Open RPG Day: Feng Shui 2 One-Shot

This Saturday, I ran Feng Shui 2 on the Open RPG Day in Sofia. 

A warehouse full of Red Lotus thugs, led by a sorcerous "dailo" is processing cannibalistic magical ingredients.

A ninja named Kenji is watching from the beams under the roof, as a police car crashes inside. Cai Tao, a cop from the Occult Investigations department jumps out and offers them a surrender.

Just as this happens, the back door opens, and Granny Hu (pictured below on the right) enters, holding a mobile phone. "Sorry, young man, but do you know how to read that message I've received?"

That's how the game began. Soon after, the thugs realised that Granny Hu has an alternate form. The one on the left is still Granny Hu!

(The player sketched the pictures herself - just to show me what her Creature looks like. You can see her DeviantArt on the picture).

And now a better shot of Granny Hu. Hoping the player would ink the monster, too, at some point...

And then they defeated the sorcerer who was sacrificing the mooks to protect himself, found clues for the plans of the Red Lotus, and discovered they all have a grudge with Big/Red/Fat Chu, a Lotus sorcerer. Oh, and there was a portal to the Netherworld.

Things proceeded from there, in typical Feng Shui manner. In the Netherworld, they learned about the Chi War (by meeting exiles). Kenji got hired by the Lotus as a hitman. The name of his first target was...Cai Tao. The head was to be delivered to Big Chu.

Of course, they improvised a news story proving that Cai Tao has been kidnapped, and went to meet him.

Kenji got cursed with financial ruin, but they killed Chu, who was the focus of their melodramatic hooks. The killing blows - delivered in the same shot - were both suitably bloody for HK cinema (explosions on both attacks).

And then Kenji took out an MP5K and shot the whole clip into Chu's body, for good measure. After that, he reloaded.

Threatening Kenji with ruin brings out the worst in him, I can report.

Gritty Romantic vs Self-Righteous Shiny Knights

I've been reading a blog dedicated to romantic fantasy in OSR games (among other stuff).
Now, I've never considered myself a "romantic" GM...but a lot of what the author recommends holds true for my campaigns as well. To enumerate some principles:

• Talk before fighting, because fighting is ugly and brutal.
• Almost nobody is hopelessly evil, to the point that you can't persuade them to change.
• The PCs can change the world.

Sounds familiar? Sure sounds familiar to me. I just call it "decent worldbuilding" (and the systems I run make fighting ugly and brutal, too).

But ruminating over this, I suddenly was able to realize why I don't like the opposite style. You know which style I mean - Orcs (or other races) are born Evil, so you can slaughter them with ethical impunity. The world is black and white, maybe with a touch of grey. Characters are assured of being righteous. People that oppose them are obviously unrighteus, so there's not much point in talking with them. Combat usually remains clinical, often only saying the damage numbers, because who wants to see the shiny knight's armour to lose its polish due to pedestrian issues like arterial spray? (I do, for the record).

I don't like that, because in history, people who believe(d) in their own righteousness and their enemies' lack of virtues, have been causing untold suffering. In fact, it still happens (hint: check the current news from the Middle East).

Now, don't get me wrong: I realize that in life, there are situations where everything is black and white. I'm just not all that interested in playing (most of) them out.

Female fighters and Waif-Fu: Yes or not?

Well, as is almost traditional by now, I'm taking the topic from RPG.net. Because people debate what matters to them on this forum. And right now they're debating whether it's "right" (good, politically correct, fair, realistic - everyone has their idea of what should be prioritised) that most female fighters are drawn with about as many muscles as the average ivy.
As is also the tradition, I'm not going to comment on that. Instead, I'd tell you about my games. Because if you're here, I can only assume you care.

Most of you don't know that I'm running Exalted... well, I am, and my group has got many sessions already. It's invitation-only, so I'm not talking about these games.
So, last week, I used an Exalted Dragon-blooded Martial Artist. As a PC soon uncovered (as my players are notorious of sticking their noses everywhere), she was ashamed of her body for looking too athletic, which came naturally to her. Because of a sheltered upbringing in a monastery, she has been brought to believe only thin and/or "soft" girls are attractive. She also believed that women who can and love to fight, are a turn-off for men, or at least socially unacceptable. So she was really worried what her future husband would think of her.
(Of course, that was part of what her relatives had made her believe. The goal was to control her easier, while she was raised in a far-off satrapy of the Empire. Well, abusive relationships aren't exactly uncommon among my DBs).
The player that discovered that promptly disabused her of said notion (with comments on the tastes of her relatives that would make a veteran pimp proud). Then she promptly got married her off to a Lunar ally, which probably promotes her to an almost PC status - or at least to recurring characters status.