Sengoku

[miyamoto musashi]

i was thinking of buying the Sengoku roleplaying game from goldrush, but does anyone own it? just want to know what its like.

[Redwall Templar]

I don't have that but, I have the old Usagi Yojimbo RPG book and I like that just fine. I'd like it even more if I were surrounded in daily life to find players.

[Leonardo-san]

I did pick up a copy at some point, it was at my gaming store and they had a sale day.
It's got a lot of extra info if you want to add flair to your UY game.
The UY game was a clever thing, it was pretty simple to learn and get started with. Makes a wonderful Into to Role Play games if you've got someone you got hooked on UY and want to get role play gaming, too.
However, for gamers who've been around for a long time, we often found our hands tied, we needed more details. So the Sengoku does a fine job of that.

Finding gamers for such a thing is always a challenge. The group I do some gaming with only wants to do D&D and right now. And it's good, but it'd be nice every so often to do a little something different, like a UY game.

[Redwall Templar]

I did pick up a copy at some point, it was at my gaming store and they had a sale day.
It's got a lot of extra info if you want to add flair to your UY game.
The UY game was a clever thing, it was pretty simple to learn and get started with. Makes a wonderful Into to Role Play games if you've got someone you got hooked on UY and want to get role play gaming, too.
However, for gamers who've been around for a long time, we often found our hands tied, we needed more details. So the Sengoku does a fine job of that.

Finding gamers for such a thing is always a challenge. The group I do some gaming with only wants to do D&D and right now. And it's good, but it'd be nice every so often to do a little something different, like a UY game.

I know where your coming from. Isn't it funny for genre that regularly draws the creative sort to its core following I have to ask myself, how often to they take a break from the traditional fantasy setting? And how many times is a group of characters going to stop a 'great evil'. It's tiring sometimes to hear that all someone can come up with is a band of characters unite to stop some demi-god or wizard. As entertaining and reliable it is, I like to try and create smaller stories. Ones that having nothing to do with saving the entire world. How about an event just taking place in one small town? And how about urban settings, though Vampire Masquerade certainly helms that, what about other urban adventures?

[ziritrion]

I must be very lucky, because the group of friends I roleplay with are always playing 2 or 3 campaigns at the same time that have nothing to do with each other. My favourite game is "Mutantes G2," a Spanish RPG set in the present which you could define as a mix of James Bond and X-Men: since the nuclear accident of Chernobyl, a remarkable percentage of the world population is developing mutant powers, and many secret governmental agencies are recruiting them to take care of their dirtiest work. There are also many parallel private agencies with their own agendas, either pro-mutant or anti-mutant. The game provides a huge assortment of powers with their cons and pros, and a system to assign them to your PC (you don't choose your own powers, you have to discover them first!) as well as a realistic setting with agencies, what countries they belong to, political settings of the countries, real-life weaponry, etc. We usually focus more on the "secret agent" part of the game, and use our PCs job skills mainly rather than our powers, since these are pretty hard to use (I usually play a female antique thief, for some weird reason I always roleplay as a chick .) And because my friends and I are a bunch of goons, we always begin with a simple "track the bad guy to his headquarters" mission and end up with half of X city destroyed by the army trying to annihilate us (so far we've destroyed Barcelona, Oslo, Athens, and I can't remember how many more!) Lots of fun .

Other games we usually play are a Spanish parody of Tolkien's LOTR and the Legend of Five Rings. They also play Vampire, but I don't like it much (not the game system, but the vampire setting; I loathe the typical gothic setting with vampires and werevolfes.)

However, there hasn't been a single time we've ever managed to have a "serious" game. We always laugh so much that we get to a point that we have to stop and continue another day because we've lost any trace of sanity for the day. The hard thing to do for us is to sit down and say "hey, let's try for once to get into our roles and play as if we really were there, rather than emulating The Naked Gun." Someday we'll have to try it.

[Leonardo-san]

Sounds like a lot of fun! Which, if gaming isn't fun, you shouldn't be doing it, right?
Our campaigns often have a lot of joking running through it, too. Though we usually can get through a sections of a story seriously when we have to.


I think the hard thing is that a lot of comic fans are not necessarily into gaming. There are some of us that cross "both worlds", but when I was able to attend both San Diego and Chicago comic conventions in the same year as Gen Con back in the 90s? The crowds were different overall, the whole energy of the conventions were different. And I think that still is the case to some extant. San D Con has gotten broader in it's appeal, but gaming is still minimal there, because none of the major gaming companies have any real presence there as publishers promoting product.

I used to play mixed campaigns with friends when I lived in Ohio.
We had a super hero game. A mixed Vampire and Werewolf game that was a lot of fun because we all had to find ways to try to work together and the comedy was the way it often fell apart (I think too many people take those games too seriously and that's where they lose the fun for those). We also had a mutant animals game, and of course the various D&D games.
Getting to play more in the UY world would be fun, though. Now if I could get my friends around here.....

[ziritrion]

Yes, it is fun. If it wasn't, I wouldn't do it . Sadly, these friends live in Andorra and I'm in Barcelona, so I only get to see them the few weekends and vacations I go there. Last time I roleplayed was at the beginning of February. They all practise kendo as well, and are into manga, anime, comic-books, videogames, and pretty much all the other "subculture" out there.

