Vampifan's Chinese Restaurant Workers

I'd like to show you some of my own 28mm scale figures that I sculpted way back in the 1990's. These are my Chinese restaurant staff, who were sculpted as NPCs for my Feng Shui RPG campaign. Feng Shui was one of my favourite gaming experiences and was a huge amount of fun to play and to games master. Published by Atlas Games, Feng Shui was set in contemporary times and dealt with the Secret War, a global conflict in which various factions sought dominance through the control and acquisition of feng shui sites, places of mystery and power. The heroes of the game were known as the Dragons. They were a minority group of humans, whose numbers had been decimated by the other factions. My campaign was set in Hong Kong, which was the default setting for the game. The player characters' base was the Blue Dragon Restaurant, a minor feng shui site. These six figures that I'm about to review were the staff who were involved in the day to day running of the restaurant. Most of them knew nothing about the Secret War.

Two of my players had characters who owned the Blue Dragon Restaurant and lived in apartments above it. However, they spent a lot of time adventuring and were often away from home, so they hired Lau Yu, seen at the far left of my photos, to be the restaurant manager. Lau Yu was a typical inscrutable Oriental type and he always had a severe look about him. He was in his mid-50's when my campaign started. He came to Hong Kong from Shanghai just after World War 2 ended. He has lived there ever since. He had always been fascinated with sorcery and he collected books of Chinese magic. He knew a few minor spells but he knew nothing about the Secret War.
Su Yin, seen holding a meat cleaver, was the head chef. She was in her 40's, and was fat, cheerful and a superb cook. She previously worked at the famous Floating Jumbo Restaurant in Aberdeen Harbour on Victoria Island, Hong Kong. Su Yin would gossip with anyone who impressed her, regardless of nationality. She knew a lot about the Triad gangs of Hong Kong but never discussed them openly. She knew nothing about the Secret War.
To the right of Su Yin is Tony Zhang, a 17 year old nephew of Lau Yu. The old man hired him to teach him a trade and some discipline. Tony was frequently in trouble at school for fighting and truancy. Since training to be a chef at the Blue Dragon, he settled down under the tutelage of Lau Yu and Su Yin. He, too, knew nothing about the Secret War.

Chun Wang, fourth in line and shown holding a bowl of food, was the head waiter. He was 25 years old and a heavy set man. He was a neighbour of Su Yin, who recommended him to Lau Yu. Previously, he worked as a waiter in one of Wanchai's (a district of Hong Kong Island) seedy nightclubs. He was also a fledgling Sorceror who knew a few Weather spells. Although he knew how to handle himself in a fight, he'd deal with really bad situations by creating a mist to escape in the confusion. He knew nothing about the Secret War.
Yung Wu, shown polishing a glass, was the restaurant's bartender. He was in his early 30's. A good-looking guy, he had a joking manner and was very friendly. Although he was quite a flirt with any beautiful women, he would never betray his wife and three children. He also knew nothing about the Secret War.
Last in line is Li Feng, the only staff member to know anything about the Secret War, although he kept his knowledge well hidden. He was a very introverted person and rarely had anything to say to anyone. He kept his head down and quietly got his waiter job done. He wore his long hair in a ponytail. He proved himself to be good in a fight and his martial arts training saw off more than one intruder or belligerent drunk. He claimed to have come to Hong Kong from mainland China, but he remained very evasive about his past or his original home. In actual fact, he escaped from the Buro future of 2056 into the present day. He spent some time helping the Jammers, an anarchist group from the future, in their fight against the Architects of the Flesh, one of the major factions of the Secret War. However, he decided he didn't like the Jammers either, and left them to lead a quiet life without attracting attention to himself.
These were all minor characters in my campaign and this is reflected in the way that I sculpted them. Most of them were sculpted in very static poses. This was deliberate on my part as they were meant to blend into the background. On the few occasions when a fight did break out in the Blue Dragon Restaurant, these six took a back seat and let the player characters deal with the threat. My group of player characters were more than capable of defending their homebase.
Back in those days, I used 2D floor plans extensively. How my gaming habits have changed nowadays. One of the card modelling projects on my "to do" list is to make a 3D version of the Blue Dragon Restaurant. I envisage a three or four storey building with a minimum 12" square footprint. The ground floor would be the kitchen and food storage area, The first floor would be the restaurant itself and the floor/s above would be the owners' apartments. I have it all planned out in my head. I just need the time to turn my ideas into reality.