SamuraiVille Resources

By the end of the SamuraiVille campaign, I'd put together a few original Assets to reflect the setting and the nature of the main characters. Feel free to use these, wholesale or just as inspiration, in your own games!

Priest (Distinction)
You are a member of a religious order. Roll in this die when debating religion, recalling scripture, or resisting temptation.

d4: Earn a Plot Point when you Choose to adhere to your faith's precepts in the face of an easier path, or insist that others do so.
d8: Add a d6 to Trouble to Reroll a die when upholding the ideals of your sect.
d12: Spend a Plot Point to Recover your own Afraid or Insecure Stress, or to step back the Afraid or Insecure Stress of everyone in the Scene who subscribes to your teachings.

Kitsune (Heritage Distinction)

You were born a fox; long life has transformed you into a yokai with supernatural powers. All have the ability to assume a fox or human form at will, although the human form always features a bushy fox tail. You may be a trickster spirit, or a messenger of the rice god Inari - and all are fond of sweet rice cakes. They are easily panicked by dogs, to the point where they may revert to their true form and flee. Some are said to carry with them a magical gem (Hoshi no Tama) that contains their power.

d4: Earn a Plot Point when you Choose to complicate a situation using trickery or misdirection.
d8: Add a d6 to Trouble to use a Special Effect from a connected Ability you don't have.
d12: Spend a Plot Point to Reveal you know a spirit or supernatural entity with knowledge or abilities that could be useful in the current situation.
Connected Abilities: Shapeshifting, Possession, Dream Manipulation, Flight, Invisibility, Illusions.
Limit: Dogs or Hoshi no Tama (Gear)

Tengu (Heritage Distinction)

Some say that these yokai are the form taken by yamabushi who stray from the true path by developing excessive pride in their esoteric powers. They have crow-like faces or exceptionally long noses, and black feathered wings. Tengu are known for their prowess with weaponry, and some have even trained the great heroes of legend in the arts of swordsmanship. They are also known to cause mischief by possessing people, especially women and monks.

d4: Earn a Plot Point when you Choose to let your excessive pride get in the way, or when you are swayed by flattery.
d8: Add a d6 to Trouble to Increase your Injured or Afraid Stress Pool while using a weapon.
d12: Spend a Plot Point to Reveal you know a spirit or supernatural entity with knowledge or abilities that could be useful in the current situation.
Connected Abilities: Flight, Possession.
Limit: Humility

Iron Will (Ability)

Your mind is a fortress, protecting you from unnatural and malevolent manipulation. Roll this Ability’s die when detecting or resisting supernatural interrogation, manipulation, domination or possession that targets you personally.

Effect: Defense
Descriptors: Mental, Magic, Spirit
Limits: Concentration, Mental

Special Effects: Spend a Plot Point to...

• Cast out a character that is Possessing you.
• Decrease your opponent’s AFRAID or INSECURE Stress pool against you.
• Recover your AFRAID or INSECURE Stress.
• Reflect a mental Ability back at your opponent (they must Give In or roll against their own result).
• Shutdown a mental Ability that someone attempts to use on you, for the rest of the Scene.

SamuraiVille Episode 5.2

• Barb plays Okitsu, a fox-spirit who often possesses a shrine maiden.
• Matt plays Taro, an apprentice blacksmith under Master Tetsu.
• +Paul plays Yushin, a Buddhist monk recently returned to the town.
• Rohin plays Yuriko, the owner of a tea-house who is also a ninja.

Well, SamuraiVille has come to a close. Yushin's player has been off sick for the last three weeks, and Taro's player had an unfortunate personal emergency to deal with, but I wanted to push on and get it done rather than leave the end trailing for yet another week. Unfortunately, that made things a little lacklustre.


Yuriko got a coded message to meet her clan master at the waterfall at sunset. He warned her to stay away from the untrustworthy fox-spirit, but more importantly, told her that a rival Lord, Kageshima, was poised to invade the province. Although the clan worked for Lord Morinaga, they realised that the battle would be lost, even with the gain of a new musket design, so are planning to change sides. He instructed her to acquire the new muskets, but to pass them on to the ninja clan rather than letting them fall into the hands of the local Lord Morinaga.

Okitsu was at the tea-house, and started impersonating Yuriko. Akira turned up for a drink, and mentioned that he had been sent to seek out his brother, the pirate Kenji (whom Yuriko was to get the muskets off). Okitsu tried to drug him, but he refused alcohol and managed to brush off her attempts to feed him random herbal teas. He left just as Yuriko returned; Okitsu filled her in, and Yuriko followed him invisibly in her young male form.

