"BULL PRESS CONVERSATIONAL GAMES Corpse Thieves Bull Press MMXXIIT ‘CORPSE THIEVES Bull Press First published August MMXX] “This edition published September MMXXII To geta fre paperback copy to an inmate, email their full government name, current facility, and IDF 0 requests@bullpress.orz 2468109753 ISEN: 9798985956105 Ao, vUt, EREN Table of Contents Game Inro Corpse Thieves. Chapter 1 Infractions Chapter 2: Emply Graves Chapter 3 Hitng the Bricks Chapter & The Grinning Tiger Clan Chapter : Fist of the Celestial Destroyer Bump Scenes (nscrable scencs) Closing Ceremanics Main Character Creation Specials Customizing Specials Effeet List Fight Scenes Rules Weapons & Armor Gioods & Services Example Gameplay. How to Runa Side Character Generator Spinning for I Designing Your Own Games. Main Character Sheets ‘What the Fuck Is This Book 10 15 2 31 3 a0 54 5 68 i 102 104 107 108 m s 19 121 123 2 EVERYTHING YOU NEEP TO KNOW . * Gameplay s conversational & cooperative. ¢ 4 layers s ideal, but 3 10 6 s ine 100 One player i the Key Narrator Everybody else creates a main character they run the game for the other players & controls them n the game HOW PO 10O THINGS? Yousay it For example, 1 look into theally, whtdo I see?” IFi's believable, you do it 163 challenging (* jump the huge gap?), the Key Narrator il tll you to SFIN FOR T and you'll Tk the 6 spinse on the back of your book: 6. Finessed 3. Notrelly . Success 2. Failure . Barely . Faceplant I cquipmen,expeience, distactions,genetal il e skew your chances EASY: the Key Narrator will ave you spin s6 twice, taking the highest resull PAPIULT: spin $6 twice, take the loest, SFINNING The back of the book is a spinner. Create an arm by looping one end of a paperclp or guitar siring trimming. Fasten the loop over the spinner’s center-do. “36" means a random sumber from 1 1o 6. Flick the spinner arm: wherever it lands in the 56 ring i the resull. 510" i & random mumber from | (0 10,54 means | 04, e MAIN CHARACTERS. The stars of the show. Everybody who isn'tthe Key Narmtor creates a main character, and the Key runs interesting seenarios for them. Any main charactr concept goes as long 35 it s the setting, and starts humble (no superbeings or millionaies cc) SPECIALS: povcers and unique shilies for your main charscter. S “Special Points”, what you buy and upgrade Specials wi + Charactr creaton quick guide on page 54. KEY NARRATOR You run scenes fo the main characters — interesting side characters for them to talk 1, fights, problem-solving scenarios etc. The eady'1o-run seenes leading 10 3 narrative goal CLOSING CEREMOMIES: ot the end of cach session, the Key awards SP for best performances etc (page 40 for allcategories). re” starting on the next page is 4 series of THEAMBITION This is the common goal tha keeps the main characters all pushing the plot in the same dirction. The Ambiton is set at the beginning of a game, and always has & large reward atached o1t Al his i kown s POMEFIECETV, a conversational ames system that can run any setting and any genre CORPSE THIEVES A Conversational Game in Five Parts Bull Press MMXXIIL Summary: a golden age Kung Fu & Wuxia are set in mytholog vy Qing-era Chia. How to Run This: the Key Narmator just reads ahead a few pages and gets familiss with the approaching scenes (page 9 is plenty fa (0 stat). The other players (“actors”) don't e 10 read anything: they just show up and the Key runs the game for them. Doesn't Hurt 0 keep a sheet of general notes to mark your place in the arc. Page 108 for example gameplay. Length: sessions usually last 1 to:3 hours but you can end it whenever you want. Fill out sessions that went t0o fast with insertable bump scenes (page 39, go dogear quick). Closing Ceremonies: run these at the end of each session, awarding SP for best performances etc. Al categories on page 40. Soundtrack: cach scene has a single track you can throw on loop. If playing on the outside, o loading up a mp3 player for somebody inside, all tracks are on bullpress.org First Time Key Narrators: fuck nerves. The friends are getng together 1o riff and bullhit with cach othr. They're going o have a good tme no matter what. 1 your firs session fels S, don't sweat i, s ot because you dropped the ball, it because things are sl developing - the main characers don't realy have personaliies yt, crew dynarmic s sl brewing, and the scttng docsn’t feel lived-in yet. The pilt session is sl a good tme, but where the hobby goes rom good to reat is o o three sessions in when the seting and characters st fecling fmilsr, start coming 1o ife a lite, and start relating o each other i interesting ways. There’s @ reason it akes a couple pisodes (0 ge hooked o a TV shor, you know? Bsides that, Keying s casy:just give the main charactes engaging shit t do, sec what gets people stoked,and findineresting ways to give your actors what they wan. Are Summary The main characters are kung fu students of the Wo Ping, a mountaintop monastery, and are sent 1o investigate some graverobbings in the nearby town of Potbelly Hill SHAPE OF STORY L Infractions: min Charactrs introduced. Master Lung sends them on 3 mission 1o Potbely Hill (the town at the bottom of the mountain) to put & stop 10 a series of sraverobbings. Gravekeeper Wu should have llthe detals. IL Empty Graves: the only real lead is Gravekeeper Wu saying the newly armived phsician i suspected of performing experiments on dead bodics at he apothecary. + Apothecary: the physician i defniely not tealing bodis (gravekeeper just supersiious about doctos). A distaction goessideways and a break-in i heard at the back of the apothecary. A resh corpse set for autopsy (pojsoning suspicion) is gone rom the surgical area and the back dooris busted in,two thives carting the by away in the back alley: « A fightjumps off. Ateast ne corpse tief i killd,leaving seveal clues. One is crucal: callouseson tps of one hand's fngers indicae the thicf was a musician. s known. ‘musiians ar well-paid at the Purple Mountain Theater nd the Floatng Garden. L Hitting the Bricks: up to ive lads can be followed, all giving useful information about the corpse thieves. Al the Purple Mountain Theatr, the diretor says the musician comse thief mentioned he was staying with Merchant Go-Chen, IV. The Grinning Tiger Clan: main charactrs confront several of the corpse thives ot Merchant Go-Chen's mansion, sparking a fight. As the fight ends, locas flood the mansion (cither atracted by the noise o roused by Go-Chen's servants). It looks bad for the main characters, but they establish the trth by recounting ther investigation and eventually confrm everything with Go-Chen's joural * Merchant Go-Chen and his guests sre members of the Grinning Tiger Clan, secrtive: ‘martial brotherhood. They came here secking ~The Fist ofthe Celestil Destioyer”,six scrollsoflost kg fu instruction burid under shrine n the ncarby Lantern Forest. The forest's yaksha, wh has developed a st for human bones, demanded paymen of one human corpse e scroll The estofthe Ginning Tiger members just ef with si bodies, planning t0 meet the Yaksha tomorrow when e tends o appear sround high sun. . Fist o the Celestial Destroyer: next morning, the main characters track the cart nto Lantern Forest, but only find a foul shapeshiftng fox. He tells them he smelled humans around the camphor tre grov. The yaksha appears within the grove, and says he ate the bones of the men they seck, then tries o cat them. Afler killing the Yaksha, the main characterseffortlessly find the woodland shine and uncarh the prcelessserols. Allcorpse hieves accounted fo,the Crew Ambition is complee. Chus s the are i divided into five (Inoretially) equal-szed chapers for easy timing imain charsete creation/ inteos/plotexpositon / doven the mountain graveyard / physician / ight/ chase / unwinding clucs up 0 five leads o follow up on (can b done n any order) : mansion / fght / shaking out the ruh /parying down at the guesthouse woods / Bicxin Hali grove / boss fght ! scoll outos or planning next season Arc Intro Soundirack: Wu-Tang Clan - Wo-Tang Clan Ain't Nuthing T Fuck Wit Instrumental » Read italicized blocks of text out loud, starting with: This s a show about that Kung Fu shis, that Wasia shit. The seting is a mythologs-heary South China of a few centuries back, i an era of style feuds and midnight ducls, where Stumbling into secret demon wars and mythic sub-glacial fortresses isnt ouside the realm of possibilty Our province is Guangfeng, the uncut gem of China's southern coast. For most people, the region's name evokes images of wandering blademasters and haunted Yian ruins of unknowable entites stalking bamboo foress and clan rivalries spilling oo city strcets. For you, it evokes the warm feclings of home The main characters are students of the Wo Ping, a secular monastery where martial scholars from every corner of the world study their chosen siyles under the disciples of Grandmaster Yen-Hai, a living legend renowned for her victory in 111 duels and probably the llst living practitioner of Crane Siyle Now, hisis important: each of you ereates and plays one of these main characters in the show: Whatever your character s concept, work together 0 come up with a cast you'd wanna watch an actual show about Setting: Guangfeng Province Mythology-heaty Qing-ra China, vaguely 16005 Languages: main characters fluent in Chinese. ©Korean, Mongolian, Tibetan are common. ©The language of the ruling elite is Manchu. © The various Chinese dileets (Mandarin, Cantonese, Hakks, Min, Taivanese etc) can all count as just “Chinese”, speakers usually understanding cach other with a ltle discerment. Money: wen. Main characters start with zero wen (the Wo Ping provides everything they need). Average day’s pay for laborers is about 10 wen. If you ever need specifics, use the prices from page 107, ‘Make it Yours: this show can lean more towards the low-budget dubs of the kung. fu golden age or the high-art wuxia of the new school, or whatever. Alter scenes and side characters to taste. Side Character Names: every side character has a ttle - Woodeutter Cai, Gravekeeper Waetc. I’ normal fo people 1 call each ther by thir ttl instead of theif name (“good afternoon, Woodeuter”). Let your actors know this so they don't beat themselves up for ot remernbering the dozen names you throw at themn throughout the arc. Main Character Creation Soundirack: Q No Rap Name - Character Creation Give each of the other players (called actors) a main character sheet from page 123. Don't create a main character since you, the Key Narrato, wil be running the game. Quicklist (This lst also on page 54: snd everybody there if they have theirown book) 1. Snatch a main character sheet from page 123 2, Concept: name, appearance, background eic 3. Pk 10 SP's worlh of Specials (pages 57 to 67) 4. Start with merk 10 . Start with 0 defense (1op number s just all lower numbers added together) 6. Start with a move score af S 7. IFnon-Chinese, put 2 bas in your native tongue (sutomatcally luent in Chinese) 8. Spend & bar in any major skill or additonal language (1 bar fo broken, 2 for fuent) 9. Put one point in any primary 10. Check page S5 for the bonus that primary gives you, write it down. “The Key Nasrator has veto power over cory shi, but don't be a yrant Start humble: main charactrs stat a level 1, which is just the average nobody with fow P, No grandmaster swordsmen o legendary generals. “The Glue: tel the actors their main characters get along and teust each other as @ ule. 1f main character’s about 1o fuck over another main character, just say “Nah you don’t do that” since i goes again the Glue, Key, help develop main character concepts by asking questions ... © What's their kung fu style? Feel free to make something up like blood’ leopard, drunken scorpion, ghost crane etc. I it more aggressive, evasive, counter-punching, Kick- centric, throw-heavy, high-volume, sniping? A scholacy style emphasizing pressure point Knowledge? A knuckledragger style focused on brute power? © What's their name? Page 114 for regional names. Optional: if your memory s shit, you can make everybody take a more memorable monastery nickname (Moss, One-eye elc) * How do they spend their free time? Ldeas: callipraphy, studying herbs and medicine, gambling, cooking, geting wasted in town, drawing, woodearving, meditating, putting in Work to join one of he procurement squads ete * Where are they from? The busting capital, a seaside fishing village, a walled fortress- city, the tranquil woodlands, sunny farmlands, harsh mountains, maybe from the nomadic tribés in the steppes, or the islander seafarng cullures © Are any of them already cliqued up? Do any of the main characters know each other from being into the same shit from the same place, or studying the same style? ~» Set a ime limit: don't let one indeeisive motherfucker hold everybody up. ‘An hour is more than enough time to make main characters. Chapter One: Infractions Ashortchaptersince characte reaton usally akes a minute Main Character Intros Soundirack: Conway - Air Holez Instrumental (Remermber toaways ead aliczed blocks of text ut o) e ogsing through a smal, trec-hemmed courtyand an nto st pagods. Tnside it a small study with a e fow shlves of scrolls 4 tapesiy of arrow- pierced Warlord Song-Mu decapiatin the demon prince has above a perjing plant. 1 il o oin hem Master Lung, with graving temples and a black mustache, is known for his Eagle Claw siie, i Gates Flving Knee, and beingan incredile uckup when e vas omming -1 rcal ot har: cracking okes, Gambling, pranks.forgeting 1o bow, aking U all or somebody s eic are more han enonigh. W' ryna o irst> Let everybody A.) introduce their main character, and 1) develop therm a ltle by telling what got them in trouble. As always, ask questions about anything. interesting they mention. Once intros feel done Master Lung finishes reading his morning dispatches and says “lright, over the past e nights somebody’ been pillaging graves down in Potbelly Hill. Grandmaster wanls it seen to, which fuls 10 this mornings batch of rulebreakers. 