This thread is for the bennefit of the players in my BoG'r game (I see 'yanki warriors using these) as well as a general discussion as to how the 36 strategems of classic warfare in China & Japan relate to a fantasy setting.
1- Cross the River in Broad Daylight
2- Attack one foe to win another
3- Kill with a borrowed sword
4- Face the weary from a condition of ease
5- Rob a burning house
6- Feint east, strike west
7- Make something from nothing
8- Take one path while pretending to take another
9- Watch the fire from across the river
10- Hide a sword in a smile
11- One tree falls for another
12- Steal a sheep in passing
13- Beat the grass to startle the snakes
14- Borrow a corpse to raise a spirit
15- Lure the tiger from the mountain
16- Catch you quarry by allowing him to escape
17- Give a brick in exchange for a jade
18- Catch the chief to nab the bandits
19- Take the firewood from under the pot
20- Fish in troubled waters
21- The gold cicada molts its shell
22- Lock the gates to catch the bandits
23- Make allies at a distance, attack nearby
24- Borrow the right of way to attack a neighbor
25- Replace beams with pillars
26- Point at one to scold another
27- Act foolish, be smart
28- Let them climb to the roof, then take away the ladder
29- Make flowers bloom on a tree
30- The guest becomes the host
31- Scheme with beauties
32- Scheme with an empty castle
33- Scheme with double agents
34- Scheme with self-inflicted wounds
35- Chain your enemy's ships together
36- Run away
:shock:
#20 is basicly why people become planewalkers and adventurers.
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#28 is interesting, how many PCs have been killed because the party was so successful in the dungeon that they over-extended themselves, and were wore out for the fight back out?
#1 sounds odd, it is from a very famous episode in chineese history. It basicly means if you do everything else right, you can just bypass the enemy's expectations of you and march in to a sudden and unexpected victory.
#5 is a dungeon-crawl credo. "Goblins fighting orcs around here? No problem, we'll just stir up the hornet's nest then rob 'em both when they're weak."
#11 hirelings and cohorts = fewer PC deaths