Land of the Samurai

[Mikko Leho]

Lawrence Whitaker wrote a little snippet about the upcoming Land of the Samurai book in Planet Mongoose blog. I am interested if the book will cover historical setting or more fantastic one with magic and monsters. Has anyone here any info on the subject or could mr Whitaker tell which way the book will bend?

 

[shotgun-toting chipmunk]

I have to agree. This Samurai thing might just be enough to get me to break down and get into this stuff

 

[Loz]

Lawrence Whitaker wrote a little snippet about the upcoming Land of the Samurai book in Planet Mongoose blog. I am interested if the book will cover historical setting or more fantastic one with magic and monsters. Has anyone here any info on the subject or could mr Whitaker tell which way the book will bend?

Its a mixture. The setting is the Heian period, default year 1001, and its a semi-mythical view of the Classic era with the rise of the samurai. Expect the Taira and Minamoto clans battling bakemono as well as each other, and wily Fujiwara power-brokers communing with outlawed sorcerers.

 

[RosenMcStern]

Cool! No musket-using ashigaru, nor emulating Miyamoto Musashi. It is a wise idea, as the later period is already covered in the old AH supplement. But a real samurai lover will manage to use both books for his campaign.

 

[Loz]

Cool! No musket-using ashigaru, nor emulating Miyamoto Musashi. It is a wise idea, as the later period is already covered in the old AH supplement. But a real samurai lover will manage to use both books for his campaign.

No pesky ninja either... although I will be including them as a deliberate, but completely optional, anachronism so that those who simply cannot contemplate a Japanese game without the black-clad cliches can slot them in :wink: . I'm developing a rationale too, for why they appear some 500 years early.

But yes, no black-powder weapons. The Edo and Sengoku periods have been done in Bushido, Land of Ninja and Sengoku already, so time to look at somewhere else.

 

[Lord High Munchkin]

Dear All,

And for goodness sake DON'T have any of those 16th century castles - Japanese castles of the period (yamashiro) were simple hill-forts with wooden watchtowers. Most consisted of pallisades (saku) with a few being more substantial stockades (ki), both often having dry-moats.

So, please no giant stone edifdices.

Regards

 

[soltakss]

What?

No pagoda-fortresses? No Ninjas? No heroic Samurai being cut down by musket-firing peasants?

Will they still have pretty swords?

What kind of samurai game is that?

Not the Last Samurai, I assume .....

I'm waiting for an Ancient China supplement as that background beats Nippon hands down. And they have Ninjas and Triads and anything else you want from any number of martial arts films and TV series ....

 

[Loz]

Dear All,

And for goodness sake DON'T have any of those 16th century castles - Japanese castles of the period (yamashiro) were simple hill-forts with wooden watchtowers. Most consisted of pallisades (saku) with a few being more substantial stockades (ki), both often having dry-moats.

So, please no giant stone edifdices.

Regards

Why would I have 16th century castles in an 11th century setting? :wink:

I've been doing a lot of research on buildings of the time though. The temples, in particular, were much more than simple wooden stockades and gates, although nowhere near as impregnable as the later structures. A favoured samurai tactic of the time was simply to set light to an enemy's defenses and hurl arrows as they fled. Very noble!

 

[Loz]

No pagoda-fortresses? No Ninjas? No heroic Samurai being cut down by musket-firing peasants?

There are pagodas. If you really want ninja, then you can have ninja. But they're an anachronism (and in my view, copping-out, but people seem to really like 'em, so I'll concede a certain degree of historical veracity). Musket firing peasants are a no-no.

Will they still have pretty swords?

Of course.

What kind of samurai game is that?

One that's reasonably true to its period, I hope!

Not the Last Samurai, I assume .....

Tom Cruise is entirely optional. Just as in Real Life...

 

[Mikko Leho]

Tom Cruise is entirely optional. Just as in Real Life...

Somebody should tell that to Katie Holmes...

