House Rules

A general thread for posting House Rules for Feng Shui. Two that I use:

Problem: If a character doesn't have a high Speed, then all too frequently, any Schticks that last "until end of sequence" are completely worthless--by the time you get them off, you're invariably getting pounded to dirt.

Solution: During the last three shots of any sequence, any character may use a Schtick with an effect that lasts "for the rest of the sequence" and apply it to the entirety of the next sequence, as well. If the Schtick takes more than three shots to activate, then they must have enough shots remaining to activate it completely, and then not act at all beyond Active Dodges. Any Fu cost ALSO carries over to the affected Sequence, however.

FREX: Chun Lo has Tornado of Shelter (grants immunity to Sorcery for the remainder of the sequence). Having discovered to his dismay that he's up against a Sorcerer, on Shot 2, he spends 7 Chi, and is immune to Sorcery on Shot 1, and all of the subsequent sequence. However, he also starts the next Sequence down 7 Chi.

Problem: There are no real rules for surprise in the game.

Solution: In an ambush, if the ambushers gain surprise (typically by beating the Perception of the other side with Intrusion rolls), they gain 3 free shots that can be treated like "end of the round shots" for the rule above, as well. As above, any Fu expenditure during those shots carries over into the first full sequence of combat.

For total surprise, I sometimes set the surprised one's dodge to 0 until something happens to alert them.

To make jamming more common (and allow more interesting fumbles for guns) I have guns jam on snake eyes.

An alternative is to allow Schticks that last "until end of sequence" to last until the shot before your initiative next sequence. It makes sense: it lasts until the start of your next sequence.

However it can also be somewhat unbalancing to do that because it allows very strong schticks to completely cancel the abilities of some characters/ennemies. Having a very high initiative is a power: it allows you to catch your opponents with their irresistible powers (fu, tranimal...) down at the start of every sequence.

Hi there,

I find the one of the house rules posted here chthonic.150m.com/feng/quibble_exp.htm to be very useful.

It's the "No skill can ever be bought higher than 16 + number of attunements the character has." This rule was extremly handy for keeping games running for the long term. :slight_smile:

I came up with a few things.

CONCEALMENT GUIDELINES
# Concealment Ratings and Rules
1 pistol/revolver under 12 cm (5") barrel length and 680 g (1.5 lbs)
clip for autoloading pistol, sheaf of darts

2 pistol/revolver under 15 cm (6") barrel length and 1.1 kg (2.43 lbs)
clip or magazine for rifle or smg, pouch: 10 stones

3 anything under 38 cm (1'3") overall length (stock folded) and 3 kg (6.6 lbs)
quiver/case of arrows/bolts, blackpowder kit and pounch: 10 balls

4 anything under 76 cm (2'6") overall length (stock folded) and 4 kg (13.2 lbs)
chaingun ammo belt, shoulder rocket/missile

5 anything under 120 cm (4'0") overall length (stock folded) and 11 kg (25 lbs)
combustible accelerant tank (for flamethrower)

6 anything bigger than 5

Determining Concealment/Detection (summarized from core rules)
1 Add Concealment Rating of all weapons, clips, etc. together for a Total Con.
2 Standard Diff to casually spot concealed weapons is 10, 6 if looking for them
3 Add foe's Perception Attribute to your Total Con. to get his AV
4 If AV + dice roll Action Check meets or exceeds 6/10, weapons are spotted


Lifting and Throwing

The rules say you must make a Str check against a difficulty to lift things, such as:

Diff Kilograms Lbs USD Example
1/-0 6 – 11 13 - 24 tire, karaoke machine, very large cat
2/-1 12 - 29 25 - 64 wooden chair, child, kayak, gold ingot
3/-2 30 – 41 65 - 91 large dog, TV, wooden table
4/-3 42 – 53 92 - 117 bookshelf/parking meter/barbell
5/-4 54 – 67 118 - 148 Average HK Adult
6/-5 68 – 82 149 - 181 Athletic Adult Male
7/-6 83 – 99 182 - 218 Lg Adult Male
8/-7 100 – 118 219 - 260 V. Lg Adult Male
9/-8 119 – 139 261 - 306 Huge Adult Male/full barrel, ultralight
10/-9 140 – 162 307 - 357 A1 Rocket, Lunar Rover
11 163 - 187 358 - 412 Siberian Tiger
12 188 - 214 413 - 471 African lion
13 211 - 239 472 – 526
14 240 - 450 527 – 990 Piano/Grizzly
15 451 - 825 991 - 1815 Polar Bear, Average Adult Horse
16 826 - 1125 1816 - 2475 Compact Car, Great White shark

To lift, using an example from the book, an "average person", which they list at 60kg (135 lbs, bit light in my opinion), it is Diff 5. I reflect this lightweight "average person" as an Average Honk Kong Adult, as most Western males will exceed this, and list them separately,though I know the point of FS is to avoid charts and tables and extra rules, these are just my house rules and I'm just putting them out there to get thoughts on them and offer them to others for use if they feel they might be handy.

