THE STAR-CROSSED BLADES OF THE GREEN PEONY SESSION VIII

This is the Eighth 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). 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: 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. 

THUNDER LEGS 

The party continued toward their destination and, after a brief encounter with a constable patrol, came upon disciples of Huo Long Cavern sect, all armed with butterfly swords. The head disciple, who announced himself as Wan Di, demanded they hand over Xing Ge.

"Why should we hand over our companion to you?" Asked Qi Yun.

"He is an enemy of Lady Yi Huang, and the son of the vile, disgusting Gongsun Yuan. You must hand him over!" Said Wan Di.

"He is not the son of Gongsun Yuan," Said Tu Jin Shi.

"This is true," Said Lu Li. "We can confirm there is no blood relationship between them. 

"I do not care if he is related by blood. Do you deny that he is the Iron Flowers son? And that Gongsun Yuan is his stepfather? He does the work of the Black Parrot Society."

"You are mistaken that he is working for the Black Parrot Society," Said Tu Jin Shi. "While they may technically be his family, they are our enemies. They sent an assassin against us recently and we killed him. We plan to address this matter when we can but we're not just going to hand over our friend to you."

"Then you will have to forgive us if we seem ruthless!" Said Wan Di. 

Qi Yun taunted them by reading a passage from the record he had been keeping of the party's exploits*. 

Wan Di strode up to Tu Jin Shu and and made a potent stab, but his target used Weapon Stride to land on his blade and deliver an attack of his own. 

Qi Yun leapt into the trees, using his Tree Bounding Strike technique to bend and slam the trees upon the other six disciples. Four of them whirled away from the attack but two were hit. 

Leaping into the air, Tu Jin Shi used Kick of the Chaos Star to deliver several attacks to the disciples, knocking out four of them. The two left standing ran away. But Tu Jin Shin said he would keep fighting them if they fled, so they froze. 

When Wan Di realized his men were defeated and that two had tried to flee, he acknowledged that the party had won and began backing off. 

"This isn't over Thunder Legs!" The man shouted. 

"You really need to learn to make your own judgements and not listen blindly to other peoples' words. Even I know this, and I am an idiot!" Said Tu Jin Shi. 

RETURNING LADY WANG PENG TO YUE MANOR 

The men departed and the party went on their way, continuing to Xi An. After an an uneventful encounter with more constables, who seemed to be checking what goods people were transporting, they eventually reached Yue Manor and were received by Wang Shan who thanked them for escorting his wife, Wang Peng. They explained why it took them so long and he was untroubled, even grateful. He gave them each a gift. To Tu Jin Shi, he gave a saber with a jade hilt. Qi Yun he gifted a parasol with a beautiful depiction of Supreme Judge Yu on the surface. Xing Ge he presented a pipa made from rare wood, with ivory and onyx inlays. Lu Li was given a bow with fine carvings of deer and wolves. He then said they were welcome at Yue Manor any time. 

NORTH TO FACE GOLDEN MONKEY

The party headed north, to make Tu Jin Shi's appointed duel with Golden Monkey in Niaojing, but along the way they stopped at Clearwater Lake to see his master. As they traveled Qi Yun saw a Zhen Bird following them in the sky, and recognized it as Red Beak, his master, Jade Priestesses pet. When they reached clear water lake, he left the group and found Jade Priestess near a tree. 

She asked about his travels and was pleased by what he told her. Then she said "I want you to befriend Prefect Diao Yue. He has agents all over the prefecture and you should be able to find a channel to communicate with him through them."

She didn't explain any further, but Qi Yun indicated he would obey. Before he left, she instructed him in Life Stealing Blue Claw technique, informing him the technique required sacrifices to the Five Ghosts. 

At Clearwater Lake, Tu Jin Shi found his master, Lady Jade, still wearing a mask. He showed her his new saber and told her about their exploits. She trained him in a technique called Cleaving Sabre and was pleased by his mastery of it within a short time. Tu Jin Shi, discerned something like pride in there demeanor**. However she said the saber looked unfamiliar in his hands and that he should spend time making the weapon an extension of his body.  

The group headed towards Niaojing, but when Lu Li realized his hometown, North River Village was along the way, he decided to stop in and check on his younger siblings (the eldest was 17 but the youngest was only nine and he wanted to make sure they were okay as his parents had been abducted by Black Leopard Villa some time ago). 

They found the children were being watched by the oldest woman in the village, Gu Jing. Lu Li explained what had happened with his parents, and the woman rebuked him, spitting on the floor and calling him Unfilial. She said he should have gone and saved them. The party tried to explain that it was not possible to do so and they needed to make preparations to face the organization. Qi Yun even read passages from one of his books that painted Lu Li's conduct in purely heroic terms. She left in disgust and began telling the other villagers what happened***.

The second brother, Lu Lin, grabbed a rusty sword and stormed off to save his parents but the party obstructed him. Eventually he was convinced it would be too dangerous, but they taught him some kung fu and told him to practice so he could help when the time came. Lu Lin tried to kowtow to the whole party as his masters but they refused. However, Lu Li decided to take Lu Lin and his other siblings (Lu Yun, Lu Yi, and Lu Linfung) with him to watch Tu Jin Shi's match with Golden Monkey. 

When they reached Niaojing they found Singing Scholar Gao, and paid for information about Thundering Scorpion. They found out that it was unclear whether Thundering Scorpion was a reformed bandit or still up to his old ways. But he told them another man, White Scorpion, might be sullying his reputation deliberately. They also found out that the merchant who hired them to deal with Thundering Scorpion had ties to the criminal underworld. 

Before the match, Lu Li spent time mastering a technique called Burning Beetle's Airborne Oppression. Qi Yun mastered Life Stealing Blue Claw. 

At the Crystal Teahouse, Golden Monkey and Tu Jin Shi had a rematch. Confident, Golden Monkey let Tu Jin Shi have the first strike. He used his new Turtle Snaps its Jaws technique, clamping his hands loudly against Golden Monkey's ears. 

"You have gotten better," Said Golden Monkey. "Now I won't hold back!"

He leapt into the air with a spinning elbow and was surprised when Tu Jin Shi countered with Guiding the Crashing wave, throwing him with tremendous force to the floor. Tu Jin Shi then launched an attack with Cleave of the Sabre, but missed due to his lack of familiarity with the weapon. 

Lu Li and Qi Yun could see that Golden Monkey was nervous as he spin into another elbow attack, crashing sharply against Tu Jin Shi's forehead. While he could easily have killed him, he controlled his power and merely knocked Tu Jin Shi out. 