 

[Loz]

Tom Cruise is entirely optional. Just as in Real Life...

Somebody should tell that to Katie Holmes...

LOL. To paraphrase the immortal words of the British comedienne, Mrs Merton, 'So Katie, what first attracted you to the multi-millionaire Tom Cruise?'

 

[shotgun-toting chipmunk]

Ooh, now I'm really starting to like this.

Tell me, since there's a mix of historical and mystical, any chance of Shoki making an appearance?

 

[Lord High Munchkin]

Dear All,

I'm waiting for an Ancient China supplement as that background beats Nippon hands down. And they have Ninjas and Triads and anything else you want from any number of martial arts films and TV series ....

Triads are actually an outgrowth of pseudo-religious societies from the 18th century onwards, although other criminal societies based upon the “big brother-little brother” model (hsiung-ti) certainly existed before then.

A more important difference affecting RPG's was that "Martial Arts films" martial arts didn't exist prior to the early 17th. Before that there was only really ch’uan-fa (fist skill) and shuai-ciao (wrestling).

Unlike in the movies, martial arts were very socially suspect too, practicioners were counted as chien-min “Demeaned People” - in the same underclass as street prostitutes, hence they increasingly tended to make up grand ancient pedigrees to grant themselves some face and seem more respectable. It worked in the end, their staus eventually rose out of the "street-scum" level - to merely dangerous and socially unpredictable (in highly regimented China a bad thing). Society however did eventually assimilate (and thus render harmless) wu-shu - but that is very recent.

That said, I totally agree that China is far more interesting than Japan as a setting (perhaps not in the 11th century though - bit too stable). However, there should be nothing stopping a Sung Chinese pirate raiding the coastal islands of 11th century Japan and sticking a firelance "up where the sun don't shine"....

Regards

p.s. have you seen the BRP Chinese material? It's in French, basic in scope but OK.

 

[Loz]

Ooh, now I'm really starting to like this.

Tell me, since there's a mix of historical and mystical, any chance of Shoki making an appearance?

Shoki? [checks wikipedia] Oh, THAT Shoki...

Dunno. I think I'll need ponder it. Very cool idea though...

 

[B_Steele]

As a side note and plug for my stuff, I am making sure to add several oriental-style mythic monsters to RuneQuest Monsters II so people can fantasy-up their Samurai game, and LOTS of new aquatics for their Pirates games.

I'm trying to make this giant tome useful for everybody.

Speaking of which...

Cheers,
Bry

 

[Mikko Leho]

As a side note and plug for my stuff, I am making sure to add several oriental-style mythic monsters to RuneQuest Monsters II so people can fantasy-up their Samurai game

Hopefully there is not going to be overlapping with the two books. IMHO it is alright to cite pages from another source than reprint already published material.

LOTS of new aquatics for their Pirates games.

Sounds like krakens and sirens for starters...

 

[Loz]

As a side note and plug for my stuff, I am making sure to add several oriental-style mythic monsters to RuneQuest Monsters II so people can fantasy-up their Samurai game

Hopefully there is not going to be overlapping with the two books. IMHO it is alright to cite pages from another source than reprint already published material.

Bry and I are already in dialogue about this...

 

[soltakss]

Ha!

If you overlap then people complain that things are duplicated in two supplements.

If you don't overlap and cite other sources instead, then people complain that they are being forced to buy more supplements.

A no-win situation.

Ha!

 

[Loz]

And if you put everything in one big book, people moan its too big, and they won't use half the stuff there.

Release smaller, more specific, targeted books, and people complain they've now got too many books to buy, carry, and so on.

On the duplication front, I agree its a no-winner. The approach to take is therefore to duplicate what needs to be duplicated because its integral to the setting (with tweaks, etc), and cross-refer to things that are more generic.

 

[B_Steele]

Like a well-oiled machine Loz and I have become...

...back to work for me!

-Bry