Introduction Table of Contents

Character Abilities Qualities Genre Concerns Defeat & Consequences Why Cant I Play.... Equipment & Daily Life Weapons Armor The Supernatural World Mythic Cosmology Interactions with Spirits Glossary of Terms 17 refer to the people as Nihonjin, which is what they call themselves. Acknowledgements I have to acknowledge Robert J. Schwalb and the rest of Green Ronin for creating the game rules this handbook is based on. I also want to acknowledge the unknown artist who created the piece serving as the handbooks cover art, and Devon Cady-Lee the artist of the piece on page 19. I intend to add a full bestiary section and perhaps paraphrase some brief essays on daily life, samurai philosophy and the realities of life under the shogunate. This is a free, non-prot document made for fans by a fan. The words and layout contained herein are copyrighted (c) 2009 to protect the spirit of this production without violently violating the rights of the previously acknowledged. 16 10 13 8 2

Blades & Cherry Blossoms

Version 0.9 by Byron D. Molix (siroh_amano@yahoo.com)

Introduction
The name of this handbook corresponds to the linkage between a warrior class striving for purity, fulllment of duty, perceiving the natural order, the complete willingness to kill or die as required at a moments notice, and the fragile ower that bursts into bloom then spectacularly falls from its tree in a beautiful display. There are surprisingly few changes needed to play a game set in Feudal Japan, or more properly Nihon, with the A Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying game rules. I have tried to be as detailed as I can in capturing some avor from the feudal era, without holding the gameplay ransom. For the remainder of this document, when referring to the people, I will use the term Japanese, but when referring to the country I will use Nihon. If your group wishes to be more correct, you may

Section Name

Character

Character

Abilities
As previously mentioned, no new or changed abilities are required to create Feudal Era Japanese characters. Even the class system of Japan is roughly analogous to that of the base game. To help people pick Status, a Nihon specic table is provided below.

Because Japanese can be very deferential to those who have earned respect, or who are in honored professions (such as bladesmith, priest, etc.) such characters should keep track of their original Status, and what they raise it to. Total strangers will treat them according to their original status in most cases.

Qualities
Availability of Existing Qualities
Remove the following Qualities or chains, as they have been altered or replaced below: Blood of the Andals Blood of the First Men Blood of the Ironmen Blood of the Rhoyne Blood of Valyria Braavosi Fighter chain Brother of the Night's Watch Greensight, Knight of the Kingsguard Skinchanger Third Eye Third Eye Opened Tourney Knight Water Dancer chain The following Qualities are harder to acquire:

Status
Rank 0 1 2 3 4 5 Description Untouchables (Eta), !Foreigners Peasants Masterless Samurai, Village Leader, Lesser Merchant, Wandering Priest Merchant, Landless Samurai, Minor House Functionary, Shrine Priest House Functionary, Member of a Minor House Landed Samurai, Minor House Advisor , Temple Priest, Minor House Heir, Member of a House Minor House Lord, Great House Advisor, Member of a Great House, House Heir, Leader of a Sect House Lord, Great House Heir Great House Lord (Daimyo) Member of the Imperial Family, Shogun *The Emperor (the Mikado)

Axe Fighter
Sohei, warrior monks, are one of the few groups that teach this chain, other people with it tend to develop it on their own through trial and error as it is not a typical samurai ghting art.

7 8 9 10

Master of Ravens
Japanese nobles usually send messengers, usually on horseback, rather than using animal messengers. Clandestine messages could conceivably be transmitted this way, as ninja are said to use bird messengers.

* This rank is included for comparison purposes. PCs cannot play the Emperor. ! Foreigners are afforded only as much deferential status as the Japanese see t at the time. All foreigners, regardless of birth or position are considered non-persons, albeit nonpersons that it may or may not be advantageous to interact with and humor.

P olyglot & Worldly

Feudal Nihon has only one language, and the insular Japanese don't travel far beyond their shores as a matter of course. For a person born in Nihon to have been to China or Korea, or outside of Asia is highly unlikely.