Again, Lu Li and Qi Yun could see a look of relief on Golden Monkey's face. When Tu Jin Shi came too, he asked if they could fight again in a month. 

"No," Golden Monkey said, his lack of confidence clear to Tu Jin Shi's companions. "I think you need more time to recover. I gave you a good trashing. We better make it six months from now."

This is where the session ended. 

 

*Qi Yun has been keeping 'double books' of their travels, one is more truthful, the other paints everything they have done as heroic 

**This was the product of an Empathy roll. He didn't specifically discern pride, but picked up on a swell of emotion which was interpreted that way due to context. 

***At this point in the campaign, people began calling Lu Li The Unfilial Archer. Characters can pick their own martial nicknames at character creation or they can emerge over the course of the campaign. We opted to have this arise out of campaign events. Their exploits are significant enough that people know who they are and will start using nicknames to refer to them. 

TAI CHI ZERO REVIEW

Check out my review of Tai Chi Zero at easternKicks. It is the first in a two part wuxia movie that blends wuxia and steampunk, and is filmed in a sleek style that draws on comic book and video game aesthetics (and even the occasional silent film). Imprint Asia just put out a new Blu-ray so I was interested to see how it looks all these years after it first came out. Normally I don't find steampunk very interesting. Here I was impressed. Even though it is filled with whimsy and over-the-top style it is built off a backstory that gives the movie heart, and done in a way that is visually stunning. Read the review to see my full thoughts. 

THE STAR-CROSSED BLADES OF THE GREEN PEONY SESSION VII

This is the Seventh 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). 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: 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: 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: A traveling physician who comes from a family of successful fishermen. 

BLUE STAR EMPRESS LENDS A HAND

Tu Jin Shi was rattled after the battle at the Jade Gourd with Thundering Scorpions men, and realized he overexerted himself using his Kung Fu. This led to him being possessed by a Wolf Spirit (a type of Qi Spirit). However he was able to exert mental control for the time being. 

As the rest of the party gathered themselves up from the fight and inspected the damage, the innkeeper demanded compensation. When Lu Li offered a silver tael, he balked and said it would take more than that for the repairs, to say nothing of the bloody carnage they had caused. 

As Lu Li pointed out the Thundering Scorpion people had started the fight, and thrown the thunderbolts that blew apart sections of the inn, nine constables filed into the building. The head constable began pacing around. 

"What happened here," He asked. His tone seemed imperious. 

Tu Jin Shi explained that the Thundering Scorpion had sent men to rob them and attacked when they resisted. He then described the events of the battle. 

"Thundering Scorpion is a well known hero; he would not send his men to perform some petty robbery."

Xing Ge explained how they had been attacked by Thundering Scorpions men in the middle of the night, and that wanted their charge. He also said they had offered to pay the innkeeper a silver tael.  

Tu Jin Shi noticed a look of recognition in the constable's eyes as he spoke with Xing Ge. 

The constable paced and examined the blood stains. "You are all free to go."

"Does a silver tael seem sufficient for the damage?" Lu Li asked

"Yes, that should cover the damages," said the constable. "If you need anything you can reach me at the constabulary in Li An. My name is Shen Gao, I am the sheriff here." 

After the incident at the inn, Tu Jin Shi looked for someone in town who could help him with his imbalanced state. He found an information broker who informed him (for 400 spades) that two people possessed techniques that could remove his Qi Spirit possession. One was Gongsun Yuan of the Black Parrot Society*, while the other was Blue Star Empress of Thirteen Star Sect. He also explained that Blue Star Empress controlled the Armillary Sphere of the Thirteen Stars, and was respected by officials all over the empire for her astrological predictions. Gongsun Yuan was a greedy and cruel man, and a murderer as well. 

They decided to go to Blue Star Empress and see if she would help. Xing Ge did not mention his personal connection to Gongsun Yuan. They took a boat by river and reached Blue Star Empress' manor. A servant brought them to a courtyard where a woman was seated, holding court, and wearing vibrant blue robes. The mood of the chamber felt regal, even though she was not royalty. There they were greeted by a blind man whose eyes had clearly been gouged out. 

"Blue Star Empress will hear your plea," He said.

Lu Li turned to speak to Blue Star Empress but the blind man interjected. 

"Speak to me, do not address Blue Star Empress directly!" he rebuked. 

Lu Li explained to the man, that Tu Jin Shi was possessed by a Qi Spirit and they were told she may be able to help him. He also expressed an interest in learning the technique she used through observation. 

The blind man stepped beside Blue Star Empress and conversed with her in whispers. He then walked to Lu Li and said, "Blue Star Empress, in her endless compassion, agrees to help your friend. And she will allow you to observe and learn under a condition. You must agree, not to be her disciple, but to adhere to her will and follow her orders. If you agree we can proceed."

Lu Li thanked Blue Star Empress and said he would forgo learning the technique in that case. 

The blind man nodded and ushered Tu Jin Shi before the empress, who placed her hands on his back and flooded his body with Qi. After several hours the Qi Spirit was purged. 

They began their return journey using the road. As they walked, they spotted an archer taking aim at them from a tree two hundred feet away. 

Lu Li fired a rain of arrows striking the attacker, but even though he was riddled with with wounds from the attack, he still seemed strong. 

The man fired a shot at Xing Ge, but Lu Li used Deflecting Canopy to redirect the arrow at the attacker. It struck him and he began convulsing, indicating it may have been coated in poison. When they reached the attacker his mouth was foaming and he was dead. 

Xing Ge recognized the man and his arrows. "This is Qian Henglao," he said. "He is famous for his deadly Jade Arrows." He then explained that the poison was metal used in the arrow tips itself. 

RELENTLESS CORPSE QUEEN 

After some traveling they reached Beishan Manor and were brought into hall to meet with Relentless Corpse Queen and her retinue. She had several disciples with her, all zombified looking from her poison and several of her Corpse Kings. They handed over the dead snake, the staff and the body of her former disciple. Then they gave her their prisoner in exchange for the antidote. She informed them that the victim needed to take three pills 

The conversation turned to the attack and the Turquoise Necklace that the disciple tried to steal. She explained that the necklace sounded like The Turquoise Necklace of Zhaoze, which had recently been stolen. This was likely the reason her former disciple had tried to take it. 

They departed and headed back to Lanyin. 

THE TURQUOISE NECKLACE PART TWO

In Lanyin they went to the Tu Association and spoke with Tu Wan explaining everything about the necklace. 

Chief Tu Wan was grave. He asked to speak with Tu Jin Shi privately and told him he should forget what he knew about the necklace, that they had spent far too long on the escort mission and he just wanted to stay out of any conflicts. 

