TEXT: Mist-Robed Gate
  by Shreyas Sampat
  ©2007-2008 by Shreyas Sampat. All rights reserved.
  咒印 Cursed Seal Edition
  Illustrations: S. Sampat, Dover Pictorial Archive
  Editing & Cover Design: Elizabeth Shoemaker
  Filmography: Evan Torner
  Layout Design: Jonathan Walton
  Language Consultants: Benjamin Lehman, J. Walton
  Playtesters: Kelly W. Asprooth-Jackson, Meguey Baker, 
  Carolyn Bernstein, Joshua Hall-Bachner, Katherine Jones, 
  Edward Mahoney, Joshua A.C. Newman, Dev Purkayastha, E. 
  Shoemaker, Matthew Timmins, E. Torner, and J. Walton.
  Special thanks to the playtesters at Story Games Boston, 
  Origins 2008, and DexCon 11. Also, extra-special thanks to 
  all my dear friends who browbeat me into writing this game 
  and publishing it. You know who you are.
  門雲佩
  summerbird
  TWO SCOOTERS
  PRESS
  Also From Two Scooters Press:
  It’s Complicated
  Do you like stories about happy, functional, well-adjusted 
  people who fall in love with the right people, say the right 
  things, and live happily ever after? If so, this is definitely not 
  the game for you.
  Monsters are Coming to Eat Elizabeth 
  (Coming soon)
  Monsters are coming to eat your friend Elizabeth! The 
  grownups don’t believe you when you tell them, so you have 
  to convince them you’re playing a game, and get them to 
  play along. A game for kids 2-6 years old and their favorite 
  grownup assistant. 
  
  緒言 Introduction
  The key to emotionally tempestuous arthaus wuxia is that, 
  sometimes, your emotions are more important than your life. 
  You allow yourself to be hurt in pursuit of the object of your 
  desire, and when you’re caught between conflicting feelings, 
  you manufacture crises in order to make impossible decisions. 
  The action and emotion of Mist-Robed Gate runs in the same 
  vein as such movies as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, House 
  of Flying Daggers, and Hero. (If you’d like more movie recom-
  mendations, see the filmography in the back of the book.)
  To play Mist-Robed Gate, you need several players. The 
  game works well with up to a dozen players, but the mini-
  mum is four. You will also need the following:
  Copies of the character sheet, the set card, and the 
  prop card: one of each per player
  Red and white poker chips, and a bag to put them in
  A beautiful cloth large enough to cover a knife with
  A dull knife you don’t mind cutting paper with: it 
  should fold up or have a sheath
  A table you don’t mind stabbing: the table is optional, 
  but the stabbing is not.
  In a less-than-best-case scenario, you can downgrade your 
  tools and props. I leave it to you to determine how best to do 
  that, given your resources.
  •
  •
  •
  •
  •
  
  準備 Preparing to Play
  Before you start, make sure your group has tea and snacks. 
  Personally, I like to have fried dumplings and jasmine tea, 
  but you can have sushi and sake if you’ve planned a Japanese-
  styled game, and so on. The refreshments don’t have to be 
  fancy, but make sure that no one’s cranky from hunger while 
  you’re playing, and that everyone is happy. Spectators are an 
  important part of the game, so it’s best to not wander off and 
  make a sandwich during someone else’s scene.
  Laying Plans
  After snacks have been made available, talk a little about 
  what kind of game your group wants to play. You might have 
  picked up this book and thought, “Hey! I want to play a 
  game like Iron Monkey!” So ask yourself: what is it about this 
  inspiration that I want to re-create? Is it something about 
  the father-son relationship, or is it a class struggle? Maybe 
  it’s the style of the action sequences that appeals to you, or 
  the music. If your group is strongly familiar with this style of 
  cinema, you might find it is useful to talk about the style of 
  a director you enjoy: Ang Lee and Zhang Yimou make very 
  different movies, for example.
  Talk about the nationality of the characters, the visual style 
  of the martial arts. You can even discuss the special effects bud-
  get! You can probably talk about this for a half hour or longer. 
  Do that! You have snacks and tea. Take the time to get every-
  one on the same page about what you’re setting out to do.
  Waging War
  The next step in the process is to divide up the social 
  landscape into factions. At the start of the game, no one lives 
  in social isolation. Situate characters so that they naturally turn 
  inward for conflict—look at the cast of House of Flying Daggers, 
  for example: the two major groups are the policeman in the Im-
  perial service, and the prostitutes of the Peony Pavillion, who 
  later turn out to be the Flying Daggers rebels. Clearly, police-
  
  men don’t always get along with sex workers, and the govern-
  ment never gets along with rebels. Don’t rely on external forces 
  for conflict—each character should be a member of a social 
  circle that is in conflict with another group.
  You can set groups in conflict along lines of agenda as well 
  as identity—for instance, a group of Korean soldiers might be 
  trying to sail home from China, and some pirates want to take 
  their ship. There might be other ships, but they want that one!
  Within these factions, name influential people. These will 
  be the main characters, the ones that the players portray dur-
  ing the game. They have to have reasons to come into direct 
  contact with one another pretty frequently. The Emperor of 
  Qin and the slave who sweeps the floor at night are unlikely 
  to have intersecting social spheres, so if you’ve got both of 
  them in your game, come up with a reason for them to ac-
  tively seek each other out frequently—maybe they’re in love, 
  or the servant is the Emperor’s twin brother, or something.
  Characters & Displays
  Each player should choose a character they want to play 
  from the influential faction members, and then fill out a 
  character card for her. You’ll see on the card that characters 
  have three Displays: a signature Color, distinctive Weather, 
  and a Quirk. Quirks can be personality-based—the charac-
  ter might be a drunk, or she may be blind, or overly legalis-
  tic—or superficial—she might keep a calligraphy brush in 
  her hair, or always wear iron gloves.
  Color and Weather are mood-setting tools: think about 
  the movie Hero. When there is a large swath of a character’s 
  signature Color in a scene, it shows the character’s influence 
  over the events that take place. What does it mean to have 
  weather? That means that when a character is the focus of a 
  scene, the heavens respond in a physical manner, bringing 
  down ice or rain or sunshine. I’ll talk more about this later. 
  Finally, Quirks exist to let the audience know that these are 
  the characters the movie is about.
  The Knife Ritual
  During play, you’ll be un-
  covering, unsheathing, pass-
  ing, and using a knife to stab 
  through a character sheet. You 
  can replace the knife with a 
  different pointed object, but 
  only after you’ve read about 
  and discussed the knife ritual 
  together. Regardless of your 
  comfort level, I don’t recom-
  mend playing Mist-Robed Gate 
  with younger players, due to the 
  violence inherent in the fic-
  tion. And, no matter what you 
  decide to do with the materials 
  in this book, I’m not responsible 
  for your actions; you are. Play 
  responsibly: the author of this 
  book is not responsible for any 
  harm, physical or emotional, 
  real or imagined, inflicted by 
  people using or misusing the 
  rules of this text.
  
  Finally, each character has Loyalties. I’ll explain these in 
  more detail later, but in short, they are things that the char-
  acters care about intensely. Initially, all characters are loyal to 
  their own factions. You can also throw in loyalties to particu-
  lar characters, goals or ideals; however, those sorts of things 
  should cross faction lines, and create conflicting loyalties.
  Sets & Props
  Mist-Robed Gate is a cinematic game, and we manipulate 
  the physical world with the tools of cinema. That means that 
  there are only a certain number of places you can film—the 
  sets—and only so many cool things for the characters to 
  handle and carry around, which are the props. At the start 
  of the game, everyone gets one character card, one prop 
  card, and one set card. You fill out the character card before 
  the game begins, and as play proceeds, you’ll fill out the rest.
  Defining the scope of a set can be difficult. A set is a 
  continuous location, such as a building or landscape, or a 
  continuous visual idea—if you’re playing a game in which 
  the characters make pilgrimages to thirty-three Buddhist 
  temples, for instance, you might want to use the same set 
  for the less important ones, and only make individual sets 
  for destinations of special importance. “One visual idea” can 
  also mean flashbacks, stories, imaginary events, or dreams. 
  As you develop sets in play, you should describe them: every 
  time you have a scene in a set, describe the set in a new way.
  A set card asks important things about the set, such as:
  What does it look like? The description is sugges-
  tive, not definitive, but it should give a couple of good 
  details and perhaps a default color scheme, which can 
  be affected by the characters present in the scene. The 
  description can also contain extras that don’t leave the 
  scene, such as the calligraphy students in Hero.
  How big is it? Sets vary in size, and therefore, in the 
  number of characters who can be present at once. 
  •
  •
  
  An Intimate set may contain only two characters. A 
  Small set can contain up to four. A Spacious set can 
  contain up to seven, and an Infinite set has no limit 
  on capacity. Aside from these limits, each set can 
  also contain a sensible amount of extras. If you like, 
  you can also make more complex restrictions on sets: 
  “One character, or two characters if the they fight.”
  Theme music? If you bother to make soundtracks, you 
  might have certain songs associated with certain sets.
  On a prop card, you only need to name and describe the 
  prop. When important, the card can also state where the prop 
  can be found; props begin the game in a character’s posses-
  sion, or else have a designated resting space on a particular set. 
  When a prop is in a set, it can be taken by any character present 
  on the set. When a character has a prop, it may be given freely, 
  or it may be demanded using the Knife Ritual, but it cannot 
  be taken by any other means. A character may also leave props 
  resting on a set, if the character is present on that set.
  You don’t need prop cards for every object the characters 
  interact with; if it’s something that might reasonably be in a 
  set and not go outside of it, like teacups in a restaurant, then 
  don’t use a prop card for it. If it’s something unique or spe-
  cial, doesn’t belong on a set (like calligraphy tools in a torture 
  chamber), or you need to move something from one set to an-
  other, that means it’s important enough to put on a prop card. 
  This includes portable extras and non-player characters.
  Loyalty
  What does Loyalty mean in the context of Mist-Robed 
  Gate? A Loyalty is something you care for without compro-
  mise. Having Loyalties means that you also have agendas: if 
  you’re loyal to something, that means that there is something 
  you want from it, and pursuing your Loyalty means doing 
  things which advance your agenda. Review your loyalties 
  and make sure that they come into conflict with each other.
  •
  What Is a Prop?
  Props can be anything that 
  is not a set or a player’s char-
  acter; they do not have to be 
  physical objects, merely things 
  that can be controlled, traded, 
  lost, fought over, or destroyed. 
  Example props include: your 
  father, the Emperor’s favor, 
  Amaterasu’s Mirror.
  
  The defining characteristic of Loyalty is that it is some-
  thing you would die for-- something that comes before 
  anything else in your life. You may find yourself instinctively 
  resisting Loyalties which might endanger your character; 
  however, the whole idea of this genre is that no person exists 
  in a vacuum. Characters in this game are ruled-- and often 
  destroyed-- by their passions. Loyalty is the expression of 
  those passions.
  Characters may have Loyalties to other characters, or to 
  props. Having a Loyalty to a prop generally means that a 
  character requires certain things of the person who possesses.
  
