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. a ae FEN rel SHUI Action OE LOG DENG - sg Robin D. Laws “FENG SHUI” AvATLAS GAMES rrovucron ors ROBIN D. LAWS cae vesonco oy ROBIN D. LAWS rususseoey JOHN NEPHEW sooucon cooromaron ano tavourwowcer JEFF TID BALL : covonut assstince JOHN NEPHEW so MICHELLE BROWN covers LEE MOYER mevor ser TOREN ATKINSON, RALPH HORSLEY, HEATHER HUDSON, THOMAS MANNING, JEFF MIRACOLA, ROGER RAUPP, GREY THORNBERRY, BRIAN SNODDY, wo MARK TEDIN roworary execs BOB BRYNILDSON aw JERRY CORRICK "THe DAOALUS eo Fr sur ws ron JOSE GARCIA AND MARIA GARCIA. Tr WER ASU 6¥ MARIA CABARDO, DANIEL GELON, OB HEINSOO, JOHN TYNES, SCOT YONAN, ano A HORDE OF PLAYTESTERS TOO NUMEROUS TO MENTION. we run eM Oe BAZNS re HA. 1996, 1999 bi. Los, pobisbd under ng Sul ie tredemak of Robin D. Lows, peblsbns wil lo bem . ee ATLAS GAMES PO BOX 131233 ROSEVILLE, MN 55113 651-638-0077 INFO@ATLAS-GAMES.COM SITUS ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB AT WWW.ATLAS-GAMES.COM ISBN 1-887801-76-6 Welcome! an introduction to Feng Shui Player Info 2: Characters the stars of the show 2 3: Skills the tools of the trade . 4% 4: Guns the way of the killer 60 5: Fu Powers the way of the warrior 5 6: Magic the way of the sorcerer 88 7: Creature Abilities the way of the beast 100 8: Transformed Animals the way of the ascended 108 9: Arcanowave Gear the way of the future 116 GM Info 10: Fights fast and furious 126 = 11: GM Tips style and substance 143, 12: Getting Even Tougher power and glory 160. 13: Feng Shui Sites wind and water 162 1M: Monsters foul and forbidden 169 World Info 15: Groups the secret war 172 16: Time War the unseen world 190 17; Netherworld the inner kingdom 200 18: Hong Kong the battle ground 210 Appendixes A; Baptism of Fire your first Feng Shui episode 228 B: Hong Kong Action Movies your guide to the greats 243 C: Reference Section photocopiable rules references 249 Helpful Stuff Index you've seen these before 254 Blank Character Sheet keep track of your hero 256 ees ee ee ee ee ee ferme ae My last job, I promised myselt I had to go along with Fast Eddie Lo~or pretend to, anyway. He had Steve stashed away somewhere in Kowloon. I owed Steve. Ever since he saved my life at the orphanage, when we were ight. [could not let my blood bracher down when he needed me, even if it mean serving Fast Eddie one last time, And Fast Eddie wanted me (o take out his rival, Big Brother Tsien, He'd tried it twice before, and now he was desperate. Desperate enough 0 want the est in the business: me. I wasn't happy about having to kill again. Bur if I had to pick someone the world wouldn't miss much, Big Brother Tsien would have been pretty near the top of the list anyway: I was in the parking garage, wearing the uniform of a janitor. Must have been over 2 hundred times Ud pulled this trick, and it worked just like always. I had the C-4 planted in a garbage barrel right near the ramp to street level. Big Brother was on the alert for another hit attempe; chances of getting something planted in his car, ar gccting past his bodyguards, were t00 low even for ‘me. But planting something here in the garage was 2 snap. AUT had 10 do was wait for the big man's ‘Mercedes to pass the garbage can on its way out, hit the bution, and me and Steve would be home lrce. At least, that was how it was supposed ro work. Can you blame me for not predicting that when Big Trousers ‘car came along. it'd come roaring out with a chick in a ‘mask planted to the hood? Someone else was trying to wax him: someone with a serious weird act! She was in silver spandex from head to toe, and I was almost laugh ing ‘til I saw her punch her way through the windshield, Maybe I should have hit the button when I had the chance and blown them all 0 bits, but I didn’t. Maybe thav’s # mistake I'm sill paying for. Anyway, | hesitated. She pulled Big Brother-who can't weigh less than a hundred and fitty kilograms-out of the speeding car and through the windshield with one arm! Then they both bounced off the hood and rolled across the concrete. I decided chis was enough nonsense and pulled out my 9 mm. They were rolling around on the concrete something January 11 fierce, and no ordinary marksman could hope to tag Tien withoue hieting the babe in the mask. Bue V'm not an ordinary marksman. Twas zboue to empty the clip into him when I noticed that Tsien’s mooks had stopped the car and got ton out. There were six of them, about to open up with SMG5-on me, of course. I