Readers, 2024 has been a good year for the blog – both in terms of me keeping to a (fairly) consistent posting schedule of weekly-ish, and in terms of raw stats. When I started this I was sure I wouldn’t look at visitor stats, but you quickly begin to pay them some mind – and 2024 already has a +54% increase on Views so far. And the help of numerous Patreon supporters, of course, helps pay hosting fees and keep me churning out content!
What’s this from? Well, see previous comment about posting more regularly; and also, as Unconventional GMs has developed, there’s been a useful synergy in producing two kinds of content. There’s more to be done there, I’m sure, but it’s helped me keep my gaming mojo warm throughout the year, even through holiday seasons when it can be hard to get a group together. I’m hopeful that the gaming community’s adoption of BlueSky will make it easier to promote things like this, as well.
While you’re reading this, I should tell you about my Patreon. Patrons get access to content 7 days before they hit this site, the chance to request articles or content, and the chance to play in one-shot games, for a very reasonable backer level of £2 per month. If you like what you read, want to support the blog, and have the funds for it, please consider supporting here. Telling people about the blog, and sharing links/retweeting is much appreciated also – thanks!
As I write this, I’m knee deep in prep for Summer Kraken, a baroque gaming retreat in the German wilderness. As usual, I’m bringing a new Feng Shui one-shot, and so I thought I’d release this – from last summer’s convention. As usual, it’s written up in a playable-for-me sense – your mileage may vary!
If you want to get hold of Feng Shui 2, the best place to start is Atlas Games. If you’re curious to see how it plays in action, you can watch me run it for (among other gaming luminaries) Robin Laws, the game’s designer, on Unconventional GMs – a tight hour and a half of a different one-shot, to feature soon! Check out the other Feng Shui 2 one-shots I’ve posted here, too.
If you want this one-shot in .pdf form, you can get it from my Patreon feed – of which:
While you’re reading this, I should tell you about my Patreon. Patrons get access to content 7 days before they hit this site, the chance to request articles or content, and the chance to play in one-shot games, for a very reasonable backer level of £2 per month. If you like what you read, want to support the blog, and have the funds for it, please consider supporting here. Telling people about the blog, and sharing links/retweeting is much appreciated also – thanks!
As I write this, I’ve just returned from Kraken, a baroque gaming retreat in the wilds of Brandenburg, and I’m reflecting on the games that I played. One highlight was a game of Hillfolk that I finally got to play in, run by the designer, Robin Laws. I backed Hillfolk when it was on Kickstarter, so it made me think about how long ago it was – 2013, as it turns out. 11 years later I actually get to play it.
And then I considered some of the other games I’ve played at the con, and their year of publication. Pendragon (2016, although a new edition is imminent). Feng Shui 2 (2015). Night Witches (2015) – again, I backed this, but haven’t had a chance to play it up until now.
What’s my point? Well, these games have been sitting around for a while before I’ve got round to playing or running them – and I’m very glad I have. A lot of these games have had fairly light support from their publishers, and of course following Kickstarter fulfilment a lot of games effectively end their lines. It’s easy to write off games as “I’ll never get to play this” and either ‘archive’ (put on the inaccessible shelves) or sell them.
While you’re reading this, I should tell you about my Patreon. Patrons get access to content 7 days before they hit this site, the chance to request articles or content, and the chance to play in one-shot games, for a very reasonable backer level of £2 per month. If you like what you read, want to support the blog, and have the funds for it, please consider supporting here. Telling people about the blog, and sharing links/retweeting is much appreciated also – thanks!
I’m just about ready for Spring Kraken, one of the highlights of the TTRPG gaming calendar, and so I thought I’d share my prep for one of the games I’m running there. This scenario was the very first one I ran for Feng Shui, way back in (I think) Continuum 2018, and sad to say my original notes are lost in the mists of time and changes of laptops / cloud storage. So I’ve reconstructed it!
For this scenario, you’ll want all the PCs to pick archetypes that are native to the Ancient juncture – they start there, and then transition for the finale to cheesy 1999 Hong Kong, for out-of-time comedy effect! I used the Secrets and Clues approach from Sly Flourish to prep and give some revelations to the scenario – let me know how you think they’ve worked out!