  玩戲 Play
  Well, that’s the end of the homework. There’s just one 
  thing left to do: lay out the table. Give everyone their two 
  blank cards—one prop, one set—and make sure they have 
  their character cards. Put the knife on the table, folded or 
  sheathed, and cover it with the cloth. Give everyone a hand-
  ful of red and white poker chips. Once that’s done, play can 
  begin in earnest.
  This game proceeds in distinct scenes. You get to say what 
  your character says and does, and if you have a prop, you get 
  to say what it says and does, too. Similarly, if you framed the 
  scene, you get to say what the set is like, filling out a card 
  if necessary, and how the set’s extras behave. Defined set 
  cards are placed in the middle of the table at the end of every 
  scene, so that the next person who frames a scene can choose 
  whichever set they like. Blank set cards remain the property 
  of each player until they are defined.
  Take turns setting scenes. You may set a scene with any 
  characters you wish; you may even set scenes where your 
  character is not present. Just think about which characters 
  you’d most like to see interacting, and where. When you’re 
  setting a scene, you specify certain things: what set the scene 
  is on, which characters are present, and what they are up to. 
  If you feel like it, you can describe some of the more cin-
  ematic details of a scene, too—the camera angles, how it’s 
  lit, mood music, any special effects not on the set card, and 
  so on. Even though everyone knows what the sets look like, 
  as you’re setting each scene, you should briefly describe the 
  set in a new way. The set doesn’t have to change, but don’t 
  repeat the same canned description every time. If there are 
  any props present on the set, mention them as well.
  Scenes go on as long as they need to be in order for some-
  thing interesting to happen. For this particular genre, this 
  means that one of the following things probably occurs:
  
  Sharing Loyalties
  It is possible to share Loy-
  alties with other characters; 
  the agenda you have for your 
  Loyalty, however, should differ. 
  In the movie Curse of the Golden 
  Flower, the two eldest sons both 
  had Loyalties to their step-
  mother; however, Crown Prince 
  Wan’s agenda was wrapped 
  up in the illicit affair he was 
  having with her, and Prince 
  Jai’s agenda is to aid her in 
  overthrowing her husband, the 
  Emperor. Characters can share 
  Loyalties to props as well, and 
  have different agendas regard-
  ing that prop: think about how 
  the Green Destiny was used in 
  Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. 
  For more examples, see the 
  filmography in the back of this 
  book.
  Some previously unknown fact about a character 
  comes to light. This may make other characters in the 
  scene re-evaluate how they feel about her.
  Events cause a character to change his loyalty from 
  one faction to another.
  Someone makes a terrible demand of another charac-
  ter, through use of the Knife Ritual.
  There is a Wirework sequence.
  Someone makes an important decision that affects his 
  future actions and the way others treat him.
  I’ll talk more about the Knife Ritual and Wirework later.
  Once one interesting thing has happened, you might be at 
  a good place to cut to the next scene. Usually you should do 
  this as soon as a scene comes to a natural breaking point, but 
  in some cases you may want to carry on, if someone still has 
  an interesting thing they need to do in the same scene.
  If it’s the first scene, the person setting the scene must fill 
  out her set card, to give the scene a place to occur. Similarly, 
  if a prop is called for during a scene, fill out the prop card.
  •
  •
  •
  •
  •
  
  刀法 The Knife Ritual
  When changing loyalties, making decisions, and reveal-
  ing secret knowledge about your character doesn’t solve 
  problems, you can pick a fight using the knife on the table. 
  The Knife Ritual is concerned with the giving and receiv-
  ing of threats. In the story, it means that a character does an 
  act of emotional violence to someone else. The knife starts 
  the game on the table, and when it’s on the table, anyone 
  may pick it up in order to start the ritual. The Knife Ritual 
  has four states of escalation, and you can tell which state the 
  knife is in by looking at it.
  Covered: The knife is covered. Any player may un-
  cover the knife if needed. While the knife is covered, 
  it can’t be picked up-—this is important later, in the 
  Wirework chapter.
  Sheathed: The knife is sheathed. When the knife is 
  sheathed, demands cannot be made directly; they 
  must be communicated silently, through innuendo 
  and facial expression. Escalate by unfolding or un-
  sheathing the knife.
  Unsheathed: The knife is unsheathed. You can com-
  municate your demands directly, with words. Escalate 
  by stabbing another player’s character sheet.
  Bloodied: The knife is stuck in someone’s character 
  sheet. This means that someone’s character has done 
  an act of physical violence, and implicit in any de-
  mand made by bloodying the knife is this: “And you 
  die sometime before or at the end of the scene.”
  There are special things you can do with the knife in each 
  of these states, which I’ll discuss later. There are also four 
  things you can always do when someone hands you the knife 
  and makes a demand:
  Accept: You do what was asked of you. Put down the knife.
  •
  •
  •
  •
  •
  
  O n s c r e e n / O f f -
  screen
  Since this is a cinematic 
  game, characters are aware of 
  what the characters know, even 
  when players are not. Offscreen 
  action is perfectly permissible; 
  you can do things that involve 
  no other characters without 
  needing to put it in a scene. 
  Just as characters are not always 
  aware of information that has 
  been revealed to the audience 
  or the players, there is plenty of 
  room in Mist-Robed Gate for 
  surprise twists. Feel free to say 
  what your character is doing, 
  but it’s not always necessary to 
  say why.
  Deflect: You pass the knife to a third party; the esca-
  lation does not change. Whatever demand was made 
  of you, you pass on to a third party; you can alter the 
  demand by adding to or constraining it, as long as 
  the new demand will still satisfy the original require-
  ments. For example: if the demand is “I must marry a 
  daughter of the Li family,” then you could change the 
  demand to “He must marry the youngest daughter of 
  the Li family and inherit as its sole heir,” but not “He 
  must marry a son of the Li family.”
  Escalate: You pass the knife back to the person who 
  gave it to you, and it goes to the next state of escala-
  tion. You make a counterdemand; if they agree to 
  satisfy your demand, you agree to satisfy theirs.
  Wirework: Settle the demand with Wirework.
  Sheathed & Bloodied
      When you accept a demand while the knife is sheathed, 
  you cannot be sure that you’ve fulfilled the demand, because 
  the demand was unspoken. Pass the knife back; you are mak-
  ing a counterdemand, but its nature is known: “Show me that 
  I have satisfied you.” The character can then put down the 
  knife, which indicates acceptance and that you satisfied his 
  initial demand, or perform any of the knife actions as usual.
  When the knife is bloodied and stuck in your character 
  sheet, your options change:
  Acceptance: your character dies, and you make a 
  demand of the world. You state some prediction or 
  wish for the future, and as long as this wish doesn’t 
  demand that any player’s character takes a specific 
  action, it comes true. You still have to do what was 
  demanded of you, however.
  Escalation: You wrench the knife from your char-
  acter sheet and hold it against your killer’s skin. For 
  •
  •
  •
  •
  •
  
  safety’s sake, do not touch another player with the 
  sharp edge of the knife, and only on the hand. If 
  you’re uncomfortable touching another person with 
  the knife, touch their character sheet with the knife 
  instead, and if any players are uncomfortable with 
  being touched by the knife, they should say so before 
  play begins. Touching someone with the knife issues 
  an ultimatum; the character must satisfy the demand 
  or else immediately be killed. Whichever happens, 
  the knife gets put down after they respond.
  Wirework: If the knife is calmed as the result of 
  Wirework, you don’t actually die at the end of the 
  scene. Pull the knife out of your character sheet.
  •
  Acceptance & Lies
  What kind of response satis-
  fies a demand? Who decides? I 
  say, “The characters know what 
  the characters know,” which 
  means, your effort to satisfy 
  a demand is good enough if 
  it satisfies it to the best of the 
  instigator’s knowledge, and the 
  instigator is free to correct your 
  behavior if you act based on 
  information inferior to his, or 
  not correct it, whichever is his 
  preference.
  
  飛俠 Wirework
  Any kind of action sequence that happens in the game is 
  called Wirework. It can be a rooftop chase, a kung-fu battle, 
  a dance performance, a giant epic war, or anything else that 
  feels like action. The purpose of Wirework is to diffuse and 
  relieve the pressure put on characters by knife-motivated 
  decisionmaking. In short, Wirework is a less violent way to 
  make important decisions and solve minor problems.
  In the game, Wirework is always a contest between two 
  people; if it feels like more than two people should be involved 
  in Wirework, choose a representative to speak for each side. 
  Other people can become involved, but only the two people 
  who started the fight can participate in it mechanically.
  In order to start a Wirework sequence, hand the empty 
  bag to the player you want to contend with. You can start a 
  Wirework sequence as a response to being given the knife, 
  or you can start one during a regular scene in an attempt to 
  take the knife. Before Wirework begins, specify a reward 
  from the list below, and tell everyone what you’re fighting 
  for; first, the person who started the Wirework, and then 
  the person who is defending himself. Both players cannot 
  choose the same reward.
  The rewards are:
  Soothe the knife: The knife goes down one level on 
  the escalation scale.
  Take the knife: If you take the knife, you get to re-
  spond as though you were given it by the person you 
  just did Wirework with.
  Take a card from the other player: it can be a blank prop 
  or set, or a prop that the character is in possession of.
  Make a demand that the other character must satisfy.
  •
  •
  •
  •
  
  Remember, when the knife is covered, you cannot pick it 
  up; therefore, when the knife is covered, taking or soothing 
  the knife is not an option.
  During Wirework, both participants take turns describing 
  what their characters say and do in interesting and impres-
  sive ways. Meanwhile, the rest of the players act as an audi-
  ence—I’ll talk more about that later. Each audience member 
  should be holding a red poker chip and a white poker chip; 
  red represents the agressor, and white represents the de-
  fender. When one of the audience members decides who he 
  thinks should win the fight, he drops the appropriate coin 
  into the bag, without letting anyone see which he chose.
  Participants are not allowed to vote, but each participant 
  can cast coins in their favor by incorporating things from the 
  following list. Each participant can claim one coin per item, 
  for a maximum of three:
  Your Weather appears in your description—either of 
  the fight or of the scene.
  Your Color appears in your description.
  You display your Quirk.
  A prop you have comes to your aid.
  You are in a set you own.
      Once all the votes are cast, the sequence ends, and the de-
  fender blindly picks a single coin out of the bag. The color of the 
  coin indicates the winner. If you win the Wirework sequence, 
  you get the reward you chose. At the end of Wirework, unless 
  the winner took the knife, it goes back on the table.
  •
  •
  •
  •
  •
  
  觀眾 The Audience
  It’s likely that your character will not appear in every 
  scene of your game, or every Wirework sequence. If you play 
  Mist-Robed Gate the way I do, there are going to be a lot of 
  things happening that not everyone is involved in, but every 
  player needs to pay attention to in order to keep up with the 
  plot. So, how do you stay in touch when it’s not your scene? 
  How do you include players whose characters aren’t present?
  Being the Audience
  When you’re not in a scene, I encourage you to act like 
  you’re watching a movie at home with your friends. Feel free 
  to munch on your dumplings, shout advice at the actors, 
  throw popcorn at the screen, root for one of the characters, 
  or whisper commentary to your neighbors. You’re not ex-
  pected to sit quietly. Even when you’re not playing a char-
  acter, you’re participating in the experience. Audience time 
  also gives you a chance to catch up and plan. Check with 
  others about what you missed after a bathroom break. You 
  can also think about what you want to see happen the next 
  time it’s your turn to frame a scene.
  What you should do when you’re in the audience:
  Pay attention! It’s good to bring up and elaborate on 
  the small details that happen in other scenes, the way 
  that the Empress’s medicine in Curse of the Golden 
  Flower evolves into a subplot as the movie goes on, 
  and draws in additional characters.
  Keep track of who has what props, in case you want 
  to steal one later.
  During Wirework, think about when you want to 
  cast your vote. Everyone has to keep fighting until 
  you do! So, you can extend a Wirework sequence by 
  holding onto your chips, but don’t exhaust the par-
  •
  •
  •
  
  ticipants or the rest of the audience; they only have so 
  much energy and patience.
  Tend to your bodily needs! This is a good time to 
  have a snack, drink, or whatever. Try to stay in ear-
  shot unless you’re in the bathroom.
  What you should not do:
  Be too disruptive. You can certainly talk, but don’t 
  drown out the scene or start a heated debate with 
  somebody.
  Throw anything other than popcorn. Poker chips can 
  hurt, and throwing dumplings will get very messy 
  very fast. Trust me on this one.
  Over-plan. If you get too wrapped up in what you 
  want to happen next, you’re likely to miss what’s 
  happening now, which is likely to lead to your setting 
  scenes that don’t make sense. Likewise, if you get 
  too attached to your plans, and someone unwittingly 
  thwarts them, that’s no fun for you.
  Complain about how funny-looking the actors are. 
  We already know this movie would be better if Gong 
  Li were in it, but we work with what we’ve got.
  Wander away for long periods of time. You’re free to 
  ask for short recaps, but if you miss too much, nobody 
  is going to want to explain it all to you.
  Playing to an Audience
  When you’re in a scene, it’s important to remember that 
  you’re performing for a group of people watching you, and 
  your job is to entertain them. The best ways to entertain an 
  audience are to involve them in what you’re doing, and to do 
  things that make the audience care about what’s happening 
  •
  •
  •
  •
  •
  •
  
  onscreen. Some of the things you can do to involve the audi-
  ence members are:
  Listen. The audience are going to make comments 
  about what’s going on, and they might throw you a 
  cool idea if you’re paying attention to them.
  Give them something to do. If you need some extras 
  or a supporting character for a scene, you can ask an 
  audience member to portray those characters.
  Pander to your viewers. This is especially important 
  when you’re doing Wirework, because it increases 
  your chances of winning. If you know what the audi-
  ence wants to see and give it to them, you’re more 
  likely to get what you want out of the bargain.
  Don’t waste your screen time. There’s a time and a 
  place for slow, thoughtful conversations; sometimes, 
  having those is integral to the plot. Make sure not to 
  have them too often though—sharing the spotlight is 
  important, and you don’t want to shut out other play-
  ers too much with scenes of that kind. It might cost 
  you during Wirework scenes.
  •
  •
  •
  •
  