was using a nine-round mag with hollowpoines. I squeezed off one shot on my way behind a pillar. BANG: One down, five to go. Must have een a thousand rounds hie the other side of that Pillar. Good thing it was concrete. I could ‘get the positions of the five remaining mooks from the reflection in the mir. ‘ored windows of a ncarby Saab. I ook a chance, curned, and broke for a spot behind a panel van. On the way: BANG BANG BANG. Three went down, but one of them popped up again. Okay, so I was having an oft day. The remaining autofire was raining on the side of the pane! van now, turning the windows to dust. That was when the white-haired guy in the old-fash ioned costume showed up. He came backwards down the ramp, executing this series of funny back flips. It was like he was in slow motion, but he was hard to watch somehow: I had ¢o refocus my eyes to even look 2 him. The mooks looked just stunned for a moment; they turned their guns towards him, ready to pull the triggers BANG BANG BANG. I’m not the kind of person ‘you want to turn your back on in a gunfight. End of the ‘mook situation I didn’e know what the old guy was going (0 do, and I didn’t much care. Tsien was my target. When I glanced back 2¢ him, he'd changed a bit. Grown about four feet. Sprouted horns. And scales. And there was this strange energy crackling 2round him. BANG BANG. Two right between his bulbous red eyes: ‘The scumbag didn’t even flinch. Instead he grinned, ‘exposing these nasty sharketype teeth. He had the masked chick by the throat, and with his other hand he was daring me t0 come for him. And that was just the start of the whole mess. ‘eng Shui is a roleplaying game of rocket paced action and adventure. You play the heroes in a titanic struggle in which the fate of humankind depends on your exot- jc kung fu powers, your ancient magies, your pirated supertech, or your plain old-fashioned trigger finger. You might be a maverick cop, a cranky kung fu fighting master, an everyman hero, a masked avenger, or a bioengineered monster out for revenge fon your creators. Against you is arrayed a legion of fearsome foes. This battle rages throughout time, pit- ting you against sinister eunuch magicians of the past, sectetive power groups of the present, and the twisted scientists who control the future. ‘This secret war is fought by those who know a simple, elemental truth of existence: the power of the Earth, Certain sites which harness and intensify ‘hi, the life force that animates man and nature, are seattered across the planet. Those who control these sites benefit from the increased flow of chi, and gain reat fortune in matters both mundane and mystical Since ancient times, the Chinese have honed theit knowledge of Earth magic—or geomaney-into the discipline known as feng shui. History belongs to those who are attuned to Feng Shui sites—those who have formed a mystical bond with the chi energy of those sites and gain power thereby. The scramble to possess the world’s feng shui sites has now begun in carnest; when the war ends, we will live the way the vietors want us 0 because the flow of chi controls the flow of time and the course of history. Only you and your fellow heroes can prevent these powerful sites from falling ino the hands of maniacal tyrants. In order to travel through time, you move through a myste- CHAPTER 1 Kii-Yaaahhh! AN INTRODUCTION TO FENG SHUI Say What? Z There ave aillions of different woys to pronounce feng shn, depending on whet ag dict of Cine you van opi We've developed the babi of saying feng -schneit you wont o pick the mst appropiate dilct forthe Hong Kong sting resented later in this book, go with the Contotese pronunciation and say fng say. the melodramtics ond fast poce of Fong Shuiseund fomiior to you, there's « good reason, Feng Stuiis an action-movie roleplaying gome because itis inspived’by the vost number of actin movies that most of us have grown wp with. {you think abut it, no motter what the story ar setting of ox action may is there are some things that don't change. The characters are always catchy arche- type ssi ith tear a gl the rogue cop ot frst, hole kong fo master. The stoves are os femilir to us os tales of Beowulf or Coyote the Trickster were to our ancestors: ineocents in jeopardy, double-crassing drug deals, ‘master vilvin's plot to destroy the world. The style ond structore of action movies is who! Feng Shuts all obut rious realm known as the Netherworld or Inner Kingdom. ‘Those who participate in the