Post/Author/DateTime	Post
angryman 03-17-07, 02:12 AM	I'm gearing up to run a mid-level (6-8) adventure in mythical Japan (primarily using Legends of the Samurai, to be exact). Lots of one-on-one duels, intrigue, possibly (well, definitely, hehe) ninjas and the always-dreaded social minefields. Although I know a lot about *real* history, I have little experience running a game set in Japan. So I'm asking for help. 1) What NPCs have you used that are interesting? The wise mountain hermit, the crazy noodle merchant, and so on. 2) What have you done in your Oriental games that you have found to be successful/unsuccessful? 3) Anything else you can add to help me?
Yanagita Kunio 03-17-07, 03:01 AM	I once made a campaign region based heavily on Tokugawa Japan's politics and social structure, but unfortunately I can't find the notes on the NPCs I had sketched out. For a more "fantastic," though not magical feel, I found a lot of inspiration in the period works of the mangaka duo Koike & Kojima--Lone Wolf and Cub, Shogun Assassin, etc--make for great material to look through for atmosphere and NPC archetypes scalable from the level of small ubquitous interactions to major players. Lone Wolf in particular has a lot of elements and vignettes that could be redesigned for player participation.
angryman 03-17-07, 03:16 AM	Oh yeah Lone Wolf, good call. Now I have to track down a copy... I'm currently basing encounters/ideas off my travels & books I've read.
Swordsage_Master 03-17-07, 12:58 PM	The most important thing to remember when running a Japanese based campaign is not so much the history as much as the culture. The Japanese Culture is so foreign (excuse the pun, it's not intended) to westerners that it is sometimes ver difficult to grasp. If you know the history that's a plus but study up on culture. What's important an what's not to the Japanese they are different than European or American or even other Asian cultures for that matter. The Japanese culture of ancient times is steeped in tradition, ancectors/family, and Honor and face (these are not the same principles), Loyaly. Not so much in personal gain of wealth but more in gaining honor and to some even power. It is a culture of intrigue and subtleties. I could go on, there is much more but, sufice it to to say, know your culture and you should be able to set a distinctly different atmosphere with an Asian campaign.
angryman 03-17-07, 07:36 PM	The most important thing to remember when running a Japanese based campaign is not so much the history as much as the culture. The Japanese Culture is so foreign (excuse the pun, it's not intended) to westerners that it is sometimes ver difficult to grasp. If you know the history that's a plus but study up on culture. What's important an what's not to the Japanese they are different than European or American or even other Asian cultures for that matter. The Japanese culture of ancient times is steeped in tradition, ancectors/family, and Honor and face (these are not the same principles), Loyaly. Not so much in personal gain of wealth but more in gaining honor and to some even power. It is a culture of intrigue and subtleties. I could go on, there is much more but, sufice it to to say, know your culture and you should be able to set a distinctly different atmosphere with an Asian campaign. They're good points, too. I've got a good grasp of history and culture, but it is good to have it put into a succinct paragraph.
Ranger REG 03-17-07, 07:47 PM	3) Anything else you can add to help me? Pick up Sengoku RPG. The first half of the book gives you an intro on customs, manners, and insight of the cultures. Keep in mind, they pride on keeping "face."
angryman 03-17-07, 11:00 PM	Pick up Sengoku RPG. The first half of the book gives you an intro on customs, manners, and insight of the cultures. Keep in mind, they pride on keeping "face." aah good. thanks! :D
madmonk 03-17-07, 11:37 PM	Never try to told stories to PC's unless they ask, and if only one player or two are interested you can write it in advance and give it in a "lore sheet" for a player to keep. I once tried to tell them a story an they began yawning or what not. For npc's... unusual npc's are the best; a female tengu iaijutsu master that dueled a pc, she was very beautiful if not for her long nose; a shaman samurai that teached the same pc using spells for the training, making things imposible to a non-caster but very cool loking :D For villians there was no better than someone that stole something from said pc's clan and blamed him when he was travelling! Talking animals or very young dragons are always cool, specially if they have something that makes them unique (we met a baby kitsune whose favourite food was boots! the boot's price was the only one every person in the group remembered). Ah, another favourite of mine was this crazy foul-mouthed twenty-something female drunken master! She was the antagonist of the group's female martial artist.
narukagami 03-19-07, 10:33 AM	Get just about anything by Stephen Turnbull. I've recently got hold of the Osprey Press published "Samurai Heraldry", "Japanese Castles 1540-1640", and "Japanese Fortified Temples and Monasteries AD 710-1602". For such small paperbacks they are loaded with useful information that can be used to enhance the feel of a Japanese inspired OA game.
