WUXIA INSPIRATION: THE LADY OF STEEL

This is part of a series I started when working on Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate, reviewing wuxia films and discussing their relevance to tabletop RPGs. This entry is an installment in my Cheng Pei-pei reviews series as well. So far on this blog I have covered Come Drink with me, Brothers Five, Golden Swallow, Dragon Swamp, The Shadow Whip, Lady Hermit, Thundering Sword, The Golden Sword, Raw Courage, That Fiery Girl, Whiplash, and Kung Fu Girl. Today I write about The Jade Raksha. 

I am a little rusty on these written reviews and my last one was a little long winded, so I am going to aim for brevity on this one. 

If you want to bring wuxia to your RPG table, try Righteous Blood Ruthless Blades or Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate. 

Note: I am writing these as a fan of the genre. I am not a movie expert or an expert in asian cinema. These are my own observations based on what I have learned by watching wuxia and kung fu movies, and by reading about them through interviews and books. But my knowledge is quite limited and I am an English speaker. So understand that my commentary comes from this perspective.  

This review contains many spoilers.

THE LADY OF STEEL 

Released in 1970 and directed by Ho Meng-Hua, Lady of Steel stars Cheng Pei-Pei, Yueh Hua, and Huang Tsung-Hsun. 

Lady of Steel is a satisfying tale of revenge that once again teams up Cheng Pei-Pei and Yueh Hua. As in Come Drink with Me, Yueh Hua plays a beggar named Qin Shang Yi, and Cheng Pei-Pei plays Fang Ying Qi, a woman whose family is slaughtered when she is a child. Raised by Priest Xuan Zhen, she learns martial arts on a reclusive mountain. Priest Juan Zhen sends her to Flying Dragon Fortress when she is old enough to help Master Xia fight against the Jin invasion. Unbeknownst to them her father's killer, Han Shi Xiong, has retired from banditry and serves the Jin in secret as a spy at Flying Dragon Fortress, where he has assumed the new identity of Cai Yi. 

When she first arrives at Flying Dragon Fortress, Ying Qi impresses them with her lightness kung fu and dart skills (which she uses to precision kill a cluster of birds). Recognizing her name, Cai Yi plots to have her killed by sending her to assassinate Wu Chang Sheng of Black Wind Fortress, a wealthy man working with the Jin in order to protect his property. Though they lay a trap for her, she escapes with the assistance of Qin Shang Yi, and manages to nab their flag. 

Back at Flying Dragon Fortress, Cai Yi plots further when he learns about Qin and Ying Qi's relationships, intending to use it against her. She receives a letter from Qin informing her about a shipment of goods to the Jin that he doesn't have the manpower to rob. All of Flying Dragon Fortress ambushes the caravan but suffers heavy losses as the caravan is a counter ambush. Cai Yi then plants incriminating evidence in Ying Qi's room and demands it be searched, forcing her to fight her way out of Flying Dragon Fortress. 

In hiding, she learns of Cai Yi's real identity through his number two, Wei Tong Ming. She also learns that Cai Yi is working with Wu Chang Sheng to stage a surprise attack on Flying Dragon Fortress, using his birthday as a pretext to ensure every member is present. Teaming up with Qin, they intercept the ambush and kill Cai Yi in a spectacular final showdown. 

This is the short synopsis of the film. It leaves out a number of interesting plot beats, including one where Ying Qi assumes the identity of a man named Yan Ji Jiang to infiltrate Black Wind Fortress, but that is the basic story. 

There are a number of things I like about this movie. The first are the visuals. It isn't overwrought but in key moments there are some startling shots and everything feels well composed to me. In particular, I loved the scene where Qing Yi confronts Wei Tong Ming, against the backdrop of the birthday celebration fireworks display. The way it cuts between the flash of the "longevity" firework and her relentless assault on Wei Tong Ming worked.

Something else I enjoyed was the depiction of kung fu, particularly lightness martial arts. This is a film made in 1970 and things are moving in a more stylized direction. There is also a great sense of mood in some of the fights. One example is when Qin faces Wu Chang Sheng in a forest. Not only does he seem to be able to appear and disappear at will to force Wu Chang Sheng into a battle, but the way Qin strides forward with his sword drawn, just pulled me into the moment. 

I very much liked how the film opens, where we see the backstory of Ying Qi's family slaughtered by Cai Yi. The ruthlessness of it, and the valiance of one of her father's men struggling to save her from the carnage, gives the rest of the movie an emotional weight. It is a very dramatic way to start things off that gives a strong lead in to the title card. The physical performances in the opening ambush, which occurs at an inn, are also noticeably good. 

The movie is also set against a political backdrop that gives it setting but doesn't overwhelm the personal story of Qing Yi's revenge. I liked this as early on I was a bit worried it would be a movie with way too many characters and too much intrigue. But it is fairly straight forward and there are only a few key characters. 

Lady of Steel features a solid Cheng Pei-Pei performance. Both her and Yueh Hua work very well together here. And her physical performance and emotional performance both work nicely.

I've said before I think Ho Meng Hua is a good visual storyteller. I find I never have trouble following the plot in his films. And he knows how to be efficient too, so he doesn't over-explain, he just is capable at conveying a lot of information in a small sequence of frames. And his details are all clearly laid out. When Cai Yi recognizes Ying Qi, there is a straight line drawn from early in the film explaining how this is possible. We understand each point this information was transmitted to him and how he put that together upon her arrival at Flying Dragon Fortress. 

