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View Full Version : Starting a gaslamp fantasy game set in 1860's Hong Kong. Suggestions?



gadren
2017-02-18, 03:53 PM
Hey all, I'm using the World of Darkness system to run a game set in British Colonial Hong Kong. It is NOT steampunk, most people see the world as normal but there are a few who are aware of the supernatural world in Hong Kong and must protect themselves and innocent people from it.

I was curious if anyone had any suggestions for such a campaign. Anything from plot ideas, monsters, references, etc?

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/70/1930_in_Hong_Kong.jpg/220px-1930_in_Hong_Kong.jpg

Potato_Priest
2017-02-18, 06:11 PM
I'm not very familiar with the history of Hong Kong in particular, but does this campaign take place after or during the second opium war? Are the players civilians or soldiers? Are you expecting them to be chinese or british, or are you letting them choose?

gadren
2017-02-18, 10:33 PM
I'm not very familiar with the history of Hong Kong in particular, but does this campaign take place after or during the second opium war? Are the players civilians or soldiers? Are you expecting them to be chinese or british, or are you letting them choose?

During the war, civilians, they choose nationality.

Morty
2017-02-20, 05:42 AM
Which World of Darkness game is it? I'm largely unfamiliar with the historical period you're using, but I could help with the more system-oriented things if you're using nWoD.

Potato_Priest
2017-02-20, 01:26 PM
Will there be a good reason that the characters shouldn't reveal the supernatural stuff to the general population of hong kong?
Because if I was ever presented with a "magic and monsters are a secret" campaign, I'm pretty sure the first thing I'd do is make that not the case.

Stealth Marmot
2017-02-20, 02:40 PM
Is this the main driver of conflict for your setting?:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_opium_in_China

The Glyphstone
2017-02-20, 04:45 PM
Will there be a good reason that the characters shouldn't reveal the supernatural stuff to the general population of hong kong?
Because if I was ever presented with a "magic and monsters are a secret" campaign, I'm pretty sure the first thing I'd do is make that not the case.

At least in WoD, most of the supernatural types have built-in Reality Censors effects that prevent the average 'normal person' from properly conceptualizing them. Vampires are the only ones who lack that weirdness censor, but they're as a society powerful enough to squash (usually violently) any efforts to spread truth.

Suffice to say Going Public isn't an option in any WoD game, as a reliable rule.

Brother Oni
2017-02-20, 07:37 PM
Vampires are the only ones who lack that weirdness censor, but they're as a society powerful enough to squash (usually violently) any efforts to spread truth.

Since we're in Hong Kong, you'll also have to deal with Kuei-jin where they may be the ancestors of modern families and your twice damned ancestors, who occasionally lend a helping hand to (or controlling fist over) their descendants, are acknowledged but not spoken about in polite company.
I'm not sure how much I can get into, since it's basically folk, Buddhist and Taoist religion derived and prohibited here, but pretty much all the Chinese of the period would be aware of the the things that go bump in the night and know various protection or appeasement rites from multiple belief sets. The British folk, not so much.

As for ideas, there's plenty of supernatural HK movies that would be useful - Mr Vampire (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Vampire) is set right in your target period (traditional Chinese, but with Western influences on the younger generation) with a number of good ideas; improperly buried ancestor comes back as jiangshi (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiangshi) to hunt his descendants, subplot about a lonely ghost girl who falls in love with a human, and the unibrow Taoist priest who has to keep everything under control.

A Chinese Ghost Story (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Chinese_Ghost_Story) is set in approximately the right period, although with no Western influences. It has a number of ideas for evil rites (blood mantou buns, boiled heads, etc) and animist spirits as adversaries (a thousand year old tree demoness in this case who is holding the physical remains of various female ghosts hostage to force them to ensnare mortals for her to eat).

Bringing it back into the oWoD, you have the Kindred coming into this bizarre mishmash and their unique attributes mucking everything up. I assume you're using the Kindred of the East, so some legwork on potential kueijin vs kindred fights would be useful to get a handle on.
I also assume that you'll be downplaying the discrimination of the time - British players would not be popular with the locals once they got out of Hong Kong proper (anywhere outside of HK island and Kowloon Peninsula) and Chinese players would have to be very rich or influential to avoid being treated as second class citizens at best by the British ruling society.

