Game Mechanics

Weapons
Unique Schticks
Other Rules

This is where I'll be posting discussions of game mechanics, as well as any addition or modification I make to the core rules of Feng Shui.

Last updated 7 March 2002 (experience).
 

Conversion Notes

(1) Feng Shui has four main attributes, not five, so it's hard to relate it to the concept of "five elemental rings".

(2) Feng Shui has some 81 fu schticks, or dedicated combat moves, to choose from , aligned along 13 paths of varying length and complexity.  L5R has one or two schools per clan, with five levels in each which all give you one special manoeuvre.

(3) L5R has a long list of fairly static spells which can be somewhat customized to a situation but have very specific effects.  Feng Shui has 8 main spellcasting flavours, or basic schticks, each having 4 to 10 special effects which in turn are fairly open-ended.

My first try at converting the system was to select the fu schtick that most resembled the bushi school rank abilities, but then that limits every player to pretty much the 5 schticks of his/her school.  Since some character templates start with several fu schticks, they would have little room for choice or for growth.  Then I realized that in the selected time period, very early empire, most of the bushi schools wouldn't have been founded yet, let alone perfected.

So I decided I would open up the list of schticks as normal, but I ask everyone to pick schticks that are in keeping with the character, clan, and family selected.  The same reasoning goes for shugenja and magic: if you're shugenja school specializes in earth magic, try not to take weather magic as your character's forte!  I will veto extravagant choices, but I am known to be susceptible to good backstory and roleplaying when it's time to rule.  If it's a cool character that is well played, I'm pretty accomodating.

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Posting and Combat Scenes

(1) I name both the characters and players to make it clear whose turn it is (e.g., "This is Shot X, and it's Raku (Player A)'s turn").

(2) I give advance warning (e.g., "this is Shot X, it's A and B's turn; and on Shot X+1, C and D are up"); this should give people the time and warning to at least read the actions immediately before theirs.

(3) I give a short turnaround time.  I want to be flexible, but try to answer within 24 hours.

(4) I try to use pictures to help visualize the setting, but I do not give detailed maps.  This is because maps tend to constrain the action and Feng Shui thrives on cinematic resolution.  Maps also require a lot of GM time that is better used writing action posts.

(5) I try to limit combat to useful scenes (except for the semi-gratuitous opening scene).

(6) Unless people write to me to say they prefer rolling their dice themselves through the Irony Games Web dice server (the day it gets back up) or through Shadow Island's e-mail dice server, I handle the dice rolling.

In exchange, I want players to read what has going on before, to post promptly, and to write exciting descriptions of their actions (not "On Shot X, I activate my fu power and hit the guy.")  The compiled story, pictures, info, and rules of this Web page are there to help with continuity.

I included an example of combat on another page to illustrate the process.

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House Rules

Weapons

• Difference in Reach: When two opponents use melee weapons that have significantly different reach, I will attribute a 1-pt or 2-pts difference in difficulty, depending on the difference in reach; e.g., Yoko with a tanto against Shinsuke with a no-dachi will suffer a -2 Outcome when she attacks or dodges.

 

• Drawing or Loading: Per the basic Feng Shui rules, drawing and readying a weapon (e.g., drawing and nocking an arrow, drawing and throwing a dagger, loading a dart or a dose of pepper in a blowgun, picking up a weapon from the ground) is a 3-shot action, unless you have a schtick that reduces the shot cost (see Gun schticks and Fu powers.)  Drawing a weapon from a scabbard or saya is a one-shot action (assuming the scabbard is readily accessible).

 
• Shuriken: Shuriken can be thrown several at a time at single target for a penalty of -1 AV per extra shuriken.  Example: Yoko wants to throw three shuriken at a single opponent.  This means two extra shuriken, so -2 AV.  This can be combined with the regular rules for shooting at multiple targets.  Example: Shinsuke throws three shuriken at two opponents; the one who receives only one is at -2 AV as per normal rules, the one who receives two is as -1 for the extra star and -2 for multiple targets = -3.

 
• Thrown Weapons: I have classified all ranged weapons, including thrown weapons, under "Guns", while in the basic book Feng Shui places thrown weapons under Martial Arts.  I think this will compensate somewhat for the fact that the L5R gun bunnies have less hardware to choose from.

 
• Two-Handed Weapons: Certain weapons require both hands to be wielded with any usefulness.  If someone can make a really convincing argument that due to their size, agility, or special circumstances, they can wield these one-handed I will consider it carefully and if I agree with the argument, I will give a suitable penalty.  Otherwise, two-handed.  Period.

 
• Weapons List: I added or modified a number of weapons that would be considered "Juncture 69AD" in Feng Shui.  Not all of these weapons are found in Legend of the Five Rings either, and some allow for special schticks or manoeuvres.  See the Weapons List for details.

 

Unique Schticks

• Old Master Unique Schtick with Fu Powers: (ruling directly borrowed from Brad Solberg.)  The FAQ says that Old Masters do not do +6 damage with bare handed attacks if they are using Fu powers. I like Old Masters to be as terrifying as possible, since they are forced to have a 4 body, have no choice of skills and have only Leadership as a useful non-combat non-info skill. Therefore my house rules give Old Masters +6 damage with bare handed attacks, if the Fu power says anything like "do a martial arts attack", or "+n to your damage". If the Fu power says STR+n damage, the unique Schtick does not apply.