struggle are therefore known as Innerwalkers ot Secret Warriors. Fortunately, this is a world that rewards heroism. If your heart is strong, you can dodge machine gun bullets. You can take cighteen slugs in your chest and still come back for one final blazing attack against the bad guy. If your kung fu is mighty, you can run sideways up a tree, bounce off a branch, and clash swords with your opponent who has just done the same thing from the opposite direction. The world of Feng Shui is a world where it is not 2 dumb idea at all to cling to the bottom of the bad guy’s Maserati as it sereeches down the midnight streets of Hong Kong. It is a world where, armed only with a toothpick, you can face down a ten-foot hybrid of supernatural monster and futuristic machine and still have a chanee of winning. The world of Feng Shui is a world of high melodrama, You might seem to be a ruthless, icy-cool assassin, but in your heart you know that you're doing just one last job to pay for your mother's lung transplant. The villain you've been tracking down for years might rurn out to be the best friend who betrayed you in a moment you remember just like yesterday. The new masked ally who just saved your bacon with some welkplaced throwing stars could well be the mysterious lover you met last night in the club. The master who raised you ftom a shivering, orphan may be the leader of a sect of evil. In Feng Shui, there's no such thing as a hoary plotline, Here wwe proudly admie chat we tell the same stories over and over again because those are the best stories. THE GAM) Feng Shui is a roleplaying game for «wo or more play- crs. Ina roleplaying game, you direct the actions of a fictional character of your own devising through a series of adventures run by a player who takes on the role of Game Moderator, or GM. The game ses sions you participate in arc like episodes in a series of action movie sequels or an adventure TV show. Your GM starts each session with an idea of the plot line he wants to follow, but the actions taken by your character and chose of your fellow players will no doubr lead to surprises for everyone. When in doubt as to what happens during the game, the GM and players roll dice and consule the rules given in this book. For example, if your charac- ter unleashes a spinning kick at her opponent, you roll dice to see if she succeeded in hitting him and if so, how well, These rules help create 2 feeling of challenge and unpredictability that will keep you on the edge of your seats. Is this the last bullet your Armani-clad avenger can take without collapsing, or can he fight on? Is your master of kung fu able to leap onto the top of the escaping hovercar? Roll the dice and find out, with the help of your Game Moderator and the rules. As you read this book you will learn more about che game, and will learn enough about it to decide what kind of character you want to play. The characters run by you and other players are called, nor surprisingly, Player Characters (PCs for short), Your character will interact with a sup- Jame Moderator: villains, ch acters and innocent bystanders. These are called Game Moderator Characters, abbreviated as GMCs. We start by presenting background information ‘on the world in which Feng Shui adventures are set On the surface, it looks much like our own conten porary world. Bur underneath, it secthes with mysti cal and conspiratorial secrets, secrets which you and your fellow players will uncover to a soundtrack of crunching fists, blazing machine guns, and swoosh: ing swords. The only limit co the fun is your own imaginations: Remember, in your head you have an uunlimiced special effects budget. If you blow up half of Hong Kong in the story you make up together you don't have to pick up the insurance tab, or pay the set technicians co work overtime thing uasir thn reading oot of sentences with he words “eo she” cod “his or bor stuck in them time afer inet ths bok, whos we ned a singu Jor pronoun of indeterminate gender we're going to switch back and forth Sameties the GM oro hypottticl ployer wll be efered tas “he” sometimes es isha the epic gel pportnty bt ick Both mex and woe con be le competent wc Bth cen be ter emaing hic spicy evi e watt, both ome and men ply ed ey this gan ‘When we ase second ese nro, sametines we elering te you es, ployer, somaines oyu chores. his il oe sensei cnet After the basies of the setting we present rules for creating your characters, and for resolving actions ‘oween