TSR-East Classes: Ronin

I mentioned the other day that I went with Ronin as the name of the modified Fighter class because Samurai applies to retainers of a lord. Ronin are free agents. That's why a lot of the film/fiction involves ronin protagonists. The Seven Samurai were all ronin. Yojimbo - ronin. Musashi Miyamoto - ronin. Heck, even the long-running TV show Abarenbo-Shogun had the shogun running around pretending to be a ronin so he could get into adventures. Ronin have a freedom that samurai lack.

Now, in Chanbara I went with Samurai as a subclass name because in Chanbara, being a retainer (the allegiance system) is part of how you earn XP. In TSR-East, like in standard D&D, I expect treasure and monsters defeated to be the main sources of XP. So the ronin is the superior archetype. If a player wants to play a samurai in service to a lord, they can actually choose either the Ronin or the Hwarang and it will probably work out OK. But the default assumption is that the PC doesn't have a lord and master ordering them around. It's something the player can choose to have if they want.

The Ronin is based on the Fighter. In regular TSR, I give Fighters the AD&D ability to attack multiple low level opponents. They also get a fighting style (kinda like 5E but not so powerful). I'm thinking of revising the fighting styles again to make them even less powerful, though, and the Ronin is my first attempt at that. Pick a weapon group. Get a +1 bonus to damage. That's simple. Not overpowering, but worth considering.

Here's the class:

Ronin (Wave Man) AKA Liúlàngzhě, Pyolyuja

Prime Requisite: Str or Dex [13 +5%, 16 +10%]

Hit Die: d8 to 9^th level, +3/level after

Arms: all weapons, all armor

Special Abilities: fighting style, cleave, multiple attacks

Ronin Advancement
Level	XP	BAB	Abilities
1	0	+1	Fighting Style
2	2000	+1	Cleave
3	4000	+1
4	8000	+3	Fighting Style
5	16,000	+3
6	32,000	+3
7	64,000	+5
8	120,000	+5	2 Attacks
9	240,000	+5	Improved Fighting Style
10	360,000	+7
11	480,000	+7
12	600,000	+7	3 Attacks
13	720,000	+9
14	840,000	+9
15	960,000	+9

Fighting Style: A ronin specializes in certain weapons, gaining a +1 bonus to damage with those weapons. At 4^th level they may choose a second fighting style. At 9^th level, the ronin’s damage bonus with one of their fighting styles improves to +2.

Axes: hand axe, battle axe, pole arm, etc.

Bludgeons: club, mace, war hammer, staff, etc.

Bows: short bow, long bow, crossbow, etc.

Chains: nunchaku, meteor hammer, kusari-gama, etc.

Spears: spear, javelin, trident, naginata, lance, etc.

Swords: katana, jian, dao, wakizashi, dagger, etc.

Cleave: A ronin of 2^nd level or higher facing opponents with 1HD or less may make one attack per level each round.

Multiple Attacks: A ronin facing opponents with 1+1 HD or higher may attack twice per round at 8^th level, and three times per round at 12^th level. 

	Ronin
Save Level:	1-3	4-6	7-9	10-12	13-15
Death Ray/Poison	12	10	8	6	4
Magic Wand	16	11	9	7	5
Paralysis/Turn to Stone	14	12	10	8	6
Dragon Breath	15	13	11	9	7
Rod/Staff/Spell	16	14	12	10	8

The jorogumo must die!

Another successful Chanbara playtest!

Last time, Dean and Jeff's characters died at the hands of a jorogumo (demonic spider-woman). This time, Alexei's Samurai and Dean's new Sohei used some clever tricks to defeat the monster easily, mostly avoided a few traps, and rescued a trapped kirin. In the process, they gained some treasure (finally) and also a few magic weapons.

There were some magic weapons in the very first adventure that they could have acquired, but they missed out on them. Now, five sessions (or is it six?) later, they've finally managed to get their hands on some.

We played this session at 5th level, but since only two players could come, I'm going to stay at 5th for our next session, which will hopefully be sometime next month, sooner rather than later. I'm also doing some edits on the rules draft, based on these play test games, but nothing major needs to be changed. It's mainly just fixing a few discrepancies, clarifications of effects or abilities, etc. The game holds up through the first half of the level spread. Hopefully the higher level adventures play similarly well.

Chanbara: Coming Together

I've been making some mental notes about how to put together a "running the game/GM advice" chapter for Chanbara, as well as introductory text.  This was actually inspired by some of my academic reading, so maybe studying for a Ph.D wasn't such a crazy idea after all.  It's making my game writing better.*

First of all, considering the audience (likely to be primarily experienced RPG gamers), I think the introduction will have even LESS "what is an RPG?/How do you play?" stuff than Flying Swordsmen did, and I cut a lot of that out of FS.  Instead, I'm probably going to go straight to the heart of the style of game and the goals of play (as I see it).

The goals (what the game is about in Story RPG terms) is two-fold.  First of all, the game lets you emulate Medieval Japanese hero tropes battling against traditional creatures from Japanese folklore (and/or Medieval Japanese villains).  That's the surface level game.  Secondly, the game is about exploring social bonds, duty, responsibility, and reciprocity.  This is the deeper game.

