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Finger of Doom has been very hard to get in blu-ray or DVD format, so I am glad they included it in the volume six boxed set. There are a number of other great movies in that set too like The Black Enforcer, Duel for Gold, and The Black Tavern.
You can read the review at easternKicks for more of my thoughts. Also be on the lookout for more reviews there from me, and be sure to check out the other reviews and reviewers on the site. It covers a wide range of Asian media.
In my Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate campaign I introduced a group called The Ninja of the Fire Pearl. Here are some new techniques and items from my notes related to that organization. I also include stat blocks at the end as well.
When Shendo refused to tell the Daimyo the location of the pearl bed, he killed him and sold his entire family into slavery. His son was among the slaves sent to Yun Hu in Li Fan. Several of his sisters managed to escape.
Ten years later Daimyo Noburu captured Haruna, one of Shendo’s escaped sisters. They tortured her and threatened to kill her two sons if she didn’t tell the whereabouts of the pearl bed. While she didn’t know it, she did confess that the location had been cut into the palms of Shendo’s son. Daimyo Noburu immediately sent his ninjas to Yun Hu, to work with Master Zhao Yi (see TIGER CLAN and MASTER ZHAO YI in OGRE GATE INN AND THE STRANGE LAND OF LI FAN, 60 and 141) to help locate the slave.
The ninjas he sent were devoted entirely to finding the fire pearl bed. Two hundred in number they were trained to use deception and stealth to steal and kill. They are also highly knowledgeable investigators.
SECT MANUALS, OBJECTS AND TECHNIQUES
Celestial Pearl Armor
This armor shimmers like mother of pearl. It gives a +3 bonus to Hardiness; absorbs 1 wound from bladed weapons and is vulnerable to mighty weapons. Movement Penalty: None; Stealth Penalty: -1
Shoe Knife
This blade fits in the tip of a shoe where it is concealed until triggered. It does 1d10 damage and imposes a -2 on the Parry of the target. It can be used as a free action to attack when an opponent counters one of your techniques.
Shuriken
These are small dart-like weapons. They have an accuracy of +1 and do Speed+0d10 Damage.
Bo-Hiya
These are similar to Fire Lances and also require divine powder to use. They fire an explosive projective that does 3d10 Open Damage to all in a 30 foot radius.
Blinding Smoke
This thick red smoke clouds a 30 by 30 area, creating Lights out conditions. It also burns the eyes of victims. Roll 2d10 against Hardiness. On a success those exposed continue to suffer as if in lights out conditions for 2 rounds.
NEW KUNG FU TECHNIQUES
BURROWING STRIKE
Discipline: Waijia
Skill: Survival (any) TN 6
Type: Normal
Qi: 4
You burrow into the ground, then strike from below your enemies where they least expect it.
Make a Survival skill roll against TN 6. If you succeed then you burrow under the ground at your normal movement rate.
While under the ground you are difficult to detect. It takes two consecutive, successful Detect rolls to sense something is amiss and recognize your presence.
Cathartic: You can perform the burrow as a free action, allowing you to attack in the same round.
DEFLECTION OF VENGEANCE
Discipline: Qinggong
Skill: Melee against Attack Roll
Type: Counter
Qi: 3
You maneuver your sword so quickly that it appears to be in multiple places at once, intercepting and returning projectiles aimed at you.
Make a bladed melee skill roll against the attack roll of any projectile about to hit you. On a success, you deflect the projectile, rendering the attack harmless.
On a total success, you may choose a target to redirect the projectile at. Apply your deflect roll to that target's relevant defense to determine if they are hit.
Cathartic: You may use this to intercept a projectile aimed at another person within your movement range.
FLURY OF STARS
Discipline: Waijia
Skill: Light Melee against Evade
Type:
Qi: 4
You throw a cloud of shuriken in a swirl around you, hitting up to thirty targets.
Make a Light Melee skill roll against the Evade of up to thirty targets around you. On a success you do normal damage to each.
Cathartic: This does 1 Extra wound to each target.
SWIFT SLICING CHARGE
Discipline: Qinggong
Skill: Melee against Parry
Type: Normal
Qi: 6
Blade in hand, you stand still, then suddenly appear on the other side of the fray, a trail of corpses bleeding in your wake. Your sword drips blood.