  赤旗幟高高飄揚 - 臨場動態
  Fly the Crimson Banner
  Guidelines for Live-Action Play
  To play Fly the Crimson Banner, you will need:
  A large space to play in, preferably with multiple 
  rooms
  Interesting props to use
  Three scarves for each play area: one white, one yel-
  low, and one red
  A facilitator, who does not play a character, but does 
  participate as an audience member
  A whiteboard, to keep track of the order of scene 
  framing and where the players are
  A gong
  Snacks and tea for the central meeting area.
  Setup is identical to the tabletop rules presented earlier in 
  the book: discuss the kind of game you want to play, divide the 
  social landscape into factions, and fill out your character sheets. 
  If you know what it will be ahead of time, you should also come 
  dressed up in your character’s signature color, so that it is always 
  present. If not, the facilitator can provide an assortment of 
  brightly-colored accessories for use by the players.
  Play is similar to Mist-Robed Gate’s normal rules, but 
  the facilitator has some special duties in order to make the 
  game go more smoothly. Whenever you get to the end of 
  a scene, you should come back to see the facilitator, get a 
  recap of what scenes happened while you were away, deliver 
  your own recap, and then see who’s at the top of the ’scene 
  frame’ list. That person gets to frame a scene immediately 
  with whoever’s present, or you can wait a small amount of 
  time for another scene to end, if you need a character that’s 
  somewhere else and it looks like they’ll be done soon. You’re 
  also free to go act as audience in other scenes that are going 
  on; just be sure that the facilitator knows where to find you 
  in case you’re needed for a scene.
  •
  ••
  •
  •
  ••
  
  Every time a player frames a scene, move their name from 
  the top of the scene framing list to the bottom. You don’t neces-
  sarily have to go in strict order if scene length isn’t permitting 
  you to do so, but make sure that no one feels cheated out of the 
  opportunity to frame scenes. When you leave base to play in a 
  scene, remember to update your location on the whiteboard.
  You don’t have cards for props and sets. Instead, you 
  should play in a place with several distinct rooms, and you 
  have a supply of physical objects that you’re allowed to use 
  as props. When you need a new set, you assign the set to an 
  unused room, and when you need a new prop, you assign 
  it to a physical object. You own props by carrying them on 
  your person, so you need to think a little about this; if you 
  use a real replica sword without a hanger as a sword prop, 
  you’ll need to keep it in your hand, whereas if you use a 
  pocketknife, you can stick it in your pocket.
  You don’t use a real knife for the knife. Instead, each set 
  has a color-coded scarf, called a banner; when the knife is 
  covered, there are no banners. When the knife is uncovered, 
  the facilitator hangs white banners in every set. When the 
  knife is drawn, the banners are changed to yellow, and when 
  it is bloodied for the first time, they are changed to red. If 
  you don’t have scarves, you can use sheets of construction 
  paper or something.
  To show that you have the knife, make the ’sword finger’ 
  gesture: Extend your second and middle fingers together, 
  and curl up the thumb, ring, and pinkie. Point the sword 
  finger at the person you are passing the knife to. To signal 
  acceptance, kneel and touch the sword finger to the ground. 
  To stab a person, touch them against the throat or collar-
  bone with your sword finger.
  When Wirework begins, ring a gong to summon all the 
  players so they can watch and vote. Before you play, everyone 
  needs to discuss how to handle Wirework. You always have 
  the option of just describing your characters doing what they 
  do, if you’re not comfortable acting those things out physi-
  What is Live-Action?
  Sometimes called larping, 
  live-action roleplaying involves 
  the players acting out the story 
  that the group is telling togeth-
  er. While in Mist-Robed Gate, 
  players say everything that their 
  characters say and do, in Fly the 
  Crimson Banner, players act out 
  everything their character says 
  and does. This does not mean 
  that you should try to flying 
  jump-kick each other during 
  Wirework or anything; stay safe 
  and use your best judgment.
  
  cally. If your group does choose to act out Wirework, you 
  need to talk about the following things and tailor them to 
  your group’s needs:
  Props: Are you allowed to physically incorporate them 
  into Wirework, or simply pantomime them? If you can 
  use them in Wirework, what are the rules for their use?
  Contact: Are you going to touch each other, or just 
  pantomime without making physical contact? If you 
  decide to touch, what body parts are off-limits?
  Exceptions: Are there individual people who are 
  uncomfortable with some of the group agreements? 
  Does anyone have special requests for their Wirework 
  scenes? Is there anyone who wants to opt out of act-
  ing out Wirework entirely?
  What happens if someone breaks the rules? No 
  one should ever break the rules, because safety is of 
  utmost importance. Sometimes, however, players get 
  excited or become purposefully problematic. What 
  does the group feel to be a fair way to handle these 
  situations? The final call in any individual case is 
  always up to the facilitator, but the facilitator should 
  keep in mind the group’s general wishes when han-
  dling a breach of etiquette.
  If you choose to act out Wirework, there are four impor-
  tant commands which both players can call out at any time:
  Slow: This brings the action into a slow-motion 
  sequence. A player can call this out to signal to their 
  partner that they’re going into slow motion, or the 
  partner can call it out when they feel action is mov-
  ing too quickly. All complex moves should be done in 
  slow motion, as should anything which will result in 
  physical contact.
  Repeat: This means that a sequence should be done 
  again. A player can call this out to signal to their 
  partner that they’re trying the same move twice, or 
  •
  •
  •
  •
  •
  •
  
  the partner can call it out when they want a do-over. 
  Repeating a move allows both players to develop tech-
  niques and defenses which feel comfortable for them.
  Hold: This pauses the action. Either player can call it 
  out when they need a momentary break.
  Stop: This stops the action until rules are renegoti-
  ated. Stop should be used whenever any player is 
  uncomfortable with the action sequence, or when 
  rules have been violated. The facilitator can also call 
  for stopping at any time.
  •
  •
  
  快樂家庭 Happy Family 
  Usually when I play Mist-Robed Gate at home, I like to 
  make it into a little dinner party. It adds a touch of gravi-
  tas to the occasion, and it helps me be sure that everyone’s 
  happy and comfortable. In this chapter, I explain how I go 
  about doing that, in case you want to do the same.
  Tea
  Tea is my favorite beverage to serve with Chinese food. 
  There is a wide variety of teas that you can buy at your local 
  supermarket, Asian grocery, or specialty tea shop, and I have 
  a lot of fun matching teas to the meal and the season.
  I’m sure you’re all familiar with how you prepare Western 
  black tea—drop a teabag into a cup, add water, allow it to 
  steep for several minutes. That’s the basic process we use for 
  all teas, combining water, temperature, and time, but differ-
  ent varieties have different steeping times and temperatures.
  Among ‘true’ teas—those brewed from the leaves of Camel-
  lia sinensis—there are three major categories that you’ll find in 
  a supermarket: black, oolong, and green. At a specialty shop, 
  you might also see some other kinds, which I’ll cover a little 
  later. I’ll also get around to talking about herbal teas.
  Black tea tends to have assertive flavors that go well with 
  cream and sugar. The manufacturing process for black tea 
  has an additional step, compared to green tea; the leaves are 
  allowed to oxidize before they are dried, which makes the 
  leaves change colour and develop different flavors. It may 
  have bitter or astringent notes, or distinct caramel or woody 
  elements. A lot of the black tea that’s available in the United 
  States is from India or Sri Lanka rather than farther east, 
  because the growing conditions in those regions favor the 
  production of black tea.
  Each region has a distinctive style of tea. There is a range 
  of flavors in every region, but, like wine, the land affects 
  
  what sort of tea it’s possible to produce in a particular place. 
  Assam and Ceylon teas tend to be quite assertive and astrin-
  gent. For some of them, a bitter flavor is considered desir-
  able. I usually don’t like to drink these teas without cream, 
  sugar, or lemon in them; their unadulterated flavors are too 
  strong for my taste. Come to think of it, it’s weird to drink 
  dairy tea with Chinese food, with the debatable exception 
  of bubble tea, so don’t use these kinds of tea for Mist-Robed 
  Gate. Darjeeling produces lighter, fragrant teas with floral 
  and fruity tendencies. Nilgiri teas are hard to obtain, but 
  they’re some of my favorites. They are sweet and complex, 
  with butterscotch, sandalwood, peach, and other round, 
  golden flavors. You can generally drink a good Darjeeling or 
  Nilgiri straight, or lightly sweetened. I wouldn’t put cream 
  in most of them. If you can get your hands on them, Dar-
  jeeling Jungpana and Nilgiri Tiger Hill are really beautiful.
  Black teas generally call for just-boiling water (large 
  bubbles) and the longest steeping times, in the neighborhood 
  of 5 minutes. Never steep any tea in water raised to a rolling 
  boil (large, violent bubbles). If the temperature of the water 
  is too high, you’ll ‘burn’ the tea, which means you’ll extract 
  bitter off-flavors that aren’t pleasant to drink, as well as de-
  stroying some of the more delicate aromatic compounds that 
  give each tea its distinctive flavor.
  Green tea has grassy and herbal flavors; it’s generally 
  lighter than black tea and its fragrance is more delicate. The 
  tea cultivars that make good green tea don’t grow in India, 
  so most of the green tea you can get is from China or Japan.
  China has less emphasis on growing regions, and more on 
  specific plantations with their particular environments and 
  manufacturing techniques. High-end green teas from China 
  often have a special leaf shape that results from their pro-
  cessing. Longjing, or dragon well, is one of those high-end 
  teas; its leaves have a flat shape that results from their being 
  pressed against the side of a pan as they are being dried. It 
  tastes very green. Gunpowder, another Chinese style of tea, 
  is actually named after its shape; the tea buds are rolled into 
  irregular balls that unfurl as they are steeped. In general, 
  Flavored Tea
  Tea makers add flavors to teas 
  in a number of different ways: 
  curing the tea leaves among fra-
  grant materials, adding extracts 
  or oils, or even mixing the tea 
  leaves with other sorts of plant 
  matter. I know that lots of tea 
  aficionados look on scented and 
  flavored teas as adulterated or 
  otherwise déclassé, but I don’t 
  really care. As with anything, 
  tons of flavored teas are not very 
  good, but there are also plenty 
  that are delicious.
  Flavored black tea is pretty 
  easy to find, and it comes in a 
  wide range of options. Lapsang 
  souchong is a Chinese black tea 
  that’s dried over burning pine, 
  which gives it a woodsmoke 
  flavor that’s nice to drink in 
  winter. Earl Grey is flavored 
  with oil of bergamot, a kind 
  of perfumey citrus fruit. It’s 
  rather nice with beef. Black teas 
  also go well with vanilla and 
  red fruits, and those blends are 
  generally easy to find in stores. 
  Black tea with jasmine or rose 
  is very difficult to find, but 
  wonderful in a kind of opulent 
  way. Try them out if you have 
  the opportunity.
  A few sorts of flavored green 
  teas are very traditional in their 
  places of origin, and they’re 
  
  green teas don’t get along with cream, and many of them are 
  mild or naturally sweet so they don’t need any added sweet-
  ener. I always taste a green tea before I add anything to it.
  Japanese green teas come in a few different forms. There’s 
  less emphasis yet again on plantation or region; instead, tea 
  shops have their own blends, and will maybe blend teas to 
  a customer’s taste, but there is a certain remove between 
  the grower and the drinker. Instead, the teas in Japan are 
  described mostly by their style of growing and manufacture. 
  Many of them are different grades of leaf tea, but a few 
  exceptions merit special mention. Matcha is a high-quality 
  green tea ground to an extremely fine powder; you can use 
  it by simply mixing it with a liquid. Matcha in milk is nice. 
  Houjicha is a strong tea that’s roasted and has a smoky taste. 
  Genmaicha has toasted rice in it, which gives it a sweet, 
  malty taste. Another grain-based tea from Japan, mugicha, 
  is made from roasted barley. It doesn’t contain tea leaves. 
  Mugicha’s a traditional summer beverage.
  Green teas need cooler water than black; still, steaming 
  water is about the right temperature. They also brew faster, 
  from 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Good-quality greens, par-
  ticularly in the Chinese style, can be steeped several times. 
  If you’re doing this, the first steeping should be quite brief, 
  30 seconds maybe, and each subsequent infusion should be a 
  bit longer than the one before. Use less water than you think 
  you should. A tea that’s meant to be served this way will 
  display a slow progression of subtly changing flavors until 
  the tea is spent.
  Oolong tea is made by interrupting the oxidization process 
  that turns tea black. Different styles of oolong start with dif-
  ferent sources and can vary in the extent of their oxidization 
  and the technique used to stop it, so it’s much harder to gen-
  eralize over them than it is over black and green. The range 
  of flavors is very wide. For that reason I’m not going to go on 
  too long about them; it’s better to just ask your tea merchant 
  about the particular teas that they have available.
  increasingly easy to find in gro-
  cery stores and so on now that 
  tea is so food-trendy. Green 
  mint is a nice summer tea, 
  and in the Asian store you can 
  usually find green jasmine and 
  green osmanthus; osmanthus 
  is a Chinese plant whose scent 
  reminds me of orange blossoms. 
  You can also find green Earl 
  Grey, but for goodness’ sake 
  don’t drink that! The bergamot 
  tends to overwhelm the tea. If 
  you’re lucky enough to find it, 
  green with cherry blossoms and 
  rose is wonderful.
  Thai iced tea, that lovely 
  neon-orange beverage, is an-
  other flavored tea, although it 
  remains a mystery to me what 
  exactly it’s flavored with. It 
  might be vanilla or star anise. It 
  turns out you can buy Thai tea 
  in large bags at the Asian store. 
  It’s really easy to make—sim-
  ply measure out tea and water 
  to your taste and refrigerate 
  overnight to infuse. You don’t 
  even need hot water! The next 
  day, strain it, and serve on ice 
  with sweetened half-and-half 
  or milk. You can use some-
  thing denser like cream or 
  sweetened condensed milk, 
  but it’s pretty rich that way, 
  and verges on overwhelming. 
  To get the pretty multicolored 
  Thai restaurant look, fill a glass 
  two-thirds of the way or so 
  with crushed ice, add the tea, 
  
