How is Feng Shui?

[Garet Jax]

Hi,
I've heard some good things about this game and was wondering if I should pick it up.

I plan to GM and the players I have around here just aren't into heavy roleplaying, long epic campaigns, and complicated rules, ie d20, even though I have SWd20, d20M, and D&D3.5.

I hear that Feng Shui is THE game for cinematic martial arts and high octane no holds barred actionfest. Downloaded the sampler rules and it looks pretty simple and rules-lite, all good for my players since they prefer short, action packed, 1-2 session games. But I'm wondering if it would also be easy for the GM. Here are some questions I have about Feng Shui, for those of you who have GM'd it.

1. Because it's so rules-lite, do you find yourself having to "wing it" all the time when adjudicating actions? In other words, do you find it rules-deficient sometimes?

2. Since there aren't many published modules and fan support for Feng Shui vs d20, do you find it hard to design interesting adventures?

3. How simple is it to port the existing abundant d20 adventures into Feng Shui? I know it does modern well. How about fantasy or sci-fi? I hear there are people using FS to run Star Wars.

4. Character creation is very simple. Not many archetypes/classes. Are there enough variation in the PCs to distinguish one from another throughout the power spectrum (can't recall if FS has levels or not)?

5. Let's say my players like it so much that they want to adventure in a Feng Shui campaign for several months. Does it work for long epic campaigns and character progression or mainly one to two-shot escapades?

Any other comments are appreciated.

 

[Crothian]

I've never DMed it, for that you want Piratecat.

But as a player being introduced to it fast, it worked really well. From what you describe I think it would work well for that. It was simple, fast paced, filled with great combat, and a blast. I can only imagine it will be better when I actually learn the rules

 

[Conaill]

It's a GREAT game, under the right DM. Ideally, you should almost never have to open a rulebook. (Unless for "special occasions"... such as looking up how much damage a falling phonebooth does ) Then again, I had the priviledge of playing under some of the best Feng Shui DMs around, including Pcat.

Here are some story hour reports from the Boston EN World gatherings:

Feng Shui: Six in the Chamber

Six in the Chamber II: HONG KONG BLOODBATH

 

[arwink]

Hi,
I've heard some good things about this game and was wondering if I should pick it up.

I'll add my voice to the numerous good things that can be said about this game, and definately recommend it. Feng Shui rocks, and I don't get to play it anywhere near enough

1. Because it's so rules-lite, do you find yourself having to "wing it" all the time when adjudicating actions? In other words, do you find it rules-deficient sometimes?

No, not really. Like D20, Feng Shui mostly relies on the same mechanic in order to determin actions, and because it plays with that mechanic fairly loosely you can bend it in a lot of directions. It's not a great game for people who want to play a tactical, by the rules stype combat, but for those who just want goofy kung fu fun its near perfect.

2. Since there aren't many published modules and fan support for Feng Shui vs d20, do you find it hard to design interesting adventures?

Again, not really. I read somewhere that designing a Feng Shui adventure is really just a process where you pick three places that seem like interesting places to have a fight, work out some cool scenes that could take place there, then string them together.

3. How simple is it to port the existing abundant d20 adventures into Feng Shui? I know it does modern well. How about fantasy or sci-fi? I hear there are people using FS to run Star Wars.

Easy, really. I've poked around with Feng-Shui adventures based on Call of Cthulhu scenarios, I've played in games that were based off Deadlands, I know of someone whose running a campaing using the rules for a Vampire meets Underworld kind of vibe.

For the most part, Feng Shui is about cool moves and archetypes, and the genres/systems you've mentioned tend to use the latter quite a bit. It can require a little tinkering and hand-waving to pull off, but Feng Shui is a good system for Hand-waving anyway.

4. Character creation is very simple. Not many archetypes/classes. Are there enough variation in the PCs to distinguish one from another throughout the power spectrum (can't recall if FS has levels or not)?