Make a bladed melee skill roll against the Parry of all targets in a 25 foot-wide area before you that begins at yourself and extends 20ft per rank of Qinggong. If successful you do normal damage, and regardless of whether you succeed or not you are moved to the opposite end of the area.
Cathartic: As above except you do 6 Extra wounds to each target you successfully strike.
NINJA OF THE FIRE PEARL AND SAMURAI STAT BLOCKS
SAMURAI
Defenses
Hardiness 7 or 10 with Pearl Armor, Evade 3, Parry 8, Stealth 6, Wits 6, Resolve 6
Key Skills
Grapple: 2d10, Throw: 2d10, Arm Strike: 2d10, Leg Strike: 2d10, Light Melee: 3d10, Medium Melee: 3d10, Heavy Melee: 2d10, Small Ranged: 2d10, Speed: 2d10, Muscle: 2d10, Meditation: 3d10, Athletics 1d10, Detect: 2d10
Qi: 6
Max Wounds: 13
Weapon: Katana (d10 Damage)
Armor: Celestial Pearl Armor (+3 Hardiness, absorbs 1 wound from bladed weapons)
Combat Technique: Medium Melee-Counter
Key Techniques (Waijia 2, Qinggong 1, Neigong 1): Double Thrust, Swift Slicing Charge, Slashing Blade, Spearing Blade, Iron Spirit Resistance (Counter)
SENIOR NINJA
Defenses
Hardiness 3, Evade 9, Parry 3, Stealth 10, Wits 6, Resolve 6
Key Skills
Grapple: 2d10, Throw: 2d10, Arm Strike: 2d10, Leg Strike: 2d10, Light Melee: 3d10, Medium Melee: 1d10, Heavy Melee: 0d10, Small Ranged: 2d10, Speed: 3d10, Muscle: 1d10, Meditation: 3d10, Athletics 3d10, Detect: 3d10
Qi: 4
Max Wounds: 9
Weapon: Katana (2d10 Damage), Shuriken (3d10 Damage), Shoe Knife (2d10 Damage)
Combat Technique: Light Melee-From the Shadows, Blind Swordsman
Key Techniques (Waijia 1, Qinggong 2, Dianxue 1): Burrowing Strike, Crawling the Tiger, Flurry of Stars, Great Stride, Leap of the Swan, Swift Stride, Spinning Back Kick (counter)
JUNIOR NINJA
Defenses
Hardiness 3, Evade 6, Parry 3, Stealth 9, Wits 6, Resolve 6
Key Skills
Grapple: 1d10, Throw: 1d10, Arm Strike: 1d10, Leg Strike: 1d10, Light Melee: 1d10, Medium Melee: 0d10, Heavy Melee: 0d10, Small Ranged: 1d10, Speed: 2d10, Muscle: 1d10, Meditation: 1d10, Athletics 1d10, Detect: 1d10
Qi: 1
Max Wounds: 3
Weapon: Shuriken (2d10 Damage), Blinding Powder
Combat Technique: Light Melee-From the Shadows, Blind Swordsman
Key Techniques (Waijia 1, Qinggong 2, Dianxue 1): Crawling Tiger, Spinning Back Kick (Counter)
This is just a quick option I am thinking of using in an upcoming campaign where my players want to start their own sect. Most fated elements are random in Ogre Gate, and that generally works, but this is meant as something to have the whole group establish at session zero as a way of steering the campaign in a direction the group wants. Essentially you have everyone agree on a fated calamity for the party during session zero. This can be specific or broad. For example, if the party is all under the same Sifu, the fated Calamity could be that the Sifu will die in a battle with an enemy sect. To be clear this isn't an event that must happen, it is an event that Heaven wants to happen. In Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate, fate is a force, and so the way to handle it is through modifiers. In the example of the Sifu fated to die fighting an enemy sect, it might mean opponents get a d10 bonus against him in combat when they are from a rival organization (or it might even mean he gets a bonus because this will encourage him to be more and more reckless). The final mechanical expression is up to the GM but this section from the WHOG rulebook explains the principles:
This is really just an implementation of the idea from the rulebook, specifically to session zero. But the idea of it is to help with the party's overall purpose as a group. A Sifu fated to die, could help a party that is ultimately seeking to build their own sect (left over Sifus can be a complication in Ogre Gate). But that is just one example. It could be any pivotal event that clarifies the direction the party wants to eventually go in session zero (whether that is to eventually become bandit leaders, pirates, rebel against the empire, etc).
