Stuff to be done:
Fix a couple typos.
Dragons won't breath fire. Might buff them even more.
Yokai will be able to assume material form, but will become vulnerable if they do.
Either rename white wizard or just delete it. I'm not sure it really fits with old Japan. Maybe it does.
Maybe change Totem Animal to Shinigami (and tweak it a bit), instead of having Shinigami as a spell. Not sure about this.
Give a synopsis of Bushido.
Make a disadvantage of Peasant.
In Samurai Roles, give a brief synopsis of the duties and powers of a samurai, especially with regard to social standing.
Add in some encouter tables.
More info on each city and Family.

Id make some adjustments to Kitsune and Tanuki. They are both real live creatures with folklorish magical gifts and intelligence.

You might find this a useful site for Shinto and building a magic system.

Hello!
I'm not too familiar with the D6 system, so I'll just throw in a few thoughts regarding the background. I realize you are shooting for a L5R-type "Fantasy Japan" thing, so if any of these considerations - based on historical Japan - aren't for you, that's alright of course.

- Instead of "tael" you should use "ryô". It's the same thing (a measurement for weight, which is also used for currency) and even the same Chinese character but "ryô" is the Japanese pronounciation.
- A "Daimyô" is really more of a major feudal lord (and mostly a historiographical term) and not just any head of a family. A term for a lesser lord could be "kokujin".
- In addition to Shintô (Kami worship) you may want to incorporate Buddhism in its various sects (Zen being quite famous for its association with Samurai) as well. Which leads me to:
- If you are looking to replace "White Wizard", you could maybe use "Buddhist vows", which include no killing, no whoring, no drinking, no stealing, no lying.

Thanks for the input, everyone!

Were Shinto Priests largely pacifist? If so, I might rename White Wizard to that.

I have no idea how to make that funny o, but I could just go with ryo.

I'm using Daimyo because the heads of each Family are great lords. Pretty much it will be Emperor, the Five Daimyo, then everyone else.

Quote from: danbuter;730060Were Shinto Priests largely pacifist? If so, I might rename White Wizard to that.

Not as such, but Shintoism is very concerned with spiritual purity and pollution, and contact with death is one of the most spiritually polluting things - so in effect, you could make the case for a Shinto priest being the equivalent of the 'White wizard'.

But I would think it a good idea to add some information about Buddhism in any case. What we think of as Japanese culture really isn't complete without it.

QuoteI have no idea how to make that funny o, but I could just go with ryo.

That "funny o" just signifies the long vowel sound in Western transcription, you can just use the standard "o" instead. Daimyô, Tôkyô and Shôgun are typically transcribed as simply Daimyo, Tokyo and Shogun, after all, so "ryo" is fine as well.

QuoteI'm using Daimyo because the heads of each Family are great lords. Pretty much it will be Emperor, the Five Daimyo, then everyone else.

Ah, I see.

If you are interested in some further reading on the topic, I'd recommend Sengoku Revised Edition or maybe Sengoku Diceless. Even if you have no use for the game system, the background information is probably the best you can get outside of cobbling it together from numerous scholarly works.

I did a little research, and I'm going with the common Tokugawa Era coins: gold koban, silver ichibuban and bronze mon.

Not really sure I want to delve into Buddhism, as this really isn't Earth.

Koban and Ryô are basically the same thing (more or less) so that works too.

The problem is that Buddhism (in its specific Japanese forms) is so central to medieval and early modern Japanese society that it is basically impossible to omit. And it's very central to popular fiction depictions of the period as well: From Ninja disguised as wandering priests to warrior-monks to women taking refuge in a nunnery - all of these concepts rely on Buddhism.
May I ask why you are reluctant to include it? I don't quite see the the "this ain't Earth" reasoning: Shintô is a real-world religion all the same.

Because it complicates the game for very little benefit. I'm only using kami because of magic and monsters.

The second draft is available here: http://home.comcast.net/~danbuter/BushiD6.docx. Also there is a slightly updated map here: http://home.comcast.net/~danbuter/BushiMap.png.

Please let me know what you think, and if you have any suggestions.

For final, I want to add in some encounter tables and probably some more perks.

Regarding Buddhism, I think I'm going to add it in, but as a neko religion. Of course, since the humans borrowed a ton of stuff from the neko, they added parts of this into their normal spirit worship.

The third and probably final draft is available here: http://home.comcast.net/~danbuter/BushiD6.docx.

The map is here: http://home.comcast.net/~danbuter/BushiMap.png.

I added some more monsters, encounter tables, and a couple pages of setting info. Thanks for checking it out, everyone.

Just a bump for people to see. Now that the game is basically "done", what do you all think of it?

Quote from: danbuter;719152http://sordnbord.blogspot.com/search/label/bushi

I'm working on a samurai game based on mini6. I will be incorporating a lot of Japanese stuff, with a healthy dose of monsters and magic and bits of Chinese influence (especially with magic and monsters).

The stuff on my blog is sort of a teaser. Some of it has already changed in my working document (especially weapons).

Any constructive criticism is appreciated.

Looks really solid.  Some suggestions:

I'd increase the Bo Staff, Sai, and Sumo bonuses from +1.  Probably to +1D to match the other bonuses.

Magic as a skill typically means it'll wind up being very powerful.

Quote from: mcbobbo;777358Looks really solid.  Some suggestions:

I'd increase the Bo Staff, Sai, and Sumo bonuses from +1.  Probably to +1D to match the other bonuses.

Magic as a skill typically means it'll wind up being very powerful.

Their stats are the same as they are in standard D6. Not sure I'd want to buff them.

I'm ok with magic being powerful. It can also fail horribly just when you really need it, if you roll badly.

I'd like to see it when you're done. The high water mark for me is still Bushido.