Character
Shield Mastery
Japanese use shields purely as protection from arrows. Most shields are free standing slabs of wood for archers to seek cover behind on the battleeld, or small shields used to siege a castle. They don't interpose them between themselves and melee strikes, so this Quality is not taught anywhere. You may add your Fighting rank to all Agility tests results. When threatening violence as the consequence of an intrigue, you may add a +2 modier to a Persuasion test.

Fighting Spirit III / Martial

Your battle spirit has become legendary.
Requires Fighting 6, Fighting Spirit II You may add your applicable Brawling, Long Blades, or Short Blades Specialty to your Combat Defense.

Bastard Born
Bastardy and family ties are important, in a way, to the Japanese, but uncertain parentage would be glossed over. While the character is unlikely to be acknowledged as a child of the local samurai or lord, they would be given a house position, and be expected to fulll it well. Those who want to take a aw related to their bastardy should probably look at Flaw-Wretched (-1D to Status) instead.

Flashing Blade Style / Martial

You can weave a curtain of steel about you.
Requires Fighting 5 When armed with a Long Blade or Short Blade, you perform a series of cuts and maneuvers to defect incoming attacks. As a Greater Action, sacrice all of your bonus dice and make a single attack against an adjacent opponent. A hit deals normal damage. However, for every full 5 points of your test result, you also increase your Combat Defense by 1 until you next make a Fighting test.

New Qualities
If you are playing in a completely non-magical game, do not choose Benets with an asterisk (*) behind the name.

Devil Master* / Fate

You can compel even the most powerful of oni to do your bidding, for the threat of combat with you is great.
Requires Cunning 4, Ghost Master When interacting with spirits, you have the ability to engage them in physical confrontation with much greater ability. Building on the bonuses from Ghost Master, all of your attacks deal +2 damage, and you may grab spirits at close range. Your attacks ignore AR on manifest spirits. Additionally, this prowess translates into a +1D bonus on all Intrigue tests versus spirits.

Flashing Blade Style II / Martial

You slip your blade into openings your foes leave you.
Requires Fighting 6, Flashing Blade Style I Whenever an opponent armed with a Fighting weapon attacks you and misses, you may make a Free Attack against him. This single attack occurs after their attack ends, but before a second Lesser Action could take place.

Flashing Blade Style III / Martial

Your blade becomes a hail of steel too devastating to ignore.
Requires Flashing Blade Style II As a Greater Action, you can sacrice all of your bonus dice to add your Agility rank to the damage of your strike. This damage adds to the total, after accounting for degrees of success. In addition, add the Vicious quality to your weapon for this strike.

Fighting Spirit I / Martial

Your training has sharpened your senses.
Requires Fighting 4 You may add your Fighting rank to all Awareness test results and to your passive Awareness result. When threatening violence as the consequence of an intrigue, you may add a +1 modier to a Persuasion test.

Fox-born* / Heritage
Your ancestry is intertwined with the spirit world. One of your parents was spirit-touched, or a spirit themselves.
Before engaging in an Intrigue with a Spirit or Demon, your Status counts as one rank higher for

Fighting Spirit II / Martial

Your battle spirit has become amazingly sharp.
Requires Fighting 5, Fighting Spirit I

Character
the purposes of inuencing a target without fully engaging in an intrigue. In addition, whenever you test Persuasion to secure a Service, you add +2 to the test results. Finally, you have a Spirit Armor rating one higher than normal and do +1 damage to spirits when facing them in combat. When interacting physically with a spirit being, you may use your physical abilities, and may gain damage bonuses from Fighting weapons. Armor and other sorts of objects have no effect unless of a blessed, or mystical nature. The caveat is that you only retain damage bonuses from weapons that remain in your hands, so thrown weapons are harmless to spirits, even if thrown by a Spirit Talker. Charm paper, and other tools of the trade of an Onmyouji or Priest are not considered weapons and should be liberally described as the character pursues their craft or conducts combat against spirit beings. Charm paper thrown by a Spirit Talker always interacts with spirits and serves as the anchor for their power. In the special case of a sealed spirit, it is impossible to see the spirit, but its voice can be heard if near the object or location that binds it. This means that while a powerful ancestor that was sealed away in a mystic battle could be advantageous to free using the Summoner Quality, there is no way to know it is your ancestor and not an Oni simply wishing to regain its freedom and perhaps take revenge on the humans who imprisoned it. Lastly, a Spirit Talker may take spirit companions as well as human companions with the Cohort Quality.

