Why isn't the Boxer Rebellion a more popular setting?
>soldiers from all different countries, literally the X-Com of the 1900s
>exotic world that's completely foreign to all the characters involved with so much to discover
>moral ambiguity that drives character growth
>inb4 posts about Bioshock Infinite
>>45801611
>Why isn't the Boxer Rebellion a more popular setting?
Because most nerds don't want something different, they just want more Tolkien ripoffs.
>>45801611
>moral ambiguity that drives character growth
Maybe for us modern day blokes, but i'd be willing to bet my bottom dollar that both sides had no qualms about killing each other or about their actions taken.
>>45801611
Because historical Asia is not considered exotic and interesting enough for the average gamer.
Which is a shame, because I would kill for a mildly fantastic Historical China setting.
>>45801611
Because not enough people know about it.
It's one of my favourite bits of history though.
An alliance of powerful countries who'd be at each others throats a little over a decade away?
>>45801674
Nobody actually plays in Tolkien ripoffs. The settings played nowadays are rooted in old D&D settings, which changed a lot of things compared to Tolkien. Elves are equals to humans (and not vastly superior), orcs are big-toothed celts and not... whatever the hell they were in Lord of the Rings, halflings are gypsies and not Englishmen, and so on.
>>45801611
What moral ambiguity? The mob were besieging the embassies with the intent of murdering everyone inside. And they were going round killing Christians/foreigners.
The leader of China also declared war on every major power at once, its their own damn fault.
>>45801611
Because most people don't know about the Boxer Rebellion.
are we talking about it as a purely historical setting, or the basis for a fantasy setting? because it makes pretty good inspiration for the latter too.
>The Righteous and Harmonious Fists or "Boxers United in Righteousness" (Yihequan/I-ho-chuan) was a secret society which arose in the inland sections of the northern coastal province of Shandong. American missionaries were probably the first to refer to the well-trained, athletic young men as "Boxers", because of the martial arts and calisthenics they practiced. The Boxers' primary practice was spirit possession, which involved "the whirling of swords, violent prostrations, and chanting incantations to Taoist and Buddhist spirits".[7]
>The excitement and moral force of these possession rituals was especially attractive to unemployed and powerless village men, many of whom were teenagers.[8] The Boxers believed that through training, diet, martial arts and prayer they could perform extraordinary feats, such as flight. Furthermore, they popularly claimed that millions of spirit soldiers would descend from the heavens and assist them in purifying China of foreign oppression.[9] The Boxers, armed with rifles and swords, claimed supernatural invulnerability towards blows of cannon, rifle shots, and knife attacks.
Austria-Hungary relevant for once (not in any way connected to WWI).
>>45801775
>Nobody actually plays in Tolkien ripoffs. The settings played nowadays are rooted in old D&D settings, which changed a lot of things compared to Tolkien. Elves are equals to humans
You got me convinced. Totally NOT a rip-off.
>>45801798
That could make some nice divine magic stuff, where they can do all that just because they all believe so strongly they could.
>>45801611
Allowing the player characters to be colonial oppressors is a pretty offensive thing to do. You're basically taking a dump on the mass grave of all PoC that have died throughout the ages due to white supremacy.
>>45801917
niggah better be trolling
>>45801917(You)
>>45801611
cause no one actually boxed you faggot.
>>45801917
Please tell me you're joke, else the only joke I'm reading here is you. :^)
>>45801917
>>45801725
>i'd be willing to bet my bottom dollar that both sides had no qualms about killing each other or about their actions taken.
There was actually a lot of actions and beliefs that were questioned during the Boxer Rebellion by both sides, each wondering whether or not they were "really" in the right and that their actions were justified.
The Europeans (most specifically the British and Dutch) had really fucked over the Chinese hard, and since many Chinese associated the Christian religion with Europeans, the Boxers went on a mass murder spree of literally any and all Chinese Christians they found, and buried their beheaded and raped bodies in shallow, mass graves. Many Chinese were willing to overlook this mass purge, because they felt it was necessary to ensure the removal of European influence from their home. However, those who actually DID it expressed some regrets and questioned whether or not it was right (one officer even committed suicide after he turned away from six Boxers who quite literally raped a 14-year-old Christian to death, saying, "[He] still [heard] her pleas for Mercy, crying out to God...but she eventually stopped screaming, and lay silent...[she] died after a few hours, and [the men] disposed of her with the rest..."
On the other hand, the Europeans, Americans, and Japanese tried very hard to put down the rebellion as efficiently and with as few casualties as possible. However, the Europeans (most especially the British) became quite callous to Chinese seeking sanctuary, and eventually would simply shoot at any Chinese person who came near their compounds out of "precaution," despite American, Dutch, and Japanese protests (They were reigned in eventually). They also had no problems gunning down large groups of civilians if they felt they were posing any threat, and they by-and-large ignored the total massacre of the Chinese Christians and left them to die.