characters. Following the rules section is special information for the Game Moderator. If you're just going to be playing Feng Shui, you'll have more fun if you skip this section, leaving yourself some surprises for the actual game sessions. We conelude the book with a roundup of our : favorite Hong Kong action movies, the source mater ial that inspired Feng Shui. You don’t need to have seen any of these exciting flicks (© play or under- stand this game, but they're certainly a ton of fun if you can track them down. We predict that a growing umber of fans will find and enjoy the thrilling work of John Woo, Jackie Chan, Chow Yun Fat, Tsui Hark, Jer Li, and countless others during the next few years, Be the first on your block to get hip to the films of Hong Kong. where they still make ‘cm like they used to! ed re ee ee re POs Grr iy HEY RPG FANS! On first inspection, this game appears to fly in the face of most roleplayers’ assumptions about what a good roleplaying game consists of. Feng Shui emphs- sizes combat as a major story element, does not pro- vide rules for detailed character generation, encour ages players and GMs to make use of cliché-ridden character concepts and background elements, glori- fies violence and death as a form of entertainment, and generally appears to say that the last several years’ worth of advancement in roleplaying rules and storytelling are a bunch of hooey. Well, no. Not really. This game is all about action movies. The charac- ters are based on action-movie archetypes. The plots are told with action-movie pacing and structure. The setting is a melange of many action-movie ideas. Action movies work in part because almost nothing stands between the movie and the audience. As soon as Arnold Schwarzenegger appears on the sereen, you've got a decent idea of what his character is, going to be like. When the bad guy sets the bomb in the schoolyard, you can bet the hero will clip the red wire and save the day, Even though this stuff is all somewhat cliché, action movies are still incredibly exciting and entertaining. Even though your Feng Shui characters start off as off-the-shelf movie heroes, they'll become more and more real as you play. Even though Feng Shui adventures are a series of action combat scenes with a plot wrapped around them, they get more and more involved and gain added depth during the session, That's what we're after in Feng Shui THE SETTING Feng Shui is designed so that players can sit down, look at che various player character archetypes, choose one and chen start playing within an hour or less. The GM will need to have read this book carc- fully, but the rest of you can hit the ground running (That doesn’t mean that you can’t read the rest of the book if you're a player, bue you don’t have to; on the other hand, the less you know about the setting, the more coo! surprises you'll have in store during. play!) Before this section, we briefly covered the highlights of the game setting, (The nex¢ section, “The Rules,” covers the highlights of the game system.) Roleplaying games take time to play: Hey Shadowfist Fans! The sein of Fang Shs shared by aie card game called Shadows. Maybe you've Bec of If you've anys waned to knw more eat the myseries bebid the Shodan csi is the place to lok you hre' checked et roleglaying games befaethen thsi single seighfruard plc ta str You danoaead tobe aii wit Shodowfisin ode ply fog Shu Everthing you seed a gel sted 0 your wind of acting heres book Fang Sun Shows shre he some whe seme chats, onthe sane spins, But hey ae the same gone ed you shod’ expect une ee ens yo acquze rom Shodowit—sch os Tonghes or Fighting scnes—to svar the same way in Feng Shi You'll recogeiae characters from Shadowtistin his beak and thers, but tht owesin Fn Sho moy at resenble hi poversin the cad game because the way exch game works vry diferent onthe characters re sited op ocrding to very diferent cles ond very fret ply aed Geileching Potemkin still the Sotleckinp you know ad lore, bt ke moy kick tein ttl diferam wo fom game ogo Characters that ely kick bt in Sado igh tbs iugk—or thy ight betaughar—in on Sb Keep in mind ht Feng Sis ant oe adaption af Shoat cater, hye bath aap tins of th seme sure materi. Gti? fa thse of you aig scare home, hls Games fs' and won't be the publisher fShdenfit Sry tat yu dow, Nt lta, edon' know water anyone else il vr bring Shodos back o marke. We koe someone does, bt we dan kaow eying aut. Tat os—yo'l row when we tov. many players prefer