Being followed made Akira a bit twitchy, but he didn't manage to find out who it was. He began patrolling the coast, towards the smuggler's bay. Yuriko intercepted him, claiming to be a messenger from the castle come to tell him that the daimyo was in danger. Although he resisted the explanation at first, he eventually gave in and returned to the town.

Yuriko arrived at the smuggler's cove, where she met up with the pirate Kenji. She traded the bottled tengu for several sample muskets. Kenji gave the trapped spirit to a black daoist, who seemed satisfied with it. Yuriko headed back to town to hand over the muskets to her ninja contacts.


And... yeah. I ran out of conflicts, and that's how the game ended. I should have done some more exposition at the end (the back-story between Kenji and Akira, the reason the daoist wanted the spirit), but I'd forgotten some of my notes, and I was trying to figure out how to wrap the story. Also, Kenji was showing some Japanese reserve in front of his crew.

All up, my first attempt at Smallville was a mixed success. I made plenty of bad calls, and I still have to stop and think over whether I should contest something or give in. Even so, I'm quite bad at predicting what will happen to the dramatic flow, and I'm still somewhat resistant to tweaking events just for the story. For example, at the end I thought it would make a good climax to have Akira confront his brother while Yuriko was making the deal - we could have had acrimonious exposition, and she could have picked sides. I was hoping Okitsu would be there as well (although my original plan was to have Akira drag Taro along). However, since I got Akira talking to Okitsu, she knew what he was up to and Yuriko turned him away from the path which would have led to that final confrontation. It kind of dramatically deflated the situation, so I probably should have just had him take stress and keep looking for Kenji. Problem is, I'm pretty sure Yuriko's next move would have been to take him out - which meant I shouldn't have tipped them off that he was looking for the pirates in the first place. I was just trying to keep Okitsu involved, but it made things go flat.

It's a little depressing, but I did learn things too. I'm priming to run a political game set in a fantasy renaissance Venice with a slightly different group, so hopefully I can apply what I've learned.

Note: I did a bit of work setting up a new Smallville game called PiccoLaguna, but when I tried to organise a new group not enough people showed up. I still haven't had an opportunity to run it.

SamuraiVille Episode 5.1

• Barb plays Okitsu, a fox-spirit who often possesses a shrine maiden.
• Matt plays Taro, an apprentice blacksmith under Master Tetsu.
• +Paul plays Yushin, a Buddhist monk recently returned to the town.
• Rohin plays Yuriko, the owner of a tea-house who is also a ninja.

Turns out "Yushin" was just coming down with the flu that's been going around, leading to tired crankiness, so it looks like we'll probably go another session or two.

I'm not sure which enemies in particular "Okitsu" wants to permanently knock off; possibly the tengu, although as GM I'd probably be inclined to Give In to having it die if they seriously trap or beat it into submission. I don't think anyone has a permanent relationship to it, and there are plenty more mischievous tengu out there if I ever needed another.

If I run Smallville again with this group, they'll have a better idea of what to expect, and have realised how important it is to tie the Leads together strongly from the start. One piece of advice for new players joining existing groups - if someone has to join later, I'd get them to make their character with everyone else present so the group can help work the character into the game world more comfortably, making suggestions and agreeing to any potentially controversial tie-ins. We made one Lead separately later on, and a few of the connections we came up with sort of chafed with how the established players saw the world and their characters working. Openness and collaboration is key in all aspects of Smallville.

Taro and Akira fight the Giant Gaki with the aid of Okitsu in fox form. The gaki pulls in all of the smaller ghosts to heal itself, but it is defeated anyway. Okitsu steals away the spirit-flame that drops from its remains. She realises it could be used to restore the valley's damaged fertility, or she could give it to Yuriko to trade for the new muskets.

Taro, Akira and Tetsu drop by the tea-house to wind down, while Okitsu and Yuriko go back to patrolling the mountain looking for the tengu. Akira excuses himself so he can return to the castle and report the gaki's defeat to the daimyo.

Taro and Tetsu are returning to the forge when Tetsu has to stop to relieve himself in an alleyway. Mariko appears in the street and talks to Taro - she tells him that Yuriko's spirit-tea WAS responsible for Tetsu's possession. She also tells him that she captured the tengu with the help of the townsfolk, but decided to show mercy and release it. Okitsu interrupts the conversation by running through town as an invisible fox, projecting an illusion of the tengu. Taro runs to the castle to find Akira.

The Okitsu-tengu stands on the roof of the tea-house squawking, but Yuriko shoos her onto the next building so she doesn't drive even more customers away. The townsfolk flee the streets. Mariko hops up onto the roof and confronts Okitsu, telling her not to try anything or she'll harm "the girl." Convinced that Mariko is possessed by the tengu, Okitsu leaps straight at her and attempts to re-possess the shrine maiden. The tengu resists, but gains stress. Before it can throw Mariko's body from the roof, Yuriko leaps from the tea-house next door and pins Mariko down. The tengu is stressed out and flees Mariko's body, and Yuriko captures it in a spirit-bottle.

