Mining Chi: Kung Fu Killer

Having recently received my digital copy of the 2nd Edition of the Feng Shui RPG (and a real world copy of 1st Edition Feng Shui from a friend), I've been boning up on recent martial arts source material. [ SPOILERS -- can't mine things without discussing details ]

On of these sources is a film: Kung Fu Killer.

In it, an incarcerated martial artist (played by Donnie Yen), sees on the news that a high level martial artist has been killed and intuits that there is a serial killer after a number of martial arts masters. Furthermore, he knows the likely sequence that they'll be attacked and manages to convince the police to release him and aid in capturing him.

This seemingly stellar leap in logic is substantiated later in the film through flashbacks -- he was actually approached by the killer as a visitor in jail and challenged to a duel (threatening his loved one if he doesn't manage to get out and agree to the duel). A nice approach, because while you don't doubt the protagonist's innocence (he was in jail) you do find his motivations and his offer suspicious, and than tension is sustained through the early parts of the film.

The other martial arts duels are also a delight to watch, as the killer takes on masters of different disciplines (master of grappling, master of weapons, master of kicking, etc.) in different locations (on a film set, in an apartment, in the middle of traffic).

I also liked the attempt to mix the "hunt for a serial killer" genre with the "martial arts duel" genre -- and the tensions between the maverick/lone wolf/wandering martial artist archetype with the competent by-the-book police officer. However, as would be expected in a movie titled Kung Fu Killer, the kung fu aspect tended to overshadow the killer aspect.

Key Takeaways:

• hearkens back to the days of the AD&D monk progression, wherein an aspirant to the next level must defeat the master immediately above him/her;
• variety in combat location and combat styles does add to the spice of the combat;
• once-sympathetic antagonists turned irredeemable villains are a great addition to the tension of the storyline -- especially if throughout the storyline you feel that you can reach them, until that last clue shows that they've gone over the edge forever.

Martial Arts Monday: Background

I grew up in the wake of Bruce Lee's death, in a deluge of HK martial arts films, U.S. martial arts films, and Philippine martial arts films.

I took up Karate, like several other folks in my age group, and continued a full year after the rest of them had stopped going to class.

My interest in martial arts (mostly Karate at the time, though I was exposed to a variety of them, through the aforementioned movies, and my late uncle who practiced -- among other things -- Tai Chi) was a bit of youthful exuberance mixed in with the seemingly mythical things going on on the big screen.

It was an eclectic mix -- a steady stream of rapidly decaying Bruce Lee films in the theaters (perhaps I'll explain the lagari system someday in this blog), occasional movie gems on one of the three local TV stations like Billy Jack. Or some of the classic kung fu films like Drunken Master or Snake in the Eagle's Shadow.

AD&D

And so, when I was introduced to AD&D, I gravitated toward the monk. I never really got to play it, though -- so put off was I by the barriers to progression at the higher levels. But if I had a chance to start off at a higher level, I'd have jumped at the opportunity.

I thought that the barehanded damage was cool -- but not as cool as being able to reduce falling damage (which really didn't happen that often in-game, but hey, I was willing to jump out of windows a lot just to use it). The ability to also have naturally good AC was also pretty neat, but I realized in practice that the DM never really penalized players with removing their plate armor, unless EVERYONE got their gear taken away, which would be great for the monk but pretty bad for everyone else -- especially the mages and their material components!

Champions

No big surprise then that when I played Champions and built my first character, I gravitated towards the ones with martial arts. My longest running, most experienced character was a martial artist, naturally.

I really loved the Ninja Hero supplement - all the various martial arts represented by different manuevers and a bit of history, and the ability to make your own martial arts. There was some abuse, but also some genuinely creative martial arts that appeared in Champions games, and even in some Star Hero campaigns (alien martial arts)!

So for Martial Arts Mondays (Metahuman Mondays was a stretch, and Mystara Mondays will probably become multiparters in the same week, and Game Mechanics Mondays require more rules referencing than I thought -- but it's still in there), I'll be taking on my interests in the arts of hand-to-hand combat as they were paralleled in comics, movies, and of course RPGs.