115 probably just some asshole teenagers looking for burial coins, s0 you should be able 1o expose them in a day or two, and them over 10 the locals, and be back in time for the summer tournament. This part should o without saying, but remember you represent the monastery while you're in town, so don' fck anything up, and don' act fike a bunch of ricks. Any questions?” « Master Lung docsn' know much more than graves are being robbed. His only usell answe i o talk to Gravekeeper W he'll have more details. « Establsh Guo Lao's presence by having him ask if ey can stop by the armory before leaving. Master Lung answers yes, the armory is expecting them. Once al questions answered: Casually hecking ouside his studs, Master Lung continues, “Now, 1 know slecping outside is part of the punishment, but . he takes a pouch offhi belt and throws it 10 you “Just between us that should cover a room and some hot meals. Sto by the armory on sour way ot if you hurey, you can probably catch a 1t town on the provisions wagon. + I nobody says anything, Master Lung gives them a why-are-you-stil-here type look and says “Go g0 go,” clapping his hands impatintly. (Everybody can add 15 wen under the cash section of their ma haracter sheet) ‘Tagalong Side Character: Log Style / Guo Lao (hymes with “bro cow’) Guo Lao is real short, shaved head. So lazy everybody calls him Lo Style. Talented Mantis Style student but zero work ethic keeps him average. Well known for gambling and poorly planned comer-cutting, Guo Laa is probably the most chronically in-trouble student at the Wo Ping, once famously having o guard a duck for o week s punishment for trying to bribe an instructor with hallucinogenic mushrooms (joke's on them though, Log Style fucking loves ducks). Volce: slightly congested. You can use whatever voice you want though just make sure it’s distinet enough that you can stat talking and everybody will immediately know who it . How to play: keep him in the background. He is 100% not a main charactes for the Key Narrator, jus a safety net for when the actors are stumped. If the main characters ae geting bulldozed in a fight, have the enenvies beat up on Log Style (he should never be the last one standing). STATS Offense 5§ (chain whip, ange 2) // Defense 2./ Merk 20 / Move 5 Specials * Tounami Kick: target knocked back | stride. I target collids with another enemy, they both take s6 offense (onee per fight) Long Fist Manis Style: when unarmed, Guo Lo gets o 84 atacks per turn * Five Phocni lron Shirt: +2 defense (permanent) Offense Taken o ox Voice Acting is Optional: if you aren’t good at voices or just think the concept is don't sweat it, you can just say “Guo Lao says he knows a spot like that in fown™ and it get the point across. That said. voice acting side characters in the frst person is powerfully mersive, makes them feel more present, and lets you just stat alking in thir voi without ever having to say who's spesking. You don' have to overdo it 4 minar accent or change in tone s enough. Setting Out Soundirack: Madlib - Definition of Il Remix Instrumental — Crew Ambition Established: Bag the Graverobbers Have your actors write “Bag the Graverobbers” in the Crew Ambition slot of their main character sheet (front side, cente). s value is 1 level Armory Describe the main characters crossing terraced courtyards where early students warm up and lightly spar before morning classes Deep inthe guts of the Wo Ping, heavy studded double doors open 10. library of weapon acks and practice equipment. The student on duty asks who theyre here from, then says. they're cach cleared to borrow cither a two-handed wespon OR a pair of one-handed weapons Everything on page 104 except “launchers” is fair game. (Freely tell the actors any stats they ask about, or just refer them (0 page 104 if they have their own books). No armor or shields available. The main characters cach find a basic version of whatever Weapon they’re looking for. Guo Lao takes 4 qijibian, @ sectioned metal chain-whip with a blade at the end (already in his side character box), giving the air a few test slashes Down the Mountain “The empty provisions wagon, a huge oxcart, i just pulling out the front gate when the ‘i characters arrive. You wind your way down the easy cant of the mouniain, zagging through grassy siopes and towering forets, boughs of golden larch and cathaya sirred by the sun-warmed breeze We cut 10 a shot of the main characters luzing i the back of the emply provisions cart, cating apples Guo Lao stole from: the kitchen last ight and bullshiting about ife in the Wo Ping. The conversation’s tuned o favorite spots around the monastery — whero docs everybody tend 1o hang ou? A high tower; the library, the ducling chambers, mayke somexchere out in the woods, or a secret spot you discovered — you're completely fice 1o make shit up o around the circle and gt an answer from everybody. Guo Lao sparks it (gives everybody else time to think) by saying he prefers the gardens since that’s the gambling spot right now, plus his favorite duck (Lord Pintal)lives there. When he’s hungover he hangs out i the library - since he can'tread nobody ever looks for him thee. Ask questions about anything interesing your actors bring up, helping build main characters and giving body 10 the seting. (Either way, we need 1o creat a brief sense of passing time before arriving at Potbelly Hll) Chapter Two: Empty Graves W begin unfolding the mystery & srapping with unknown forces Town of Potbelly Hill Soundirack: Third Sight - Rhymes Lika Scientis Insrumental The last threads of morning mist ace the rice ields outside Potbelly Hill, a scenic town spilling down a low slope. 4 stonework canal races the foot of the hill,divding the large setlement in o — Hightown and Lowtown. Fare fron ts busy lockways have enriched Potbelly Hill in_ recont years, fine cobble streets now radiating into prosperous neighborhoods thick with the distinctive architecture of a dozen different peoples s the Wo-Ping’s provision cart turss dovwn the low road, you spot the distant eadstones of the graveyard, pale dois up o the grassy crest of the il What do you do? Graveyard A few paits of townspeople with improvised weapons idly patrol around the graveard. ‘Any of them can point to Gravekeeper Wu, currently pruning a flovering mountain-ash at the edge of the cemetery. Gravekeeper W is an old man, real short, high voice. He thanks the main charactes for the Wo Ping’s help, and i happy to answer their questions « Five graves were robbed (1o and three nighs 320) « No incidents last night (volunteers now ol the streets ot night, and the graveyard around the clock) « Plunder: Half the graves had buria coins left in the coffin +Tracks: Hunter Shen idenified the plunderers” tracks as 4 or S adult men with a small handeart (probably necessary for graveyard's narrow entrances) +Bodies: no discernible pattern - recen, long-buried, male, female, old, young. rich, poor ete. No unifying feature except being dead +The civil guard: completely useless — they only answer to the comically corrupt regent sent by the Imperium, who is also useless . Gravekeeper Wu (and others) suspect the newly arrived local physician, Sun Tai He's from the city, where experimenting on the dead is not only acceped, but a central practice of their crafl Physician Sun Tai is usually at his apothecary down in Lowtown, a stceet away from the market square — any local can point 10 it (next page). Ambush: if the main characters decide to clear out the patrols (o set up an ‘ambush for that night, Gravekeeper Wu thinks it's a great idea and agrees o help. Emphasize the main characters now have an entire day to chase leads. Civil Guard Headquarters: if the main ¢ uards geting shitfaced and garmbling, ully uninterested in the est of he town. They say they're “backed up on cases right now” but i somebody brings them the culprit they 1l make he's punished. I's obvious o the main charactrs s a bad idea 10 tet these assholes. ters actually go here they fnd & dozen civil 10 Apothecary A physician’s apprentice sweeps out front the brickwork apothecary, politely opening the door for you as you approach. Inside are garlands of dried herbs and neatly sorted shelves of bottled tinctures. At the front counter a rail-thin man with glasses weighs out spiny purple leaves on a scale, distractedly greeting you as he fnishes writing out a noe, “Good morning. Just one ... moment .. please ah, how may 1 be of assstance 10 Physician Sun Tai tin, glasses, mild. Voice: sophisticated, uses en-dollar words. Sun Tai is sharp enough 10 see through most gafling (this isn' even th first time today e's been accused of the robberis). He patiently explains more old-fashioned types ke Gravekeeper Wu regard the sciences, and thus physicians, with undue suspicion. While Sun Tai does perform something called “autopsies™, they're only ever on comission. He as one scheduled for today on an oxdriver wha died under odd circumstances. ‘While they re talking, a local kid runs in and snatches a tincture bottle, then iries o run out, but isn't hard to grab (standard spin / easy spin if a character has fst 14) Before he can be questioned, there’s a slam at the back of the apothecary Passing through a large torage room of drying herbs and bubbling disiltions, they enter Sun Tai's surgical space, where the body of the oxdriver is gone and the door's latch s busted. Back Door Entry: if the main characters tred (0 sneak in back, they run ino the masked thieves carrying out the corpse (below paragraph), who mmediately atack. The Thieves: down the alleyway behind the apothecary, two men in baggy lsborer’s clothes pull a handeart loaded with bundles of Kindling (oxdriver's body hidden bencath). When called afte or chased, they try 0 run away with the handcart, making the easy (0 catch. They tm 10 reveal they're both wearing paper festival masks, draw daggers backhanded, and one slashes the closest main character for 4 (next page) Apothecary Goods: prices listed are o substantial discount offered by Physician Sun Tai afler the body is recovered. Stock limited t0 2 for cach main character. Al items single-dose, move action to administer * Go Leaf: atringent that numbs and stops bleeding when rubbed on wounds 10 wen / heals 10 ©Lai Lai Root Tincture: antivenin that countervails most poisons and venoms 5 wen !/ neutralizes harmfl substances - Hornpitcher Powder: put under your tongue to immediately counteract chi diseuption from pressure point strkes (may cause explosive vomiting) 3 wen ! liminates paralyss or weakness from Specials Following at a Distance: if the main characters only follow, the thives snske through some backsteets, discrestly looking for tils o the tumaround, cventually smbushing the main characters a5 they tum a comes. Alirnatively, he thief wih the birthmark. pecs off and Tollows ot an even further distance o the roofiops, ttacking the main characters fom behind ‘while the cart-pullng thief i los in the market cro. Fight Scene: Masked Thieves Soundirack: Westside Gunn - John Starks Instrumental Corpse thieves in paper festival masks, wielding daggers back-handed and fighting from a low, ageressive stance. The tallr thief sets off the fight by leaping over the cart and Slashing a main characte for . *How Fight Scenes Work 1. Every combatant gets o tum 2 Whocver swings frt goes first 3. Turn order goes around th cirle (Key decides which way) Encmies and side charactrs g0 on the Key Narrator's turn 5. Atum consists of A a move action, and B.) a main action 6. Move acton: moves your main charactee. Can be done before o afler your main action 7. Main sction: atack with a weapon, use a Specia,or take another move sction 8. Once offense taken s higher than your merk, you're out of the scene (can'tac) 9. The fght ends when one side s merked or gives up Attacking: costs your main acton. Every weapon has sn offense spin (ke s4 for dager ors10fora spesr) ‘Weapon Spin + Primary Score? = Atack's Offense. *fstfor ranged and light wespons/ strong or and-to-hand and throven) Defense reduce al incoming offense by this numbe. ‘The back of the book is a spinner. To use it hold the looped end of a paperclp or guitar sting trimming on the center-dot with a pen, and lck the other end. The result is wherever the arm lands inthe s-ing (56, 312,520 elc) you're spinning for Balance: temember this joint was designed for 3 actors. If unning it for a different ‘umber, adjust difficuly by dialing enemy merk and offense up or down. lieves: asked ense 54 (dager) / defense 2/ merk 20 SPECIALS +Chi Bolt: 56 offense, range 6. A beam of powerful heat distortions blasts from the palm. (amlessathewise sated,a Specialca anly b usd onc day, and costs a main action 0 use) Offense Taken: Masked Thief (taler) Masked Thief (shorter) Merked: for these two, merked means dead. £ e alive they'Il give up information that skips halfthe arc, 50 if somehow caught they bleed out from an unnoticed aterial wound before they can be healed. Once one thief merked, the other runs. A chase jumps off Chase Scene Pursuing masked thief #2 (he almost defnitly gets away), after the first thief killed. If caught, e fights to the death but eaves an additional clue. 1) Market: the thief sprints from the end of the alley into a crowded market square. “The main characters are gaiing on him when he slashes o tie-down tope on a large: cart ful of ice bags, causing them to collapse onto the main haracters. —» Mechanic: cach actor spins 56 twice, taking the higher result. 