Tu Wan and Tu Jin Shi rejoined the rest of the group so he could see them off. Before they left he informed Xing Ge, that the sheriff of Li A wanted him to stop by the constabulary when he next passed through. 

Lu Li gave the antidote to Lady Wang, and they set off for Li An. When they arrived, they chose to stay at the Golden Swallow instead of the Jade Gourd. Xing Ge went to the constabulary and was informed by one of the constables that Sheriff Shen Gao was dead. Xing Ge was brought to constable Bao, the new Sheriff. He greeted Xing Ge and told him that Shen Gao's throat had been slit the night before in his chambers. Sheriff Bao then brought him to the room where the murder occurred to let him look around. There he found a letter addressed "Xing Ge"**. Because he could not read it, he bid the new Sheriff goodnight and brought it to Qi Yun to read. 

Opening the letter, Qi Yun read: "Gongsun Yuan killed your father"

Xing Ge explained to Qi Yun and the others that Gongsun Yuan was his stepfather and that Qian Henglao, the man who attacked them, was his favored assassin. He then went to Sheriff Bao and explained the situation. The Sheriff seemed reluctant to act on the information because of The Black Parrot Society's influence. 

Xing Ge resolved to tell his mother about the murder of his father after they dealt with Tu Jin Shi's rematch with Golden Monkey. 

This is where the session ended. 

*This is Xing Ge's stepfather. 

**Xing Ge can barely read but he knows how to recognize his name. 

GAMEMASTERING WUXIA: LETHALITY AND BALANCE IN OGRE GATE AND RBRB

Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate and Righteous Blood Ruthless Blades both take an approach to design that embraces lethality and kung fu techniques that vary considerably in power (even at the same Qi Rank). Balance is not the point of the techniques. This can be contrasted with the parent system, Sertorius, where balance was a goal (and many of our earlier games before that as well). The reason for this shift was two-fold. First, we wanted to emulate the carnage you see on screen in wuxia films like Golden Swallow and Killer Clans. Second, less balance proved more fun in playtest. This was something we initially realized when working on the the first Book of the Archon for Sertorius, where we created a spell expansion that had spells unrestricted by balance consideration. We found they made the game more exciting and when players were offered the balanced versus the unbalanced option, they almost always chose the unbalanced one. It is also much more emulative of the source material. In wuxia and kung fu movies and novels, there are spikes in power. Some characters are amazing, others are not. And we wanted to capture that. None of this is to say there isn't a kind of balance in the game, but for the most part, what balance exists arises organically in the setting and still largely unforgiving. 

Related to this is a central concept introduced in Ogre Gate: The Evolving or Changing Kung Fu Landscape. This is meant to reflect what you see so often in wuxia media: the martial world going through periods of chaos and disruption then returning to equilibrium as new Kung Fu emerges to contend with powerful techniques that upset the balance. Here is the text from the core book:

And I clarified this point further in the Sons of Lady 87 Book here: 

A perfect example of this in the books, and in my own campaigns, is the technique Blade of the Dancing Fox. This was very powerful and players quickly discovered how useful it was. When it first emerged, and started to become known in the campaign, not only did several players start taking it, they soon found NPCs were emerging who knew it as well. This is one way balance can be achieved (a technique simply becomes more ubiquitous as its fame grows and sects covet it). But eventually someone devised a counter: Swift Reply of the Fox (this technique appears in War of Swarming Beggars). Usually that is what begins to occur. The martial world evolves over time, so that there is a natural balance in the world. This doesn't mean characters don't get killed by super powerful technique or some characters don't have better techniques than others, but it means eventually even the most powerful hero with a great technique like Blade of the Dancing Fox, eventually meets their match or eventually the presence of their power alone attracts enemies in larger numbers (whether it is heroic sects uniting to deal with a threat, or challengers seeking to prove they can beat the most powerful people in the martial world). 

As you can see this is crucial to managing powerful techniques in the game. And this is meant to emulate something that happens in both wuxia and Kung Fu: a powerful martial arts technique or weapon is introduced that rocks the martial world by creating a huge power imbalance, but eventually a solution arises to nullify or counter the technique. For this to work the GM needs to understand this principle and be open to new techniques emerging from player characters and NPCs in response. 

Another thing the GM should keep in mind is the sects and NPCs. Many of the more powerful Kung Fu techniques belong to equally powerful sects. So even acquiring them, puts a player character in danger, and using them once acquired can attract the attention of the sect. This doesn't mean the GM is meant to simply spam problems at a player because they have a good technique, but it highlights an important aspect of power in the martial world: everything has consequences and power itself can become its own headache. This by the way was an aspect of Sertorius as well. Players becoming powerful is not really a problem. It can be fun, even its own source of adventure. But the GM needs to understand how it produces complications, as those complications will be things that become a focus in the campaign. 

Characters in wuxia and kung fu films are not always equal in power, some are very weak, some are very strong, and while sometimes this is due simply to the point in training a character is at, often it boils down to individual martial arts techniques being much better or worse than others. The game also doesn't assume or guarantee that characters become great heroes of martial artists. That is often what protagonists in wuxia are, but my approach has been more to emulate the world of Condor Heroes or Heroes Shed no Tears, not the plot lines. One of the things I enjoy about playing is finding out who the players are over the course of the campaign. Do they become one of the greats like Guo Jing, a villain, or simply someone who dies, perhaps giving others reason to get revenge? 

While both games lean into drama, neither leans into story structure, so what this brings in terms of emulation is not a guarantee that your character will survive as a hero or survive to die spectacularly at the end. It does mean, because death is on the table, there are ample opportunities for drama. Death almost always produces drama. A good way to think of it is you never really know who or where you are in the story. You could just be a bit player meant to die under a henchman's sword, and that might launch the real story of your brother coming for revenge. It isn't about story structure it is about situations, drama, bloodshed, etc. 

Take the Venom Mob film Crippled Avengers as an example. At the start of this movie, the entire party of characters is maimed in some way. One is deafened, the other blinded, another has his legs cut off, and one is even made into an idiot when they crush his head in a vice. This all happens at the start of the movie. It is essentially a TPK with an asterisk. And it launches the heroes on their path to training around their new disabilities so they can confront the father and son who maimed them. That is how lethality operates in a Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate or Righteous Blood Ruthless Blades campaign (particularly the later where maiming is probably more common). Now there is no guarantee they will survive, this is very much a play to find out what happens kind of system. But whatever it is, it will be a solid evening of swordplay. It is also why back-up characters are crucial. 