Things went pretty well, although the confrontation with the tengu was a bit disappointing as it didn't manage to roll very well on either Contest. I could have presented it a bit better dramatically speaking, but mechanically the outcome would have been the same. I could have had tengu-possessed Mariko confronting the illusion tengu on the roof in view of townsfolk witnesses, or even better in front of Taro and Akira returning from the castle, but I only thought of that after the event. Maybe the opening scene of next episode will have Taro and Akira turning up just in time to witness the confrontation on the roof; that should sow a bit of confusion.

For the fifth session in a row, Yuriko has steadfastly failed to gain any Stress - she has come out on top of every Contest she's been directly involved in!

Since we are only getting two hour sessions at the moment, I decided to split Episode 5 in half. Episode 5.2 will be next week. The Trouble Pool and Plot Points are not re-setting, and I've allowed Growth Pools to carry over if people want. I'd been getting the feeling that things were just starting to ramp up and then the session would end, so I'm seeing if this will help the mechanical pacing. Of course, I was hoping the tengu would still be around, but I can move on to focus on other concerns.

>>> Episode 5.2

SamuraiVille Episode 4

• Barb plays Okitsu, a fox-spirit who often possesses a shrine maiden.
• Matt plays Taro, an apprentice blacksmith under Master Tetsu.
• +Paul plays Yushin, a Buddhist monk recently returned to the town.
• Rohin plays Yuriko, the owner of a tea-house who is also a ninja.

Tonight's session was a bit of a bust. I had a cold or flu over the weekend which I'm still trying to throw off, although my energy levels were fairly reasonable. However, Yushin's player might be trying to fight off the same illness - he flaked out and had to call it a night only an hour in. It sort of petered out after that; there were no Contests, and only one Test. No Challenging, no Stress, no Recovery, no Growth.


Yushin let the tengu go, and persuaded the actual shrine maiden Mariko to accompany him back to the castle to talk to the abbott.

Okitsu stayed at the tea-house overnight. Yuriko received a midnight visit from her contact the pirate captain. He offered to trade her a new model of foreign musket in exchange for the soul of a yokai, but he needed an answer within 24 hours.

Yushin wanted to point out to the abbott that Mariko was being controlled by an outside force such as an evil spirit, since she couldn't remember what happened for most of the previous day while she was possessed. She claimed to be under the influence of Inari. Yushin's player was flaking a bit by this stage, and I found it hard to discern what the aim of the scene was.

In the morning, Tetsu and Taro were visited at the forge by a young samurai, Akira, who'd been sent by the daimyo to investigate the tales of spoiled rice and ghosts. Taro took him to the tea-house to drink the special spirit tea, allowing him to see the spirits.

Yuriko and Okitsu headed up to the shrine to get the tengu and trade it for the muskets, only for Mariko to tell them that it had been released by Yushin. Okitsu assumed the form of a tengu and, followed by an invisible Yuriko, they began searching the mountain for it.

Akira managed to slice a little ghost in half when he and Taro were on their way back through the town, to Taro's surprise. Taro then led Akira and Tetsu to the waterfall, where they discovered that the bags of rice he'd left out there had been completely consumed, and a trail of green ooze pointed towards the valley's rice fields. Okitsu and Yuriko also reached the waterfall, and secretly followed the three men to the edge of the rice fields - where an enormous gaki has started eating the rice harvest.


I think illness and lack of energy took their toll. There were some pacing problems, and Yushin's player was lacking focus before deciding to leave early. He'd displayed some general grumpiness towards Okitsu's player, as their characters have become antagonists; I'm not certain if weariness led to grumpiness or if grumpiness led to leaving early. I'm hoping that people aren't taking things personally, but those two do have a tendency to bump heads a little IRL.

I think the game might possibly go another session or two, or we might call it a wrap there depending on how Yushin's player's feeling. The rest of us discussed how the game was going, and it had a mixed response. "Okitsu" doesn't like that it's all but impossible to permanently defeat something, and that decisive results aren't always forthcoming. "Taro" has some issues with pacing, which was admittedly a bit too lumpy this episode, but otherwise enjoys the system He also lacks much knowledge of feudal Japan, so there can be a bit of a cultural divide in this current game. I don't remember any strong opinions from "Yuriko" (who was starting to pass out on the couch), and I'll talk to "Yushin" later. There was also a general feeling that Growth is too slow, although I think that's a combination of short sessions and not enough familiarity yet to "game" the system for Growth dice.