Chanbara can be played at a "beer and pretzels" surface level, and hopefully will be fun.  "I'm Hattori Hanzo, you're Abe-no-Seimei, together we fight Orochi."**  Killing monsters and taking their stuff, D&D in funny hats, katana and sorcery pulp action, call it what you will.

But with the Allegiance system, every character will have a family bond, a patron or lord, and possibly another group or professional organization (trade guild, religious affiliation, etc.).  This replaces alignment in the game, and is heavily influenced by the Allegiance system in d20 Modern, but not identical.  Characters will earn XP for defeating monsters and overcoming challenges.  They can also earn XP for treasure acquired IF they donate it to one of their lieges***.  And this is where the deeper game can come into play.

Each family/organization/master will have different goals and desires, threats they must overcome, etc.  They can easily provide adventure hooks to players.  Also, when players donate treasure to them, they can advance their goals, and there should be rewards in it for the characters.  However, it's hard to serve two masters.  Donate all of your wealth to your daimyo, and the head of your family clan may turn against you.  The master of your shinobi clan's goals may contradict those of the trade guild you also serve.  This is built in conflict, and that's a good thing!  Not only does it give the GM and player something to use to spur adventures, it is something players can negotiate with the GM to make the game more fun.

Players that wish to explore the deeper game will hopefully get an experience closer to a lot of the fiction I'm drawing on as inspiration.  Players will go on adventures (sometimes of their own choosing, sometimes at the behest of a patron/liege.  When they're successful, they then have to make choices about which patrons/lieges to support, if any!  After all, in order to build up their own social/political power, they'd want to keep as much treasure for themselves as possible.  Duty, responsibility, loyalty, honor -- some of the main tropes of Japanese fiction right there, folks.

Or at least that's the goal.  We'll see if I can pull it off.





*I kid.  The Ph.D course has been great, actually.  I've learned a lot and actually enjoy learning more about teaching English to non-native speakers.  Even if I never get a position as a professor, it's been worthwhile.

**Hattori Hanzo - famous ninja (historical)/Abe-no-Seimei - famous onmyoji (historical)/Orochi - 8-headed serpent (mythical)

***Thinking of changing the name to Patron as it's an easier term to use, but that's not an exact fit.

Reworking the Kensei

Sorry for the blog going mostly dark for the past month or more.  Hopefully I'll be generating more content over my summer grad school vacation.  In that vein, I had a bit of inspiration on how to do my Kensei (Weapon Master) class for Chanbara yesterday, and just finished typing it up as we speak.

Here's a sneak peak of the class write-up at the moment.  This is probably not final, I'll tweak a few things, and likely embellish the description a bit more before I publish.  But I think these are the mechanics I want for the class. Before I had the class limited to certain special abilities (combat maneuvers) depending on the weapon chosen.  Now, I assume players will likely take those maneuvers anyway, and give them a few small oomphs, in the allocatable Form bonus and "critical hit" abilities.

Mifune Toshiro as Miyamoto Musashi

Kensei (Weapon Master)

Few have the patience or drive to dedicate their life to perfecting the art of combat with a single weapon, but the kensei (also known as kengou) are those rare few. They may be soldiers or duelists, and legends are often written about them due to their amazing reputations. Kensei must select a single weapon (unarmed strikes and psychic duels are possible choices) to master, and some of their special abilities are determined by this choice.

HD: d10

Skill Dice: Combat

Primary: any except Con

Secondary: Con, any one other

Proficiency: any 4 weapons, no armor

Special Abilities: Maneuvers

Level	XP	BAB	Form	Special Abilities
1	0	+1	+1	2
2	2000	+2	+1	2	1
3	4000	+2	+1	3	1
4	8000	+3	+2	3	2	1
5	16,000	+3/+3	+2	4	2	1
6	32,000	+4/+4	+2	4	3	2	1
7	64,000	+4/+4	+3	5	3	2	1	1
8	125,000	+5/+5	+3	5	4	3	2	1
9	250,000	+5/+5	+3	6	4	4	2	2
10	500,000	+5/+5/+5	+4	6	5	4	3	2

Kensei select one weapon to specialize in, gaining a +1 bonus to hit and +1 bonus to damage with that weapon. At 4^th(natural 20), 7^th(19-20) and 10^th level (18-20), kensei gain special benefits on an attack roll depending on the type of weapon used as shown below.

• Axe: the wound bleeds out for 1d4 damage each round for one round per level of the kensei or until magically healed.
• Bludgeon: the opponent must Save vs. Fire (at -2 at 7^th, -4 at 10^th) or be knocked out for 1d4 minutes.
• Bow/Firearm: the shot pierces the opponent, doing +1d4 damage, and may strike another target behind the opponent if there are any, roll normally to hit.
• Ninja/Martial Arts Weapon: the kensei automatically adds a tactical attack effect to the hit.
• Open Hand: the kensei can make two more attacks at the highest BAB bonus this round.
• Psychic: the kensei gains Spirit Points equal to the amount of psychic damage inflicted, with any over the maximum being temporary until the end of the duel.
• Spear/Staff/Polearm: the opponent struck loses their next attack and is forced back 5' (10' at 7^th, 15' at 10th).
• Sword/Dagger: damage is doubled after all bonuses are added

Weapon Form: Kensei can apply this bonus as they wish to one of the following areas each round: initiative, standard attack, tactical attack, psychic attack, weapon damage, psychic damage, AC, TD or PD, but the Form bonus does not stack with combat skill dice.