sessions of three to four hours, though some players go much longer. : Your character may or may noc know any of the following stuff when the first session starts. In order to find our how much your character knows, consult briefly with your GM before you start playing. She'll be able to tell you how much of the background your player is aware of. If you know more than your player character does, you'll be expected co play your character without using that information. If you do use information your character doesn’t have, your may rule that you can’t make whatever action you're proposing based on that information, For example, if you're playing a modern-day hit- man who has never encountered any supernatural or futuristic weirdness, you know lots about being in a ‘gang but nothing about secret warriors or the Netherworld. IF your response to a problem is “Let's Took for-an entrance to the Netherworld,” your GM ‘can respond, “Oh, no you don’t!” and stop you from doing it because your character doesn’t know about the Netherworld yet ‘| The Netherworld THE RULES We'll handie the rules in detail in a chapter of their ‘own later in the book. But there are some basics you should have a feel for before you get started on choosing a character to play, and here they are, TASK CHECKS Whenever you tell the group that your character is trying to do something, your GM has to decide whether he is successful. If he is successful, your GM will need to decide just how successful he is. If he fails, che GM needs to know what the consequences of the failure might be. (This process is called a task check.) The rules help the GM do this. But the rules are only an aid in creating the story, not the whole point of the exercise, Feng Shui has simple rules but even # these should be ignored if it makes for a better story The Dice Whenever you are called upon to roll dice in a Feng Shui game, you will be rolling two standard six- sided dice. Each should be a different color. One dic represents a positive value; the other, a mega- tive. At the beginning of each session, tell your GM which color is which and stick to this choice. No fair deciding which is positive after you've seen the roll results! Whenever you roll the dice, subtract the negative die roll from the positive. The result may be a nega five number Example: Mary designates her green die as posiive and her red die as negative. She rolls and gets a3 0n the ‘reen die and a 1 on the red. She subtracts the result for Th Hethero, ee known os the ne Kingdom, isa mysterious realm connected to ur evn worl Icon be reached by varius magical doorways called ports These oe sal biden in ou--the-vay lcs, nd ce fen ely be seen by tose ih sg i The Metherwl is mostly a series of dn it one. doug this 20 vis bl sore lighting inthe Neterorliiselvoys psi ese, Mest fhe tx teks aga nd indstingi's herd el kt hye made of, Same fhe vesdens atthe Netra con she its physic nto thay ws some tunes have bean changed and re nw mae of rk dipping limestone, leaning etl, rather reagiable mater, The ii th Meberwar is dst eed mois athe some ine Ul tds of fog hang brits lor levels ny ht of ght has os of slow ing dst pais to bounce off ob. The ether isthe permanent home of honsnds of yop elo thn tame, tase people come fom ny number of ileen times nd places. May of them ae fmeirvelt who hae ben sanded bere; othrs re losers the secre war who bae bee eresed fam isery ond whos in he etervorl because i’ ‘he only lac they know anymare. Some of hs ese re dangerous, and are ploiag Yo return to pover ond take vengeance on thr ene. Otel help oui tft throm ens From te Nether, you cn Find ther gts ht eke you ote laces in your on fine x yo can find exis ht ead ther ines, either in th past rin ‘heft aching pce tet is aces fom the Meteo islet ane. Ahly of tine prods canbe each rm he ner Kingdom fay given nome Fa te st few ys, here ave ben ol fur cess jocare: 48,10, ur ‘ve time, end 205, Jncues move frvard with he pussoge of time hogh 0 they ge 7010, Ions fh a yeor fom ao. The vasius egos that stage for peri the secret wor ase the Nedherald so mens fring from unten, where hey ateck one note’ fang shui sites and generally wreak hae. Thee oreo nome of groups which ay gh hining ein her wil et thor, swells oe cup the Ps sigh be interested ining The Eaters of the Lotus Theater ofthe Lats isa scet soi tha cones the goveament of Chin in 9 AD, Thay are enuc tenant he Emperor vbw covertly prac sorcery They summon vero supernatural creatures to d their ing