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Post by Gilvan Blight on Aug 15, 2005 17:23:40 GMT -5
Overall - good system, is what it claims to be, great for action fans.
Sumarry - Hong Kong Action movies brought to RPG format. Not too much else to say. Pick a character from the usual stereotypes (ex cop, scrappy kid, big bruser, etc), pick some skills (basic and broad), pick some schtiks (cool things your character can do, like Kung Fu and Both Guns Blazing) and get to it. Extremely simple 2D6 system that works amazingly well. If you are good at something you are good at it, if you suck you suck... still some randomness with open rolls to give you a chance at amazing success or total failure. Combat system is fast an furious (3 seconds a round and characters will act 2 or more times) and suits the game well. Great backstory that I don't want to give away at this point.
The good: Very simple, very quick, tons of character. Rules are loose and this is a good thing in this case. Excellent compelling background. Not too much to learn. The Stunt system in combat is awesome. Any time a player wants to do a bit extra with an action, some extra flash with a better then normal effect they can try and only have a -2. Example: Flying drop "Happy" Chen in the chest and send him flying 2 meters back through a window on the 25th strory = roll martial arts -2. Shot system for initiative is very original but hard to explain, just trust me it works well. Character archetypes totally appropriate. As mentioned the setting is very cool allowing you to set the game in different junctures (69AD, 1850AD, current, 2056).
The Bad: takes more than the 10 minutes it says to make characters. If more then one PC has the same abilities it pretty much ruins it for the one with the lesser skill (easily avoided if PCs make a diverse party). Rulebook is not set up very logically (you read character abilities that mention shots before you read the combat section that explains them) and also requires a lot of flipping to find info (GM screen would help). Combat was a bit hard to manage as a GM (15 unnamed character and 3 named... hard to keep track of) but I was getting the hang of it by the end.
The Ugly: The art in the book is not the best. The game can get graphic which may bother some players (not us /grin). Players are encouraged to think out of the box as is the DM witch makes 'prep' work difficult and improv a must.
Overall: I can't think of a group that wouldn't like this game. If you like fantasy you could run in 69AD, Sci-Fi in 2056. Generally this could be run at any time with any style if you discard the given history. I like to think of it as Dream Park + for that matter.
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Post by ThardonBlackfist on Aug 15, 2005 18:56:28 GMT -5
more than 10 min to make a character is a BAD thing??? I think if I made a char for a game in ten minutes I'd be SERIOUSLY doubtful about that game's longevity.
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Post by Gilvan Blight on Aug 15, 2005 19:00:39 GMT -5
For this game yes. Get to the action as quick as possible. Starting stats are pretty much set, they get modified slightly. You start off pretty generic, its where you take it from there that builds the character.
Start off with big guns and later want Kung Fu - no problem, spend the XP. Now figuring out how to start with Big Guns shouldn't take long.
Pick a stereotypical action hero, divy up some points and get playing... make it into something during the game not before.
I would say we could make Warhammer characters in about 10 minutes as it was totally random character gen system and I don't think that system suffers for it.
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Post by LOBO on Sept 7, 2005 13:56:35 GMT -5
When you run it, what era is it?
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Post by Gilvan Blight on Sept 7, 2005 14:00:25 GMT -5
Contemporary - 2005
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Post by LOBO on Sept 7, 2005 23:12:27 GMT -5
hmm, i dunno if i could get into that?
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Post by Gilvan Blight on Sept 8, 2005 6:25:03 GMT -5
Been having a ton of fun with it so far.
Maybe some of the players will post some of their Feng Shui experiences?
"No one defeats Happy Chen!"
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Post by PandoraGreen on Sept 8, 2005 14:44:17 GMT -5
Ok. So let's see... My character.... His name is Bo Law. (It's an action movie. I think the cheesy name fits.) He is a big sweaty hulk of a man. I described him as large, meaty, ham-fisted, and hairy. He has dark brown eyes and dark brown hair/beard. In my mind he looks a bit like Black Whirlwind from Jade Empire. He works in a warehouse down by the docks in Hongkong (circa 1996--later upped to 2005). He's dressed in scuffed workboots, jeans and a white undershirt.
He's in his thirties. He lives with his father and younger sister. His father is a old drunkard. His sister is pretty and smart, she takes after their dead mother. Her name is Laura and she is 18 years old.
Bo isn't terribly smart. He's not downright stupid, he's just a slow thinker. He often loses his temper but then feels bad about it afterwords.
At the start of our adventure Bo had just gotten off of work, and was having dinner at a restaurant in the temple district called The Eating Table.
There is a pretty young girl taking orders. Bo was sitting there mowing through his second bowl of Raman when a bunch of jacketed thugs entered the building. About 15 generic thugs wearing matching jackets with a picture of a hand with a thorn through the center, and one extremely tall fellow with a bad attitude named Happy Chen.
Happy made some sort of proclamation. Bo wasn't really paying much attention, and continued chomping through his noodles.
