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[Tenra Bansho Zero] The Bloody Path of the Bride - Recruiting!
simonwolf
i can feel a differencetoday, a differenceRegistered User regular
i can feel a differencetoday, a differenceRegistered User regular
PRESENTS
In a small corner of the world of Tenra, the Anegakoji and the Katakura have been at war for decades. The war has cost the lives of countless men, destroyed rice fields, and brought no satisfaction to either side, only pain and suffering. The war has taken the life of Lord Anegakoji's son and heir. The war must end.
Lord Anegakoji is convinced of this, so much so that he has decided to sacrifice one of his most precious treasures - a kugutsu, a doll given life, and the epitomy of art in the world of Tenra. By sending this priceless treasure to be married to the young lord of the Katakura, Lord Kojuurou. Through this gift and gesture of good will, Lord Anegakoji hopes that the heart of his enemy will be softened, and that this bloody war will be brought to a final conclusion.
But there are always those who would wish to see the war go on. Neighbouring kingdoms fear a possible alliance between the two powerful nations. Bandits, vultures upon the dead and dying, are not so eager to see the realms exit chaos. Samurai and soldiers who have given their lives to hate cannot so easily let go of their swords. Even the Shinto Priesthood, inscrutable and hidden, have their own reasons to oppose the coming peace.
This will be a bloody bridal path.
- - - - - - - -
両方の勝利者
ryouhou no shourisha
そして征服されるある
soshite seifuku sareru aru
しかし露の低下、
shikashi tsuyu no teika,
しかし稲妻 従って
shikashi inazuma shitagatte
もし私達が世界を見れば
moshi watashitachi ga sekai o mireba
both the victor
and the vanquished are
but drops of dew,
but bolts of lightning -
thus should we view the world
- - - - - - - -
両方の勝利者
ryouhou no shourisha
そして征服されるある
soshite seifuku sareru aru
しかし露の低下、
shikashi tsuyu no teika,
しかし稲妻 従って
shikashi inazuma shitagatte
もし私達が世界を見れば
moshi watashitachi ga sekai o mireba
both the victor
and the vanquished are
but drops of dew,
but bolts of lightning -
thus should we view the world
- - - - - - - -
WHAT IS THIS
Tenra Bansho Zero is a role-playing game made in Japan and recently translated and released in English. It is set in a hyper-fantasy Japan, where magic and technology are intertwined, where giant armours piloted by unsullied children fight against spirit-empowered samurai warriors; where the war between the Southern and Northern Courts of the Shinto Priesthood is fought through endless manipulation and proxy; where onmyoujutsu summoners conjure spirits and annelidists learn the secrets of implanting insects in their own bodies.
It is a pretty great game!
The game itself is built as a narrative-first experience, with experience essentially being awarded through doing awesome things in-character, and for going along with suggestions that the GM might make. Checks for skills and attacks are all done through rolling d6s equal to the relevant stat and counting successes with the relevant skill.
If you are interested in the game, I highly recommend picking it up at any of your favourite roleplaying game retailers - the PDF is a scant $14 for around eight hundred pages of rules, art and really well-done setting material that gives you a wealth of adventures in the world of Tenra.
So with that in mind, let's cover what I'm looking for here!
WHAT'S THE SCENARIO
The players are the honour guard of the kugutsu being sent to wed Lord Kojuurou, and possibly the kugutsu themselves. They're being sent to make sure the bride arrives, and that the peace is secured between the two clans, so they're going to be well-regarded by the Lord. While Lord Anegakoji does not know of any specific trouble that might befall them, he is not going to send his most priceless treasure unprotected into what is still enemy territory.
The scenario has a lot of pre-written elements (many Tenra games do) including some setpieces, though there are plenty of opportunities for real player agency, do not worry.
If you're looking for a basic idea for a character, here's a few suggestions:
- a retired general called to service by Lord Anegakoji
- a shinobi bodyguard for the kugutsu
- the kugutsu themself, in all their beauty and pricelessness
- a mercenary who has proved his worth on the battlefield
I'm looking for four players, hopefully!
HOW ABOUT CHARACTER CREATION
Giving out the full details of character creation would be, unfortunately, essentially publishing the entire book for free online, so unlike with many of my other games, I can't do that. So there are two pathways you can go down if you want to play:
a) If you own the books, you can totally make your own character!
b) If you don't own the books, you can choose one of the pre-gen characters available on the Tenra website and re-tool it to be your own!