  Oolong teas in the Chinese style, like greens, can be 
  steeped multiple times. In my experience, oolongs will yield 
  more infusions before giving out. The process is the same. 
  The temperature may vary—again, check on the package or 
  ask your tea seller.
  Tea leaves can be processed to produce a few other styles, 
  such as white tea, yellow tea, and pu-erh tea. These aren’t 
  widely available, although white tea is becoming increasingly 
  accessible, so let’s move on.
  Herbal infusions are also worth taking note of. Mint tea 
  is pretty nice in summer, either taken straight or Moroc-
  can-style, mixed with gunpowder tea. I’m not a big fan of 
  it myself, but apparently rooibos is considered very tasty by 
  some people. It seems to go well with round bakery flavors 
  like vanilla, almond, and dried fruit. Maybe I’d pair rooibos 
  with mild biscuits and serve it with cream, English-style. 
  My girlfriend says rooibos with cream is gross, so try it both 
  ways to ensure domestic harmony.
  Hibiscus and rosehip brew to dramatic shades of red-pink, 
  which is nice for visual effect, and their acidic flavors are 
  good for cutting through a rich, fatty meal. That’s not all the 
  good stuff that exists in the herbal tea world, but to go on 
  would be outside the scope of this chapter. Go explore!
  Iced tea is maybe my favorite thing to make with tea. Es-
  pecially for party situations, it’s really good to simply have a 
  beverage in the refrigerator that you can simply pull out and 
  pour without having to do any additional prep. It makes you 
  look clever and effortless.
  Most teas are good iced, but I generally steer away from 
  those that have a lot of astringency, like Assams or any Eng-
  lish-style black tea, or generally speaking any tea that’s too 
  harsh to drink without cream. These will get cloudy when 
  chilled, because some of their flavor components aren’t fully 
  soluble in cold water. It doesn’t affect the flavor at all, but it 
  ruins your presentation.
  and then gently pour the sweet 
  cream on top. The ice keeps the 
  ingredients from mixing until 
  they’re stirred.
  
  The most fun thing about iced tea is adding neat gar-
  nishes. I’m sure you know about bubble tea. It’s kind of a 
  hassle to make tapioca pearls at home, but the idea extends 
  to other cool stuff: chunks of fresh fruit, for example, add 
  sweetness and flavor to iced tea. Simply toss them in when 
  you brew the tea and chill overnight. The next day when the 
  tea is ready to serve, the flavors will have blended nicely. If 
  you’re worried about the fruit getting watery, which might 
  happen if you’re using a really strongly flavored fruit and a 
  more delicate tea, then you can brew and sweeten the tea as a 
  concentrate, at double or triple strength, put the fruit in the 
  day before, and then dilute it just before serving.
  Wheels of citrus fruits (peel and all) can be added only a 
  short time before serving, too; it doesn’t take them long to 
  perfume the tea. Avoid frozen fruits. They’ll get mushy and 
  unappetizing. Delicate berries like raspberries will do this if 
  left in the tea too long as well, but like citrus fruits, you can 
  add them an hour or two before serving instead of overnight.
  One combination that I especially love is mango-rose 
  green tea with halved cherries. The cherries get nice and 
  plump in the tea, and the tea takes up a pretty red color from 
  the fruit. Another nice combo is jasmine or honeysuckle tea 
  with honeydew melon. This is pretty delicate and you’ll want 
  to serve it with something light like shumai or cold noodles. 
  Black tea with slices of orange and ginger is also great, and 
  it’ll stand up to a meal with strong flavors like beef. Smack 
  the ginger slices with the side of a heavy knife before putting 
  them in the tea; bruising them a little helps them infuse.
  Prepared Food
  Prepared food isn’t a sin! Takeout and frozen things are 
  an essential part of the effortless entertaining experience. It’s 
  important to me that, when I’m hosting, I’m not doing too 
  much in the kitchen; I want to be available to my guests and 
  friends and have time for me to enjoy their company. There 
  are a lot of foods that you can get in the freezer section that 
  you can make at home, but to do so would be laborious in 
  More Ways to 
  Drink Tea
  If you’re really interested in 
  tea, you might find it inter-
  esting to explore other ways 
  people consume it across the 
  world. Whenever I visit friends 
  in Bombay, we share a cup 
  of Indian spiced chai, made 
  with scalded milk, ginger, and 
  cardamom. Farther north, 
  the Kashmiris make green 
  tea scented with saffron and 
  almonds, and in Tibet, strong 
  black tea is mixed with butter 
  to make po cha. 
  
  the extreme, or requires skills that you may not have the 
  time or inclination to develop. These are the kind of thing 
  that I encourage you to outsource.
  You can find jiaozi, Chinese dumplings, in a wide vari-
  ety. They have all sorts of fillings, from meats to seafood 
  to different combinations of vegetables. Once or twice I’ve 
  even run across “dessert dumplings” with fruit or bean-paste 
  filling. Experiment with different brands and flavors; they 
  vary widely in quality and deliciousness. You can steam 
  dumplings or pan-fry them. Really don’t microwave them. 
  The package might tell you you can do this, but they’ll get 
  rubbery and have soggy bottoms. There’s nothing grosser 
  than soggy bottoms.
  To steam dumplings, line a steamer basket with cab-
  bage leaves or pieces of waxed paper. Make sure there are 
  a few gaps for the steam to pass through the lining. Place 
  the dumplings on top of the lining with a little bit of space 
  between them; if they touch they will stick. Once the steam 
  is going, they need about 15 minutes, but you have a bit of 
  freedom here. They’re hard to overcook, and you can safely 
  leave them in the steamer for a while after they’re done. 
  Simply turn off the heat and leave the steamer closed until 
  you’re ready. It’ll probably stay at serving temperature for a 
  good half hour.
  To pan-fry dumplings, warm up a nonstick pan to me-
  dium-low heat with a little oil. Use a pan with a close-fitting 
  lid. Arrange the dumplings in the pan, seam up. The side 
  opposite the seam is usually the flattest; this ensures that 
  you get the maximum crunchy browned bits, without having 
  to carefully turn every dumpling so it browns on every side. 
  Once the dumplings are heated up a bit and they’ve started 
  to sizzle, add about half a cup of water to the pan—enough 
  to evenly cover the bottom. It will boil up immediately. 
  Cover the pan, lower the heat, and leave it there for about 
  five minutes. Then loosen the lid so steam can escape, and 
  wait for the water to boil off and the sound to change to siz-
  zling again. They’re ready to serve as soon as they’ve started 
  sizzling and they are browned to the extent you prefer. The 
  Other Dumplings
  Korean mandu and Japanese 
  gyoza cook like jiaozi. They 
  sometimes differ slightly in 
  shape (my favorite brand of 
  mandu are shaped into a circle, 
  tortellini-like) and come with 
  different fillings. It seems like 
  gyoza tend to have a higher 
  proportion of meat in their 
  fillings than jiaozi do, and 
  mandu sometimes include such 
  things as kimchi (delicious) or 
  glass noodles. Regardless of 
  where they came from, I like to 
  serve dumplings with a simple 
  dipping sauce: two parts soy 
  sauce to one part rice vinegar or 
  balsamic vinegar for a sweeter, 
  intenser dip, and a little chunk 
  of freshly grated ginger. Drizzle 
  a tiny bit of toasted sesame oil 
  over the top of that if you’re 
  feeling fancy.
  Be careful when you’re shop-
  ping for dumplings. The sort 
  labelled shuijiao or sui gyoza are 
  meant to be boiled and served 
  in soup, and their wrappers are 
  rather thicker and doughier 
  than the non-soup kind. They 
  don’t really come out well when 
  fried or steamed. Cantonese-
  style gau have a delicate, trans-
  lucent wrapper that reveals their 
  filling. Usually these are sold 
  frozen in neat divided trays. 
  You can recognize them because 
  
  steaming step ensures that the wrapper is cooked all the way 
  through and the filling evenly warmed. You can also add 
  flavors during steaming, by mixing the water with soy sauce, 
  for instance, or adding whole cloves of garlic or ginger slices. 
  The flavors will gently permeate the dumpling wrappers.
  Bao, steamed buns, also come with all sorts of different 
  fillings, but my favorite are roast pork buns. They’re tender 
  and chewy and warm, and the best ones are simultaneously 
  yeasty and sweet. I love them. Steam them like dumplings, 
  and be careful when you’re eating them! They are hot. They 
  don’t need a dipping sauce.
  Noodles are another thing it’s not worth making at home. 
  I’m not going to bore you with a long essay about noodle eat-
  ing, but I do want to say, whenever I’m making Asian noo-
  dles, after boiling them I always drain them and plunge them 
  into icy cold water and agitate them for a while. This washes 
  off the starch on the surface of the noodles, which keeps them 
  from sticking to each other, and stiffens them up a little; once 
  they’re washed you can stir-fry them or add them to soup 
  or whatever you need to do. To reheat, simply immerse the 
  cooked noodles in hot water for like half a minute.
  Recipes
  Here are some things I like to eat! The recipes that fol-
  low are from many different places on the globe. I know 
  the wuxia genre is really a natively Chinese thing, but my 
  kitchen doesn’t have borders. It’s friendlier that way. I’m go-
  ing to assume you are comfortable in a kitchen here.
  Hunanese salted chiles are a great thing to keep in your 
  pantry. They’re hot and salty and a tiny bit sour, and unlike 
  most commercial hot sauces, they aren’t cooked so they have 
  a real freshness of flavor. This recipe’s adapted from Fuschia 
  Dunlop, Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook, but made less spicy 
  so that it can be used as a hot condiment as well as a burst of 
  concentrated heat to add while cooking.
  they’re very white when raw, and 
  have a tight, plump shape. Their 
  seams have many pleats. They 
  are very beautiful, but don’t fry 
  them! No one knows what will 
  happen if you do.
  Ingredients At a 
  Glance
  Hunanese Salted 
  Chiles
  1/2 pound hot red chiles
  1/2 pound sweet 
  red peppers
  1/4 cup coarse salt
  »»
  »
  
