STAR-CROSSED BLADES OF THE GREEN PEONY SESSION XIV

This is the fourteenth session of our Star-Crossed Blades of the Green Peony campaign for Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate (session I can be found HERE, session II can be found HERE, session III can be found HERE, session IV can be found HERE, Session V can be found HERE, session VI can be found HERE, Session VII can be found HERE, Session VIII can be found HERE, Session IX can be found HERE, Session X can be found HERE, Session XI can be found HERE). Session XII can be found HERE. Session XIII can be found HERE. It is set in Zhang Chang prefecture (which I hope to release a blog entry for). In this campaign, every player rolled randomly to determine who their family are, how many siblings they have and whether individual family members are still alive. The players also gave very rough sketches of their background (no more than a few sentences) and I secretly added a "20-year" backstory to each one. I have implemented a special rule in this campaign that every encounter has a 3 in 10 chance of being connected to their secret backstory in some way. Note in this session I was play testing a specific scenario and the players were made aware prior to play.

CHARACTERS

QI YUN (MASTER POET QI YUN): A roaming martial expert who has secretly learned his martial arts from two different masters (and the masters have no knowledge of one another). 

XING GE: A traveling pipa player and the son of Lu Guiying the Iron Flower. His father died when he was five, and his mother married Gongsun Yuan, the chief of Black Parrot Society. Gongsun Yuan despises Xing Ge. 

TU JIN SHI (THUNDER LEGS): A wandering fighter seeking to be the strongest and most upright hero in the region. His father, Tu Haitao sent his mother away when he was young, after being consumed by grief over the passing of Jin Shi's brother, Tian. Shortly after his father died consuming a lethal concoction in a misguided effort to become immortal. 

LU LI (THE UNFILIAL ARCHER): A traveling physician who comes from a family of successful fishermen. 

THE PAINTED MAIDEN 

Reflecting on their experience hearing a Black Parrot utter the words about the lifting the Curse at Black Parrot Lake, Xing Ge asked his men about the Tomb of the Parrot King and how it came to be cursed. They told him that when his sword was stolen ages ago, it sank and was flooded until the area became a lake. One of his men, A-Fu, said "I know where the sword is kept." And explained it was known to be an artifact of Hopping Ghost Temple. 

Believing the murders of Qi Yun's co-disciples were the most pressing matter, he then asked his men if any knew about recent rumors about Painted Maiden sightings*. They informed him, they had heard of sightings happening along the river, of bodies being found by members of Chi Song River Gang. They also said a body was found in the town of Jiaoshi. 

Xing Ge left two of his men behind to watch their new abode. They took passage on an imperial tea vessel. On the ship, Tu Jin Shi was looking for anyone who might be a painted maiden and happened to notice a famed courtesan named Gentle Moon Qin. Asking about her, he learned she was a favorite of General Lu, a minor commander in the area**. Tu Jin Shi began to follow the courtesan, but when she turned her nose up at him and walked away, he decided this was a sign she was just a normal person. 

The players knew that there was a famous inn in Jiaoshi run by a woman rumored to be a Fox Spirit, Lady Xuan Chi. They also understood, even though the city was governed by City Lord Shuang Yi, the true power in the region was the Fox Spirit and that her organization, River Spirit Sect, was quite powerful. 

They decided to go to the River Spirit Inn to speak with her. There they found a large inn upon an island in the river, shrouded in a dense mist, its multiple stories rising high into the sky, with each one offering a greater pleasure than the one below. 

They met with her on a balcony of the second story, but Tu Jin Shi's gruff ways were off-putting to her. She did explain that about a week prior, someone was found dead in one of the inn rooms, a merchant named Guo Chiang. People had said it looked like a painted maiden killed him. 

"And what would a Painted Maiden look like?" Tu Jin Shi asked. 

"Like a normal person of course," Said Lady Xuan Chi. "They can assume human form and use this to live among us and devour victims. This is just a rumor of course, the constables handled the matter."