Lady of Steel would not be my first recommendation for getting into Ho Mo Meng Hua or Cheng Pei-Pei, but it is definitely worth seeing if you are a fan of either. 

 

TAKING IT TO THE TABLE

Most of the techniques demonstrated in the movie are ones I already have in WHOG and RBRB, but you will need to make sure you have a sufficient amount of lightness kung fu options (particularly things for leaping, for walking on trees and for appearing seemingly out of nowhere). You will also want a range of sword techniques and darts. For her dart technique, I would use something like Storming Daggers from Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate which matches it pretty well. 

Storming Daggers from WHOG

Another thing that features prominently in the movie are traps. I mention this a lot, but I think it bears repeating because people often seem quite resistant to the idea, but wuxia features many things we associate with classic fantasy adventure RPGs: traps, dungeons, inns and taverns, etc. Here there are ample use of things like spiked pit traps, net traps that capture and lift men from the ground up, and even spikes that shoot out of the wall when a person presses a button. A villain who is well prepared with a number of traps laid out in advance is a good idea. Again, if using Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate, the core rulebook has plenty trap descriptions and mechanics in Chapter 12 from pages 525 to 427. 

In terms of the characters and story, I think it is always better to not force that stuff but allow it to be present. So here, where the chief conflict is between a woman and a man in the organization she joins who secretly is the person who killed her family, I think the best option is wait until you have a player who makes a character whose family was killed in their youth (preferably by someone they wouldn't be able to recognize on sight). This comes up all the time in play in my experience (it is a pretty standard backstory to get from players now and then). 

When a player does this, then you can work with them to plant the seed. Here is how I might do it to make it interesting. I would say to that player, I am going to determine who the killer is and maybe during the campaign it will come up. Then I would take all the eligible characters in the setting (anyone who seems likely to have killed a whole family for some reason), put them on a table and roll randomly to see who it is. This last part would just be for my own sense of surprise and as a bit of a creative prompt. 

If it is very important and you really want the plot to come up, you can pick a random member of whatever sect the character belongs to or the member of a sect they join during the campaign.

WUXIA INSPIRATION: THE JADE RAKSHA

This is part of a series I started when working on Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate, reviewing wuxia films and discussing their relevance to tabletop RPGs. This entry is an installment in my Cheng Pei-pei reviews series as well. So far on this blog I have covered Come Drink with me, Brothers Five, Golden Swallow, Dragon Swamp, The Shadow Whip, Lady Hermit, Thundering Sword, The Golden Sword, Raw Courage, That Fiery Girl, Whiplash, and Kung Fu Girl. Today I write about The Jade Raksha. I am a little rusty on these written reviews so don't mind me if I ramble a bit. 

Note: I am writing these as a fan of the genre. I am not a movie expert or an expert in asian cinema. These are my own observations based on what I have learned by watching wuxia and kung fu movies, and by reading about them through interviews and books. But my knowledge is quite limited and I am an English speaker. So understand that my commentary comes from this perspective.  

This review contains many spoilers.

THE JADE RAKSHA

Cheng Pei-pei and the director Ho Meng Hua are a very good combination. Cheng Pei-pei is an incredible physical performer, and was making films at a time when less of the performance was cloaked with camera work. When I see Cheng Pei-pei in a movie she brings athleticism, grace, footwork, and power to the screen in a way that I think is still unrivaled. The choreography may have been a little less stylized, but this is more interesting to me because it's a period where you can see style developing in these movies that later movies build a foundation on and there is less distraction from the physical movements of the actor. She also has a very grounded style of action that feels real. 

And Cheng Pei-pei excels at playing martial characters with strong personalities. She has star power on the screen that can carry a film, even a not so great film. She can draw you to a film with her personality, which elevates every movie she is in. 

Ho Meng Hua is a magnificent storyteller. His films are not only wonderful to look at, but he puts a lot of focus into telling a story that feels well crafted. He directed a number of movies but some notable ones (for me at least) are Lady Hermit, Vengeful Beauty, Black Magic, Shaolin Abbot, The Flying Guillotine, Monkey Goes West, and Cave of the Silken Web. 

By far, the best Ho Meng Hua film featuring Cheng Pei-pei, in my opinion, is Lady Hermit. The story and the choreography are both stellar. But The Jade Raksha is an interesting film as well. And one that has some very memorable elements. It is also a movie that I appreciated more on repeat viewings. 

The Jade Raksha is a movie about the endless cycle of revenge and violence. This is a longstanding trope in wuxia and other genres, but what matters is how the trope is handled. And Ho Meng Hua handles it exceptionally well here. 

Unfortunately The Jade Raksha has not been easy to find in recent years. I did a review on youtube years ago for a VCD format version. This was the only copy I could find, so I was grateful to have it, but VCD is not high resolution and has a very small aspect ratio on the screen. Recently it went up on a streaming service on Amazon and it was also released in a new Shaw Brothers boxed set. I watched the version on Amazon, which looked like a scan similar to my VCD copy but had a much better aspect ratio. So for the first time, I was able to appreciate the visuals of the film. 

