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Yeah, the Jammers are usually played as the wacky comic relief faction or I guess in this latest edition the guys who blew up seven billion people (whoops) but they have a point in that the laws of the Feng Shui universe kind of suck since the only thing that matters in a historical context is who's the best at playing supernatural king-of-the-hill. To be honest I kind of think that the Jammers actually setting their grand plan into motion and having it backfire so utterly horrifically does both them and the setting a bit of a disservice because all it does is further emphasize the overriding importance of controlling Chi above anything else. "These guys tried to buck the system and look what happened, they killed everyone on earth, just stick to going through the motions like always or this could happen to you too."
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Jun 7, 2014 01:46
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Yeah, I think I honestly preferred the card game's take, where 'oops, suddenly the Dragons control a juncture, let's watch and see how that messes up everything-.'
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Jun 7, 2014 01:48
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Well, I'm sure there is some kind of middle-ground between "destroy mankind's control over chi" and "permanently destroy the leylines of the entire planet." in there somewhere.  Yeah, but the card game timeline had its own problems, like Neo Buro Nazi Germany or the fact the 2056 juncture was just kind of generic cyberpunk. Though that timeline could very well have happened and been quickly reversed because, c'mon, Dragons controlling a juncture? That won't last long.
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Jun 7, 2014 01:51
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The thing about the Jammers is that they're the most ridiculous faction on the surface (oh look, a bunch of bomb-throwing anarchists and cybermonkies, okay) but they're also the only faction who was willing to try something outside the box. Pretty much every other faction in the game vying for control over the world's Chi is some stripe of megalomaniacal, dictatorial rear end in a top hat and then there are the Dragons who are supposed to be the noble and heroic fashion but largely seem to throw their lives away preserving the status quo rather than having much of a positive effect on anything so they kind of come across like a bunch of saps. So what made the Jammers interesting beyond the lol cybermonkey cheese was the niggling little idea that hey, maybe these guys are right. I'm not saying that the Jammers were really the unsung heroes of the game or anything, but it's that uncertainty that gave them a bit more depth...everyone else buying into the "control the Chi" game is either a jerk or ineffectual, the modern day is run by a conspiracy of transformed animals, the future is run by the Buro, 69AD is run by the Lotus, so maybe, just maybe going all in on that isn't the way to go. Instead it turns out that actually they're dumb and wrong and blew up the whole world and now have to join the Chi-controlling race with everyone else. Eh. I think the uncertainty of it was best, like how (for example) Eberron leaves stuff like "what caused Cyre to explode?" as a big question mark that not even the writer knows the answer to. (Also while I was never a huge fan of the Buro-run 2056 juncture I'm kinda iffy on replacing it with barren post-apocalyptica, I think future junctures have always been kind of a place that Feng Shui's struggled with, maybe because there just isn't a whole lot of futuristic Hong Kong action kung fu sci-fi cinema out there to work with.)
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Jun 7, 2014 02:01
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unseenlibrarian posted:Yeah, I think I honestly preferred the card game's take, where 'oops, suddenly the Dragons control a juncture, let's watch and see how that messes up everything-.'
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Jun 7, 2014 02:10
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I always figured the idea with the Dragons was 'The last dragons were idiots, don't repeat their mistakes, you're on!' as a setup for your PCs becoming a major faction in the Secret War.
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Jun 7, 2014 02:53
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I got more of a "They bit off more than they could chew/didn't prepare properly. You guys are awesome though, you've got this!" vibe. Followed by "Those last guys bit off more than they could chew, but you guys are awesome!" again. Forever.
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Jun 7, 2014 02:55
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I'm all for the idea that the PCs should be more competent at moving and shaking than NPCs, don't get me wrong, but even within the text of the game itself the writers seemed to push the idea that the highest calling that even PC Dragons could aspire to was dying in a big dramatic shootout in order to inspire the next generation of Dragons to, I guess, die in another big dramatic shootout or something.
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Jun 7, 2014 03:06
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So did I, I just ignored it because it seemed like a poo poo goal for a campaign and a dumb idea.
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Jun 7, 2014 03:17
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Man there was nothing generic about Shadowfist's 2056.
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Jun 7, 2014 03:26
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Mr. Maltose posted:Man there was nothing generic about Shadowfist's 2056. If that was aimed at my comment earlier, I was referring to the Shadowsun syndicate 2056 Critical shift in the card game. Where the Buro are just replaced by cyberpunk-esque criminal syndicates and corporatocracy who use a blend of Science and Chi stuff.
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Jun 7, 2014 03:44
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Yeah, Shadowfist was the card game. And it wasn't really generic because of stuff like chi-tech. It was superficially cyberpunk but had more going on than just that.
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Jun 7, 2014 04:07
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I was never really able to get much "Feel" out of the cards myself, if any fluff writing exists I never had the chance to read it.