I gave an outline above for characters, but keep in mind that everyone is a known element within the Anegakoji clan's structure, and either trusted by the Lord Anegakoji himself, or well-regarded enough to be given such an important mission. No real room for outsiders, background-wise!
Pretty much anything is okay for this game, though I have a couple of notes on that:
- armours, kongohki and kijin wouldn't really work with the outline, so avoid them - but if you're really adamant, we can work something out, I suppose.
- Oni are neat, but using one in this scenario may be a little difficult.
- as mentioned elsewhere, if someone wants to play the kugutsu at the heart of the mission, that would be super fantastico.
- try not to get too attached to history and such for your dude during mechanical creation, as we'll work on that together both pre-game and in the Zero Act to figure some stuff out.
I HEARD THIS GAME HAS SOME FUNNY MECHANICS
The game is pretty solidly set in the structure of Japanese theatre, and has a heavier-set act/scene/intermission structure than a lot of role-playing games people are used to. These elements are all pretty important to the game, though, and should hopefully translate pretty easily! If you have any specific questions, though, please ask them so we can get shit in order.
Aiki, for one, will be something we can easily deal with - just declare OOC that you're giving someone an Aiki chit for something awesome they wrote in-character.
Here's a solid rules reference that contains pretty much every mechanical thing you need to know about the game, and a cheat sheet as well!
ANYTHING ELSE
If you want to make a character - either an original, or based off a pre-made - register your interest in the thread! I'll be accepting characters until I'm not anymore, maybe if there's enough interest I'll have to choose the cream of the crop.
I hope to explore this Tenra with you soon!
- - - - - - - -
うたゝ寐の
utatane no
うたゝ苦しき
utata kurushiki
夢さめて
yume samete
汗ふき居れば
ase fuki oreba
薔薇の花散る
bara no hana chiru
wakened by pain
from a dream of pain
I wipe the sweat
and rose petals
scatter
うたゝ寐の
utatane no
うたゝ苦しき
utata kurushiki
夢さめて
yume samete
汗ふき居れば
ase fuki oreba
薔薇の花散る
bara no hana chiru
wakened by pain
from a dream of pain
I wipe the sweat
and rose petals
scatter
simonwolf on
0
Posts
I'd definitely suggest just going with the full-made characters in the book. I've run the game over a hundred times, and with very few exceptions I stick pretty much to those characters, with the small note that sometimes I change a few small things around.
Shinobi pls!
edit: I'll mull over a concept or look over the ones in the book as suggested.
For anyone else still reading, Andy K (the translator of Tenra who somehow manages to appear whenever the game is mentioned online) is absolutely right - the pre-made characters are all great and rarely need to be mechanically altered, just re-flavoured to your individual taste.
There's also a rules quick sheet that I'll put up later today that gives a summary of all the game's main mechanics, if that has you worried as well!
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Are you planning to start a new thread for the game itself and leave this as the general Tenra discussion thread? Otherwise I was considering doing a discussion thread writeup with a bit more detail and links and all that jazz (I just notied this thread, so you sort of beat me to to getting some Tenra going here!)
Probably going to be running another, longer, scenario session in a couple of weeks too, which I am super excited about now that I have my copies of the books. That and I have some pretty incredible plans for one of my regular D&D groups to drop them into Tenra sometime in the near future...
To be honest, I'm not sure Tenra has captured enough attention to be given its own thread! At the moment, any discussion of the game would be better suited for the General Roleplaying Discussion thread, or perhaps even throwing together a Japanese TRPG thread, instead of focusing on Tenra in particular - considering that we now have a bundle of Japanese games being translated and released, an OP for that could actually contain a fair amount of information and topics for discussion.
I think part of the reason people might be wary about joining this is because they don't have the rules, and therefore think they can't make a character. Nothing could be further from the truth (though you should totally get the book, it's great)!
The character sheets and the rules reference linked in the OP contain everything you'll need to know in order to play the game. All you have to do (after reading and choosing a sheet) is post in here with:
- the sheet you've chosen
- an elevator pitch for your concept
- maybe a name and some other details
The sheets are designed to be super open to interpretation, so you can pretty much attach whatever you want to them in terms of flavour! One interpretation of the samurai sheet might be a young and headstrong warrior, eager to make his name in the annals of history; another might be a veteran of many campaigns, perhaps seeking a quieter life (as quiet a life as a gem-studded, shiki spirit empowered warrior can have, anyway)
If you have any questions, please go ahead and ask them!