 
• Scrappy Kip Unique Distraction Schtick: The question came up of whether the Impairment result from the Scrappy Kid's "Distraction" schtick were to be applied starting at the top of his attack or after.  I ruled that it began immediately after the attack because the Scrappy Kid would then always lose 3 shots' worth of effect (assuming an ordinary Martial Arts action not combined with other schticks or continuous action), yet his success would not be applied to the dodging, parrying, etc. that went on during that time.  It takes him 3 shots (or as applicable) to complete his distraction, and the effect is applied starting next shot. If this takes Impairment past the last shot of the current sequence, the Impairment is carried over to the next sequence, beginning with the very first shot of that new sequence (i.e., highest Initiative shot).

Other Rules

• Active Defence: It's not quite clear in the rules whether an Active Defence can be used against multiple attacks.  My ruling is that Active Dodge or Parry applies to all attacks taking place on the same shot.

 
• Arcanowave: Magical tattoos of the Ise Zume are substituted for arcanowave and cybernetic implants.  The tattoo magic and related character template are almost entirely from David Eber's Warrior-Monks of Shangri-La with minor changes.

 
• Movement: Movement is NOT limited to 3x Move per sequence (if also doing something else, such as fighting), or 4x Move (if doing nothing but running).  You can take as many actions running as you want, each 3-shot running burst allowing you your Move value in meter.  Example: Kageki has an Initiative of 15 this round and a Move of 6.  He decides to do nothing but run, so that's five 3-shot actions for a distance of 5x6 = 30m.  Each 3-shot burst of running is treated like a separate action, so at any point Kageki can take a different action.  Example: He runs on Shots 15 and 12, then on Shot 9 he decides to throw a knife at his opponent, and on Shot 6 and 3 he runs again, for a total of 4x6 = 24m of movement.

Special Weapons Manoeuvres

• Disarm Manoeuvre: Some dedicated weapons give a bonus (usually +2) to Action Value for Disarm manoeuvres.  For a shot cost of 2 (instead of the normal 3) and a sufficient Outcome on a Martial Arts attack (see below), successful locking of a blade, pole, hook, or chain weapon.  The opponent must succeed in breaking away on his next action or be disarmed.  If the user of the jitte (or other hook weapon) has another action before his/her opponent and gets a positive Outcome again, s/he yanks the weapon away.  Usable weapons include jitte, sai, vajra (or tokko) and all weapons that include a dedicated hook.  Normal Feng Shui rules require an Outcome of 7 or more for a Disarm; on an Outcome of 8 or more, the weapon is also damaged (unless it's a Signature Weapon).  When using a dedicated Disarm weapon, the Disarm Manoeuvre can be used as a follow-through move to a successful Parry even when the character is not normally acting on this shot, for a total shot cost of 1 (for the Parry) + 2 (for the Disarm) = 3 shots.  Think of it as an extended Active Defence.

 
• Entangling Manoeuvre: On successful Guns/Ranged Weapons attack with a chain weapon, inflicts 3 points of Impairment to opponent, for a number of shots equal to Outcome.  Shot cost = 3.  Usable with kusari-gama, kyotetsu-shoge, manriki-gusari, chigirigi, nage-gama, kusari, and other thrown chain weapons.  Throw the chain weapon while holding on to one end to perform this manoeuvre..

 
• Parry Manoeuvre: Just like the normal Parry, but some dedicated weapons give a bonus (usually +2) to Action Value.  For a shot cost of 1 and a positive Outcome on an Active Defence, successful parry. Usable/dedicated weapons include tessen, gunsen, jitte, and sai.
 
• Snagging Manoeuvre: On a successful Martial Arts attack, make a contested Agility roll; if target fails the the roll, s/he cannot move away until s/he has broken free by spending one Shot and succeeding a contested Strength roll; until then, target's Defence suffers a -3 penalty.  Usable with sasumata, sodegarami, and hoko.

In addition, I've authorized the conversion of some Gun schticks to be usable with melee weapons instead.  Player Characters have taken advantage of the following schticks to date:

 
• Both Swords Flying: Equivalent to Gun schtick Both Guns Blazing in melee.  You need to be using two weapons that can each be wielded with one hand.  Two no-dachi or tetsubo is right out.  When you successfully hit an opponent with this schtick, the Wound Points suffered by the opponent are figure as: Total Damage Rating of both weapons - (Opponent's Toughness x 2) + Outcome = Wound Points suffered.  You make your attack with a -2 Action Value penalty.  If you buy two levels in this schtick, the penaly is -1, and for 3 levels it's 0.  For each additional level you gain a +1!

 
• Carnival of Carnage: Same as Gun schtick of the same name, but used with melee weapons.   For each schtick (level) you take in CoC, you can subtract 1 from the shot cost of any attack on an unnamed character(s), to a minimum of 1.  If you have 3 levels, you can also put down unnamed characters on an Outcome of 4 or more, and if you have 4 levels, you can put down unnamed characters on an Outcome of 3 or more.  You can't buy more than 4 levels.

 
• Iai Draw: Similar to Fast Draw, but for swords.  For each schtick spent on Iai Draw, you can add 1 to your Initiative result at the beginning of each sequence.  If you add to your Initiative that way, you must attack with a blade weapon as your first action of that sequence.

 
• Sure Hand: Equivalent to Gun schtick Eagle Eye in melee.  You can ignore any personal armour worn by your target.  Sure Hand cannot be used to ignore or reduce an opponent's Toughness.  Each level also lets you ignore 2 points worth of difficulty modifier due to cover.

 

Experience

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