While you’re reading this, I should tell you about my Patreon. Patrons get access to content 7 days before they hit this site, the chance to request articles or content, and the chance to play in one-shot games, for a very reasonable backer level of £2 per month. If you like what you read, want to support the blog, and have the funds for it, please consider supporting here. Telling people about the blog, and sharing links/retweeting is much appreciated also – thanks!
Apologies for the slight delay in posts – in short, I got covid just as I started a new job. But normal service resumes! Here, a one-shot set in the Ancient juncture for Feng Shui 2 that was originally prepped to run for Robin Laws himself! (Sadly, his attendance at Kraken was prevented)
As before, I’ve presented this pretty much as-prepped – feedback earlier was that this sort of rough-and-ready style wasn’t a problem, and gave some insight into what prep notes could actually look like – so enjoy and let me know if you’d like more ‘official’ stuff instead.
I’ve recently managed to get Feng Shui 2 to the table at a few conventions – Summer Kraken and Grogmeet to name two – and it’s reminded me what an excellent one-shot game it is. It’s a game of high-gonzo Hong Kong action movies, and it leans heavily into the genre allowing players to have a great time pissing about with tropes and scenes.
It’s also a relatively complex beast for what it is, and there’s some nuance to how to approach it – so here are five tips for prepping and running one-shots. If you don’t want to prep it, feel free to snag one of the demo games from Atlas Games website, or Ape Attack! from this blog.
While you’re reading this, I should tell you about my Patreon. Patrons get access to content 7 days before they hit this site, the chance to request articles or content, and the chance to play in one-shot games, for a very reasonable backer level of £2 per month. If you like what you read, want to support the blog, and have the funds for it, please consider supporting here. Telling people about the blog, and sharing links/retweeting is much appreciated also – thanks!
Make Fortune Dice Explode
Rules as written, spending a Fortune point gives you a non-exploding extra dice. I’ve tried it both ways, and for a one-shot it really works better if these explode – the chance of your negative dice exploding and the Fortune being wasted leads to some player disappointment. It does increase player effectiveness a bit, but encouraging Fortune point use is all good, and it leads to some big results.
Pick a Small Selection of Archetypes
There’s no character generation in Feng Shui, which saves the pregen stage of one-shot prep, but it’s worth trimming down the archetypes you offer your players – you don’t need more than a couple more than the players you have, and it’ll help you to be familiar with any of the special rules they have. After the players have picked, make them decide on their names and melodramatic hooks there and then – and then go into a montage opening of a previous film.
Ones to be careful with are the Big Bruiser (who hits hard and can take a beating, but often acts last in the initiative system) and the Killer (whose mook-killing power means they might be acting frequently as long as the player targets mooks). Also note that the Sorcerer (which is an excellent choice as it has some healing ability) has a default power that lets them use any Sorcery schtick in the book, which you might want to change depending on the player. I’ve always avoided the Driver as I’m not the biggest fan of the Chase rules, but feel free if you want to use them.
Pick a Just One Juncture
There’s 4 main settings in the core rulebook, and a bunch of pop-up junctures… you don’t have to use more than one. Most of my one-shots cover two, and one of them is modern-day – either starting in a normal setting and travelling back in time to a juncture to solve problems, or starting in the past and ending up in the present day. Just one juncture is fine, and getting there via a Netherworld trip is fine if you must, but there’s enough in each of them to make them solid one-shot settings.
In Play, Model Descriptive Action
Feng Shui 2 isn’t a game where “I try to hit him” will work. You need the players to describe awesome hijinx and fight scenes, so you need to lead from the front with this and encourage them to do the same. Feel free to go as big as you can – destroy scenery, break the fourth wall, have your villains monologue.
Another trick that works for me is to describe the action as if it’s a terrible movie – having the mooks in the second fight be played by the same extras as in the first, or the same three extras play all 30 street thugs in the big mook fight. Describe the music starting up, the framing of shots, the shonky camerawork. All this works well in other pulpy high-action games too, of course – it’s just it especially works in Feng Shui.
Do Initiative Verbally
Look, I know that Atlas Games produces a shot counter you can put trackers on to show when people next go – I just find having that in the middle of the table a bit cluttered. At the start of the first fight, briefly cover Feng Shui’s distinctive initiative system, and tell players that their attacks will take 3 shots – and then just count down yourself and have them shout out when it’s their go.
