Steampunch [d20 Modern campaign idea]

[JPL]

I'm gonna try to run this as a one-shot next month...

Basically, a game set around a martial arts tournament in 1890s Hong Kong.

The heroes are the sort of eclectic international group you see in the tournament arcade games and Jean Claude movies. A Samoan wrestler, an Arab assassin, a British nobleman/pugilist, a latter-day samurai, a wandering Shaolin, etc.

For their first adventure, the heroes are all recent arrivals to Hong Kong, where a major fight is only days away. They get caught up in an adventure, however, when one of their fellow competitors is murdered by mysterious masked warriors who disintegrate when slain. They have stumbled upon a plot by a scheming mastermind to resurrect an ancient army of warriors mystically preserved as statues.

Then if we get to run a second session...nothing but pit fights.

As a continuing campaign...the heroes travel the world seeking fortune and glory as fighters, running afoul of all manner of pulpy danger. And they catch wind of the rumors in the martial arts community of a Great Battle held once a generation in a lost city. The winner receives the ultimate prize...immortality!

 

[Jeph]

Cool. Seems kinda like 'The Mummy' and it's series.

 

[Mistwell]

Steampunch...hmmm..is that like hot apple cider, only punch-like?

 

[Drakmar]

quick.. sell the rights to that one to Van Damme.

 

[JPL]

I pitched it to a friend of mine yesterday as "like that Jean Claude movie, 'The Quest'. Except it won't suck."

 

[JPL]

The characters thus far:

Siegfried Klein
- German military officer and saber champion.
- Strong Hero 3/ Soldier 3
- Style: Combat Martial Arts, Dodge, Agile Risposte
Sir William Ralston
- English gentleman and master of baritsu, a British form of ju-jitsu and cane-fighting.
- Smart Hero 3/ Strong Hero 2 /Martial Artist 1
- Style: Expertise and related feats
Clancy O’Brien
- Irish-American bareknuckles boxing champion.
- Strong Hero 6
- Style: Brawl, Streetfighting
Wu
- Tibetan monk skilled in the mystic art of Lion’s Roar Kung Fu
- Dedicated Hero 4 /Martial Artist 2
- Style: Combat Martial Arts, Defensive Martial Arts
Kajoonka
- Samoan islander and master wrestler
- Strong Hero 3/ Tough Hero 3
- Style: Defensive Martial Arts, Combat Throw, Improved Combat Throw

 

[JPL]

Steampunch...hmmm..is that like hot apple cider, only punch-like?

I bow to the wit of my learned brother.

[By the way, Mistwell, I just lost my first trial. Second-chair on murder-one / attempt murder-one. Just a month after I'm sworn in, and my clients are already getting life sentences...]

 

[Jeph]

Seems cool so far! Plan on a story hour?

 

[Tonguez]

Kajoonka

No way this is a Samoan name - the language doesn't use J or K no double constanants and every syllable should end with a vowel

 

[JPL]

Seems cool so far! Plan on a story hour?

Yep. I'm excited. This is my first DMing in a long, long time.

One of my players is locked in to play the English gentleman/ baritsu master. There's talk of his wife playing Emma Peal to his John Steed, which will be particularly interesting in a Victorian setting --- imagine doing kung fu in one of those 19th century dresses...

Already planning a follow-up adventure in Germany or Switzerland, where the heroes duke it out in the Steam Age equivalent of the X-Men's Danger Room --- lots of Gatling guns and primitive robots and pistons and such.