4 or higher passes. Pass: dodge or obliterate the flling bags ofrice, showering rice everywhere a they power through and continue the chase. Fail: owned by heavy sacks of ice and outof the chase. 2) Bridge: a wide wooden bridge over the town'’ stonework canal, currently thick with slow-moving carts and wagons headed to market, The masked thief jumps offa it cart onto the back of an ox, and onto the bridge’s guardrail. —» Mechanic: cach actor spins 36. 4 or higher passes. Pass: keep up no problem, running the length of the rail and ganing on the thief. Fal: lose balance and fallino the canal. Out of the chase 3) Rooftop: the masked thief sprins across the wide avenue along the canal towards the nearest building, using his qing-gong (supernatural lightness) to run up its wall and onto the roof. " Mechanic: main character has (o use & movement Special like ll jumper, qing- ‘gong, body elastiity et 10 get onto the high roof Anything slower (climbing up on somebody’s shoulders etc) takes long enough for the thiefto be out of sight Pass: chase him across a few rooflops. quickly closing on him where he fghts o the death (fulls and blasts his neck if somebody tries to take him alive). Fal: the second thief gets avay. Possible Chase Developments + Caughtt i anybody catches up with the masked thief via movement Specials etc, they. eta free attack, butiying 10 restrain him leads 10 his deat (below poin). * Restrained: if tripped / tackled / paralyzed by a Special e he falls onto his dagger. piercing a vitl organ and dying immediately (Mick your spinner though so it gives the illusion of andomness). *Ranged Shit: thief can be killed with any thrown weapons (default thrown offense is 54 + strong or fast) and ranged Specials. Clear shot at any stage of the chase, but taking. it means you'll fll behind. - Fully healed: afterthe chase, Physician Sun T applies an herbal poultce tothe main characters” wounds, healing any offense taken Sun TaPs Gift if main character has Medicine 1 or higher, Sun Tai notices their experienced hand and chats them up, gifling them a tiny boitle of Yao Giras oi. This type (a highly stimulating variety from Hei Ling Mountan, dabbed on the seventh pressure point of the liver”) gives the subject an extra ‘main action every tum for an entire fght. Move action to appy. Masked Thief Clues Soundirack: Del - Miks to G Instrumental Asmall crowd of onlookers has gathered, speculating who the dead thief could be. Stolen comse s in the cart, hidden under bundles of kindling. Log Style suggests the thieves must've changed their tacics since so many volunteers are both guading the cemetery and pateoling the sireets at night. Make sure they catch the callouses clue (frst thiel): First Thief ... = Dark purple birthmark on neck behind car. Pockets: 12 Wen. ©Paper mask: common. 90% of the own wore them during th recent Qingrming festival © Forearm tatoo: tringle containing a teardrop shape. (The smartest main character Knows of a scholar in town named Pei Pei who might ecognize this symbol ) ©The Crucial Clue: obvious callouses on ips of his fingers. Iterestingly, they appear only on the lefi-hand fingers, but not the thumb. - Let the actors fgure out that he played stringed nstrument. Anybody in town can tell them traveling musicians usually moonlight at both the Floating Garden (3 courtesan house) and the Purple Mountain Theater +Handeart ©Kindling: unless the thieves gathered all this themselves, it only could have come. from Woodcutter Cai (ives in Deerpath Foreso). «Second Thief (only if caugh) © Beand, beoken nose. Spider veins on cheeks ndicat alcoholism. = Same tatt00 on forearm (simple riangle with eadrop shape nsid). « Pocket: smll, imperialstamped rectangles ofsilver worth 100 Wen cach wrapped in common cloh (he's ane or cach main characte plus on for Log Style) < Pocket a single dried red bean. Log style, a notorious garmblr,pinches it between o fingers and says “Ahbh, we have a gambling man. The Boar uses red beans in theie tinxi games.* Explain tinxi [1ans-shi] i a game where you bet on a hidden number of beads, bean, or butons. I not uncommn for big winners o take a ky bt 5.2 memento #Kid That Ran Into the Apothecary .... ©Sun Tai's teenage apprentice made sure he didn't run off, The kid says a man in a paper mask found him alone by the canal and paid him 10 wen to “pull joke on the physician” by making him run ll around the Lowlown Square, Reasonable Questions Q: Does anybody from Potbelly Hil ecognize the masked thifis)? A: Nobody recognizes them except the leads i the next chapter Q: Who all knew the body was at the apothecary? A: Half the town. The deceased (Oxdriver Kuo-Chung) was well Suddenly in a public space. ked, and died very Q: Was the deceased murdered 10 create another bady? A: Sun Tai was sbout to perform 4 post-mortem investigation 1o answer that very question. (The autopsy that evening finds Oxdsiver Kuo-Chung free of any poison, Venom, or harmful substance. His heart, however, is amazingly clogged — i’ incredible e lved as long as he did) Chapter Three: Hitting the Bricks Importants stae this chapter by clearly summarizing the clues found on the thieves. The below leads can be followed in any order. » The only crucial lead i the Purple Mountain Theater (butall of them tm up useflinormation) LEADS Pei Pei the Seholar’s House, Scribe’s Row, far end of Hightown, page 16 +Connection: can probably identify thieves” tatioo +Info gained: thieves belonged to Girinning Tiger Clan Woodeutter Cai's House,just inside Deerpath Forest (northeast) page 17 +Connection: sold kindling found in thieves' cart +1nfo gained: corpse thieves from Bu Ling City,very interested in Potbelly Hill’s history Silk Quarer (north end of canal) page 18 orpse thief (musician callouses) probably played his instrument here +Info gained: thief served masters, arrived a week ago with a few other martal artists Purple Mountain Theater, Lowtown Square page 19 +Connection: corpse thief (musician callouses) probably played his instrument here +Info gained: thief was saying at Merchant Go-Chen's mansion Only if second masked thief caught “The Boar, Locks Distrct (south end of canal) page 20 +Connection: tinxi games here use dried red beans, s found on masked thief #3 +Info gained: came from Bu Ling City with his brothers to visit a ellow martial scholar Hhere in town, arriving about a week ago e i's known the thieves were out-oftowners, i check aut any of the three local inns. Page 21 Checking the Guesthouses: the main characters mi Bump Fights IF your actors like fight scenes more than sacial gameplay, you can drop o bump fight (page 39) on them (0 inject some action. Go dogear that page quick justin case Pei Pei the Scholar’s House Soundirack: Peanut Buter Wolf - Chain Gang Instrumenal Scribe’s Row, a narrow street in Hightown where the inkmisers and papermakers of Potbelly Hill ply their trade. You're pointed 1o its far end, where the shops give way 10 white adobe residences, 10 a small rowhouse with a shoji-paper door flanked by o small foo dog statues. What do you do? A small old woman answers the sliding door,sighing and saying something like “Let me uess, you're all illtrate and need me o read you some leters of eredit you saw “fal off the back ofa wagon' Pei Pei roasts anybody in earshol. She insists the main characters come in for tea, unless they're in'a hurry 1o get back to making out with a hole in the ground o whatever. Interior: you take a seat on the layers of Tibetan carpets shelves of books and scrolls rising to the low ceiling above you. An embroidered tapesty of a spider being hunted by a maniis being hunted by a sparrow hangs on the wall. Open codeses and an old- fushioned scholar’ rock crowd a low desk, and a gold-colored parrot preens itselfon top ‘of @ nearhy perch. Pei P returns with a ray of steaming cups of black tea — handing one to cach of you, she asks "Now what s if you moulhbreathers wanted?” Shit-Talking Parrot: while Pei Pei scarches her small library, her asshole parrot tees off on the main characters. Casually remarks shitlike “I'm so tred P’ so tired from plowing your mom™ /1 didt plow your mom; the line was 100 long™ / “You're dressed like youlost a bet” etc Symbol: afir running through a few books Pei Pei says the shape isn't teardrop, but a fang. The tatoo is the symbol of the Grinning Tiger Clan, a secret society (men only,all bers). Her text is a few decades old, but loosely estimates membership at 400 with chapters in every southern province. Theie rituals, codes, and central goals are yet to be documented. Woodcutter Cai’s House Soundirack: Capital STEEZ - 135 Instrumenal n the near edge of Decrpath Fores,just northeast of town, Follow the sounds of woodworking. 185 a short walk along the low road into Deerpath Forest. Following a grassy trail and the crack of a spltting-maul reverberaing through the ancient oaks, you enter @ verdant clearing along the bend of a wide stream. A squat house with a smoking chimney is surrounded by sheds packed with cords of seasoning firewood, and the smell of reshly cut spruce, walnut, and applewood hang heavy on the i A big man with a long beard plants his maul as he sees you coming; a slender black opium pipe hanging from the comer of his grin. Woodeutter Cai (voice: grufl cheerfully greets the main characters and offers them some plum wine, pouring himself a generous porion on @ nearby stump. He's an engaging conversationalis, asking where they're from and what it is they do up on the mountain all day. ‘When asked about customer/s matching thieP’s description: Cai thinks for a minute before remembering a similar man with two companions this morming - bought a whole cartload of kindlng. He had a purple birthmak on his neck (description matches), the other had a beard and busted nose, and the third wore real long braid. Woodeutter Cai nvited therm 1o join him in his fist drink of the morning and they chatted for some time about women, wine, and gambling. Also: * They mentioned they were visiting from the capita, Bu Ling City * They had a lot of questions about the history of Potbelly Hill and the surrounding area (which Cai could’t help them with). 1 nobody picks up on it, Log Style suggests the third dude (real long braid) must have been lookout carler oday. Who knows how much he saw The Floating Garden Soundirack: Benny the Butcher - Change Instrumenal Asking around (or having a knowledgeable main character n the crew) reveals this is a courtesan house, like a fancy brothel with banguets, music, poetry recials etc. These spots are known for being pricey, and brutally pay 10 ply. The jewelers and taiors of the Silk Quarter line a wide avenue along the canal, heavy with foot traffic and shaded by flowering dove trees. It here we find the Floating Garden, its exterior dripping with evers trapping of wealth Passing a hulking doorman who makes obvious note of your weaponry, you enter a large siting room over-seronght with palace-like lusury: Among the striking art and fine floor furniture, courtesans laugh and fawn over big spenders, one playing a ushen in front of a massive landscape painting of surging waves breaking on coastal Cliff. You barely have time 10 scan this opulent interior before you're grected by @ middle-aged woman wearing a dressthat probably costs more than a house. Madame Pear Flower introduces herself 0 the main characters, and asks if they re here forthis evening’s poetry reading. Whatever the answer, she says they re always delighted by new guests, and only ask “a demonstration of fine manners” (10 en minimum). Asking about the masked thief: Madame Pear Flower drops hints untl the main charactes increase the cash in her hand 10 20 wen. She then temermbers a gentleman with a port-wine birthmark down his nck, just behind the ear. A tlented player of the pipa (ke a short-necked guitar), he © Was still dusty from the road when he firt visited exactly a week ago * Played exceptionally, and almost always gave his pay over to Sunlight (she gestures o courtesan in 2 yellow dress) Madame Pear Flower informs them it's 10 wen for a stick (refers to the time it takes for & stick of incense to bum, usually in reference (0 the duration of private audiences). Appearances: if anybey implis the Floating Garden is 4 brothel, Madame Pear Flower corrects them sernly vith something like “This i not nail shed fan actusl brothel] where you can bend aver some sun-withered peasant woman for & crumb of hash, his 5. hous of cultur, of refined courtship.” Security: five big dudes (merk 10, defense 1) in black are at the brothel’ order, cager 10 1w anybody out into the canal. There's a mellow chime in cach room: sounded once and they casually show thei presence, sounded twice and they all show up with weapons. SUNLIGHT After buying a stick of incense (10 wen), the main characters are granted a private audience with Sunlight, @ beautiful woman in a fine yellow dress (bored and aloof unless tipped). She freely answers any questions about the masked hief * Talked big about being a fightr,said his masters would so = Said he had just artved with a few of his brothers on business here i town + Asked a lot about the history of Potbelly Hill and the surrounding area “The incense stick s shitty as they come, burning quickly and keeping the audience short Purple Mountain Theater Soundirack: Lord Finesse - Down For The Underground Instrumentl “The theater s closed unil sunset gves main charactes chance 1o check all eads. Only if after sunset: the vendors of the Lowtown Square have all lf for the day: As the sun sinks behind the horizon, tradespeople close shop and chat along the stonework avenues, neighbors light lanterns and hang them above doorways, a dozen of the regent’s concubines glide along their evening walk, an escortof civil guards clearing their way: Before you s the largest building on the square, it grand