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Romance of the Three Kingdoms is one of my favourite fiction of all time, and has been adapted to countless games (mostly Chinese) and one over-the-top fighting series (Dynasty Warriors, by KOEI). I usually rolled my eyes at manga and comic adaptations of Three Kingdoms, but there’s finally one that sets the standard – the Ravages of Time, or 火凤燎原. In fact, I have been wanting to write a RPG supplement for it for a long time, but who would play it? (Hint: I am writing about it because it is available, sort of, in English. Read below)

The best stuff about it is that there is no magic, no immortals, no Zhuge Liangs throwing laser beams or nonsense like that. Nor is it a stiff and boring re-accounting from the novels. The characters from the original novels are portrayed as larger than life, but not ridiculously over the top. The characters are memorable, the stratagems are superb, the atmosphere is authentic and the fight scenes exciting without being like Dragon Balls.

Where to start? You can begin by heading over to a fan scanlation of the series (and seeing that it is a Hong Kong comic series, not Japanese, I doubt it would ever be translated to English proper). Here are some reasons why I follow the series and is such a big fan. Hopefully more people would get to know this work and perhaps even role-play in it!

Memorable Characters: Most Three Kingdoms fans know about Liu Bei, Cao Cao and Sun Quan, but the way they are portrayed in the series is familiar, but different. Most important of all, all them of got brains, have their merits and approach. Not just that, certain characters rendered as mere extras by Koei’s games and comics are given a fresh make-over which is actually more historical (Gao Shaun is just an average military office in Koei’s games, but in history, he managed to beat off both Xiahou Yuan and Cao Cao, and is given his proper due in the series). Every character is given his distinctive style, abilities and chance to shine.

Stratagems: A big feature of the series is strategies and tactics. Brutes do not rule the battlefield, wits does (and surprisingly, a couple of characters we took for being dumb, like Sun Ce, are actually effective strategiests). A big feature of the series are the Eight Engimas, each a genius advisor with their own strengths and weakness (needless to say, some of the more famous strategists are in the list). I was blown away by the strategies used for they sound plausible, they are unexpected and they are in accordance with Sun Tzu’s Art of War and numerous other treatises. More than half of a book could be just on describing tactics and strategies (one quarter are cool mass combat scenes, with the last quarter filled with exciting one on one combat). There’s no deus ex-machina – if someone suddenly turns the tide, it is because he has done something chapters ahead to prepare for it (It’s a bit like Tyrion in A Clash of Kings, preparing King’s Landing for the imminent invasion).

Familiar: Despite being a fresh take on Three Kingdoms, anyone who knows the background can enjoy it straight away. And because it is a fresh take on the Three Kingdoms, you don’t need to know anyone to be hooked.

Culture: The series mainly stick true to the culture and history of China, quoting many famous sages such as Lao-zi, and observing the customs of the ancient Chinese people (except for the way some characters are dressed). However, the author also challenges the perception of the reader – is history truely objective? Dong Zhuo was written as a brute; is he really one? Wen Zhou, Yan Liang were written as proud and haughty, but brainless generals, but who would entrust soldiers to people such as that?

Unexpected Twists: Here’s what I love best about the series. The series stick true to history. No nonsense such as Zhang Jiao coming back from the dead, or Lu Bu escaping death. If the historical account says someone is dead by that point, it will happen. The kick is even though you may know it, you don’t know how it will happen! Dong Zhou, for example, will definitely be killed by Lu Bu. But by the point in the series, Lu Bu was dealt a devastating blow and there seems to be no way he could overthrow Dong Zhuo. This pattern is the same throughout; the author always take an unexpected twist, but eventually follows history. Even a Three Kingdoms fan would be caught by surprise.

I hope this series would dispel people’s idea of Three Kingdoms as an over-the-top setting or a dry-as-history-book one (depending on which games from KOEI you have been exposed to). Hopefully one day I would be able to do something for the setting…

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