  Get half a pound of sweet red peppers and half a pound 
  of hot red peppers. Thai bird chiles are my preference. They 
  have a nice, fiery, in-your-face hotness. Wash and trim both 
  kinds of peppers, removing the stems. Also remove the 
  gills if the peppers in question are particularly large and 
  this seems like a reasonable amount of effort. Now put all 
  the peppers in the food processor and mince them quite 
  finely. Be very careful that none of the chopped pepper goes 
  in your eye or anything like that, and when you open the 
  processor keep your face away and don’t inhale too deeply. 
  At this point the whole processor is full of tiny airborne 
  droplets of bird-chile juice. Get 1/4 cup of coarse, non-iodized 
  salt. Stir salt into the chiles until the salt stops dissolving in 
  the released juice and it clumps in pink-tinted bits around 
  the chopped peppers. Pack it into jars and pour the remain-
  ing salt on to cover, so the tops are uniformly white, and 
  then close the jars and allow to pickle for at least two weeks. 
  In this time the chiles will take care of themselves—it’s too 
  salty in there for anything to start growing, really—but once 
  you’ve opened them, you might want to keep them in the re-
  frigerator anyway. This’ll maybe last you half a year. It keeps 
  longer than that, but you’ll run out.
  Tom kha kai is a relatively uncomplicated Thai soup. It’s 
  also pretty fast to make, but be prepared to be busy just 
  cooking while you’re working on it. It’s not the kind of soup 
  you can wander away from. Remove the dry outer leaves 
  from one stalk of lemongrass and peel about an inch of 
  ginger. Then cut them into big chunks, large enough that 
  they can be easily fished out later. Using a knife or vegetable 
  peeler, zest half a lime in big strips. Use a couple of Thai 
  lime leaves instead of the zest if you can get your hands on 
  them; just rip each leaf in half. Pour three cups of chicken 
  stock into a pot with the lemongrass, ginger, and lime zest. 
  Bring this to a boil over medium-high heat and let it boil 
  for about a minute. While you’re waiting for it to boil, cut 
  a pound of skinless, boneless chicken breast into bite-size 
  strips and prepare some dried shiitake mushrooms: pour 
  hot water over a bowl full of dried mushrooms, enough to 
  cover, and then cover the bowl with some kind of lid. Set 
  this aside. After the stock has boiled for about a minute, add 
  Tom Kha Kai
  1 stalk lemongrass
  1 inch ginger
  zest of half a lime, 
  or 2 lime leaves
  3 cups chicken stock
  1 pound chicken breast
  handful dried shiitakes
  2 cans coconut milk
  juice of above lime
  salted chiles
  1 tablespoon sugar
  1 tablespoon fish sauce
  lime wedges & 
  cilantro to garnish
  »»»
  »»»»»»»»»
  
  two 14-ounce cans of unsweetened coconut milk. I find that 
  Chaokoh is the tastiest brand I can get my hands on.
  Let this come back to a boil and add the chicken. Bring 
  back to a boil again, and add the juice of the lime you zested 
  earlier, some salted chiles, a tablespoon of sugar (light 
  brown, preferably), and a tablespoon of fish sauce. Stir until 
  the sugar dissolves, then add the mushrooms, discarding 
  the soaking liquid. Simmer for a minute or two, just so the 
  chicken is cooked and the mushrooms are tender. Garnish 
  with cilantro. I like to serve this with more wedges of lime 
  on the side. You should probably have wedges of lime on 
  your table anyway, because lime juice is good on every-
  thing. Before serving, either warn your guests or fish out 
  the ginger, lemongrass, and lime zest. This recipe serves 4 
  as a main dish or like 6 if it’s on the side of something more 
  substantial.
  Spring rolls are a lot of work, you might think! Why am 
  I giving you a recipe, instead of telling you to buy them? 
  I’ll tell you why! Commercial spring rolls are almost always 
  filled mostly with shredded cabbage, which is all right and 
  everything but it’s not really very flavorful. You can do bet-
  ter, and it’s way easier than you might think. This particular 
  recipe is one we made at a party when we ran out of the ones 
  we had made beforehand, with just whatever we had lying 
  around. They turned out to be a big hit.
  Bring a dry pan to medium-high heat. Chop up a few 
  stalks of celery into little crescents, maybe 1/4 inch thick, as 
  it’s heating up. When the pan is hot, throw in the celery and 
  let some of the moisture evaporate. When they change color, 
  becoming darker green, add the same amount of scallions, 
  green and white parts, cut into short pieces, and about the 
  same amount again of reconstituted shiitake mushrooms. 
  We would have used bacon in the place of the mushrooms, 
  but we were cooking for vegetarians. Try the bacon varia-
  tion for me, tell me how it goes. Add some garlic, a splash of 
  toasted sesame oil, and salted chiles, and stir-fry. Use seri-
  ously as many salted chiles as you can stand.
  Spring Rolls
  1 cup celery crescents
  1 cup scallion pieces
  1 cup reconstituted 
  dried shiitake, strips
  garlic
  toasted sesame oil
  salted chiles
  glass noodles
  spring roll wrappers
  »»»
  »»»»»
  
  Meanwhile, soak a small package of Korean glass noodles 
  in hot water. Or have your assistant do that. When the 
  noodles are soft, drain, and toss them together with the 
  other filling ingredients. Taste for seasoning and then stir-
  fry them some more so the noodles absorb some tastiness 
  from their neighbors. This is your spring roll filling.
  Now you need to wrap them up! This is fun, and you’ll 
  probably mess it up the first time or two. I did. Get out the 
  spring roll wrappers you’ve been keeping in the fridge. Take 
  one and put it in front of you with one corner facing you, 
  and put some filling on it about a third of the way up in a 
  narrow strip. Don’t use too much filling or you won’t be able 
  to wrap it up. Bring the two corners at your left and right to 
  the center and then lift up the bottom corner to cover the 
  filling like an envelope. Moisten the edges of the last corner 
  with water, and then roll the filled part onto the corner and 
  press it down gently to seal. Voilà! You made a spring roll!
  Fry these in a pan with a little bit of oil until they’re 
  crunchy on all sides. You’ll end up with between 20 and 
  a dozen depending on the size of your wrappers and how 
  generously you fill them.
  Cold sesame noodles in a Japanese idiom are what I make 
  when I’m lazy and hungry and want something slippery and 
  cold. Prepare one bundle of udon noodles (Japanese noodles 
  sometimes come packaged in these neat sheaves that make 
  it easy to portion them) and just keep them immersed in ice 
  water as you work on the dressing. Drain them just as the 
  dressing is ready.
  Combine a tablespoon of miso paste, a tablespoon or three 
  of peanut butter (I like mine chunky), the juice of half a 
  lime, a splash of soy sauce, a teaspoon of toasted sesame oil, 
  and as much freshly cracked pepper as you like. Taste and 
  adjust. I often find that a small amount of sugar helps round 
  out the flavor. You can change around the flavor of this 
  by using vinegar instead of lime, fish sauce instead of soy, 
  leaving out the miso (if you do this, use more soy-or-other-
  Cold Sesame 
  Noodles
  1 bundle udon
  1 tablespoon miso paste
  1-3 tablespoons 
  peanut butter
  soy sauce
  toasted sesame oil
  cracked pepper
  green things
  steak, optional
  white sesame seeds 
  to garnish
  »»»
  »»»»»»
  
  salty-thing), or stirring in some Thai curry paste. If you 
  want a creamy effect, add a tablespoon of mayonnaise. My 
  girlfriend thinks the mayo variation is super-gross but I love 
  it. Chop up something green and herby, or something watery 
  and crunchy, like cilantro or mint or shiso or celery or bean 
  sprouts or daikon, into small bits or interesting strips, and 
  combine the dressing with the noodles and vegetable. This 
  serves one or two as a salad, or a larger group as a thing-on-
  the-side. Adding a thinly-sliced grilled steak on top turns it 
  into a hearty, summery meal. The meat drippings really add 
  a special dimension to the noodles. It’s pretty but unneces-
  sary to garnish with white sesame seeds.
  Tofu with black bean sauce is my go-to Chinese-style entrée. 
  It’s (optionally) vegetarian-friendly, which might be useful 
  to you, and super tasty. To start with, you need a cube of 
  tofu, the firmest that you can lay your hands on. Cut it into 
  bite-size slices about half an inch thick and lay them out on 
  a cookie sheet lined with clean tea towels or a couple layers 
  of paper towels. Cover with more towels and another cookie 
  sheet, put something heavy like a cast iron frying pan on 
  top, and let that sit for at least half an hour while you’re get-
  ting everything else ready. Pressing the tofu this way gets rid 
  of some of the liquid in it, which makes it easier to handle 
  and allows it to absorb some of the tasty sauce. Prepare some 
  mushrooms as in the tom kha kai recipe above.
  Cut up some green, stalky vegetable. Chinese broccoli 
  works. So do broccolini, bok choy, asparagus, even Brus-
  sels sprouts. In a pinch, celery, bell peppers, or Chinese long 
  beans will do. If it’s a more bitey vegetable, go for bite-sized 
  pieces. If it’s more leafy and tender, they can be longer, but 
  don’t make them too bulky, so they are still comfortable to 
  hold in your chopsticks. Also chop up the white and green 
  parts (separately) of a few scallions, or a couple of shallots, if 
  you want.
  Gather the things you need for your black bean sauce: 
  soy sauce, a clove or two of garlic, the same amount of 
  grated ginger, some shaoxing wine, and some fermented 
  black beans. Also grab your salted chiles if you have them, 
  Black Bean Tofu
  1 cube firmest tofu
  handful dried shiitake
  2 cups green stuff
  circa 4 scallions
  soy sauce
  1-2 cloves garlic
  shaoxing wine
  black beans
  salted chiles
  stock, optional
  The pressing-and-frying 
  technique used with the tofu 
  here is basically the only way 
  I enjoy tofu these days; some 
  people like it moist and beany-
  tasting, but I like it sizzling and 
  chewy like this. As a bonus, 
  you can also serve fried tofu 
  triangles with a light dipping 
  sauce as an appetizer. Salt them 
  as they come out of the fryer.
  »»»»»»»»»»
  
  and otherwise red pepper flakes. You can’t really substitute 
  anything for the black beans, but a dry white wine or tequila 
  will substitute for the shaoxing. They will give you differ-
  ent flavors, but they are all uniquely delicious. You might 
  also need some chicken or vegetable stock if you’ve got that 
  on hand. The black beans come two ways: either in a plas-
  tic bag, mostly dry (they are sort of moist and crumbly), or 
  in a jar, packed in oil and bean paste. Either works fine. If 
  you want to include some meat, a quarter-pound of ground 
  whatever.
  Now heat up some oil in a large, deep pan, enough to 
  come halfway up the sides of the tofu. Working in batches, 
  fry the tofu pieces until they’re evenly golden brown on all 
  sides. You’ll need to turn them halfway through the process, 
  and take care that they don’t touch each other for the first 30 
  seconds or so of cooking, or they will stick together. Drain 
  them on racks lined with paper towels. Fish the rehydrated 
  shiitakes out of the liquid, reserving it, and cut them also 
  into chopstick-size strips. Set them aside with the tofu and 
  strain any grit out of the soaking liquid.
  Now get rid of most of that oil; leave a couple of table-
  spoons in the pan to cook the vegetables. Add the garlic, 
  ginger, and chiles. If you’re using scallions whites or shal-
  lots, put those in now and let everything brown a little. 
  Don’t burn the garlic! If you’re using meat, add it now and 
  brown it well. Then add the greens. With cabbagey greens 
  like sprouts or bok choy, I walk away for a minute or two 
  to allow them to brown a little before I start pushing them 
  around. When those are cooked to your satisfaction, add 
  a splash of your alcohol and a tablespoon or two of black 
  beans. Stir it up and mash the beans a little bit to distribute 
  their flavor. Add the mushroom water, soy sauce, and tofu. 
  Stir around to coat and absorb, and keep poking until there 
  isn’t too much liquid in the pan. Adjust the seasoning with 
  additional soy sauce, sugar, or rice vinegar. Serve immedi-
  ately, before the tofu gets soggy. This will serve between 2 
  and 4 depending on how quickly the third and fourth get to 
  the table. There won’t be leftovers.
  
  參考影片 Filmography
  Films telling tragic, comedic and above all melodra-
  matic narratives with martial arts action have been made in 
  China since the 1930s, with the majority of the classic films 
  screened in the United States originating from British-con-
  trolled Hong Kong between 1965 and the late 1990s. The 
  contemporary wuxia films that are familiar to everyone such 
  as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Hero are in fact the 
  fusion of multiple different movements in Chinese cinema 
  over the decades, encompassing the tripartite heritage of 
  low-budget kung fu movies like Wong Fei Hung Bravely 
  Crushing the Fire Formation and Five Deadly Venoms, fantas-
  tical tales of magic and flying heroes like The Six-Fingered 
  Lord of the Lute, and Huangmei Opera musical melodramas 
  like The Love Eterne and The Blue and the Black. In this essay, 
  we use the term wuxia to refer to this entire tradition of 
  filmmaking.
  The lists below represent an attempt to organize this vast 
  filmic trove into several distinct tones of play for Mist-Robed 
  Gate. While there is much stylistic and generic overlap 
  between the films, their separation into the three main cat-
  egories of Epic Wuxia, Martial Arts Wuxia and Fantastical 
  Wuxia is intended to help your player group develop a “feel” 
  for your Mist-Robed Gate games by drawing on concrete 
  variations in the Chinese film tradition. Your dramatic and 
  cinematic imaginations will ultimately determine what your 
  game “looks” and “feels” like, from “a Zhang Yimou-style 
  family drama set in the mountains” to “an alternative 19th 
  Century China where steampunk inventors rub shoulders 
  with humanoid dragons and paranoid, lustful fire spirits.” 
  Let these lists open your imaginations (as well as increase 
  your Chinese film literacy)!
  Epic Wuxia
  These are films classified as absolute staples of the epic 
  wuxia that the Mist-Robed Gate system is intended to 
  simulate.
  