A big bruiser sort of fellow (Crush, played by NightParade) stood up and challenged Happy to a one on one fight. They exchanged a few blows. Then this skinny little fellow in a black trench coat (Lucky Jimm, played by MildlyAmusing) came up from behind and rapped Happy on the skull with a cane.
Almost simultaneously this non-descript looking guy, draws two guns, jumps up on a table and yells out "Hongkong PD -Freeze" (Johnny, played by Church).
And then all hell broke loose. First Happy says, oh so your friends are going to help-- get 'em boys... Then he says, Oh guns is it? and everyone starts drawing firearms.
Some stupid thug comes up behind Bo, who is still sitting in front of his noddle bowl, and places a gun at his temple and attempts to fire off two rounds. There's a hollow click as his gun jams. Bo slams a fist down on the table and roars out, Hey, some of us are trying to eat here!! He jabs a meaty elbow backwards into the thugs midsection, as he spins around and slams his other fist into the guy. The mook goes flying across the room and collapses against a wall, snap, dead.
General chaos continues to ensue as the "named characters" stomp through the "unnamed thugs". Bo tips over the table in front of him, grabs it and runs forward, tackling 4 baddies in the process. He runs them right up against a wall and slams the table into them-- hard. Snap. Things go crunch. 4 guys dead. And when Bo lets go of the table it just stayed hanging, embedded in the guys/wall.
A scrawny old man bursts out of the kitchen jumps up on the counter brandishing two frying pans and screaming "You leave my restaurant! You leave now!!"
There's only about 5 thugs left, plus their "Happy" leader. Crush has been laying into Happy fairly successfully, while Happy has failed to leave a scratch on him.
The remaining thugs ring up around Happy and start to beat a retreat. There is this scrawny ninja guy (Hiro, played by gorechyld) that has been rather unsuccessfully trying to take down a chandelier. (He managed to knock out a few candles). One of the thugs grabs him in a bear hug like hold and places a gun at his temple. Bo yells out, "Hey!!" and charges at the guy and punches the gun out of his hand. He punches it so hard that the gun snaps in on it self and breaks as it goes flying across the room. The now gunless guy holding the ninja yells out "F**k this", and slams/throws the poor ninja out the nearby plate glass window, and down two stories. Ouch. Hiro survives but is pretty badly torn up.
Crush runs out the door following Happy and his remaining thugs as they flee in a limo. The make is noted, the license plate is jotted down. Crush tries to shoot out the tire, but fails to stop the car. Hiro manages to knock two of the retreating thugs unconscious. He strips them of their wallets, cash and ids. Crush attends to Hiro's wounds, as well as to those of any of the bystanders that haven't already fled.
Meanwhile inside, Bo looks around, surveys the damage, and finding an intact bowl of noodles, sits down and resumes eating. In a wee bit everyone has gathered inside, "Uncle" (the owner) is ranting on about who is going to pay for the damages?! but also thanking us for taking care of the thugs. Hiro hands him the money he took off of the thugs and Uncle simmers right down.
Bo starts helping to clean the place up. He pries the smashed table out of the wall and seems rather sheepish and embarrassed about the bodies. He mutters something along the lines of "Laura's going to kill me.."
Johnny receives a phone call from police HQ giving him a chewing out. He's fired. One off duty fire-fight too many. Disagreement about the definition of "acceptable loses". Johnny and Crush exchange a few less then friendly words as to who started what.
Uncle asks us to look into things for him. We discover the thugs are know as the Poison Thorn gang and are bothering patrons of the "good" protection agency run by Fast Eddy. We head to Eddy's HQ, a "tittie temple" called "The Buns Festival". Bo seems abashed by the "ladies" and when asked to order a drink he says, "But Laura says I'm not supposed to drink ..." Bo sits with a coke and hums along to the music, bobbing his head, and staring at his shoes.
After a few words with the bartender, we eventually gain audience with Eddy. Eddy passes around cigars. Bo says, "Um... no thanks." To which Eddy says, "What my cigars aren't good enough for you?" And Bo looks confused and scratches at his beefy neck and says, "But Laura says I'm not supposed to smoke..." Eddy seems amused/confused and says, "Oookay fair enough."
We gain the location of the Poison Thorns HQ and agree to do Eddy a favor by taking care of them. We all pile into Johnny(the now ex-cop)'s car and start driving to this construction site in the industrial zone.
Crush and I are in the back seat of the car. Knees up to nose. Lucky Jimm is in the front passenger seat. The skinny little ninja is stuck in there somewhere as well. And Johnny, well he's driving his car.
In the middle of the road there appears a bunch of poison thorn thugs... the only problem is, they are the SAME thugs we "met" at the restaurant and they are quite obviously dead. Bullet hole in middle of head kind of dead.
Johnny swerves to avoid running the car into them... and slams into a telephone pole. We all take a few bruises from that and "Lucky" Jimm goes flying out the front window of the car and skidding down the road. Once again, ouch.