>>> Episode 5.1

SamuraiVille Episode 3

• Barb plays Okitsu, a fox-spirit who often possesses a shrine maiden.
• Matt plays Taro, an apprentice blacksmith under Master Tetsu.
• +Paul plays Yushin, a Buddhist monk recently returned to the town.
• Rohin plays Yuriko, the owner of a tea-house who is also a ninja.

Last night's session was pretty interesting. We only played for two or three hours, so I didn't have to do any additional Wedging - it was just a matter of letting the PCs bounce around and interact with each other.


Taro and Okitsu (Mariko) left the tea-house as Yushin performed a cleansing ritual on it, exorcising the gaki from the premises. However, Taro discovered that the ghosts were all over the town as well. As he tried to avoid them in the marketplace, Okitsu persuaded many of the townsfolk that the rice-eating ghosts were haunting the town because people weren't worshipping Inari enough. She also turned them away from Buddhism, motivated by the rough treatment she had been dealt by Yushin. Taro tried to convince them that they should secure all their good rice and make a trail of spoiled rice leading out of town to lure the ghosts away, but the townsfolk decided to head up to the Inari shrine on the mountain instead. Taro started lugging rice bags out to the waterfall by himself.

Yushin returned to the temple, where he persuaded the abbott to have the monks abandon the temple and take up residence in the castle with the daimyo. His plan was that, when Inari alone failed to get rid of the ghosts, the townsfolk would cry out for Buddha's help once more. The abbott grudgingly agreed, on the proviso that Yushin not only remain in town to apprise them of the situation, but that he apologise to Inari and the shrine maiden for the rough treatment he handed out in his anger.

Yuriko shapechanged into her young male form, turned invisible, and followed Okitsu up to the shrine. Okitsu rallied the townsfolk, even going as far as to show an illusion of the scene where Yushin grabbed her roughly (and even slapped her!) when trying to find out her identity. Watching from the shrine gate, the invisible Yuriko spotted the tengu hiding in the trees. She tackled him, and they both crashed to the ground, stressing the tengu out. The crowd turned to see what was going on, allowing Yushin to join the mob and become visible. "He" even came forward when Okitsu called on people to seize the wicked creature that Inari had struck down! Okitsu told the townsfolk to go back to town, shutting herself inside the shrine with the bound tengu. However, after barring the door from the inside, she teleported to the tea-house.

Having stacked some rice, Taro sought out his master. Apparently the forge was free of ghosts. Taro was starting to feel remorseful about blaming Yuriko for the possession episode, so they both went to the tea-house to await Yuriko's return. Alas, Yuriko returned in her male form, and they didn't recognise her. Master and student drank the night away on tea and plum wine, while Yuriko and Okitsu talked and relaxed. However, the male Yuriko let slip something about it being "my tea-house" and Okitsu became suspicious.

Meanwhile, Yushin had climbed the mountain to the Inari shrine, only to find it deserted... mostly. He heard the tengu thumping inside, and managed to un-bar the door. The tengu bowed to him, throwing itself on the mercy of the Buddha.

Tag Scenes!

Okitsu-Mariko and Male Yuriko retired to a private entertainment room, where Okisu revealed her fox-girl form Akiko, and Yuriko revealed her true form. It seems that the fox-spirit and the ninja may be forming an alliance.

At the Inari shrine, Yushin bows to ask Inari's forgiveness while contemplating what to do with the tengu.

Having waited in vain for Yuriko to get back, Taro and Tetsu help each-other drunkenly back to the forge. Meanwhile, a forgotten pile of rice-sacks out near the waterfall have been torn open by hungry ghosts, who devour their contents and grow larger...


Not too many rules problems this week. Most of the players seem to be getting used to the way the system works, and we started to get some cool shifting allegiances. Yushin was originally spellbound by Okitsu's magical nature, but now thinks she is a pain in the neck! Okitsu was initially annoyed by Yuriko's tea-house making life difficult, but now sees her as a potential ally. Yuriko once saw Okitsu as annoying but necessary, but now thinks she is a good lady. Taro intends to show his newfound trust for Yuriko the next time he sees her.

One roll-off I wasn't sure on. Okitsu barred the shrine door from the inside and left. Yushin turned up and tried to get inside. I was tossing up whether to make it a Test or to just take it as read (having him not be able to find the tengu inside wouldn't have been as interesting), when Okitsu's player asked if it could be a Contest since Okitsu had barred the door with the intent of preventing entry. I allowed it, thinking back to the tea-drugging in Episode 1. Yushin managed to get in, but I think we forgot to deal any Stress to Okitsu... and thinking back:

• it probably didn't make a lot of sense to stress Okitsu since she wasn't even there, and
• I can't see how a back-and-forth would have been possible to actually keep a Contest going.