Minnan architecture arrayed in a riot of olor: Masterfull carved myhical beasts hold ither end of placard reading “Purple Mountain Theater” above huge doors now thrown open 10 carly arrivals. Inside, a massive set of a golden palace nears completion on the theater' sage, and the auditorium buzzes with stagehands and apprentices making final preparations What do you do? Aaybody can point o Ditector Pu-E, a dandy micromanaging a stagehand's painting method: embroidered red coat, presently Director Pu-Ehr Fancy man with delusions of grandeur and Don Juan aspirations. Exizemely annoying o any females in the vcinity. Voice: dainty. Masked thief brought up: the director immediately knows wh they're talk identifying his purple birthmark and talent at the pipa (like a short-necked guitar) Ditcctor Pu-Ehr informs them this man they scek will be playing songs between acts onight; the show starts justafer dusk. I t0ld his star musician was one of the corpse thieves, Pu-Ehe is shocked, saying shit like “But why ever for? He clearly didn’t want for money, nor manners. You're absolutely sure it was him?” e - Apparenily the masked thief drank with the cast after & play one night. He mentioned. he came (o Potbelly Hill o visit his close friend, Merchant Go-Chen, and was. staying at his mansion up in the Talon District. o ox Asking around about Merchant Go-Chen reveals he made his fortune rading in glas, and is usually out o town on business. He has sat and pepper haie, and the build of a hard laborer despite a life of leisure. A notorious womanize, he's still bachelor at middle age, alone in his mansion up in the “Tulon Distiet (wealthy part of town) with only some elderly servants. The Boar Soundirack: Statik Selekiah - White Silk Instrumental The Locks Distrct, south end of the canal. The air is laced with the smell of tar and the noise of industr. Gulls sit tranquilly along the canal’s fine stonework embankment, erystalline water lapping at its causeway: Before you is a dilapidated shack of a buitding with a painted placand of a silized boar’ head. The interior of the Boar is a total hole, barely iluminated but brough 1o e by rice liquor and raucous games of chance: runs of tanxi, madiao, and kanhoo pop of in animated circles of tanned laborers, many baring arms and chests of heavy tatiooing; Before your eves fully adjus o the din interior you're greeted by a big man with a attoo ofa decapitated head on the back of his hand: A fat. Not menacing, but has an cnergy of Violence to him. Owns the Boar, Voice: booming. Big Po welcomes the main characters, preeting Guo Lao by name (“Guo Lao you bugfucker, 1 didn know you had any friends”), and asking if they're here for some action, a drnk 10 soothe the day's worries, or both Collector: the min charsctrs notice a lot of flowers unexpectedly adorn the Bose — potted rchids, vases ofchrysanthemum and Hly e SKil gate: anybody with Busherat 1+ or Worldiness 1+ recogrizes a pressed Kadapul framed on the wall — a bizarre white flower that only blooms in the tiger- haunted rinforests of India at exactly midnight and dies by morming. I thy brng it up B Po s their new best rend, teling the story of how e killed two tiges for that Kadapul, and doesn't ask for a bribe (below paragraph) (0 tell everything he knows. Asking about the masked thief: Big Po blunty asks them how much this information is Worth 1o them (40 wen minimum). After being paid he says a dude with a beard and poorly reset nose was here just yesterday. Ficker Went on 4 hot streak and nearly cleaned him ou. He got shitfaced celebrating and did a lot of talking, mentioning. * His bones were sl rating from the bastard horses him and his brothers had ridden here from Bu Ling (region’s capial) a week ago. © He was staying with a martial atist here in town, @ rother © He was a martial artist himself OF course when the other punters found out they just made him show off his kung fu for the res of the night: breaking bricks thrown in the air, running up wall, sliing fies in half— prety great night actually. ‘Tanxiz Guo Lao hops on a game before they leave. If anybody shows inteest, inxiis played by guessing a hidden number of dred red beans. + The dealer takes 1o handfls of beans and puts them under a bowl Players place their bets on either 1. 2,3, 4, 0dd, or even + The dealer then removes the bowl, and counts out the dried red beans in series of 4 with a curved sick, The remaining number of beans s cither 1,2, 3, or 4 - Simulate random draw: by spinning . Odd / even bets pay out 1 to 1 (o bet 10 wen, win 10 wen plus keep your original 10), Single number bets pay out 3 to 1 (50 bet 10 wen, win 30 plus keep your orginal 10) 20 Checking the Guesthouses Soundicack: 1 Dila - Bars & Twists Once i’s known the masked thieves were out-of-towners,the main character might want 1o check outthe local inns. Potbelly Hill has three: “The Tranquil Flume: the proprictor is an almost spherically fat man (L) with a high Voice and gencrous pour. He's been hosting a troupe of actors from the Eastern Peninsula forthe past ten days: theyve been double-featuring at the theater every night since their arival (rock-solid alibi). Toad Style: guesthouse above, restaurant below; has the actual for real best food the main characters ever tasted. Run by a very old couple (Wei & Mei) who pretend o be senle to mess with the main characters. They e currently hosting a fow canal laborers Wwho just got offa boat ast night, and a soltary goldleaf artist here on 4 long-term project (no alibis, but lso no tatoo). “The Blue Guesthouse™ page 29. Locals weirdly avoidant about its actual name. Located on Lowtown Square, definiely the most luxurious guesthouse in town, 2 Chapter Four: The Grinning Tiger Clan Infitation, btling it out, & exposing the thicves where they lay thei head a. Dusk fals on the way to the Talon Distrct: e last of the evening light has given way t0 a lear night sk a huge waxing moon lazing on the horizon. Golden specks of luminous windows now dot the scenic town spilling down the side of Potbelly Hill, where our main characters ascend a wide avenue and pass beneath a huge ornamental gate. The houses along the winding cobble streets grow larger and more beauifl, then larger still. Sirolling servanis carry fine paper lanterns, and well- liveried bodyguards patrol in watchful pais. As a richly dressed localis borne past you in a priceless lacquered palanguin, you know with certainty you are now in the. lheart of the luxurious Talon Distric. What o you do? Neighborhood: up in Hightows, the wealihiest neighborhood of Potbelly Hill is called the Talon District for the long, omate fingernail-guards the wives and concubines of the disrict wear as @ status symbo, 10 show they are sbove manual labor (servant's work), or even liting a finger. Anybody can point to Merchant Go- (Chen's house on the winding incline of Bowervine Street Mansion of Merchant Go-Chen Soundirack: The Underachievers - Chrysalis Instrumental Exterior: one of the largest houses in town looms before you — three stories, rich architecture, double-eave roofs with statuettes at their peaked corners. The outer wallis topped with ornate iron spikes, and its facade set with a pair of lage, iron-studded red doors. What do you do? (These doors remain closed and locked al hours of the day — unusual for any region) Getting In + Knoeking: an elderly male servant answers the huge front doors and politely says Master Go-Chen sn't receiving guest right now, but he would be happy 1o convey any message. The servant is sharp enough (o see through any low-cffort gafling. If afer dusk, the servant appears with a lanteen at the front doors viewing port (size of a small window, common 10 wealtier houses). +Over the wall: the roof of the outer wall s wide racks of small metal spines (passing over without profection causes s4 offense). Vauling over the spines with a polear ctc puts you well past the edge of the roof, causing s4 offense from flling. Geting over the Wal ands you i th front courtyard +Windows: no windows inouter wall. That would make it a prety shitty wall +Side entrance: a small servant’s door, ron bound with a internal lock. Anybody with Metalworking 1 notces how 10 remove the groove-locked hinge pins, and can discreetly pass nto a storage chamber fll of dried foodstocks atthe far side of th front courtyard + (Special) Invoeation of Passage: i a main character has this Specia, they can unlock the front or back entrance with no trouble. + (Special) Primordial Dialeetz: can alk with the cat loafing around outer wall (extremely armogan) who tels of side entrance (above). five men (one a robed monk) entring front gate carly this aternoon, and a covered horscart leaving before sundown. FIRST FLOOR Front Courtyard: at the center of the entry courtyard fooms a huge fountain of @ suardian chinthe, clawed hand raised in warning and its mossy jaws exuding an endiess stream of water There are entryways 1o the west, north, and east Dining Hall (WEST): you enter a massive dining hall where elegant paneled lanterns of exquisitely painted paper hang above a long table. A huge painting of a Tang-era battle adorns the wal, a tatered purple banner hung bencath it © Banner: this purple batleflag is embroidered with a white crescent moon and crossed red laurels - its likeness can be scen at the spearhead of the batle depicted in the paining. = Door: sounds of somebody working in a kitchen emit from the room’s only other doorway Kitchen: un elderly Mongolian cook is working in here, and can be taken by surprise will successful stcalthspin (casy spin f they bave atleast bar n stcalth). His Chinese is shitty but he’s cooperatve, If asked, he says: A. he's been prepping enough food this pust week to feed ten men but only enough for abou five for dinner tonight, and B. the only other servant here today is the majordomo (antiquated term for a buler). Docsn't know much else. Log Style apologizes, gags him, and tes him up with an entice spool of kitchen twine (normally used for roasts). Rellecting Pool (NORTH): you enter a long chamber containing a narrow pool of water, fine mosaic patterning at the pool’ floor and faint geometries of reflected light playing on the walls and ceiling. Through a yawning set of double doors at the chamber far end is a grassy courtyard with racks of both wooden practice weapons and live metal weaponry: Sitting Room (EAST): you step into an opulent siting room ornamented with Ming-erapaintings, shelves_of scrolls, and masterfuly.crafied furniture. An unfnished game of xiangyi [Chinese chess] rests in the flickering ligh of a blazing. fireplace, bluck' picces over-extending into.red's domain. A grand staircase ascends at the room far end. and in the gloom of a near corner; a small old man dusts the glass case of a taxidermied hawk “"The majordomo can be taken by surprise with a successful stealt spin (casy spin ifstealth 14). He doesn’t make trouble, and ansiwers any questior Time: Master Go-Chen's guests arrived a week ago, no talk of departre - Activty: the master and his guests have been going out at all hours, but are otherwise mstly in the practice yard, o third loor where servants aren’tallowed. - Number: balf the gucsts Letthis afternoon with a traveling horsccart and cnough provisions for a two-day jourey, leaving just four or five non-servans in the house, all currenly on the hird flor. The only other servant here today s the cook. Log Style apologizes, gags him, and ties him up with two nearby tablecloths. © Grand staircase leads up o the second story Stealth Failure: i either of the servants aren taken by surprise, they immediately raise the alarm (but are easy 1o estrai). As a consequence, have some of Merchant Go-Chen’s neighbors come by: they aren't thorough in their investigation, and stay just long enough to make the main characters sweat. SECOND FLOOR Landing: grand staircase leads here. Can 20 north, south, or west Personal Museum (NORTH): you enter an ornate chamber displaying a collection of ancient and exoric weapons, small placards giving the name and estimated era of | each. The collection’s centerpiece is a visually stumning but half-destroyed set of bronze armor from the truly ancient Xia Dynasty (or maybe whatever came before that),its helmet depicting a sneering demon. © Ammor unusable (old as fuck). = Raom contains al clasical weapon types except launchers (page 104), and cach has an inherent +1 offense. Weapons are all unsecured (free o take). Catch: the actor must describe the weapon's they find in detail Master Bedroom (SOUTH): sou step into a massive, richly decorated master bedroom. A huge canopied bed can be seen between folding screens painted with drean-like landscapes. Fragrant ribbons of smoke rise from incense stcks below the portrait of an armored ancestor bearing a sreaming batleflag. In a squat bookshelf bencat are dosens of volumes all bound in red (Merchant Go-Chen’s journals), © Journals: chronologically armanged, meticulously detailed. Lots of travel, business talk, debauchery, a few mentions of brothers he makes trade deals wi in other cités. Recent mention of being up for promotion within “the Clan (nothing flly incriminating). The last few months are notably missing. ortrait: an old-fashioned painting. The ancestor has long black beard, crucl face, and arstocratic armor. His spea bears a purple banner with a white rescent and crosed red laurels. A short poem descends the portrait: “he who slaked far soil/ with oceans of enemy lifcblood / your house lives on to conguer” “Tea Room (WEST): you enter a lrge, stately tea room whose walls are lined with halfa dozen doors, some left open 10 reveal modest guest bedrooms. Floor furniture surrounds a low table set with a lacquered anique ea set. Tll windows and double doors lead 10 a balcony overlooking