Resources for a Medieval Japanese inspired Game (R&R)

[JeffB]

I just got my Lulu print copy of Ruins & Ronin. I've had the PDF for a year, but never have been able to sit through and read it (as mentioned in that other thread- I HATE reading PDFs)

Anyhoo- absofreakingtotallutely inspired. Killer buy. I was never an owner of any of the Oriental stuff of days gone past: the original OA, Kara Tur in the Realms, the 3E OA, etc. I had the original Bushido print from FGU, but don't recall ever playing it. Just wasn't into it back then. R&R is def more Swords & Sorcery Medieval Japan vs. an accurate Historical depiction (and why I like it so much).

Can anyone reccomend some good material? Mostly setting and "theme" based> I don't mind some crunch like you'd get in typical setting book, but don't want a "splat" or something totally dealing with the socio-political aspects of ancient japan and how they made their armor or weapons or anything too "modern-esque ninja". Are the various OA books worth a buy? Anything else by other companies? Any help/steerage is appreciated!

 

[grodog]

Jeff, this might catch your eye: Daimyo of 1867

 

[Theo R Cwithin]

The Rokugan campaign setting book has an appendix with a list of "essential" reading. It's got the Legend of the Five Rings stuff listed, but more interesting for me is the list of non-gaming items: stories, films, novels, essays and the like about far-eastern history, mythology and so on. It's sort of an "Appendix N" for Oriental Adventures

Unfortunately, I don't have an electronic copy of this appendix. If you think this might be useful, I'll can type it up and post it here in the next two or three days.

 

[Yabanjin]

How ancient do you mean? If we're talking pre-Nara-Heian period, few of the things we think of as quintessentially Japanese existed then. I recommend reading about the Sengoku period, also called the "Warring States Period", as that's probably the most interesting period of Japanese history we have good records for. Most Japanese people consider the sengoku period and the Meiji Restoration as the two most interesting eras to make period pieces about.

The novel Shogun is set near the end of the Sengoku Period, and it's a semi-true account of an English ship's pilot who aids a fictionalized Tokugawa in uniting Japan under his banner. If you haven't read it, I'd say it's the best place to get your feet wet in Japanese history.

Also, if you haven't played the great strategy games by Koei, definitely pick one up. Nobunaga's Ambition (set in the Sengoku period) was released for almost every conceivable game system, although you'll probably want to try the PS2, Wii, DS, or PC versions.

Japanese castles are really cool, too. Here are some diagrams of Kumamoto-Jo (Kumamoto Castle), which was restored in the 70s. It was widely believed to be completely impregnable due to its uniquely thick, sloping stone walls. Kumamoto was also home to the legendary swordmaster Miyamoto Musashi while the castle was being built (around the turn of the 17th century), so it might be an interesting location if you're setting things in the Sengoku Period.

If you find an RPG sourcebook that deals with the Sengoku Period well, let me know, because most of the RPG books I've seen on Japanese stuff have been pretty poorly researched and lackluster. I guess the whole Orientalism thing is kind of fun from the outside, but L5R and the like strike me as really silly and full of western stereotypes, not to mention hilariously incorrect kanji. There are Japanese RPGs about the Sengoku Period, but I don't think any of them have been translated.

 

[JeffB]

Thanks for the replies folks-

I should make it clear I am looking for *gaming* resources, not historically accurate accounts. R&R is S&S gaming in a pseudo medieval japanese type setting. I suspect things like OA (all versions) KaraTur, Rokugan, etc are what I'm looking for, however I'm trying gauge their worth or find similar gaming books

 

[Ariosto]

1) Stan Sakai's Usagi Yojimbo comic book, about a ronin rabbit, is among the finest ever. There have been a spin-off video game and one or two RPGs, but I am not acquainted with them.

2) The movie Kwaidan is a must-see IMO!

3) Kwaidan is based on one of several excellent books on Japanese subjects by Lafcadio Hearn. He relates (among other things) stories going back to the Konjaku Monogotari-shu, which seems to have had only portions ever translated into English.

4) Jessica Amanda Salmonson's Tomoe Gozen trilogy -- Tomoe Gozen, The Golden Naginata, and Thousand Shrine Warrior -- may hit the spot. This saga of swords and sorcery is set in the land of Naipon, which bears a striking resemblance to old Japan but is not identical.