So maybe I erred in the other direction, but it worked out anyway. However, I do need to remember that losing a Contest doesn't mean the other person gets what they want.

>>> Episode 4

SamuraiVille Episode 2

• Barb plays Okitsu, a fox-spirit who often possesses a shrine maiden.
• Matt plays Taro, an apprentice blacksmith under Master Tetsu.
• +Paul plays Yushin, a Buddhist monk recently returned to the town.
• Rohin plays Yuriko, the owner of a tea-house who is also a ninja.

Following on from Episode 1, some conflicts are already in progress: The Taro/Yuriko situation was set off by my Wedge the Tengu in Ep 1, but he didn't have a chance to confront her before the session ended. The foci for conflict in Episode 2 are as follows:

• TARO wants to confront YURIKO about her role in Tetsu's possession last Episode (caused by excessive drinking at her tea-house). 
• TARO doesn't trust OKITSU, so I'm planning to bring the two of them together. 
• YUSHIN has a bad opinion of YURIKO and may confront her about leading the Daimyo astray. 
• YUSHIN wants to find out OKITSU's true identity; he suspects that the dream may have been caused by his childhood friend, Akiko, who is actually one of Okitsu's forms. 
• OKITSU has an axe to grind with YURIKO as well, as her mystical drinks have caused trouble for the town. 

All of the other PCs have Yuriko in their sights, which is good as she didn't get much of a look-in last episode. Mostly it's her dream-wine causing issues. I also want to get Yushin and Okitsu together so they can continue their game of identity hide-and-seek, and see if I can get Taro to react to Okitsu. The Wedges are as follows:

KUROICHI: The tengu has fled to the forest, where he broods angrily. He has cursed the town with a type of Gaki (hungry ghosts) that are invisible but which eat and spoil rice. Drinking Yuriko's dream-wine is one way to let the characters see them, allowing the ghosts to be fought physically. This allows everyone to see the useful side of the dream-wine, and gives Yuriko a chance to help save the rice supply (something of great importance to Okitsu).

TETSU: Upon learning of his possession, he will ask Taro to go find the Shrine Maiden Mariko (one of Okitsu's forms) to perform a cleansing ritual on the forge. He will go to the Buddhist temple where he will meditate and be cleansed, and then ask Yushin to come back to the forge to also perform a cleansing ritual. This will put Taro and Okitsu in conflict when Taro sees his master mooning over the shrine maiden. It also puts Okitsu and Yushin in the same room together, where their suspicions can grow and develop.

I haven't made a list of Revelations before, so here goes:

• The tengu Kuroichi broods in the forest and calls down evil spirits upon the town. 
• If told of his possession, Tetsu sends Taro to find Mariko to cleanse the forge. 
• If told of his possession, Tetsu cleanses himself at the Buddhist temple and asks Yushin to also cleanse the forge. 
• If told the details of his possession, Tetsu will bring news of the tengu to Yushin. 
• Invisible rice-eating Gaki are chewing on rice wherever it can be found. A half-eaten rice cake tainted with a greenish tinge may be found at the tea-house. 
• At the market a rice bag splits open of its own accord, spilling green-tinted rice across the ground. 
• A few terrified patrons at the tea-house will report seeing a ghostly image eating their snacks, leading to rumours that it is haunted. 
• Drinking the dream-wine allows the Gaki to be fought, but there are a lot of them - perhaps too many for one person to deal with successfully. 
• When seriously threatened, the remaining Gaki will form together into a giant spirit-entity, allowing the haunting to be confronted and exorcised once and for all. 

Tonight's session involved an awful lot of people running around and throwing themselves into Contests to build up Stress so they could maybe get some Growth. While it was good to see people challenging each other, and we did see a couple of rewritten Relationships, I feel a bit like we're only just seeing the first half of the episode development. Trouble was brimming with d6, but I didn't get an opportunity to roll it at all - time got away from us, and we had to end the session just as a giant Hungry Ghost came rolling down the tea-house stairs!

Things went pretty much as I noted in the Revelations; Tetsu went off to get cleansed, but Mariko/Okitsu turned up uninvited to investigate the forge anyway. She managed to freak Taro out by asking him to trust her (he doesn't trust women easily), and he ran off through the market to the tea-house. Okitsu pulled the plug on her possession of Mariko just as Yushin arrived from the temple, making Yushin think Mariko was just some ditzy shrine maiden because she was acting disoriented. Taro confronted Yuriko about his drunken master, but she denied any wrongdoing and Taro just about had a nervous breakdown! At his request, Yuriko let him try some of the dream-tea, which led to him seeing a small Gaki eating a rice-cake. Just as that was happening, Yushin and Mariko/Okitsu showed up at the tea-house as well. Taro freaked out because he started being able to see Okitsu/Mariko's fox ears and tail. There was a major confrontation as the monk Yushin confronted Mariko/Okitsu about her true nature, giving her more Stress. Before the situation could be resolved one way or another, some upstairs patrons ran screaming and a large Gaki oozed down the stairs. We had to end the session there.

