d20 RPG Objects Blood and Fists Hong Kong Knights.pdf

by Charles Rice

Cover Art

Jeremy Simmons

Interior Art

Joseph Wigfield

Layout

Chris Davis

Statistic Blocks

Paul King

ProofReading

Charles Baize

Playtesting and Editing:

Paula Rice, Jim Crapia,

John Patrick Lee, Sean Brasher,

Scott Pierce,

Jermy Jett, Chris Champion

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his head back, looking down critically into his eyes.

“Possible concussion,” she thought to herself. At least

nothing was broken.

The crowd had gone completely silent. Many looked

at the boy in the center, their unquestioned leader for

direction. Sure she was a girl. But she was also an adult.

Somehow that changed the dynamic of the situation.

The boy’s laughter broke the silence, “Looks like the

little boy’s rescuer has arrived. His little brother and

some girl.”

Kimiko looked up at the boy, frowning. “He needs a

doctor. I don’t know what this is about, but he’s coming

with me. Go home.”

The boy just laughed again. “I still need to

demonstrate the roundhouse kick for my boys here. Then

you can have him.”

Kimiko stood up, barefoot, still in her practice gi, she

moved between the boy and Ari. Her gaze locked with the

boy’s for a tense moment, “You may demonstrate your

kick.”

Laughter erupted from the crowd, but instantly quieted

down, “On me. Not the boy.”

Again they seemed to look to their leader for how to

respond to this unexpected development. He noticed

several of his friends glancing nervously at the sword

casually slung on her back. This only fueled the rage

inside him. This all seemed like a challenge to his

dominance somehow.

Regaining his composure, the boy grinned again, “All

right then.”

Suddenly his body was in motion, a well-trained

compact pivot designed to take the annoying girl’s head

right off her shoulders.

Only it didn’t connect. The boy let his momentum carry

him around, head swiveling to locate his target for a

second attack. Except she seemed to have vanished.

Kimiko ducked beneath the boy’s kick with ease. It

wasn’t exactly clumsy, and he was extremely quick, but

an attack she knew was coming wasn’t hard for a woman

with her training to block. From a crouch she waited a

split second for the boy’s momentum to carry him around,

then she swept his weight bearing leg out from under him.

The boy was trying to ﬁgure out why he was on the

ground. His ankle was killing him, and stars were still

exploding from the back of his head where he had

unceremoniously landed on the pavement.

Kimiko stood up, and with the help of Ari’s younger

brother, got the boy on his feet. The crowd parted for

them. The silence was deafening as they moved through

the throng. A silence that was shattered by a click from

the center of the crowd.

Ari seemed a little better able to walk on his own, and

Kimiko whispered, “Head for the Gengetsu, then call the

police.”

Turning, she saw the boy at the center of the crowd,

a murderous rage in his eyes. A switchblade was in

his right hand and he motioned the girl forward. Eyes

never leaving the wicked little blade in his hand, Kimiko

stepped back into the center of the circle.

The sound of her breathing became her entire world.

The boy lunged forward. Thankfully he was a

better martial artist than he was knife ﬁghter. Kimiko

sidestepped the lunge, bringing her open hand down

sharply on the boy’s wrist. He exhaled sharply in pain,

and the knife fell clattering to the ground. Kimiko hooked

one leg behind the boy, grabbing his shirt and using his

clumsy momentum to carry him over her hip and back

down to the pavement. In a heartbeat her sword was in

her hand, the naked blade seemed to hum as it moved

right against the boy’s throat, but no farther.

“What is your name boy?”

The boy stared up at her in stunned silence for

a moment, and swallowed. Finally he croaked out,

“Ryusaki Kata.”

Kimiko smiled for the ﬁrst time that evening, “With a

name like Kata you’d think you would practice more.”

A titter of laughter was heard from the crowd at this.

“Well Ryusaki Kata, should you ever pull a blade on

me again, I will disarm you permanently. It will be your

hand on the ground alongside your blade. Do we have an

understanding?”

Kata’s eyes widened as he nodded.