Though she was growing more and more irritated by Tu Jin Shi's unrefined manners, when it came to her attention that Master Poet Qi Yun was among his group, she took more interest in them. 

"Did anyone interact with the merchant here before his death?" Tu Jin Shi asked. 

"Yes, a number of people did."

"Well I believe I have learned everything we can, thank you for your help."

"Do you want to know their identities?" Asked Lady Xuan Chi (at this point she was fully contemptuous of him). 

Tu Jin Shi indicated he woud very much like to know this information. 

"If Master Poet Qi Yun would honor us with an exclusive Huaben, only to be performed at my establishment, I would be willing to provide you these details." 

Qi Yun wrote a story about a beggar dreaming of ascending the 18 levels of pleasure at The River Spirit Inn***, set to music composed by Xing Ge****. 

She explained that merchant Guo Chiang had interacted with Magistrate Lao of Yue Town, who had been staying at the inn and on friendly terms with him. He also spoke with the Prefect's wife, Sun Niao. Red Cicada, a courtesan at the River Spirit Inn, had spent a night with him. And Lady Yi Huang of Huo Long Cavern Sect had spoken to Guo Chiang. 

"Why were so many influential people speaking with him?" Asked Lu Li. 

"Because he is obscenely wealthy." Said Lady Xuan Chi. 

They also found out that the body was already buried then secured a dinner audience with Red Cicada, which cost them five hundred spades. 

During the meal, they asked about what she discussed with Guo Chiang but refused to disclose that saying it was private. She did say Sun Niao had concerns about Guo Chiang's activities, and agreed that he was likely killed by a Painted Maiden. 

They pressed her further about Sun Niao and she said there were rumors she was such a creature. Explaining that people knew she was the one the prefect sent to deal with his enemies. She also confirmed that Sun Niao was the last person seen with Guo Chiang. However after telling them her suspicions about Sun Niao, Red Cicada became visibly fearful and as they were leaving she clutched Xing Ge by the hand saying and gazing at him intently "I cannot rest easy after speaking so openly about the Prefect's wife. As long as she lives I will be fearful."

Xing Ge sent a messenger pigeon to Black Parrot society asking about the Prefect's wife and all the other suspects, with instructions for the response to be sent to their nearest outpost in Lanyin. Before leaving they went to the constable and spoke with the coroner. 

The coroner confirmed that the body appeared eaten by a large mouth, and one that could be mistaken for alligator bites. He told them as well that no noise was mentioned by anyone at the inn during the time of the murder, but emphasized it was a pleasure house where such sounds could easily be misinterpreted or ignored. He also expected more papers and other items in the room, so suspected things were taken. 

When they asked if any evidence was found he handed Xing Ge a jade hairpin and said it was clutched in the dead man's hand. He also noted there were signs Guo Chiang fought back. 

Xing Ge remembered seeing the hairpin before when they first met Sun Niao on the boat. 

Before leaving the constable told them the case was effectively closed. 

This is where the session ended. 

*I had assigned an "Information Network" rating of 0d10 to his men, for occasions like this. I rolled 2d10 to take the lowest and got an 8. 

**This was intentional disinformation by her true client: Chief Patrolling Inspector Luo Sha (who was traveling in secret on the ship). 

***There are not literally 18 levels at the inn, but he chose the number for poetic reasons. 

****They both got 9s on their rolls, so the story and music were of very high quality and acceptable to Lady Xuan Chi. 

REVIEW OF STRANGE TALES OF NEW ENGLAND

Art by Jackie Musto 

I wanted to mention a great review of Strange Tales of New England over at RPG Overviews. People should check out this channel as I found his review to be very thorough. He has a massive number of reviews, including some things like reviews of the 2E Complete books (which I am a big fan of). The channel covers OSR and other types of RPGs too. The review goes into considerable detail on Strange Tales of New England so I think people will find it helpful for seeing what is inside the book. You can check out the review HERE  

If you want to check out Strange Tales of New England itself, the PDF is available at DrivethruRPG (HERE) and the print version is available at Studio 2 (HERE). 

