Quote from: Batjon on October 07, 2024, 09:04:41 PMI suggest subbing and watching the YouTube channel The Shogunate.

I had seen some of their videos a while ago. A little disappointing to check back in with them and see them indulging the Yasuke/Afro-Samurai myth, but that hardly invalidates the channel.

Quote from: Lynn on October 06, 2024, 01:23:58 AMThere's a channel on Youtube called "Samurai vs Ninja" that has a bunch of movies and samurai dramas from Japan. Some of them can be a little too cozy or cute but there are plenty that pull no punches.

Adding it to the list!

Quote from: jeff37923 on October 06, 2024, 09:10:17 PMLinfamy is pretty good, but covers a lot of different eras.

I saw them in the featured list on The Shogunate's channel, but didn't know what they were about. Will give them the old looksee.

Quote from: Lurker on October 07, 2024, 08:25:42 PMI would say, you need to define (or talk to your players so you all define together) what the focus will be. Is it street level samurai / ronin / ninja / yakoza adventure play or is it high social level political intrigue "Shogun" type game. Both could be FUN and both would fit Japan /Samurai but both are very different animals !

I would definitely be going street level. The idea I'm batting around at the moment is a sort of Samurai version of the Hateful 8. A bunch of characters get snowed in at some kind of inn or temple in the mountains, and they all have their own competing interests and goals to try and get done before the weather clears. I love those kind of "bottle episode" premises for one-offs, and I figure it's a good excuse to throw all levels of Japanese society together and have them plausibly interact on somewhat equal terms. The tone I'd be going for would be somewhere between Lone Wolf and Cub and Samurai Champloo.

Quote from: weirdguy564 on October 08, 2024, 09:28:30 PMHere are the Kogarashi and Chanbara character sheets...

Thanks for those. Yeah, Kogarashi looks very much like the level of rules-weight I'd be looking at for this type of game. I'll definitely pick it up. Guess that means I might have to get off my ass and learn how to run games on Foundry.

Quote from: Persimmon on October 08, 2024, 10:39:41 PMIf you want recs on more academic sources on Japan, PM me and I can send you some of my syllabi with lists of readings I use for my college classes.

Thank you! I absolutely will.

It looks like you have some good options already, but I've been wanting to play Bushido lately, so I thought I'd mention it. Not rules lite though.

Kogarashi has a few other things to make it a worthwhile purchase.

It's got a mission generator.  Well, more like a list of 36 mission ideas.  Just roll a 1D6 twice for the first and second digits, from 11 to 66.

The game has solo play rules.  You can play-test it alone if you want to see how the game operates.  This includes an "oracle" page that can answer 15 different types of questions.  Things like how friendly an NPC is, or what direction something is.  Even during normal play with a group, sometimes a GM can get stuck. Use the oracle page to get ideas. 

Great art.  I think it's AI generated, but it looks fantastic. 

Quote from: weirdguy564 on October 16, 2024, 07:52:03 PMKogarashi has a few other things to make it a worthwhile purchase.

It's got a mission generator.  Well, more like a list of 36 mission ideas.  Just roll a 1D6 twice for the first and second digits, from 11 to 66.

The game has solo play rules.  You can play-test it alone if you want to see how the game operates.  This includes an "oracle" page that can answer 15 different types of questions.  Things like how friendly an NPC is, or what direction something is.  Even during normal play with a group, sometimes a GM can get stuck. Use the oracle page to get ideas. 

Great art.  I think it's AI generated, but it looks fantastic. 

Just picked it up, so I'll be reading it over in the next few days. I agree the art looks AI, but I do like that black and white Ink style.

Quote from: ForgottenF on October 05, 2024, 04:47:28 PMSecond, what would you recommend for a good  simple Chanbara gaming system? I'd be prioritizing a low barrier to entry, since I'd probably be running a short campaign for a bunch of novices. It wouldn't make sense to go with anything that takes a lot of reading to learn. Optimally I'd want the kind of game where I can make pre-generated characters and explain the basics of how to play during the game.

Daisho: Samurai Adventure 1 page of rules you can't get much lower than that.