Kimiko rose and pocketed the switchblade. Eyeing the

crowd of boys, she picked up Kata’s jacket and threw it

into the air. Her katana moved through it with no more

effort than it did the air and the jacket landed in two

pieces on the ground.

“You call yourself the Crimson Fists? Get off the street.

Go home. Stop harassing other boys. I am not going

anywhere. The choice is yours.”

Silence reigned as Kimiko sheathed her father’s sword

and once again walked through the crowd.

Introduction

“Hong Kong Knights, Part 1”

Kimiko knelt on the matt, eyes closed. The sound

of her breathing became her entire world. Her body was

alive with sensation, muscles twitching with anticipation.

Suddenly she was on her feet, her sword in her hand.

Her eyes opened, slightly unfocused in the dim light of

the dojo. She whirled, performing simulated attacks and

defenses, parries and ripostes. The sword was a part of

her and she was a part of it. At no time did she feel more

alive. More at peace.

A frantic banging broke her reverie. Swiftly she crossed

the dojo and lifted a small curtain on the door. A small

Japanese boy, perhaps eight or nine, was standing in front

of the dojo, tears staining his young face. Instinctively,

Kimiko glanced around to make sure he was alone before

unlocking the door.

As soon as the door was unlocked he grabbed her

hand, tugging her, he seemed panicked. “C’mon you gotta

help me! It’s my brother, they’re killing him!”

Ari fell to his knees as another blow hit him square in

the face. Stunned, he watched as the boy, taller than him

when both were standing loomed over him for a moment,

a hellish grin cracking his face. Ari’s arms were like lead.

Compared to his tormentor he seemed to be moving in

slow motion. He was unable to raise them before the boy

hit him again. Ari’s heart pounded in his chest and the

noise seemed even louder than the laughter and taunts

that rained down on him as his tormentor turned to his

friends, hands raised in a mock victory celebration.

“C’mon show us the round kick!”

“Yeah you promised you’d show us! This little punk

can’t even move!”

The tormentor shrugged off his red silk jacket, “Ok, but

once I unleash that bad boy, he’ll need a doctor. No more

show…”

“Who cares, c’mon! You promised!”

Ari looked around, dazed, wondering what they were

talking about. Wishing he could make his legs work.

Kimiko pushed her way through the crowd. After they

noticed her, the boys, all wearing red silk jackets parted,

making her way clear into the center of the circle. The

crowd then closed behind her. Ignoring the boy at the

center of the crowd, Kimiko knelt beside Ari. She tilted

2 of 50

Chapter 1: Characters

“Hong Kong Knights, Part 2:

Allegiances”

Max walked around the small

dojo, looking at the pictures on the

wall, the memorabilia of a lifetime. A

lifetime of service.

He knew Kimiko had had problems with her

father, and that she never reconciled with him

before he passed away. Trouble with a father is

something Max understood all too well. He hadn’t

expected Kimiko’s father to be so little. Or such

a highly decorated soldier. “Looks like a tough

little guy to me,” Max mused to himself while

he continued his trek around the room and its

memories.

Although she hadn’t reconciled with her father in

life, Max couldn’t help but feel the entire dojo was

Kimmie’s way of saying she was sorry. The place

was like some kind of shrine.

And Max paused at the head of the dojo’s workout

area to stare in wonder at the centerpiece of that

shrine. A sword. Not just any sword. Max had a

sword from his time in the service. But this was

different. This was an elegant weapon, hundreds of

years old, with the weight of history pulsing through

it. It was alive with memories. Memories of battle.

“Look but don’t touch sugah, I’d hate to have to

watch Kimmie kill you.”

Max felt Brianna’s arm slip around his waist,

“Yeah that would be pretty funny. She might be able

to take me too. Unlike you.”

Brianna laughed and took a step back, intending

to slug Max, whose eyes still had not left Kimiko’s

sword, in the bicep. Just as it should have landed he

took a step back, grabbing her wrist and using her

momentum to plant her face ﬁrst on the matt.

She didn’t stay there long. Despite the

unceremonious way she had landed she managed to

tuck her head and perform a shoulder roll onto her

feet. Max loved to watch her move. Everything she

did seemed graceful somehow.