5) Sean Russell's The Initiate Brother and Gatherer of Clouds tell another epic set in a world more magical than ours.

6) If you can find and run the old computer game Cosmology of Kyoto, that is quite an experience!

7) The Nihongi, or Nihonshoki, would be hard slogging to read straight through, but one can dip into it for a taste of Japan up to A.D. 697 as it was seen by Japanese of the eighth century. It starts with a long chronicle of the Age of the Gods!

8) There are many old RPGs focusing on one period or another but admitting anachronisms along with other fantasy.

Bushido was 'the' chanbara samurai game of the 1980s, at least in my circle. It is still available in a single-book (not boxed set) edition from Fantasy Games Unlimited.

One of the more recent (but apparently out of print) offerings, Sengoku from Gold Rush Games, contains quite a bit of flavorful material in fairly digestible form.

Lee Gold, whose Land of the Rising Sun for FGU was considerably denser, wrote a lighter treatment in GURPS Japan.

 

[Ariosto]

If you find an RPG sourcebook that deals with the Sengoku Period well, let me know

Have you tried Sengoku, from Gold Rush Games? I found a copy at a used-book store. The Fuzion game system does not hold much appeal for me, but the book is packed with background material that looks pretty good to me.

 

[grodog]

I should make it clear I am looking for *gaming* resources, not historically accurate accounts. R&R is S&S gaming in a pseudo medieval japanese type setting. I suspect things like OA (all versions) KaraTur, Rokugan, etc are what I'm looking for, however I'm trying gauge their worth or find similar gaming books

Tadashi's book was reviewed recently at Grognardia, Jeff, if you're interested in more info/details: GROGNARDIA: REVIEW: Daimyo of 1867

 

[SKyOdin]

I would suggest the Tale of the Heike. It is an account of the Genpei War, the war between the Minamoto (the Genji) and Taira (the Heike) clans for control over Japan in the twelfth century. It is somewhat famous for having passed down the centuries by generations of blind storytellers. The story covers a notable point in history, since the leader of the victorious Minamoto clan, Minamoto no Yoritomo, became the first shogun of Japan.

Other than the Genpei war, the other major period I can recommend looking up is the aforementioned Sengoku period, which roughly lasted from the mid 15th century until the beginning of the 17th century. It is only in this general time period that most of the culture that people recognize as Japanese, such as tea ceremonies, began to appear. However, the Sengoku period takes place primarily in the Early Modern period of world history, and the Japanese had plenty of contact with western powers and readily used guns during this era. After the Sengoku period came the Edo period (aka, the Tokugawa shogunate) which was dominated by isolationism, peace, and merchant/middle class dominated culture where sword-wielding samurai played little role. Most of the rest of recognizable Japanese culture evolved during this period, such as Kabuki theatre.

As far as resources go, I would actually recommend playing a game such as Samurai Warriors. It is full of over-the-top action and is lacking in terms of historical accuracy, but it will at least familiarize you with some of the major daimyo of the Sengoku period and the depictions of them that have taken off in popular culture. For example, historical Hanzo Hattori was a vassal of Tokugawa Ieyasu who died of natural causes at the age of 55, while Pop-culture Hanzo Hittori was a ninja who died at the hands of rival ninja Fuma Kotaro.

I would strongly recommend that you avoid resources like Rokugan. Rokugan is a great example where it seems like someone threw together a bunch of random elements of Japanese culture and various western misinterpretations of Japanese culture together without really understanding anything about Japanese history or culture. As such, people in Rokugan seem to act in ways that make no logical sense. It really bugs me.

 

[Ariosto]

Rokugan is a great example where it seems like someone threw together a bunch of random elements of Japanese culture and various western misinterpretations of Japanese culture together...

... which (as I understand it) is what R&R does, and what JeffB is grooving on.

It is also what D&D (and most similar games) do with heaps of mainly occidental culture. Whether or not the game includes giant killer frogs and laser guns, fidelity to the real historical 12th century, or the 16th, is surely no more relevant than it is in (e.g.) the Forgotten Realms!