I believe the print is currently out of stock, but that should just be a temporary issue. 

LUST FOR LOVE FOR A CHINESE COURTESAN

I recently reviewed Lust ror Love for a Chinese Courtesan (1984) at easternKicks (which you can read HERE). It is a remake by the great Shaw Brother's director Chor Yuen, of his seminal film Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan. I have talked a lot about the latter here, and it is one of my favorite movies, but this was my first time seeing Lust for Love, and watching it dispelled a lot of misconceptions I had about the movie. While I had always heard it was much more graphic than the first in terms of sexual content, and it is to a large degree, it is still a real movie and not simply an excuse to string together nude scenes. There is genuine drama behind it all.  It also tells us a very different story than the first one, and some of the most intriguing changes, like having the two female leads no longer be martial artists, take the story to unexpected places. While it certainly doesn't rival the first movie, and it shows signs of strain as a mid-80s Shaw Brothers outing, it had some good ideas. Unfortunately those ideas still mostly make it amount to mid-level entertainment for me, and some of the sex sequences veer into the unintentionally amusing (though I could be wrong and the amusement might be intentional). I am glad I saw it though as one thing it delivers is more of Lady Chun's perspective. Check out my review to see my full thoughts on Lust for Love of a Chinese Courtesan. This review was part of a two part series on the Imprint Asia boxed set that includes both Lust for Love and Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan. I highly recommend the boxed set. It has great commentary and the original film is a masterpiece. 

STAR-CROSSED BLADES OF THE GREEN PEONY SESSION XIII

This is the thirteenth session of our Star-Crossed Blades of the Green Peony campaign for Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate (session I can be found HERE, session II can be found HERE, session III can be found HERE, session IV can be found HERE, Session V can be found HERE, session VI can be found HERE, Session VII can be found HERE, Session VIII can be found HERE, Session IX can be found HERE, Session X can be found HERE, Session XI can be found HERE). It is set in Zhang Chang prefecture (which I hope to release a blog entry for). In this campaign, every player rolled randomly to determine who their family are, how many siblings they have and whether individual family members are still alive. The players also gave very rough sketches of their background (no more than a few sentences) and I secretly added a "20-year" backstory to each one. I have implemented a special rule in this campaign that every encounter has a 3 in 10 chance of being connected to their secret backstory in some way. Note in this session I was play testing a specific scenario and the players were made aware prior to play.

CHARACTERS

QI YUN (MASTER POET QIN YUN): A roaming martial expert who has secretly learned his martial arts from two different masters (and the masters have no knowledge of one another). 

XING GE: A traveling pipa player and the son of Lu Guiying the Iron Flower. His father died when he was five, and his mother married Gongsun Yuan, the chief of Black Parrot Society. Gongsun Yuan despises Xing Ge. 

TU JIN SHI (THUNDER LEGS): A wandering fighter seeking to be the strongest and most upright hero in the region. His father, Tu Haitao sent his mother away when he was young, after being consumed by grief over the passing of Jin Shi's brother, Tian. Shortly after his father died consuming a lethal concoction in a misguided effort to become immortal. 

LU LI (THE UNFILIAL ARCHER): A traveling physician who comes from a family of successful fishermen. 

THE CURIOSITIES OF PREFECT DIAO YUE 

The party arrived in Shenzhou, and went immediately to the Chi Song River Gambling Hall. Tu Jin Shi played a game of "Three Dice Wagering". Not understanding how the game was played, and believing the most righteous won, he annoyed the gamblers with questions about betting. He placed a bet on number eight and won a silver tael, then gave it to another player at the table before joining the rest of the party to get rooms. 