Brianna, however, was in no mood to be admired.

“All right you lug, you asked for it. That’s twice

now.”

Max stepped onto the matt, shrugging off his

jacket, grinning. As was his habit he smacked his

left bicep, with the “Born to lose” tattoo ﬁrst, then

his right, with the “Death from above” tattoo. “It’s

not my fault you always think the ﬁrst punch is

going to land. Arrogant little…”

Max managed to duck the crescent kick, almost,

taking the brunt of it on a shoulder that might

as well have been carved from granite. The ﬁrst

few minutes of any ﬁght with Bri were the most

dangerous, he reminded himself. You have to adjust

to just how fast she is.

Brianna danced around him, tossing off her

jacket, doing little rabbit hops to loosen her

hamstrings as she moved.

Max watched her, laughing as he realized how

genuinely mad she was. He waited until she had

one leg up in the air and then threw himself at her,

driving his shoulder into her midsection. He heard

her breath explode from her lungs and knew he had

her. He drove down, intending to drive her into the

matt, a move that would ﬁnish a man twice her size.

He barely caught a glimpse of his mistake in the

mirrors that lined the walls of the dojo.

Brianna watched Max, standing in the center of

the matt, eyes tracking her as she danced around

him. She noticed his biceps (and lord what ﬁne

biceps they were… time enough for that later)

tense every time she brought a leg up to stretch.

So she paused just a split second too long, left one

leg up a little too long, and waited. Sure enough he

launched himself at her. She felt a moment of panic

as he drove into her. This must be what ﬁghting a

tiger is like, she thought to herself. Then her lungs

were searing, her ribs creaking audibly in her ear,

and she was airborne. Just where she wanted to be.

As they reached the apex of their ﬂight and began

to head down to the matt, she wiggled down out of

the larger man’s grasp. Using his bulk for leverage,

she brought her right leg up over her head,

snapping it like a whip and nailing Max right in the

back of his shaved head. With an audible “oomph”

he landed face ﬁrst on the matt. Brianna planted her

hands on his shoulders and drove him down, then

pushed off, launching herself back into the air and

landing in a light crouch on the edge of the matt.

Max growled, shook his head, ready to launch

himself again, when a voice interrupted his train of

tactical thought.

“What are you two doing?!?”

Brianna stood up out of her ﬁghting crouch,

abashed. As always, Max managed to say the most

embarrassing thing possible.

“Foreplay?”

Now it was Kimiko’s turn to blush, though she hid

it well, “Not in my dojo.”

Max stood up, snatching up his army surplus

jacket from the ﬂoor where he had discarded it.

“Place looks nice, when is the grand opening

anyway?”

“Tomorrow,” and Kimiko couldn’t help but smile

at the thought of the Gengetsu, the Crescent Moon,

ﬁnally being open for business. “But actually,”

Kimiko continued, her smile fading, “I already have

a student.”

Allegiances

The reason you ﬁght is as important,

if not more so, than how you go about

ﬁghting. Motivation will determine what

tactics a ﬁghter uses, as well as the styles he will

choose. What follows is a series of new allegiances

detailing ﬁghting philosophies. For characters with

an extreme devotion to one of these philosophies,

a series of feats will be found in the feats chapter

based on these allegiances.

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Chapter 1: Characters

only melee weapons, you will ﬁght him in melee. If

your opponent has no weapons, you will ﬁght him

hand to hand. You rarely give your word, but when

you do, you will stand by what you say. You prefer

to have a broad range of ﬁghting skills, in order to

engage anyone who challenges you in the manner of

their choosing, so ranged weapons, melee weapons,

and martial arts are all valuable skills.

seemingly cut from the same block of granite as the

one who guarded the entryway to the rear parking

area and stated his business, “I need to see Mr.

Takamitsu.”

The guard just grunted and knocked on the door.

It opened into a small room where three more

guards stood at the ready. One of the guards went

deeper into the labyrinth that made up the back of

the Enkai while Kata waited in silence, shivering in

the air conditioned club.

Danger

The tougher the going gets, the more you like it.