  The Emperor and the Assassin (Jing ke ci qin wang, 1998)
  Kaige Chen’s The Emperor and the Assassin is an early 
  specimen of the epic wuxia genre without much of the wux-
  ia—flying people would be combined with the film’s brand 
  of historical drama only with Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, 
  Hidden Dragon. Nevertheless, its lavish costumes (lovingly 
  designed by Mo Xiaomin over the course of four years), large 
  army sequences, and suspensefully intimate scenes between 
  Gong Li, Fengyi Zhan and Ding Haifeng are more than 
  a match for the likes of later films of this genre. Taking 
  place in the 3rd Century B.C., the film revolves around the 
  intrigue of the King (Haifeng) sending off his childhood 
  sweetheart (Li) to recruit an assassin from a rival kingdom 
  to provide a pretext for an empire-unifying war. Of course, 
  Li falls in love with the assassin, the Emperor descends into 
  madness, and bloody, morally horrific conflict is the result. 
  Although the film is a little long, it provides a stunning 
  psychological portrait of its three main characters, realistic 
  factional conflict, and a climactic assassination scene that 
  masterfully combines character-related suspense with the 
  banality of trying to kill a real human being.
  Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Wo hu cang long, 2000)
  Ang Lee’s modern classic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 
  defines the epic wuxia genre in its current form. It follows 
  two very different romances, intertwined by their relation-
  ship with the heirloom sword Green Destiny: that of Yu 
  Xiulian (Michelle Yeoh) and Li Mubai (Chow Yun-Fat), 
  and that between Yu Jiaolong (Zhang Ziyi) and the Xinji-
  ang bandit Luo Xiaohu (Chang Chen). While both of these 
  relationships are outside the bounds of propriety for various 
  reasons, Xiulian and Mubai quietly accept this and spend 
  the movie quietly longing for one another, while Jiaolong 
  sees her liaison with Xiaohu as a way to escape from the 
  distasteful strictures of her social position, which she has 
  already been rebelling against in secret, studying martial 
  arts under the tutelage of the infamous criminal Jade Fox 
  (Cheng Pei-Pei). Set against this backdrop and Tan Dun’s 
  award-winning score, Yuen Woo-Ping’s martial arts chore-
  ography sparkles. Xiulian and Jiaolong’s fights, particularly, 
  Epic Wuxia Tropes
  Intricately woven plotlines 
  involving at least two 
  morally ambiguous factions 
  and the resultant character 
  deaths of most, if not all, 
  of the protagonists.
  Gorgeous cinematography 
  that emphasizes sweeping 
  landscapes, brilliantly 
  tapestried palaces and 
  characters in elegant 
  robes, as well as their 
  appropriate colors.
  High-powered actors such 
  as Gong Li, Tony Leung, 
  Ziyi Zhang, and Chow 
  Yun-Fat playing characters 
  filled with angst and pathos.
  Kung fu sequences with 
  specific—often sexual—
  passionate undertones. 
  Supernatural phenomena 
  appearing in characters’ 
  abilities to defy gravity, 
  but otherwise not 
  particularly overt
  Weeping violin soundtracks 
  for slower sequences 
  combined with thunderous 
  drums for fight sequences
  Sweeping extreme long-
  shots cut together with 
  close-ups and extreme 
  close-ups of small gestures, 
  raindrops and natural 
  details to emphasize 
  the simultaneously epic 
  and intimate nature 
  of the story’s action
  »
  »
  »
  »
  »
  »
  »
  
  are beautiful studies of age and skill vs. youthful energy and 
  determination, which only underline the sad situation of 
  Jade Fox, whose inferior talents leave her second even to her 
  student Jiaolong.
  Hero (Ying xiong, 2002)
  Setting aside the political overtones of Zhang Yimou’s 
  film, it is a visual masterpiece and a perfect example of how 
  a Mist-Robed Gate game should go, if every player chooses 
  to bloody the knife at every opportunity. With its intense co-
  lour schemes, balletic action sequences, and pro-unification 
  leanings, it’s an interesting counterpoint to the much more 
  grounded approach of The Emperor and the Assassin.
  While both chronicle attempts on Qin Shihuang’s life, 
  Hero paints a picture of a very different Emperor. Rather 
  than a conqueror driving himself to madness, Hero’s Em-
  peror is an eminently reasonable man, persuaded by his 
  assassin’s wisdom and nobility, but forced to execute him 
  regardless, to uphold the laws of his nation “under heaven.” 
  Bizarrely, Zhang Ziyi appears on the American posters for 
  this movie alongside Jet Li, both holding Japanese weapons, 
  but don’t be fooled! She plays a mere supporting character, 
  and no one is anachronistically armed at all.
  House of Flying Daggers (Shi mian mai fu, 2004)
  More of Zhang Yimou’s work, this film takes a more 
  romantic turn. It looks in on the relationship between two 
  police captains, Leo (Andy Lau) and Jin (Takeshi Kaneshi-
  ro),  and the things that go on between them when Jin falls 
  in love with Xiaomei (Zhang Ziyi again! This time she’s 
  important!) the woman Leo has secretly been longing for. 
  Their struggle unfolds amidst a confounding atmosphere of 
  deceit and doubt, as characters repeatedly reveal layers of 
  false identity. At last when all falsehood is stripped away, no 
  one remains but Leo, Xiaomei, and Jin, and the final deci-
  sion is given to Xiaomei: If you save this man’s life, you will 
  die. Is it worth it? Its use of color is subdued in comparison 
  to Hero’s, but it retains Yimou’s signature bold style. Emi 
  Classics & More 
  Inspiration
  Though we will not elaborate 
  on these in detail, this pot-
  pourri selection of films and 
  television will further inspire 
  the kung fu and/or the mutually 
  inclusive emotional and physical 
  destruction of Mist-Robed Gate 
  games to come.
  The Burning of the Red Lotus 
  Temple (Huo shao hong lian si, 
  1928)
  The Love Eterne (Liang Shan 
  Bo yu Zhu Ying Tai, 1963)
  The Six-Fingered Lord of the Lute 
  (Liu zhi qin mo, 1965)
  The Blue and the Black (Lan yu 
  hei (Shang), 1966)
  The One-Armed Swordsman 
  (Dubei dao, 1967)
  Wong Fei Hung Bravely Crush-
  ing the Fire Formation (Huang 
  Fei-hong yong po lie huo zhen, 
  1970)
  A Touch of Zen (Xia nu, 1971)
  Chinese Gods (Pang shen feng, 
  1976)
  Five Deadly Venoms (Wu du, 
  1978)
  Raise the Red Lantern (Da hong 
  deng long gao gao gua, 1991)
  
  Wada’s lush, award-winning costume designs are framed by 
  equally rich set design in a palette of luminous pastels.
  The Promise (Wu ji, 2005)
  Chen Kaige’s The Promise takes the genre in a decidedly 
  fantastical direction, with prophetic goddesses, improbable 
  suits of armor, magic cloaks, and time-travelling slaves. As 
  the movie opens, Qingcheng, a starving, grief-stricken child 
  makes a bargain with a goddess: she will have all the food 
  she wants, the most beautiful garments, the hearts of every 
  man, but she will never be able to hold on to love; every man 
  she loves, she will lose. Later, the adult Qingcheng (Cecilia 
  Cheung) becomes involved with General Guangming (Hi-
  royuki Sanada), believing that he rescued her from the King, 
  when in fact it was Guangming’s slave Kunlun (Jang Dong-
  Gun). Guangming’s bitter rivalry with the Duke Wuhuan 
  (Nicholas Tse), along with this case of mistaken identity, 
  slowly tear their love apart, and Qingcheng finally comes 
  to regret her bargain. While this movie’s plot is somewhat 
  shaky, it’s worth watching for visual inspiration and its strik-
  ing action scenes, whose acrobatic violence stands out in a 
  field of martial ballets.
  Curse of the Golden Flower (Man cheng jin dai huang jin jia 
  2006)
  Gold, incest and poison drive Zhang Yimou’s latest cos-
  tume epic, a T’ang Dynasty tragedy about the dark secrets 
  lurking underneath a royal family. This film exhibits an acute 
  materialist fetishism: flowers are meticulously arranged, 
  medicine painstakingly mixed, clothing and hair carefully 
  attended to, and swords ground against each other with 
  slow, erotic friction. The ordered and repressed environment 
  formed by the Emperor’s (Chow Yun-Fat) pre-determination 
  of the Empress’ (Gong Li) world is precisely the principal 
  point of tension in the film, and ultimately leads to madness, 
  chaos and the restoration of order through beautifully ruth-
  less means. In Mist-Robed Gate terms, the film also shows 
  that one can certainly be stabbed by the knife and yet still 
  be allowed to live… albeit allowed to experience a fate worse 
  than death. The strangeness of the film’s ending aside, Curse 
  Farewell, My Concubine (Ba 
  wang bie ji, 1993)
  Ninja Scroll (Jûbei ninpûchô, 
  1993)
  Ashes of Time (Dung che sai 
  duk, 1994)
  Titus (2000)
  Shaolin Soccer (Siu lam juk kau, 
  2001)
  X/1999 (2001)
  Seven Swords (Chat gim, 2005)
  Avatar: The Last Airbender 
  (2005)
  
  of the Golden Flower is a wonderfully claustrophobic wuxia 
  film that proves intra-family relations themselves can be the 
  most alienating and engrossing of all.
  Legend of the Black Scorpion (Ye yan, 2006)
  This bloody adaptation of Shakespeare’s Hamlet demon-
  strates how enterprising Mist-Robed Gate players may twist 
  classics of Western and/or Eastern literature to provide 
  starting player characters and motivations for ultimately 
  tragic wuxia action. Starring Ziyi Zhang and elegantly cho-
  reographed by Yuen Woo-Ping, Legend of the Black Scorpion 
  depicts a 904 A.D. China under the T’ang Dynasty wracked 
  with internal strife and violence: Empress Wan (Zhang) has 
  agreed to marry the murdered Emperor’s brother-in-law Lu 
  in exchange for power and passionate sex, but her step-son 
  Prince Wu Luan escapes their assassins and returns to court 
  looking for answers and revenge. The palace in this film is 
  particularly sinister, with dark corners and forbidding ar-
  mored guardsmen creating an aura of extreme vulnerability 
  and danger. Masked dance sequences and heavy whispered 
  words amidst great periods of silence counterbalance the 
  furious action sequences and excessive on-screen brutality.
  The Warlords (Tau ming chong, 2007)
  This anti-war epic may not be all swords, blood and 
  exotically colored cloth—the film’s chief color is gray and 
  its weather pattern is the kicked-up dust of battle under 
  the scorching sun—but it still contains the seeds of a Mist-
  Robed Gate game. Three brothers played by Jet Li, Andy 
  Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro get caught up on different sides 
  of a deadly political conflict in late 18th Century China, 
  when riflemen are able to (melodramatically) gun down the 
  traditional sword-wielding warriors with ease. Amidst the 
  carnage comes the loyalty-shifting politics of men whose 
  self-interest and blind obedience wax and wane with each 
  new crisis situation, eventually destroying them all in a mor-
  ally ambiguous epic battle that will leave your ears ringing.
  