Taro has seen a couple of instances of tainted rice, and witnessed the Gaki thanks to the dream-tea. Next episode, the gaki will be a clear and present threat to the rice supply; I can also move large ones towards the rice fields outside of town to help motivate Okitsu. Hopefully they will cooperate enough to use the tea to be able to see and fight the ghosts, which should help develop relationships as they demonstrate their useful skills. Or not. I will need to draw up a new Episode Map and explore the current relationships and tensions to see if there's anything else I can throw into the mix.

It was a bit sad to see my Trouble Pool vaporise at the end of the episode, but in a way I can see that emulating a TV show two-parter anyway. At the end of one episode, a massive threat looms... only to be summarily dealt with in the first five minutes of the second episode.

Okitsu's player seems to want to keep her identity rather firmly hidden. I'll have to discuss this with her, as I don't know how long she can keep this up in Smallville... I mean, I guess Clark managed it for a pretty long time, and she seems happy to take the Stress. It just seems like Smallville is a system that's energised towards resolving this sort of thing. Yushin is pressing pretty hard to discover her true nature and identity, but I guess all Okitsu needs to do is fight back and take the Stress, and it can remain unresolved as long as she likes.

>>> Episode 3

SamuraiVille Episode 1

• Barb plays Okitsu, a fox-spirit who often possesses a shrine maiden.
• Matt plays Taro, an apprentice blacksmith under Master Tetsu.
• +Paul plays Yushin, a Buddhist monk recently returned to the town.
• Rohin plays Yuriko, the owner of a tea-house who is also a ninja.

First session went OK I think, although I kept forgetting things like adding opponent's Stress to your pool. The first Contest was a bit murky - Okitsu as a fox pursuing a possessed Tetsu through the streets. She ended up giving him d12 Angry Stress just by relentless pursuit; on reflection, I probably should have just Given In and let her follow him back to the forge where Taro was waiting. My head wasn't thinking about it the right way around at the time. I think I was reacting to what the possessing Tengu wanted, rather than what the story wanted.

There were a couple of good Contests in the second half, though - an epic swordfight between Taro and his possessed master, who insisted they fight to prove he could wield swords and not just make them. Taro fought his master down in an epic exchange, d10 Injuring him and Stressing him Out. The Tengu spirit fled in a flurry of shadowy black wings.

Okitsu witnessed the fight as a fox, but didn't reveal herself. She waited until the monk, Yushin, went to sleep, and tried to implant an image of the fight and the Tengu into his dreams using a Special Effect. However, Yushin used his Iron Will Special Effect to reflect the dream power back onto Okitsu. Since they'd both Plot Pointed each other, I figured a Contest was in order. Okitsu attempted to show him the dream-vision without revealing herself, but Yushin attempted to ignore the vision and reach out to whoever was manipulating the dream. Even without a firm Relationship to call on, Yushin called upon the Monastery and the power of the Buddha, forcing Okitsu to bring the power of Inari to bear, finally overwhelming Yushin's efforts to uncover her. The monk woke in a cold sweat, strangely Angered (d12) by the encounter. He decided to go sit under a waterfall until he calmed down.


By the end of the session Taro had Challenged his Duty d4 and Yushin had gained d12 Stress. All the other Stress was gained by my Features, so there wasn't much Growth. However, now everyone's seen what happens when you get in Contests and knows how Growth works, so hopefully they will happily succumb to Contests, Stress and Challenging Drives next time.

My first attempt at creating a Wedge (an NPC who exacerbates tensions between the PCs) was pretty slapdash. I came up with something that affected an existing Feature in a way that could provoke a lot of responses, and then sort of used the Episode Map to make note of what effect it might have - sort of a checklist and reminder note.

As it turned out, only two Leads were in the same place when the Tengu was dealt with, and one of them was hiding. I was also surprised at how easily my Wedge got beaten up, although it was a good fight. Unfortunately, since the focus was on dealing with a Feature, the Leads didn't really have to deal with each other directly and there was only one Lead vs Lead Contest. This has led to a deeper understanding of why it's important for Wedges to push the Leads into each other, rather than just provoking a reaction that causes the Lead to oppose the Wedge directly.

>>> Episode 2

SamuraiVille Episode 0: Pathways

In March 2012 we ran through pathways for our first Smallville game - set in the Japanese Warring States period. This series of articles was originally posted in a thread on RPG.net. For this first (rather long) post, indented text is lifted straight from the original post, and regular text is me adding notes and context.