LENG QIU HAN AND XU YING HAO 

The story begins with a chance meeting of Leng Qiu Han (Cheng Pei-pei) and Xu Ying Hao (Tang Ching) at an inn. She has been killing members of the Yan family because one of them slaughtered her entire household, and he is looking to kill Shi Yong Shan, a man who murdered his father.

Leng Qiu Han visits revenge upon her enemies as the Jade Raksha, a terrifying swordswoman who announces her intentions with a haunting song. Initially Leng Qiu Han regards Xu Ying Hao as an obstacle, someone who is meddling in her affairs and the she challenges him to a fight to the death. There is a lot more to it than this but the beginning ends with them on the road together, and her developing strong affection for him before they each set off on their own. 

This is where the film becomes very interesting. Leng Qiu Han is killing every member of the Yan because she doesn't know which one is responsible for the death of her family. And Xu Ying Hao appears to have a more morally righteous approach to revenge, even cautioning Leng Qiu Han to only kill the guilty and to spare the innocent. 

There is an incredible scene soon after their split, which highlights the core theme of the movie. Xu Ying Hao goes to a village where he has tracked down Shi Yong Shan, and there he confronts him, an aggressive and hostile man who clearly has no exceptional martial skill. At first it seems he is going to let Shi Yong Shan off because he can't even fight, but when the man attacks him as his back is turned he slices him open and this is where the magic of the scene occurs because it maintains two completely separate moods. 

As Xu Ying Hao heroically sheathes his sword and boldly announces "I am Xu Ying Hao. Twenty years ago Shi Yong Shan killed my father. I am here to avenge [him]" the scene around him dissolves into something much more shaky and messy. The man's wife and son run up to him, and the other villagers look shocked. There is a sharp contrast between Xu Ying Hao's posture and the events unfolding around him. It is like he is one movie and the villagers in another. But that discord is not immediately apparent to Xu Ying Hao. 

At this point he discovers he killed the wrong man. A villager tells him the man he killed was Shi Xiong Shan, and that Shi Yong Shan left twenty years ago. Then the son addresses Xu Ying Hao and vows to avenge his father when he grows up. 

Disturbed that he killed an innocent man, and filled with remorse, he wraps a blue sash from his victim around the hilt of sword and swears an oath to never unsheathe it again. It is a very effective beat in the story and gives emotional weight to everything Xu Ying Hao does from that point on. It is also worth mentioning while this is just one notable scene, that the core elements of this scene are mirrored in other aspects of the story. It is the threading of all the revenge tales that really makes the movie work. 

Leng Qiu Han, or Jade Raksha herself is one of Cheng Pei-pei's most interesting characters. She is more flawed and self-centered than a character like Lady Hermit. She has no problem killing countless Yan men, taking their heads and hanging them from a rope with large letters announcing that they were killed by The Jade Raksha. She is also violently possessive of Xu Ying Hao once she develops a love interest in him. 

In fact, her first instinct seems to be to kill. When she first meets Xu Ying Hao, doesn't hesitate to reach for her sword when he confronts her about an incident she has with some other patrons. Later she challenges him to a fight to the death. When another woman gains Xu Ying Hao's affections, she openly attempts to kill her. Over the course of the film, Xu Ying Hao tries to restrain her killer instinct, especially regarding her ruthless quest for revenge against the Yan family, and this is particularly the case when she seeks to kill the final Yan man, which puts the two of them into direct conflict. She is a bit of an anti-hero. 

Jade Raksha doesn't hide behind false humility or morality, she is clear about what she wants, while at the same time capable of deception when needed. She also has a knack for sarcasm, overpraising her friend Xu Ying Hao's righteousness in order to put him in his place. There is also something about the sincerity of the character I like. When she tries to kill Jiang Yin Feng, even though it is clearly an overreaction and wrong, it's her real emotion coming to the surface. She isn't hiding her feelings. 

YAN TIAN LONG 

One of the things that makes this movie so enjoyable is the villain, Master Yan Tian Long, played by Yang Chi-Ching. He is one of those villains who is so evil yet so charming that he is a pleasure to watch. Master Yan is a horrible man, but presents himself as a philanthropist to the public and has learned to use charity as way of securing loyalty and recruiting men to serve him. He feeds the poor, cares for the sick, and is respected by officials. His house even has a plaque that reads "Always Be Kind", but beyond this plaque is a secret door that leads to his dungeon where he tortures, executes and stores goods gained through robbery. The blatant hypocrisy makes for a fun villain. 

Yan Tian Long's scheming is brilliant. He is a true chess player and can put his temper and ego aside in order to attain his goals with soft demonstrations of power. He gets the best doctors for Xu Ying Hao's mother, gives her money so she can survive while Xu Ying Hao is out seeking revenge, and he seems to be feeding everyone in town. 

When he sees that Xu Ying Hao is friends with Jade Raksha, he responds by being reasonable and showing understanding, but then sends men to follow him so they can find her. He knows how to control people and how to use his mind in a fight. 

He is also ruthless and cruel in order to achieve his goals. His dungeon is filled with instruments of torture and execution, including two giant guillotines. 

A LOVE TRIANGLE TIED TO THE CYCLE OF REVENGE 

The Jade Raksha features a classic love triangle as well. For soon after Xu Ying Hao meets Leng Qiu Han, he returns home to his ailing mother, who has been nursed to house by the seemingly benevolent Yan Tian Long. Out of a desire for reciprocity, Xu Ying Hao agrees to be Yan's chief martial arts instructor. 

