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Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate (WHOG) draws on a number of
sources for inspiration. I watch a lot of wuxia movies and TV shows, and these
have had a big influence not only on Ogre Gate, but on Sertorius and many of my
d20 campaigns. I am hoping to share some of my favorite movies and shows in the
genre here as we work on WHOG.
A Chinese Odyssey is
definitely up there as a source of inspiration. Written and directed by Jeffrey
Lau and starring Stephen Chow, this wuxia-infused comedy mixes humor and action
in a style similar to other Stephen Chow movies but on a much more epic scale.
It is divided into two films: Pandora’s Box and Cinderella. Both parts were
released in the same year, but each one does have a distinct feel from the
other.
Based on the 16th
century novel Journey to the West, A
Chinese Odyssey is the story of Monkey King over 500 years and two lifetimes.
It is a love story and a tale of redemption. The plot is somewhat complex, but
it begins with Monkey King standing before the judgment of the bodhisattva
Guanyin for plotting against his master Longevity Monk when he was supposed to
be travelling west to obtain scriptures. Guanyin decides to kill Monkey King,
but Longevity Monk offers to take his own life to spare his disciple.
The film jumps forward
500 years to a band of robbers led by a man named Joker. The robbers encounter
two demon sisters (Lady Spider and Jing-Jing) who try to kill Joker, believing
him to be the reincarnation of Monkey King. And they are not the only ones.
Another group, led by Bull King, soon arrives seeking the Monkey King as well.
In a complex series of events, littered with slap stick, part one ends with
Joker falling in love with Jing-Jing, and finding Pandora’s Box in a cave
during a massive showdown with Bull King and Lady Spider. Lady Spider, who is
impregnated by Joker’s second in command, tricks Jing-Jing, telling her the
child is Joker’s. Jing-Jing kills herself in a fit of despair, leaving Joker to
stumble upon her corpse. Using Pandora’s Box, which here is some kind of time
travel device powered by moonlight, Joker goes back in time over and over
trying to stop Jing-Jing from killing herself. Eventually he goes back too far
into the past, five hundred years and this leads to part two.
In the past, Joker
learns he is an incarnation of Monkey King but is desperate to find Jing-Jing
again. He meets an immortal named Zixia, who falls in love with him. She is
later revealed to be the human form of Buddha’s lampwick. Joker enters into
conflict with Bull King, and meets Longevity Monk. After Bull King kidnaps
Zixia to take her as his concubine, Joker finds Jing-Jing (but five hundred
years before he met her) and asks her to marry him. She agrees but leaves when
she realizes he really loves Zixia. Jing-Jing’s sister, Lady Spider, arrives
and cuts Joker’s throat. Dying he hears Guanyin who asks him to resume embrace
his fate as Monkey King and wear a golden circlet. The circlet she tells him
will grow smaller and cause pain the more he clings to worldly things. He then
goes to rescue Zixia and Longevity monk from Bull King in an epic battle. Zixia
dies saving Monkey King from Bull King, and his band shrinks as he tries to
hold on to her (eventually letting her go). He then goes west with Longevity
Monk as he was instructed by Guanyin, but not before seeing another incarnation
of himself and Zixia in a city on the way. He uses his powers to encourage them
to kiss, and then walks away. 
There is a lot more to
this movie than those two paragraphs can convey, but I just wanted to give the
basic skeletal structure of the film. The first part of A Chinese Odyssey is
heavy with humor and slapstick. There is a surprisingly funny recurring groin
kicking joke, where Joker’s loins catch on fire and his men have to stomp out
the flames. In the initial time travel sequence with Pandora’s Box, Joker’s
repeated failed attempts to go back and save Jing-Jing are enormously funny. Again,
it is similar to many other Stephen Chow films in this respect.
The second part is also
humorous but focuses more on the love story and Joker’s transformation into
Monkey King. However, part two contains one of the most bizarre and hysterical
musical sequences I have ever seen, with Longevity Monk attempting to convince
Joker to embrace his destiny by singing a greatly modified version of the
Platter’s Only You. It is one of the
more unexpected moments in the movie (Here is a link if you’d like to see for
yourself : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMhFul1peSQ).
The action director was
Ching Sui Tung, and the swordplay and martial arts really stand out. There is
plenty of humor, but the choreography is still taken seriously and well
executed. Just like most wuxia movies
can rapidly change tone, going from serious to funny in a heartbeat, A Chinese
Odyssey, moves from one tone to the next as well, but is just more firmly
planted on comedic ground.
I definitely recommend
this to anyone with an interest in the genre. There is also lots of great
content for gaming. All the supernatural and time travel elements would work
great in a campaign.
A Chinese Odyssey DVD
(Dragon Dynasty): http://www.cityonfire.com/chinese-odyssey-1-2-dvd-weinstein/
Part One Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBCWhxEKWm4
Part Two Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnNKNApIOAo
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