Bogwoppit
2017-02-21, 05:15 PM
It's a bit rude, but the historical fiction "Flashman and the Dragon" by George McDonald Fraser, might give you some good pointers for society and tensions in the region around that time.

gadren
2017-02-26, 04:40 AM
Sorry for the delayed reply, I've had a busy week.

Which World of Darkness game is it? I'm largely unfamiliar with the historical period you're using, but I could help with the more system-oriented things if you're using nWoD. I'm using Changeling 1e (houseruled up to 2e where needed), Mage 2e, God Machine and the attached Core, and Hunter as the main resources. Players may play Mages, Humans, and Changelings, with humans getting bonus xp (and a free Sleepwalker merit) and mages significantly nerfed (they are forced to be very specialized, having only one arcanum they can cast freely from). I'll probably use vampire, wherewolf, and other books to provide antagonists at some points.


Will there be a good reason that the characters shouldn't reveal the supernatural stuff to the general population of hong kong?
Because if I was ever presented with a "magic and monsters are a secret" campaign, I'm pretty sure the first thing I'd do is make that not the case.
Mages have to worry about Paradox. Basically, when normal humans see magic, it makes magic mess up. Often dangerously so.
Changelings have to worry about two things. One is Clarity. Changelings grapple with madness and being open about their supernatural nature with mortals is one of the ways to lose clarity, go mad, and lose your character. Also, Changelings don't want to draw attention to themselves because that tends to result in Archfae noticing and kidnapping them forever.


Is this the main driver of conflict for your setting?:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_opium_in_China

It is certainly one of the drivers. In particular, a lot of havoc has been released upon the community of Chinese changelings because opium abuse is a quick path to losing one's clarity. So there are a lot of mad opium-addicted changelings causing problems.


Since we're in Hong Kong, you'll also have to deal with Kuei-jin where they may be the ancestors of modern families and your twice damned ancestors, who occasionally lend a helping hand to (or controlling fist over) their descendants, are acknowledged but not spoken about in polite company.
I'm not sure how much I can get into, since it's basically folk, Buddhist and Taoist religion derived and prohibited here, but pretty much all the Chinese of the period would be aware of the the things that go bump in the night and know various protection or appeasement rites from multiple belief sets. The British folk, not so much.

As for ideas, there's plenty of supernatural HK movies that would be useful - Mr Vampire (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Vampire) is set right in your target period (traditional Chinese, but with Western influences on the younger generation) with a number of good ideas; improperly buried ancestor comes back as jiangshi (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiangshi) to hunt his descendants, subplot about a lonely ghost girl who falls in love with a human, and the unibrow Taoist priest who has to keep everything under control.

A Chinese Ghost Story (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Chinese_Ghost_Story) is set in approximately the right period, although with no Western influences. It has a number of ideas for evil rites (blood mantou buns, boiled heads, etc) and animist spirits as adversaries (a thousand year old tree demoness in this case who is holding the physical remains of various female ghosts hostage to force them to ensnare mortals for her to eat). Thanks, I'll check those out!


Bringing it back into the oWoD, you have the Kindred coming into this bizarre mishmash and their unique attributes mucking everything up. I assume you're using the Kindred of the East, so some legwork on potential kueijin vs kindred fights would be useful to get a handle on.
I also assume that you'll be downplaying the discrimination of the time - British players would not be popular with the locals once they got out of Hong Kong proper (anywhere outside of HK island and Kowloon Peninsula) and Chinese players would have to be very rich or influential to avoid being treated as second class citizens at best by the British ruling society. I actually had not heard of Kindred of the East, I'll look into that.
I am downplaying discrimination sometimes, while spotlighting it other times. Basically, using it to make things interesting, not frustrating, for the players.


It's a bit rude, but the historical fiction "Flashman and the Dragon" by George McDonald Fraser, might give you some good pointers for society and tensions in the region around that time.
Hmm, I'll check that out, too!