the eniry courtyard, and a wide staircase ascends atthe fur end o the room. ©Guest Bedrooms: these radiat off the tea room. All clearly in tecent use, some. with additional matiresses on the floor, Rooms contain men's clothing, cormbs, 3 couple wineskins, purse with 31 wen, and a pipa. - Staircase leads up o the third floor THIRD FLOOR Landing: you ascend the wide stairs 10 a lavishly decorated but clearly neglected landing: cobwebs waft in the corners of the ceiling and s baniste-is capped with a thick sheet of dust. The far wall i set with an iron-braced, eatureless door: A clock n the far western style chimes the hour - what do you do? « Featureless Door: the only door. Large, iron-bound, and no knob. On 4 pedestal next o itis & peacack figurine (below). Investigating reveals the door is extremely heavy, unmovable, and no sound can be heard through it (wallis ominously sound-proofed: Wwho knows what depraved shit happens on the other side). Golden Peacock On a waist-high pedestal next 1o the door is 4 large golden figurine of a peacock displaying a fan of diffrent colored feathers. Closer Inspections: figurine fixed to pedestal. Fan of plumage is actually the top. balf of'a wheelthat can be turned in ither direction. Each feather is a differentcolor: aquamarine, blue, green, pale green, purple, indigo, pink, red, orange, amber,yellow, white, pale gray, dark gray, lack. ‘When turned right, a faint click s heard once white is at the top of the wheel. Continuing to tum rightward just makes the whee! re-lick at white, Tuming et a full rotation or mre resets the wheel so it re-clicks when rightward turned to white again *Mise Metalworking 1 or higher: the resistances of this wheel clearly point (0 4 sequential tumbler: you spin it right,then lef, then right again t0 aign three or more tumblers insid (thus selecting a sequence of colors). The servants: they have no idea about the golden peacock (not allowed on third floor) or any of Merchant Go-Chen's favorie colors or whatever. #Solution: white, purpl, red (the colors ofthe attred banner in the dining hall and the master bedroom’s ancestral portai). ‘Win State: the main characters hear 4 clack. The massive door rasps as i's pulled aside by some internal mechanism. Everybody gets 3 SP if they eracked the sequence. without a hint, Library (through featurcless door): you step into a high-ceilinged librars; haphazard stacks o books and scrolls sprawling over fine wooden furnitur. The summer air sirs o ‘ossamer curtains around an open window at the room s ar end. Four big dudes [five if masked thief #2 escaped] siting around a big table loaded with star charts, wine decanters, and a brass-ringed armillary sphere stare at you in a moment o stunned silence. * The Goons all stand and Merchant Go-Chen (baritone voice, silver earrings, black and gray haie) says “Kindly fucking explain yourselves.” A fight jumps off Missng journal: if anybody scans for i, the red-bound journal (the missing volume from maste bedroom, contans most recent months) is on & desk at the library'sfar cnd. Fight Scene: Crew vs Crew Soundirack: Syl of Beyond - Blach Instrumental Stats: Offense s4+1 // Defense 0/ Merk 15/ Specials usable once per LONG BRAID «Special: Northern Scorpion Fist - causes | undefendable offense (iternal bleeding) at the beginning oftrgets every tum unti ightcnds +Offense Taken: WHITE TUNIC ‘Special: Lion Eye - strike to pressure poit i shoulder that causes partial paralyss (-5 offense on next tum) ~Offense Taken: BIG MAN « Specal: Scalding Palm - 5§ fie offense and knocked prone, golden clemental flame. railing sike ~Offense Taken: MERCHANT GO-CHEN «Special: Earth Disgramm Esgle Claw - sutomatic 4 offense to any cnemy who moves into an adjacent square (always acive) ~Offense Taken: BEARD [ BUSTED NOSE (only ifescaped from chase scene) «Special: Wheel Kick - o4 offense o llsurrounding tagets ~Offense Taken: Tucties:they dow’t run, and fight 0 the last. Don'tjust low allthir Specials sight away. Optional: (increases difficulty) one of the enemy Kicks a main character a few strides out a window, where they shatter 4 dozen tles on the second story roof, and fall into the practice yard below (s6 offense). The enemy follows, geipping a weapon of the racks. Merked: be clear the Clan members are just KO'd / injured. Any of them getting killed Would ke the next scene real diffcul for the main characters Fail State:this i a real dangerous ight (especialy if you lt the enemy crew go fist); & standard crew of theee main characters has 4 decent chance oflosing. I they do,all good - Tocals flood the mansion once the last of them is about o get merked. % Shaking Out the Truth Soundirack: Xavier Wolf - Psycho Pass Istrumental One of Go-Chen's servants hears the sound of fighting (if restrained, they escape using o Kitchen knife o picce of broken miror) and rushes o get the neighbors. As the fight ends, two-dozen townspeople flood Merchant Go-Chen’s mansion with lanterns and Wweapons. Interested locals continue to gather throughou the scene. » Merchant Go-Chen accuses the main charscters of breaking ‘and entering, and his neighbors believe him. Captain Feng becomes arbiter: 4 retred captain of the imperial navy (gray sideburns / stem / gravelly voice) named Feng lives ncarby. Still in his bed-tobe and shadowed by his one-eyed bodyguard, he shouts down the ruckus and brings order 1o the small mob. Captain Feng gives each side far ime 10 speak, and questions their tories. The locals start out against the main characters: they've roughed up 4 community mermber in his own home, so it looks bad. I looks even worse if they're holding any of Merchant Go-Chen's elongings. The sctors job in his scene i to explain their line of clues and exidence, prompled by questions from Captain Feng (and antagonized by Go-Cher). “The facts line up sooner or later. Physician Sun Tai i fetched to cortoborate the stolen body story, their attoos, and any other evidence. Other witnesses can be fetched. Go- (Chen anly has the weakest of alibis. One it starts to ook real bad for Merchant Go-Chen and his cutty guests,the journal is inally examined. (If the main characters didt aleady bring it up. a local comes over and hands the red-bound volume o Caplain Feng, mutering Something in his car) The journal s the final nail in the coffin - an outrazed. Captain Feng reads sections out loud, piecing together the ful story (just summarize the below for your actors quick) Merchant Go-Chen’s Journal ‘Small, ed-bound book on desk at fu end of brary. The journal reveals: © Go-Chen i a middle-runking member of the Grinning Tiger Clan, for-flung secret brotherhood of martial artiss © The Clan discovered a 300-year-old scholar’s ltter deseribing how he hid o precious tex from invading hoards by burying it bencath a shine in Lantern Forest, just south of Potbelly Hil. This text is six volumes of lost kung fu instruction Known as The Fis of the Celestial Destroyer. The Clan's msters ordered Go-Chen o host nine of his brothers from Bu Ling City, and to etreve these buried serolls forthe Grinning Tiger Clan “The forests yaksha appeared (o the clan merbers while they searched for the shrine. OF truly ancient age and decaying sanity, he had scquired g taste for buman bones, nd offered sccess o his ores in exchange for ane human body per seroll The other four Clan mersbers retumed to the mansion with a wandering monk, who. they poisaned. Having been those last seen with the monik, these same four let that aftemoon with a horsecrt and the six compses. They plan to lay low somewhere oxemight then meet the yaksha tommorrows when he appes around high sun Map & Letter: on the librarys large central table are the 300-year-old scholar's leter, andashitty map of Lantern Forest, probable location o the shrine sketched in. E ‘Win State: the locals agree 10 lock Merchant Go-Chen and his guests in a cellr; the families of the solen bodics can ageee on their punishments in the morning. Everybody gathered toass the main characters - there’s a ot of backslappi and well-dones. The wife of a horse merchant says something like “Bless your hands for trning out these cockroaches,” and takes ofT her bracele, presing it into the palm of the nearest main character (next paragraph). LooT © Bracelet: dope silverwork set with a ruby (360 wen at any jeweler) © Weapons: i’ a cultural expectation in this setting t0 take an enemy’s weapons after defeating them. Each main character can take one two-handed weapon, or 0 one-handers from Merchant Go-Chen's personal collecton (second floor) © Captain Feng discreetly v the scholar’ lette and the Lantern Forest map to the main character, saying everybody in Potbelly Hill would be happier with these in the hands of the Wo Ping instead of those dickless grave-desecrators The Last of the Grinning Tiger Clan: if your actors aren’t already plottng, use Guo Lao 10 ask what the plan is, sublly reminding them their mission is 10 bring all the graverobbers o jusice Asking around about Lantern Forest reveals i’ named for some crumbling stone {anterns found within. Asking a scholar r checking own schives show these lanterns predate the town, and dissppessances of locals and traveles who went into the forest 20 back at least century. Inquiring about Yakshas might lnd an answer from o scholaly type: they're primordial ctties who usually decare region or even just concep ther dominion. Thisis where the notion “guardian spri” comes from, though both their behavior and sense of morality is completely alien and inexplcable o hurmas. Rest Recommendet ‘ood reasons to wait untl morning. « They Il flly heal, and regain their once-a-day Specials + No guarantee of where the thieves are since theirplan s to specifically lay low ovenight before meeting the yaksha tomorrow at igh sun (when he tends (0 appear) + Log Style straight up refuses to go until morning (geting a ot of emale attention) the main characters are free 10 do what they want, but there are - To the Blue Guesthouse: Physician Sun Tai congratulates the main characters and says thir rooms are on him - he'll hapily pay for their dinner and the guesthouse’s finestsuite, an etire foor of palace-like luxury The Blue Guesthouse Soundirack: Diamond D - This One Instrumentl [only f nighttime] Located on the Lowtown Square. Locals are weirly avoidant when asked the name, just calling it “the blue guesthouse” A azure-blue, four story building of angalar foreign architecture rises before you. The raucous sounds of good cheer escape tall windows open t the summer air. Above ts entrance, an engraved silver sign wnmistakably. reads “The Puking. Shiting Dog Guesthouse”, complete with a draving ofa dog erupting at both ends Inside, gucsts from every corner of the world lownge in fine Punjabi furniture variously chatting, drinking tea, and playing madio. Crossed war axes and a round, well- battered black shield hang above a crackling fireplace where long aromatic cuts of spice- rubbed jackfruit roast. A gray cat leaping after a moth skids across the rich tilework flooring i front of vou, and a dariskinned man with the bearing and neatness of @ retired soldier waves you over o the bar where he pours small cups of te. (Madiao is a trick-taking card game, real popular during the Qing Dynasty) Host Mirza Voice: basitone, slight Indian accent Introduces himself, welcomes the main characters 1o his establishment with cups of jasingly spiced black tea. He's from southwest of the empire, with a big black mustache and wide scar on his o After hearing the main charactes brought down the graverobbers that put such a dark cloud over the town, Host Mirza insists they eat / stay for free, and take the master suite on the highest loor He then bangs a pot and declare drinks are on the house tonight. a few years back Mirza lost a very public drinking contest o his rival, the winner got 1o rename the other’s business. He's the one who made the lavish silver placard out front. His day wil soon come. The Cat: named Mabargja Usully lurks in the garden out back. GUESTS This block i more for the Hittng the Bricks chapter, but these side charactes are all present at any given point i time © An instrumental quartet (Zhu, Shi Shi, Fen, Anjing) who arived late last night, ot least one currently practicing thei instrument. All women fom Bu Ling City, Dircctor Pu-Ehe immediately tripled their aking fee and gave ther an advance. © A pair of foreign cartographers (map-makers) with wide eyes and yellow hair who speak no Chinese but somehow slam at madiao. Arrived two nights ago © Physician Sun Tai © A graying Manchu spice merchant (Barda) in 2 wildly expensive coat his soft- spoken assistan (Us), and his martial artist bodyguard (Mugiya) from the all- Woman Changbai monastery. They arrived a week ago from the imperial capital (far north) o work out some local agreements. No alibs Optional Bump Fight: Mugiya (sbove) can pull some “Hab the kung fu of the Wo Ping 5 n0 match for Changbai Style” sparking a fight with pulled shots (count up offense unil one side merked, but erase all offense taken once fight i over). If main chasacters win, they cach cop 2 SP. Stats: offense 58 (1wo atacks per tum) / defense 2 // merk 30 E ad of First Night Prompt After aking down Merchant Go-Chen and peting the master suite, the main characters are free to wrap anyihing up before turning in. If everybody is £00d to end the day, bash out he following promp: You're in the back garden of the guesthouse. Gold and purple fireflies laze around the Slourishing greenery and guests foaf in the cool grass, rading jokes over plum wine and “playing cards by the light of paper lanterns. Two of the recently arrived quartet praciice their instruments among the blooms of champaca and rose, enlivening the evening air with wandering harmonies. Afier partying down and meeting a dozen requests for retelings of your day's events, the conversation’s turned 10 life before the Wo Ping. Who were you before joining the monastery? Go around the circle and get some backstory from cach main character. Ask questions on anything interesting they bring up. Guo Lao’s Whole Deal: fded from rice liguor and goaded by a level o female attntion 's not used (0, Log Style says he was a guter kid in the slums of Bu Ling. One time he pick-pocketed some nerd who bad almost no trouble chasing him down — frst time he ever o caught Anyways, that was Master Hu Jinguan, Grandmaster’ right hand man, and he apparently saw atbletc promise in Guo Lao, His single mom was stoked o s ltrally any opportunity for him at sl and Guo Lao thought it would be dope o crush dudes tice his size like paper cranes, so fow he’s gutter trash at the Wo Ping instead ofin the ity Optional: for the most intereting backstoris, tell everybody shortly before the session that they’ll be flexing their backstory this cpisode, and whoever brings the mostinteresting one gets 3 SP. Once tht scene feels done,bring the nigh t a close, rain lighty plinking on the roof and windows a the main characters difloff n the guesthouse’ llst suite. Each main character gets +5 SP for their progress in the storyline. 