kikkoman 03-21-07, 06:47 PM	Well, depends on how you want to run it D&D, a core part about it is exaggerated ideals, like the unfaltering champion of light Paladin or the evil sorceror of Pure Evil You can play Samurai as Most Honorable Warriors that are ultimate paragons of Loyalty and Honor and all that good stuff. Oh whoops, committed an unredeemable social sin, time to commit seppuku! You can have alot of fun with that. but if you want to be a little less extreme... on culture, society, etc... people are people. A poor farmer in Faerun has the same concerns as one in Rokugan. Will he have enough to feed his family? Will the lord's taxes be harsh this year? Will his daughter marry? A samurai is still human, it's just being born a noble. He may care more about having fun in the pleasure quarters than training in swordsmanship, he may want to flee the responsibilities of his status, etc. etc. etc. They aren't immovable dwarves or inscrutable elves, they're humans. The danger in trying to make foreign things feel 'authentic' is focusing too much on the differences to exotify things. You then wind up with something as authentic as McDonald's Asian salad (which you can't find in Asia...). Unless that is what you want, there is nothing wrong with doing a campaign of exaggerated absolutes, like having your noble paladin face off against the evil dark dragon sorceror demons. as for face... it is a very simple concept, we have it in the west too. It is simply self respect, how you are seen by your peers. our political system is sorta based off of face. think about all that mud slinging and praising in 2004 "Presidential candidate X was a Brave Warrior in the war, he gains face" "Presidential cadidate Y fled the Call To War, he is dishonorable and cowardly, lose face" "Presidential candidate Z has taken back his word, he is not a man of honor, lose face" Watergate? Ninjas man, ninjas. See how much face is lost when a Lord is discovered to have used such underhanded, cowardly, dishonorable tactics? :D or... watch a teen movie, see how those snooty girls act? :D They are maintaining their face. "you can't associate with that girl, she is of a lower social standing, you will lose face!" "You courted the mighty commander of the football team? gain face!" all the social intricacies of who can hang out with who, who wears what, who sits where at the lunch table, a single glance with the eyes or gesture with the hand can speak volumes for those initiated in the mysterious ways of the highschool preppy girl. I'm gearing up to run a mid-level (6-8) adventure in mythical Japan (primarily using Legends of the Samurai, to be exact). Lots of one-on-one duels, intrigue, possibly (well, definitely, hehe) ninjas and the always-dreaded social minefields. hmm, you might be interested in reading Vagabond. It's a comic based on a novel that tells a (fictionalized but somewhat authentic) account of Miyamoto Musashi's life. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagabond_(manga) Very well done. Has plenty of one-on-one duels. Intrigue within sword schools, etc. And a wide variety of characters with strong personalities. What exactly do you mean by social minefields though? things like... picking which fork to eat with at a fancy fancy dinner? Ah yes, the fork in the eating ritual, steeped in mystery and culture. Woe to the poor sap who chooses the wrong fork for the wrong food.
angryman 03-21-07, 09:04 PM	kikkoman I'm running the game in the late sengoku period, and it will likely end with the battle of sekigahara, or at least take a very different direction. But I'm going to run it as mythical Japan, so you'll have spirits and such. "You courted the mighty commander of the football team? gain face!" Haha, excellent example. :) hmm, you might be interested in reading Vagabond. It's a comic based on a novel that tells a (fictionalized but somewhat authentic) account of Miyamoto Musashi's life. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagabond_(manga) I've read a lot of vagabond in Japanese, it's kinda fun. That's certainly an inspiration. What exactly do you mean by social minefields though? things like... picking which fork to eat with at a fancy fancy dinner? Ah yes, the fork in the eating ritual, steeped in mystery and culture. Woe to the poor sap who chooses the wrong fork for the wrong food. I meant it in the sense that society is somewhat rigid. Not so bad in the sengoku period, but certainly in the Edo period, you have almost insane restrictions on where you can go, how you can wear your hair and what colours you can wear, who you can associate with, which form of polite language you can use depending on your station and so on. I'm not going to be an ass about that because a) it's a game, b) a lot of that knowledge is assumed (ie, even if the PC says, "Hello, my name is Taro", it's said politely) and I hate historically strict DMs.
