This is a new thread regarding Tenra Bansho Zero. An older thread started when the Kickstarter commenced can be found here: http://www.therpgsite.com/showthread.php?t=23789

On Sunday, the pre-release PDFs for Tenra Bansho Zero were released to allow for a week or so of editing by eagle eyed fans, before the final PDFs are released and sent to print.

I am about 50% the way through the RPG, so I can't comment on the RPG as a whole just yet. But these are my impressions so far.

The RPG is a big game at 700 pages (though with graphic novel sized pages). That makes it sound like the game is complex but its not. The added pages come from a number of factors:

- There is a reasonable amount of repetition in the text. This has been of considerable benefit from a first read through as the game is well explained at all times with little need to cross reference, but it may reduce in benefit over time.
- There is lots of game aids, something I wish more RPGs would do. The books include full page manga examples of the mechanics, a 5 page player handout introduction, a list of 222 things to throw into a game, a huge list of in setting names, a section on the game's inspirations.
- Each character archetype is detailed in around 20 to 30 pages (setting and mechanics) and there are over 10 archetypes. One of the best things is that there are three approaches to PC creation. The first is sample characters (almost prebuilt PCs for each archetype), the second is archetypes (these allow PCs to be made by combining 2 to 4 smaller archetypes) and the third is from scratch.  

The RPG consists of the 5 main parts (all but one being roughly of similar size):

- Rules
- Karma/Fate/Game Structure
- Setting (though a lot is also contained in the Character section)
- Game Aids
- Characters (this is roughly the same size as the other 4 parts combined)

The Rules section is a simplified White Wolf style system, with attributes and skills, HP (Vitality) and Wound Levels. The combat system is equally simple and straightforward with some real gems such as:

- the reverse death spiral and the handling of character death
- worthwhile miscellaneous combat actions

The Karma/Fate/Game Structure section consists of two parts. The first is that each PC has a list of Fates, which represent things important to the PC. These generate bennies called Aiki Chits that can be spent like both XP and action points. When spent they produce Karma, and when you reach 108 Karma, your PC falls to the dark side. You can prevent this by removing Fates, Buddhist style.

The game has a default structure, though it is a relatively conventional one. First, there is PC creation. Then the PCs have preludes to establish the PCs and the scenario. Then the game alternates between Acts (where you roleplay) and Intermissions (downtime where you spend XP and adjust your PC). Fates and Karma are dealt with during the Intermission. Given that 108 Karma provides a cap on PC power, most TBZ games are designed to be played out in around 6 hours, though you can easily string games together as you do any RPG, though you may need to redesign your PC some between each game.

One element that is interesting is the Emotion Matrix. Effectively, given the shorter than normal expected game length the RPG creates a default impression for PCs to any major NPC they met. This is generated randomly on a random. Effectively the matrix assumes that there is already some history, relationship or impression there. This initial emotion can be changed quickly but the idea is to spark roleplaying from first and often less explicable initial impressions. This element of the game may be removed in its entirety without a hassle.

The Setting is what it says on the box. It has all the grittiness of historical Japan in the Sengoku Era mixed with the hyper reality of anime and manga. Ashigaru warriors, shinto priests, onmyoji and feudal lords stand side by side with mecha, cybernetics, spirit animals and flying battleships. There is a good overview of the setting with some astute insights into Japanese medieval life. But it is also open for each game to drop an entire kingdom of their own devising into.

The Game Aids are an array of excellent aids to get one started. Full page manga comics explaining the rules, lists of names, a introduction handout, sample characters, a sample kingdom, lists of things to do, and a section on inspiration.

The Characters take up almost half of the book, along with the three types of PC creation. You can play normal humans (even amazingly competent ones) in Tenra Bansho Zero and there are even many different normal human archetypes in the second style of PC creation. However, the most page space, due to their special abilities, goes to the various usual archetype which have their own set of rules and setting. Despite the seeming diversity, none are too complex, spinning off the simple core mechanics.

The character archetypes include:
- Armour Riders - both Evangelion style and normal mecha
- Onmyoji - wizards
- Samurai - spirit infused warriors
- Buddhist monks - different schools
- Kijin - cyber-warriors
- Kongohki - war-golems
- Shinobi - ninja
- Kugutsu - living dolls
- Annelidists - worm infested weirdness
- Oni - spiritual first people
- Shinto Priests - the Illuminati
- Ayakashi - spirit animals

There is also an Arts of War section detailing special schools of warrior training.