Soul in the Weapon: a kensei of 5^th level or higher can damage creatures only harmed by magical weapons when using their special weapon.

Movie Review: 47 Ronin

Finally got around to watching this one this weekend.  I missed it when it hit Japanese theaters (busy with family stuff, study, what-not), and then it didn't come to my VOD for a long time...  Anyway, I watched it at long last.  And it has been out long enough that there will be spoilers in this review.  If you haven't seen it yet, don't read past the picture/line break below.

Now, long-time readers of this blog, and those recent folks who have had a look at Flying Swordsmen and have read my posts about my WIP Chanbara should know that this sort of film is right smack dab in the middle of my wheel-house.  Asian fantasy?  Check.  Samurai period piece?  Check.  This is exactly the sort of thing I'm trying to do with Chanbara.

And overall, I was not especially impressed.  It's not a bad movie.  It's exciting and makes you care about the characters to a certain extent.  It has impressive CGI, and makes the fantasy elements come alive. 

But at the same time, I didn't care that much about the characters.  Keanu was his normal wooden self.  I can forgive that, because of Ted Theodore Logan and Neo (roles he excelled at due to not needing to appear overly intelligent/emotional), but most of the Japanese cast failed to really draw me in.  Sanada Hiroyuki, Shibasaki Ko, and Asano Tadanobu are all decent quality actors in Japan - of course, they were performing in a second language (and with 16 years of ESL instruction experience in Japan and Korea, I understand that well!).  Kikuchi Rinko did a great job as the witch.  The fat samurai/ronin did a great job with a minor role. 

And that brings up a point that may have biased me.  I've been watching plenty of Japanese film lately (samurai/ninja movies for Chanbara inspiration, Godzilla movies with my son just because).  Seeing feudal Japan portrayed by actors I know from my time in Japan and those actors speaking English took a bit of getting used to. 

47 Ronin (follow the link to read the original version), above all, is a story about character.  Character as in strength of personality.  The movie's flaws are not in the addition of fantasy elements or making the star a "half-breed peasant/slave."  The fault lies in not adequately showing the true resolve of the 47.

Spoilers will follow
__________________________________________________________________________

OK, so the beginning of the movie, the narrator tells us that to know the story of the 47 Ronin is to know Japan.  I'd say that holds true for the original tale, but not for this film.  At least to an extent, anyway.  The original story is just as much about the disgrace Oishi was willing to suffer in order to lure his enemy into a false sense of security as it is about the actual vengeance of the lord. 

In the movie, we gloss over the year between the death of Lord Asano and the 47's vengeance.  By that simple move to "get to the action" we lose the heart of the story.  And with the heart gone, we lose any ability to really get to know Japanese culture.

Instead, we get a standard Hollywood visual feast, full of oddities (the skull-tattooed Portuguese sailor on the movie poster, who's got about 2 minutes of screen time at most), romance (OK, want to sell tickets to women? Forget about hackneyed romance subplots, just get some of the Ronin besides the fat guy to take off their shirts...worked for the Thor movies, didn't it?), and character plot point hang-ups that just don't have the oomph of the original story - but maybe look better on screen and are easier for a Western audience to get (the arranged marriage between Lady Mika and Lord Kira, the ronin needing Keanu's character Kai to fight the witch, and Lord Kira fighting to the end instead of hiding in a woodshed), not to mention a "happy" ending (Lady Mika gets her province back, Oishi's son is spared by the Shogun at the last minute so as not to deprive Japan of his bloodline).

So, sorry, Hollywood, this should have been the perfect movie for a guy like me.  I rate it as only average.  Maybe I'm actually not the target demographic for this movie - although I think I should be.

On a positive note, when I release Chanbara, I will suggest people watch this movie if only for a good lesson in how to blend fairly mundane/quasi-historical adventure stuff with the fantastic. 

Chanbara - The Missing Piece

In my spare time, I've been thinking about how to make Chanbara (and Flying Swordsmen when I finally get around to revising it) into more playable games.

Flying Swordsmen was about creating a retroclone of Dragon Fist, but since I couldn't clone the setting, the whole "improve your kung fu until you are strong enough to take on the evil Emperor Jianmin" thing had to go.  That left it with a strong kung fu ruleset bolted onto a D&D frame, but murderhobo play doesn't really fit exactly with a wuxia setting.  There's room for treasure hunting and dungeon delving within the genre, but there's more to it than that.

With Chanbara, the samurai & ninja themed version of FS, I decided screw it, delving dungeons for treasure is what drives D&D, it should drive this game as well, since it's built on the frame of D&D.  But then that leaves a lot of genre tropes on the cutting room floor, although the subgenre of supernatural Japanese comics/period action movies exists that this game would serve.  War between humans and the bakemono/yokai is not a bad idea for a fantasy adventure game.