Generally Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate is more forgiving than Righteous Blood Ruthless Blades, because it is a bit easier for players to gauge how many more hits they can take in a given fight, but this isn't always the case. Character deaths happen for all kinds of reasons in campaigns and this is something built into the game's design. I am not personally a fan of giving PCs plot armor, and that is something that has been constant in all our games (whether it is Terror Network, Servants of Gaius or Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate). Sometimes that means characters meet anti-climactic ends because the system is not loaded for only dramatic outcomes in that respect and the GM is not supposed to tip the scales. You are playing to discover what happens, which I think is more exciting and also acknowledges that this is a game using random dice rolls. Fighting against random dice to achieve story goals can be a terrible exercise in frustration for all. 

There is another element that these games embrace, particularly Ogre Gate, which is some of the gonzo quality in many wuxia. Everything in wuxia feels heightened, the characters, the battles, the situations, etc. Some movies and books leans into this in a very heavy way, like Web of Death or Holy Flame of the Martial World, and those influences are certainly there. But it is also present in more typical examples like The Condor Heroes trilogy or Smiling Proud Wanderer. Or take some of the film versions, like Swordsman II* or Brave Archer Series. One of the things that makes these films so exciting is how wild and inventive they are, and the kind of plot turns they lean into. 

Something I discovered taking this approach from the early playtests to now (with Ogre Gate in particular as that is the primary system I run week to week), is this really lends itself to long term campaigns. And making long-term, sustainable, wuxia campaigns was a major goal from the outset. When you get out of the mindset of plot armor and hinging the story on a single character, even if their stories are important while they live, it opens the game up to more durable sources of fuel and attention. A total party kill for example is not the end of the campaign, it is a great beginning. An important character dying, can mean an exciting new direction for the campaign. A character obtaining an overpowered technique puts them at the center of conflict in the martial world, the adventures start to write themselves as other clans seek to deal with that person. Characters who find themselves weak or feeble, have solid motivation for finding a solution to that weakness. They may seek out a powerful technique/weapon or die trying. When you combine this with many of the other classic elements I have discussed before (sect conflict, wuxia dungeons, etc) it has given me campaigns that last for years. 

I will talk more about Gamemastering wuxia campaigns future posts based on my own play at the table. Feel free to send me a message or comment about something you would like to see me discuss.

*By part III of this series the movies deviate wildly from the books, so I mention this one as it is well regarded by many fans because it was marketed in the west as a stand alone movie under titles like The Legend of the Swordsman. 

 

THE STAR-CROSSED BLADES OF THE GREEN PEONY SESSION VI

This is the sixth 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). 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.

Map by Francesca Baerald 

CHARACTERS

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: 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: A traveling physician who comes from a family of successful fishermen. 

TROUBLE AT THE TU ASSOCIATION

"This is a disaster Brother, I am very disappointed." Tu Wan, chief of the Tu Association looked gravely at the players and paced back and forth.

"Yes brother, I am as disappointed in myself as you are with me. I have failed in my task."

The players had returned to Lanyin to report the matter of Madame Wang's poisoning and the arrangements they made with Relentless Corpse Sect. Tu Wan was displeased with the news and about to say something else when Lu Li interjected. 

"If you have any enemies of the Tu Association you are holding captive, we can use this opportunity to trade them to Relentless Corpse Queen for the antidote," Lu Li knew it was potentially rude but thought it important to shift focus.

"Yes, I have someone I can send."

Tu Wan motioned to his men and they brought out a woman in a cangue. 

"This is Huo Ruomei," said Tu Wan, "An enemy of our association."

Huo Ruomei was gagged and could not speak, but they could hear muffled shouts and her ferocious eyes glared at her new captors. 

They set out for for Beishang Manor, heading first to Li An. 

THUNDER AT THE JADE GOURD 

At Li A they stayed once again at the Jade Gourd, where they had been attacked and Madame Wang poisoned. They tempted fate even further by opting to stay in the same room as before. 

As they entered the inn, Qi Yun observed four men at a nearby table taking notice of them. That night they took shifts in pairs guarding the door to their room. During Tu Jin Shi and Lu Li's shift, two of the men from the table walked up the stairs and onto the atrium and approached the two player characters. 

"Greetings heroes," Said one of them bowing. "We have an interest in your charge."

Discerning a threat in the words, Tu Jin Shi used his new Turtle Snaps its Jaws technique*, clamping his hands on both men's heads, deafening and unbalancing them. 

The ruffians withdrew two thunderbolt balls. They attempted to throw them a the feet of Tu Jin Shi and Lu Li, but fumbled and dropped them at their own feet. The wooden atrium floor blasted open, dropping the two men 20 feet to the ground. Tu Jin Shi also fell to the tavern floor as well, but Lu Li kept his footing. 

Seeing that the ruffian's two other companions were still at their table, Lu Li fired a hail of arrows at one of the seated men. His arrows struck their target, and bit deep into his flesh, but he was not killed. 

Tu Jin Shi struck the other man at the table with his burning palms, and he caught on fire. Luckily, the attack didn't explode the thunderbolt balls in his target's possession. 

Qi Yun and Xing Ge awakened at the noise, the former flying from the atrium into a Dove Taming Strike with his parasol, striking one of the men at the table in the temple, killing him, and nearly killing the other. 

Xing Ge clouded the inn room with Palm of the Dragon.

The men put up their hands and one of them said "Let's discuss this!"

Lu Li asked who they worked for. 

"Thundering Scorpion." Said the Man. 

The party nodded to one another and prepared to attack. Sensing their words fell on deaf ears, the men launched more thunderbolt balls. Tu Jin Shi attempted to deflect them with his robes**, but overexerted himself and fell to the ground, possessed by a Qi Spirit. One of the errant bombs hit an inn room on the first floor and person from within screamed with a gurgle. 

Lu Li launched another hail of arrows at the ruffian who threw the bomb. 

His body was filled with arrows and he fell cleanly to the ground. 

When only one man remained, Xing Ge rushed to the atrium and blasted him with an energy attack that hit with so much force, his necked snapped against the inn room wall. 

In the wake of the violence, the party looked around. The Jade Gourd was a burning wreck. The innkeeper ran from his room, and pulled at his own hair. Distraught, he cried "What have you done?"

This is where the session ended. 

