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Arkhe-jiken (a samurai honor story) • 2019 rpg
Anaximander Arneson • www.sites.google.com/view/arkhe-rpg
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1703 AD, a group of ronin (masterless samurai) seek to avenge their Daymaio by assassinating the Suke (imperial official) that caused the disgrace of their clan.
Tonight, defying Shogun orders, they assault the Suke's fortified residence.
Narrate flashbacks of byzantine preparations.
The residence (depicted below) has 4 posts with #PCs guards each.
Stone walls (= & ||) force a spiralized path to the house.
PCs and NPCs have 10 HP and can perform two actions per round:
- move up to 2 steps;
- attack an adjacent foe, dealing d10 damage.
A PC can take a Dishonor Point (DP) to choose the result of a dice rolled by or against him.
A PC choosing to betray the party, discards all his DPs and prevents everybody from taking any more while alive.
The "traitor" can consume a DP from a loyal "samurai" to reroll a dice rolled by or against him.
If the "samurais" are defeated, the "traitor" gains a position under the Suke's command.
If the guards (and "traitor") are defeated, the Suke is captured and vengance fulfilled.
The Shogun, recognizing their loyalty, may grant the "samurais" the honour of sepuku (ritual suicide), finally cleaning their family name.
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||-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----| <-- Entry
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Author Comments
This game is inspired in the story of the 47 ronnin (Ako-jiken). I tried to reflect the ronins’ commitment, with a game revolving around honor and trust. Despite being outnumbered 4 to 1, dishonor mechanics grant PCs a huge advantage. However, dishonor fosters mistrust, since it can be exploited by a traitor. This creates intrigue and allows for varied strategies (both, combat-wise and social-wise).
Alternatively, you can shuffle 1 “traitor” plus #PCs “samurai” cards, and deal one secret role to each player. In this mode the traitor is forced to reveal himself to meet his win condition. Yet, with N PCs and N+1 roles, a traitor may or may not be among the group.
The text (including the ascii-art residense) fits in an A4 paper sheet using a mono-spaced font of size and margins such that 110 columns fit in the page. This allows to play directly on top of the printed rules. For a formated pdf file check www.sites.google.com/view/arkhe-rpg
