Chi Chian RPG (2003)

Dreamcatcher Multimedia Inc.

Date Reviewed: 7-25-04

            Updated: 8-28-11

Critical Kobold Rating:  (2 out of 5 Dice)

 

Roach Problem?... They're the Good Guys!

     Chi Chian is the roleplaying game out of Tim Burton's bad dreams.

     Now, I had never heard of Chi Chian before getting this rpg, I just thought the game sounded intriguing when I spotted it on eBay. The rpg is actually based on the Chi Chian comic book, drawn by a dude calling himself Voltaire. Apparently, over a decade ago, in 2000, the SciFi Channel ran an animated series based on the comic, so that may have inspired some more interest in this quirky little game. SciFi had set up a thorough introduction to the series on their website when this review was originally published, but when the channel changed its name to “SyFy”, the links to the series were lost in the ether.  However, you can still click here for the episodes on the creator’s own website.

     Note: A few months after this review was published, Voltaire contacted this kobold, lavishing praise upon him for his deeply insightful review. Also, he agreed to an interview, so check that out here.

We sold Manhattan to who ??

     The game setting is Manhattan, New York, in the year 3049 AD. In the aftermath of the New York/ New Jersey War, life is much different than most futuristic rpg's portray. Manhattan is owned by Japan. (It was leased to them many years ago.) So, New York society has adopted an Eastern flavor, with customs, beliefs, and mores resembling Japanese standards. However, talk about your women's rights movement! The brilliant scientist and cultural guru who created the model for Manhattan's society of the 3000's also invented the X-Y Relax technology, which allows women to work most bio-mechanical devices telepathically. Men, for the most part, are well on their way to being second-class citizens.

     But society is a mess anyway, thanks to the homogenization of races at this point in humanity's history. Most Earthlings are a mix of all the world's races, which until recently certainly went a good way towards minimizing racism.

     Until…

     On the other planets of the solar system, mankind has set up colonies. Many of these colonies were established by people from various races before the Earth became so well interbred. When some of these colonists began returning to Earth after a few generations away from home, the Earthlings were amazed at the "pure" racial features of the newcomers. Now, thanks to the influx of ethnically diverse visages, it's become acceptable to surgically alter yourself to appear more genetically distinct than you really are. Genetic tinkering can make you resemble your true Japanese ancestors, or your Burmese great grandmother, or whatever.

     The city itself has been segregated into four levels, horizontally. Semi-sentient force fields only allow those with more "righteous" and pure thoughts into the upper levels of the city, leaving those less enlightened to toil in the lower sectors, nearer to the streets. Alpha Plane is the home to the most righteous, most enlightened, most snotty citizens. Beta Plane houses the white-collar corporate employees, etc. The blue-collar regular folk live on Gamma Plane, just a few stories up in the towering skyscrapers above the streets, where the air is less poisonous than on the ground.

     The lowest level is the dangerous and mysterious Delta Plane; the old underground sewers, subway tunnels, and underbelly of the city. The street levels of Manhattan are polluted, ramshackle, decimated relics of the old city. Those who are homeless, or unlucky, may scramble through the rubble of the street, surviving as best they can with the dregs of the land. Some of this level is traversable in the worm trains. Yes, they're actual worms. Giant, fast-moving worms with porous skins allow riders to step through their flesh and into their bodies, then race under the city to their destinations. Ummm… ick.

     Above ground, travelers may use personal "pods" to flit about, or fly in customized "exxosuits", which are protective armor/ space suit/ rocket pack all in one. Don't have a pod of your own? Summon the Taximech, a giant walking taxi that rises four stories into the air and stomps around the city letting passengers off on balconies.

     Oh, did I mention the six foot intelligent cockroaches? Yeah, you think roaches are bad now, wait until the 31st century. Luckily, they're a peaceful, art-loving race of bugs. Unlike the caterpillars, who will crawl into your skull and dominate you, using your body as their own personal servant. (Yes, they would indeed be the bad guys.)

     So, there you have it. A society where your purity of mind dictates your station and even your physical movement in the city. Oh, and the whole island is protected by a powerful force shield, just to keep those damn Jersey folk out. There's more weirdness, too. Chi Chian's closest friends are one of the aforementioned giant violin-playing cockroaches, and a prototype giant train worm. Her mentor is a robot genius built to resemble a levitating stuffed teddy bear. Her exxosuit is a super-duper wonder outfit that changes form to appear as whatever she needs. Oh, and there's the Patahn Pahrr; once an order of enlightened monks, turned secret police, now a disgraced sect of evil rebels who mutilate their bodies with cybernetic enhancements and sew their eyes shut. Ummmm… ick again.

     This is the world of Chi Chian.

Chi Chian and the ruler of Thailand have a chat.

Oh, yeah; the leader of Thailand has turned himself into a monkey god. Y'know. Just... 'cause.