*He was inspired by the Turtle Deity they had fought, and been working on a technique based on his bite, which he finally mastered this session 

**Deflecting Canopy 

THE ANGRY RIVER REVIEW

Released in 1971 The Angry River is directed by Huang Feng and stars Angela Mao. It is about a woman whose father is poisoned by the Moon Cult's Seven Deadly Thorn. To save him she must travel far across the Angry River, into a dangerous valley where the only remedy, Ganoderma Atrum, is protected. She faces the temple's guardians and discovers to leave the temple to bring her father the cure she must let the guardians disable her Kung Fu. What unfolds is a story of a martial hero, stripped of her powers, braving a long journey home, while in possession of a highly prized herb that not only cures the Seven Deadly Thorn poison, but increases a person's martial abilities. By making the hero so vulnerable for such a long duration of the film, we see how strong her will and character truly are. It also reveals the virtue and vice of everyone else around her. 

Huang Feng made several Angela Mao films, including Lady Whirlwind (1972), Hapkido (1972), The Tournament (1974) and When Taekwondo Strikes (just to name a few). And he directed The Crimson Charm (1971), which I reviewed HERE. The others I have covered on the podcast, and I recommend all but would single out Hapkido as my favorite. 

Angela Mao is known to all I am sure, but for those who haven't seen her movies, she brings real martial arts to the screen and is well known for her kicks. Her movies don't always get the level of quality her talents deserve but as a former Taekwondo practitioner myself, I adore her kicking and the overall explosiveness of her martial arts. The Angry River isn't a kung fu movie though, so this is not the kind of performance we see from her in When Taekwondo Strikes or Hapkido. It is closer to a movie like Broken Oath (1977) or The Invincible Eight (1971). 

There is some confusion over whether this is the first Golden Harvest movie or not, as the title also seems to be taken by The Invincible Eight. Similarly there is confusion over whether this is Angela Mao's first role. It seems The Angry River was the first Golden Harvest production, but The Invincible Eight was released first. Also Angela Mao was in the The Eight Bandits in 1968, so it appears her first role was actually years earlier. 

The Angry River is an impressive film. It is a bit sharper than many other early Golden Harvest Movies, both in terms of visual presentation and in style (some of this could be due to the transfer being clear). It has one-foot firmly planted in that late 60s Shaw Brothers wuxia era, but still feels like a refreshing change. I think it is one of the their best efforts and sure to please anyone who loves the classic wuxia style, but is open to more fantasy elements. 

The music is great, it freely samples from On Her Majesty's Secret Service for wonderful effect for example. And the incidental music all adds to the mood. 

There are plenty of practical effects and some work great, others not so much. I rather enjoyed the giant lizard man in a rubber suit scene. It is what it is, but fun and surprising. But the rope crossing, which is essential because it takes place over the Angry River itself, was something of a disappointment. It looked like very shoddy blue screen (or something similar). 

The Angry River was an interesting threat. It wasn't entirely clear what its full nature was, but anything that fell into it, caught on fire. So that felt suitably dangerous. However it is less central to the plot than one might think from the title. More of an important threshold for the hero to cross. 

As mentioned this is a movie where the heroine loses her kung fu. That is a genre staple, though it is more typical for side characters to be the recipients of this fate. Here it works, and reminded me of a later film, Superman II. I loved it for many of the same reasons I enjoyed that movie as a kid. I won't spoil anything, but I will say when she loses her powers she is told if things get too disastrous, she can restore her Kung Fu and regain her powers by eating the Ganoderma Atrum. This would mean there would not be any left for her father, but it puts the possibility on the table of her regaining her abilities at some point. 

What is interesting is just how much loss of martial ability affects her. It does not only impacting her fighting. It affects her ability to endure the long journey itself, to ward off illness, etc. The film makes the point that Kung Fu is about more than just swords and fists, these characters are exceptional in all kinds of other ways, which explains why they can stand so easily outside of normal social convention sometimes. But here, she is suddenly vulnerable and often reliant on the good will of other heroes. We see this clearly in the contrast between her journey to the Angry River, which is fairly effortless, and the long, painful trek home. 

We also don't know who she can trust, because once it is known she is powerless and carrying this valuable and coveted herb, characters who once seemed righteous, suddenly behave differently. I found myself on the edge of my seat from set-ups as simple as her recovering at an inn after nearly dying from a long journey. Righteous heroes turn into vultures and any time she is resting, or weak from travel, I was worried someone would steal the herb from her. There is even a hero who almost rises to the level of love interest, and becomes her protector, but in the back of my mind, I wondered if he could be trusted. 

The fights are solid. This is an early Angela Mao film, and she only gets sharper with time, but here the performances work and the fight choreography, by Han Ying-Chieh and Sammo Hung work great. It is worth mentioning I discussed them in my review of The Invincible Eight as they served as martial arts directors for that movie too. And the fight with Pai Ying's King of Hell is awesome (in some ways it reminds me of his performance in Dragon Inn). The fight scene are are a little more old-fashioned than the later Golden Harvest movies, particularly post Bruce Lee films, but anyone familiar with late 60s Shaw Brothers action should enjoy this. 

This film looks great too. Not just in the filming itself, but the sets, the costumes. With the exception of the aforementioned rubber lizard man suit, everything looks stellar. I strongly recommend The Angry River. Not only is it notable as the first Golden Harvest Production, it is an important Angela Mao film and has a unique take on the protagonist losing their martial arts, which allows it to tell a much different story. 

THE INVINCIBLE EIGHT REVIEW

The Invincible Eight is a 1971 Golden Harvest  wuxia film directed by Lo Wei. It stars Nora Miao, Tang Ching, Angela Mao, Paul Chang Chung, Lee Kwan, James Tin Chuen, Lydia Shum, Pai Ying, Patrick Tse Yin, and Han Ying-Chieh. It is about a group of eight revenge-seeking heroes whose fathers were killed by the corrupt and cruel General Hsiao. 

The movie was recently released in Blu-ray by 88 Films, which is the version I am using for this review. This appears to be Lo Wei's first Golden Harvest film, and possibly the first Golden Harvest release as well: there is some confusion over this which I will get into in my review of The Angry River (1971). But it seems The Angry River was the first to go into production and this was the first to see release. 

The Invincible Eight is built around a large ensemble cast. That can often go either way for me in wuxia. If things get too big and become more about events than the characters, that go south. But films like The Brave Archer trilogy (1977-1981) and The 14 Amazons (1972) are examples where I think it is handled well. Here the large cast works. It is never confusing, each person is clearly drawn and they function together like a proper troupe. And while there is a political element to the story, the movie doesn't get bogged down in court politics or larger events. The focus is on the characters and swordplay. The result is a solidly entertaining movie with great performances from an ensemble cast, thrilling action and memorable characters. 