But tonight, thanks to musing on JB's latest multipart essay over on BX Blackrazor (well, the first two parts anyway), I was considering ways to tweak what I've got to get it right.  And I think I may have stumbled upon the answer.

I'll borrow "allegiances" from d20 Modern (sorta like alignment, but different), and a variant on "carousing for XP" which I'd originally come up with for a Beowulf style Germanic Iron Age campaign idea way back when.  It will tie in the thematic elements of chanbara film/fiction with game play, and provide a solid objective for play.

Each character in Chanbara will have up to three alegiances.  The first is to family/clan.  The second will be to lord (the Emperor, a noble house, the Shogun, a daimyo), and the third to some sort of professional organization (trade guild, monastery or religious sect, yakuza gang, military brother(sister)hood, etc.).  To get XP for treasure collected, it needs to be donated to one of your allegiances.

XP for combat and for achieving group or personal goals will still exist, so players that need to save up for some purpose aren't completely screwed out of XP while adventuring.

In one fell swoop, this gives a good solid objective to play (fight ghosts, oni and spirit creatures to protect humanity - and take their loot), while also playing up one of the big themes of samurai history and fiction: the interplay between duty and honor in a Confucian culture. 

Of course, each clan, daimyo, sect, or what have you will have conflicting goals and desires.  Each player will have a duty to each, and how they dole out the treasure they earn, and what missions they undertake on behalf of one of their "lieges" will provide fodder for the GM to create interesting stories that fit the genre.

If the GM and players want, that is.  The beauty of it is that if a group wants to play murderhobo in funny hats with the rules, the GM can just ignore the potential for conflict between clan, lord and profession and let the PCs adventure.

Now to find time to write all this up in a succinct way in the rules...

So you want to be a samurai?

Then chances are, you want to be like this guy:

Yes, gratuitous Mifune image-dump post. 

Thoughts on Armor in Chanbara

So, I managed to get all my grad school reading done, and had plenty of free time at work on Thursday, so I finished up my chapter on equipment for Chanbara.  There are weapons, armors, normal equipment (just a copy/paste from Flying Swordsmen with one or two little changes) and special ninja equipment.

Then, last night, I was watching Kurosawa Akira's 蜘蛛の巣城, or Throne of Blood.  For those unfamiliar, this was the movie where Kurosawa transplanted Shakespeare's Macbeth and changed all the Scotsmen into samurai.  Of course, Toshiro Mifune stars.

Watching it, and looking at all the different types of armor presented in the movie then reminded me of participating in several festivals during my time in Japan where my friends and I was able to wear reconstructions of period armor.

My buddy Justin decked out in a parade

Anyway, I think I may need to go back and make the armor section a bit more general.  I could go full-bore AD&D style and try to cover every single armor type, or AD&D OA style and try a piecemeal armor system, but that's a bit too complicated.  I've maybe got more armors than I need.  I may have hit a sweet spot with Flying Swordsmen, but then since there's not much call for armor there except for NPCs for the most part, I felt safe with a more abstract system.

So I'm a bit unsure on what to do.  Right now, I've got three categories, Light, Medium and Heavy.  Each category has three armors in it.  One, Kote, works like a shield, being able to combine it with what in Flying Swordsmen I termed "corselet armor" meaning just a breastplate and maybe a few other pieces.  There are three of these, two light and one medium.  The other medium and all of the heavy armors would be considered "suit" armors in Flying Swordsmen.

Maybe it's fine the way it is.  I've got most of the major Japanese armor types covered, in a non-historically accurate way.  Or maybe the more abstract FS version would work better?  A super simple way like OD&D/Classic D&D's leather/chain/plate?  3E OA's categorical armor (ashigaru armor, samurai armor, barbarian armor)?  Or should I go full-bore baroque detail AD&D/OA style?

What say you, readership?

Samurai vs. Ninja, Round 2!

Spent almost all of my break time at work today writing up the skill dice section of rules for my Chanbara expansion for Flying Swordsmen.  I also did write-ups for the four Bushi (warrior) classes and the Ninja, although I think I'll need to slightly expand the descriptions of their class special abilities.  I may also need to slightly expand the Skill Dice section, although it's likely that anyone who would download it is already a gamer so that may be unnecessary.  We'll see.

Anyway, one thing I did make sure to add was a few optional ways to run each class.  The "Samurai" class need not be a Bushido-following retainer of a feudal lord, but could be a member of the noble class trained for war, an up-and-coming ashigaru (peasant footman), or a warrior-monk without any mystical abilities (Sohei covers warrior-monks with magic in addition to combat skills).

Also, important, is that Samurai who become ronin, and Ronin who swear fealty to a new lord, DON'T change their class, lose abilities, or suffer any penalties.  It's all role-play.  Someone could even play their Samurai character as a ronin from the start, and vice-versa a Ronin class PC could be a clan or house samurai who just has a more tricksy fighting style.

Possibly confusing, but I prefer encouraging characters to re-fluff the mechanics, and also prefer not limiting events from happening because it might mechanically hinder a player's fun (like a Paladin losing his powers for ending up in a no-win situation). 

