Grandkhan
Telvanni Master Wizard
Kung Phooey! A Martial Arts StoryNES
Hello, and welcome to Kung Phooey, the martial arts based storyNES!
This is a story of great warriors and clever strategists, of brave heroes and cunning villains, and above all, of martial arts action!
It is July 10th, 1937. The Japanese Army has finally launched its invasion of China, defeating the Chinese Army in a chaotic skirmish at Marco Polo Bridge, and has laid siege to Beijing. China, already chaotic, leaps into war, with the shaky United Front between the KMT and the Communists mobilising against the invader. Chiang Kai-Sheks elite units have mobilised and marched to Shanghai, expecting invasion. But the interior is no safer than the front lines - bandits abound, and warlords have carved out large fiefs for themselves and their retainers. As the guns pound Beijing, and the Imperial Navy prepares to seize Shanghai it is up to you what to do.
Perhaps you are a monk of a hidden monastery, just trying to stay out of a war that threatens to engulf you. Perhaps you are a master of your school, dedicated to protecting the weak from the chaos around you, or simply a student out to do what is right. Perhaps you use your martial arts for unscrupulous means, as a bandit or a thief, or maybe you serve in a warlord army? Perhaps you a Japanese, trained in the arts of war as the samurai of old, leading a unit for conquest, glory, and honour, or a ninja waging a war of silent subterfuge against your enemies? Perhaps you work for the state, a secret unit of martial arts masters fighting a war on your nation's behalf. Perhaps you are not even Asian at all, and are a master of the Western martial arts, venturing to the Middle Kingdom for glory, for money, or for humanitarian reasons. The possibilities are endless!
This storyNES is about the martial arts of cinema - flying kicks, hidden techniques, schools of monks, the whole shebang, abound! As such, strict realism is not exactly expected. However, in the interest of keeping the NES fun, I'd ask a few things of your characters.
1. I'd appreciate it if you kept the explicit supernatural to a minimum. Many martial arts have strong focuses on using your qi or inner energy, or achieving balance in your spirit, to improve your fighting abilities to ridiculous levels. This is acceptable in the context of the NES, because its not meant to be hugely serious or realistic. However, throwing out qi blasts isn't and is just silly. If you're not sure, feel free to ask. I'm pretty generous unless its just ridiculous.
2. You aren't immune to bullets. At that stage its just not fun. Hidden secret techniques that make your skin impervious to an edged weapon, of course, are fair game - martial arts fiction and legends are full of these (and yes, I'm aware that contradicts Point 1, but its within the "non serious qi mastery) - and there's nothing saying you can't dodge bullets. Just remember, the Boxers thought they were invincible too.
Other than these, its fair game to create whatever character you want who fits the theme! Remember, neither of these have to be realistic - Kung fu mythology is full of lone warriors defeating entire armies on their lonesome, and I see no reason why this should be different. It might look hard given the above rules, but remember - you're a writer, I'm sure you can work it out!
Submission Form
All you have to do to join is fill out the following submission form. I will do my best to take as many players as I can, however, I may ask you to redo your submission if I think its terrible. Please write characters which are, first and foremost, interesting. Its a storyNES, so conflict is decided by the consensus of the players involved - there's no need to be the best mechanically, because there are no mechanics.
Name: Your characters name.
Nationality: Where are they from? This doesn't necessarily have to be China or Japan - there were plenty of Europeans active in China in this period, and war (especially civil war) attracts bounty hunters and mercenaries from worldwide...
Style: This is important. Their martial arts style. This can be anything - armed (kenjutsu/iajutsu, rapier fighting, etc.), unarmed (karate, boxing, wrestling (Western, Indian, belt or otherwise) etc.), or some mixture (escrima, some variations of Shaolin kung-fu, silat). If you using an existing one, please link to it in this line for everybody's benefit. If you are making one up, please provide some description.
Signature Techniques: Please pick up to 3 "signature techniques" (real or fictional, realistic or cinematic) of your style. These are likely the techniques of your style which will come up frequently in your stories. Do not worry about them being ridiculously overpowered or something - given that any conflicts two characters have will be settled by writing a collaborative story, there is no 'overpowered' - both players must agree if the story involves their characters. Examples of signature techniques from fiction include the 'Iron Vest' from Once Upon A Time in China, the Shoryuken, the Tombstone Piledriver of wrestling fame, Chun-Lie's lightning kick, and so on. You can have up to three of these, so if you can't think of three, its alright.
Character Background: Who is your character? What is their history? What are they doing in China? What are their goals? Fundamentally, who are they?
Location: This is the location that your character starts in. To keep me from going crazy and encourage player interaction, to start with you can pick from 6 cities below. However, I can make exceptions on a case by case basis, but your case had better be good.
Spoiler Starting Cities :
Updates
I will be doing updates on a semi-regular basis, basically whenever I feel like either A) enough has happened to warrant one or B) its been too long since the last update. Updates will mainly serve to tell players where they are and everybody else is, possible NPC reactions to what they've done (though players are free to create these themselves, any NPCs, historical or otherwise, are fair game for any player to use) and what else is going on in the story outside of their actions.
The plot of your character is largely self-directed. If you look stuck, I can throw you a plot bunny or something, but its up to you to take it. I might throw interesting things into places as well, but again, its always up to you to take the bait or go on with your own thing if you have that planned.
Given that this is a StoryNES, everything is done by, well, writing a story. I'd ask that if you use another person's character, you ask their permission, but this is fairly obvious StoryNES etiquette. I'll only intervene in a dispute if necessary and called on by one of the parties re: continuity or something else, where I will make an authoritative plot decision.
Above all, have fun! Let the kung-fu action begin!
, AKA Xuánhuī Míng (玄輝 明