Lo Wei is a great story teller in my opinion. And I like the way the film sinks into its location, and allows the story to emerge largely through pieces of backstory revealed in dialogue. Most of the movie is set at General Hsiao's fortress where the would be assassins are taken prisoner. There we also find two other people, Miss Chiang, the adopted daughter of the general, played by Nora Miao, and Hai Tao, played by Patrick Tse Yin. The latter is an adopted son of the general, and his number two, but as the story progresses we learn things are more complicated for both of them. 

Another element of Lo Wei films that stands out here is telling the story through action and alongside the action. The movie effectively begins with a sword fight, and from that point on, we get sword fight after sword fight, with rests in between where characters are introduced and developed. 

And the swordplay is all well choreographed by Han Ying-Chieh and Sammo Hung. Sammo Hung probably needs little introduction here as his name is widely known, but he often did martial arts direction while also serving as an actor in these early Golden Harvest films, including a number featuring Angela Mao. Han Ying-Chieh is not only a veteran actor whose face you have surely seen, but he is responsible for the fight choreography in films like Come Drink With Me (1966), Dragon Inn (1967), A Touch of Zen (1970), The Big Boss (1971), and Fist of Fury (1972). 

Both marital arts directors appear in this movie. Sammo Hung is one of the whip masters, but Han Ying-Chieh plays General Hsiao. The latter is a very smart choice as the General serves as the final boss and needs to sell a fight against eight heroes. Not only is Han Ying-Chieh a great fight choreographer, he looks dangerous and believable on screen. 

The secondary villain, Wan Shun, played by Pai Ying, is rather interesting. And here I am going to get into spoilers in order to talk about him, so I recommend viewing the film before reading this paragraph. While he is initially presented as one of a number of subordinates who the general trusts, it is revealed he is the mastermind behind the general's rise, and in private he speaks down to the general like he is the one truly in charge. It is not unlike Samuel L. Jackson's character in Django Unchained (2012). The shift in perception of his power is even handled in a somewhat similar way and feels like a dangerous shift, because this mere lackey is suddenly shown to be so much more powerful than anticipated. 

For those not familiar with Pai Ying, he often plays antagonists, and was notably the Eunuch in Dragon Inn. He also played Hell King in The Angry River and folks might also recognize him from Royal Warriors (1986). He is genuinely frightening here. The man has a presence and an ability to radiate menace and power. While General Hsiao is the ultimate foe in the end, as he is the one the eight finally face off with, it is Pai Ying's Wan Shun who creates the greater sense of threat and unease through most of the movie. 

The Eight are all well cast. Everyone is good in their own way. Angela Mao really stood out with her Kuei Chien Chin, who dresses as a man to infiltrate the fortress. Something interesting here is everyone around her realizes she is a woman, and it is discussed behind her back, which adds a little twist to the trope. Nora Miao is also wonderful. She plays one of the more formidable characters as the general's adopted daughter, and I thought they captured her lightness martial arts nicely. She also just had the right look for the character. Tang Ching is always a solid performer and he works well here as Feng I Fei. He is skilled at portraying heroes with an emotional depth, often characters who seem haunted by their past or a burden of duty. Here he helps ground the film. And the man can brood while remaining stoic. For great examples see The Jade Raksha (1968) or The Black Enforcer (1972). Lee Kwan as a kind of hapless chef, who ultimately proves to have more grit than we first think, helped balance out the movie with light comedy. Lydia Shum, who plays the loud-mouthed Chiao Hsiu Hu, was memorable and also helped give the movie a more comedic tone from time to time. But her volatility and unpredictability also injects a sense of risk. None of the comedy overwhelms the seriousness of the story, it just added some contrast. James Tin Chuen plays a hot-tempered axe wielder whose fury pairs nicely with Lydia Shum's sharp tongue and temper. Paul Chang Chung brought level-headed gravitas to the movie as Swordsman Ho. 

Something gamers might appreciate about The Invincible Eight is the way the heroes deal with the whip masters at the general's fortress. The whips prove to be a formidable weapon and in order to counter it, they create special shears with a pair of duel-wielded swords. But because there are eight of them, they need 16 blades in total, which they have to take time to forge. This felt like something that would arise organically in a wuxia campaign. 

I give this movie an enthusiastic recommendation. I think it has something for everyone. One element that is missing is a love story, but with such a big cast it would have been hard to give attention to that. This is very much about characters on a clear mission. Lo Wei is a highly consistent director who never disappoints me. I might recommend people first check out Vengeance of a Snowgirl (1971) or Fist of Fury (1972), but I think this is also a perfectly worthy point of entry, and a notable film in the Golden Harvest timeline. 

ESCORT MISSION TABLES

This is a concept that came up in my Thursday game session this week. The players decided to work as escorts*. These appear all the time in wuxia novels and movies, often serving as important plot elements or as an excuse for a big fight scene with a group of bandits. In this case the players were closely aligned with the Tu Association, as one of the members was of Tu Lineage, and they asked the chief, the PCs brother, if they could take some escort missions (the brother has been giving them association resources and in exchange he simply wanted occasional help from the party using their martial expertise). It became clear I needed a way to help me determine what types of escorts would be requested. I could just decide this myself, but I wanted the core components to be decided by a table. As GM I would still try to work these elements into something interesting. 

Bandit Encounters for Escorts: Before getting to the table, it also occurred to me that characters serving as escorts face greater risks, as thieves and bandits, or rival sects, may learn of what they are transporting. So I came up with three approaches to handle this: 1) Have there be a 20 percent chance each day of such an encounter. 2) Have there be a 50 percent flat chance of a bandit encounter at some point along the way. 3) Roll an additional Survival Roll each day to check for a bandit encounter. I opted for 2, though I think in future I will use 3. The math of all of these options is very different and produces very different results.

THE ESCORT MISSION TABLES

These are just the quick tables I put together in my notes as the session was starting and it was becoming clear the players were to go on escort missions. I put these in my campaign notes but they are exactly as they appeared in my written notepad (except the text of the complication section, which was just a note about percentage):

*In wuxia escorts guard and transport people, goods, etc traveling or being shipped from one location to another. 

THE STAR-CROSSED BLADES OF THE GREEN PEONY SESSION V

This is the fifth 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). 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.

Very early and rough map of prefecture 

CHARACTERS

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: 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: A traveling physician who comes from a family of successful fishermen. 

THE ECORT MISSION 

The party took an escort mission for the Tu Association, hoping to grow their skills and reputation. They agreed to escort Madame Wang Peng to Yue Manor in Yue Town. Because they did not have someone with knowledge of the plains, they asked Chief Tu Wan for a guide. he assigned Tu Li to travel with them. 