kikkoman 03-22-07, 03:30 PM	kikkoman I meant it in the sense that society is somewhat rigid. Not so bad in the sengoku period, but certainly in the Edo period, you have almost insane restrictions on where you can go, how you can wear your hair and what colours you can wear, who you can associate with, which form of polite language you can use depending on your station and so on. I'm not going to be an ass about that because a) it's a game, b) a lot of that knowledge is assumed (ie, even if the PC says, "Hello, my name is Taro", it's said politely) and I hate historically strict DMs. ah, cool. I think the best way to look at it is 'how will this enhance the campaign experience?', every big event should have purpose. For example, in regular D&D, monsterous humanoids are generally seem as evil that can be killed indescriminately. But if you wanted to challenge this 'social order', it would be important to the story. To use an infamous figure, the dual wielding good drow doesn't pop up in a random encounter, his appearance challenges the 'social order' of the D&D world, it's going to have story importance. Like, with dress codes... you find out that fellow who dresses like a noble, has a haircut like one, talks like one, carries the swords, etc. really is just a commoner who found a dead samurai and took his stuff. Maybe he was one of the Samurai's servants, got fed up with his treatment, and murdered him travelling. Maybe he just stumbled across an oppertunity to change his life drastically and live the life he'd only dreamed of. A PC who is of the nobility, how would he react to a commoner pretending to be of is class? If he's the PC's friend, would they just keep it a secret? If he was one of their enemies, then this knowledge could destroy him. If the PC's are selfish, would they blackmail him? and how would the PC's find out in the first place? Maybe this faker accidentally did something one of the nobility would not do, maybe you see him helping another commoner pick up something he dropped. Maybe he avoids areas where real nobility hang around. That puts the idea of "social classes" in the game as part of the game. Seven Samurai had issues of class come up. I'm going to assume everyone on OA's seen it so I'll start talking spoilers It was commoners seeking the aid of samurai against some bandits, there's a difference in class. One of the samurai turns out to have been born a commoner, the other six samurai react differently depending on their character. When the samurai find out that the commoners had a stash of equipment, that they had hunted samurai in wartime before, that brings up a violent reaction with some of the samurai, who are very offended. The 'leader' tries to calm things down, and I believe this is the part where Toshiro Mifune admits he was born a commoner, as he sees before him class conflict. I haven't seen the movie in a while though. Those were all class, social issues with story significance. I'm not going to be an ass about that you could use it for some comedic value. Say the rough and tumble fighter dude who has a Str of 18 and a Cha of 8 type is invited to a lord's manor for accomplishing some great feat. How will he react? Does he not give a damn and eat in his usual barbaric manner, getting rice on his face as he digs into the food. Or is he really nervous, trying as hard as he can to be 'proper', picking up one grain at a time, with a big fake "I gotta maintain composure..." stony face the whole time. The rich food gives him indigestion, "how the hell do nobles ask 'I gotta take a poo'?" he wonders. It could be a good way to wind down after the Life-and-death epic battle the party had just gone through (to save the lord's daughter, etc.). Also lets the guy with a str of 8 and a Cha of 18, and 200 ranks in 'recite poetry of the nara period' shine, making connections with powerful figures, gaining knowledge to be used in the future.
angryman 03-22-07, 07:31 PM	Kikkoman For example, in regular D&D, monsterous humanoids are generally seem as evil that can be killed indescriminately. But if you wanted to challenge this 'social order', it would be important to the story. To use an infamous figure, the dual wielding good drow doesn't pop up in a random encounter, his appearance challenges the 'social order' of the D&D world, it's going to have story importance. Yeah, I will have a mix of those things. :) You could use it for some comedic value. Say the rough and tumble fighter dude who has a Str of 18 and a Cha of 8 type is invited to a lord's manor for accomplishing some great feat. How will he react? Does he not give a damn and eat in his usual barbaric manner, getting rice on his face as he digs into the food. Or is he really nervous, trying as hard as he can to be 'proper', picking up one grain at a time, with a big fake "I gotta maintain composure..." stony face the whole time. The rich food gives him indigestion, "how the hell do nobles ask 'I gotta take a poo'?" he wonders. I remember when one character, who had barely any diplomacy (he was actually sent by his lord to insult the other lord, and to get rid of the character) had an audience with a minor daimyo and of course fumbled his diplomacy check...he was asked very nicely to leave. :) It looks like we will have a noble-born ronin/weapon master who supports the underdog, a noble samurai/kensai who may be a little arrogant, and for my third player, likely a common ashigaru who is friends with the ronin. I think it's a good mix of social stations, classes and outlooks. I've never seen someone give their character less than 12 charisma, or lots of diplomacy/bluff in an Oriental game, for some reason.