What you say is interesting: different people like different things, and comic-book lovers don't necessarily like RPGs and viceversa. Most people I know who like any of these things has had contact with others, and is pretty common to find people who like comics and RPGs at the same time. There also are people who have tried them but didn't like them. They all share the fact that they are open to try new things rather than keep doing their usual hobbies, which I think is very good. Videogames, table-top RPGs, comic-books (manga mostly, since they're the most succesful nowadays) et al are pretty well known among the less than 25 years old crowd, but not so much beyond that barrier. Luckily I've found a few people older than that who actually enjoy such hobbies. And I keep trying to hook up my mom into anime making her watch Azumanga Daioh and Great Teacher Onizuka .

Off-topic: speaking of kendo, this past weekend I went to Bern, Switzerland, to participate in the European Kendo Championship as a member of the Andorra Kendo Team. Due to a set of new rules which had passed to effect but hadn't been announced to the participating teams, we couldn't join the team tournament, but we did join the individual tournament and it was a blast! Once I collect some good photos I'll make a small report to share with you all .

[Leonardo-san]

I want to see those pics from the kendo championship!
Reading your report will be fun, too.
I got to visit Japan recently with my fellow sword students and train with my sensei's sensei in iajutsu. It was a great experience!
But of the class, I don't think any of them are role players, even though a lot of them love one or more of samurai movies, anime, sci fi and fantasy, videogames and comics.
Some of my current gaming group started studying Chinese martial arts.

Nice job on getting your mom into anime!
Try getting her into Usagi? heheeh

[ziritrion]

Yes, you still owe us the pics from your trip! We're waiting here! .

I'd try to get her into UY, but all my trades are in English and she can't read them. I sold all my Spanish TPBs to a friend. Perhaps I could borrow them so my mom can read them .

Ask the people in your class if someone would like to play an RPG. Maybe they won't get much into it, but I'm pretty sure that if you set up a good campaign with a simple set of rules, somebody will like to play at least one game. And make the campaign a funny one, so they'll get a very good impression .

[Leonardo-san]

As for my pictures of Japan, I have been working excessive overtime lately. Haven't had the time to get much posted, as I am on dial up modem here. Also, someone who was doing me a favor by letting me download pictures to free up memory sticks on my camera...lost 3 days of my pictures. Including the Ginza at night, the graves of the 47 Ronin, Omiya, Shinjuku, and worst of all my pictures of Ueno Park....


As for gaming, I've got a better chance with my friends that are into Usagi and TMNT and such than I do with anyone from my dojo. The current D&D gaming group would sadly never consider doing something like UY. It's just a matter of time and everyone's schedules. The number one problem for Role Players.

[Jubei]

I have been playing D&D for over 10-15 years, but after awhile it can grow somewhat stale (and yes, I was a comic fan long before I started playing )

But what you all said is right; it's hard for role-players to move beyond the fantasy setting. Luckily, the group I played with expanded their horizons outside the fantasy world (including Vampire, Werewolf, Shadowrun, Warhammer) Myself, I loved playing Legend of the Five Rings. Not only because of the chance to play in semi-medival Japanese settings/culture, but you actually had to role-play your character; how your character acted and carried themselves, that mattered beyond the simple hack-and-slash of D&D.

Ah, some of you study kendo and iajutsu. That is great. Unfortunately, I live in the boonies so it's kind of hard for me to find a good teacher/s for these classic arts.

[Leonardo-san]

hey! Another fellow gamer!


Nice to hear that others of us prefer the role playing to the hack and slash style. A good story is more important than the numbers and dice rolls.
Did you ever get to try the Usagi role play game?

As for martial arts...I didn't start until just two and a half years ago. There was never the "right" set of circumstances: the right teacher, attitude of fellow students, and location until then. So I'll just say, don't give up hope that if you want to try something, someday you might get that chance. Not that everyone has to move halfway across the country like I did. (I moved for work reasons!)

Hm, that could apply to finding good roleplayers too!

[Jubei]

hey! Another fellow gamer!


Nice to hear that others of us prefer the role playing to the hack and slash style. A good story is more important than the numbers and dice rolls.
Did you ever get to try the Usagi role play game?

Although I have been a longtime comics fan, it wasn't until very recently that I have gotten heavy into the world of Usagi (hence why I joined here. Great site ) Thus, I never knew he had a role-play game. Is it still in print or one of those hard-to-find items?

As for martial arts...I didn't start until just two and a half years ago. There was never the "right" set of circumstances: the right teacher, attitude of fellow students, and location until then. So I'll just say, don't give up hope that if you want to try something, someday you might get that chance. Not that everyone has to move halfway across the country like I did. (I moved for work reasons!)

Hm, that could apply to finding good roleplayers too!

I've heard that where kendo is concerned, it is better to seek out a teacher/dojo that is affliated with the Kendo Federation. I have found such a class but the gym they meet in requires you to pay a fee for usage (the class itself is free) Thus, my quandry since, at the current moment, I am unable to afford those fees on a regular basis.

The search continues.

[Leonardo-san]

Most martial arts instructor's do charge. It's not often you find free instruction. Best wishes on your hunt!

As for the GoldRush games version of UY, if no one is selling a copy on these message boards, you could try some online gaming stores. Someone might have some copies in stock somewhere. Or check ebay and used gaming book places/websites.
I might suggest doing some investigating of the TMNT message boards out there, too, see if anyone has a copy for sale at the right prices.
As you can read from all the posts on this thread, it's a great source book to have on UY!