Disclaimer:  the game will not be written with "samurai vs. ninja" as the default play-style.  It will be more like "I'm Kikuchiyo from Seven Samurai.  You're Sarutobi Sasuke.  Together we fight the cast of Ge-ge-ge no Kitaro."

Miyamoto Musashi, self portrait

Chanbara Update

I got some more work done on my chanbara (samurai/ninja) expansion for Flying Swordsmen done today.  Working title is simply "Chanbara."

It's become quite distinct from Flying Swordsmen, actually.  I've devised some different mechanics that seem to fit the genre (and on paper at least the math looks good), and would actually also work in wuxia, so assuming the Ph.D. program I'm about to enter doesn't force me to give up gaming altogether, I'll eventually get around to re-doing Flying Swordsmen into what will truly be my own game, rather than a "retro-clone turned up to 11" which is what it is right now.

Anyway, I've narrowed down the classes (Kensei is now folded into Samurai, as the only real distinctions were in class special abilities, so it's a sub-class option).

There are four class groups: Bushi (warriors), Shinobi (rogues), Maho-tsukai (magicians) and Yokai (demi-humans).  Three classes each (plus the Kensei sub-class option), so 12 classes.

There are three sets of Skill Dice (replace the generic Stunt Dice of Flying Swordsmen), Combat Skills, Training Skills, and Magic Skills.  Each class gets a selection of six skill dice that they can raise as they gain levels.  As with Flying Swordsmen, Skill Dice replace the static bonuses of high ability scores in D&D, but you can only use one die at a time (some higher level characters can use two or even three).

There are three sets of special maneuvers, still selected from a "Vancian" progression as in Flying Swordsmen.  There are Combat Maneuvers, Training Tricks, and Magic Spells (each divided into five levels of power).

Bushi Classes (XP as Fighter in D&D):
Samurai/Kensei: only Combat Skill Dice and Maneuvers
Ronin: mix of mostly Combat with some Training Dice/Tricks
Sohei: mix of mostly Combat with some Magic Dice/Spells

Shinobi Classes (XP as Cleric in D&D):
Ninja: only Training Skill Dice and Tricks
Kagemusha: mix of mostly Training with some Combat Dice/Maneuvers
Gorotsuki: mix of mostly Training with some Magic Dice/Spells

Maho-Tsukai Classes (XP as M-U in D&D):
Yamabushi: only Magic Skill Dice and Spells
Shinsen: mix of mostly Magic with some Combat Dice/Maneuvers
Onmyoji: mix of mostly Magic with some Training Dice/Tricks

Yokai Classes (XP as Elf in D&D):
Kappa: even mix of Combat and Training
Kitsune: even mix of Training and Magic
Tengu: even mix of Combat and Magic

The Yokai classes receive all skill dice of both of their fields, but have fewer Raises than the Human classes, fewer set class abilities, and advance slower.  They still get the same Level 10 cap as the Human classes.

I've got the spell lists done, but not spell descriptions.  Casting works on a modified Chainmail casting roll, but Magic Skill Dice can be used to do different things like increase the chance to hit if the spell requires a hit roll, damage/healing provided, increase number of targets or area of effect, etc.  I'll discuss the spells more later.

I've got a tentative list of creatures.  Need to complete a list of weapons and equipment.  Haven't done much besides ponder about the campaign setting details.  Still a lot of work to do, but it's moving forward.

This samurai/ninja thing is turning into a thing

I've been working on my feudal Japan extension to Flying Swordsmen.  The classes are more or less sorted out.  Working on new combat maneuvers, and have a list scribbled while on the bus the other day of two dozen or so thief/ninja tricks.  Spells will come next. 

And while I'm doing this, my Beast of the Week compilation is not getting finished.  Well, maybe I'll try and take care of that tonight or tomorrow just to get it out of the way.  I'd like to have the lion's share of the ideas phase for my chanbara thing done before my next grad school semester starts in March.

Oh, and I'll need a catchy name.

Chanbara Swordsmen would work well enough, but doesn't quite have the ring of Flying Swordsmen (and basically means "sword-fighting swordsmen").  Well, there's time for that later.

Work In Progress - Flying Swordsmen Expansion/possible revision

I had an idea for a Japanese themed expansion to Flying Swordsmen.  There have been several attempts to produce updated versions of the original Oriental Adventures for various clone/simulacrum systems, but none besides Ruins and Ronin that made it to completion, as far as I know.

Well, this idea of mine would not be that either, but it would add Japanese themed classes to my Flying Swordsmen base.

In working up the concepts, I realized that I want to re-do the Stunt system.  And my idea to re-do it is leading me to revise both Thief skills and the entire magic system.

This Japanese expansion will not have every class learning martial arts.  That conceit still works for Flying Swordsmen, with its Wuxia feeling, but doesn't do Chanbara justice.  So here are a few ideas I've been working on for the past few days.

There will be four types of class: Warrior (Bushi), Thief (Dorobo? lumping them all under the Ninja name?  unsure yet), Spellcaster (Mahoutsukai will likely be the group name, although at the moment I'm using it as one of the class names), and Yokai (demi-humans).