That night, Qi Yun wrote another huaben story based on Tu Jin Shi's experience gambling, called Fortune Favors the Bold, the point of which was 'you don't need to be the luckiest person, you just need to be luckier than the unluckiest." This was in part preparation for his audience with the prefect, as he had given the only copy of his other masterpiece to a man in Naiojing to copy. When the new work was done, he knew it was almost on par with his other great work*. 

The next day they presented the Red Talisman from the Prefect's wife at the city gates and were brought to a private audience with the Prefect in his Hall of Curiosities (where he kept a collection of unusual artifacts). 

Qi Yun presented the story to the Prefect, who called in a woman to read it out loud. When she was done, he was visibly moved and impressed**. 

"My wife spoke highly of you, and you are clearly a storyteller of considerable genius! I will have a plaque commissioned in your honor to pace above the entrance to your home."

The party explained they didn't have regular living quarters and the prefect promised to have a house ready for Qi Yun by the end of the day. He also spoke with the rest of the party, saying he had heard they were all men of great capabilities. 

He then explained that he wanted their help securing a special object: the Huo Long Pearl. It was the prized relic of Huo Long Cavern Sect and people believed it enabled safe travel through bitter cold. 

Tu Jin Shi expressed some reservation and the prefect said "Their leader, Lady Yi Huang, is a bitter, vicious old woman, removing the pearl from her possession would be a service to the world."

He also clarified that he wasn't seeking to harm Lady Yi Huang, he simply wanted her pearl, and needed men who could take it without her knowing it had been stolen. 

Tu Jin Shi was still concerned if stealing the pearl was righteous. And the prefect kindly told him one of the chief virtues of the world is loyalty. "Is there anything under heaven as prized as loyalty? He asked, and this woman has broken the bonds of loyalty many times over. Whereas I, a loyal to my servants and they loyal to me. He guided Tu Jin Shi through the curiosity collection with a friendly arm extolling the virtues of loyalty and reciprocity. 

By the end of the conversation he had taken the party into his circle as 'advisers' with a 3,000 spade per month stipend. They were told to visit his manor once a day to see if he needed anything, unless they were out on another assignment. And he cheerfully told them, he would only require daily help on rare occasions. 

They retired to Qi Yun's new home, and the next day a plaque arrived that read "The Master Storyteller of Zhang Chang. whose wit and insight is unrivaled". 

The party then recalled that Tu Jin Shi possessed a butterfly sword from the son of Lady Yi Huang, that denoted him as a friend of the sect. When the issue was brought to everyone's attention, they thought to use this without Tu Jin Shi's knowledge to steal the pearl. But after Qi Yun spoke again in private with the prefect, the prefect said:

"Your companion, Xing Ge, he has a quarrel with Black Parrot society, true?"

Qi Yun confirmed this was the case. 

"I am fond of Tu Jin Shi, and would not ask him to violate a friendship. There is another pearl I covet, this one possessed by Gongsun Yuan of Black Parrot Society: The Shui Long Pearl, said to enable breathing under water. If you procure this for me instead, I think that would be just as ideal as the Huo Long Pearl."

This is where we ended the session. 

*The player rolled a 10 on his Talent Skill roll. 

**The woman also rolled 10

THE INVINCIBLE EIGHT

Lo Wei has an impressive catalog as a director, and he is someone I find reliably entertaining. He is often criticized because of his notorious failing out with Bruce Lee, and clashes with Jackie Chan's whose talents people feel he misused (though I must admit to enjoying movies like The Magnificent Bodyguards). And this concern over this drama frequently spills into points about his direction. But I think he is one of the more competent directors from that era of martial arts film making, and he was always good at keeping the action grounded in good storytelling. And while he did have conflict with stars like Chan and Lee, he also had a talent for building movies around stars (there is a strong case for him missing Jackie Chan's talent, but he succeeded i my opinion when it came to stars like Bruce Lee, Cheng Pei Pei, Lisa Chiao Chiao, Li Ching, and Jimmy Wang Yu). Films like Shadow Whip (1970), Dragon Swamp (1969), Fist of Fury (1972), Death Valley (1968), Black Butterfly (1968), The Big Boss (1971), Vengeance of a Snowgirl (1970), are all really good films, and all made within a period of about five years. Even his later movies following the Bruce Lee kerfuffle, the ones starring Jimmy Wang Yu in particular, like A Man Called Tiger (1973) and The Tattooed Dragon (1973), are still wildly entertaining.