Ghost Master* / Fate

Kami must respect your desires and obey your commands.
Requires Will 3 (Dedication 1B), Spirit Talker You may make appeals with spiritual force to compel spirits. You may engage in Intrigues with spirits to reasonably compel actions from them, see Spirit Talker. The character has gained a compelling aura and is considered a threat to spirits. You may add your Dedication Specialty to the test results of all Intrigues made against spirits. When engaging in a physical interaction with a spirit, you may use your Cunning Ability instead of Fighting or Marksmanship, your Will plus Dedication is treated as an Armor Rating, and your attacks do damage equal to your Knowledge rank. If comparing "strength" with a Spirit, you may use your Will (Dedication) instead of Athletics (Strength). If you possess the Knowledge Focus (Occult) quality, your attacks deal extra damage equal to your Education bonus dice.

Summoner* / Fate
You can awaken the sleeping spirits of physical objects, tsukumogami, or call spirits, kami, or demons, oni, of all types to audience with you.

Spirit Talker* / Fate

You have the spark necessary to see, hear, and communicate with kami. This is a basic skill of Onmyoudou and the Shinto religion.

The character can clearly see spirits and demons, and communicate or interact with them. In general, a spirit talker does not have to acknowledge every spirit he sees, as they exist everywhere. Rather, when a spirit is causing problems, or he seeks a favor, he will specically interact with a spirit. With a Will check versus Routine Difculty, the spirit talker can choose to ignore spirits. This means that he is still aware of their presence, but he no longer sees or hears them clearly. This is normally handled with a Routine Success, but if agitated, distracted or otherwise disturbed it is considered a Pressure test.

Requires Knowledge 4 (Education 2B), Spirit Talker By making a Knowledge test versus the desired spirit type's Passive Will result, you can attract the nearest spirit of a certain type to your location. This can be as specic as a benevolent gaki of a particular form without a specic name. Names are required to summon a ghost, as a dead person has a funeral name given to them during the funeral. Dead who were never granted proper funeral rights must be summoned based on their name in life which introduces uncertainty for all those who were not nobility, (or otherwise recognized with a specic name or nickname). Attracted spirits come at a pace corresponding to the Degree of Success achieved, a marginal

Character
success results in the spirit wandering in your direction at a normal pace, while an Incredible Success would cause the spirit to move at its greatest possible speed to you. If the summoning is successful, you know how far away the spirit is, and can roughly gauge how long it will take to see it (seconds, minutes, hours, days). Tsukumogami have a Will rank equal to the Cunning of the craftsman who created the object. Awakened tsukumogami do not automatically return to a sleeping state. Quickness to resolve the tie. At the end of your action, you have the option of sheathing your sword as a Free Action.

Sword Drawing Style III / Martial

You are so fast on the draw that you may draw, strike, and sheath your blade in the time it takes others to perform an attack.

Summoning Sealed Spirits

Some spirits are sealed, and to break the seal and summon the spirit, a Will (Dedication) test must be made against the Will (Dedicaton) passive result of the person who sealed the spirit to begin with). In this case, no Knowledge test is required to break the seal, but the object or location where it is sealed must be present. Making the Knowledge test gives a rough direction to the sealed item or location.

Requires Fighting 6, Sword Drawing Style II You may sacrice all of your bonus dice to gain a Free Attack when drawing your weapon and striking in one movement. This Free Attack may be against the same target as your primary attack, or a nearby target, but must be made without the benet of bonus dice as well. At the end of your action, you have the option of sheathing your sword as a Free Action.