Luke Crane, whom I gather is an indie design guru, has this to say about Tenra. I'm interested to know about the avant garde - to us filthy westerners - mechanics in the game, and Japanese game design in general.

Quote from: Ghost Whistler;599550Luke Crane, whom I gather is an indie design guru, has this to say about Tenra. I'm interested to know about the avant garde - to us filthy westerners - mechanics in the game, and Japanese game design in general.

What struck me while reading it is that if this had been translated in 2000 and reached wide release, it would have revolutionized tabletop gaming in the same way, say, Ghostbusters did -- that kind of Velvet Underground, "It might only sell 100 copies, but everybody who bought one of those copies went on to write their own RPG" kind of thing.

As it stands, it comes out in a summer of terrific, eye-opening games for me, and even then it stands out and offers me stuff I've never seen of, and which I will likely introduce in my own gaming.  For example:

1) PCs cannot die unless the player explicitly stakes their character's life on the outcome of the battle, by using up their mortal wound level.  

2) The game uses a reverse death-spiral mechanic.  As your PC suffers more wounds, he becomes more fearsome in combat, representing the fact that in fiction, characters rarely become worn down without some dramatic purpose to it.  Tying that into my first point, above, being mortally wounded gives players the biggest dice boost to their PC -- and so there is a reward for staking your PCs life on the outcome of a conflict, in that you get this large bonus.  

3) The game manifestly encourages you to blend and combine archetypes, and to eschew niche protection.  You could easily run a game of all samurai, for instance.

4) The game is culturally tied up into Japanese Buddhist views of Karma, which is tied into both the advancement system and the "subplot" system.

5) The game is a kitchen-sink setting, with mecha, kung fu artists, ninja, sorcerers, wooden android concubines, cursed souls in robot bodies, and cyborgs all working in the same setting.  If you like RIFTS or Exalted, you will want to give this a shot.

6) The presentation is incredible.  Layout, rules break-outs, art, it's all very impressive and geared toward explaining the game easily.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg.  Honestly, TBZ needs to win some awards when it finally does his shelves, because it's incredible, even in a year when I see a bunch of games coming up which redefine my concept of what's possible in an RPG.

--Eric

Quote from: Future Villain Band;599559snip

I subscribe all of this.

I've just finished my reading and my head is so choke full of ideas that I wish I could play all the week long. First session is scheduled for November 24th.

Quote1) PCs cannot die unless the player explicitly stakes their character's life on the outcome of the battle, by using up their mortal wound level.

2) The game uses a reverse death-spiral mechanic. As your PC suffers more wounds, he becomes more fearsome in combat, representing the fact that in fiction, characters rarely become worn down without some dramatic purpose to it. Tying that into my first point, above, being mortally wounded gives players the biggest dice boost to their PC -- and so there is a reward for staking your PCs life on the outcome of a conflict, in that you get this large bonus.

This sound really interesting. Cant wait for my copy to arrive.

I somehow missed the kickstarter for this which is annoying given ive been after a copy for years now, so im waiting patiently for the finished pdf and eventual print versions to be released(im guessing new year for the printed version given how late in the year we are) am i right in guessing a print version will be POD only? or does the creator plan a mainstream bricks and mortar release?

Quote from: Broken-Serenity;599616I somehow missed the kickstarter for this which is annoying given ive been after a copy for years now, so im waiting patiently for the finished pdf and eventual print versions to be released(im guessing new year for the printed version given how late in the year we are) am i right in guessing a print version will be POD only? or does the creator plan a mainstream bricks and mortar release?

Tenra will have a print run rather than be POD (though it would probably still be using POD technology) and that will go into distribution. Not sure how far afield it will go though.

I am guessing the physical book won't likely be available until April or so though, given it won't be going to print until mid Decmeber. PDF should be released before that though.

Yeah i figured it'd be around march/april given how long it take to go from printing to shipping with books, i'll definitely be getting a copy of the pdf though.

I require more information that I might better steal it's ideas. For example, what's all this about rolling to decide the nature of the relationshipe between pc and npc upon first introduction of said npc?