The Smallville RPG is built to emulate the sort of melodrama you see on teenage drama shows. Despite the name, though, most people seem to adapt it to their own settings; I don't think I've heard of anyone actually using it to run a game set in Smallville, although I'm sure they're out there!

The mechanics focus on interpersonal drama and conflict between the "Leads", or PCs. The advice on designing scenarios is all geared towards creating tension and conflict between the leads so they can fight, regret their actions, make up, and come back fighting against a common foe. Or tear their friendship apart with acrimonious accusations.

The important thing to keep in mind is that Smallville pits characters against characters, not players against players. For great play, everyone needs to understand that setbacks and losing arguments to others isn't the same as losing the game or doing poorly - rather, it's fuel for you to be able to roleplay the angst, tragedy and drama that your character's experiencing.

26 March 2012

It was a bit of a mind-melt making sure everyone did the bits they were meant to, and one player was constantly reorganising her Abilities... In the end I think we sorted it out, although there seems to have been a little more focus on Assets than Relationships. We stopped after the Life-Changing Event, and will fill in the remaining steps as the first few sessions progress.

Smallville's character creation is based around two things - a "Pathways" chart that gives you a range of options for diferent stages of your life, and a relationship map where you develop connections to PCs, NPCs, and Locations. As you go through your Pathway choices, you get to "step up" various values. Anything you have a connection to starts with a rating of d4. Each extra step-up allows you to increase the die by one type (d6, d8, d10, d12).

Pathways has about a dozen steps, divided into two sections. Stopping after The Life-Changing Event  gives you the equivalent of "Season 1" characters on a TV show. If you complete the rest of the steps, they become about as developed as characters from Season 3 or 4. We basically played catch-up by doing one extra stage at the end of each session.

The characters are:

• Okitsu, a fox spirit who currently has the rice-god Inari as a D6 Extra. She doesn't appear to be heavily connected to worldly affairs, although she sees herself as a divine agent sent to punish or reward mortals. Her ability to possess people may lead to complications, especially as she is by default riding around in a Shrine Maiden who isn't even listed as an Extra - in other words, at the moment she's a total nobody unless the fox spirit is possessing her.

• Yuriko, a somewhat elderly female ninja who has just been promoted to a senior position within her clan. As a cover, she runs a tea-house in town. Apparently some of the drinks they serve weaken the barrier with the spirit world, allowing patrons to glimpse the supernatural. She has very Japanese Values, and a number of ninja tricks which are mainly based on gear. Thanks to an amulet she has the ability to shape-shift, and can pass herself off as someone much younger.

• Taro, a blacksmith who takes great pride in his work. Although he followed a similar life-path to Yuriko, they ended up being quite different. Also, apparently Taro's master is: Yuriko's brother; is in love with Okitsu's shrine-maiden form; and is of the same weapon school as Yuriko's clan leader. In a way, Taro's master is more connected than he is. This should be OK, since he's also Taro's most important relationship; other than that, Taro applies himself to his work.

I have a week to mull things over and develop some wedges. I think it's going to be interesting, especially as two of the characters have alternate forms which people may end up having completely separate relationships with! I'll have to confirm some particulars about the fox spirit's form; I think she can manifest as a fox, or a human form with a tail, but prefers to possess the wholly human body of her god's shrine maiden. I'm not sure if the poor girl will actually become a character in her own right. It's a bit of a complex situation for a first game! 

None of the Leads have particularly strong relationships or committed statements to each other. I think the first couple of sessions will need to concentrate on challenging the assumptions (or non-assumptions) they have about each other to push for growth and redefinition.

27 March 2012

... it's been tricky so far trying to find story leads to gnaw on, since the Leads are mostly noncommittal towards each other. I'm trying to find ways for the Features to cause situations between the Leads that will cause them to Challenge and re-form their relationships. Taro's master (who really needs a name) is an obvious start, because he's linked to all of the Leads. 

I wasn't really sure what to do about the Shrine Maiden thing. The concept turned up late in the piece, and there wasn't an opportunity to cast her as an Extra or anything. I sort of figured that if people encountered her alone, they could start a pick-up Relationship with her and go from there; she could evolve into a Feature as people interact with her. I think otherwise she is a fairly willing servant of Inari who doesn't mind being host for a Fox Spirit, and I have a feeling that Okitsu will be "riding" her around most of the time. I'm also not sure to what extent the other Leads know of her actual form and identity, and will need to address that before we start play.

I wanted to base something around the Master Blacksmith - now tentatively named Sensei Tetsu - since he's connected to each of the Leads. For a while I couldn't figure out how to get him to provoke the Leads into action. I have a second situation in the works involving plans for improved firearms and his sister's ninja clan, but for now I just want to get the Leads together and trying to deal with personal issues and the relationships between them. 