The classes will be:
Warrior - 4 classes
Samurai (general all around combatant)
Kensei (weapon master)
Ronin (masterless samurai)
Sohei (warrior monk)

Thief - 4 classes [or maybe just three]
Ninja (spy) [rename to Shinobi if I use Ninja as the group name]
Ansatsusha (Assassin)
Gorotsuki (Mountebank)
Yakuza (gangster) [may get removed as they likely make better opposition than heroes]

Spellcaster - 4 classes [or again maybe only three]
Yamabushi (Shugenja)
Shinsen (Taoist Immortal)
Onmyoji (Exorcist)
Mahoutsukai (Magician) [again may be removed as it's sort of overlapping with Yamabushi at the moment and would make a good group name]

Yokai - 3 classes
Kappa (act as Warrior/Thief)
Kitsune (act as Thief/Spellcaster)
Tengu (act as Warrior/Spellcaster)

The reworking to the Stunt system will be that there will be three sets of stunt dice, Combat, Training, and Magic.  Different classes will get different combinations of the dice.

Also, there will be Maneuvers just like in Flying Swordsmen, but there will also be Tricks for Thieves and Spells will also be handled like Maneuvers for the spellcasting classes.  Tricks will be like Thief Skills, although I'm not sure yet if I want to keep the d20+Stunt Die system of Flying Swordsmen, or go to a 2dX type system where the die type is determined by the appropriate Stunt die.  Spells will likely handled with a system similar to Chainmail's casting rolls. 

And if this all comes together well, I'll rework Flying Swordsmen and make it more like this system, and less like Dragon Fist. 

I'm a Winner! And a PSA (not the G.I. Joe kind)

Well, over at The Missing Word blog, I've been given a Versatile Blogger Award!  Thanks to M.J.A. Ware for bestowing it upon me! 

This means I'm supposed to tell you seven things about myself, and pass the award on to seven bloggers I think deserve some honorable mention.  So here goes:

1. I received the Frank Mentzer edited Basic Dungeons & Dragons red box for my 11th birthday in 1984.  I still have, and use, the dice that came with it.

2. I lived in Japan for just slightly under 10 years, and I've been in Korea 3 years and counting.  I can speak Japanese.  I can't really speak Korean.

3. I'm currently working on a screenplay that is a samurai ghost story.

4. I attended the University of Evansville, where I studied Creative Writing.

5. I'm going to begin work on my Masters of TESOL (teaching English to speakers of other languages) this March.

6. My first dog was a dalmatian named Pongo.  We don't currently have any pets.

7. I can cook fairly decently, but my wife is so awesome in the kitchen that I rarely do anymore.

Alright, now it's time to give the Award to some of my fellow bloggers.  These awards are brought to you by the Friends of Starship Warden.  As most of you likely know, game designer Jim Ward, who designed Metamorphosis Alpha, Gamma World, and quite a few other games, is ill.  The disease is treatable, but it's expensive.  If you've ever played a game designed by Jim, based on something he designed, read one of his books, etc. please click on the link and donate whatever you can.  [Josh, thanks for the reminder for me to post this!]

And now, my seven picks for Versatile Blogger Awards! (in no particular order)

Once More Unto the Breach, DRANCE's blog about his journey back into RPGs, and whatever else crosses his mind.  I get inspired and excited by things I read here, as it's fairly different from my own gaming journey over the years.

Back in '81 is Yoyorobbo's gaming blog.  He shares my passion for random small, cheap plastic fantasy miniatures for use in the game.

Countdown to Game Time is Bigby's Left Hand's blog.  It's about games, fiction, comics, and providing groovy stuff to enhance your game.

Dangerous Brian: A Gamer's Blog is obviously by Dangerous Brian.  He's currently doing a series on survival guides for low level characters which are well worth the read, even if you know it already.  Never hurts to brush up on basics.

Errant RPG is Greg Christopher's home of his retro-clone and related stuff.  I've found him to be articulate, creative, and generally thought provoking in his posts.


The Caffeinated Symposium is my real world buddy Dave Cesarano's blog.  He goes on about mostly literature, history, and gaming.  Coffee not included with the price of admission.

The Red Box Blog is The Red DM's blog.  This is one of the newer blogs I'm really digging, especially because The Red DM plays and enjoys all versions of D&D.  He's got a recent series of posts saying just what it is he enjoys about each version, too.  Good stuff, and it's nice to see the mix of older and newer games getting some love in the same place.

Congratulations!!!

Wow, it's taken me two days to pick my winners.  I've got lots of great blogs on my blog roll, so it sorry if you didn't get picked.  Congrats to the winners!  Feel free to snag that snazzy graphic up at the top of the page and pass on the award to other blogs you enjoy!

Inspiration on my DVD Shelf

Having recently posted an alternate 'Appendix N' based on one of the shelves on my book case, here's another based on some of the DVDs on another shelf of the next bookcase over.

