Meditating on the White Lotus

Sometimes I make kung fu posts. I've started using the `kung-fu` label to aggregate them. Click on this label to read my other mutterings on this subject.

I've been watching Shaw Brothers films at the gym this summer. If you're unfamiliar, Shaw Brothers was a prolific Hong Kong production company that produced grindhouse kung fu films. Basically, all the audio samples from Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) were from these films. 

> Frog style is incredibly strong and immune to nearly any weapon.

I like some of the films more than I like others, but almost all of them have something that made me say "Ha ha neat." Almost all of them have something gameable. 

In this post, I'm going to step through the Shaw Brothers' film Clan of the White Lotus beat by beat. Heavy spoilers warning, obviously. When there's something gameable, I'll riff. 

This is a purely creative exercise. Maybe it will be interesting to you, too!

Clan of the White Lotus

I selected Clan of the White Lotus (titled Fists of the White Lotus in the original North American release) because it is standard Shaw Bros. fare. It is fun without being brilliant. It is third in a series of multi-generational revenge films concerning Pai Mei's betrayal of the Shaolin temple. (You might remember Pai Mei from the Kill Bill series.) It is basically a remake of the first film in this series.

Plot: A wronged martial artist trains tirelessly to carry out a plan of revenge against a martial arts master. In the background, political turmoil that undoubtedly has 70s Hong Kong implications that I do not understand. After leveling up, the wronged martial artist kills his rival. He says "I did it!" The credits roll. 

Cast: Here's a list of the characters to reference while reading this blog post in case any of the names are confusing.

• Priest White Lotus - The main villain, brother of Pai Mei
• Wen-Ting - The main character
• Ah-Biao - The Shaolin fighter from the first film, murdered by Priest White Lotus
• Mei-Hsiao - Ah-Biao's wife
• Ko Chin-Chung - Governor of the region, nephew of Priest White Lotus

Intro Credits

The intro credits recap the battle from the first film in the series, Executioners of Shaolin, where two Shaolin monks join forces to defeat the villainous Pai Mei.

Gaming Observation: Designed for Small Tables

The traditional arc of these stories almost always has one hero facing off against one evil master and their horde. There are often minor characters, usually a love interest, a comedic character, and a good martial arts master. These would not make particularly interesting player characters. (Executioners of Shaolin is unusual in that there were two main characters.)

An RPG based on this paradigm would work well if designed intentionally for 1 player hero and 1 GM. Perhaps these two players trade roles--perhaps after every act or after every campaign. 

Rules for dual-heroes or, much more rarely, ensemble casts would be optional.

Act 1

The Shaolin clan is released from prison, following the events of the last movies. This includes Ah-Biao, who defeated Pai Mei. Ah-Biao has been lamed in prison. He returns home to his wife, Mei-Hsiao, and protégé, Wen-Ting.

The governor of the region and member of the White Lotus clan, Ko Chin-Chung, perceives the Shaolin as rebels to the Qing Dynasty. He asks his uncle, head of the White Lotus Clan (simply named "White Lotus Chief" or "Priest White Lotus" in my translation) to help kill the released Shaolin prisoners. Priest White Lotus agrees because he was brother to Pai Mei and wants revenge on Ah-Biao.

The White Lotus ambush and kill the freed rebels. Ah-Biao, because he was injured in prison, is killed. Wen-Ting is defeated by Priest White Lotus, but escapes with Mei-Hsiao.

Gaming Observation: Campaign conventions

The main loop of D&D is "Go into dungeon. Fight monsters. Take treasure. Spend treasure in city." The main loop of a kung fu game is "Watch master get killed by villain. Train. Find counter to villain's style. Defeat villain." This campaign structure can be used sequentially, ad nauseum, with different villains coming to revenge old ones and old heroes dying as inciting incidents.

Act 2

Wen-Ting and Mei-Hsiao go stay with Mei-Hsiao's brother, the buffoonish Cheng. He works making paper mannequins. 

Wen-Ting trains with Cheng to perfect his Tiger Crane style. Cheng is not a good martial artist, but Wen-Ting has to practice on somebody. This is a comedic sequence.

Gaming Observation: Level ups are fun

In a kung fu game, you should level up after every session. This level up can be spent either in training (to learn new skills) or during combats to represent a-ha moments (perfecting the skills you already have). 

Converting "White Lotus" into a campaign arc, imagine every act as one session. Wen-Ting goes from student to master over the course of 4. This implies that max level is 4.

Wen-Ting goes to the temple of the White Lotus to confront Priest White Lotus, cutting a swath through his minions to find him. Wen-Ting and the governor Ko Chin-Chung spar before Priest White Lotus joins the battle.