I wanna be a big mutant cockroach! … With a flame thrower!

     Players get 120 Chi points to spend on designing a beginning character. These chi points are used to buy statistics and abilities, and to alter rolls in the game (more on that later).

     PCs in Chi Chian have eight Stats:

Mettle        - Fighting spirit; your combat stat.

Brains       - Um… duh.

Health       - Fitness and dexterity.

Guile         - Manipulation and lying.

Virtue        - Spiritual energy, compassion.

Charm       - personal magnetism, charisma.

Tech          - Proficiency with gadgets.

Willpower  - Mental focus.

     You must buy at least one level in each stat, but you may buy up to five levels. A "1" stat is practically useless, "2" is mildly retarded, "3"  is a normal human stat. Above "6" is possible for non-humans, or in special cases, but the score represents super abilities not generally available to any but the most gnarly of characters. Buying these stat levels costs 1 chi point per level, on a progressive scale. (So buying your first level costs 1 point, but to buy a second level would cost an additional two points, etc. So starting with a fifth level stat will cost you a hefty 15 chi points.)

     Your PC then gets to buy her Status. Your social standing is important in the Chi Chian rpg, so you may want to consider this carefully. The most influential people in Manhattan are Japanese women from Alpha Plane, so it'll cost you 14 chi points to be one of those. But you could also be a pureblood of non-Japanese race for only 3 chi points. Having an Important job will cost you 1 chi point, but being an Executive officer will cost you 3.

     Of course, what's life without a little diversity, eh? You can choose to have a lower status, say, a half breed, a freak (albino, mutant, leper, etc), or even a robot or giant insect! Choosing one of these to role play costs nothing; in fact, you actually gain chi points for these backgrounds, because they're considered disabilities.

     But chi points may also be spent/ gained based on your family, your reputation, and your looks. Yep, you can buy your place in a Noble House for 3 chi points, or be a Social Pariah and gain 2 points. Wanna be Beautiful? Cough up 3 points. Need some more chi points to use in the game? You can be Hideous and gain 4 chi points!

     Finally, you may spend your remaining chi on Capabilities. These are mostly skills, but may also be such intriguing things as extra limbs. Capabilities have levels, which are purchased with chi like Stats. (I'm assuming they also go up to fifth level, like Stats, but the book doesn't say this explicitly.) Some capabilities are based on an accompanying Stat, and if so, the levels are added together when you're using your capability during the game. For example, the capability "Streetwise" is based on Guile. So if you have a Guile Stat of 3 and you have Streetwise at level 3, they're added together to give you a total Streetwise score of 6.

     Some standard capabilities are Scientist, Stealth, Martial Arts, Piloting, and Technician. But the cool capabilities are such things as Slimy, Sexpert, Extra Head, Spines, Telekinesis, or maybe Invulnerability.

     Finally, you get to determine your wealth. Spending chi points gets you more moolah. To start, every chi point spent earns you 1 yen. (You're poor-ass broke, dude!) However, you can buy multipliers for your income! For 5 chi points, your base yen is multiplied by one hundred. For 20 chi points, your cash is multiplied by one million.

    Anyway, once your account is full, buy some crap! Weapons range from bows and clubs to acid mines, submachine guns, lasers, and plasma rifles. If you spent some chi to earn big bucks, buy a flying pod, or exxo armor to flit about in. Grab a robot or two, maybe some computer datapads, and you're off!

How hard is it to nuke Hoboken from here?

     Every action in Chi Chian has a Difficulty Rating assigned by the game master (called the Sensei in the game lingo). Players then roll 2d10 and add up the results. Rolling doubles at any time allows you to roll again, and add the re-rolls to your original score. Rolling equal to or over the Difficulty is a success, while rolling below sucks cheese.

     You only need to equal the Difficulty to succeed at any task, but you can achieve "multiple successes" if you roll multiples above the difficulty number. (For example, if the Difficulty was "4", and you rolled a 12, then you earned three successes because you beat the Difficulty by three times its number.) These multiple successes will increase damage or have other beneficial effects for you.

     Now, here's the thing about those Stat and Capability levels…

     If your appropriate score is higher than the Difficulty of the task, you can re-roll the dice once for every level you have in that skill above the difficulty number. You can then take whatever roll you like best as your final roll.

     Example: My robot PC, named Earl Mark IV, is trying to drive a 40' tall Taximech up to a skyscraper's balcony to pick up my comrades. The difficulty of steering the taxi is a 3. Earl has Piloting at Level 4, so he's got one capability level above the difficulty level.  After he rolls his standard task roll, Earl gets an extra dice roll, and I can keep whichever result I like best (the one with the most successes.)