  Martial Arts Wuxia
  For those players of Mist-Robed Gate more interested in 
  wirework and kung fu fighting, there are thankfully hun-
  dreds of great films from China featuring such visual feasts 
  of physicality to choose from.
  Drunken Master (Jui kuen, 1978)
  For any players who want to incorporate drunken-style 
  kung fu into their Mist-Robed Gate characters (and inevi-
  tably, there will be one), the Drunken Master series of films 
  are required viewing. The brilliant stunt prowess of Siu Tien 
  Yuen and young Jackie Chan meets the action choreogra-
  phy of Yuen Woo-Ping to produce an artful action-comedy 
  that ends in a particularly grand final fight against Hwang 
  Jang Lee. Clearly, one of Wong Fei-Hung’s (Chan) in-game 
  Loyalties was to “Liquor… lots of it.” See also Dance of the 
  Drunken Mantis and The Legend of the Drunken Master.
  Dance of the Drunken Mantis (Nan bei zui quan, 1979)
  Although sparse on plot, Yuen Woo-Ping’s personal fol-
  low-up to Drunken Master contains many excellent, if a little 
  bizarre, fight sequences that take a set piece and explore its 
  full range of possibilities for usage in a kung fu fight.  For 
  example, the restaurant fight scene between Sam Seed (Siu 
  Tien Yuen) and his enemy is a meditation on how a table, 
  chairs, cups and liquor bottles can be used for attack and 
  defense. You as Mist-Robed Gate players should keep in 
  mind that many of the best fight scenes revolve around the 
  possession or obstruction of a single object, and that object 
  can focus the fight scene in many interesting ways.
  Wheels on Meals (Kuai can che, 1984)
  The cooperation of superstars Jackie Chan, Yuen Biao and 
  Sammo Hung on one film provides an excellent mix of fight 
  choreography and silliness in a martial arts-version of a Eu-
  ropean intrigue. Without a doubt, the centerpiece of the film 
  is the bout between Chan and aptly named “Thug 1” played 
  by the kickboxing champion Benny “the Jet” Urquidez. This 
  Martial Arts Tropes
  Relatively simplistic 
  plotlines usually revolving 
  around an unambiguously 
  evil faction and a 
  plucky good faction
  Cinematography that puts 
  the viewer right in the 
  action to witness the ballet 
  of maneuvers executed
  Athletic actors such as 
  Jackie Chan, Donnie 
  Yen, Jet Li, Michelle 
  Yeoh, or Sammo Hung 
  playing characters with 
  their tongue firmly 
  planted in their cheek.
  Kung fu sequences 
  can have emotional 
  undertones, but they 
  more frequently generate 
  suspense by setting 
  them in dramatic and 
  marginally silly locales 
  such as rooftops, rat 
  glue factories, on the 
  heads of a crowd, etc. 
  Supernatural phenomena 
  appearing in characters’ 
  abilities to defy gravity 
  and fight, but usually 
  remain minimal in favor 
  of the fight choreography
  Souped-up Chinese music 
  with some additional 
  action guitar, techno 
  drum kicks and 80s 
  synthesizers—these 
  soundtracks aren’t 
  necessarily things 
  »
  »
  »
  »
  »
  »
  
  fight is extremely intense and soundly demonstrates the vari-
  ous stages of character development that can be introduced 
  in a longer, brutal fight sequence.
  Peking Opera Blues (Do ma daan, 1986)
  Tsui Hark’s action epic set in rough-and-tumble 1920s 
  Beijing is not exactly a standard kung fu film, but certainly 
  contains amazing fight scenes set against the backdrop of 
  politics, crime and the theater. The stories of three women 
  from different social locations—a general’s daughter, a street 
  musician, and a cross-dressed theater performer—guide us 
  through the film, as do age-old conflicts of Chinese tradi-
  tions pitted against contemporary political movements. A 
  must-see for those who wish to see spectacular dance chore-
  ography paired off with great fight choreography.
  Once Upon a Time in China (Wong Fei Hung, 1991)
  Tsui Hark, Yuen Woo-Ping Yuen Biao and Jet Li’s fa-
  mous collaboration, Once Upon a Time in China, has become 
  an action classic not only because of its remarkable fight 
  scenes but also due to its elegant telling of kung fu legend 
  Wong Fei-Hung’s story. Fei-Hung was a martial-artist/phy-
  sician from the Guangzhou province whose unsurpassed 
  prowess at the end of the 19th Century has become the stuff 
  of more screen portrayals than can be named. The pathos 
  of such an adept martial artist being pitted against Western 
  colonial practices and (more importantly) Western guns is 
  thoroughly ripe for a late 19th Century Mist-Robed Gate 
  game.
  New Dragon Gate Inn (Xin long men ke zhan, 1992)
  A Tsui Hark re-make about megalomaniacal eunuch 
  Tsao Siu Yan’s (Donnie Yen) foiled plot to exert total control 
  over his province, New Dragon Gate Inn contains just about 
  everything a good Mist-Robed Gate martial arts-focused 
  game needs: an ostensibly evil faction with lots of minions 
  and resources, a troubled rebel faction, a predatory criminal 
  faction, vicious sword battles in inclement weather, gen-
  der-bending disguises, and a bandit outpost known as the 
  of beauty, but get 
  the job done.
  Long shots revealing 
  martial arts during 
  fight sequences; talking 
  sequences use boring shot-
  reverse-shot until it seems 
  like two guys are going 
  to square off and fight, 
  which then incorporates 
  the ever-dramatic rapid 
  zoom shot on their face.
  »
  
  Dragon Gate Inn where the fatter guests are served up as 
  food to the others.
  Twin Warriors (Tai ji: Zhang San Feng, 1993)
  A simple story of two Buddhist monks who become 
  like brothers in the monastery and, when kicked out of the 
  monastery on a technicality, then take diametrically opposed 
  lifepaths. Starring Jet Li and Michelle Yeoh, this film fea-
  tures amazingly silly-yet-dramatic kung fu sequences and a 
  very clear-cut Loyalty conflict that plays out violently in the 
  end. The intricately choreographed wooden tower fight scene 
  alone is worth seeing, and the training montage in which 
  Li truly becomes the Tai Chi Master features a memorable 
  usage of a ball resting in a pool of water.
  The Legend (Fong Sai Yuk, 1993)
  A Jet Li action-comedy with few parallels, The Legend 
  is a cinematic exercise in crazy wirework that incorporates 
  shrewd physical comedy into a bewilderingly labyrinthine 
  plotline. Sound intriguing? You need only see the scene 
  where Fong Sai Yuk (Li) fights his mother-in-disguise 
  Miu Chui-Fa (Josephine Siao) on the heads of the startled 
  on-lookers to be truly inspired by the combined editing and 
  fight choreography of this film. The evil Emperor’s downfall 
  has been foretold by the Red Lotus Flower Society, which is 
  why the Emperor has sent his men to track down the secret 
  list with all the names of the Society’s members, a list that 
  Fong Sai Yuk finds himself defending with his life. Mist-
  Robed Gate players would do well to take note of the film’s 
  fast pacing coupled with its steady diet of mistaken identi-
  ties, hidden assassins, ambitious merchants, and constantly 
  shifting lines of conflict.
  Iron Monkey (Siu nin Wong Fei Hung ji: Tit Ma Lau, 1993)
  Directed by Yuen Woo-Ping, Iron Monkey tells a Robin 
  Hood-esque tale of mild-mannered Dr. Yang (Rongguang 
  Yu), who leads a double life as the mysterious folk hero Iron 
  Monkey, and the challenge that he levels against Governor 
  Chang (James Wong) and his corrupt government. His 
  
  exploits later prove to be influential to the young hero Wong 
  Fei-Hung (Sze-Man Tsang), whose prowess is showcased in 
  so many other films under the martial arts sub-genre. The 
  film features loads of wirework, inspirational quarterstaff 
  fighting, Wong Kei-Ying’s (Donnie Yen) picture-perfect 
  snap kick, and a death-defying fight on top of a series of 
  wooden poles over a pit of flame. Fei-Hung even gets in a 
  few fights as a young child martial arts prodigy. Though 
  fundamentally silly on many levels, this film has nevertheless 
  proven inspirational to the likes of Quentin Tarantino (Kill 
  Bill) and the Wachowski Brothers (The Matrix Trilogy) in 
  its usage of over-the-top wuxia combined with superheroic 
  tropes. Mist-Robed Gate players looking to deal with super-
  hero alter-ego intrigue, seek no further.
  The Legend of the Drunken Master (Jui kuen II, 1994)
  Mist-Robed Gate players who have somehow missed 
  Jackie Chan’s The Legend of the Drunken Master need to put 
  it in their online movie rental queue or bicycle down to the 
  nearest rental store immediately in order to witness a mas-
  terful kung fu feature film that never misses a beat.  Where-
  as most of the earlier entries in the Drunken Master series 
  (Drunken Master, Dance of the Drunken Mantis) can safely 
  be classified as “chop-socky” or B-movies, The Legend of the 
  Drunken Master transcends its humble origins to become 
  a full-fledged martial arts feature accessible by just about 
  any audience. Chan plays Wong Fei-Hung, the oft-featured 
  kung fu legend whose historical style of choice was actually 
  Hung Gar rather than Drunken Boxing, in a comedic rein-
  terpretation of the classic story of his rebellion against the 
  Western imperialists, who are this time smuggling ancient 
  Chinese artifacts out of the country. Fei-Hung accidentally 
  becomes embroiled in the smugglers’ affairs and, in order 
  to beat them, must come to terms with both his Loyalties 
  to his father and the bottle. The final fight scene perfectly 
  meshes slapstick with seriously damaging drunken kung fu, 
  and the fight scene against the Ax Gang is so original that 
  it has been copied many times (see Stephen Chow’s Kung Fu 
  Hustle, for one example). Kung fu film novices and aficiona-
  dos alike may sit back and enjoy this one.
  
  Fist of Legend (Jing wu ying xiong, 1994)
  Based on a true story and on Bruce Lee’s Chinese Connec-
  tion (1974), Fist of Legend recreates the bitter conflict be-
  tween the Japanese and the Chinese in 1937 China. Master 
  Huo is killed in a dubious fight against the Japanese General 
  “Supreme Killer” Fujita (Billy Chow). His student, Chen 
  Zhen (Jet Li), returns to Shanghai to restore his master’s 
  honor and take vengeance on those responsible. Avoiding 
  the characteristic wirework of his films, action choreogra-
  pher Yuen Woo-Ping utilizes Li’s significant martial arts 
  prowess on the ground to create some of the most intense 
  mook battle sequences in cinema history. “Yes,” one must 
  reassure first-time viewers of the film. “He’s actually mov-
  ing that fast.” Joints crack and legs buckle as Zhen plows 
  through hordes of Japanese henchman until he (briefly) 
  meets his match the final showdown with the relentless 
  katana-wielding Fujita. Issues of age-old Chinese-Japanese 
  enmity are semi-reasonably distilled into a simplistic good-
  vs.-evil plot, but Mist-Robed Gate players should be watch-
  ing this film for all the fight choreography that Western 
  imitators could not hope to match.
  Kung Fu Hustle (Gong fu, 2004)
  Charismatic actor/director/writer/producer Stephen 
  Chow’s world-famous entry into the kung fu genre Kung Fu 
  Hustle provides a crowd-pleasing blend of Yuen Woo-Ping-
  choreographed martial arts action, spaghetti western show-
  downs, special effects wizardry, and Looney Tunes-inspired 
  slapstick humor to audiences clamoring for such multi-genre 
  spectacle. This talk of audience pleasure is not unimportant: 
  as of 2008, it is still the highest-grossing Hong Kong film 
  ever. Sing (Chow) is a failed kung fu artist and wannabe 
  gangster on the streets of 1940s Shanghai looking to join the 
  ruthless Axe Gang. Unfortunately for that aspiration, Sing’s 
  hi-jinks in a tenant complex reveal the remarkable kung fu 
  talents residing there, as well as eventually unlocking his 
  own powers. Mist-Robed Gate players will be entertained by 
  the overly ridiculous and often absurd kung fu maneuvers 
  exhibited in this film. Perhaps more importantly, one should 
  note how the Loyalties of the kung fu masters within the 
  
  tenant complex are gradually brought around to the defense 
  of the complex and then to higher ideals.
  Fearless (Huo Yuan Jia, 2006)
  Fearless is Jet Li’s take on the biography of Huo Yuan Jia, 
  one of China’s most famous kung fu fighters around the 
  turn of the Century and the founder of the esteemed Jingwu 
  Athletic Association—one of the first public martial arts 
  schools in China. The film takes us through the life of the 
  kung fu master, from the bullying he received in his child-
  hood to his final showdown against fighters representing 
  the foreign powers in China at the time: a Japanese martial 
  artist, a Belgian soldier, a Spanish swordsman, and a British 
  boxing champion.  Beautifully shot for a kung fu film and 
  mostly devoid of the sometimes banal humor that one finds 
  in Li’s usual productions, Fearless is perhaps a landmark in 
  its martial arts entertainment value and respect accorded to 
  distinct cultural histories. In a chronological ordering of the 
  Martial Arts Wuxia films, it is fitting that Fearless be placed 
  last, for it represents the Epic Wuxia’s direct influence on the 
  genre in terms of its homage to national history and matu-
  rity of form.
  Fantastical Wuxia
  There are those Mist-Robed Gate groups that would like 
  to incorporate elements of the supernatural—ghosts, magic, 
  sorcerers, hopping vampires, 1000-year old Hellspawn, 
  etc.—into their stories. Many argue that the wuxia films 
  of today originated from their fantastical iteration, in fact, 
  justifying the ability of legendary warriors and spirits to fly 
  through the air with Chi-based magic. The producer and 
  director Tsui Hark has almost single-handedly defined this 
  sub-genre of Chinese cinema in the 1980s and 90s.
  Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain (1982)
  Tsui Hark’s Zu: Warriors of the Magic Mountain is a good-
  vs-evil supernatural adventure story that could fittingly be 
  described as the Chinese response to Oliver Stone’s Conan 
  Fantastical Tropes
  Confusing, bizarre 
  plotlines typically 
  revolving around mystic 
  artifacts and/or the love-
  that-cannot-be between a 
  supernatural being and a 
  mystically capable mortal 
  being, then spiraling out 
  of control from there.
  Canted angles, sinuous 
  tracking shots along the 
  ground, and frightening 
  close-ups of the eyes are 
  mixed in with the usual 
  long shots of characters 
  flying and fighting
  Cute actors such as 
  Leslie Cheung, Brigitte 
  Lin, Maggie Cheung 
  and Yuen Biao allow a 
  viewer to sympathize 
  with their often bizarre 
  emotional struggles
  Kung fu scenes 
  that involve lots of 
  unnecessarily twirling 
  and which are fought by 
  unreal weaponry (e.g., 
  extended hair, tongues, 
  sleeves, snake swords, 
  etc.) Sorcery and kung 
  fu are frequently paired 
  off against each other.
  Supernatural phenomena 
  are commonplace, with 
  multiple supernatural 
  characters (spirits, demons, 
  sorcerers) even playing 
  major roles in the plotline
  »
  »
  »
  »
  »
  
