Review of Wire Fu

Introduction

Anyone who has followed my reviews in the past can tell you that I have a particular passion for cinematic style games - particularly martial arts and kun fu. The same people will also tell you that I do tend to prefer systems that truly capture the feel of the genre that I'm interested in.

Wire Fu utilises the Wushu system to provide a game of high-flying kung fu action. It chooses to forego detail in favour of a light speedy system, the goal being to capture the pacing of a kung-fu flick over any detailed system of choreography. However, it also tries to still keep that choreographical stunting from such films with a system designed to promote such actions.

So with the goals set, and much fan praise present here on RPGnet, I was curious to see if Wushu lived up to expectation.

It is worth pointing out here that I am personally in favour of systems with detail without too much complexity. I say this because there may be a bias present in my review based on that position. I will discuss this issue more later on in the review.

Layout and Design

Firstly, let's consider how the game looks. Wire Fu is a rather small PDF to download, and Daniel Bayn shows (at least in my opinion) an excellent understanding of how to make a PDF book. It uses minimal graphical addition, meaning a low ink cost to print. Headings are clear and there is an excellent use of white space to keep the book from being a cluttered pile of text.

The cover has a nice piece of fan art. Not exactly professional quality (the scale, layout and proportions are a bit off) but it is expertly coloured and attractive nonetheless. It is also the only piece of art in the entire book.

My only layout complaint is that there weren't bookmarks included. Something I find incredibly useful in PDFs is the ability to have a bookmarked table of contents to provide ease of reference. While most of Wire-fu is easily remembered, it is still a nice thing to have. I didn't penalise the game for this - it is only a minor quibble. But something I hope will be considered for future products.

Game and System

So let's get to the crux of this review. What is Wire Fu about and like?

The core focus of the game is to emulate such films as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; The Matrix; Hero... basically any film in which fantastic stunts are performed with the use of wires. The book opens with a discussion on the various films that inspired the game - including The One, The Transporter and Charlies Angels as well.

Of interesting note is the mention about how Wire-Fu does change the Wushu core rules to suit the genre. This is a big point for me, because I am a strong proponent of a game system fitting the genre and setting. I also liked the mention of using the game as inspiration for designing your own Wushu products.

The Basics

At it's core, Wushu is a very basic system. Players build dice pools through describing stunts, they then roll their dice hoping to get equal to or less than the active trait being used.

For Example: Wi Lung attacks three mooks. He has the trait "Kung Fu of the Gods: 4" meaning that he gets a success whenever he rolls four or less on any single die. He describes his action to build up a dice pool, each distinctive stunt provides him with another die.

The benefit of this mechanic is that players are quite capable of describing the dramatic scenes from movies. GMs can dictate the tone of the game by setting particular pool limits to ensure that players don't go overboard.

Wire Fu adds to this core mechanic the idea of Yin and Yang dice. This system of effectively using the pool allows for a little more detail in the stunt building by creating a more offence versus defence style of play.

Good Advice

So mechanically, that is essentially all there is to Wire Fu. There are no weapon stats, and damage is dictated by the dice pool system. I wont go into too much detail on these - because it will make the purchase less viable. Suffice to say, the system is very light and fast paced.

My first concern was raised while reading the core rules - what if players aren't good at describing stunts? Luckily, Daniel Bayn has an answer. Following the rules is a quick summary of the kind of things that need to be considered when describing kung fu choreography. The reader is given some very helpful advice, as well as several combat examples at the back of the book.

This is really a big deal. Other light kung fu systems have had a habit of just saying "watch a movie, you'll pick it up." But this kind of advice is a bit useless if your players are with you to play now! Wire Fu's guidelines are a godsend to any GM with a fresh group. They are succinct and useful.

And that's it. The game finishes off with some sample settings and NPCs for GMs to use.

Discussion

I want to turn to some negatives for a moment now. Firstly, Wire Fu commits the same crime that bugs me about many recently published roleplaying products - little in the way of GM guidance. The book constantly mentions that the GM may choose to do X or Y but no where is there a decent discussion pointed at the GM to advise how to make these decisions.

The game discusses how to describe wire fu stunts, but doesn't really explore how to make wire fu adventures. Unfortunately providing a setting example just isn't sufficient enough to count as campaign advice. This is further exacerbated by the fact that with out any real exploration of how to advance characters narratively, and claiming that they don't develop mechanically - the game seems to heavily lean on the side of one-shot style play. A properly written GM's chapter could have provided a better idea of how to handle the development of both the story and characters.

Assuming that GMs will just know this stuff intutively or even from watching a few movies is a weak defence. The eventual outcome of all this is that Wire Fu presents a game that is all about combat and very little else. While the mechanic is nifty and different, it just isn't enough to carry the game. No consideration is given the rest of the story or how it is meant to be handled. Even advice on how to adujdicate such events without dice - in the manner of Theatrix would have been an improvement.

Secondly, the game sacrifices a lot of detail in favour of its system. Kung fu techniques and weapon styles are hand-waved away as setting pieces. The thing is, many wire fu stories and films are all about how different techniques and styles interact. Wire Fu seems to weaken at this point. It provides a very western perspective on its chosen genre.

On the plus side, while the system could have been a one-way ticket to player anarchy due to its loose nature - the presentation of helpful guidelines and pool limits shows a great amount of consideration towards ensuring that combat plays out the way it was intended. The examples help provide a useful insight into how fights can play out and the various creative ways to use such a simple mechanic.

Conclusion

I was ultimately torn about how I felt regarding Wire Fu. I like it a lot. The combat mechanic is just beautiful, but I didn't like how everything else is hand-waved. This is a common error I see in many indie-style games, so much focus on the core element that the rest of the game is overlooked. Not much needed to be added, just a way to apply the system to non-combat situations would have allowed me to overlook other issues I had with it.

It is clearly not for inexperienced GMs. Players will pick the game up quickly, but GMs will struggle if they have never GMed before. The game simply fails to provide sufficient guidance and help in that arena.

However, if you are an experienced gamer and especially like cinematic systems that are light and allow you to cut loose with your creative side - Wire Fu is pretty tough to beat.

I do find myself still prefering the elegance of Dynamic d6 - but there are elements of how Wire Fu handles combat that I find appealing and hope to house rule over.

Should I buy this game? If you want a light, non-complex and cinematic combat system, yes. Beautifully elegant in its simplicity. If you prefer more detail and framework for choreographical combat - Fireborn's core system Dynamic D6 is more well-rounded. If you want something in between, then check out Feng Shui. However, at $5 US, it's worth buying if only for the stunting advice and general ideas.