30 Chapter Five: Fist of the Celestial Destroyer Following te last ofthe corpse thieves nto Lanter Forest & stin off the vl fight Morning Soundirack, SpaceCGhostPur - Mac Nasned Purr Instrumental A night'srest fully heals the main characters ‘Optional Seenes: this s a solid poin for hangover micromissions, ke an oblivious imain characte being tod a breakfast they e not wearing any pants and leaming they drunkesly gambled them away last night (Character Ambition: “Find Zhang's Pants”, 1 SP), or needing 10 track down Sun-Tai for hangover cure, tracing 4 chain of afterparties unti they fnd him passed out in fountan or somethin. Sun shining and birds singing. Briefly prompt if anybody has any morning routines of Shit to got done before heading downstais. After a colossal breakfast of deep-Tried Wonton, lo mein, and lychee juice, the main characters are greeted by a hungover Physician Sun Tai, He sets a wooden box on the table: inside are tiny bottles of indigo sludge - his entie stock of moon vine, freshly percolated. — Moon Balm: heals 20, costs a move action (0w vials for ach main character) Into the Woods According to Merchant Go-Chen's journal, the remain Grinning Tiger Clan members were planning 10 lay low somewhere ovenigh, then try to meet the yaksha in Lantern Forest round high sun, hoping to rade for the Fist of the Celestial Desiroyer scrolls 31 Lantern Forest Soundirack: Brockhampton - Gold Instrumental (Visible from Potbely Hill. Not more than 20 minutes down the southern road) The southern road winds through sus-varmed meadows that slowly give way 1o lush woodlands. Among the mossy trunks and undergrowth the occasional crumbling stone lantern peas out, and the lichened cobble of ancient stone pathways appear here and there in momentary traces. The road you follow starts 10 dissipate, turning 10 dark woodland soil and tufy grasses. What do you do? Tracks: as the rain-smoothed southern road fades away, hoofprints lanked by the deep ‘wheeltracks of loaded cart become noticeable in the forests soft grassy soil. Split: after a halEmile of faily easy tracking into the woods, the tracks tum at a sharp angle o the lefl. This sharp turn was made on remnants of stone road. Adjacent patches Of dirt show a few footprints. Once the cat tracks tum Iefl, there are no hoofprints o footprinis a all. Busheraft 1+ can spin to notice: + The footprints at the turn ar of at last three different large men from the. uneven impressions you can infer they were physically exerting themselves in some way (but not running). Made afer las night's rain, + The cartwheel tracks that bank lef are recent, made 2 to 4 hours ago. The cart was significantly less heavy. - Following the footprints: they enter denser woods a cart couldn’t pass through, hoofprints following in ther stead. They eventually veer nto remnanis of ancient ston road and become untrackable (passing a stream and several stony bluffs they could've stepped ino). -~ Following the cartwheel tracks: these bank 10 the lefl and go down 3 gente slope, stil no sign of foot or hoofprints. Within few hundred strdes the tracks lead to a small clearing ‘Primordial Dislectz: i main character has this Special they can talk with any of the birds, deer, frogs etc they see. Theyll freely tll that main character they saw some (maybe four) humans sleep under o nearby walnut tree, then lead a horse strugeling under bulky cargo soulhwards shorly afler dawn. A loud snd kind of fucked up fox named Bisxin Hili (“boo-shin hoo- ") took th cart o his clearing a few hours ago (opposite page). 2 Clearing You enter a scenic clearing at the bottom of a small el A tranguil waterfal feeds a blucherry bushes nearby, s tongue and wheels completely shatired. What do you do? Cart Interior: luxurious inside of a passenger cart you'd expect of @ caked up merchant. No corpses, but dozens of red chrysanthemums are spread along the seats. The main charactes outside the carthear a voice from the top of the small waterfal “Can I fucking elp you bro?” A ish appears at the top of the waterfall, swimming over the edge and awkwardly flopping into the pool. The fish ws into 2 fox, walking out of the water and shaking his coat dry, angrily asking the main characters wh they re pecping on his house. Bixin Hili As in most setings, foxes are suspected of having powers (mostly shapeshifting) and are usually smarter than_humans. Bixin (‘boo-shin”) is not particularly smart, and completely fucking foul. As he talks 1 the main characters, Bixn walks around on his back legs like a human, gathering the shattered cartwheel pieces into neatly stacked piles of firewood along his new house /the corpse thieves' cart Ifasked certain questions, Bixin answers with somethin read these off, put it in your own words) imilar t0 the below (don just * The eart: “I found it frst dude hop off my sack! Nobody was in there, o hors. nothing. Finders keepers you know what | mean? Smelled like absolute dogahit though 501 had to freshen it up with some [chrysanthelmums. You didn't steal any of my fucking mums did you? * When he found it: “1 don't know, like, when the sun was there,” he points 10 the sky indicating maybe three hours ago * How he got it here without a horse: “You serious? I'm fucking magie bro check me out” and shools lte fireworks out his fingers. ©If he saw any humans: “Nah dude humans suck ass, 1o offense — 1 smell humans, | slide. The stream by the camphor tree grove fucking recks of humans right now so I'm giving that 2 wide birch for & minute. Actually that reminds me, you holding any of that uman style food?” *The camphor grove: “Ublih that way, not e he waves southish unhelpfully “They're the biggest fuckers in the forest so jus climb a tree or whatever and you'llsee em.” *The yaksha: “What you think I'm scared of that dork? 'm not scared bro watch this shit”and he turms nto a ock, “Boom what's he gonna do with this?” *The shrine: “There’s kindo ke old buildings and shit in some spots but they're all fucked up and sunk in the ground. | couldn'ttell you where any are aL.” ©Why e was a fsh just now: “Listen, these fsh bithes can't get enough of me. Once | fgure out how to twin into @ rabbit s over for these hos. Bixin sn't helpful, and doesn't acknowledge the main characters leaving with much more than “Alright don't trip over your dieks out there - and hey lemne grip some of that human food sometime, bring Some plum wine.” If the main characters bother him (doesn't take much) he tums nto an elephant and starts throwing the into the water with his trr B Camphor Grove As they approach the rove, anybody with Busheraf | or higher can spin to notice that all signs of wildlif slowly disappear - no st of undergrowth from foraging beast, birds stop singing, toads stop croaking cic You emerge into a grove of massive camphor tres, their wide trunks cleaved with dark vy and their verdant tops cresting @ hundred feet above you. Sunlight glimmers on o shallow stream winding along mossy stones and banks of dark carth. What do you do? Afew metalitems glint in the cool water of the strean: « Large ring of three keys + Dagger with ow inlaid on the hil + Coins (60 wen, some burial coins mixed n) » Decayed lnt with seel strker Owl Dagger: offense s4, block 1. Worth 600 wen © Light weapon (can add strong o fast score o offense spi) © IFspin landsa 1, auomatically attack again for frce (unlimited) © Engraved with characters reading: “Fortune & Disaster | Entwine like strands of rope” [Worldiness 1~ knows soutc s th lasic "Rhyme-Prose on the Owl by Chia Yi c.180 BC] » The Yaksha Appears: at some point, without sound o motion, a yaksha is simply there. He can appear as the main charactes are walking 1o the grove, as they leave, or maybe appear squatting next 1o them as they check out the metal shil n the sream. Either way, pick a moment that would be realy jaring 10 then. Side Character: AGang (“ali-gong”) the Yaksha Voice: otherworldly THumanoid inshape, butseven fee tll and overed n blue sales. Eys ke glowing cosls, timbs ofsone, wsk ke canines. Con be fne-mannered and oy fiendly for somebody ha cats urnans, bizame and unpredictable to emphasize his othervorldliness, or cerie - unsetlingly gazing theough Wwhaever h'stlking to. Go with whatever vibe you think is most iteresting. Ab'Gang asks the main characters wh they are. He politly introduces himself and asks what they'e doing in his forest. Anybody that hasn' yet now notices all signs of wildiife have disappeared — even the wind is gone, leaving the main characters in an unnerving stilness (pause soundirack). If asked about The four Grinning Tiger members: Ah'Gang casually says he ate their bones. He also at the bones of the corpses they brough, “The Fist o the Celestial Destroyer: the yaksha says he never heard of the scrolls,that he just played along with the Girinning Tiger members gt access o more human bones The metal items in the strear like “Yes, quite inflami A Gang makes a disgusted tothe gut” oise and says someth + Ifthe main characters tum (0 g0, Al Gang immediately appears before them. He stares hungrily at them, slowly approaching before (ring (0 grab at one. 34 Fight Scene: the Yaksha of Lantern Forest Soundirack: DJ Smakey - Choppin Out Da Lost Woods Al Gang takes the defensive stance of a clearly ancient form, heat distortions of chi emanating o his hands. Al Gang the Yaksha: Offense s tice per tun (unarmed) / Def 3/ Merk 50 Calgong’) PECIALS (cach once per ight, no sction cost) + Sweeps when attacker’s offense ower than 3, immediat 56 offense and knocked down « Ghost Step: when attack incoming, immediately teleport five srides « Taijitu Throw: trget launched 4 srides, knocked prone, and tkes 5§ offense + Overgrowth: roots burst from ground and entangle target (move 0 strides next turm) OFFENSE TAKEN Tactics: attacks cach of the main characters equally (keeps him from immediately ‘merking anybody). Can't be moved (Specials ike Tsunami Kick ineffective). Fail State: if the main characters are geting paddled, et the last one standing merk AW Gang (even if he’s not close to merked). As a fur trade, inflet loss: after the Victory,tell them the fist main character merked lost an eye and had their juw broken (can't speak for a month). The second main character merked had ther ankle shattered (permanent -2 to move score). Merked: Ah'Gang stumbles as he begins 10 slowly turn to ash. He looks at his hands in horror as a swifily lfling wind srong enough o bend tres blasts away the Yaksha's disintegrating form, shrieking in your cars ke a typhoon before fading as quickly as it came. #Crew Ambition Completed Each main character gins a level for binging al involved in the Potbelly Hil graverobbings to justice Finding the Shrine Soundirack: ODB - Shimmy Shimmy Ya Instrumental Over the next minute birdsong and other signs of wildlife reemerge, the wind now a warm, pleasant breeze. “The Shrine: the map the Grinning Tiger Clan sketched up is prety shit, but the shrine can be found n a ravine about ten minutes south without 100 much trouble You reach a sun-soaked clearing bencath boughs of ginkgo and elm. Ancient stone pativays neardy swallowed by the carth converge on a tiny, moss-covered stone structure. ~ the ruins of a small shrine. What do you do? ‘The Big Payoff Buried a foot beneath the floor ofthe shrine is a bundle of burlap cloth. I contains £ 24,000 wen (send actors o page 107 to spend ther share) B) A small bel: omately wrought,unknown meta, no clapper. Anybody with Fluent in the Evoteric knows it's supernatural but requires a clapper made from a thunderbird hallux bone. (This is a “blank”, an indeterminate item that can seed future plots) €. Elegantly lacquered tubes containing the scrolls Fist of the Celestial Destroyer Six volumes flled with graceful calligraphy of antiquated anguage, stsnce and foorwork illustrations, diagrams of chi application etc. They seem 1o teach sx lost technigues. Each ‘main characier can take one for ree: - Sublime Diagram: +4 unarmed offense (permanent) - Stone Lion Style: +2 defense (permanent) ~ Seven Point Ethereal Lotus Strikes target has 5% chance of immediately dying: if they don't they take 84 (+strong or fast) offense. Once per fight, costs a move actor - Bleeding Tiger Style: +5 offense when your offense taken is more than half your merk ~Viehl Focus: whenever your atack fais 10 put offense on a arget, gain +2 stacking offense that lasts the restof the fight scene: *Tolling Palms no offense dealt but target loses next turn and has 0 defense unil the of your next turn. Once per fight, costs a move aci The SP value of these Specials is *27”, they can't be upgraded, or mirtored by Mimic ‘Special. The main charactes ar free to do what they feel with the serolls (next page). 