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Jun 7, 2014 04:19
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Kai Tave posted:I think future junctures have always been kind of a place that Feng Shui's struggled with, maybe because there just isn't a whole lot of futuristic Hong Kong action kung fu sci-fi cinema out there to work with.) Honestly, if I ever run Feng Shui myself then I'm totally dropping the Apeocalypse in favour of a rip-off of the Samurai Jack setting.
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Jun 10, 2014 14:58
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We have Session 2 of the playtest tomorrow. Given that this is a playtest rather than SERIOUS BUSINESS gaming, I'm giving everyone the option to change up their characters. I know for a fact the Gene Freak is, since that Archetype is barely functional. I am pretty sure the Martial Artist will swap over to the Killer, too, which should be interesting.
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Jun 10, 2014 15:11
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We had a drifter and Ex-special forces, so with that much carnival of carnage II being thrown around, the hospital fight turned out to be pretty easy. Not sure the crab was all that happy, since he's kind of got the Martial artist problem when it comes to damage. I really don't know why they lowered Chi refresh rates so drastically. The Ex-special forces pretty much ignored his fu powers in favor of guns for much the same reason except at the start of the fight when he didn't bring his guns along to a hospital and had to take out a mook to steal his.
unseenlibrarian fucked around with this message at 15:32 on Jun 10, 2014 |
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Jun 10, 2014 15:29
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unseenlibrarian posted:We had a drifter and Ex-special forces, so with that much carnival of carnage II being thrown around, the hospital fight turned out to be pretty easy. Not sure the crab was all that happy, since he's kind of got the Martial artist problem when it comes to damage. I really don't know why they lowered Chi refresh rates so drastically. The Ex-special forces pretty much ignored his fu powers in favor of guns for much the same reason except at the start of the fight when he didn't bring his guns along to a hospital and had to take out a mook to steal his. In practice, it leads to (1) nobody but gun people freely using it as Fortune, and (2) gun people being better off because of it. I'm not sure what the best solution is, but maybe just separating Fortune back out from Chi/Genome/Magic wouldn't be so bad. You end up with 5 stats instead of 4 for some characters, but eh. Or, just make sure the only things you need to spend Chi/Genome/Magic on are really important and cool, rather than "cost of doing business" expenditures. Like, something equal in value to a Fortune Point rather than something that should just cost shots, or maybe shouldn't cost anything at all (like the Gene Freak's Very Strong) Other question: Supernatural Creatures. Has anyone ever enforced the 9-shot transformation thing? It seems insanely punitive.
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Jun 10, 2014 15:46
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Did they get rid of stuff like Bd and Strength? Why is a Martial Artist locked a 7 Damage unless he's using Fu?
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Jun 10, 2014 18:58
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Night10194 posted:Did they get rid of stuff like Bd and Strength? Why is a Martial Artist locked a 7 Damage unless he's using Fu? They got rid of almost all the stats, yeah.
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Jun 10, 2014 19:00
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So, your stats are what, just wizard poo poo, superhero poo poo, kung fu poo poo, luck poo poo now and everything else is just determined by what attack you use?
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Jun 10, 2014 19:17
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No, you have Main Attack Style, Defense, Toughness, Speed, and Fortune/Power-Fueling Stat. Some classes also have Secondary Attack Style. "Attack Style" means either guns, kung fu, creature powers, sorcery, mutations, or scroungetech depending on your archetype.
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Jun 10, 2014 19:25
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Night10194 posted:So, your stats are what, just wizard poo poo, superhero poo poo, kung fu poo poo, luck poo poo now and everything else is just determined by what attack you use? If your character is really strong (see: Bruiser), it's noted in their special shticks. It works out really well, most of the time, and comes quite close to DTAS altogether since these are all actual, functional numbers that will see frequent use in game. Melee damage just needs fixed; otherwise it's fine.
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Jun 10, 2014 20:14
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So are guns just the straight up best weapon type so far, now? It sounds like they're still on the same damage scale. I really wish I'd known about the playtest and gotten in on it. Feng Shui is one of my favorite RPGs and I'm just really curious about where it's going.
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Jun 10, 2014 20:14
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Night10194 posted:So are guns just the straight up best weapon type so far, now? It sounds like they're still on the same damage scale. I am very confident this will get fixed.
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Jun 10, 2014 20:17
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oof. this playtest adventure is annoying my inner sperg. It's like the background in the intro section is completely different from the background in the Genomic Solutions section.
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Jun 11, 2014 18:16
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My only real feedback submitted on it so far was just "Dude, not cool.' on the bit where you get through the hospital fight and then have the guy you just rescued potentially drop the gently caress dead at the start of the next scene by fiat, because seriously, why the hell would you even do that.
