Quote from: Persimmon on March 17, 2024, 02:45:04 PM

Quote from: Teodrik on March 17, 2024, 02:01:49 PM
This thread reminded me of the upcoming game World of Kensai by Riotminds. I haven't seen anyone talking about this at all. It is based on 5e so that might turn some people off. Seems to be a world in the same vein of Rokugan. The art looks evocative though.

https://riotminds.se/product/the-world-of-kensei/

That does look interesting and a bit more of a blender mash of Asia than Rokugan though it's hard to tell the woke factor from this.  An OSR version would be cool.

Yeah after a closer look it indeed seems to more of a mixed Asia blend than Japan specifically. I don't now either about woke factor. Riotminds has done some knee bending(self-censorship) in the past, but my impression has been it is more lipservice than being zealous true believers. They've been heavily attacked by the woke crowd for more than two decades and caved to pressure sometimes.

Quote from: weirdguy564 on March 16, 2024, 10:59:36 PM

Quote from: WERDNA on February 06, 2024, 01:26:31 PM
Incidentally, the D&D 3e version of Oriental Adventures was actually set in Rokugan iirc.

As a person who acquired a PDF of Oriental Adventures 3.5, I can confirm this. 

It's funny how playing Samurai means either historical Japan with mysticism turned on, or Rokugan.  Those seem to be the only two settings.

I'm of the opinion that samurai really only work in context.  In order for them to functional characters they need to have a place in the larger society they belong to.  That can be transposed into another setting but it would have to be done with the full understanding of what is it that makes a samurai a samurai rather than just a rich jackass with a sword.

So, I found another Samurai based RPG.

It is called Kogarashi.  It is a rules lite game based on something called the TRUE-D6 system.  They do mean it, too.  The game uses just 1D6 for all dice rolls, and does so in some clever ways.

1.  It uses the classic six attributes, though Constitution is gone, and Honor is added (they're also renamed to be Japanese names, such as Intelligence is now Chi).

2.  The game is a roll under system.  You make your dice rolls by rolling equal or under your six attributes to do everything from negotiating, to sword strikes, to casting magic.  It makes heavy use of the Advantage/Disadvantage mechanic.

3.  Your stats are not rolled at character creation.  You just get a 1, 2, 3, 3, 3, and 4 to distribute as you see fit, making it a character point builder system, not a random roll system.

4.  Hit points are your strength attribute plus your level.  If you have strength of 2 and you are level 3, then you have 5 hit points.

5.  Weapon Damage rolls are not needed.  Instead, your attack roll is your damage.  As I said, you roll against your attribute trying to equal it or roll below it.  Thus, you really want to roll equal to your attribute to do max damage.  If you have a strength of 2 as I said above, then you will never do more than 2 damage per hit.  Interestingly, your choice of weapon is irrelevant.  A war fan can be just as deadly as a 2-handed pole arm.  Well, mostly.  Unarmed attacks roll with disadvantage, so there is that.

6.  Armor is a savings throw.  A shield gives 1 point of defense, light armor 2, and heavy armor 3.  A shield and armor together means you negate all damage, otherwise your 1D6 savings roll is like the reverse of attacking somebody.  You roll equal or under your defense, and that is how many damage points you negate.

7.  Skills and Magic are similar and often treated like "use it until you lose it."  There are three types.  Either use it as often as you like, or has "Fail" or "Rest" as limits.  That is to say you can do somethings until you fail a dice roll (rolls are made against your own attributes, just with advantage or disadvantage per the situation).  Or if it is "rest" you can use it once and is available again after you get some sleep, regardless if it succeeded or not.  Spells and skills are treated almost the same.  Different classes just have access to different types of skills or spells.

8.  There are also races you can be, though limited to just Japanese Dwarves, six types of shape-changing animals, as well as six types of mixed heritage humans with supernatural ancestors.  Those ancestors give them an ability (like a man with a dragon grandfather gives him Searing Gaze ability).

Overall I am impressed by this small game, and in particular by two things.  How they squeeze every last ounce of gameplay out of just using 1D6 dice rolling (the damage is also your attack roll all in one is pretty neat). 

The second thing is the art style of the book.  The pictures are amazing.  However, the text and charts are worth mentioning too.  The game uses Times New Roman, like a typewriter used to have. But even more crazy is that the charts in the game are done in an ASCII style using dashes, + symbols, and vertical lines you get from your keyboard.  It's odd looking, but it looks cool to me.  Those ASCII charts are all perfectly legible, and don't have any issues.  Its just a weird art style for the book pages.

I highly recommend this one.

Will it supplant Chanbara for me?  Maybe not, but damn is it close.

Quote from: Persimmon on February 08, 2024, 08:37:45 AM

Quote from: grodog on February 07, 2024, 10:20:21 PM

Quote from: I on January 29, 2024, 10:20:55 PMAnyone who wants to run an RPG set in feudal Japan or a similar setting should definitely get Tadashi Ehara's books Daimyo of 1867 and especially Shogun and Daimyo.  They're fun to read even if you don't use them as gaming material.

They're well-researched historical supplements that can be used with any RPG; details at http://diffworlds.com/samurai.htm

Allan.

Well, the very first line of the description is technically inaccurate, but these could be useful for gamers due to the sheer detail.  The bakufu was a parallel military administration to the imperial civil bureaucracy.  Shoguns were not regents to the emperors; the title of regent is a different office.  There could be regents to both the shogun and the emperor at the same time if both those individuals were minors.  Likely has little effect on most gamers, but don't start your ad for historical accuracy with an incorrect statement.

I don't know the subject matter, but I'm sure Tadashi would appreciate the feedback if you reach out to him:  info@diffworlds.com

Quote from: Persimmon on February 08, 2024, 08:37:45 AMNo offense to you, Allan; just think the author should be more careful with his language.

None taken!

Allan.