Product information
Welcome to the vibrant and pulsating world of “Rise of the Street Legends,” an exhilarating kung fu-inspired adventure designed for the Everyday Heroes Roleplaying Game by Evil Genius Games.
Within this module you’ll find a thrilling narrative-driven saga set in the bustling melting pot of New Shangchester, a city where ancient martial arts schools exist alongside modern high-tech towers.
Our journey begins as an unlikely band of heroes – drawn together by fate – intervene just in time to aid lone officer Hanzo Midori in infiltrating a back-alley gang hideout run by the notorious Rising Serpents. This sets into motion events that will establish the party as champions of justice within this community.
Over the course of confronting threats of increasing difficulty, players can expect to do battle against various fighting clubs and gangsters while unraveling a century-old mystery surrounding a sinister underground crypt. Memorable characters like Grandmaster Chen wait to guide new Legends in the making.
From navigating tense negotiations to pursuing high-octane chase scenes across rooftops under crimson moonlight, our modular story structure allows for thrilling cinematic action balanced with investigational intrigue. Whether by wits, skill or steel, evil shall be made to fear your adventurers’ righteous bond.
This introductory module culminates in an epic descent into the buried Dragon Throne Mausoleum to confront the self-declared True Master of the martial arts underworld before his corruption spreads any farther. Will your party prove worthy of wearing the Jade Insignia? Destiny awaits within!
Andrew Hind –
Rise of the Street Legends, by Epic Table Games, is an introductory level, kung fu inspired adventure for Everyday Heroes.
It promises “thrilling cinematic action balanced with investigational intrigue”. But does it make good on the promise? Let’s find out.
Faster than you can say Bruce Lee, the characters are thrown into the action. And like a flurry of Chuck Norris blows to the face, it never lets up, fast and furious, culminating in a bloody finale.
The adventure begins when the characters find themselves brought together for a common goal – infiltrating the back-alley hide out of the notorious Rising Serpents gang as they unite to aid of a common ally. This unknowingly sets the PCs on a path to becoming champions, ‘Street Legends’, as they become embroiled deep mystery and must work together to foil a nefarious plot.
From street fights against gangsters to tense negotiations, fending off a military-style assault on a police precinct and to the pulse pounding chase through the crowds of a Chinese New Years style street festival, the characters are dragged deeper into the intrigue and the stakes inevitably grow higher. There is no – I mean no – meandering in this adventure. The only moment when characters can catch their collective breaths is the obligatory kung fu training montage, where a wizened master helps them unleash their hidden potential.
The relentless action never feels like it is just checking boxes. Rather, it moves the story forward toward the inevitable climax, in this case within the underground lair of an ancient and evil self-titled master of the martial arts. The characters must defeat him to prevent his plot from being realized. But rest assured, the fight will be tough. Indeed, the scene is masterfully staged to be tense and challenging – a Boss Fight worthy of the name.
Supporting an exciting story is amazing anime style (AI) art, great maps, and several well conceived, detailed NPCs that players will learn to love and to hate.
The setting, New Shangchester, hints at being something really interesting, with elements of kung-fu, cyberpunk, action movies, and even modern fantasy rolled into one. Sadly, its only ever hinted at as the setting is given short thrift (I’m told a setting guide may appear in the not-too-distant future).
A new subsystem involving chi points is introduced, then quickly dropped before it is fleshed out enough to be usable. Its absence doesn’t in any way impact the adventure.
The only real potential drawback to Rise of the Street Legends is its linear nature. Characters are guided from scene to scene, sometimes even to events within scenes, in the name of moving the story forward. I’m more than willing to give up some agency on occasion in the name of an epic cinematic storyline (which Rise of the Street Legends delivers in spades), but others may balk at being railroaded so heavily.
It has often been said that the worst thing an action movie can be is forgettable. Rise of the Street Legends is anything but that.