While I wouldn’t use the shot counter, I would recommend using the pre-rolled attack pages for mooks, and also pre-rolling initiatives for each sequence (you can see what I mean by this in Ape Attack). To be honest, I’ve started pre-rolling initiative for all of my one-shots where I can – it’s certainly one thing I can do ahead of time in games.
Make Fights (A Little Bit) Easier
The Feng Shui advice for prepping sessions is golden one-shot plotting advice, but I’d caution that their battle balance is designed for quite meaty fights with players who know what they’re doing. You won’t get through 3 full-strength fights in a one-shot game, particularly as the first one will be slower as the players get used to their abilities. I usually go with fights with just two or three featured foes and a bunch of mooks, or all mooks, until the end boss fight, and even that doesn’t have to have quite as many featured foes as the system suggests.
If you want a boss or featured foe to be ‘sticky’ and not vulnerable in the first sequence, give them the Ablative Lackey schtick where they can sacrifice a mook to avoid damage (and make sure you’ve got a ready supply of mooks, especially if the Killer is in play).
And, one of the ‘connective tissue’ links between fights can, and should, be a 13th Age style montage – I’m fond of this for trips through the Netherworld, far future desert treks, or sinister caves in Ancient china.
So, I hope this inspires you to run more Feng Shui 2 one-shots, at conventions or just as a break from regular gaming – it’s a great system that deserves to get more play.
Something I’m determined to do more of is post some ready-to-run one-shots here. So, here’s one that might not be quite ready to run without some system (and setting) mastery, but might give some interesting insight into the creative process. This is at a level slightly above the ‘back of a cigarette packet’ level of prep that I’d do for a convention game – I ran this at Kraken 2022, and I’m sure I’ll get to run it again.
Of note:
I don’t list interesting things that can happen in each fight, as recommended in the core rules. I find that if I have a complex, messy enough setting for the fight, and clear permission for the players to make shit up, they fill in the blanks well enough
You’ll see that the stats (and pre-rolled initiatives) for the opponents take up quite a bit of space on the page; this is deliberate, as this is what I’ll be looking at in play.
If this looks like a series of fight scenes held together by a paper-thin plot and some bad ape puns, you’d be right. There’s a future post coming about running Feng Shui 2 one-shots, and I’d recommend leaning in to both Robin Laws’ excellent prep advice, and the pulpy ridiculousness of the whole setting.
If game balance is your jam, this was for 5 players using standard FS2 archetypes. I tend to reduce down the number of opponents for all but the final battle, just because in a con game you want fights to be pretty fast (and the default for FS2 is hard-ish; so you want some easy-ish fights as well)
While you’re reading this, I should tell you about my Patreon. Patrons get access to content 7 days before they hit this site, the chance to request articles or content, and the chance to play in one-shot games, for a very reasonable backer level of £2 per month. If you like what you read, want to support the blog, and have the funds for it, please consider supporting here. Telling people about the blog, and sharing links/retweeting is much appreciated also – thanks!
Enjoy! Kudos to my “playtesters” at Kraken, and let me know if you get any play out of it!
Ape Attack!
There is an ancient battle across the junctures for control of Feng Shui sites, which give unimaginable power. From 1st-century China, to 19th century China, to modern Hong Kong, to a devastated future, time-shifting Chi Warriors fight to keep enough of these under control to keep the Chi War in a delicate balance.
You are such warriors! As the music swells up, describe your character in an action scene from the previous mission.
Scene 1 – PARIS, present day
That mission was a great success, and you’re now taking some well-earned downtime in Paris – city of Love! You’re all sat around the general area of the Eiffel tower – are you sipping coffee, or wine, or maybe visiting the attractions? Where are you in the scene?
As you relax, a loud crack sounds – and you see an eruption from the ground. It’s a portal – and from it, you see a pair of cobbled-together WWII planes, piloted by apes, fly up to the Tower, as a huge beast claws its way out of the ground – a giant ape, with a cybernetic arm! They slowly begin an assault on the Eiffel tower as tourists scream for help. Taking in the situation, you see several of the Parisiens around you remove their faces – to reveal they are actually apes in disguise! Gunfire peels out – what do you do??