The series has a pretty confusing history, and it wasn't even really a proper franchise initially. The second film, Royal Warriors, also starred Michelle Yeoh, and did not include Cynthia Rothrock. But by the time In the Line of Duty 3 was released, it seems to have become an officially continuous franchise, and Michelle Yeoh had departed as she retired from acting that year when she married producer Dickson Poon. While this retirement would end in 1992 after the couples' divorce, they needed a new star to helm the series. So Cynthia Khan, who had a dancing background like Yeoh, was brought in to play the lead. It should be noted that in the first two films, Michelle Yeoh didn't play the same character. In Royal Warriors she was Michelle Yip and in Yes Madame! she was Senior Inspector Ng. But Cynthia Khan, perhaps because with this movie it became a proper franchise, plays the role of Inspector Yeung Lai-Ching, going forward in the series.
I don't want to bog down this review with thorny details concerning its home video release and foreign release, but it gets pretty messy and anyone familiar with movies in the series will understand how so. They have all gone under a number of different names, which is not unusual (for example I remember watching Swordsman II, as Legend of the Swordsman, having no idea it was a sequel to anything). Here though the names crisscross, films get put out of order (Royal Warriors was often billed as the first movie, Yes, Madame! was sometimes billed as the second, even though it came first and In the Line of Duty 3 was sometimes called Yes, Madame 2.).
Often called a bullet ballet series, I think of In the Line of Duty films as belonging to the Girls with Guns subgenre. In the Line of Duty 3 sometimes gets a bit overlooked. It isn't unloved but it is often not as well regarded as the first two films or the fourth. But I think it is a very interesting installment. And it is one that left a lingering impression.
Perhaps some of this is due to the weirdness. But I think it really has to do with how well Cynthia Khan fits into the series, and her explosive introduction. Michelle Yeoh's absence weighs heavy and the way Cynthia Khan steps in and takes over, breathes fresh life into it. There is also something oddly dark about this one. All of the films in the series have a certain tone. Yet for me In the Line of Duty 3, stands out and left me with so many questions.
One example is the Duo Robbers, played by Michiko Nishiwaki and Stuart Ong. Not only are they ruthless terrorists, but also a blood thirsty and passionate couple whose political extremism is only outdone by their lovemaking antics (which are bizarrely athletic). And there is a strange subplot about a vague illness afflicting Stewart Ong's Nakamura Genji. They don't really specific the disease, but given the year, plus the fact that Michiko Nishiwaki's character, drinks his blood as they talk about dying together, always suggested to me it was HIV/AIDS. The symptoms don't especially line up, but I wouldn't expect precise medically accurate symptoms in a film like this. And maybe they never really determined what it was. But that reading to me, would explain a lot of Nakamura Genji's angst.
Michiko Nishiwaki is crazy in this movie, in every way possible. And a great physical performer. By the end of the movie she is simply out for revenge and that is when she is at her most frightening. She has the right look, and the physique to pull off this kind of role. She is a great counterweight to the hero.
But the standout here is Cynthia Khan, whose performance is perfect for the role. I particularly like her kicks. It is fairly easy to do a convincing punch, but executing kicks on camera takes athleticism. And we get this right at the start of the film in a tremendous sequence where a traffic citation spirals out of control and she is forced to rip the side of her skirt to allow room for serious kicking. It is a terrific moment where the film seems to announce its intentions to the audience.
There is also the way bystanders are killed, and how this is addressed within the movie itself, rather than just forgotten about. It is a movie that kills characters you might not expect to do. And the violent action is very kinetic, feeling gritty despite its very stylized approach. An example of this is when a named bad guy gets his head ground open by an industrial drill. And some characters are casually killed without any real confirmation of their demise.
If you haven't seen Yes, Madame! or Royal Warriors, definitely check those out, but the rest of the series is well worth watching too. In the Line of Duty 4 is also a great watch, and brings Donnie Yen into the franchise. I should be doing a short review of that one as well in the future.