In the last game I ran, the hardcore killer based of Christian Bale in Equillibrium was no more or less effective than the bratty sidekick (conceptulaised as haley joel osmend breaking into kung fu films). The system is fairly balanced in this kind of respect - the way in which various archetypes approach the concept of a fight is diffent, but not necessarily any more effecting than the others. Magic and gunplay are perfectly balanced, and the guy playing the sports fan caught in the wrong place and the wrong time can happily go toe to toe with either and stand a chance of winning.

Creating and tinkering with the archetypes can be tricky, but gets easier with practice. And admittedly, there's not really much need for it - the archetypes cover a lot of ground.

5. Let's say my players like it so much that they want to adventure in a Feng Shui campaign for several months. Does it work for long epic campaigns and character progression or mainly one to two-shot escapades?

Campaigns could work if you've got people who dig the system and are into the idea of inventing new stunts and moves week after week. I know some people whose eyes gleam at the very thought of a long-runing feng shui campaign (me included), but I also know people who love the system but wonder whether it would be possible to keep up the energy levels and intensity of the system.

 

[BSF]

It sounds like a cool game overall. I have been thinking I need to get it. I think I am sold on the idea, but please tell me more!

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

Feng Shui is just about the awesomest thing ever, and I love love it.

I wholeheartedly recommend it.

That said, here are my only complaints:

The archetypes are very very fun to play, but it is a little bit difficult to see how to create new ones should you need them.

Similarly, should you run into a genre form that the system doesn't portray very well with the existing components you may be in for some trouble.

But that trouble mostly shows up because the rest of the system is so easy.

Some players I have had complain about the lack of any real involvement in character creation.

Many people complain that the setting is nasty. Me I love the mix of villains and genres, though I do agree that their various scenes could mix together a little better.

Feng Shui style Hong Kong is awesome. Noone would deny that.

 

[Funksaw]

Hi,
I've heard some good things about this game and was wondering if I should pick it up.

I plan to GM and the players I have around here just aren't into heavy roleplaying, long epic campaigns, and complicated rules, ie d20, even though I have SWd20, d20M, and D&D3.5.

I hear that Feng Shui is THE game for cinematic martial arts and high octane no holds barred actionfest. Downloaded the sampler rules and it looks pretty simple and rules-lite, all good for my players since they prefer short, action packed, 1-2 session games. But I'm wondering if it would also be easy for the GM. Here are some questions I have about Feng Shui, for those of you who have GM'd it.

1. Because it's so rules-lite, do you find yourself having to "wing it" all the time when adjudicating actions? In other words, do you find it rules-deficient sometimes?

2. Since there aren't many published modules and fan support for Feng Shui vs d20, do you find it hard to design interesting adventures?

3. How simple is it to port the existing abundant d20 adventures into Feng Shui? I know it does modern well. How about fantasy or sci-fi? I hear there are people using FS to run Star Wars.

4. Character creation is very simple. Not many archetypes/classes. Are there enough variation in the PCs to distinguish one from another throughout the power spectrum (can't recall if FS has levels or not)?

5. Let's say my players like it so much that they want to adventure in a Feng Shui campaign for several months. Does it work for long epic campaigns and character progression or mainly one to two-shot escapades?

Any other comments are appreciated.

It's not my favorite game, it's not my most-frequently played game, but no game plays to my GM strengths (improvisation, furious action, willingness to suspend disbelief, explosions) like Feng Shui does.

1) I don't find it rules deficient. I actually think there might be too *many* rules, but that's just me - I like things very fast, very loose. Put another way, you'll likely have no problem with finding the rules you need for car chases (the driver spends an extra shot-per-turn for doing stuff while he's driving,) crazy stunts (just about the only penalty is when you take out more than one bad guy at once, otherwise, there's no penalty,) magic, kung-fu, etc. It even has something akin to a reflex save (Get a result of more than 10 on a roll, and you can escape a warehouse explosion just by jumping out of the way at the right moment.) And I'm running off the first edition! But if you forget one of those rules during the game, unlike D20, it's a terrible faux pas to look up the rule in the middle of the game. Make something up, look up the real rule later. Action is the watchword.

