Written by Mike D of Sword+1, Ruins & Ronin is chanbara-inspired white box gaming. Like Swords & Wizardry White Box, the book contains three classes (which are variations/reskins of the classes in the White Box). There is only one race other than humans, the half-ogre. The equipment and magic items in the book are Japanese themed as are many of the monsters in the bestiary. However, there's a sizable amount of the material that's already in the (free) Swords & Wizardry White Box.
I like this book. It's not historical Japan, it's samurai movie flavored rules that emulate the films. However, I'm glad I just bought the two dollar pdf. The soft cover is 11. Again, I like the book, but there's not enough new information for me to justify that price tag. There's also a lack of artwork. I think it could have been improved by some public domain classic Japanese artwork. I've read that there's a hardcover 2nd edition in the works. If it includes more artwork and material, I'll probably pick it up.
If you play white box D&D and want a Japanese spin, pick up this pdf. I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Pun, if you were gearing up to run a samurai-themed game, what sourcebooks would you use? what edition + system?
ReplyDeleteGiven my preferences probably 5E. It's my favorite system and you'd just need to change names. Stew and Wirty would probably say Pathfinder, which has lots of Eastern material, but personally I find more complex than I want to run.
DeleteRuins & Ronin is everything you need (stat-wise) to do something. It does what it needs to do well. I might add in some Yoon Suin and Qelong for setting flavor.
If I were to use Ruins & Ronin I'd borrow more from Swords & Wizardry White Box: bamboo elves, Mongolian dwarves, Pacific Islander halflings... The possibilities are endless. You might want to borrow one of the rogue-like classes from The Hero's Journey if you want ninja-like pc's.
Deleteyou could always go to the classic oriental adventures books or L5R stuff if you can't find what you need in those OSR sources. would you use the mad monks book? I saw it had an eastern themed bestiary.
ReplyDeleteOriental Adventures and L5R works. I'm just more of an OD&D/Basic fan than 1E. L5R has some good source material too, but it's overall too structured of a society for my tastes. I like Mad Monks. I talk about it in the post I'm working on and want to do a full review sometime this month.
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