Upon first interaction between a PC and a significant NPC, or two PCs, each PC makes a roll on the "emotion chart" for the initial impression they have. It's a 6x6 chart with values such as "Deja vu", "killing intent", "love" or "like a younger brother". The results are not "binding" exactly in that they don't necessarily persist for the duration of the campaign - so you can start off with a bad feeling about someone and then overcome it. But it does provide the initial "hunch" about the other character.

The fun parts are in that a player can spend resources to "move" on the chart to spots they like better from the initial roll. A GM can offer player points for going where they want him to go. And finally, if you're rolling for a relationship with another player, they can give you their own resources to influence the outlook of your character.

It is a lot of fun.

Quote from: Future Villain Band;5995591) PCs cannot die unless the player explicitly stakes their character's life on the outcome of the battle, by using up their mortal wound level.  

2) The game uses a reverse death-spiral mechanic.  As your PC suffers more wounds, he becomes more fearsome in combat, representing the fact that in fiction, characters rarely become worn down without some dramatic purpose to it.  Tying that into my first point, above, being mortally wounded gives players the biggest dice boost to their PC -- and so there is a reward for staking your PCs life on the outcome of a conflict, in that you get this large bonus.  

Those two rules alone rule this game out as something I'd ever want for a campaign game. It might be interesting for a one-shot at a Convention just to try something new but it's just not my style.

There's a very short paragraph on actual play from Indiecon 2012 here:-

Quote from: oreso writing on ukroleplayers.comTenra Bansho Zero [...] troubles me. It's shackled to a great sprawling mass of mechanics that I care nothing for, but otherwise brings great drama, interesting characters, cool setting and a wonderful metagaming conceit (it's kabuki theatre; we know where we're going but we're going for the best performance of it).

If it's a storygame, it seems to still have a lot of trad RPG legacy stuff.

Quote from: Omnifray;599667There's a very short paragraph on actual play from Indiecon 2012 here:-

Very short indeed. That website unfortunately is more cliquey than rpg.net and has very strange attitudes.

Quote from: Omnifray;599667If it's a storygame, it seems to still have a lot of trad RPG legacy stuff.

At this point, I find the term storygames problematic, because it means pretty much whatever people want it to mean.  I'll say that from my perspective, it's hard to argue that TBZ is a storygame when it predates the storygame movement by years, and is instead the product of a different gaming culture -- whatever's in there that looks storygameish comes from a different place.  Honestly, the throwbacks to kabuki and the 108 sins/108 Karma limit strike me as a fulfillment of the kind of thought that went into using passion plays as a basis for a campaign framework in Fading Suns but which never got realized because they never fleshed it out -- this kind of thinking in-genre really predates storygames for me.*

With that said, what fascinates me about the game -- or one of the things that does -- is that there's a very well thought out "economy" going on between Kiai, Aiki, and Karma and the Karma limit of 108, and the way it ties into subplots and the like.  Games that people label as storygames but have a lot of trad flavor (or which seem to overlap with some of the goals of storygaming) like Burning Wheel, Hillfolk, and TBZ work for me as trad games because of that give and take, ebb and flow, of various in-game resources.  

*I've always said that if you want to see the logical fulfillment of indie genre emulation, you want to go back in time a decade before the first indie game and look at the Victim OCC in Beyond the Supernatural.

Quote from: Omnifray;599667There's a very short paragraph on actual play from Indiecon 2012 here.

And here too:-

Quote from: MeSaturday night was Tenra Bansho ZERO!!!

[We] had super slices of sweet samurai colour and situation, gem-studded samurai refusing to beat down dishonored heirs, doll-like assassins falling in love with their sons, that sort of thing.

[I felt] a wee bit constrained by the fact that the GM frames all the scenes: like I say, Jane is great, but "I can plox haz go too?" We also had stonking masses of crunch, which bodes well for a campaign filled with rich strategic and tactical play but which did somewhat soak up our limited time.

The random Emotion Table is funkin' great ("Wait! How do you feel about this person?! Let's roll and find out!" ::roll:: "Oh! You are in love with them!"), the Prime Time Adventures-style Fan Mail is golden, and Leo was a great battery of enthusiasm at one side of the table.

Tick Good.

I reckon if you like Burning Wheel you'll like TBZ, in that the system had plenty of cool crunch to dig into allied to sweet samurai mecha goodness! The GM frames all scenes, so it's pretty traditional in that regard, something I found a tad chafing.

Cheers
Pete

fan mail?