Seven Samurai (Kurosawa, 1954)
Kagemusha (Kurosawa, 1980)
Musa (Korean period action movie, 2001)
Sakuya (Japanese manga-based live action fantasy, 2000)
Hero (Jet Li, 2002)
Red Shadow (Japanese ninja live action, 2001)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee, 2000)
Enter the Dragon (Bruce Lee, 1973)
Owl's Castle (Japanese ninja live action, 1999)
Vagabond Trilogy (Toshiro Mifune as Miyamoto Musashi, 1951, 1955, 1956)
Azumi (Japanese manga-based live action, 2003)
The Seven Swords (Chinese wuxia, 2005)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl (pirate fantasy, 2003)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (pirate fantasy, 2006)
Willow (George Lucas, 1988)
The Adventures of Robin Hood (Errol Flynn, 1938)
Arabian Nights (Hall/Sabu, 1942)
Red Sonja (Nielsen/Schwarzenegger, 1985)
Conan the Barbarian (Schwarzenegger, 1982)
Conan the Destroyer (Schwarzenegger, 1984)
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Disney, 2005)
The Princess Bride (Reiner, 1987)
Dragonslayer (MacNichol, 1981)
Legend (Cruise/Curry, 1985)
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (Hall, 1944)
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (Harryhausen, 1958)
Samson and Delilah (DeMille, 1949)
The Vikings (Douglas/Curtis, 1958)
Excalibur (Boorman, 1981)
The Scorpion King (The Rock, 2002)
Brahm Stoker's Dracula (Oldman, 1992)
Dracula (Lugosi, 1931)
Van Helsing (Jackman, 2004)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Cleese/Idle/Jones/Chapman/Gilliam/Palin, 1975)
Ben Hur (1925)
The Wizard of Oz (Garland, 1939)
The Three Musketeers (Kelly, 1948)

Not all of them are good movies, but they've likely all got at least a little something that could inspire adventures (or at least interesting encounters or NPCs) in a game.

[By the way, I have the Lord of the Rings movies on DVD, and the TV mini-series Shogun as well, but being boxed sets, they're on another shelf.]

Ninjas in your Game [Ninja Week]

Well, it's about time to actually talk about ninjas in your game. We'll assume if you're reading this blog you're probably playing D&D, or one of its family of games. If you're playing a skill based game or an indie game, you can pretty much craft a ninja with that system, and you probably don't need much help from me.

If you want to play a ninja in D&D though, it can be a bit tough, depending on which system you're using.

In OD&D, depending on if you're using any supplements or not, you've got the baseline Fighter as an option in the core rules. Not the best choice, some may think, but it's all in how you describe the character and what your DM allows you to get away with. With Greyhawk you get the Thief, and Blackmoor throws in both the Assassin and Monk. These three classes all work really well, even if none are specialized as 'ninja.' Baseline AD&D also gives you these three classes, and the Ranger also can work.

In B/X you're pretty much stuck with the Thief as option #1, and Fighter as a backup. BECMI/RC adds in the Mystic, similar to the Monk. B/X Thief does get a nice bonus in being able to use all weapons, but the BECMI list is good enough (better than the AD&D short list).

Of course, Oriental Advetures has a dedicated Ninja class, but it's a bit complex. The idea is that a ninja should keep their ninja identity secret from the other PCs, so they allow humans to multiclass. You can't only be a Ninja, you have to be a Ninja/something. Needlessly complex, and kinda setting up another Paladin problem, where dick DMs are going to be constantly forcing the Ninja player into situations where they have to either expose themselves as a ninja (requiring them to either turn on their companions or else have the clan hunting after them for the rest of the ninja's life), or else do nothing really for a large part of the game.

2E, with the Complete Ninja Handbook, tried to alleviate some of the problems. The use of 2E kits allows not only a varitey of Ninja class characters (although they're just a variant Thief with slightly different weapon proficiencies and starting skill percentages), but there are also kits for other classes to belong to the ninja clan. That makes an all-ninja campaign possible, but there are still the problems with the ninja mixed with the standard adventuring classes. The book does address some of the problems, and gives a few possible ideas for how to deal with them. All in all, it's not a bad book, even if it does rely on some mechanical choices that I'm not too fond of (kits, proficiencies, etc.).

Now 3E actually, IMO, did the ninja right. In the PHB classes, with the way feats and skills and multiclassing work in that edition, you could use the Rogue (Thief), Ranger, Monk, or Bard even as a base, and with some multiclassing amongst these classes or a few others (Fighter and Sorcerer being good choices, depending on your idea of what a ninja should be), you could craft a fairly good representation of it. That's kind of the strong point of 3E anyway, allowing you to custom build the sort of character you want.

3E's version of OA made another good choice. Instead of adding a Ninja class, they told you to do what I just told you about above. Of course there were ninja Prestige Classes you could take if you just absolutely HAD to have the word 'ninja' on your character sheet [and were too dense to just write it there yourself]. But then 3rd party supplements ended up coming out with all sorts of alternate ninja classes, not to mention the fan-made ones. [I used to spend a lot of time, during my 3E days, on the OA forums over at Wizbro's website.]

4E, I don't know, and it probably doesn't matter if they have a 'ninja' class or not, cause it will play like every other class in 4E.