Jimm quickly comes to his senses, draws his sword/cane and starts to lay into the baddies. In the meantime the rest of us are trying to climb out of the wrecked car. A dozen zomboids surround the car and tip it over. Bang. Few more bruises and the car looks like it's threatening to explode with Crush and I still inside. Johnny has gotten out of the car and is laying into anything still moving. Crush kicks the door on his side of the car off... it goes hurtling into a few baddies. By the time poor Bo figures out which way is up the combat is pretty much over... He really liked the way Crush knocked that door off, so he copy-cats him on the opposite side of the car. Bo rolls out of the car gets up and stumbles off as the whole thing explodes.
Johnny swears that the waking dead aren't zombies, but merely undead puppets being controlled by a puppet master. We pile the re-dead bodies on the flaming car in the hopes that they won't return a second time.
We are still plenty far from the construction site... about a day and half's walk. Johnny uses his cell and convinces a friend on the force to pick us up after work. We spend about an hour sitting around and talking. Crush and Johnny start getting a bit heated in their exchange of words. Crush takes a swing a Johnny but misses, just as Johnny's cop friend arrives. We all pile into the car and get a rather squished ride to our destination.
And that covers about half of our first session.
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Post by Gilvan Blight on Sept 8, 2005 15:24:02 GMT -5
Now you can't say that doesn't sound like fun.
;D
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Post by PandoraGreen on Sept 9, 2005 15:26:11 GMT -5
I didn't expect to like it, but I do. I thought playing in "modern" times would be horrid. However, the key to remember is we're not trying to recreate some humdrum reality. We're recreating action movies, complete with cheese and convenient plot devices.
GB originally described the game to me as Dream Park on steroids, and as far as the system itself goes it's an apt description. The system is easy and extremely flexible. We're not getting bogged down looking stuff up all of the time. Things flow nicely. Overall, I've been enjoying the campaign immensely and I think I would easily name Feng Shui as a fav. game.
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Post by nightparade on Sept 9, 2005 18:47:35 GMT -5
Pure Pwnage, that's all I have to say about it. I could go into more detail, but I wont, at least not too much.
Here is a big plus for this system in my books. It has the best botch system I have come across so far. I mean in D20 it's a 5% chance, no matter what, Cyberpunk its a 10% chance no matter what, Rollmaster MERPS etc. it's somewhere around 80% chance no matter what. White Wolf I like the botch system, but it's just downright rare, and lets face it, botches can be fun. This game has just about perfect botch balance in my opinion. It's hard to explain how it's acheived, I mean I could explain the mechanics, but taht doesn't work, I say this because I didn't see the elegance of it's simple system until I had payed a few sessions.
Feng Shui is definately one of my favourite RPGs.
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Post by Gilvan Blight on Sept 10, 2005 6:19:28 GMT -5
Botch system.
In laymans terms: Roll really really bad, with multiple 6s on a D6 Or Roll Boxcars (double six) and fail your roll.
Pretty simple. The first is near impossible to do unless you really suck at something in the first place or can roll D&D characters with 3 18s. The second is more common but it gets way harder to botch the better you are at something.
Only difficulty I have as a DM is that a botch is catastrophically bad, and it's difficult to come up with some of these outcomes when its something like tossing someone out the window.
Note also: the group we have is Famous for botching just when they shouldn't, especially on Plot development things.
Anyone care to explain the Video tape?
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Post by overdosedpunkgod on Sept 10, 2005 12:58:15 GMT -5
damn! sounds like i missed a good game...
as for the botch thing- came up with something for throwing someone out the window and botching: "you easily lift your enemy sweeping him off his feet, his head leads the way through the window, blasting glass out wards, your pleased at your throw as his body clears the frame, but then the watch on your outstretched arm gets caught on his pant leg and his momentum throws you off balance slamming you forward into the window frame, luckily the many glass shards lining the frame pierce you viciously in the abdomen preventing you from been dragged out to fall to your death... you think about this as you step back from the window stuffing your intestines back in"
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Post by LOBO on Sept 11, 2005 22:45:46 GMT -5
i dunno sounds a little too wacky for me.......
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Post by PandoraGreen on Nov 29, 2005 15:37:47 GMT -5
Ladies and gentlemen, the moment you've all been waiting for... And now, without further ado, we bring to you... The infamous Feng Shui relationship chart!
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Post by Gilvan Blight on Nov 29, 2005 23:41:13 GMT -5
Ha that pick turned out pretty good.
I don't know if that will convince anyone to play though, more likely scare them away.
For those not in on the game that is an R-Map of all of the major npcs or factions and their relationship to each other or to the players that the group drew up one day because things were 'getting confusing'
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Post by nightparade on Nov 30, 2005 0:05:06 GMT -5
Or at least a lot of them, who knows who fell through the cracks.
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Post by ThardonBlackfist on Nov 30, 2005 11:15:49 GMT -5
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Post by LOBO on Nov 30, 2005 12:01:57 GMT -5
ill try and show sunday if i can, any game is worth giving a try.....
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Post by nightparade on Nov 30, 2005 17:52:17 GMT -5
exactly, any game is worth a try. hope to see you there.
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Church
Level 3 GM
Dragostea din tei
Posts: 853
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Post by Church on Nov 30, 2005 19:32:54 GMT -5
Ahhh NOW I understand it all... Sure you do....
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