fairly unbalanced. Taking a flaw, for example, that means your character is loyal and doesn’t betray his friends is an easy flaw to take in many RPGs where it’s assumed that the PCs will stick by one another.
| Example: Lien has the Gift ‘Claws of the Tiger’ which allows her to add her Fire Aspect to damage once per session. She has the Flaw ‘Haunted Soul.’ She failed to protect her husband from an attack and he now visits her at night to torment her. We played this up as questioning whether or not the spirit was really a ghost or was simply a purely mental manifestation of her guilt and grief over his death. In play the Flaw halves all Health and Chi regeneration, which can be a significant penalty. |
Finally, characters have 15 points to spend on Taos (magical powers), Combat Techniques, and Magic. These abilities are purchased in the same way as Skills, with higher rank abilities costing significantly more points.
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Example: Lien is principally a combat character, so she has three Jianshu (Sword) combat techniques which cost a total of 10 points. Direct Hit (Rank 1) allows her to make called shots, Double Block (Rank 2) allows her to use one combat action to block twice but at a penalty, and Diarm (Rank 3) allows her to disarm an opponent. In play we found Double Block to be extremely useful in order for Lien to be able to defend herself well while still having multiple attack actions on hand. While Disarm didn’t come up in play, I can’t say it’s the most exciting power to spend points on. Qin assumes a lack of ability to accomplish a task unless you purchase a special power for it.
With her remaining 5 points Lien takes two items from the Tao of Serene Presence. Behind the Mask allows her to be better at Empathy rolls while The Mask of Serenity makes her the center of attention for a while. She also purchases The Keen Eye from the Tao of the Inner Eye so as to be a better investigator. |
Now that you have an idea of how character creation and basic task resolution works, let’s talk about special powers and combat. Special powers in Qin come in two forms – the Taos and Magic. The Taos provide characters with Skill bonuses, the ability to balance really well, and other small abilities that one would expect mystical ancient Chinese martial artists to know. What’s important for me to stress here is that these abilities tend to be subtle. The goal of the game is to have characters who are skilled but still very mortal in their abilities. Unfortunately, some of the Tao are so minor or require so much investment that they don’t seem to measure up. In addition to this we found one Tao, the Tao of Yin and Yang, to be exceptionally powerful in play. It allows the player to switch dice values, increase or decrease individual dice, and reroll dice for a small cost in Chi. When compared with Taos that, for example, allow characters to avoid a penalty while standing on narrow objects, this Tao is a powerhouse. In play the character with the Tao of Yin and Yang was flat our better than the others at what she wanted to do and the player consensus was that everyone wanted that Tao in a future game.
Taos are ultimately limited, though, by a character’s Chi pool. Chi is effectively magic points which are spent to power Taos and magic. They recover over time and from critical successes, adding a resource management aspect to the game. Tao can quickly deplete them, but not nearly as quickly as magic. Magic comes in the forms of Internal Alchemy (mending and enhancing the body), External Alchemy (brewing magic potions), Divination, and Exorcism (fighting the undead). Characters know individual spells which they can use as often as their Chi allows. This means there’s no freeform creativity for the magic system, which may work well for some folk. While Qin has a fair bit going on, it’s definitely not a complicated game.
In play we had one magic user, an Internal Alchemist, and we quickly realized that the Internal Alchemist was really just a healer and didn’t have a lot of options. An Exorcist or External Alchemist would have been more engaging but, due to the high Skill and Magic costs, it’s just not viable to have a balanced character who uses multiple types of magic at character creation. The good news, at least, is that even the healers will have a high Chi pool due to their high Earth stat (which is an integral component to calculating Chi values) and, because of this, can make use of that Chi pool to gain bonuses on other rolls (Chi can always be turned in for 2 points for a +1 bonus).
Combat is intuitive but heavily slanted on the side of the character with the highest weapon Skill. Everyone rolls initiative and gets a number of actions in the round equal to their weapon Skill. So, the example character above with Swords at 3 gets 3 actions while the alchemist with staves at 1 gets 1 action (which will be a defense). Characters roll Yin/Yang and add Metal + Weapon Skill to attack, trying to beat an opponent’s Passive Defense. If they do so the opponent can give up a later action in the round to make an Active Defense, which is a simple opposed roll against the attack. If the attack is successful then the attacker deals Weapon Damage + Metal + the die roll value if Yang is dominant – the defender’s Armor to the defender’s Breath of Life value, which is hit points set into health levels.
In play the combat characters definitely outshined the characters with just a little combat skill, and Double Block allowed our primary melee combatant to always make two attacks a round and still get two parries in. Interestingly, the most potent character in the group was definitely the archer. In many games archery does less damage than other attacks, but in Qin the archer was a very serious threat since he got to add Metal to his damage just like everyone else. One problem we did have was that one character who was highly skilled at Dodging, but not at combat itself, only got one defense despite a high Dodge. Dodge isn’t a martial arts combat Skill, so it can’t be used for multiple actions.
Qin offers about a dozen different weapons, less than a half dozen armor choices, but several pages of miscellaneous supplies. While I appreciate the simplicity of this, a certain amount of cool factor was lost when the master swordswoman had the choice between ‘sword’ and ‘barbarian sword’ for her weapon. From a GMing standpoint I was disappointed with the lack of adversaries. The monster and undead sections are very sparse, and I wish there were more pregenerated guardsman and such to throw into the game. The lack of undead (one zombie, two ghosts, etc.) is particularly odd given the Exorcist Magic included. It’s also strange since there’s a page and a half of animal stats including individual stat blocks for the Eagle, Crow, and Falcon. Fewer unnecessary animal stats and some additional undead would have been very helpful.
Of course, there’s plenty more here than my review doesn’t touch on. A simple renown system, easy to use poison and disease mechanics, and nifty setting material are just a few examples. To close on a positive note, however, let me mention that Qin does include a bunch of example heroes which can be easily copied and handed out for immediate play. The included adventure helps with this, too, resulting in a game that at least does a good job of teaching the reader how to use it.
My Take
I don’t find Qin to be exceptional in any way, positive or negative. That’s not inherently a bad thing. With the exception of the Yin/Yang die, its hit point / magic point / attribute + skill system is extremely intuitive specifically because it doesn’t try to do anything new. This is an excellent choice for any group that wants to pick up a game of martial arts action and not have to learn a funky game system. I found it easy in play to stat up guardsmen and such in my head, and I suspect many GMs will find this to be a game that doesn’t require a lot of prep work.My biggest criticism is the sparseness of material at times. More adversaries, character options (especially martial arts), and useful setting elements (martial arts clans and other organizations) would have really helped this game. Nevertheless, despite my criticism I do recommend Qin to folk who want a game that resembles Hero or Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, who want a system they can easily understand, and who don’t mind filling in some of the blanks here and there in terms of system and setting content.