If ﬁghting two-on-one is fun, then three-on-one

is more fun. Others will call your state of mind a

“death wish”, but you don’t want to die. You want

to live . Because you live for that rush you can only

get when combat is real, deadly, and serious. You

prefer adaptable martial arts styles, since you do

not believe in any “philosophy” of combat beyond

being the last man standing.

Loyalty

This allegiance is always keyed to a speciﬁc person,

or perhaps a small group. Loyalties to large groups

are always bound up in ideology. This allegiance is

about a personal bond, especially between men and

women who have shared something special, such as

the Sensei and student, or among a small group of

soldiers serving together in combat.

Shogu stood motionless in the dimly lit room. His

vision narrowed until he saw nothing other than

his target. The sound of his breathing became the

only sound. Its measured beat like a metronome

to a dance inside his heart. His katana was tucked

into his belt the way the ancient Iaijutsu masters

wore their blades. The metronome quickened, and

with a Kiai he began to run. At the last possible

instant he drew his sword. Like lightning the blade

arched over his head and came crashing down on

his target, the arm of a headless corpse stretched

out on a table, severing meat and bone cleanly. In

an instant he had cleaned his blade and resheathed

it. Only after he had turned his back did a servant

scurry from the darkness on the far side of the room

and retrieve the severed arm, ferrying it away.

Shogo turned and stood motionless, once again

facing his target.

The door behind him opened and Kata slipped in.

He crossed his wrists behind his back and lowered

his gaze, waiting in silence. After a moment Shogu

turned to face the boy. “Where is your jacket,

Kata?”

Kata stood completely still, never raising his eyes

to look at his superior, “There has been a problem,

Oyabun. I need guns…”

The backhanded smack rocked Kata back on his

heels. He kept his arms crossed behind his back, his

gaze lowered.

“You have all that you need Kata. You and your

bosozuku must maintain a low proﬁle until we

have established ourselves here. You assured me

Enlightenment

You seek to learn about yourself. Your entire life is

a journey of self-discovery. You do not care whether

what you learn is good or bad, you merely wish to

know something you did not before. Seeing how

you respond under stress is the perfect crucible

to bring out your true character, so combat is an

interesting exercise. You prefer internal martial

arts styles, as the meditative regimens those styles

teach allow you learn more about yourself during

moments of quiet contemplation.

Self-Defense

You do not seek combat at all. You merely train in

the martial arts to defend yourself when attacked.

You will only strike ﬁrst if an attack is imminent,

and then only in a preemptive manner to eliminate

the threat with the least amount of harm to yourself

and your target. You prefer martial arts styles with

strong defenses or overwhelming attacks.

Excitement

Closely related to danger, characters that ﬁght

for excitement aren’t always looking for difﬁcult

combats they just want something different.

Fighting three-on-one would give you a rush the

ﬁrst time you did it, but after that you’d need to

ﬁght them in an airplane about to crash into the

ocean to get that same buzz. You prefer ﬂashy,

external martial arts styles, especially high-kicking

styles full of leaping and tumbling, such as Tae

Kwon Do. These styles ﬁt your showy personality,

but also rev you up, giving you that buzz you need

to excel in combat.

Classes

“Hong Kong Knights, Part 3:

Lessons”

Kata pulled up into the parking

lot of the Enkai.

Despite the rain, he was wearing only a black

t-shirt, refusing to wear a jacket other than his

Shinku Kobushi1 jacket which that bitch had ruined

the night before. Weaving through the Lincolns

and Cadillacs waiting for valet parking, he pulled

his bike around back, pausing brieﬂy to meet the

gaze of a hard-eyed teppodama holding a barely

concealed Uzi under a rain-slicked trench coat.

He stopped at the door before another guard; one

Honor

You always seek to maintain your personal

character at the highest level. You will not back

down from a challenge, nor will you use any undue

advantage during combat. If your opponent has

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Chapter 1: Characters

you could do this. You have all that you need. If

you cannot cement control of the streets, I will ﬁnd

someone who can.”

Kata nodded, remaining motionless as Shogu

talked momentarily with a servant, who scurried

quickly into the darkness and returned.