Sword Drawing Style I / Martial

You can draw your blade and attack in one uid motion, also known as Battoujutsu or Iajutsu.
Requires Fighting 4( Long Blades 2B) When your sword is sheathed, you may draw it as a Free Action. Add your Agility rank to the Fighting test result of your rst strike on an opponent, due to the surprising speed of your blade. If your rst strike on an opponent is part of a Divided Attack, your Agility rank must be split as equally as possible against each target, even if one of the targets was previously attacked by you and the bonus would not normally apply.

Sword Drawing Style II / Martial

You can draw and attack so quickly that assailants are cut down before they can strike you.

Requires Fighting 5, Sword Drawing Style I When attacked by an opponent with a Fighting weapon when your own sword is sheathed, you may as a Greater Action, sacrice all of your bonus dice to interrupt that opponent and strike rst as a normal attack. If both you and the opponent possess this quality you must compare bonus dice from

Character

Character

Genre Considerations

Genre Considerations

Defeat & Consequences

Death, Maimed, Ransom, and Unconscious are the same as in the core rules. Take the Black is replaced with Monkly Banishment. There is also a new Consequence: Honorable Death.

continue their activities using this new opportunity. The case in which this would be considered a desired option for an opponent who is not a warrior, is when spilling their blood would provide too much stain on the victor's honor, such as killing the Emperor.

Honorable Death
This refers to ritual suicide, known as seppuku or harikiri. To succeed at a ritual suicide is to use a short blade, commonly your wakizashi for a samurai, to stab into your own abdomen, turn the blade and cut across so as to disembowel yourself. When performed with a second, this is very painful but ends quickly when the second separates your character's head from his body. To succeed at ritual suicide, one must make a Will (Courage) test versus a Difculty of Formidable for a warrior, or Hard for a non-warrior. To simply kill oneself in a less agonizing way does not require a Will test. In certain cases, any form of suicide is considered honorable, such as avoiding capture for ransom, or maintaining purity in the face of worse fates. An opponent may only select Honorable Death for an important adversary who has been conquered through warfare and captured, or an opponent who has publicly committed an action that stains their own honor. If you have time or opportunity, you may select this consequence yourself if you would otherwise be ransomed.

Why cant I play....

Observant readers may have noticed that there are no provisions to play foreign characters, ninja, or spirit beings. Foreigners are not well treated by the Japanese during the Pre-Shogunate and Shogunate Eras, which this handbook assumes are the time periods your game is set in. The rare foreign dignitary may be given a tour, humored, or just treated as a curiosity, but that same foreigner is one very minor misunderstanding away from being killed by a random samurai. In some periods, foreigners were ordered to be killed on sight. So the romance of Shogun and the Last Samurai aside, it wouldnt be fun to be the red headed giant who has to remain quiet during all the intrigue scenes, and is always being harassed. Whether you accept the existence of ninja in your campaign or not, ninja in a historically inuenced game are not romantic or heroic characters. They are given orders, disappear for a while, and come back with information or reports of dead enemies. They are effectively plot devices and adversaries. For every action packed inltration or ght scene for a PC ninja, there would be ten boring ones due to the characters deep cover as a peasant. That said, its your campaign, if you go ahead and include them as PC archetypes, I suggest the All Ninja option or the Lone Ninja option. On the subject of player character spirits and demons, the nature of the rules provides detail on a human level, and allows sufcient hand-waving to allow spirits to function somewhat as depicted in myth. To properly allow a full-blown Fox, Oni, or Ancestor Spirit would require subsystems to be created just for that. Maybe someday, but this initial handbook is centered on humans, only.