Working for Master Yan, his men hear a woman singing Jade Raksha's melody and try to detain her. Xu Ying Hao orders them not to, but they disobey her, causing him to help the woman and her blind father escape. This leads to a romance between Xu Ying Hao and the daughter, Jiang Yin Feng. The father, Jiang Man Leung, approves of the relationship but when they are brought to Xu's mother's home, his mother, Mei Juan, recognizes Jiang Man Leung as the man her killed her husband, Shi Yong Shan. 

The movie becomes much more emotional at this point, with a poignant scene between Mei Juan and Shi Yong Shan where he implores her to let the past go, so that their children can be happy. He then explains that he and her husband fought over her affection and that he accidentally killed him in a duel after he had been drinking. He was so guilt-ridden, he leapt off a cliff and his eyes were scratched by thorn bushes, causing him to go blind.

This is a good example of the kind of storytelling the movie does, where it is taking very longstanding themes and tropes, but holding back enough important information to give a large emotional impact for the viewer. And the characters make you feel for them. You share Mei Juan's profound desire to avenge her husband's death but also share her desire to let her son marry and be happy. And you feel for Shi Yong Shan, who was so remorseful he tried to commit suicide. And now all he wants is for his daughter to have a secure future. 

It is also cleverly woven into the cycle of revenge in the movie itself, where the characters are slowly becoming more and more interconnected by these past grudges and the need for vengeance. Every aspect of the story feels like it revolves around this theme and is mirrored elsewhere. For example, Jade Raksha's entire purpose for the whole movie, the wiping out of the Yan family, is a product of Yan Tian Long wiping out her entire family.  

Ultimately Mei Juan decides to keep Shi Yong Shan's secret and this leads to the love triangle between The Jade Raksha and Xu Ying Hao. It is at this point that the aforementioned attempted killings of Xu Ying Hao's love interest by the Jade Raksha occurs. 

THE FINALE 

The Jade Raksha has a genuinely rewarding finale, with plenty of great fights, more reveals about the 20 year backstory, and a very interesting conclusion. 

Still believing that Jiang Yin Feng is the Jade Raksha, Master Yan's son and his men detain her while she is out by the river. Mei Juan tries to stop them but cannot. This leads to both of them being imprisoned at Master Yan's residence, where they are kept as 'guests' to persuade them to share Jade Raksha's location. 

Xu Ying Hao is forced to go to The Jade Raksha and ask for her help to rescue his mother and fiancé. Reluctantly she agrees on two conditions: the first is he must agree to never see Jiang Yin Feng again. The Jade Raksha's second condition is he must agree to marry her. 

The final showdown is exciting and filled with more interesting developments to the story. Shi Yong Shan's secret is revealed when he is recognized by Master Yan, and master Yan himself, in a moment when he seems to have the upper hand, tells the full truth about why he killed Jade Raksha's entire family. 

He explains that the day that Shi Yong Shan and Xu Ying Hao's father fought that the three of them were all disciples of the same teacher and that he was hiding nearby. During the battle he shoved Xu Ying Hao's father into Shi Yong Shan's blade, and so was the one responsible for his death. As he was disposing of the bodies, The Jade Raksha's father happened by and saw everything, so he killed him and his entire family, though the Jade Raksha escaped. 

In the end Xu Ying Hao keeps his word and agrees to go off with Leng Qiu Han (The Jade Raksha), but when she sees the two lovers saying good bye she has a change of heart and departs so they can be together, leaving behind her sword bound, showing that she has kept her promise to never kill again. This is reminiscent of the ending of Lady Hermit so it feel like an idea Ho Meng Hua wants to perfect. 

THE FIGHTS 

The fight sequences are entertaining. This is more in the realm of the swashbuckling style of wuxia, so it helps to keep that in mind watching the film. Personally I love the late-60s style, it is very athletic and the sword blows have a weight to them. There is also a sense of dancing steel to the moves. I think there are Cheng Pei-pei films that have better fight choreography but this is still pretty solid, and the focus is really more on the story anyways. But there are some things that are notable.

The use of lightness kung fu is quite good for the period it was made (at least in my opinion). One technique, which I always like, is cutting shot to shot, with a character in the tree tops, to create the illusion of them moving from tree to tree. The actor literally is just shot in a single tree each time, never leaps or moves, but the camera and the cuts make your imagination fill in the gap and it has a wonderful style.

There is a nice tree top fight sequence as well, where the characters are standing on top of bamboo trees and having a duel. You also see characters running on water. There is even a bamboo pole vault over a burning bridge. 

I quite liked the wirework and the way lightness kung fu was handled here. I do think if you are more accustomed to 90s wuxia or even late 70s wuxia, it may look less spectacular, but for a film made in 1968, I think it has some memorable lightness martial arts. 

The fight sequences themselves are somewhat standard for this period but I think very entertaining. I like that there is less editing down of the fights, more complete visuals of the actors (you see their whole body moving much of the time). With Cheng Pei-pei especially I find her footwork excellent and so it is nice to be able to see the steps as well as the sword strikes. She often fights with a sword in one hand and scabbard in the other, and this allows for a twirling attack of the swords as she parries and wades into the fray. 

