I just got some books from Warehouse 23 (i.e. they arrived today, and I got them out of the mail boxes where I live about 40 minutes ago.)

The danger here is Total Geek Meltdown! I've just read the intro to Blowing Up Hong Kong, and took a look at the fake movie posters in Friends of the Dragon. WAY. TOO. COOL! :) I want to run/play a game now and I haven't even really read any of the contents. Oh, I happened to open the book up to the vehicle mods page in Hong Kong. That looks really good. A car-oriented fixer character could be very cool...

(The rest of my order was two WEG d6 books.)

Wait til you see Glimpse of the Abyss, then ... it'll fill a hole in a lot of people's campaigns, and give you lots of nasty meanies to play with. :)

-Michelle Nephew
Atlas Games

That's a safe assumption. ;)

Lots and lots of DEMONS!

The product description is at http://www.atlas-games.com/product_tables/AG4014.php .

-Michelle

That is _excellent_. Between that and looking into _Thorns of the Lotus_ for the ritual magic rules, I think we're going to have an awful lot of fun soon.

I only wish that Japanese horror films could map more easily to FS. I have these horrible visions of my Maverick Cop attempting to unload on Sadako from Ringu...I certainly don't mind an undead child with psychic powers killed unjustly taking out her shambling aggressions on my players; it's just that I'd prefer them to have some way to survive them.

BUHK has seemed to slip under the radar after 5th ed. Ars Magica, so I was wondering how you'd review the book after some time to read it? What are the best bits? It is on my to-get list, just haven't placed the order.

Thanks,
Chris

OK, I'm sorry to be the one to do this, but...

I'm seriously NOT into BUHK. Out of 96 pages, there were roughly six that had anything of use to me.

Not to freak out anyone at Atlas, honestly. There are few people who love Feng Shui as much as I, and most products they put out for it are useful. Some are flat-out fantastic. But not this one.

The thing is, it's basically a frickin' tour guide. There are pages and pages AND PAGES of description, but only of boring real-world stuff. Airports, parks, buildings, shopping malls, etc etc. This is like a watered-down Fodor's Guide or something, guys. Seriously, do I need a list of names for HK's Health Care Districts and Hospitals? It's a GAME, man, I'm just gonna make some crap up if I need a hospital nearby.

I could get more for my money by buying the "Let's Go Travel Guide - Hong Kong" in my local Border's. I buy rpg supplements for the rpg material, and guys, there just isn't enough gaming material here.

I had to wade through pages to find some useful tidbits, like monster descriptions or a few measly fu schticks. I really like the vehicle modifications section, but I'm upset that I basically paid $20 for those two pages of useful material.

Even when there was some promising material, it wasn't given useful stats. There is a whole page dedicated to describing the typical cars and types of boats in Hong Kong... how about some Pep and Wreck guidelines for them? (There's even a brief explanation of Pep & Wreck on the next page; so why would they bother to explain it, then not offer stats in their own material??)

Anyway, I'll shut up now. I'm sure for as much as I dislike this book, there'll be five guys telling me what a wonderful supplement it is. I just had to offer up my two coins' worth.

I'm greatly looking forward to "Glimpse of the Abyss" to wash the taste of BUHK from my palate.

Thanks for the review, I do appreciate it. I'll have to take a closer look at it.

Chris

i just never had much use for the meta plot in feng shui... everytime i tried bringing it in, it always felt like i was leading players around by the nose...

so in the future, im probably just going to drop that... maybe bring something in much much later... but i kind of doubt it, i like the action movie side of it

I've had BUHK for a couple weeks now and I thought it was OK. Most of Sensei's points hold true, but I can live with them. I probably would never get around to buying a travel book for HK, so the district descriptions will be useful (admittedly, the hospital list probably is a bit much).

A few suggestions I would make though, for future publications:

- Please no more sidebars of black text on textured grey backgrounds. It's livable for short things like character stats, but a full page of it is painful even with my (still holding) 20/20 eyesight. The white text on black, which is used a few times in BUHK (and I think in a few other books) is better, but a black on a paler, untextured grey would be best.
- Some of the location descriptions would be better served with a sketch or small map to make sense of the place. E.g. the Chungking Mansions are described as five blocks with a central courtyard...how do you put five blocks around a four-sided shape?
- This is extra, but a listing of famous HK movie scenes matching real world locations would have really helped fire things up when describing sites to players. E.g. the double decker bus scene from Police Story, the mall scene from the same movie.

Are there any plans for location books for any other junctures? E.g. Hong Kong 1850? (or even Asia 1850)

Chris

All the feedback is appreciated. :)

> Are there any plans for location books for any other
> junctures? E.g. Hong Kong 1850? (or even Asia 1850)

No...but that's mainly because right now there aren't plans for any books after Glimpse of the Abyss. The line will be going on hiatus, at least as far as new books go...but of course the in-print stuff will continue to be available (and out-of-print books will go to PDF availability, like Golden Comeback), and I expect the main rulebook will continue to be reprinted indefinitely.

-John Nephew
President, Atlas Games

Just not making the dollars, eh? Goldurnit. That makes two really excellent, well-supported games you have (OvTE, FS) that just haven't made the GNDs spew their lucre.

On the upside for both, at least there's a massive amount of sourcebook material. But it's a damn shame. I can think of several things I'd love to buy as a GM for the line. And at least it didn't knock you guys back into another timezone in supporting it like OnTE did.

-Drew

I don't want to speak for Mr. Nephew, but more than likely it's because some possibly-disreputable competitor snatched away their only Line Developer for Feng Shui, and Atlas Games currently doesn't have the resources to hire another one, and their back-up/former Line Developer insists on having an actual career with a regular paycheck.

On the other hand, I'm sure Mr. Nephew wouldn't mind digging through a huge stack of resumes from would-be aspirants with vivid details on how they've been writing, designing, and editing their own 1st Edition AD&D homebrew campaign world based on the adventures of their 39th-level fire-breathing anti-paladin.

Hmmm. Maybe I should turn down my sarcasm scrollbar a bit. And clean up that resume a tad.