Monkly Banishment
In rare instances, your opponent may demand that you give up life as a warrior, and become a priest of a local religion. Without spending a destiny point, the only alternative to this consequence is to choose Honorable Death. For many, this is a fate worse than death, as it is sometimes seen as a form of cowardice, and releases the character from all ties of servitude, family and any right of inheritance for the character and his heirs. The character is likewise stripped of status (down to 2) and wealth. Characters who are attempting to simply avoid death may choose this consequence disingenuously. These characters are still stripped of status and wealth, but instead of seeking a new religious life they seek revenge, or to

Equipment & Daily Life

Equipment & Daily Life

Equipment & Daily Life

Weapon Blowpipe Bokken Daikyu Gunsen or Tessen Hankyu Jitte or Sai Jo Kama Kodachi Konsaibo Kusari Kusarigama (Axe) Kusarigama (Sickle) Manriki-Gusari Naginata Nekode Nunchaku Shuriken Tetsubo Tonfa Specialty Blowpipe Long Blade Bow Bludgeon Bow Short Blade Bludgeon Axes Long Blade Bludgeon Chains Axes Chains Chains Pole-Arm Brawling Brawling Thrown Bludgeon Brawling Training 1B 0 1B 0 1B 1B 0 1B 0 0 1B 1B 2B 1B 1B 1B 2B 1B 0 1B Damage Agility -2 Athletics Agility +2 Athletics -2 Agility -1 Athletics Athletics -1 Athletics -1 Athletics -1 Athletics +1 Agility -2 Athletics -1 Agility Agility -1 Athletics +2 Athletics -2 Agility +1 Agility -2 Athletics +2 Agility Qualities Close Range, Poisoned, Slow Adaptable, Reach 1 Long Range, Mounted, Piecing 1, Two-Handed Defensive +1, Off-hand +1, Reach 0 Long Range, Two-Handed Defensive +2, Off-hand +1, Reach 0 Fast, Off-hand +1, Reach 1 Off-hand +1, Reach 0 Reach 1 Fast, Two-Handed, Reach 2 Reach 1 Reach 0 Entangling, Reach 3 Entangling, Reach 2 Two-Handed, Reach 2 Off-hand +1, Reach 0 Fast, Two-handed, Unwieldy, Reach 1 Close Range, Fast Bulk 1, Powerful, Shattering 2, Slow, TwoHanded, Reach 2 Defensive +2, Off-hand +1, Reach 1

Weapons
To convert weapon statistics for non-advanced reach, treat all weapons without Reach of 2 or more as not having the Reach quality. Samurai, the warrior nobility, view axes as tools, although some weapons still use that skill. Someone could specialize in their use, but ono are rare and often

associated with warrior monks. Consequently, anybody who is not a monk using an axe as a weapon, particularly as a main weapon, will be considered a savage. A new Fighting specialty for chains and blowpipes exists. Lastly, samurai use Daikyu, or Yumi, and practice zen archery (aiming is frowned upon), while dishonorable types such as bandits and

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Equipment & Daily Life

ninja prefer Hankyu. Hunting Bows are sometimes, though rarely, supplied to foot soldiers in armies and castle guards, which is one of the few legitimate uses of bows outside of the Daikyu. Warriors view specic weapons as part of their soul. This is the daisho, a set of katana and wakizashi, presented to a samurai by his family or lord, or the Yumi. To touch one of these weapons without permission is very rude, on the order of committing adultery or worse. Samurai treat these weapons with such reverence that a sword will not be lightly abandoned for a different sword. Theft of a daisho or simply the katana is the worst affront that could be visited on the samurai and retaliation will be immediate, swift and all consuming. Weapons that remain the same from the SIFRP book and are available are the Battleaxe (Ono), Woodsman's Axe (Masakiri), Quarterstaff (Bo), Club (Keibo), Fist, Improvised, Knife, Bastard Sword (Katana), Greatsword (Nodachi), Long Sword (NinjaTo, Tachi), Dagger (Wakizashi), Dirk (Tanto) and the Spear (Yari) practice swords made of bamboo are called shinai and have the same statistics, with one less damage.

Daikyu
The Daikyu, or Yumi, is a large recurved bow favored by samurai archers that is easily as tall if not taller than its adult owner. It is a hunting or war weapon with a much larger bend along the top part of the weapon. Treasured by archers, Daikyu are not to be touched by people other than their owners.

