Just got this little baby here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KxL1IDs64ks&playnext=1&videos=ht4LuvAYxWA), and would like to know what rules are there for the fcking amazing 1 on 1 duels we see on japanese samurai midia, from old toshiro mifune movies, to samurai x anime, to the videogames Bushido Blade and Kengo, where you stance and posture are factored in the rolls, etc.
I was thinking in somthing along the lines of The Riddle of Steel but for kenjutsu, where you would have different schools - Itto Ryu, Tenshin Shinto-Ryu, etc - each providing different techniques, strongs and weakness, and so on. But alas, I dont really know TRoS very well (just read about it), so maybe there are better rules out there.
THanks!
You could look up Legend of the Five Rings.
In it, samurai take turns in a duel either focusing or striking. A character gets to go first if he is more skilled, and can focus a maximum number of times based on his skill. Every time a samurai focuses, the difficulty of the first strike in the duel goes up. If he declares a strike, his opponent gets to strike first. If you survive your opponent's first shot, you get to make an attack at the next lowest difficulty. If both people survive the drawing cuts, it turns into a normal sword fight. There are tons of powers in the game that deal with it.
I'm going to second L5R here. Iaijitsu duels are one of the core concepts of the game's combat mechanic. And it translates really well into normal Kenjitsu sword work.
The new 4th Edition just came out. It is rather good.
The Riddle of Steel has one of the most interesting combat systems in the history of RPGs. The supplement The Flower of Battle includes rules for kenjutsu and creating different fighting schools (not just for kenjutsu). Unfortunately, it's out of print and not easy to find.
That said, my favorite chanbara RPG is no doubt Usagi Yojimbo (the Sanguine version). Like in TROS, it has rules for schools, every one with their secret techniques, and the combat rules depict perfectly chanbara duels; the fighters standing serenely followed by an explosion of madness. It also includes rules for iaijutsu, parrying arrows, focusing, etc.
I own Legend of the Five Rings, and frankly I didn't like it that much. It's not a bad game, but in my opinion it's not a good game for chanbara. It's rather its own thing.
Thanks for the input, guys.
Ive read about L5R and, while I find its setting not to my taste, I havent seen the combat system. I will take a look at it.
Claudius, these Yojimbo rules seem interesting, could you resume it a bit?
Sorry Silva for not answering yet, I'm a little busy. When I have some free time, I'll write a few lines about how combat in Usagi Yojimbo works.
OK, I'm back.
I'm not going to explain all the combat system, it's too much, but I'll explain some little rules that support what I said in an earlier post.
1-Counterattacks. When somebody attacks you, you can counterattack. The attacker rolls their dice, the counterattacker rolls theirs, and if the counterattacker gets a better roll, the attacker is the one who will get wounded.
2-Focus. Instead of attacking or doing something else, you can choose to get Focus. Focus allows you, for example, to use special abilities (Gifts), or to interrupt the actions of other people. Yes, if someone attacks you, and you're Focused, you can spend Focus to attack him before he attacks you, even if it's not your turn to attack.
If you combine both Focus and Counterattacks, it means you can have killed two enemies even before it's your turn to act. And there are some weapons and Gifts that give you more than one Counterattack. For me that screams chanbara like no other thing.