In terms of violence, there is plenty of it. There are beheadings, people getting their eyes shot out with darts, and men being hacked to death by swords. There is plenty of red-hued Shaw Brothers blood spilled over the course of the film.  

TAKING IT TO THE TABLE 

In terms of taking inspiration from The Jade Raksha for an RPG, I think focusing on the villain would yield a lot of results for most GMs. His whole approach of using charity to gain reputation and loyalty, would work well for an antagonist in a wuxia campaign. Also his abode is riddled with traps and has a dungeon so it is something that you can fit into most campaigns, even non-wuxia settings. 

In terms of an adventure I think a GM can also draw on the idea of an NPC who could be an ally or enemy and whose quest for revenge somehow intersects with the party (with the details maybe not becoming clear until more information is obtained). 

Another thing worth drawing on is the consequences of revenge. I don't think it's fair to always hammer this stuff home for players. But every once in a while there probably ought to be reasonable and realistic misunderstandings or mistaken identity that make pursuing revenge recklessly a little more perilous. And there is always an aftermath. When the young son of Shi Xiong Shan tells Xu Ying Hao that he will take revenge when he gets older, you know as a viewer that no matter what happy ending the film has in store for Xu, one day his peace will be shattered by a man coming to avenge his father's death. This is a reminder to GMs to take note of these kinds of details when players also get revenge. 

For abilities there is a lot to draw on. In both Wandering Heroes of Ogre Gate and Righteous Blood Ruthless Blades, there are many existing techniques and signature abilities that can be reskinned to fit the swashbuckling style of sword play. But I would probably to add a few new ones. 

The first would be a Vengeful Blade technique, where the character gets 1 Extra Attack and does +1 Extra wounds when fulfilling a personal grudge. The other is a counter I would call Block and Slice to emulate something Cheng Pei-pei does frequently during the movie. This would be a counter that allows you to roll to block the attack, then make a sword strike against th target, but on a total success allows you to strike an additional foe in the area. 

The other ability I would want to capture is Jade Raksha's haunting song. I think for a game like Righteous Blood Ruthless Blades, I would have this be a signature ability that provides a flat +1d10 to the Talking and Analysis Phase anytime you sing before combat and imposes a fear effect with a successful command roll (on a success it might give a -1d10 penalty to Speed, and on a Total Success a speed penalty and a -1d10 to combat skill rolls). For Wandering Heroes of Ogre gate it would simply be a technique that creates the fear effect mentioned above. 

THE MALIGNANT EXORCIST SESSION FOUR

We continued with our Malignant Exorcist campaign for the upcoming Strange Tales of New England (a new game based on the system in Strange Tales of Songling). Session Three can be found HERE. 

PARTY

Father Thomas Parfait: An exorcist who is obsessed with Malignant Magic and can't help but dabble in it. 

Eliza* Hawthorne: A spirit medium. 

George Stetson: A charlatan. 

GM NOTES

This adventure was part of a small campaign called the Malignant Exorcist. Where most of Strange Tales of New England takes its inspiration from Dante's Purgatorio, this adventure took inspiration from The Inferno section of the Divine Comedy. It was inspired by the first four Cantos, which include the first circle of hell, Limbo. The chapters from the Inferno were just used as springboards, to help spur ideas. 

I am including the handwritten notes I used to run the adventure so readers can see how I planned for it. This was a much more focused and minimal approach. Occasionally I elaborated by adding things like "Twists" in later pages (this was more a product of using a hand written notebook instead of a word document, where if I wanted a change I had to add it later as everything was written in pen). 

I chose Rutland as the location for the adventure because it is the center of Massachusetts and felt like a good spot for limbo. 

THE CHANDLER HOUSE 

I

The players went to Chandler House in Rutland Massachusetts, to investigate the seeming disappearance of Benjamin Chandler, at the request of his Nephew Walter Hawley. 

For the trip George hired another bodyguard/driver, this time the hyper vigilant, James Porter. 

On the way in, Father Parfait briefly saw something out the window, a creature in the woods with the head of a wolf, a massive body, horns and long-clawed arms. When they came to the gates, James told them the entry was too small for a car and they would have to go the rest on foot. 

The face of the wolf creature suddenly pressed against the back window and it began beating on the hood. James ran out and fired several shots with a handgun, wounding the beast but being bitten in the neck in the process. George hopped into the drivers seat and backed the car into the thing attacking them, which ran off into the woods. 

They gathered James into the car and drove to the nearest hospital then found a hotel. 

II

The party spent two days researching while James recovered. George used this time to hire more bodyguards, putting out an advertisement and attracting four people. 

They learned many beasts had been spotted in the woods, a creature with the head of a wolf, another with the head of a lion, and a third resembling a leopard. This struck Father Parfait who recalled the Three Beasts from Dante's Inferno. 

Going to Isabel Wan to learn more. She told them that Walter Hawley said he believed his uncle was involved in satanic magic, and she felt based on their experience, there was evidence of that. Walter also told her he believed his uncle was stealing corpses from Mount Auburn Cemetery, though he didn't tell her why. 

Isabel gave them Walter's number so they could speak to him directly. 

Walter told them that his uncle had asked him to help him at the cemetery, and that he believed he was stealing corpses because several graves had been found robbed shortly after. He explained that his uncle had long tried to recruit him into his practices, saying that the house was his heritage, and it was his birthright to master the magic. That magic was from the Book of Lilith, something Father Parfait knew about, a legendary wall of stone with spells written on it before the fall of man. According to Walter, this wall was deep below the house. 

