Monday, July 8, 2013

Onigai shimasu!

So, I was informed yesterday that I was volunteered to run a game for 3 friends (2 of whom are the participants in my USR Wastelands campaign which will be resuming shortly). 

My first thought was, "What?!?! You hate my GMing." 

(Lady Shadowmoss has a particular style of game she likes, all others be damned.)

But I accepted none the less and floated the idea of a Cthulhu game, a feudal Japanese / swords & sorcery campaign, a supers game, Arrows of Indra (medieval India), and some others to Lady Shadomoss.  She really liked the Japan game idea (without a doubt she is the decision maker of the three) and so that's what I've glommed onto.

Knowing her distaste for reading and learning rules, I picked up a PDF copy of Ruins & Ronin ($0.80 with the JULYBOOKS13 discount code), which is based on the Swords & Wizardry White Box.  The system is quite simple but the book lacks any kind of really useful background info for capturing the flavor of feudal Japan.

So I also ordered a PDF of the GURPS Japan source book from e23 - I do not play GURPS, never have, but the source books I have are great (I have GURPS Traveller and the GURPS WWII title, Return to Honor: The Defeat and Rebirth of France, both of which I got for a steal).

And of course, how could I resist ordering Fantasy Games Unlimited's Bushido

I was planning on getting this back in April but I had to wait at least 30 days. Well, time is up!

 It has frequently received high praise for the ability to capture the flavor of the period, but just as often gets marks against it due to the complexity and layout of the rules. That itself probably is the death knell for my little group (see above about rules).

Still, I am hopeful that the three combined should work just fine for me. 

4 comments:

  1. If you haven't already, you might check out the blog What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse". He did a free OSR Wuxia game called Flying Swordsmen, and he's been working on a version of that for samurai, called Chanbara.

    syntax corrected?

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    1. Hi Lowell,

      Thanks for the heads up on this. I've got his site bookmarked for reading now and to keep an eye out for the release of Chanbara.

      Thanks!

      -John

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  2. I'd recommend Gold Rush Games' Sengoku, it's a far better resource than Bushido or GURPS Japan. You can find it at http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product/16758/Sengoku-Revised-Edition?term=Sengoku&it=1

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    1. Hi Kuseru,

      Thanks for this link! I read mention of Sengoku in a review of Bushido (maybe some of the authors are the same?) but didn't realize it had been created.

      Now to decide on whether or not to get the whole bundle package or just the one book!

      Thanks again!

      -John

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