Gunsen
The war fan, the gunsen, is a collapsible fan with metal construction instead of wood and fabric. Some even feature sharpened tips. The fans primary purpose is to signal orders on a battleeld, but were sometimes used to fend off blows or strike as a club when necessary. Also called a tessen. Outside of battle gunsen were primarily used to cool the owner, while tessen were more often used as weapons.

Hankyu
The Hankyu is a hunting bow, and when used by peasants and non-samurai that is its only lawful purpose. That said, bandits and assassins often favor this bow to the Daikyu primarily because it is easier to use, and easier to hide.

Weapon Descriptions
Arrows
Japanese use three types of arrows for war, the yanagiba, or willow leaf arrow, is the normal type. The togariya, or sharp arrow, provides Piercing +1, as it is designed to punch through armor. The watakushi, or bowel raker, is barbed to cut up an enemy's vitals as much as possible, and has the Impale trait and is treated as having Impaled the target on any hit that deals damage.

Jitte
Jitte are sword catchers carried by magistrates and detectives, short metal prongs with strong angular handguards. Jitte are actually blunt, not sharp, but their usage most closely matches the use of a short blade, or pair of short blades, thus that Specialty is listed instead of bludgeon. If a character who carries a staff also picks up the jitte or sai, the Narrator can choose to allow the bludgeon specialty to work with them.

Blowgun
Blowguns are assassins weapons. They are always poisoned, and considered cowardly choices for a warrior. Even using knock-out poison is considered a cowardly exploit, so the weapon is included here primarily for NPC adversaries to use.

J o
The jo is a baton made of wood, often wielded in pairs. It is used primarily by peasants for selfdefense.

Bokken
The bokken is a practice sword, made of hard wood. They are used by warriors who desire to duel but do not wish to risk a life-ending injury. That said, they are not risk free, as a bokken can break joints, crush ribs or smash skulls. Less lethal

Kama
The kama is a sickle constructed as a straight or curved blade, sharpened on the inside attached to a wooden haft. It is a farming implement, but

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Equipment & Daily Life

assassins and bandits have appropriated it as a weapon.

Kodachi
The kodachi, or short sword, is often the same length as a wakizashi but with a decent amount of curve. This sword is short enough that merchants are allowed to wear it for self-defense.

wrap around the hand of the wearer to place the claws below the palms. The plate is often strapped to the hands of the wearer, and they provide a +3 modier when used for Atheltics (Climbing) tests.

Nunchaku
Nunchaku are pairs of batons attached to each other by a length of chain or rope. They were invented by monks, but adopted by some peasants as means of self-defense.

Konsaibo
The konsaibo is a weighted staff, more obviously a weapon than the bo, and less massive and dangerous than a tetsubo.

Sai
Sai are sword catchers, prongs with double handguards forming a fork or trident tip shape. Like Jitte they can be used with the bludgeon specialty.

Kusari
The kusari, also called the kusari-fundo, is a weighted chain, often no longer than 30 inches in total, used as a weapon. This weapon was rumored to be invent for use by guards at the Imperial Palace to prevent bloodshed on hallowed ground when defeating attackers.

Shuriken
Shuriken are assassins weapons meant to confound opponents. They come in two varieties: throwing stars and needles. Shuriken are always sharpened and often coated with poison. Needle shuriken have often been used with blowguns.

Kusari-Gama
The kusari-gama is a chain weapon with a weighted ball on one end, and a kama, or sickle, on the other. Most of these are deliberately manufactured by assassins, as they have no perceivable honorable usage. Because of its disparate parts, the kusari-gama may be used from strike to strike as an axe or a chain weapon.

Uchiwa
Uchiwa are also war fans. They differ from the gunsen in that they are not collapsible and meant to be placed in ones kimono sash, but are instead large metal plates vaguely resembling clover plants with a handle. They are painted differently on both sides so that they may be used to signal orders.

Manriki-Gusari
A manriki-gusari is a long chain weapon with weighted ends. With a length as long as 10 feet, the range of possible opponents is very good. As it can be used to ensnare, maim or kill an opponent without shedding blood, it is again a weapon employed primarily in protecting hallowed ground.