In The Invincible Eight, he takes this skill for storytelling and utilizing talent, to craft a memorable tale of revenge, with an impressive ensemble cast. One of Golden Harvest's first films, it is filled with sharp action, memorable characters and has a clever twist that heightens the stakes. I have reviewed it before there, but I have reworked that review based on a dual viewing of the Eureka and 88 Films releases of it. 

You can see my review at easternKicks HERE to find out my thoughts. 

GAMING FRANKENSTEIN UNBOUND IN NETWORK

Raul Julia as Doctor Frankenstein

One might watch the film, Frankenstein Unbound, perhaps for free on youtube or maybe on an old worn out DVD, and say to oneself "This movie is unbelievable, but how on earth can I make a Frankenstein Unbound campaign using the network system?" Well, the parts are all there if one can stitch them together. Today I am going to explain what steps might be needed if one were to attempt such a reckless feat with the Network System. 

For those who have not seen the film, Frankenstein Unbound is a cult classic, largely forgotten today, but remembered by those of us who saw it at blockbuster when it came out on VHS, and by a luckier few who caught its scant theatrical release. Based on a novel Brian Aldiss, it is about a scientist from the year 2031 who creates a super weapon for the military that rips a hole in the sky and creates 'time slips', eventually sending him to Lake Geneva in 1816, where Mary Shelley formulated the ideas of Frankenstein. 

The scientist, Joe Buchanan (John Hurt), meets Victor Frankenstein discovering that the events of Mary Shelley's novel are inspired by the real life court cases of his creature's murder. The film is campy as one might expect from a Corman movie but well-made, with a great cast and gorgeous cinematography and sets. Raul Julia, one of the great character actors of the era, is Victor Frankenstein. He and John Hurt are solid together. Both men are adept at playing villains, and while Hurt is more of a hero here, he still has an edge. Some people call Hurt's performance hammy, but I think it is essential for getting the viewer to buy into the odd plot. You kind of need him to accept each unusual thing that happens and move forward. His ready adaptability to the strange events, also helps suggest he too is a mad scientist. Ultimately though, the bigger performance is Julia's. If you have not seen Frankenstein Unbound, I highly recommend it (thought it is hard to find these days as it isn't streaming anywhere). 

In order to game Frankenstein Unbound using the Network System, the GM is going to have to do some work. First you have to establish the network games that are fully compatible, and the games that are loosely compatible. Terror Network, Servants of Gaius, Crime Network, Horror Show, Sertorius and Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate all use the same core system. It should be noted though that skills and skill groupings can vary, and in the latter two, the games are built around specific types of characters who break the mold, advancing with levels. In Sertorius for example, characters are assumed to be Sertori, so they have more health and they have access to magic. But mundane characters exist in those settings too, and it is quite easy to run a counter terrorist agent from modern times, in ancient Rome using Servants of Gaius or in Gamandria using Sertorius. A character in Crime Network or Servants of Gaius can function in Gamandria or Qi Xien, they just won't be Sertori or Martial Heroes. 

Strange Tales of Songling and Strange Tales of New England are compatible with each other but loosely compatible with the rest of the line. So they can be used here as well but will require a greater level of modification. And then of course there is Righteous Blood, Ruthless Blades, which is loosely compatible with all network games. 

