Action Movie World vs Feng Shui
Compare Action Movie World and Feng Shui side by side. See differences in complexity, dice, genre, and more.
| Action Movie World | Feng Shui | |
|---|---|---|
| Genre | Modern | Fantasy, Sci-Fi, Historical, Modern, Post-Apocalyptic |
| Tags | Playbook-Driven, Cinematic, Fiction-First, Short Sessions, Comedy, Martial Arts, Player-Only Rolls, Pulp Action | Cinematic, Combat-Heavy, Fast-Paced, High-Power, Martial Arts, Playbook-Driven, Pulp Action, Strong GM Support, Tactical, Theater of the Mind |
| Core Mechanic | Roll 2d6 + stat. On a 10+ the move succeeds completely, on 7–9 it succeeds with a catch, on 6 or less it fails and the Director makes a move. Players choose an Actor Playbook (their star persona across all films) and a temporary Script Playbook (the genre of the current movie), gaining moves from both. Only players roll dice: the Director never rolls. | Roll a positive d6 and a negative d6, subtract the negative die from the positive, and add the Swerve to an Action Value. Meeting or beating the Difficulty succeeds, while open-ended sixes create extreme results. |
| Dice | 2d6 | 2d6 |
| Complexity | Low | Medium |
| Availability | Paid | Free quickstart |
| Runnability | 4 of 5 book tools | 5 of 5 book tools |
| License | Powered by the Apocalypse | All Rights Reserved |
| Third-Party Publishing | Not yet researched | Noncommercial only — Atlas Games Fair Use policy |
| Summary only, not legal advice. Check current terms before publishing. | ||
| Publisher | Flatland Games | Atlas Games |
| Year | 2015 | 2015 |
| Languages | English | English, French, Russian |
| Best For | Groups who want short, high-energy sessions that celebrate the cheesy action movies of the 1970s through 1990s, playing actors whose careers span multiple genres of film. | Groups that want fast Hong Kong action, tactical shot-by-shot fights, melodramatic hooks, and time-traveling campaigns that mix genres |
| Highlights | Dual-layer playbook system: Actor Playbooks define a star's brand while Script Playbooks define the genre of each movie, so campaigns shift between kung fu, cop, barbarian, and other action subgenres. Lead actor mechanic grants one character plot immunity per movie, mirroring action film conventions. Star Power and experience track an actor's career across multiple films. Movies run in 2–4 sessions, making each one a self-contained arc within a longer campaign. | A descending shot countdown makes every action and interrupt change when a character acts again. One-hit mooks support crowd-clearing spectacle, while featured foes and bosses use deeper wound rules for climactic fights. Feng shui sites link faction victories to changes in history across four connected eras. |
| Considerations | Meta-narrative framing (playing actors playing characters) requires buy-in and may confuse groups expecting straightforward genre play. No free rules or quickstart available. Script Playbooks in the core book cover six subgenres: groups wanting genres outside those six must create custom scripts. | Most starting archetypes have fixed statistics and schticks, so initial mechanical customization is limited. The default adventure structure treats investigation and social scenes mainly as connections between fights. Exploding positive and negative dice permit large reversals even when a character's Action Value substantially exceeds the Difficulty. |