The onmoyji's goals are a bit of a mystery to those outside of Lord Anegakoji. His methods differ from those of many traditionalists and even stranger he has readily pledge his loyalty to the Lord which has cause some to suspect the motives of this individual, perhaps rightfully so. Unlike other onmoyji who get trapped in intellectual pursuits , this onmoyji has found his abilities better suited for material gain. Not much is known about the man's past, he had served in several battles and used rather extreme tactics to lower the morale of the enemy forces. After a few battle he had gained a reputation as a master of fear. It is believed that he is naturally talented in the ways of shiki summoning as opposed to being classically trained yet his station and etiquette seems to suggest some form of education. He is an enigmatic figure who keeps his distance from most except those who demand his attention. He is well aware that his skills are in need and sees no need to go through the motions when he has no need to . Though if he can ferret out weasels and gain even more points with the lord, he isn't against that. So putting on a false face every now and then can work. But for the most part he likes to remain enigmatic, so people do not know what to expect of him.
The samurai started out as part of the “samurai class” but essentially gave that up in a foolish attempt at altruism. One of a few warriors willing to help a village besieged by bandits, one of the few options given to save the lives of many was for him to under-go the “samurai surgery”. He under the impression he would be getting a majestic beast infused with him but instead wound up with a demon. When he questioned the practitioner, he was told the result was intended. While untransformed he had looked rather elegant, relatively speaking. Transformed he looked quite literally like a dark skinned demon with red eyes. Which was quite horrifying to behold.
He had managed to kill the bandits. But to those in his family he had become a joke. A man who had wasted his position in life for a bunch of commoners and for nothing glorious either. He hadn't been given what he was promised and sadly altruistic deeds weren't rewarded nearly as much as one would hope. The samurai was of little use to his own family at this point, he could no longer spread their name. He was only good as a boogeyman for them peddle around.
samurai- well intentioned act turns one into semi-demonic (glorious in an ironic way?) figure
onmoyji- fear tactic potentially aggro favoring manipulative zealot type
tell me about the Ninjas
personally wishing re:more traditionalish sorts of rpgs, meikyuu kingdom gets picked up some time in the future, hopefully
Ryuutama is scheduled for August
As far as I am aware nobody has officially licensed Meikyuu, though I know of several fan-translations that are in various states of non-progress
Members of ninja clans are kickin' rad, that's what they are! Ninjas who have advanced far enough in the clan are transformed into Shinobi via a special surgery that implants crushed soul gems in their bodies so they can use the ninja arts without draining their own energy as much, though it comes at the cost of complete infertility.
Ninja, regardless of rank, are also completely owned by the clan for their entire lives - they are property, tools to be used to complete a job and nothing more.
When you make a ninja (or choose the pre-gen) you gain access to a ninja School - I think the default is the School of Dream, but they all have different abilities and bonuses that they grant to their practitioners.
As for playing? I'm mostly interested in the Kugutsu, but honestly I just love Tenra so much I'll play whatever, really, and I can come up with an idea pretty quick once we have three others who have settled on something.
If we end up with more than four people I'll have to choose a group, though I could work with five as well - we'll see what happens.
Some things can be easily fiddled with, others not so much, we'll figure it out somehow
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A) A Tactician Weapon-collector. A man torn between his hatred of war, his skills in managing war and his obsession with the implements of war. He goes with the Bride and her protectors because he deeply wishes for peace to finally come... And because he knows he'll find good pieces for his collection throughout the journey.
This would be my first game, and I have pretty much only read the character creation chapter and the archetypes so I'm not sure if they'd be tricky characters to play mechanically... Any thoughts? If one of them (or both) is newbie unfriendly , it'll make my choice easier... There's loads of ideas in that book.
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I kind of dig the first dude, though!
(Magpies are the birds that steal shiny things, right? i'm not thinking of the wrong bird, i hope.)
Also after making a preliminary character sheet... He looks fun. and interesting!
Check out my site, the Bismuth Heart | My Twitter
Annelidists are body horror at its finest, they're pretty kicking-rad.
Bookmarks are something that I'm surprised didn't make the final PDF. I've added my own, but that doesn't really help anyone other than myself. It's pretty handy, though!
Tenra is pretty good at making interesting character concepts out of a few archetypes being combined!