He handed Kata a small knife with a string tied

around it.

“Now go.”

Table 1-1: The Ninja

Level

Base

Attack

Defense

Bonus

Reputation

Bonus

Fort Save Ref Save Will Save

Special

1 st

Shinobi-jutsu

2 nd

Silent kill +1d6

3 rd

Shichi-ho-de

4 th

Silent kill +2d6

5 th

Goton-no-jutsu

6 th

Silent kill +3d6

7 th

Chunin

8 th

Silent kill +4d6

Advanced Classes

Following are ﬁve new martial arts oriented classes

for d20 Modern. Some, like the Ninja, the Yakuza

and the Sensei represent speciﬁc professions more

likely to be encountered in a martial arts campaign.

Others, like the Totem Warrior and the Weapon

Master represent specialists in speciﬁc types of

martial arts styles.

9 th

Jonin

10 th

Silent kill +5d6

attack damage against surprised, ﬂat-footed, or

ﬂanked targets. If the victim of this attack is

surprised and fails a Massive Damage Threshold

saving throw, the character is eliminated in

complete silence, requiring a Listen check (DC 30)

for any nearby guard to notice something amiss. At

the GM’s discretion, Ordinaries may not receive a

MDT save against this attack. See the d20 Modern

Core Rulebook for the deﬁnition of an Ordinary.

Shichi-ho-de: The “ways of going” provide

another means of entry and escape for the ninja

through the means of disguise. This ability allows

the character to add his ninja class level to all

disguise and bluff skill checks.

This ability also allows the ninja to prepare up

to seven disguises before a mission (taking an hour

of preparation for each disguise) and then during a

mission, assume that disguise as a full-round action.

A character must have a disguise kit to prepare a

disguise for this ability.

Goton-no-jutsu: The “escaping techniques” are

predetermined escape routes that allow the ninja

to depart after completing his mission. This ability

allows the character to add his ninja class level to

all climb, escape artist, and swim skill checks made

while making his escape.

This ability also allows a ninja to create a blind

or screen at a predetermined location. The ninja

can either use this blind to watch his target in

preparation for a mission, or as an emergency

Class Information

The following information pertains to the ninja

advanced class.

Hit Die: d6

Action Points: 6 plus one-half the character’s

level, rounded down.

Class Skills: The ninja’s class skills (and the

key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Bluff

(Cha), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Decipher

Script (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Disable Device

(Int), Disguise (Cha), Escape Artist (Dex), Forgery

(Int), Gather Information (Cha), Handle Animal

(Cha), Hide (Dex), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str),

Knowledge (arcane lore, behavioral sciences,

history, streetwise, tactics) (Int), Listen (Wis), Move

Silently (Dex), Search (Int), Sense Motive (Wis),

Sleight of Hand (Dex), Spot (Wis), Survival (Wis),

Swim (Str) and Tumble (Dex)

Skill Points at Each Level: 5+ Int. modiﬁer

Ninja

The exact origin of Ninjutsu is unknown; however

it seems to have originated during the reign of

Empress Suiko (CE 593-628). During a war a

warrior named Otomo-no-Saijin secured valuable

information about the enemy and won the day. He

was rewarded with the name Shinobi for his efforts.

The earliest form of Ninjutsu was called Shinobi-

jutsu and the Japanese pictograph for Ninjutsu is

the word Shinobi with one additional character. The

current status of Ninjutsu is unclear; however there

were ninja clans actively involved with the Japanese

war effort during World War II. However when the

end of the war and an American occupation brought

about the birth of a new democratic Japan these

clans seem to have disappeared like smoke in a

strong wind.

Class Features

All of the following are features of the ninja

advanced class.

Shinobi-jutsu: The “stealing in method” is

the ninja’s primary source of power. His stealth

provides him with the means of getting close to his

target and escaping with his life. This ability allows

the character to add his ninja class level to all hide

and move silently skill checks.

Silent kill: The character gains the listed sneak

Requirements

To qualify to become a ninja, a character must fulﬁll

the following criteria.

Skills: Hide 6 ranks, Move Silently 6 ranks

Feats: Ninjutsu, Shadow

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