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Recently, I got around to finally playing a game of Hong Kong Action Theater and have decided to share some of my impressions. Physically, the rules aren't too fancy. The most noteworthy element is the numerous still photos of actual Hong Kong movie actors which decorate the pages. While they don't really contribute a mood to the book, they are nicer than most cheap line art.

The rules for HKAT are really simple. Characters are whipped up in short order with a few d10 rolls to get the super-human stats, and some basic style decisions. Oh, and a random 'hook' -- the doomed buddy, a trademark phrase or move. Slap a name on the PC and you're off.

My players had been wanting to do a straight ahead guns and more guns style game, so I picked one of the scenarios in the book from the Gunplay section and went barrelling ahead. I recommend that you take the time to print up the character roles ahead of time, so you're not transcribing from the book. It'll save you time in the long run.

The game draws on such obscure classics like Dream Park and It Came >From the Late, Late, Late Show for inspiration. The PCs are actors playing roles in various films. This allows the system to handle many different genres and settings, and also allows a GM to ignore campaign continuity and other hassles. Perfect for one-off games or an evenings entertainment.

Once play got underway, we found it very hard for the PCs to fail. In fact, for the first few set pieces, they never did. The mechanics of the game are simple: take Difficulty - Attribute - Specialty, and roll that number or higher on a d20. An Impossible task has the highest Difficulty (40). So, an average PC with a 15 Skill and Acrobatics 3, needs to roll a 22+ to do the impossible. Never do it, right?

Well, there's a few wrinkles. First, Initiative determines who goes first, and how many actions they can take. My PCs were getting any where from 5-15 actions in a turn. For each action, you can either make an attack, add +1 to your roll, or +10 to damage. Guess what? That's right, with 10 actions to spend, the impossible becomes doable.

And there's more. Each PC has a Chi Pool of 11-20. For each point spent, you can re-roll a die. And every 20 rolled will replace 3 points of Chi. Can you see where this led?

That's right, my PCs were doing the Impossible on a fairly regular basis. Backflipping from behind a kitchen counter, vaulting from the extended cutting board, spiralling in the air through the gap between the door and ceiling, gunning down two mooks, and landing with a somersault. Sure, it used up a lot of Chi, but he got most of it back a short time later.

Back to the actions. When you go, you take all your actions at once. Which meant the PCs tended to do a whole lot before the mooks could respond. As the game proceeded, they tended to clump up the actions to give bigger bonuses, rather than taking the extra shots. This helped speed up what was becoming a rather slow process.

The game wrapped up with everyone having had a chance to shine, and mostly enjoying themselves. It didn't play with the smooth elegance of Feng Shui, but the one-off nature did encourage folks to risk more for their buck. The mechanics of the game worked, but I strongly suggest you encourage players to go for the bonuses to damage and rolls, rather than try and do 10 different attack in one turn.

Also, this isn't the system to try and run an action-movie campaign with. If you're looking for more classic continuity, plot and character development, look to Feng Shui for it. But if you need something you can pick up, put down, and pick up again whenever the mood strikes you, Hong Kong Action Theater is a good choice.

Style: 3 (Average)
Substance: 3 (Average)

Hong Kong Action Theater
Author: Gareth-Michael Skarka Category: game Company/Publisher: Guardians of Order (was Event Horizon Productions, Inc.) Playtest Review by Jason Langlois on 12/05/97. Genre tags: none	Recently, I got around to finally playing a game of Hong Kong Action Theater and have decided to share some of my impressions. Physically, the rules aren't too fancy. The most noteworthy element is the numerous still photos of actual Hong Kong movie actors which decorate the pages. While they don't really contribute a mood to the book, they are nicer than most cheap line art. The rules for HKAT are really simple. Characters are whipped up in short order with a few d10 rolls to get the super-human stats, and some basic style decisions. Oh, and a random 'hook' -- the doomed buddy, a trademark phrase or move. Slap a name on the PC and you're off. My players had been wanting to do a straight ahead guns and more guns style game, so I picked one of the scenarios in the book from the Gunplay section and went barrelling ahead. I recommend that you take the time to print up the character roles ahead of time, so you're not transcribing from the book. It'll save you time in the long run. The game draws on such obscure classics like Dream Park and It Came >From the Late, Late, Late Show for inspiration. The PCs are actors playing roles in various films. This allows the system to handle many different genres and settings, and also allows a GM to ignore campaign continuity and other hassles. Perfect for one-off games or an evenings entertainment. Once play got underway, we found it very hard for the PCs to fail. In fact, for the first few set pieces, they never did. The mechanics of the game are simple: take Difficulty - Attribute - Specialty, and roll that number or higher on a d20. An Impossible task has the highest Difficulty (40). So, an average PC with a 15 Skill and Acrobatics 3, needs to roll a 22+ to do the impossible. Never do it, right? Well, there's a few wrinkles. First, Initiative determines who goes first, and how many actions they can take. My PCs were getting any where from 5-15 actions in a turn. For each action, you can either make an attack, add +1 to your roll, or +10 to damage. Guess what? That's right, with 10 actions to spend, the impossible becomes doable. And there's more. Each PC has a Chi Pool of 11-20. For each point spent, you can re-roll a die. And every 20 rolled will replace 3 points of Chi. Can you see where this led? That's right, my PCs were doing the Impossible on a fairly regular basis. Backflipping from behind a kitchen counter, vaulting from the extended cutting board, spiralling in the air through the gap between the door and ceiling, gunning down two mooks, and landing with a somersault. Sure, it used up a lot of Chi, but he got most of it back a short time later. Back to the actions. When you go, you take all your actions at once. Which meant the PCs tended to do a whole lot before the mooks could respond. As the game proceeded, they tended to clump up the actions to give bigger bonuses, rather than taking the extra shots. This helped speed up what was becoming a rather slow process. The game wrapped up with everyone having had a chance to shine, and mostly enjoying themselves. It didn't play with the smooth elegance of Feng Shui, but the one-off nature did encourage folks to risk more for their buck. The mechanics of the game worked, but I strongly suggest you encourage players to go for the bonuses to damage and rolls, rather than try and do 10 different attack in one turn. Also, this isn't the system to try and run an action-movie campaign with. If you're looking for more classic continuity, plot and character development, look to Feng Shui for it. But if you need something you can pick up, put down, and pick up again whenever the mood strikes you, Hong Kong Action Theater is a good choice. Style: 3 (Average) Substance: 3 (Average)