That provides a baseline, and should broadly cover, ancient, medieval and modern time travel eras. But the weapons and equipment don't translate 100 percent across each line. For example weapons in Terror Network are scaled for Terror Network, not Ogre Gate. So what you will need next is to put together a master list of weapons picking and choosing 

One of the biggest issues trying to make this work is Network doesn't have any settings that are close to the Georgian Era, and most of the plot of Frankenstein Unbound takes place in 1816 Lake Geneva Switzerland, when Mary Shelley conceived of the novel. Some elements of Terror Network and Crime Network, may be useful here, and some elements of Strange Tales of Songling or Strange Tales of New England may be as well, but there most of our settings are Ancient, Modern or Medieval. Qi Xien, for Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate, is inspired by Song Dynasty China, and that is often regarded as Early Modern by many historians (but that is an imperfect analogy to the European Early Modern period). I think the closest thing to something like a flint-lock, is a firelance. But the firelance rules gloss over important details in favor of genre. Frankenstein Unbound is somewhat ridiculous in its plotting, but the physics of the setting are quite grounded. So for a flintlock, they probably need to require 1 to 2 full skill actions to reload, and they would need a chance of misfiring. I would not tie these to the attack roll, as the dice pools can throw this off, but instead just have the player roll an additional d10 and on a result of 1-2 the gun misfires (which can be handled by simply having the player take the damage, or half the damage, but you could more realistically approach it by having a misfire table). For damage dice, that depends on what overall list of weapons you bring in from the other books, because the amount of damage it does should be relative to those (you don't want flintlocks being better than grenade launchers in terms of damage output for example). 

For the car, which has a Knight Rider Quality to it, I suggest using the vehicle rules, and a baseline vehicle from Terror Network, but giving it Mental and Knowledge Skills. In theory it could also have specialist Skills, but these appear to take time in the movie (though I suspect the time frame is more about what is convenient for the plot than anything else). 

One network game I would recommend using is Horror Show. This is the Bedrock Games RPG I am famously least satisfied with. The development period was broken up into two halves because I had to have some emergency surgeries, and I felt like something got lost in that process. But it has good rules for monsters and it has a feature called Universal Laws and Universal Restrictions. Both would be very helpful for emulating Frankenstein Unbound. The GM could use this to define how Time Slips work. I think there is also a solid argument that in Frankenstein Unbound, characters are drawn to relevant historical figures, and that fictional figures often have a reality that is unexpected in the real history. Here are are the universal laws and restrictions as they appear in the book: 

And for time travel, I've actually made a time travel system. It was meant as a joke, but the system does function if you take it seriously. The game is called Time Fighters, and I once considered expanding it into a full 100 page game. You can read it HERE. The movie doesn't really get into the time travel beyond using it as a device to send him to where the plot is; you may find this useful if you want a longer campaign that isn't just a one-off. The tone of Time Fighters is light and humorous, but I think for a Roger Corman movie, it will work just fine. 

I may have more thoughts on this in the future. 

ROLLING DICE IN WANDERING HEROES OF OGRE GATE

DO YOU COUNT SUCCESSES IN OGRE GATE?

This post is more of a small point of clarification about Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate and the Network system. Something that comes up in a lot of online posts and reviews, is describing the game as 'counting successes'. I don't think this is intentional, more people being efficient in their description. But I think it is important for me to clarify just in case there is any misunderstanding about how to play. 

While it is true if you count Total Successes on Damage Rolls, and you do count successes on Open Damage Rolls. In all other instances of play you do not. It is built around the core Network system design of roll a pool of d10 and take the single highest result. So if you roll 3d10, getting 4, 2, and 7, you just take the seven. Things like Open Damage only start to emerge in Sertorius. And that is meant as an exception to the general rule. Counting Successes was something we considered a problem to avoid when designing the system. This is a minor point but I wanted to raise it in case anyone out there is playing Ogre Gate and counting successes on normal rolls. If it is a normal skill or attack roll, you just take the single highest result. Most damage rolls that is also true, unless you get a 10 or an ability turns it into an Open Damage roll.