I've wanted to do a wuxia adventure for some time but have trouble coming up with ideas for the plot. I've thought of basing it on Naruto, Forbidden Kingdom and other wuxia stories but have had no luck. Can you help get me started?
Also, are there any serious changes I should make. I know I should change flavor to make it so characters are more agile and can do flips and stuff, but should I alter any statistics in-game?
Oh, cmon, surely someone has run a wuxia adventure before?
The PCs will obviously be wuxia heroes, needing to possess both honor and rightousness to correct evil deeds and uphold social justice. You need to work with each Player to adjust their powers effects to be more ancient chinese martial arts and less high fantasy, I guess. Greenflame blade would perhaps just burn the enemy's with chi force without being actually on fire??? I dunno, your choice...
But there must be a victimized group, the general public, who the PCs are protecting. Alternately, they could be hired by Imperial forces to redress some wrong done to the crown.
And whether they are working for the good of the people or the coin of the realm, they must fight bad guys. Generally these others will be part of the Jianghu, or martial arts community/criminal underworld.
A millions stories are possible here. I would shamelessly steal from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or some other wuxia story, preferably one none of the players have seen! LOL. It's okay to steal plots if you admit your doing it- especially if you improve the tale! LOL. Shakespeare thought so, anyway.
As far as system changes, I would say that characters (who are highly skilled in the martial arts) should be able to make simple Athletics Checks to run up walls, across treetops and roofs, etc. Just double or triple the distances involved for jump rules?
When in combat encounters, I would just give them the benefit of the doubt for the purposes of rediculous "wire stunts". But remember, there is no unfair advantage here, all the bad guys can do it, too! As well as the local "police" forces, the Imperial Guard, the ancient Sifu... you get the idea.
To encourage PCs to be dramatic and awesome in describing how they fight, you could offer a +1 to +3 bonus to attack rolls, maybe to damage instead... That could get abusive, but it's just an idea.
I like that...any more ideas?
You can scan through lots of WuXia comics. There's a great series by Andy Seto
For artwork to rev up your players (and for some war and politics campaign ideas) you can have a look at Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI. Here's a sample:
Just like in the legend of Robin Hood, tho' the PCs may uphold justice, they might not submit to the laws of higher authority (either because the higher authority is corrupt or because the PCs mistrust being bound to legal wording when true justice depends on the context of the situation). The latter may see the authority of the realm being at times an ally and at other times a force to be avoided, depending on the PCs' current path.
A recurring theme in wuxia is the use of power, in that power is only as good as what one does with it. Villainy and foolishness in wuxia is often done by characters who know the technical skills of martial arts without recognizing the philosophy behind it. Often the key to besting or reforming such characters is demonstrating how the philosophy and the technical skills of the teaching merge. It is also possible such a character's foolishness will prove its own undoing, and then the other characters may choose whether or not to extend a rescuing hand.
The Wikipedia entry on Wuxia has a list of stories and external links that may help you.