As stated in the core rules, If a PC's Str exceeds object's Diff (determined by weight/bulk etc) by 2+, a Str Check automatically succeeds.


Normally, to throw an object not weighing a whole lot and not terribly unwieldly, you simply make a Martial Arts check, possibly adjusted by modifiers if you're throwing the object at a certain distance or size of target, and always modified by the size/bulk of the item being thrown. I'm setting the standard "easy" (-1) thrown item at less than 6kg/13 lbs (this is like throwing a full bag of potatoes you buy at the grocery store); pretty heavy but they ARE action heroes, plus I'm presuming the throw is only five feet or so, and at a person, requiring no adjustments for distance or small target.

For objects whose weights the PC's Str does not exceed by 2 or more (in other words, 7 Diff or less for Str 5 PCs), the PC will have to make Str checks AND Martial Arts checks to throw the object. The core rules have further examples. which I reflect in my chart above (TV set or wooden table is thrown at -2 etc).

Now, to throw an object listed in the Lifting chart, the book says to double the Diff, so to throw a 60kg person, it is Diff 10. Notice the 5/-4 on the chart above for Average HK Adult - you'd use the 10 and double it, rather than use the -4, that would be for some other modifier related to lifting, probably a half lift or something that didn't involve bodily throwing a whole person around.

My formula for throwing is: a character can throw an object a max distance in yards (meters) = (Str -2) x20 / Object's Weight in Pounds [Kg x2.2 to convert], with 1 yard or meter = 3 feet.

So if you have Str 5, you subtract 2 from it to get 3, multiply that by 20 to get 60, and divide it by the object to be thrown's weight, say 10 lbs (the aforementioned bag of potatoes), which is 60 / 10 = 6, giving us 6 yards/meters, or 18 feet. A Str 5 PC can throw 10 lbs 18 feet. While that may seem high, I have actually done some actual internet statistical research on this and it seems to come out right - this would be the upper limit for an average person, but they could do it, though maybe not consistently. This also would allow for throwing that aforementioned 60kg HK male, say 150 lbs - this would result in .4 meters, or 1.2 feet, which is about right, you could lift someone and could throw them down to hurt them, but it wouldn't be very far, without you yourself moving. I'd presume your movement would have some penalty while carrying someone etc.


Movement and Speed

Difficulty Modifiers: Speed (Using Guns, etc.)
Diff Mov Kph Mph Examples
1/-0 1 3 2 stroll
3/-2 2 7 4.5 walk
5/-4 4 15 9.5 jog
7/-6 8 25 16 human sprint
9/-8 12 50 31.5 fast animal, average racehorse, avg train
10/-9 18 70 43.5 car in city, record 100m sprint
11 25 90 56 cruising car, cheetah, train on open track
12 36 130 81 human powered vehicle land speed record
13 50 180 112 fast car, expertly thrown weapon
14 90 320 199 falcon diving, typical bullet train, arrow
15 100 350 218 race car, typical tornado, x-bow bolt
16 150 525 327 top dragster, fastest train, rifle bullet

Formula to determine KPH from Move = Move x 3.5, rounded up to nearest 5 [Kph x 0.6137 for Mph]

I also have a chart for damage based on speed but don't have vehicle's size figured in, so I'll have to wait on that, and it doesn't scale exactly to Atlas' core examples.

I also have a section I'm working on compiling and listing and organizing vehicles and vehicles types.

For gun design rules and the handeling of heavy weapons I use the Feng Shui notes in BTRC's Guns, Guns, Guns book and the More Guns. I also use any real world info I have on the gun if I'm trying to convert a specific one.

I don't have any restriction on 0 shot Fu powers usage. They never have been a problem in my games and in the few I've played in and my players don't abuse them and are familiar with the pros and cons of them.

Some NPCs I don't give stats to as they are too powerfull and fall in the realm of being a plot element.
This is based on the reason why no "official" stats for the four monarch's exist and no netherworld or 69 AD stats for Tanbi Guaiwu exist.