Tetsubo
The tetsubo, or war club, is a large unwieldy monstrosity of wood and spiked metal strips.

T onfa
Tonfa are batons with handles at right angles roughly one third from one end. Designed by peasants for self-defense, tonfa are originally okinawan in origin. They are unmistakably weapons, but often overlooked by samurai as a necessary aunting of the spirit of the law.

Naginata
Naginata are long blades on long wooden hafts, resembling a katana with a three and a half foot haft. Used exclusively by the samurai class, the naginata is popular with female bushi.

Nekode
Nekode are climbing claws employed by thieves and assassins, but these devices were sometimes employed as weapons by the desperate. They resemble plates with claws on the underside that

Weapon Grades
All samurai weapons are of great quality when compared to those available to peasants, but only the katana, the wakizashi, and the daikyu are likely to be made by artisan craftsmen and have Superior or Extraordinary weapon grades. Peasant crafts can

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Equipment & Daily Life

create Common Grade weapons, but aside from rich merchants, samurai and conscripted troops, it is unlikely anybody would have them. Most peasant weapons, most of which are hastily created from farming implements, are Poor Grade weapons. If a weapon is constructed entirely or primarily out of wood, then Common and even Superior Grade weapons are more available to non-samurai and merchants.

Heavy Breastplate
This suit of armor is the full breastplate with shoulder guards, helmet and lower leg guards. It is worn by well outtted foot soldiers.

Partial Armor
Partial Armor is the standard image of samurai armor, consisting of a breastplate, helm, shoulder and hip guards, fore-arm and lower-leg guards. It is worn only by samurai, particularly those who favor freedom of movement in a large battle.

Armor
Japanese battle armor, or Yoroi, is made of lacquered layered plates of leather or metal. Ashigaru, footmen, often wear breastplates with shoulder guards, helmets, and occasionally lowerleg armor or fore-arm armor. Samurai can wear anything from this to full yoroi including a helmet with a metal face mask. Shields are used to avoid missile re, particularly when sieging a castle, but not for melee combat. This means that Large Shields are available, but they have the AR of wood. Stationary shields with similar size to Tower Shields can be found on a battleeld serving as free standing cover. Neither type would see much use in an adventuring party. Besides Battle Armor, Clothing, Robes, Soft
Armor Light Breastplate Heavy Breastplate Partial Armor Full Armor AR 3 4 7 9 Penalty -2 -2 -3 -4 Bulk 1 2 2 3 Weight 25 lbs. 30 lbs. 45 lbs. 60 lbs.

Full Armor
Full Armor is the full battle armor set, including a metal face mask and intricate layers of plate that must be laboriously tied into position. It is worn most often by generals and lords, but any samurai with the means can wear it into battle. Outside of a battle situation, no one would wear this armor as it would be impractical. More than any other suit of armor, this one must be sized to t its wearer.

Leather, and Hide armor exist in the setting as well. As a special note, Leather and Hide are not worn by anyone but the lowest classes, as to wear animal esh pollutes the wearer in the shinto religion. The following entries are specic to Nihon.

Light Breastplate
This suit of armor is little more than a breastplate and a helm. It is worn by the poorest outtted foot soldiers.