Although nil recently they ware concerned ony wih intanig hei on erin hn, they ves dis covered the Methervnl nd the secret war Thy bave bee ying 1 sie Fag shu sts in he fe the jocuri foes f expending iene ass the fme sean. . The Ascended The Acnded are menber of eae oe theusand yeaald congrats members con he most feng shi sits in oth the 1850 onture ond in the present doy. Therefore, they sce ona the wold They ceca ambitious ost tough a series af seve egriztions Te realy pros ones oe asked la i a sacl group anys the edged, at they eer in toa to bghr echelon cold the Lodge oly he igh aps ef he Peed re itel to kow abut the Lodge), Members of he Ascended ely hey on supernatants ised on hi The have sros eer sionto magi, whi controled dieted form of actual cheery. ut nosy they tel on their vs ressuces and polite ot: hy surly cont police fore, unis, jor corprtins, the mai. you ame an aro fife, andthe Ascended ae thre. Ter gas od gos ore obs ond sone chim hat the Ascended’ leds rent ever bun, Bt one hing is cer: They am okey the poverthey have alendyguhered fo heasehs The Guiding Hand This is « groep founded in 19th century Chino, with roots inthe 1850 ond contemporary ives. Fete Chinese pits end dina, they ae ad ht tec word is callosng into decadence end deco. They want To capa feng shui sis frm the Ascndd inorder taste regine of obedience aed digi bsed on erin prt ofthe ecg of Contac, hough tere are Ging Hand members in eth he 150 ond cntenporerjnctrs, he adershp is made pf Shan mans in the ts. Guiding Hd operatives elo chpoves, ond are alien meses Lng (8) ‘the red die trom the green die: 3-1 = 2. Her die result |} Closed and Open Rolls Sometimes your GM will ask you to make a Closed Roll. This is a normal roll of the two dice, a8 given above Most of the time, you will be asked to make Open Rolls. In an open roll, you reroll any dic that comes up 6, adding to that dies total. Tis gives a wwider range of results, which simulates the wild and chancy actions eypcally undertaken by Feng Shui characters Fexample: Mary makes an open rol. and ges a 6 0n her green die and 2 on her re dic. She rer the green de, getting 2 result of 4, She adds the results of the two green die rolls: 6 + 4= 10, She then suborats the negative result. 5: 105 = 5. Her final resule is 5. If, on an Open Roll, both dice come up sixes [Boxears), the GM should decide that something unusual happens, You reroll both dice, ignoring each inseance of boxcars (but not a single 6) in your final total. The unusual happening may be good or bad depending on the overall result of the roll Determining Success or Failure Usually when you make a roll, you will then add the fesule o another number—thae number is usually one representing one of your character's abilities, and is called an Action Value (abbreviated as AV). When you choose your character type, you will wang t0 make sure that she has high Action Values in the abil ities you want her to be especially good at, On page 10 isa chare tha gives you an idea of the level of abil ity that various Action Values correspond to. fe, Te wil empl gusi abs neessry, but regard them os moray suspect They cegud el sorcerers ond saperntrl eatrssiredeenbl coral Ahough ins ps e sympathize wih many of tac ins, he overage player carats ually want vein he sit world of obedience and icin hey wih to cote Architects of the Flesh Theda ofthe Fes athe scetiicmasteminds end plc reso 1056 They hae managed by cpg the Feng shui sts of ther er, 0 tate Uied Nain roman inelfecol meeting plc fer diplomats into on authori wad oveanes The wold iv ne massive police sie, ado nd rary glace vere the everyday movements of ies are monaed and igh conta log wh thi stengeold othe jure’ Feng shui the Act Tenders ep ight inca thei gene trugh the se of ecnoveve echlgy Tiss nasty nay of mai leting magical vee eng though chological mes I hes allowed the Archies te crate the Aboinations, sapermiel etre who hove bee cbeneticly alee tre hem int obedient a tering sup slis The cited eu: Lely snd nse ners Bako th 69jncret captors soperaurl creatures fer is prps. They so wat a canqer ps unires, ting wih ut cate porary wl The Jammers The Jomnes are «cup of cbc from the fate who wnt to oetow the Acces. os of them xe sit humans, athoagh his leedersipprninety ines some eu ebrtic experience owt by th Accs. A the wl poled werd of 236s tug x envionn! ven fa the mst bardne rl fanart Jammer hve cette eth ether fom wich hy lec ee

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