Gaming Observation: Mooks, Mini-bosses, and Bosses

There are three levels of enemies. 

• Mooks are your acolytes, your ninjas, your guardsmen--faceless, nameless characters. They exist to die in droves. 
• Mini-bosses are named characters with strong kung fu. They are worthy foes. They exist to give the player hero someone to defeat while perfecting their skills.
• Bosses are the main villains of the campaign. Defeating them is the goal of the game.

Priest White Lotus has two powerful defensive abilities:

• Light body, so strong attacks generate wind that simply pushes him away
• Strong internal qi, so he can shrug off any attack that does hit

Priest White Lotus explains that he maintains these powers through a restful ritual on this day, the day of the Dragon Boat Festival. Priest White Lotus easily defeats Wen-Ting again. Wen-Ting escapes.

Gaming Observation: Defeat isn't death

When a player hero is defeated in combat, they do not die. Instead, they escape and are given a complication. Overcoming the complication frames the next session and moves the story beats on.

Complications include:

• Injuries
• Trailing spies
• Captured friends
• Burned home bases

Fighting the master villain is important because you learn what their powers are. Finding techniques that can defeat these powers is the main thrust of the game.

Act 3

Wen-Ting is followed by two incognito White Lotus members. Realizing he's being trailed, he gives them a slip through clever role-play in a tea house. 

Mei-Hsiao gives birth to Ah-Biao's son. Wen-Ting continues to train. Observing the way Cheng's paper mannequins are blown by the storm's wind, Mei-Hsiao has a revelation about how Priest White Lotus dodges.

Mei-Hsiao teaches Wen-Ting a woman's style of kung fu--less power, more grace. To train him in this, Wen-Ting does women's work such as embroidery and taking care of the new baby. (Mastering this style causes Wen-Ting to act effeminately, talking in falsetto and affecting a feminine style. This rules.)

Gaming Observation: Style combinations

The boss is undefeated because nobody knows how to get past their kung fu. Players spend their levels to learn kung fu techniques that, when combined, directly counter the villain's kung fu. 

A kung fu style can probably be abstracted down to a single technique--a defensive strategy, an attack, etc. The game should provide rules for combining styles, allowing players to create brand new techniques. 

Feeling confident in his Embroidery/Tiger Crane style, Wen-Ting returns to challenge Priest White Lotus again. Wen-Ting first (barely) defeats the chief's two swordsman bodyguards. 

Wen-Ting can now manage to strike Priest White Lotus but cannot injure him. Priest White Lotus is then revealed to have a potent attack move: 100-pace Strike. After hit with this strike, you can only walk 100 pages before dying. 

Wen-Ting, staggering from the temple, takes 99 steps and is found by Cheng.

Act 4

Cheng takes Wen-Ting back to the paper mannequin shop. The owner of the paper mannequin shop is revealed to be a doctor and also a rebel sympathetic to the Shaolin cause. The owner uses acupuncture to cure Wen-Ting. 

Wen-Ting reads the owner's acupuncture book and realizes that, using internal kung-fu, White Lotus Priest has moved his vital area (which my translation just called [Mumbling], inexplicably). Wen-Ting specifically arms himself with new weapons for his next confrontation.

Gaming Observation: New weapons

Villains tend to be static. Heroes are dynamic. When a hero changes their approach or gets a new weapon, this should provide them a meaningful bonus to the next encounter. There should be a system where players and GMs negotiate over the strategy of new weapons, with players solving problems through a broad selection of tools.

Wen-Ting returns to challenge the White Lotus Priest one last time. He returns again on the day of the Dragon Boat Festival, one year since his first challenge. 

Using a three-section staff, Wen-Ting solidly defeats the two sword-wielding bodyguards. 

Then, using embroidery pins, Wen-Ting stabs White Lotus Priest's body in his acupuncture points, finally defeating him.

He says "I won!" The credits roll.

Gaming Observation: Combat flow

Sometimes heroes get hit and are knocked back into another room. Sometimes you can tell they have taken a Bad Hit because some blood is coming from their mouth. After the hero has blood coming of their mouth, they can be given a Very Bad Hit that takes them out. Sometimes, when you think the Very Bad Hit is coming, the hero recovers instead.

Instead of tracking HP, player heroes and worthy foes have essentially three states:

• Balanced
• Staggered 
• Taken out

You can't be taken out until you're staggered, first. The rules in REACH HEAVEN THROUGH VIOLENCE simulate these states well, and I'm still pretty proud of them.