Land of Samurai

I have just recieved the cover art for Land of Samurai and I think we all need to say a big Well Done to Chris Quilliams the artist as I think you will all agree it is stunning!

The cover will be up on the website later on today but for now I thought I would give you a sneak peak of the low res that I have just recieved from Chris...ENJOY!!!

CoverSamurailowres.jpg
 
My day has just been made.

Chris has even given our brooding samurai a tachi, rather than a katana, which is perfectly in keeping with the setting (and his armour).

Excellent stuff!
 
Yeah Loz, he did a great deal of research on the Heian Period. Our own Silver Fox (Adrian!) gave a good bit of imput regarding the shrine etc also. I have to say this is a striking cover picture!
 
Lord High Munchkin said:
Dear All,

I hate to be a kill-joy - but stone lanterns only really came in (from Korea) in the Kamakura period...

Other than that, I like it.

Regards

Oh, you are just trying to out-geek Loz.
 
Stone lanterns at shinto shrines, particularly the yunoki-doro style (which isn't far removed from the lantern in the illustration) do hark back to the Heian period, although they didn't become widespread until the 1300s. The Kamakura period followed the Heian period so, 1185 to 1333 and yep, a fair amount of Korean influence abounded.

Geeky enough for everyone? :lol:
 
Unfortunately sources always vary, but according to several that I have found, shrine lanterns actually Japanese shrine or temple lanterns or "Seido-Toro" (which is what we are going for here) were first introduced into Japan during the Nara period (710-794) from China...before the period that the book is set in.

Hope that clears up the decision making on this one. But like I said...sources always vary
 
Dear All,

To even further 'geek' the topic, there are also several different styles of 'toro' lanterns - the particular style that is depicted is a rather late form that really only became popular in the Edo (rather than the post-style that tended to be earlier).

Additionally, early lanterns were also generally Buddhist inspired. Seeing one in the Heinan at a Shinto shrine (given the torii - although torii were indeed built later on at Buddhist temples), would be extremely unusual to say the least.

That temple in the background also looks very Buddhist... given that is has an elaborate multi-hall structure. Also, during the period most Shinto shrines would be thatched - some were being re-covered during the periodic "rebuilds", but that would be really rare at that time.

I could "geek" on and on - but I'll save that for the contents (I'm particularly interested in it's handling of Buddhism - my real "pet topic"... look out Loz!!!).

Regards
 
I'm particularly interested in it's handling of Buddhism - my real "pet topic"... look out Loz!!!

This is Heian period, so which sect? :wink:

To be fair, I wouldn't consider myself an expert on Buddhism by any stretch of the imagination, but I hope I've produced a faithful enough rendition for gaming purposes. You could fill a whole book on the dfferent schools of Buddhist thought, and the temple wars (hell, the Sohei deserve an entire book of the their own), so I had to be relatively selective on what to include.
 
The comments on lantern style are highly interesting but what's in the book?
I hope this isn't completely a remake of Land of the ninja.
 
Dear All,

I really hope it isn't a remake of 'Land of Ninja' - there were some dreadful cultural and historical gaffs in that book.

As I mentioned, I'm particularly interested in the handling of Buddhism and whether you have managed to avoid the trap of depicting Buddhism, and it's sects ("orders", or even "schools", is a much better translation than "sects"), as it was laughably presented in 'Land of Ninja' - or have a more realistic view?

For an example of what I mean, anyone with even a passing knowledge of Buddhism should know - what the diverse orders teach is merely different methods of achieving the same goal, there should be no game difference beyond a few skills preferred. It's not like they are different cults - it's more of the difference between Baptists and Methodists.

Another thing that made me cringe with 'Land of Ninja' was the way in that various orders (or sects) were presented as having different "magical" abilities, when they should have all been based on the same list of Eight Siddhis (Great Powers), the Six Extrasensory Powers and the Four Transformative Modes of Action (there are some minor variations on various lists - but Nagarjuna's is the most widely used) that all Buddhist schools (as well as Hindus too) recognise? (There are occassionaly more siddhis on Hindu lists, but the differences are really sub-specialisations).

I could go on, but you get the idea...

Regards
 
Then you should enjoy the book (least, I hope you will).

The two schools covered - Tendai and Shingon - both teach the same goal (Enlightenment) but with different approaches. They use the same magic and the differences are theoretical and philosophical rather than mechanistic. They certainly aren't cults, but they do teach different spells, different skills and different ki abilities. In terms of goals though, its as you describe.

I did read back through 'Land of Ninja' in preparation for this book, but I have to say I was disappointed with its treatment of religion. To be fair, though, Bob Charette did caveat the lack of realism heavily at the start of the book although I got the impression he was far more interested in the samurai and ninja than in the religious occupations. Bushido handles things much better, but still with a lot of inaccuracy.

I won't pretend that 'Land of Samurai' will be 100% accurate of course; had limited time and space available, but I've done a great deal of reading, cross-referencing, head-scratching and so on, in trying to represent Buddhism is well as I could. It won't be perfect, but I hope it doesn't disappoint, either.
 
Its a r[g most of the accuracy is up to the gm to research, and most people would use it as a fantasy setting with an oriental flavour anyway. As long as we have stats for stuff..
 
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