Initiative Rolls
FOE
S1
S2
S3
S4
Messerschmidt
9
13
12
11
Giant Gorilla
12
9
12
11
Apes
7
6
9
6
Sorcerers
–
9
6
10
Featured Foe – Gorilla Messerschmidts (there are two, but one is taken out at the end of the first sequence by the sorcerers)
GUNS 14 / DEF 14 / TOU 6 / SPD 8 Machinegun 11
Featured Foe – Giant Gorilla
CREATURE 14 / DEF 11 / TOU 6 / SPD 6 Ape-arms 11
Furious Wrath – if last attack missed, gains +1 Attack and +3 Damage
ATK 8 / DEF 13 / SPD 5
Mooks – At the start of the scenario, 5 Gorillas are engaging the PCs (dam 10)
After Sequence 1, 5 more Gorillas take off their gorilla masks to reveal Ancient sorcerers! (dam 9)
In the aftermath, they can take stock of what has happened – they know the Eiffel tower is a Feng Shui site, and anyone with any magical connection will know that, although that assault was unsuccessful, the Feng Shui site isn’t connected to the Dragons any more – they’ve already got hold of it!
Scene 2 – INVESTIGATION -> FIGHT!
There’s a portal to a pop-up juncture somewhere in Paris that will lead them to the site of the original assault – estimated to be Paris 1889, in the middle of the Belle Epoque, when the Eiffel Tower was being built!
EVENTUALLY, their investigations will throw up two leads – a recent circus has arrived on the outskirts of Paris with many performing chimpanzees, and men in gorilla suits – some of whom have been seen asking questions about the Eiffel tower. At the same time, a group of men in odd robes with high-pitched voices have based themselves in the luxury Art Deco Four Seasons hotel (google it) and have been hanging around the Tower.
Whichever lead they follow, there’s a fight on their hands to discover the portal(s) – there’s one in each location!
This is an all-mook fight. In order for this to work, you will have 25 mooks stationed around and about the general area – in the circus, one PC can be fighting apes on the Dodgems while another climbs the Ferris wheel to try and catch their leader. In the Hotel, while some PCs might head up to their room there will be disguised sorcerers in the restaurant and kitchen – and even the streets outside – to fight.
FOE
S1
S2
S3
S4
APEs or SORCERERs
9
11
9
8
APEs or SORCERERs (mooks) –
ATK 8 / DEF 13 / SPD 5 either Blast 9 or Improvised Circus Stuff 9
Scene 3 – Into the Netherworld
MONTAGE through the Netherworld to get to the Belle Epoque
Use the 13th Age Montage method for this, pointing out that multiple junctures can be crossed to get to the Belle Epoque.
Scene 4 – Belle Epoque Paris!
You need to sneak into the opening of the Eiffel Tower, and defeat the apes. As you approach, you see an exhibit from the Paris Zoo has been delivered, full of chimpanzees and monkeys clad in hilarious human clothes, juggling and having hijinx. A bespectacled man, Erik Satie, plays impressionistic music on his piano.
Satie pauses, and acknowledges you as he continues to play
You’re too late – we have the area surrounded. Literally everyone in this exhibition is ready to seize control of the tower.
The humans dancing and watching pull off their human faces and are revealed to be monkeys. The apes in the exhibition pull off their monkey faces and are human sorcerers!
FOE
S1
S2
S3
S4
KONG
12
13
11
9
Furious G
10
10
11
9
Grenadier
12
10
8
12
Satie
9
13
11
12
Gorillas
10
10
7
8
Sorcerers
11
6
11
8
Boss – KING KONG (massive gorilla)
CREATURE 17 / DEF 13 / TOU 8 / SPD 7 Ape-arms 14
Back to the Wall – if attacked by more than 1 character in a sequence, shot cost drops to 2 until the end of the sequence
FF – Furious George
SCROUNGETECH 14 / DEF 12 / TOU 7 / SPD 7 Metal bite 11
Furious Wrath – if last attack missed, gains +1 Attack and +3 Damage
FF – La Grenadier, explosives expert, ape disguised as human
SCROUNGETECH 14 / DEF 12 / TOU 7 / SPD 7 Boom-gun 11
Explosive Vest – all nearby heroes take a smackdown of 12 when the foe goes down
FF – Erik Satie, eunuch sorcerer
SORCERY 13 / DEF 13 / TOU 5 / SPD 7 Blast 10
Anti-Tech – +1 Def vs. Guns, Scroungetech and Mutant powers
Burn After Running: RPG One-Shots 