III

After talking with Walter, Father Parfait called the Cardinal's Office who gave him a private audience with his eminence. 

Father Parfait presented his facts to the Cardinal and they agreed it would be important to exorcize the place and consecrate the wall to destroy its power. Not wanting to expose others in the priesthood to the spiritual dangers, he allowed Father Parfait to go on his own and gave him a special relic, a rosary that belonged to Pope Saint John Paul II. 

Parfait made a confession and the party returned to Chandler House, this time with four new bodyguards. 

At the gates they noticed the walls were crawling with ivy and human eyeballs. Beyond the gates, corpses stumbled in the yard and a black stone path led the way to the mansion. 

They ran, with the bodyguards, armed with shot guns, firing at the corpses. However each shot caused flies to burst from their bodies and move in large swarms towards them. 

"Stay on the path," Said a voice. They looked and saw a man with rotting flesh at the door of the house ushering them towards him. 

The party rushed to the door and entered into a hall. 

"Who are you," Said Father Parfait. 

"I am Longfellow," said the Skeletal figure. 

They spoke with Longfellow for some time, who informed them that Benjamin Chandler had raised him and others from the dead, in an effort to bring back great people of the past. Eliza asked if he was Longfellow the poet, but he explained that Chandler opened the wrong grave and that he was another Longfellow. He also told them that Benjamin had used similar magic to raise the corpses in the yard and create the beasts in the woods. 

When they asked where Benjamin was, Longfellow said he was dead, but his spirit was deep beneath the house. When they asked how he had died, Longfellow told them he had poisoned him, thinking it would free him. But Benjamin's spirit returned, stronger and more powerful. He told them he could lead them to the Book of Lilith, where there was a spell to consign a soul to hell. He believed the spell would rid Benjamin from the world permanently. 

IV

They were led through the house by Longfellow, through a secret passage in the parlor and down deep into a subterranean chamber made from black rock. He told them the spell to consign Benjamin to hell was carved into a wall beyond a body of water. At the base of a steep set of steps they came to a stone arch that read: 

I am the root of joy and love

Petrified and ancient am I

Enter if you seek salvation 

Fumes reached from beyond the archway and sickened some of the group. Passing through they came to an underground lake and saw a small boat which they gathered into and used to cross. 

A shadowy spirit appeared with glowing red eyes and drifted to the boat. It reached its tendril-hands into Father Parfait, causing his features to age. The spirit vanished then reappeared and further aged the priest before disappearing once more. 

When they reached the other shore, they found a tall wall of ancient black stone with the words to several spells written upon them. Nearby a suit of old roman lamellar animated as if worn by an invisible man, and attacked. The party contended with the creature as Eliza Hawthorne spoke the spell to send Benjamin to hell at the urging of Longfellow. The armored spirit they fended off with a few blows and when Eliza finished the spell, Benjamin coiled into a black cloud which fell apart like burnt embers. 

HORROR, HIT MEN AND CRIME

Covered a number of horror movies on the podcast for Halloween month and we also continued looking at crime films like Fear City and China Girl. For horror we covered John Carpenter and Wes Craven. Check out the podcast channel and let us know what you think. 

THE MALIGNANT EXORCIST SESSION THREE

We continued with our Malignant Exorcist campaign for the upcoming Strange Tales of New England (a new game based on the system in Strange Tales of Songling).

PARTY

Father Thomas Parfait: An exorcist who is obsessed with Malignant Magic and can't help but dabble in it. 

Eliza* Hawthorne: A spirit medium. 

George Stetson: A charlatan. 

INTRO

In the previous session, the party was investing a series of paintings that foreshadowed disasters. They discovered that the painter, John Damey was being haunted by the spirit of Evan Damey, his baby brother who had died shortly after being born. The portents in his paintings were a product of the ghost's ability to see into the future. During their investigation, they also discovered that the ghost was aided by a spirit medium, the serial killer Dan Barret, who killed their driver, Terry Philips and turned him into an undead creature. The corpse of Terry Philips attacked them in their home, killing their bodyguard but was driven away by Father Parfait's prayers to Saint Michael.  

SESSION THREE

The party traveled to speak with Isabel Wan again, hoping to learn how to contend with the raised corpse of their old companion, Terry Phillips. Along the way they noticed a red car following them. Getting the license, George sent it to his assistant, Dave Sobey, who quickly told them it belonged to the owner of a pizzeria in Beverly, Todd Alexander. They drove the pizzeria and the car stopped following. There they quickly learned it had been stolen after speaking with Alexander, who was visibly upset over the issue. They waited for police to arrive and answered all the cop's questions. As they had had many interactions with police during the investigation, the officers took special interest in them and told them they would be in contact with the detective handling the other cases they were involved in. 

At Isabel's studio they asked her about the Ankh on Terry's forehead. She told them based on the details of the attack, it sounded like a spell called the Spell of Life, which she had a copy of in The Occult Almanac by Anderson Parsons. According to Isabel the spell was a chant that could raise up a preserved corpse when special preparations were made. However in the case of Terry Philips, it seemed the spell had some unintended affect on a body preserved by chemicals used in the morgue. She warned them not to use the spell, but did say that chanting it would harm the creature that Terry had become (which she identified as a type of mummy). 