  the Barbarian (1982) and other world fantasy films that ap-
  peared at the time. What these other fantasy films didn’t 
  have were sword-slinging, fireball-flinging, flying kung 
  fu masters bent on saving the world from the Evil Blood 
  Demon by uniting a green magic sword with a purple magic 
  sword. The story is set in 5th century China, where civil and 
  military strife divides the various clans (delineated in this 
  movie by their costume colors). Yuen Biao plays Ti Ming 
  Chi, a disillusioned warrior who allies with his grumbling 
  sifu Ting-Yin (Adam Cheng) to save the world. Along the 
  way, they meet the ravishing and mysterious Countess of 
  the Jade Pool Fairy Fortress (played by Brigitte Lin, whose 
  character owns an awesome personal Set lined with golden 
  statues) and the wise Long Brow (Sammo Hung) who give 
  them guidance. Simplistic in plot but absolutely stunning in 
  terms of special effects and non-stop action, Zu: Warriors of 
  the Magic Mountain did naught but inspire two generations 
  of filmmakers to introduce more ridiculous flying and kung 
  fu special effects into their films, inaugurating the modern 
  wuxia genre.
  Big Trouble in Little China (1986)
  John Carpenter’s brilliant derivative of Hark’s Zu: War-
  riors of the Magic Mountain features Jack Burton (Kurt Rus-
  sell), hapless truck driver of the Pork Chop Express who’s in 
  way over his head, and his struggle against an ancient Chi-
  nese plot to resurrect a thousand-year-old sorcerer through 
  the capture of two lovely women. While the testosterone 
  level of the film may be cranked a little high (Sample quote: 
  “Like I told my last wife, I says, “Honey, I never drive faster 
  than I can see. Besides that, it’s all in the reflexes.”), the film 
  has more than enough wild ideas to fuel your Mist-Robed 
  Gate Fantasy Wuxia scenario.
  A Chinese Ghost Story (1987)
  A Chinese Ghost Story II (1990)
  A Chinese Ghost Story III (1991)
  The Chinese Ghost Story trilogy is an irresistible wuxia 
  horror-romantic comedy series directed by Tsui Hark revolv-
  ing around a series of human-ghost love relationships in 19th 
  A soundtrack of dramatic 
  synthesized strings 
  and trumpets coupled 
  with appropriate female 
  vocalists. There are 
  usually several sad songs 
  done with traditional 
  Chinese stringed 
  instruments as well.
  Rapid cuts to hide 
  the special effects
  Most of the film is 
  set inexplicably at 
  night, usually with 
  lots of mist present
  »
  »
  »
  
  century China. Though the sequels may have flying-sword-
  surfing and erotic hair-whipping, the true masterpiece is the 
  original film, starring Leslie Cheung as Ning the Bumbling 
  Tax Collector who falls in love with Nie (Joey Wong), an 
  attractive ghost whose soul is held captive by a 1,000 year-
  old tree demon. Ning’s amorous adventures begin when he is 
  bold enough to stay at the murderous haunted temple at the 
  edge of town, where he meets the crazy Buddhist Swords-
  man Yin Chek Hsia (Ma Wu) and a host of seductive spirits 
  who try to distract them so as to have their innards sucked 
  out by a giant tongue. For all Ning’s slapstick and Yin’s 
  superheroic bravado—“Come scholar, for it appears we must 
  storm Hell!”—the movie reserves an affectionate eye for its 
  characters while putting them in sometimes truly horrify-
  ing situations. Yin’s short dance number in the middle of 
  the film, “The Way,” is a welcome addition and should be 
  considered for any light-hearted Mist-Robed Gate game.
  Swordsman (Xiao ao jiang hu, 1990)
  Swordsman II (Xiao ao jiang hu zhi: Dong Fang Bu Bai, 
  1992)
  Based on a popular wuxia novel series, the Swordsman 
  films produced by Tsui Hark offer classic Mist-Robed Gate 
  action: many factions such as the black-magic-using hillfolk 
  and Japanese samurai with opposing personal and insti-
  tutional goals, catchy traditional Chinese music, extreme 
  romantic complications and super-low budget sets and props. 
  The first film sets up the precedent for the series’ power 
  struggle, whereas the second film stars Jet Li and Brigitte 
  Lin for a satisfying conclusion. There are plenty of female as 
  well as male martial artists who can hold their own in this 
  film, making it a particularly good choice for those inter-
  ested in gender in kung fu films.
  Butterfly and Sword (San lau sing woo dip gim, 1993)
  Butterfly and Sword is a blood-soaked wuxia classic rarely 
  screened in its entirety starring Michelle Yeoh, Tony Leung 
  and Donnie Yen. Released at the height of the over-the-top 
  wuxia/kung fu craze in the mid-90s, the film tells a tale of 
  a love triangle between Sister Ko (Yeoh), Meng Sing Wan 
  
  (Leung) and Yip Cheung (Yen) amidst a rebellion plot 
  against an evil emperor. The plot, however, certainly plays 
  second fiddle to the film’s extensive use of crazed magical ef-
  fects and excessive brutality. Bodies are hacked in half, char-
  acters charge through each other with swords, close-ups of 
  gaping neck wounds flash on the screen for lengths of time, 
  and… well, you get the picture. For Mist-Robed Gate play-
  ers, this movie offers a veritable ballet of flying maneuvers, 
  outlandish Chi-based magic, and the eminently enjoyable 
  sexual tension between the young Leung and Yeoh. Butterfly 
  and Sword pushes the conventions of wuxia and wirework to 
  their necessary extremes, almost leaving a viewer little room 
  to breathe.
  The Bride with White Hair (Bai fa mo nu zhuan, 1993)
  Told like a fairy tale, The Bride with White Hair is a sur-
  real swords-and-sorcery tragedy that showcases a host of 
  tacitly bizarre situations without once revealing a tongue in 
  its cheek. Brigitte Lin plays Lian Nichang, a former child 
  raised by wolves who now works as a supernatural enforcer 
  for the wicked Siamese twin sorcerer Ji Wushuang’s cult, 
  while Leslie Cheung plays her love interest, the reluctant 
  successor to the Wu-Tang clan throne named Zhuo Yi-
  Hang. Nichang and Yi-Hang fall hopelessly in love, but 
  their uncertain loyalties to their respective factions ultimate-
  ly tear them apart, killing her in a memorable living-per-
  son-to-ghost sequence and condemning Yi-Hang to watch 
  over the flower that blossoms among the ice crystals every 
  20 years. Glorious slow motion and glamorous profile shots 
  taken by Academy Award-winning Peter Pau (Crouching 
  Tiger, Hidden Dragon) transform a borderline B-movie into a 
  brilliant work of cinematic art.
  The Myth (San Wa, 2005)
  As over-hyped as the film was in Hong Kong, The Myth 
  appears to a contemporary audience to be an odd hybrid of a 
  Jackie Chan sci-fi stunt-comedy and a full-blown, costumed 
  wuxia tragedy. Dr. Jack Chan (guess who?) is an archaeolo-
  gist in present-day 2005 who dreams of a past life when he 
  was supposedly General Meng Yi of the Emperor’s army and 
  
  fell in love with the Emperor’s bride-to-be, Ok-soo (Hee-
  seon Kim). Chan’s physicist friend William (Tony Leung Ka 
  Fai) wants him to explore a legendary temple in the fictional 
  region of India known as Dasar, where he believes ancient 
  materials with anti-gravity properties will be uncovered. 
  Three scenes in this film are notable. One is the end of the 
  initial fight scene, where a rival over Ok-soo’s love stabs 
  himself with his sword in order to help Meng Yi keep her 
  flaming out-of-control cart from plummeting off a cliff—
  classic Mist-Robed Gate material. Another scene involves an 
  exceedingly entertaining fight on a conveyor belt in a rat glue 
  factory, an homage to the manic creativity of Chan’s earlier 
  films. The final scene of note is the one that lands this film 
  squarely in the Fantastical and not in the Martial Arts cat-
  egory: a climactic showdown against the evil architect Mr. 
  Ko (Zhou Sun) in a massive anti-gravity-sustained tomb.
  The Forbidden Kingdom (2008)
  Jet Li and Jackie Chan share the silver screen for the first 
  time in this recent Hollywood feature about a young Bos-
  tonian kung fu-film nut named Jason (Michael Angarano) 
  who finds the antique staff of the Monkey King in the back 
  of a video rental store and travels back in time to ancient 
  China for the adventure of his lifetime. Chan plays Lu 
  Yan the drunken kung fu master and Li the Silent Monk, 
  both of whom meet Jason while he’s trying to release the 
  Monkey King from his prison. Equal parts Neverending 
  Story, The Last Action Hero, and Iron Monkey, The Forbid-
  den Kingdom refreshes a tired 1980s plot formula with great 
  special effects, mook battles, wirework, and strong Buddhist 
  overtones. One should see it for the fight scene between 
  Jackie Chan and Jet Li, as well as the multitude of cinematic 
  references to most of the great films previously mentioned on 
  this list.
  
  號 
  名 
  性 
  虹
  精
  武
   
   
  表現 Displays
   
  刀法 Knife Ritual
  Wirework
  套
  鞘
  出
  刺
  拳法
  門雲佩
  Mist-Robed Gate
  緣分 Destiny
  忠實 Loyalties
  Given Name
  Martial Name
  Family Name
  Color
  Weather
  Quirk
  Prop
  Set
  布景
  道具
  Size:
  Description:
  Description:
  Cov er ed
  She at hed
  Dr awn
  Bloodied
  Pass the knife with a silent plea. When you 
  recieve it:
  • Accept or Reply: return the knife with 
  a silent plea. Or put it down.
  • Deflect: Pass the knife to a third party, 
  with a silent plea.
  • Escalate: Draw the knife and return it, 
  with a spoken plea.
  • Wirework.
  When you smell conflict, uncover.
  Pass the knife with a spoken plea. When 
  you recieve it:
  • Accept: Put down the knife.
  • Deflect: Pass the knife to a third party, 
  with a spoken plea.
  • Escalate: Stab the character sheet and 
  return it, with a spoken plea.
  • Wirework.
  Pass the knife with a spoken plea. When 
  you recieve it:
  • Accept: With your death, make a wish.
  • Deflect: Stab a third party, saying a plea.
  • Escalate: Issue an ultimatum: Obedience 
  or death.
  • Wirework.
  Aggressor chooses one, then defender 
  chooses another:
  • A demand.
  • Calm the knife.
  • Take the knife.
  • Steal a prop or blank card.
  You can get votes for:
  • Audience
  • Displays
  • Props
  • Sets
  
  演員 
  名 
  角色 
  虹
  精
  武
   
   
  表現 Displays
   
  刀法 Knife Ritual
  Wirework
  套
  鞘
  出
  刺
  拳法
  門雲佩
  Mist-Robed Gate
  緣分 Destiny
  提綱 Synopsis
  Name
  Actor
  Role
  Color
  Weather
  Quirk
  Prop
  Set
  布景
  道具
  Size:
  Description:
  Description:
  Cov er ed
  She at hed
  Dr awn
  Bloodied
  Pass the knife with a silent plea. When you 
  recieve it:
  • Accept or Reply: return the knife with 
  a silent plea. Or put it down.
  • Deflect: Pass the knife to a third party, 
  with a silent plea.
  • Escalate: Draw the knife and return it, 
  with a spoken plea.
  • Wirework.
  When you smell conflict, uncover.
  Pass the knife with a spoken plea. When 
  you recieve it:
  • Accept: Put down the knife.
  • Deflect: Pass the knife to a third party, 
  with a spoken plea.
  • Escalate: Stab the character sheet and 
  return it, with a spoken plea.
  • Wirework.
  Pass the knife with a spoken plea. When 
  you recieve it:
  • Accept: With your death, make a wish.
  • Deflect: Stab a third party, saying a plea.
  • Escalate: Issue an ultimatum: Obedience 
  or death.
  • Wirework.
  Aggressor chooses one, then defender 
  chooses another:
  • A demand.
  • Calm the knife.
  • Take the knife.
  • Steal a prop or blank card.
  You can get votes for:
  • Audience
  • Displays
  • Props
  • Sets
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Mist-Robed Gate.pdf