They set out early and met Madame Wang Peng at the Fair Weather Inn in Lanyin, where she had a sedan chair and bearers waiting. She carried herself like a noble, with plum blossom makeup, expensive green robes and a valuable looking turquoise necklace. 

From there they made their way to Li An and stayed at the Jade Gourd. To protect their charge, they took watches in the street beneath the window to Madame Wang's room and had her bearers guard the doors. During Xing Ge's watch, he failed to see an intruder sneak Madame Wang Peng's room. But he soon heard a scream and saw a man crawling from her window. 

Without hesitation he used Blast of the Dragon to send the intruder into the air so he crashed down with a great splat on the pavement below. Xing Ge noticed a metal staff clutched in the man's hand, from which a hooded snake slithered into the shadows. He grabbed the snake and stabbed it through the brain. 

QI Yun and Tu Jin Shi awakened from the scream. Qi Yun rushed down to the street and inspected the body of the intruder, finding Madame Wang Peng's turquoise necklace clutched in his hand. Tu Jin Shi checked on Madame Wang, finding her ashen faced and poisoned by the snake. 

They sent a message to Lanyin asking Lu Li to join them (Lu Li had stayed behind). Then they summoned a physician. An old man named Gui Daniang came to the inn and examined Madame Wang, then looked at the snake. 

"This is a corpse snake...a very complicated case. The antidote is only known by the leader of Relentless Corpse Sect." He then explained to them that so long as she did not resist the venom, it would not be lethal, that it just made the person zombie-like and compliant.

Tu Jin Shi and Xing Ge searched the city for someone who was familiar with the sect. They found a vagrant name Chang Lei, a very serious man who claimed to have fought with the sect. 

He explained that the leader of the sect, Relentless Corpse Queen was very powerful and used the venom to create corpse disciples. He also told them that the sect headquarters was a place called The Palace of Divine Sabre. They asked if he would join them but the man refused, but handed them a pair of emei daggers and said "Use these to slit the queen's throat should the need arise". 

The party then deliberated on the best course of action. They decided that it would be wise to send a message to Relentless Corpse Sect offering to trade the staff and body of the intruder for the antidote (they had inspected the body of the man and noticed a section of skin flayed off, so assumed he was a member of the sect who had simply removed evidence of his membership). 

In Li An they found a place called Guan Chu's Messenger Services. Inside was an eccentric man, painting, surrounded by cages of pigeons. He explained that for his birds were fast, and would travel 600 miles a day, for a fee of 1,000 spades a day. They agreed and sent the following message: 

We were attacked by a person who identified as previously having identifying  markers of the Relentless Corpse Sect, which had been removed. He perished in this attempt, and we recovered a golden scepter, hollowed interior which contained a corpse snake. Someone important to us has been afflicted with this poison and we require an antidote. We hoped we could exchange the corpse of this person and his staff to yourselves for assistance with the antidote. We should meet halfway. 

A couple of days later, they received the following reply:

On behalf of Relentless Corpse Queen: We accept your offer with the caveat that the Queen's new corpse slave be replaced with someone suitable. We shall meet you at Beishang Manor. Be sure to bring the staff, the body, the snake, and the replacement. 

This is where the session ended. 

STAR-CROSSED BLADES OF THE GREEN PEONY SESSION IV

This is the fourth 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). 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.

Very early and rough map of prefecture 

CHARACTERS

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: 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: A traveling physician who comes from a family of successful fishermen. 

ATTACK OF THE TURTLE DEITY 

Just as the party were finishing off the bandits, they felt a rumble beneath their feet. The shaking of the earth came in waves and Tu Jin Shi put his ear to the ground hoping to detect its source.

"He Shen..." the villagers began to mutter. "He Shen is angry."

Lu Li asked who He Shen was and Guan Mo, the village elder, replied.

"He is the river deity, and is angry because the bandits forbade us from making regular persimmon offerings." 

From beyond the steep banks of the river, they heard a terrible roar, and saw a massive soft shell turtle, the size of a small junk ship (50 meters), rise from the river. 

Tu Jin Shi scrambled for the river, sliding down the bluff towards the enormous creature. Its long neck stretched towards him, and it clamped down with its jaws but missed. Tu Jin Shi countered by climbing up the turtle's head and working his way towards it rear leg, which he grabbed and held onto. 

Lu Li rushed to the edge of the river and fired down a rain of arrows, filling the River Deity with arrows. 

He Shen crawled easily up the bluff and into the village, quickly snapping the heads off three villagers and and biting Lu Li, which left him with a vicious wound. 

Qi Yun began meditating to activate his Jade Rending Claws.

It continued its rampage and as it did so, Tu Jin Shi tried to observe its bite closely. 

Xing Ge Leapt forward and struck the turtle deity in the head with his Fragrant Fist of the Snake Technique. This caused the creature's mind to dull, and it fell into a kind of stupor. 

"Kill it!" Shouted Tu Jin Shi

Guan Mo stepped forward and pleaded "Please to not kill He Shen, he is the deity of this river, and we can quell his anger with an offering."

"But it has killed, and will kill again," Said Tu Jin Shi. The party silently nodded agreement with one another and Qi Yun impaled He Shen's brain with his jade claw. The deity's body trembled, then slumped to the ground. 

"You have committed a grave offense," Said Guan Mo. 

"As far as I am concerned, we acted righteously, against a threat to your village."

"You defy the order of the world," Said Guan Mo. 

Tu Jin Shi argued with the elder, explaining that he believed individuals must decide what is right and wrong in the moment, but Guan Mo disagreed, saying what they did was wrong, and would lead to bad outcomes. 

Lu Li, who had knowledge of the classic texts, cherry picked a quote from The Sayings of Kong Zhi, to justify Tu Jin Shi's position. Guan Mo could not form a response but huffed and turned to the villagers. 

The villagers gathered around in shock. Guan Mo's fury grew and he said "You saved us from the bandits, so we owe you for that, but from here on out, you are our enemies!"

The party tried to reason, but Guan Mo's will could not be moved. He asked them to leave the village and return no more. 

The party dragged the giant turtle carcass down river, realizing its parts would be useful components for medicine. Xing Ge used some meat to make a stew and the party ate it. Soon after eating the stew they each felt a profound hunger for persimmons, which they sated by gathering fruit from the nearby trees.*

Lu Li decided they should use the shell to make a boat, and gather as much meat as they could and preserve it. They realized they would need ship builders and a way of transporting the meat. Xing Ge began gathering the meat and curing it. 