2) Feng Shui is the easiest game in the world to design an adventure for. It has three steps.
1) Watch an action movie - preferable a hong-kong action movie - that none of your friends have watched.
2) Steal the plot...
3) <Goldblum>There is no step three. There is no step three.</Goldblum>

3) It is very hard to port d20 adventures into Feng Shui. Mostly because in your average d20 adventure, nothing much happens. Forget the stats, forget the skills, the monsters - unless the title is "Samurai Kung-Fu Explosion Bandits in Freeport" you're probably going to want to come up with your own. Essentially, the more action, the more crazy stunts, the more adventure, and the more explosions, the easier it is to port. But the numbers will be utterly useless.

4) FS does not have levels. But the archetypes are very distinct. There is no confusing, for example, the Hitman for the Spunky kid. There is some overlap - the Ninja and the Spunky Kid tend to be good at similar things, but for one, the Ninja and the Spunky Kid are roleplayed very distinctly - even moreso than D&D, your archetype determines your personality. So you have all the benifits of classes - easy play, quick intro, with a character all set up - with none of the pitfalls of D&D, long setup time, confusing limitations, etc.

5) Feng Shui can work with one-shots, with short-campaigns, and with epic campaigns. But - and this may be just me - it doesn't transition well from one-shot to epic campaign. Mostly because in the one-shot, everything gets blown up in the first adventure. Everything after that seems like an anticlimax. Sure, you may keep it going another couple of sessions, but like action movie franchises, by the time the third sequel comes around, it's not nearly as good as the first. So I'd reccomend you start a new campaign if your players want to move from one-shot to epic campaign.

Have you ever seen Jackie Chan Adventures? That is an epic Feng Shui game right down to the archetypes.

 

[Piratecat]

Other folks have done a wonderful job explaining the game. It's one of my favorites for a one-shot; fast-moving, shouldn't ever bog down, very cinematic.

One rules flaw that I tend to see is that it's very hard to hurt competent bad guys, because the attack skill is also the dodge skill. I occasionally assign separate numbers to the two in order to simulate incredibly competent villains who may be easier to hit.

That's no big deal, though; I virtually never pick up a rules book once a game begins. It's all about kicking butt and looking good while doing it.

 

[Henry]

I'll second the applause for this brilliant game.

I've played it, and I've GM'ed it - and it's great for a one-evening's fun. It has rules for campaign play, but I don't think it's suited for that in terms of genre - one friend described running a campaign of Feng Shui as "like watching 12 hours of Jackie Chan or Jet Li Movies (fun, but overkill)" and I tend to agree. As a GM, I just couldn't come up with plots different enough to where they wouldn't boil down to "you are minding your own business when suddenly, NINJAS ATTACK!" over and over again.

But one thing the game WILL do is encourage improvisation, both with your players and your GM/DM. I've never had my players come up with such descriptive ways of performing an action in my life, and I thank the game's rules and style for that. You get penalties in fact if your actions are BORING!

In a mediocre D&D sessions, your actions might be, "I move to flank him and sneak attack!"

In Feng Shui, your actions might be, "I grab the can of creme corn from the grocery shelf, toss it lightly into the air, and then with a spinning back-kick launch the can straight for the thug's head." And don't forget the line about how you "creamed" him, just in case the GM likes it enough to award you a fortune Dice.

 

[rbingham2000]

In a mediocre D&D sessions, your actions might be, "I move to flank him and sneak attack!"

In Feng Shui, your actions might be, "I grab the can of creme corn from the grocery shelf, toss it lightly into the air, and then with a spinning back-kick launch the can straight for the thug's head." And don't forget the line about how you "creamed" him, just in case the GM likes it enough to award you a fortune Dice.

Into the sig file with you!