"In place of the old bourgeois society, with its classes and class antagonisms, we shall have an association in which the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all."
From the Communist Manifesto
This spoiler will probably be the last one before the Beta PDF drops. There's some heady philosophical concepts I have in mind here, so bear with me!
Ultimately, there are two kinds of Cultivations. Martial Arts and Magick Arts. Everything else stems from here. Martial Arts is the power to end violence. Magick Arts is the power to begin anew. In this sense, Cultivations arise from either.
The Dao of the Blacksmith could belong to either the Martial or Magick Art.
The Dao of the Diplomat could belong to either Martial or Magick Art.
The Dao of the Swordsman is commonly obviously a Martial Art, but some create Sword Magicks.
Game Design wise, Cultivations are inspired by three things: D&D 4e Powers, Exalted Charms, and PbtA Moves.
D&D 4e Powers inform the general design flow and textual formatting. The idea of having discrete power widgets for "secret techniques and magicks" comes from D&D 4e. Unlike 4e, however, we do not view the entire world through these widgets. In fact, these widgets are secret, occult things, guarded jealously by capitalists and reactionary sect masters.
Exalted Charms influence what the design is supposed to look like in Fiction. 10kSwords is kind of like if you removed Charms from Exalted but kept Martial Arts and Sorcery in, and gave heroic mortals a way to reach and perform them. They're interlocking things that are actual, in-world, diegetic things that are taught, passed down, and can change. Unlike 4e's feeling of them being non-diegetic expressions of a player's ability, and the player having to sort of interpret what they look like in the world after having used them, even with the fluff.
Powered By The Apocalypse Moves influence how you use these martial arts and magick arts. In general, we work from the starting point that anyone can do anything—or at least, try. They can try to do the steps to perform the rituals, or the moves to perform the martial arts, but without actually knowing the proper technick or magick, they won't perform it. This is why almost every Technick is written with a fictional Trigger at the beginning, to accentuate the fact that "you have to do it in the world to do it." Magicks aren't written in the same way because they all have one trigger: When you do the proper gestures and incantations...
On Pushing Paper Buttons
A thrilling video from Deficient Master mentioned "Pushing Paper Buttons." I forgot which video it was from specifically. But it definitely clicked something in me the reason why, as much as I loved 4e, it left me feeling ultimately disconnected from the fiction I was trying to grasp with roleplaying. Even worse, when it came to talking about what happened in the previous session, instead of talking about what happened in the session's fiction, we instead talked about the mechanics used and the usage of powers.
It really did feel like I was pressing paper buttons to do something in the world! Now, this isn't a bad way to play, mind you. It's just a different way to play. Hell, I wrote two games that had this kind of gameplay—Maharlika and Gubat Banwa. So I had some experience with this feeling. And it wasn't the feeling I was going for with 10kSwords specifically.
But I didn't want to do away with these bespoke techniques and effects. To remove the feeling of "pushing paper buttons" I ultimately did two things: made them completely diegetic, even to the point of acquiring them was diegetic (you need a master, manual, manuscript, treatise, sutra, and so on to learn a Technick or Magick). And I revised how the Technicks were written so that they "activated" off of a fictional trigger, like a PbtA game.
This means you could, in theory, trigger multiple Technicks at a time if you could describe what you're doing clear enough and those Technicks' triggers overlap or interact in a meaningful way. I don't want to step on this kind of play expression, so I'm leaving it in for now to be adjudicated accordingly.
Balancing?
Somehow the Technicks and Magicks are still somewhat inspired by D&D 4e's frequency timers—At-Will, Encounter, Daily. However, instead of being hard timing cooldowns, each Technick has a Breath Cost. Now this is harsh because Breath, even though you start with a large number of it, is the primary healing mechanic of the game. You have to Quicken to properly heal. If you don't have any Breath left, any potions or medicine you drink will do nothing to you.
Coupled with enemies that hit hard, using a Technick becomes a lethal, knifesblade dance to choose when to use a Technick or when to weigh it against pushing through a dungeon or a raid (and not all dungeons are classical dungeons! Some dungeons might be diplomacy missions through an opening party, or a spy mission through a shattered mansion, or escape attempts from a choking prison!) I think this introduces a lethal tension that stays diegetic and more or less meaningful.
The real balancing design goals will probably be in another post, but I wanted to do away with classical, 4e style balancing of encounters and lean into fictional consistency. A great hulking undead beast should not be simply beatable by pressing paper buttons on your character sheet—I can do that plenty well in Soulslike games. Players should reach up and touch the Fiction with their actions, look for creative ways to break open guards, create wounds, and so on. Really ground each mechanic into the Fiction. In a way I believe Elden Ring's and Bloodborne's balancing is like this, and is why they're so difficult at times. While still having to stick to some form of numbers balancing (since Video Games don't have the privilege of interacting directly with the fiction being made and only interacts within the quarters of its hardware), Bloodborne and Elden Ring come closest in creating that sense of "this is the World, we're not 'balancing' it around you." It's a very anti-liberal style of design (liberal in the sense of super individualism).
Future Proofing and Rollout?
While there's already a considerable amount of Martial and Magick Arts in the core manual, the world of Hingsajagra is endlessly vast, and has an endless amount of Martial and Magick Arts.
The majority of new Martial and Magick Arts I plan to release in dungeons and modules. This kind of echoes and reinforces the Exploration aspect of the game. It emulates the Souls-like way of getting power—interact and immerse in the world. Explore every nook and cranny to get that new weapon or skill or magick or item. 10kSwords will have some books dedicated to player options for sure, but the primary way that players will gain new abilities is by playing the game.
Attached is the first few Martial Arts and Magick Arts as well as everything else in the Cultivation section, which covers player progression!