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Jun 11, 2014 18:38
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I get that they wanted to "clear the slate" of the old Dragons, but why not have him just die of his wounds in the hospital just before they bad guys show up, or have him stick around as a mentor instead of the weird AI thing?
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Jun 11, 2014 18:44
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Is Potemkin still around? He's one of my favorite villains.
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Jun 12, 2014 00:58
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Night10194 posted:Is Potemkin still around? He's one of my favorite villains. Yes, though he and George are no longer on speaking terms after they had a little heart to heart while exchanging submachinegun fire over the ruins of Hoover Dam shortly after the C-Bomb went off.
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Jun 12, 2014 01:22
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Second playtest session tonight; got the okay to send in comments this week. Ummm... So carnival of carnage makes a huge difference. CoC II, maybe a bit too much of one. The Sifu is crazy strong. Chase rules are confusing.
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Jun 12, 2014 04:49
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Sorry for the double-post, but I got done with our feedback just a bit earlier today, and figured I'd share our findings. The second session went pretty smoothly, and the new player we added in figured out everything very fast. So here's the issues we found... * Point blockage is probably fine on a Featured Foe, given its high cost, but it's pretty definitely not fine on Bosses. Even on a featured foe, it lets the players all pile up on the non-paralyzed guys, and leave the paralyzed ones for later. At 3 Chi it should be good; it's just too good against bosses. * Reloading costs are jacked. Switching weapons is incredibly penalized, compared to just reloading most guns. I'd rather the Killer toss away an empty gun and draw one of their other four, than just pop in a new clip. But that costs 4 shots, while reloading usually costs 1 or 2. Switching weapons is punitive. * Carnival of Carnage should probably force reload checks more often; it's almost too good at clearing mooks, turning them from "threat" to "completely unthreatening" instantly, so a downside would be nice. * Autofire rules are completely broken. If I take a -5 penalty to attack for +5 damage, I'm screwing myself over completely. First off, that -5 penalty might reduce my damage to 0 if I miss. Second of all, a -5 penalty to attack = a -5 penalty to outcome = a -5 penalty to damage. * Chases don't work yet. They need help. I threw one in, and it was over before the non-driving PCs even got to act. The initiative bonus for Drivers is too much, and with nothing like "toughness" to mitigate chase points dealt to another vehicle, almost every chase will be over within 1 sequence. There's other issues, but those are the biggies. It's cool, it's clearly an alpha or beta, but I want it to be better. * The adventure looks like it was written, then re-written, and the front part was never rewritten to match the back part. With all that said, wow, what a fabulous time we had last night. I can't wait for the final game to come out.
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Jun 12, 2014 21:21
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I keep going back to the Tranimals and how they're the one power set that just doesn't feel like it works. It feels like they kinda ran out of steam by the time they got to them and just made it 'Meh, they're fu schticks that only this class gets, that generally work exactly like other fu schticks.' I wonder if they wouldn't do better to just make 'Ascended Ancestory' a background package or something taken on top of another Archetype, bringing with it the problems of reversion (though obviously with latent Netherworld exposure removed so the PC can follow the others) but the ability to take Tranimal schticks?
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Jun 26, 2014 14:38
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 Lock and load, motherfuckers.
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Aug 14, 2014 23:42
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Evil Mastermind posted:
WHY WON'T KICKSTARTER TAKE MY MONEY YET
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Aug 15, 2014 00:55
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Someone had the best line.. if it's Feng Shui, how are you going to fund it except via a (flying) Kickstarter?
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Aug 15, 2014 04:58
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Bag Full of
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Aug 15, 2014 09:55
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Hey, does anyone know if Big Brother Tsien makes an appearance in any of the official Feng Shui sourcebooks? I know he appears in the Johnny Tso stories that were in the front of the original full color core rulebook. I'd like to use him in an adventure. I could stat him up myself, of course, but I'm curious to see if there's anything official.
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Aug 15, 2014 20:03
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I don't remember if he does, Mors Rattus might know, but he does have a Shadowfist card.   [edit] Johnny too, in fact, IIRC, most of the characters, and some of the events, from the fluff pieces are represented in the Shadowfist game. Galaga Galaxian fucked around with this message at 16:40 on Aug 17, 2014 |
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Aug 17, 2014 16:30
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That was Johnny Tso in the opening fiction? I never realized that.
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Aug 17, 2014 16:35
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Evil Mastermind posted:That was Johnny Tso in the opening fiction? I never realized that. Huh. I just made up a character for him and had him be the dude in the yellow suit on the front of the book. My players loved calling him Mr. Banana and making fun of the guy between shooting dozens of mooks when they found him with the beard of sorrow drunk in Hong Kong and recruited him to help them find the other former Dragons for their new Dragons.
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Aug 17, 2014 16:45
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