Oddly enough, the Japanese were the least brutal.
>>45801917
Despite your extremely obvious bait, there is a kernel of truth to this post.
The Boxer Rebellion WAS a rebellion against pretty harsh European colonialism, and they lashed out hard at the British, Dutch, and Japanese most specifically, and the Americans by extension (they largely saw them as British, much to American chagrin).
Don't forget, though, that the Boxers committed some pretty serious genocide against Chinese Christians. The reason there weren't many Chinese Christians before WWII and the rise of Communism is because the Boxers basically killed them ALL - men, women, and children - and so brutally terrorized and demonized Christianity that they stonewalled any attempts by Western missionaries to begin preaching at a large scale again. That's not even going in to the mass rapes, killing fields, and corpse-ditches, as well as turning many rivers red with spilled blood from so many killings.
>>45801798
Cixi could make a pretty cool decadent sorceress Empress.
>>45802073
>ddly enough, the Japanese were the least brutal.
Technically the government that would start WWII hadn't been created yet, so Japan was really just doing the regular Imperialist morally ambiguous things imperialist governments did, as opposed to fascist government atrocities to maintain an aura of fear and control.
>>45802178
Interestingly, though she has a very bad reputation in modern day, more thurough historical research suggests she wasn't that bad a ruler, at least not to the Caligula-like extent she is often shown.
She wasn't able to accomplish much but actually repeatedly in her life tried to do reforms to China to modernize it and prevent foreign exploitation, but due to her long rule and (most likely) being a woman there was a shitload of internal opposition to her rule, and since she was pretty ruthless to her political rivals it probably caused her to be remembered as worse then she actually was.
The political rivals that she was blocking IMMEDIATELY upon her loosing power tore apart the country in a civil war that lasted through WWII, so her blocking them kinda might have been not exactly a bad thing considering what happened when she was no longer there to do it.
So she wasn't a great ruler by any means (probably just average), but she was kind of in a really shitty situation and took all the blame for it, especially with how that shitty "Mandate of Heaven" retroactive excuse every Chinese dynasty or government ever had used to explain why it deserves to rule but the last guy didn't.
>>45801917
>Not being a Harmonious Fist of Righteousness
>Not doing awesome wuxia stunts to drive back the white devil
Smells like white guilt.
>>45802073
>400 dudes holding ramparts against thousands of pissed chinamen
>still take in 2800 fellow Christians
>meanwhile at the Church of the Saviour 28 priests and nuns together with just 43 soldiers held together with 3400 Christians
>dude evil whitey din let them in lmao
>>45801611
Volto Nascosto's second series is set right during that period.
The first series was set during the First Italo-Ethiopian War.
>>45801790
Jesus Christ that Jap is tiny.
>>45802073
>Oddly enough, the Japanese were the least brutal.
Don't say you're American? Pls say it isn't the case.
>>45801917
>People of color
White and black are not colors.
Yellow is, though.
>>45801775
>Nobody actually plays in Tolkien ripoffs.
tfw i just started writing my tolkien ripoff setting
All of you got pulled into a shit discussion by a shit piece of bait, so allow me to get all of your asses back on track by providing some ideas
>Agrarian troubles anger farmers among the countryside
>Blame affluent Europeans and their religions, believing them to be corrupt
>Start Boxer Rebellion
>Fervent belief and anger reawakens old spirits, both malicious and benevolent
>Most prominent is the ghost of Zhang Jiao, the "General of Heaven" and "Great Teacher", leader of the Yellow Turban Rebellion
>Yellow Turban Rebellion was started from agrarian troubles angering farmers and peasants among the countryside
>Zhang Jiao raised an army, blaming affluent southerners, believing them to be corrupt
>The Great Teacher sees parallels between the Boxer Rebellion and his own Yellow Turban Rebellion
>Uses his powers over wind and rain to earn the loyalty of the Boxers
>Teaches them to use ancient magic, making them invulnerable
>The Imperial government swings heavily to the side of the rebellion after the Battle of Dagu
>Empress Cixi is contacted by the first Emperor, Qin Shi Huang, within the Forbidden city
>He informs her of a power that only Emperors of China may use when the empire is in great peril
>Empress Cixi makes a "tour of inspection" to Xi'an, where the Terracotta army is buried and brings them to life
>Invulnerable Boxers and ancient Terracotta soldiers make China a nightmare for European troops
PCs can either be Chinese Imperialists/Boxers discovering these things during their fight against the Europeans or they can be the Europeans fighting against a superior and fantastic force that they initially thought to be weak.
>you will never be in a multiethnic 1900s X-Com squad, protecting Christians and westerners against people that would literally rape them to death.
>you will never discover the secrets f an antique land until now closed off from westerners
Why live
>>45801611
>You will never join your fellow countrymen and purge the imperialists and their barbaric religion out of your country with your super cool martial arts.
Make China great again.
