[ENboards Boston Event] Feng Shui: Six in the Chamber

[Dr Midnight]

I haven't forgotten this story hour! I'm just letting you simmer for a bit.

I just ran this adventure for another group today... some very cool stuff happened, but nothing as great as with the Boston group. Sigh.

 

[Breakstone]

Say, Doc, what rules system does Feng Shui use?

 

[Piratecat]

Errr.... it uses Feng Shui. It has its own, simple, flexible rules.

2d6, one is low, one is high. Roll 'em, subtract the Low dice from the High dice, and add your skill. Reroll all sizes. Before rerolling sixes, that'll give you a range of -5 to +5, in addition to your skill. It uses target numbers, like DCs or ACs, and the difference between the DC and your roll affects how much damage you do. It's fun, fast, and not too tough.

Example: my martial arts skill is 11. I want to grab a named bad guy (as opposed to a faceless mook) and flip him back over the wall of an open air fish stall, and hit him with a big fish while he's sliding on the slippery ice and merchandise.

I roll my two d6, different colors. My Low die is a 3. My High die is a 6. Whoo hoo! I reroll it and get a 4. 4+6-3=7; 7+my martial arts skill of 11 = 18. Doc Midnight knows that this guy's dodge skill was 14, so I'll do 4 points of damage in addition to my normal martial arts damage. If he's really buff, that might not hurt him much; if he's fragile, he might take some decent damage. But no matter what, he'll look dumb, and in Feng Shui doing something embarrassing is ABSOLUTELY worse than getting hurt!

 

[Dr Midnight]

The system's really simple. 2d6, of differing colors, one's positive, one's negative. You roll both and add the result to your Action Value for whatever you're trying to do. Let's say you're attempting to backflip through the window of an exploding building to catch a telephone line to break your fall. Fairly simple task, right? You'd use your Martial Arts Action Value, or AV... which might be 13. The target difficulty is 17. You roll your 2d6. The red one's positive, blue's negative. Red rolls a 6, blue rolls a 2. Reroll sixes... Now Red rolls a 4. 6-2+4+your AV=21. Not only is that good enough to make it, but you do it so well that you swing down on the phone line, kicking several mooks in the face, and land right next to a sports car with the keys in the ignition.

That's the jist of it. Very loose, sloppy, fun game.

EDIT: Damn, beaten by the 'cat.

 

[Breakstone]

woah, awesome...

 

[Horacio]

woah, awesome...

Yes, awesome...

First time I read Feng Shui system, I thought 'What a , a stupid easy system...'... But when I tried it and discovered how smoth it goes, and how great is making great description of the actions...

Well, Feng Shui is awesome, one of my favorites RPGs!

I want more Feng Shui story hour!!!!

 

[KidCthulhu]

Feng Shui is my new first choice for a game system to use to introduce new players to gaming. It doesn't have the geek stigma of D&D, and the action movie feel is a lot easier for people to understand and buy in to. People who might not play an elf will play Mel Gibson, Jet Li or Jackie Chan.

 

[Rybaer]

Feng Shui is absolutely wonderful - especially for one-shot games and for teaching new players. My friends and I played this game exclusively for about a year and a half, and it produced a never ending stream of memorable fights and action sequences.

One in particular retains a fond niche in my memory. The heroes were duking it out with a couple named baddies and a couple dozen mooks in a lumber mill somewhere in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. (Oversized saws, power tools, etc.) That fight sequed into one of the greatest chase scenes of all time. Imagine a lumber truck (fully loaded with redwoods, of course), a dumptruck (fully loaded with gun-toting mooks, of course!!), a sports car and a motorcycle. Now, place all four vehicles on a twisty mountain road, downhill, at night, in a rainstorm. It was beautiful. I couldn't even begin to recall the number of times people changed vehicles or how many collisions there were on the way down.

Definitely play it if you ever get the chance.

Meanwhile, Kudos to the Boston crew for putting on a great showing in the truest Feng Shui style. I'm looking forward to the end!

 

[Breakstone]

Bump!

I just looked up the pronounciation of Feng Shui. I always thought it was pronounced like Fang Shewy, but it turns out you say it as Fung Shway.

Hm...

 

[Dr Midnight]

Tonight- after too long- this Story Hour will be completed.

STAY TUNED, MOOKS!!