36 Arc Outro Soundirack: Large Peofessor - uswannachill Instrumental I the show fecls done: go sround the crcl, cach actor montaging out thei main character. As always, ask questions about anything ntereting (0 get the fll utro out of then. o the next Key Narrstor and crew's dirction I you wanna keep it rolling: SSEASON TWO IDEAS- Agents of the Wo Ping: if the main characters bring the scrolls 0 the monastery, they're promoted (0 procurement squad and regularly sent on missions +Clans o saled sca-dweling peoples (Dirn) invade one ofth southirs slands wher & main Character has family. The Wo P es the crew borrow insane arifacts from s hbray. + A stranger shows up at the monascry: he was a iutenant of sscurity for some sristocrats i Bindsong City, charged with procuring vagrants snd “other undesirables” to sate their vampiric appetites. Afler his aistocratc masters demanded younger vietims fo their more exauisite blood,he realzed his mistake and s secking redempion by asking for outside help - Find and retreve missing Wo Ping agents who were infiltating a thieves” il i the capi + A hunter discovers the ruins of a palace in the mountans, and reports it 1o the Wo Ping instcad o his Iocal authorities beckuse they all ucking suck. The traly sncient palace 13 Haunted by dozens of shades, inky black ultravioent ghosts of is inhabitants, some vith sorcerous poner. One uncorrupted ghost holds keys o imner sanctun: a pantao grove, where immortality-bestowing peaches grow over centuries on atherworlly tres (several are ipe). +A Wo Ping spy confirms rumors that the monks of the North Wind Temple have tumed fo numan sacrifce for secret knowledge. Ice the monks, ce whatever they're suerfcing (0. uke. theis shil,torch the temple. Can ride out on pixiu (iant winged ions)imprisoncd intempl. + Bea imperial axents to the gnce.mythical Dawa Sheine to wicc:is pre-ancient superweaon. +The Catacombs of Warlord Yodwicha: hidden on a remot island permanently shrouded in o Heavy storm. Filled with pishacha (corpse- Don't forget to run closing ceremonies & level up mai B Creating a New Show I everybody wanis o keep mesting for sessions, but instead run a diferent seting or genre, just bang ot the below seps 1. Agree an a show concept Something with & lot of narrative potential like uncovering supernatural scerets in the theiving cities of the Bronze Age, or exploring a small planet of destroyed civilizations now infested with strange lifeforms, 2. First Key Narrator steps up Since they'Il be running the show, they now have ereative control over the setting. Key, ' your job to come to that fist session with an episode that introduces the main characters and sets the Crew Ambition in motion. I you'te a fisttimer, check out page 111 for a crash course. 3. Agree on a Crew Ambition that will drive the show’s plot forward Can be something immediate like repelling the raiders boarding the ship you're all passengers on (*Merk the Raiders”). Can be something open-ended like crew of longtime friends starting private deteetive ageney and waiting forther first case o walk n the door (“First Case”). Can be something longform like fiding a map and pillaging the tomb of the tyrant Kashif Sullan (“Into the Crypt”). 4. Actorscreate & crew of main characters Acast you'd wanna watch an actual show about - nteresting group dynamics, belicvable orthe stting, and ll driven o move the show’s plot forward. 5. Lock in time for your first session Seriously, do this step now. If you kick that can down the road everybody’s schedule is ‘zonna il up and your show probably won't appen. B Bump Scenes Sclf-contained scenes you can drop into the midde of ny session. Use them to hange up gameptay or il ou essions tha ran short 4 Social Bump Scene: Inexorable Pupil A silver bullt. for engaging an actor who isn't quite buying in yet, or spotlighting one Who's good at social gameplay. Shortly afle a public fight, the main characters exit a building t0 sec & young person bowing toward them (local orphan named Scissors; missing pinky and ring finger). Scissors calls one of the main characters maste, nsists on learning their moves, offers (0 do busywork 1o carn theis tutelage, and wor't ke no o an answer. 4 Bump Fight I Soundirack: GZA - Liguid Swords Insrumental. A stocky man wearing all black comes bolting round & corner and sprints past the main charactrs. Fight dudes with improvised weapons (chains, mallets, axchandles etc) chase after him, but stop in front ofthe armed main characters. When asked why they're chasing i, they answer something like “Feh! He's not a man: hes taken a vow of non-violence. We are helping him restore his manhood by making him fight” You don't gott erack into the dialogue or philosophy of this scene if you don't feel like it the posse can just say something like “Feh! We'll estore your manhaod as well for questioning us!” and immediatly run at them. Local Assholes x8 Offense 54 Defense 0/ Merk 3 Tacties: et the main characters go firs — this is actually a pretty dangerous fight if you don't (fu warning). Merked: if a main character spins high, just describe them pulling their shot or g thei blade at the last second to avoid cing somebody over petty shit Reward: 2 SP 1o cach main character The dude in black doesn't iterfer, but deyly says there's realy no reason o ight since he outruns these dorks all the time. Has indeed taken the vow of Ahimsa (a0 harm 1o any eing). His name is Boatwright Lau Kar-Leung; he invites the main charactes to visi his workshop i the Lacks Distriet where he and his brothers build / repair boas if there's ever anything he can help them out with, 4 Bump Fight IT Soundirack: GZA - Liguid Swords Insrumental th wooden staffs and heavy Hakka accents notice the main s weaponry and osk i they're from the monssery on the mountan. They barely speak Chinese, but say they've been wandering since their master was killed, challens the fighters of ane kung T school afler another, looking for a new maser skilled enough (0 train under. They speak politel, but insist on fight, testing the crew until it jumps off then spinning theie $taffs and toking a defensive monkey style stance. Monkey Siyle Fighters x2 Offense 1443 (staff)/ Defense 3./ Merk 10 Special: fron Pendulum - Immediate free atack on anybody who atacks you bur hils 1o put ffense on you. Unlimited uses but not more than once per turm Merked: the fighters apologize, and give the main charactes mollusk shell of amica balm (enough to fully heal any offense they took), then ask the name of their monastery and the best oad 10 it Reward: 2 SP 1o cach main character il State: i entire crew merked in eithe of these Gghts, they re just roughed up “with minor injuries / KO'd. Their offense taken stays at a point below merked untl they find a way to hal themselves. £ +On Last Week’s Episode Soundirack: Lewis Parker - Incognito Instrumental Start each new session by A. covering any new Specials bought since last time, and B going over the events of last session, finishing by setting the scene where you left offat #Closing Ceremonics Soundirack: Linle Brother - Beautiful Morning Instrumental End every session by running through three categories 1. Tha Golden Domez: g0 around the circle and award cach player 2 SP. As it's awarded the group gets to decide what it's for (“I present 1o you tha Golden Dome award for Worst Plan Humanly Possible” etc) 2. Key's Choice Award: favorite performance of the session (2 more SP to that actor) 3. Completed Ambitions: give SP for any Ambitions wrapped up IKey arrator Notes] a ] 2 P [B-r b plosrety x % P [Key Narrator Notes] [Key Narrator Notes] s Summer Hountains (Excerpt 1) [Key Narrator Notes] [Key Narrator Notes] 9 Zhang Zeduan - Along the River During the Qingming Festival (Excerpt 1) Zhang Zeduan - Along the River During the Qingming Festival (Excerpt 1) Zhang Zeduan - Along the River During the Qingming Festival (Excerpt 1) Zhang Zeduan - Along the River During the Qingming Festival (Excerpt 1V) IKey arrator Notes] 52 IKey arrator Notes] 5 Main Character Creation Each actor creates and controls a main character in the game. As long as they fit the show’s concept and start at level 1, anything goes. +Quicklist.. 1. Snatch a main character sheet from page 123 2. Concept: name, appearance, background eic 3. Pk Specials: page 57 - 67, start with 10 SP's worth (you can starthere f ‘you'resil thinking on a concept) Start with merk 10 Start with 0 defense (top number i fust alllower numbers added together) Start with a move score of 5 1 non-Chinese, put 2 bars in your naive tongue (automatically fuent in Chincse) . Spend a bar inany majo skill o addtional language (1 bar fo broken, 2 i lunt) 9. Put one point in any primary 10, Check opposite page for the bonus that primary gives you, write it down 4 s 6 7. Ready to play. Start undeveloped: you'll mostly figure out who your main character is as you play them, iffing with the other main characters and interacting with the seting. Leave mad foom o grov. Start humble: remember you're stating at level 1. You're basically the average person with a e SP so forget about any master swordsman shit. Meet your Key at least halfway: they put together game for you 1o enjoy so don't make & main character named Fred Shitbreath or whatever. The show i only as good as everybody's level of buy-in Build your cast cooperatively. Cres chemistry is what really makes @ show jumnp. Try to think of yourselves not s a proup of individuals, but a a crew, a cast of main characters you'd wanna watch an actual show abou. You wanna be able 1o have a slamning pait-off Scene with any two main characters. “Two of us play in the same jazz combo’” is good, but 10 really juice a cast, fuck around with dynamics and archetypes — Seinfeld with four Jerrys never would have worked, you know? Background: defines your main character, sure, but also use it 10 seed your future storylines and tie yourself to the setting. Some prompt ideas + Where and how you grewup A group you belong to % A comrade or contact + Yourart /crestive expertise % Your tade vocational expertise % Arival +Culure / subculure | chicity + A nickname title and how you got it + Towo ramorsthe other main charsctrs have heard about you don' specity e e, or exagserted il comes u o ) Don't bother writing beyond the background box: no amount of backstory will make your main character fel like lving person (that only happens as you play ther). Levels Levels represent a main character’s power. Afler overcoming significant challenge in the show, all main characters ain a evel. Leveling up about once every 3 sessions is norma. Startatlevel T with - mesk 10, | Primary Poiot, 10 Special Points, | Knowledge Bar Leva2 1 Primary Point, 10 Special Points Leva3 1 Primary Point, 10 Special Poiats, 1 Knowledge Bar Leverd 1 Primary Point, 10 Special Points Level 5 +1t0all Primaries, 10 Special Points, | Knowledge Bar Level 6 1 Primary Poi, 10 Special Points Leve 7 1 Primary Point, 10 Special Poiats, 1 Knowledge Bar Levl 8 1 Primary Pois, 10 Special Points Leve9 1 Primary Point, 10 Special Poiats, 1 Knowledge Bar Level 10 +110 al Primaries, 10 Special Poiats Lot 11 1 Primary Point, 10 Special Poiats, 1 Knowledge Bar Leve 12 1 Primary Poiat, 10 Special Points Leve 13 1 Prmary Pois, 10 Special Points, 1 Knowledge Bar Leve 14 1 Primary Poiat, 10 Special Points Level 15 +110 all rimaries, 10 Special Poins, | Knowledge Bar Andsoon Primaries “The core stats of a character. Each primary amps up secondary features, like so sTRONG © Every 1 point: +1 offense on all hand-to-hand attacks and throwing atacks © Every 2 poinis: +1 defense (put under parry) © Every 3 poinis: +1 move score FAST + Every 1 point: +1 offense on all ranged atacks and light weapon attacks + Every 2 points: +1 defense (put et dodge) + Every 3 poinis: +1 move score HARD © Every 1 point: +10 merk * Every 2 poinis: +1 defense (put under gri) = Exery 3 points: heal | pointof offense taken each turm SMART + Every 1 point: +5 Special poiats (SP) » Every 2 poinis: +1 knowledge bar Your main characte starts at level 1 with a point in any primary (z¢10 i the est). Satvise this represents the average person. Narratively, primaries are open o interpreation: smart can mean wise o witt or booksmar,srength éan b as-twitch or slow-twilch tc. 55 Major Skills A marative touchpoint for what your main character can casily do. Examples lsted below ae sl subjet 0 your Key Narator’ judgmen of the situation, so don'tbe like “do this immediately and fToressly and the book said | ean so suck i Automotive Examples 1 bar t0 hotwire an oudted model of car or ot brakelines, 2 o outdrive & pursuing. policecrse o estore a small cngine, 3 o hotwie recent models afcar, 4 1o be bl 1 deduce how 1o operate a tank, 0 outdriv fll-saie police pusuit with el support Busherat Examples: 1 bar 1 build a i with no tols o forage caough foo for ne persn, 2 0 forage for a sroup or extmet and braid fiber, 3 1o rack 4 survivalist ying (0 evade you o safcy weaponize Venoms (4 undefendable offnse per tum ith Duraion: Combat, single 1), 410 knap and bind it or osidan weapons rom scatch (2 offnse since made ofsone, bul can crate any §pe of hand-to- Hand wespon or bow) 0 crets & comiortabe setlement withlov-maintenance permacuture Chemistry Examples: 1 bar o flly destroy fingerprints, 2 to trace ovigin of a sret drug by extracting addiies, 3 0 discreely symhesize batchs of mid-grade rcreational drugs ($400 woth per eek), 4 1o extract poison (56 undefendable offense per tum with Duration: Combat, single se) from redacted hoschold product, § 10 make s Trag grenade with an hour's abor and $20 worth of redacted industrial products) Electronies Examples: 1 bar to disble & sccuity camera or cheap alarm, 2 to safly disam 8 homemade. explosiv or defeat a mid-grade sk system, 3 o projet pirse radio n 8 |-l adius or 19 & Specifc newhy trget, 4 to make 3 pulc-swithing EMP device (tmporanly disables nerby lctroncs)outof garbage with thee days abor, t knock out city's powergid with access 0.4 transmission ln, or a speciic neighborbood with acces 10 3 substtion Gunsmithing Examples: 1 bar 1o clear jam or assemible your own ammo (S0% discount), 2 10 sabotage a ircarm. with spiked ammo o it cxplodes when next usd (frarm destoyed, cauies irsarm's offnse 1o user. 3 1o sally make your own gunpowder (even n the wilderess) 4 1o make advanced ammunition (automatically espin 1), § 10 machine firarm from meta stock (weck ofabor) Medicine Examples: 1 bar for CPR or 1o stop arial blcding, 2 o idendy a common poscn venom / oxin or resetand splin & compound facture, 3 0 be abe o deduce @ corpacs cause of deth or seal o Sucking chest wound, 4 o reatch 3 severed hand or ientfy 8 e poison / venom / toin, o safely grafteybernetic rostheses Metalworking Examples: 1 bar 1o make a dagger out of scap or defeat a cheap lock, 2 to weld bulleproof armorng onio avehile. 