     If your capability is below the difficulty, you lose one success for each level difference. So PCs can still attempt tasks they aren't trained for, but they'd better hope for multiple successes! If you try to scale a tall, smooth wall with a difficulty of 6, and your Health (dexterity) is only 3, that means you need to score FOUR successes (a roll of 24!), because three of those successes will be taken from you, and you need the minimum of one success to… uh, succeed. (Pray for doubles, my friend.)

     At any time, players may choose to spend a chi point during the game to re-roll the dice. They may do this as often as they want, until they run out of chi.

I got six arms, three swords, two lasers, and an acid grenade.

Your move, punk.

     When the excrement hits the propellers, sometimes the only thing to do is start blasting.

     Combat in Chi Chian is handled thusly: Everyone determines their OOMF score. OOMF stands for "Oo! Oo! Me First!" Your OOMF is your Mettle + Brains, plus 1d10 rolled each combat round. Whoever has the highest OOMF goes first, then everyone else in order during one turn.

     Attackers must use their Mettle score (plus weapons capabilities, if they have them), and they must roll above their target's Mettle to hit.

     Damage depends on weapon type. Fists do damage equal to the attacker's Health. Weapons have their own "Attack Strength", their base damage score. Melee weapons usually add to the attacker's Health score when doing damage (a large sword adds +4 to damage), while missile weapons have a specific damage rating (rifles do 7 damage levels).

     Defenders have a chance to absorb damage by rolling their Health against a difficulty score equal to the damage received.

     PCs have 10 Damage Levels they can take before biting the big one. For every two levels of damage, they get a cumulative -1 success to any rolls they make. At 8 damage points, the PC is unconscious.

     When all is said and done, at the end of the adventure, the PCs are awarded chi points based on their performance. Just surviving the session earns you one lousy point. Completing goals, making other players laugh, or otherwise being successful at the game can garner you perhaps 8 Chi points, on average.

     As far as the rules go, that's about it. You're good to go.

The GOOD

     This is a moody, melodramatic setting. There's plenty of room for action adventure, but there's just as much opportunity for cloak and dagger or political maneuvering to take up a good many adventuring sessions. Those gamers who like a darker feel to their games, even downright brooding, may want to give this rpg a try. It feels vaguely like Vampire: The Masquerade, without all the bloodsucking and velvet apparel. I admit, I just like the weirdness of this milieu.

     The rule book is chock full o' useful crap. Aside from the detailed background, write-ups of important characters, and extensive history provided, the rule book also gives you an adventure to get you going, and a thorough encyclopedia that explains a great many things about everyone and everything in the comic series. The book is full of black and white pictures, and many are done in a funky, surreal claymation-looking medium. There are solid rules for inventing new tech, or repairing mechanical items, as well as researching.

The NEUTRAL

     You really need to be into the atmosphere and background of the comic to appreciate this game's flavor. It's dark, foreboding, and enigmatic. Now, it's possible to run a campaign around any theme you'd like, but all the background material in the book is presented in regards to Manhattan and the setting for the comic book, so game masters are pretty much stuck using this locale, at least to get started. Straying from the basic background given in the rulebook will take quite a bit of work from the Sensei. And honestly, with its rather limited audience target group, there isn’t any support in the form of follow-up material to be devoted to this little rpg.

The nefarious Patahn Pahrr. Formerly honorable monks, now icky bad guys.

The EVIL

     Despite all the useful info packed into the book, the one thing they don't seem to provide is a list of Difficulty examples for the Sensei to use. I mean, what's the standard Difficulty for driving an air car? Picking a lock? Hacking a computer? Recalling information? Don't know. Have to wing it.

     Also, the list of equipment is sparse, man. Aside from a moderately complete list of weapons, some vehicles, and exxo armor, there is little to buy in the way of "stuff". Again, this is a bit of work for the Sensei. How much yen does a meal cost in the 31st century? Medical treatment? Scuba gear? A lighter? I got nothin' to go on, dude.

     On its own merits as an rpg, it very lovingly recreates the world of the comic book. But this limiting and narrow scope makes it rather undesirable as a setting for anything other than the comic book antics of Chi Chian and her buddies. And the somber, oppressive themes that permeate the background are a bit dreary for my own tastes.

All Aboard the Worm Train?

     While the setting is described devotedly in the rule book, it's not one I came to enjoy. Just not my cup of java. If I'd been a Chi Chian comic fan, I could only imagine how pleasing this rpg would be. If you do happen to actually be a Chi Chian fan, add another two dice to this kobold's review rating for your purposes.

     For the rest of you, there are rpgs out there that can simulate the foreboding, futuristic ambience of this game without being nearly so restrictive in scope and focus. Fading Suns, GURPS products, maybe Dark Heresy, to name a few, could all handle this genre without leaving you stranded in Manhattan.

[Go to Critical Kobold Game Reviews Page]  OR  [Go to Critical Kobold Movie Reviews Page]