If magpies aren't supposed to be associated with stealing shiny things, then somebody should probably call Rossini and tell him that he made a big mistake.
As a sidenote, the Japanese for magpie is either onaga (尾長, which is the azure-winged magpie) or kasasagi (鵲, for the European magpie), in case you wanted to incorporate that somehow.
So here's my character sheet in a format I hope isn't too terrible.
Age: Mid-30s
Gender: Male
Concept: A man torn between his hatred of War and his love for weapons.
Archetypes: Weapon Collector, Tactician, Court Servant
Karma Cost: 64
Attribute Cost: 5
Vitality: 9/9
Soul: 16/16
Kiai:
Current:
Spent:
Karma: 69
Fates:
Goal: Collect Unique Weapons X X X O O
Emotion: Hatred of War X X O O O
Total Fate Cost: 10
Wounds:
Light: [_] [_] [_] [_] [_]
Heavy: [_] [_] [_]
Critical: [_] [_]
Dead: [_]
Weapons:
Great Gemblade Katana: Damage +5, RoF 2, Ammo 6
War Fan: Damage +2, RoF 1, Range 5m, Ammo 1
Triple Comet Blade: Damage +3, RoF 3, Range 5m, Ammo 3
Fey Spiked Tetsubo: Damage +7
Double-ended Katana: Damage +6
Divine Lotus (Gunpowder Chaingun): Damage +4, RoF 7, Range 30m, Ammo 14
Tiger Kick (Soulgem Kongohki Foot-claws): Damage +4, RoF 5, Ammo 10
Katana (Many, many katana): Damage +3
Possessions:
25 Extra Soulgems (Court Servant)
25 Extra Soulgems (5 karma)
Brush, Ink bottle
Body: 5
Unarmed Combat: X O O O O
Wormcharm: O O O O O
Agility: 6
Movement: X O O O O
Melee Weapons: X X O O O
Evasion: X O O O O
Stealth: X O O O O
Ninjutsu: O O O O O
Criminal Arts: O O O O O
Senses: 5
First aid: X O O O O
Notice: X O O O O
Marksman: X O O O O
Pursuit / Hunt: X O O O O
Forgery: O O O O O
Knowledge: 4
Information: X X X O O
Onmyojutsu: O O O O O
Spirit: 4
Willpower: X O O O O
Resonance: O O O O O
Interface: O O O O O
Buddhist Magic: O O O O O
Empathy: 5
Persuasion: X O O O O
Pillow Arts: X O O O O
Perform: O O O O O
Station: 6
Strategy: X X X X O
Etiquette: X X X O O
Shinto: O O O O O
Art of Rule: X X X O O
Appearance: A bulky man with well tanned skin and dark hair. Often seen carrying a wooden rack to hold whatever part of his collection he’s bringing with him.
Background: Trained since childhood in the Art of War, Magpie Heizaemon quickly rose to the position of Tactician though his clever strategies that avoided undue loss of life. Heizaemon may be a brilliant tactician, but he despises war, which is what drives him to fight for peace, but never through unethical means. He earned his nickname of Magpie due to his obsession, a growing collection of rare and powerful weapons, mostly scavenged from successful battles. The truth is, he has an admiration for those weapons born of wars that become legend, and by ending those legends, he can bring peace, or so he tells himself. Not particularly skilled in straight combat, he relies on his unpredictable nature, strategic knowledge and wide arsenal to win fights. He is not willing to put anyone to death, even in self-defense. At ease both in the court and with his men, he is usually polite, but when he talks about his weapons with men at arms, he is known to become exceedingly casual.
I might change the weapons a bit once i read the chapter on weapons, so this isn't final final. The background is a bit rough, so tell me what you guys think.
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I know, I took 25 extra soulgems for 5 karma, which is why I'm starting with higher karma.
Check out my site, the Bismuth Heart | My Twitter
A sign of the quality GMing to come, folks!
I should keep roughly the same karma cost and have the same number of weapons in my collection (because each weapon = 1 attribute penalty)...
Could I reduce the number of weapons (To, say, 3 or 4 instead of 5) seeing how we're going to travel a lot. It could be rationalized as Heizaemon only bringing a small portion of his collection so that he won't lose it all if things go sour. That could give me 1 or 2 more attribute points so i could use the weapons better in combat.
What do you think, Simon? it's up to you whether I bring 7 weapons (Not counting the thousands of Katanas :P) or a bit fewer.
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