3 to make ny hand-o-hand weapon out of srap, 4 o defeat the door of o ank vaul, 0 make @ hand-to-hand weapan with permanent +1 offene (week of libor) Nanotech Each bar is 2 10% cash discount o nanite-basd tch (eprsents being able o just creae your o) Stealth Examples: 1 bar o creep past a security gard scrolling through bis phone, 2 0 piekpocket the average person. 3 tocree p behind s seninl and remove the magzine rom hei rifle, 4 1 defcat art museum moton sensars 0 evade & tcam o mercensries rained and cauipped for pursit Worldliness Examples: 1 bar 1 know who pulsthe stings inyour locsl criminal underwarld, 2 (0 know th datc of most major historica events o the scting, 3 o have friendly conact i every majr city, 4 1o know so many people in bands and abels that you can et on the st of any show on the planct, § 10 Know the names and adessesofthe people who scualy killd JFK. s6 Specials Povwers and unique abilites. Feel fice to change their appearance o fit your main character. Here's how they work #Special’s Name [oal P cos] Acsthetic How it looks Summary: What it docs Effect: The base meshanie (5P cos] Modifers: Opionalupgrades to range/ ara/ duration et [SP cost behind cach] Premade Specials Even if you this book is complted. M 0 vV E Jow how to create your own Specias already, stick t0 these unil the are in M E N T Premade Specials That Move & Al How You Move +Radiant Palm [10 s] Acstheic: A pulse of chi blasts outvard from your plm throwing your opponcat back. Summary: Target s hrown buck one e, If they collde with anothr charscer, they both e 512 offense. No action cos (but must be wsed o your tur). Eftect: Push calision s12) (8] Modifers: Speed: Move-Equivalat [+114 fect cost] *Frog Pop [1 s7] Acsthtic: You launch yourelf up from s prone. posion. Summary: When knocked down, o sction cost 10 stand bk up on your tum. Urlimited uses. Efect: K- [151] Modifiers: X +Qing-Gong [15 sr] Acstheie: Supermatural lghines from years of iraining ung Summary: You can fump up 1o the full disance of your move score, sid, and gencrally move around ke you'e i lowgravity. Unlimited Eftect: Oing-Gong (155 Modifiers: X «Shadow Doorz [10 s¢] Acsthetis You snk ino s shadow snd immediatly reemerge from any other shadow nsight Summary: Telsport_beswesn o shadows i sight Shadow must be wide cnough it your body, and can't b your own.Only costs Effct:Teleport Betucen Shadovs [1051] Modifiers: X wkite [85¢] Acsthede: You slickly fade away from @ ungin cocany. ‘Summary: Immediatly move one seide inany dircton (o acton cost) When an_cnemy moves 0. squar adjacent 0 you. Can be used once per fight Effect: Side (djacent move) [455] Modifirss Use: Once per Fight [x2] «Pao Qlang |5 sv] Acsthetc: Augmeniedging-gong allows you to ‘wallcon walls sndcelings. ‘Summary: Walk and function on sny surfces asfthey were the ground for o trncyele. Effect: Allnface (39 Modifie How many times can 1 use cach Special? The defuult number s once per. day. For upgrades, check out page 69 Some Specials automatcaly have unlimitd wes, ke Qing-Gang, Others have: I thei use number upgraded, ke Kite, but most o these premdes ar sill at their defaultof ance e day. s T A T s Some Real Basic Premade Stat Specials +Tron Shirt [7sr] Acstheics Lesser martia arists have broken iheir hands onyour highly conditoned ribs. Summary: 1 har (permanen). Eftect: Primary Up hard) 7 2] Modifiers: X *Yintang Meridian [S sv] Acstheics Stike 10 o craial pressae point makes your opponent wobbled and confused Summary: Anybody hat put offense on the target i the nest turncyele gt 4 bonus. Effect: Defense Down 4 (4 %] (nsiad of lowering defense, all tackers jus dd offnse) Modifers: Speed: Move- Equivalat [+114 fect cost] +Northern Wind Diagran [S sr] Acsthtics Advanced footwork les you move around fights ke phantom. Summary: Get 4 free and immediate move action, The bonus move ation must b used on your tum, and must be used 1o acualy move (B0 subsituing Speed: - Move-Equivalent Specials). No actioncos Effect: Exta Move Action (551] Modifiers: X s E ~ #Golden Mantis Style [7 se Acsthetcs You're fluent in a kung fu discpline prsingspecd. Summary: -1 fst (pemancn). Efect: Prinary Up ([ [750] Modifiers: “Nomad [3 se] Acsthete: You grew up nomadic — hunting, acking, and herb gatherng daly routine. wmmary: You know e basis of plant idetificaton, can forage. cnough food and clean water to sustain one person, can build 4 fire with o tols e Effect: Knowledge Bar (busherat) (3 1) Modifie «Lotus of Sublime Obliteration [13 sr] Acsthetcs Hest disorionsofchi blaze o your body a5 you power up. Summary: 4 offese to cvery atack and offcasive Special you make for the rest of the ight scene. Remember this Special costs move action o manifest, and can only be used once p day Effct: Oense Up 4 455] Modifirs: Dusstion: Combat [effct 3] ‘Spec: Move-Equialent (+114 et cot) s E Premade Sensory-Based Specials +Exalted Eye [2 7] Acsthete: Momentarly slimpse he b chiclow ofallsumounding e, Summarys Cleary see sl esaby biologial Ife despite any obscucions or lusions. Lasts & wencyele Eftect: Detec Lifforns [259] Modifiers: X +Out of Body [3 se] Acsthetics You rter 8 trane sste, your vision lowly rising above your physical body. Summary: Move your visul vantag point 1o anywhere your acual bological eyos can se. No actio cost. Lasts a ight scene o about ive minutes s of combat Effect Remote Hewing [351] Modifiers: X s «Part the Vell [3 s7] Aestheti: Youwve clevaed_your sensory pesception to supernatural levels theough years of mediaton. Summary: Selectivly see through matter for one tumcyele. Effect: -Ray Vision [355] Modifie «Unclouded Mind [4 se] Aesthetc: A carcully culivated memory gives voullawlss recall. Summary: You can remernber any sight or mage you've witnessed with perfect slary. Thi Spocil is slways setive (never have to specify 1 se Unclouded Mind") Effect: Photographic Memory [451] Modifie s o ¢ Premade Identity & I +Echoes of Malice 3 sr] Acsthetcs You momentarily attune (o the {ntentionsof surounding beings. Summary: Know with cerinty if anybody in the surrounding arca means you_ harm, and ko the reltive location o anybody who docs Effect: Detec Malevolence 351 Modifiers: X +Primordial Dialectz [2 57] Acstheic: Through some srange folkule ke cvent in your past you've leamed the secret fongue of beastsand irds. Summary: Speak fluatly with any non-human s 25 long s e comverston. Non-Human Animal 125¢) Acstheics An clevaed stat esspive 0 the emanations ofohers thoughts. Summary: Momentaily observe the tarze’s i of consciousness/ surfac thoughts. Effect: Read Mind (355] Modifiers: X L1 Premade Specials That — Husions st sbout 5 minutcs sach before specfcally rge the user sar with a rane of 5 the same but add up rom ther. +Jingzi Gui [6 sv] Acstheie: You appear 1o tple. Summary: Two wentica copcs o your isage emerge on eilher sde of you, imilating your cvery move and sisying adjacent © you. When st used you can swich with one of these copies for fre. When copy struck fo even | offense, it disappears ina fash of rapured ch. Eftect: Gorchacopis x2 [651] Modifiers: X +Forest Dweller [2 5] Acsthtic The woodlands rognize you s one of their own and mask your moverments from oussders. Summary: When among wess, il grass, or othe fliage,get 2 additonal bars i scath Eftect: Cloak of Verdanes +2 [251] Modifiers: X Bl 1AL teraction Specials «Halfa Face |3 sr] Acsthetics You ciber fesk people out with your appesrance o somehons cover i p. Either way mostpeople dont want o lk 0 you ‘Summary: Gain 3 SP hut everybody except the most kindheartd or enlghiened are elucant 1o speak with you The naraive orgins of this distigrement s up o the sctor Effct: Ugh (535 Modifiers: X «Seed of Volition [4 7] Aesthetc: Nudgea characer's thought patens. Summary: You give the et 8 vage lncliation ordesc. Effect: Notion (551] Modifiers: X «Discernment [4 sv] Aesthete: You're pracicedinsptsing ars. Summary: Inmctiaicly koo if 3 Sttemeat ‘made withincarsho was mesnt o deceve Effct: Detecr L 1451] Modifiers: X s 1 0 N Twistup Perception saing 1o glich out. lusions that don't Srdes;any range modifesupgrades sl cost. «Phantasmagoria [10 sp] Acsthetcs You rest a sound, image, scent ctc hat o't rally here. wmmary: Create . basc singl-sensory illsion that fecs el 0 any observer: clling voie, thearoma of cooking,an lered sgn cc Unlimited uses (but st b used on your tum). Effect: Minor sion (105¢] Modifiers: X «Vell of Menglong [7 sr] Acsthetcs You make an skhenical sign and fum your palms against cach othr, your skin ippling theough colors and pasces. ummary: Alts appearan of skin at il +3 scall whenever e (unlimited s, no Sction cost) Effect: Chanelean Skin 755] Modifierss X AL T E R Premade Specials That Change up Form & Fu +Torrid Bloom 9 sv] Acstheic: You impart n intnse locus of chi hrough v finges, the objct you_touch immediacy haring 1 8 dungerous emperaure. Summary: Heat a0 objec. 1 @ character is holding the object they take 56 offense per turneyele (starting t the beginning of your next ). Weapons and implments can b dropped fresly but armer akes a full m 10 remo. Can s target single square of ground. Effect: Hear 6 3 5¢] Modifers: Duration: Comnbat (et 3] +lnvocation of Passage [4 s¢] Aesthetic: You muter s i seet words that persade locks o open for you. Summary: Immediatly and sl open most lacks (madde grade o lower). Wil o defeat sl Specialoflowes SP value Effect: Unseal heavy) (451) Modifiers: X +Daojiao Fundamentals [6 sr] Aesthtic: Your asic grssp ofsichemy allows Y00 0 transfigure nanimae abjcts. Summary: Trnstorm an object, but it mist Kkosp same mateials and volume. Target obiect can't b supernaturs o lager than ser Eftect: Object o Objec (651 Modifiers: X G E N E R AT 1 0 N ciion «Cosmic Vitality [4 s7] Acsthete: Enlighicncd understandig of your body frecs you fom the valgar forms of sourshment. ‘Summary: Don'tneed fod or waer Efect: Eliminae Bilogical Need (food, water) s Modifiers: X «Yanshen [14 5] Acsthetie: As you slap your_palm onto an objet it quivers then explodes i ength Summary: Target objct (no hicker han 6°) can extend t as long 25 0 stridesor contact 1o S5 short 55 & millimetr, One use of both eagthening and shortening perday Efect: Length / Shorten [14.5¢] Modifierss X «Ensorcelled of Body [15 s7] Acsthetcs When you were young your parents Sought the medial aition of 3 great alchemist, but while she was adminisering rcatment you wandered into her aboratory and drank bl the it n tere. ummary: Vour body 1 usnaturaly sttchy. and contorsble. Your limbs can rech an extra rde even whileatacking). Efect: Body Elasiiy (can aack) [1551] Modifierss X A T 1 0 N Premade Specials That Conjure & Create Shit *2Zhu Que [S sr| Acsthetcr A small bird of clement futters fom your hand. Summary: Range of 3 sirides, lasts s ong as you have e hand o diret . Max offense | Effect Call Fire (351 Modifers: Range 3 (251] e +Backpicee: Viclous Triumphator 3 sr] Acsthetics A ful back tatioo of dog-headed Guo-Tuo standing on & mounain of demon ‘corpses, blood dipping rom his grcat hammer Summary: Inbucd tatoo (SP discount for acsthetc qulity). Besrer gets +1 offene for cach cnemy merked during fght sccnc; bonus lastsfor dration offight Effect: Imbue Tutoo: Death Dealer [551] Modifiers: X «Domecrusher [15 se] Acsthetics An outwacd blsstof hi distrs the i when this loag,spiked ironcudgel srikcs Summary: Mateialze tis weapon a will (14 + szong, lock 1, two-handed). Inhabicd by a spirit named Dorecrusher who has ula-keen earing. some knowledge of the ancint world, and can frecly communicate with the wiclder Effct: Supernanral Weapon: Two-Handsd Hafarm [750] with Enclow Sentence 45¢] and dcute Hearing 1351) Modifiers: X «Leopard [10 7] Acsthetcs A violety loyal companion leopard youreseued s n orphaned cub. Summary: Merk 10, move 5. offense 2. Effect: Companion (can atack) [10 9] Modifiers: X M E T A Premade Specials That Deal with Specials +Celestial Mirror [15 sr] Acstheics You flwlessly replicste he chi potcrms of an observed techniue Summary: Copy another charactr’s Special ihat costs cqual 0 o less than e SP spent on this Specil {can mimic every Specal i this are: and premade. sccton). You then have the mimicked Special unil you use this Special o copy a difernt one. Must observ use of Special o mimic. No acion cost. Eftect: Miic Spcial [155] Modifiers: X +Fluent in the Esoteric [3 s¢ Acsthetc: Years of poring through_great libraries of ditant monasirics has made you familsr withthe udiments of every cxpresion of ch Summary: Immedisily kaow if something within cyesight is a Specia, and get st st