Anyway, for those of you not playing 3E (I assume most of you), I think the real trick to playing a ninja successfully in a campaign is to avoid the assumed dynamic of 1E OA. Yes, your character is a ninja. Yes, you likely don't want commoners or ENEMY samurai to know that. Yes, you maybe want anyone to know your real name (like Spiderman or Superman, you need that alter-ego). But your adventuring companions should at least know that you are a ninja.

Maybe it comes from the misunderstanding of the concept of 'honor' as the samurai saw it. The reason they used trained ninja for stealth, spying, theft, sabbotage, etc. was because it would be dishonorable for THE SAMURAI to do such. Samurai still wanted all that stuff done, they just didn't want to get their hands dirty. So a samurai would not instantly cut down any ninja they encountered if they learned they were ninja because said ninja was dishonorable. If they were a daimyo, they'd likely be interested in hiring the ninja. Unless the ninja is spying on or trying to assassinate you at the moment, of course, then you'd want them cut down.

Samurai didn't expect everyone to live by their code of honor. So yes, your Samurai character could, and would, assuming a standard D&D type adventuring mindset, travel with a Ninja. It would be the smart thing to do. The Samurai would know that there will be situations that might be easiest to deal with using dishonorable methods. Mr. Ninja, step up please, it's your turn!

Quick and Dirty finale

Yesterday afternoon and again last night, I finally finished painting the samurai minis for my upcoming Chainmail game, the Siege of Dongnae. Here are the samurai (heavy infantry and medium cavalry).




The minis are the Zvezda samurai cavalry and samurai warriors.

Both of these samurai packs come with command figures, so I thought I should have one for the Korean side as well. I don't have anything in the right scale, but I have some roughly 45mm Three Kingdoms figures that I picked up in Japan, so Liu Bei will be standing in for Korean commander Song Sang Hyeon. He'll tower over the battlefield, but oh well. He's likely to be surrounded by samurai and ashigaru soon anyway.

The only thing I need to do now is print up and laminate some terrain pieces. Looks like we're on for this Sunday to play.

Quick and Dirty, part 2

Nap time again for the little guy, so my wife and I painted up the ashigaru (light footmen). They're in two colors so they can be split between two players. The samurai, which will be heavy foot, armored foot and medium cavalry, will be painted in their own colors, but the hata (flags) will match the ashigaru colors to see which force the belong to easily.

The figures are Red Box Ashigaru (Archers and Arquebusiers) and Red Box Ashigaru (Spearmen)

Time to start working on Chainmail: The Siege of Dongnae

My samurai and ashigaru minis from the Michigan Toy Soldier Company arrived in the mail today. Just at the start of vacation. It's not a good idea for me to be trying to paint minis with a rambunctious 2-year-old in the house, but I may pick up a couple jars of primary colors and a brush or two just to give them some unit colorings. I may have more than two players when we do this, so dividing the larger Japanese forces into two or three forces might be a good idea. The Korean player had better think very tactically, and have some lucky die rolls if they want to change history!

In other news, my wife and I just got back from watching Inception. I'll need to think about it over night and write a review tomorrow. I'm a bit burned out after 7 hours in the radio station, doing my normal live show and recording 3 more for the vacation.

My wife is wonderful (gaming related)

My wife just graciously allowed me to order three more boxes of samurai minis from the Michigan Toy Soldier Company. This is in preparation for my "Siege of Dongnae" Chainmail game I want to run.

Sure, I could have filled in the ranks with other minis--using my Caesar Elves, Dwarves and Goblins, or the Red Box Orcs I recently bought, not to mention my 1/72 scale Robin Hood, Moors and Viking minis from way back to supplement the ranks.

But I'd like for the Japanese army to look mostly like they're Japanese. I've got two boxes of Red Box Koreans (heavy and light infantry), so about 100 figs.

I've had a box of Zvezda samurai infantry for years. Now I've ordered the cavalry set from Zvezda, along with two boxes of ashigaru--one of spearmen, one of archers/arquebussiers--from Red Box. That's about 170 samurai figures total.

In the actual battle, the Koreans were outnumbered around 6 to 1, so I'd still need to use some supplemental figures if I want to get that accurate, but I will likely give the Koreans a fighting chance and leave it at that.

Oriental Accents -- Japanese Castles and Temples and stuff

Posting is slow this month again. I'm back to revising my screenplay, plus occasionally plugging in a little more of the Flying Swordsmen RPG. So not much time to blog. So here are some pictures I took while I was in Japan (these are all from way back in 2003-2004).


Maizuru-Jo (Dancing Crane Castle remains) in Kofu. They're slowly working on restoring bits of the castle.



Photo of Kofu, with Mt. Fuji in the background, taken from the top of the castle walls.


Detail work from the Minobu-san Kuonji (Mt. Minobu Kuon Temple).


Temple bell at Kuonji.



Me and one of the Takeda's 24 Generals at the annual Shingen-Kou Matsuri (Lord Shingen Festival). Takeda Shingen was considered one of the greatest military minds of feudal Japan, so they honor him every year by dressing hundreds of drunk folks up in armor and spears and swords and guns and marching them around town. (I don't think I actually ended up on TV--no one said they saw me anyway.)


Some of the foot soldiers. We had a prime vantage point that year, right in front of Starbucks and just down from the judge's stage.