Before leaving they asked if she could help locate the man who placed the Ankh on Terry's forehead. Working with Eliza, she had a vision of an apartment on Boston Street in Salem and they quickly narrowed down the address. As they left, Isabel asked Father Parfait if she could have her friend Walter call him about an important matter, to which he said yes. 

Later the party waited in a lot near the killer's apartment in their car, but Eliza, saw the mummy corpse of Terry Phillips ambling toward them. Their new driver, Melissa Adams, reversed the car and knocked the corpse to the ground, then drove off. They instructed her to let the mummy follow, and were able to deduce it lacked deep intelligence by going over a bridge and waiting on the other side of the river to see how it crossed. It walked directly into the water. 

As they waited, the car turned off, then the radio turned on playing a childish song. The mummy stepped from the river and began walking towards the car. 

George said "Evan Damey if that is you, please let us converse about this mater so we may help you."

The rear view mirror broke off and slammed into the window next to George's head. 

"What are you afraid of Evan?" George asked. 

Father Parfait was flipping through The Occult Almanac when its pages flipped wildly to the Spell of Life, then the book was violently pulled from the priest's hands and smashed against the window. 

George had a long conversation with Evan, trying to calm but at times insisting he behave. Finally he asked what they could do to help Evan, why he was so angry. 

The windshield began to crack and formed the words "Forgotten. All must die." A moment later the glass shattered completely and the car turned back on. 

The party then went directly to John Damey's and told him about the corpse of Terry Philips (they showed him photos taken on one of their phones). Having seen Terry lingering near his apartment, John believed them and answered their questions more openly.

They learned that his brother had died of natural causes. The party had come to the conclusion that Evan Damey had met a violent death so they pressed him further but he was adamant and they believed him. Then he told them none of the family had been to visit the grave. 

"I think you should go visit the grave and have some words with your brother," George said. 

John agreed and they headed to the cemetery (which was around the corner). There they gave John privacy and he spoke with his brother, then placed a catholic medallion on the grave. Eliza felt the spiritual energy that had been menacing them evaporate. 

Convinced the spirit had been laid to rest, they went back to their car but their path was blocked by the corpse of Terry Philips. He strode towards them and father Parfait had no choice but to use the spell of life. As he recited the chant, the creatures flesh flaked away, but it pressed on and ripped apart Melissa Adam's shoulder with its jaws. 

Both Eliza and Father Parfait recited the chant, causing its flesh to continue flaking, while George and John ran for safety. Devouring Melissa's throat, the mummies corpse attacked Father Parfait, biting his lower back, devouring the muscle and nearly breaching the kidney. 

Eliza continued chanting and the body of Terry Philips disintegrated into the air. 

Father Parfait fell to the ground, alert but a large section of muscle had been completely eaten from his back. George called an ambulance. 

When the police arrived, they seemed to believe George's account (having seen a number of unusual things themselves while investigating Dan Barret). Father Parfait laid on the ground, awaiting the ambulance, when his phone rang. 

"Is this Father Parfait?"

"Speaking, you will have to forgive me I am on my way to the hospital, how may I help you?"

"I hope you are okay father."

"I am fine to speak, it will give me something to do during the ambulance ride."

"Thank you Father, Isabel Wan told me to contact you, this is Walter Hawley. I was hoping you would help me with my uncle. I haven't heard from him in weeks. He lives in Rutland and I think he has been involved in Satanic magic. I am afraid to go check on him myself and was hoping you could do so."

"I would be happy to my child," He said. "When I am recovered I will attend to your uncle, can you please give me the address?"

This is where the session ended. 

*Character incorrectly labeled Elijah in previous entry. 

ORGANIZING NPCS IN SANDBOXES

Most of my campaigns are focused on the interaction of PCs and NPCs, often in the context of a sandbox (but not always). I find organization to be a tricky matter here. The methods I have used in my books have generally been either an NPC chapter in alphabetical order, or, the approach I take in my notebook, which I used for Sons of Lady 87, which is to simply include NPCs where they are most relevant. Another method is to organize by sect, which the Sects of the Martial World books do. There isn't a perfect approach as each has its advantages and disadvantages. 

This method, suggested by Asen, is an interesting solution to the problem. I quite like how it groups characters by numbers (something I usually limit to locations rather than characters). This method uses numbers with decimals so you can have a number of related characters in the same number category (simply distinguishing them by .1, .2, .3, etc). So you have a character for 1.1, 1.2, 1.3. 

I like this because it accomplishes something I would use character maps to achieve (often times I map out relationships in a diagram, usually among NPCs and among Sects). Another method I used was how we did it in Righteous Blood, Ruthless Blades, where every NPC has a part of their stat block dedicated to relationships. 

THE MALIGNANT EXORCIST PLAYTEST

I have been doing another round of playtests for our upcoming Strange Tales of New England RPG (a project I hope to release sometime in the next year). Much of the game focuses on demons and exorcists, and to this point all of the exorcists have been good (there is a corruption mechanic that makes being an exorcist challenging if a character goes down an evil path). But recently I started a new campaign where one of the players wanted to play an exorcist who dabbles in malignant magic. 

PARTY

Father Thomas Parfait: An exorcist who is obsessed with Malignant Magic and can't help but dabble in it. 