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Equipment & Daily Life

14

Section Name

The Supernatural World

The Supernatural World

Mythic Cosmology
The supernatural world of Nihon is one combining a reverent respect for the spiritual and a constant battle between taint and purity. There are spirits, or kami, in every piece of the landscape and in every object. Dead people become kami, and improperly revered kami become monsters. Thus, families go to great lengths to honor their ancestors. It is sufciently complex in terms of beliefs that it is simplest to model the world as follows: the world of mythic feudal Nihon is an animist one, with the leaders of the Empire being descended from the kami of the sun, known as Amaterasu. Those descendants are the primary priests in the country, and the lords and common folk do their best to follow a path of maintaining purity, or undergoing purication rites in order to follow this divine will. Least kami are the spirits that inhabit objects, small areas such as hearths, and ancestor spirits in gentle repose. Least kami cannot manifest without being summoned by a human, but they can still affect the world in accordance with their Athletics ability or powers. Lesser kami are the common spirits that inhabit the world, they make up the majority of monsters and include fox spirits (kitsune), unquiet dead (gaki or hannya), kami of groves, and haunted castles. Lesser oni are the powerful monsters, technically demons, they are not exactly natural and originate in the underworld. This includes powerful monsters such as goblins (tengu). Greater oni are the most powerful demons, creatures that only heroes can defeat and often lose their lives in the process of accomplishing the deed. Great kami are the most powerful spirits in existence, holding the status of gods. Spirits of the Mountain, a large Lake, and dragons are examples of greater kami.

Spirits that do not care for humans may modify their starting Disposition by -1 or -2 steps. As spirits often do not have the Persuasion or Deceit abilities, they substitute Will instead. Consequently, spirits that are not the remnants of dead humans are often quite honorable, not having the capacity to deceive. Demons are often nothing but deceptive, but there are honorable demons. Knowing your target is a great help in determining the true success of a potential intrigue or combat. Achieving success in a simple intrigue is usually enough to coerce a neutral spirit to leave an area, stop pestering people or provide useful information. A standard intrigue is required to placate an angry or vengeful spirit. Benevolent spirits are often placated for long periods of time, while malicious ones often return to cause trouble within a few months or following the rst insult they perceive to their person afterwards. Because of their place in the celestial order it is often required to use a standard intrigue to attempt to compel an oni or any Great Kami. Attempting to perform a Sealed result via a standard Intrigue is possible, but requires an objective of Service, and the Intimidate technique. Sealing a spirit is not something that endears one to them, but sometimes is a necessary act. In this case,

Defeating Spirits and Demons

The consequences for defeating a spirit are slightly different than for defeating a human. Death is replaced with Destruction, Ransom is replaced with Sealed, Unconscious can last for days or weeks instead of hours, and even spirits can be Maimed if the opponent is lucky or strong enough. In terms of effects, destruction is total dissolution of the being, yet certain powerful spirits and demons may come back, or be brought back by other spirits or humans. Sealed is a condition of imprisonment, in which the spirit can sense what is going on around it, even see the events of the world, but can not affect anything, and may only speak to other spirits or Spirit Talkers. Only powerful spirits can free a Sealed spirit, and few would bother.

Interactions with Spirits

Any character with the Spirit Talker Quality may initiate intrigues to attempt to coerce or placate spirits, without other Qualities he holds no respect in their eyes and is just a curiosity.

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the spirit is so cowed that it meekly submits to the sealing ritual which causes it to be locked inside a vessel (for least or lesser kami), or a locked location (for anything greater). The sealing object or location must have an empty space prior to sealing and be closable. Great Kami can choose to hide themselves inside objects, but cannot be sealed within them. This is the manner in which the Onmyouji commands the supernatural, spirits do his bidding through hidden negotiations. When he does battle with spirits, his spirit aura is his weapon. Feel free to describe heightened natural phenomena, or even colored auras and magic while the Onmyouji does his work, but mundane humans often dont see nonmanifest spirits or magical effects unless the confrontation is high level.

Glossary of Terms
Kannushi
Kannushi, or god master, is the term for a shinto priest while Miko is the term for a priestess. In addition to serving as a medium between the kami and the people, kannushi maintain shrines, and lead worship rites for the kami they commune with.

Mahou
Literally magic, is the practice of twisting kami into hurtful creatures for the purpose of fullling the practitioners wishes. In terms of effects it focuses on curses and summoning.

Mahoutsukai
Practitioner of Mahou. A mahoutsukai has the connotations of being a witch.

Onmyoudou
Mystical Cosmology combining natural science with animist philosophy. In terms of effects it focuses on exorcism and divination.

Onmyuouji
Practitioner of Onmyoudou. Has the connotations of being a sage or wizard.

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Bestiary