Tetsu's sister, Yuriko (a Lead) runs a local tea-house. One of the drinks they purvey is a type of "dream-wine" that has the side-effect of blurring the barriers to the spirit world for the imbiber. Tetsu has been established as "frequently visiting" the tea-house. After one such evening of pleasantly watching the gossamery things float by, he drinks a little too much and falls asleep with his spirit open, leading to possession by a mischievous spirit. 

I've yet to determine its exact nature, but he'll probably start behaving erratically back at the forge. This should cause concern for his student Taro and his sister Yuriko. If they deduce possession, they may seek the help of the local shrine maiden, thus allowing me to bring Okitsu into the situation. Perhaps the spirit might cause Tetsu to seek out Okitsu by himself, giving him a Reckless Distinction and causing him to lose his inhibitions regarding his secret desire for the shrine maiden! 

Anyway, that's what I have so far. I'd love to work in some tensions between PCs more directly, but as I mentioned earlier there isn't much to work with at the moment. 

Hopefully this situation will stir things up as everybody tries to do what they think is best for Tetsu. I'm making a list of potential sub-plots and things to throw in if the situations arise. I'm trying hard not to start sandboxing by giving the NPCs their own independent motivations and just letting things unfold; I'm learning to focus the story more definitely on the Leads, using the Features as tools to that end. My brain hurts a bit, but I've discovered that situational goodness will leak out of it given enough time!

31 March 2012

Just after we'd gone through Pathways together, +Paul realised that he would be able to make it to game nights after all, so I had to deal with adding his character to the relationship map once everyone else was already done...

The fourth player and I made his character on Saturday - a Zen Buddhist monk called Yushin. He introduced a Buddhist temple and shared a Waterfall Location, and introduced the Buddha and the local Daimyo as his Extras. Since his character's been away from the town for over a decade, he has some delightfully outdated and prejudiced Statements towards the other Leads! 

The distant temple at which he trained was raided and burned, so he has returned to his hometown. The local abbot has appointed him to guide the young Daimyo in spiritual matters. 

So as the book suggested, I drew up an Episode Map so I could take a look at the current frictions and see what I could mess with. Happily, my current possession plan seems like it will do nicely; the actual scenario should be fairly brief to resolve and is pretty much a simple A-plot situation, but that means we'll have more time to finalise some of the bookwork from last week, and for explaining and figuring out the system as we go. I want to also spend some time prompting the Leads to develop more concrete opinions of each other. 

Drawn up as relationship pairs, it currently goes something like this:

• Yuriko: Taro is just this guy / Taro: I don't trust Yuriko.
• Okitsu: I don't appreciate Yuriko's drinks making life difficult / Yuriko: Okitsu is annoying but necessary for rice.
• Taro: I don't trust young women like Okitsu / Okitsu: Taro is promoting trade, so that's worthwhile.
• Yushin: Yuriko is a disreputable woman / Yuriko: ???
• Yushin: Taro is an uncontrollable wild-child / Taro: ??? 

Statements relating back to Yushin will be done tonight before we start play. Yushin doesn't have an opinion of Okitsu either, because we're not sure which version of her he knows. Technically everyone else's relationship is to Possessed Mariko the shrine maiden, but Mariko would probably have been too young when Yushin left home to have been possessed yet. His relationship might be to Possessed Mariko but only recently formed on his return to town, or he may have known Akiko (the fox-girl form) when he was just a boy. We need to see what Okitsu's player thinks. 

My possession scenario can prod various relationships in the following ways: 

• Yuriko/Okitsu: Yuriko's drinks are causing trouble for everyone, and Okitsu may be their best hope to break the possession.
• Yuriko/Taro: Taro gets a chance to help his master and prove he's more than "just some guy". Yuriko could demonstrate her love for family, and perhaps earn some trust from Taro.
• Taro/Okitsu: If Okitsu helps his master, Taro may be more willing to trust her. Then again, as his master is in love with her current form, something may happen to reinforce his distrust.
• Yushin/Yuriko: Apparently the daimyo is visiting the tea-house to partake of some illicit substance, and tonight Yushin has tailed him. He has a bad opinion of Yuriko to begin with, and it could go either way depending on how the episode pans out.
• Yushin/Taro: Taro will have the opportunity to reinforce or challenge Yushin's childhood opinion of him, depending on if he acts rashly or sensibly. 

Next episode, once I have the rest of the blanks filled in, I'll probably try to concentrate some more on people's relationships with Yushin. However, we'll see how it goes tonight - for all I know, he may get plenty of spotlight time even without me doing much to Wedge him.

>>> Episode 1