Eliza Hawthorne: A spirit medium. 

George Stetson: A charlatan. 

SESSION TWO

First Session Recap: The session began in Salem, October 20th. The players were investigating strange paintings after receiving a call from a woman in Marblehead who claimed to have purchased a masterwork that predicted future events. They discovered that the painting in question, though it was finished before the event, foreshadowed a great fire on the Orange Line* when one of its cars burst into flames going over the bridge across Mystic River. They went to the Derby Street Art gallery and discovered that another painting depicting a riot on Sylvan Street, on what looked to be Halloween. They asked about the artists name and was told he was John Damey, and that his paintings were rumored to portend disaster (to their knowledge no riots had occurred on Sylvan Street). They went to his apartment and spoke with John Damey. There they found a painting under a sheet that included an image of the entire party surrounded by something deadly but that wasn't clear because the painting wasn't finished. They also found out through their spirit medium that the artist was being haunted by his younger brother, who died in infancy. John Damey became irate when they brought up the subject so the party left to go speak with other people who had bought his paintings. Something else they learned was that the back of the paintings had key dates on them (one one of them was the birthday of Evan Damey, the other was November 1st, 2019). They also put a call into to a local Private Investigator to look into Evan Damey's Death. As they were leaving, the car was possessed by the spirit of John Damey's Brother, Evan, and it took some time for their driver, Terry Philips, to regain control.

The party left Salem and made some calls to other owners of John Damey's paintings, using numbers they had obtained from the Derby Street Art Gallery. They managed to contact both Isabel Wan and David Emerson. Emerson had the painting, The Overcast Lot and agreed to meet with them at his home in Newburyport. They were driven there by Terry Philips. 

On the way, they noticed a shoddy white van following them. George told Terry to pull over, and the van pulled over as well. George then went out and spoke with the man in the van. When he asked why he was following them, the man waved his hand dismissively and was generally belligerent. They drove for a while, then pulled over again. This time Eliza sensed a spiritual presence in the van and had George distract the driver while she prepared an attack on the entity. The spiritual struggle caused the van to turn on and off, giving the party enough time to drive away before it seemed the van was able to catch up.  

When they arrived in Newburyport they saw that David lived in a large mansion by the river. A servant brought them to meet David Emerson in his library where he showed them the painting, which just seemed to be of a shopping center parking lot in Plainville. However, in the background Emerson pointed to the outline of a tornado forming. Painted two years ago, it seemed to predict the Plainville Tornado which killed 94 people just a few months ago. They learned that Emerson was a novelist and that he was eager to help them. They asked for accomations for the night and he was glad to let them stay in his guest rooms (they were planning on seeing Isabel Wan in the morning and she lived nearby).  

When the party went out to bring in Terry, their driver, they found him unconscious with an Ankh branded on his forehead. They were able to awake him and learned someone came to his car and asked for directions, then he blacked out. Other than that he seemed fine. 

They went to bed that night but in the morning discovered that Terry was dead. There was no sign of struggle and the police were called. His body was brought to the morgue at Salem Hospital and the party gave statements before deciding their next step. 

George looked up bodyguard services and found a man named Samuel Klein who was skilled in security, self defense and knew evasive driving maneuvers. For 5,000 dollars, Samuel agreed to meet them at the mansion in 20 minutes and to guard them 24-7 for the next week. George also talked with the private investigator and learned that Evan Damey died of natural causes. 

They went to Isabel Wan's who was happy to help. She showed them a painting of downtown Cambridge. The center of the image was the Pickwick Apartments, which burned down and killed 44 people one year after the painting was made. If one looked closely at the windows of the apartment building, faces could be seen pressed against the glass, trying to escape the smoke. They also found a date on the back of the painting, which matched another date they discovered, November 1st 2019. Using a bowl of water, Isabel scried and claimed to see images of a couple in bed terrified. They speculated based on other information that these were the parents of Evan Damey, and Isabel believed they had been haunted to their deaths by him, that he then turned his attention to his brother after them. 

Isabel offered to help them should they need it as they conduct their investigation and they left. On the way home they reviewed a phone call from the police that their driver died of a heart attack. They suggested gave the police the license plate of the white van that had been following them and asked if they could look into it. 

The whole group stayed at George's house, sleeping upstairs while Samuel kept guard in a chair in the living room. Eliza made a protective talisman and secured it to the front door. 

They awakened in the night to gunfire. Running to the stairs they heard Samuel to tell them to stay back, and more gunfire. There was a loud thud and the gunfire stopped. Then a horrible groan. Father Parfait recited the Chaplet of Saint Michael and whatever was attacking, ran out from the front door and disappeared into the streets. They found Samuel dead on the ground.

Eliza conducted a seance to speak with the spirit of Samuel. Se was able to communicate by knocking sounds, allowing them to ask 'yes'/'no' questions. They learned that the attacker was the body of Terry Philips (he had an Ankh on his head). 

The police began questioning them with a bit more suspicious. They kept asking if George had asked officers to investigate the license number of a van. When he said that he had, they informed him those officers' went to the driver of the van's house on Pope Street to follow-up on the matter. They were found dead, with their faces eaten off. 

After the police left, George hired another drive/bodyguard named Mellisa Adams, who arrived at their home by the afternoon. 

This is where the session ended. 

*Part of the T system subway system in Boston