Tu Jin Shi, Qi Yun and The Well-Tempered Arhat headed north to Lanyin to find shipbuilders. There they went to the Tu Association, a lineage society formed by Tu Jin Shi's siblings. They appeared before the chief, Tu Wan (Tu Jin Shi's brother). 

"I have heard rumors brother," said Chief Tu Wan. "That you have taken a new master, a mysterious swords woman."

Tu Jin Shi explained it was true, and added that his companion Xing Ge was studying under the Well-Tempered Arhat. Chief Tu Wan expressed concern about the Arhat's reputation for bursts of violent anger, but they dissuaded him of this notion. 

When Tu Jin Shi told Chief Tu Wan that he had ignored his master's instruction to learn the saber, his brother rebuked him, not understanding why he would do so. However he said the association could use strong martial artists to help with transport and that Tu Jin Shi was always welcome. 

Tu Jin Shi asked for some ship builders, and his brother gave him 6 of the best in town as the Tu Association controlled ship building in Lanyin. They also connected the party with a persimmon merchant named Liao Qiu, who could take them back towards the village as he made regular shipments there. They would return to the carcass by river and haul it back to Lanyin where the shipbuilders would form a hull from the shell. 

On the journey down river, Liao Qiu explained to the party how to cultivate persimmon trees (they realized they would need to do so to satisfy their hunger). He also agreed to sell them cases of persimmons at a good rate (once a month, with enough to last them the entire moon). Once they reached the carcass, they towed it on Liao Qiu's boat back towards Lanyin. 

On the way, they made a deal with Liao Qiu, explaining they had acquired divine turtle meat that imbues eaters with a deep hunger for persimmons. He did not believe them, but tried some of the cured turtle meat himself, and was convinced once he felt the hunger. They pointed out, whoever ate the meat, would be a ready customer for large quantities of his persimmons. 

They sold several tons of meat to him for 125,000 spades (and he agreed to give them monthly persimmon shipments free). The persimmon creates would be left at the Tu Association on the first of every month. The shipbuilders began work on the hull of the ship, and said it would take them about three months to complete the job. 

This is where the session ended. 

*This meat conferred a permanent hunger for persimmons but also a permanent +1d10 bonus to Survival and Swim in rivers. 

STAR-CROSSED BLADES OF THE GREEN PEONY SESSION III

Sorry for the delays on these session logs. I have been sick for the past few weeks and was just able to resume the campaign. This is the third 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). 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.

Very early and rough map of prefecture 

CHARACTERS

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: 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: A traveling physician who comes from a family of successful fishermen. 

ABANDONING LEOPARDS 

After some deliberation, Lu Li decided it was unwise to continue their pursuit of Black Leopard Villa to rescue his parents. They now had some knowledge of the location of Black Leopard Villa and felt confronting them now would be too risky. 

They retraced their steps North to bring the matter of the robbed caravan to the attention of the local magistrate. As they were leaving the Yaoguai Forest, a woman came stumbling toward them and hailed before collapsing. Lu Li treated her and could see she had been subject to violence and exhaustion. 

When she awakened, she told them her name was Guan Ruo, and that she came from Gu Village along Gu Creek. She pleaded with them for help, explaining that she was the daughter of the elder, Guan Mo, and that the village had been taken over by bandits who forced the villagers to extract raw materials and operate a workshop to make counterfeit Xi Pottery*. They agreed to help her but decided to stop in Li An first. 

In Li A the magistrate held court and met with them, but indicated he wanted a bribe, so Lu Li gave him one of the golden taels they recovered from the robbery. He was pleased with this and dismissed the party. They decided not to give him the remainder of stolen goods as he seemed untrustworthy, instead they planned on returning them to the merchant company themselves. 

On their way across the Hongshi Grasslands, they crossed paths with a man eating persimmons (the fruit was abundant in the grasslands)**. He asked where they were headed but the party was reluctant to reveal. Tu Jin Shi tried to explain that he seemed trustworthy but their mission was important. He also pointed out the man was a strange to them. This caused him to take umbrage and he announced he was Long Mengwei of Fragrant Pine Villa***. 

There was a protracted back and forth, first with Long Mengwei taking exception to being untrusted, then Tu Jin Shi taking exception when the man would not tell them where he was going. Eventually he explained he was meeting someone at The Elephant Teahouse to discuss a manual he was seeking, and they explained the circumstances leading them to Gu Creek. Satisfied, Long Mengwei went on his way****.

Guan Ruo explained to the party that the village had been taken over by about 25 bandits, lead by three men: Cai Lieh, Jade Fist Ma and Yan Kun the Ox. They had a regular patrol of five men around the village, two groups of five men enforcing calcite and red clay extraction along the river, and five men assigned to guard the prison pen where the villagers were housed when not laboring. According to Guan Ruo, at night the three leaders feasted in a hall in her grandfather's courtyard house (which they used as an HQ), bandits not on patrol or guard duty would eat in the open courtyard, and the remaining bandits would be on patrol or guarding the pen. 

The party divided a plan to attack in two groups simultaneously in order to gain surprise. They would attack the courtyard of the elder's residence, and Tu Jin Shi would attack the guards at the pen. The Arhat explained to the party that he would let them handle the matter in the village and wait outside in case they needed help. 

They launched their attack and Lu Li took out the 15 bandits in the open courtyard with his Storming Arrows technique. Tu Jin kicked the guards at the pen unconscious and freed the prisoners. Xing Ge formed a stormcloud with his Blast of the Dragon Technique, which Lu Li, Xing Ge and Qi Yun used as cover. However they noticed a similar cloud form inside the hall the leaders were inside of. 

Lu Li decide to leave the cloud cover, and stormed the hall, filling Yan Kun with arrows till he collapsed. Jade Fist Ma, who it seemed had no hands, whistled and two black and red pit vipers leapt towards the cloud and one of them bit Qi Yun on the forehead. Qi Yun understood instantly that he had been envenomated and began feeling systemic effects (he estimated he had minutes to live). 

There was another exchange between the groups and Lu Li riddled Jade Fist Ma with arrows till he dropped dead. Cai Lieh dropped to his knees and pleaded "I don't want to die, I can give you anything you want, just don't kill me". 

Tu Jin Shi came flying in and knocked out Cai Lieh with a fire palm. 

This is where the session ended. 

*This is a highly valued ceramic ware from the Banyan Region

**This was a product of a failed Survival Roll 

***Everyone failed their Institutions (sects) roll to see if they knew the group, including The Well-Tempered Arhat. 

****This is something that could have turned into a grudge. Long Mengwei is a shady information broker, and something of a martial bully, despite training under one of the region's most benevolent masters. But the party managed to part of friendly terms, so he took them as friends instead of enemies