天羅万象 (Tenra Bansho)

[color=#FF0040][size=200]天羅万象 (Tenra Bansho)[/size][/color]

[size=129][color=#FF0040]Translation:[/color] The title is a play on a buddist expression: “Shinra Bansho” means “Everything on Heaven and Earth” and “Tenra” is the name of the world of the setting.

[color=#FF0040]Translation-Project:[/color] There was one on Kickstarter over two years ago called TENRA BANSHO ZERO (since this is the 2000 edition of this game). It took them 7! years to translate this baby. The Japanese text is full of wordplays and Japanese cultural references.

[color=#FF0040]Style:[/color] It is a Hyper-Asian Magi-Tech world. So you have Ninja, Cyborgs, Buddist Monks, surgically upgraded Samurai, Mechas powered by the innocence of one’s soul, Shinto Priests who act as arms dealers, native Onis (Japanese demons), Robots, Onmyouji (Taoist sorcerers) and Mushi-shi (“bug-master” ~ parasitic-insect-spirits collectors / healers) among others.

[color=#FF0040]Synopsis:[/color] This is not a Western RPG with added Oriental elements. It draws strongly from Kabuki Theater play: So for instance shouting and praising a scene of another character will be encouraged, even if one’s own character is not even there (think of the other players more of as an audience in a wrestling match) … or the fact that Wounds will give you boni instead of penalties (think kinda like in the Die Hard movies).

[color=#FF0040]Setting:[/color] Several (very) large islands locked in a Sengoku-style feudal Total War period since over 100 years. So almost every lord (“daimyo”) fights against every other and Honor is a nice concept from the past, but in day to day activities it is very impractical and sometimes outright foolish. Although there are some small pockets of peace.

[color=#FF0040]System:[/color] 天羅万象 ZERO

[color=#FF0040]Dice:[/color] several D6s [/size]

This is the second Japanese RPG I want to dm one day - probably next year (january)

I have a one-shot (and 5 pre-generated player characters) ready^^

is there gonna have to be a lot of advance briefing for this one?

I imagine that “shouting and praising someone else’s scene” may not come naturally to many of us… and some of the concepts may suffer from cultural dissonance if players are not previously briefed/immersed/exposed to them - and their cultural context…?

E.g.: a shinto priest acting as an arms dealer sounds like a hella cool concept… but I have no idea what it actually means
Likewise, how is an Oni different from a western demon? Or does it not matter?
Do those mecha characters have an Innocence stat, then? Does everyone? Can Innocence gradually decrease, or is it a yes/no condition?

Questions upon questions on this one…

I picked a scenario, where not too much briefing is needed - and there is the forum to answer questions (that’s why I made the advanced post)
For this scenario, let’s say that Onis are just demons … they look like humans with horns. If you are really curious, I will go into more detail.

The mechanic works as follows:

Every player character has “FATES” … like Emotion (Obsessed with War). Everytime a PC does a “cool” thing (which ideally fits one of the FATES of her PC), any player or the dm could cheer. If at least does so teh dm hands her a [color=#4040FF]AI-KI[/color] chit. The only limit is, that a PC can only get one [color=#4040FF]AI-KI[/color] chit per turn, even if everyone cheers.

During each “Intermission” (t.m. after each “Act”), every PC can use her [color=#4040FF]AI-KI[/color] chits to turn them into [color=#FF0000]KI-AI[/color] chits (i will use chips with different colours). Think of it as a skill-test and his FATES are his skill-ranks.

(The prepared scenario has 5 Acts plus an opening 0 Act)

You can spend [color=#FF0000]KI-AI[/color] chits to [ul]
[li]get extra dice for one test[/li]
[li]get an extra action[/li]
[li]interrupt an action[/li]
[li]dramatically enter a scene (even if you were somewhere else)[/li]
[li]or even raise your stats permanently (very expensive)[/li][/ul]

Once per Game Session, if every player agrees, every player could give all her [color=#FF0000]KI-AI[/color] chits to a single player, who will have to spend [color=#FF0000]all[/color] of them in one turn.

Everytime your PC uses one of these [color=#FF0000]KI-AI[/color] chits, his KARMA/SIN goes up on a one for one basis (spending 5 [color=#FF0000]KI-AI[/color] increases your KARMA/SIN by 5).

After that every PC can delete or reduce and change his FATES (e.g. the example above into -> Emotion (Hatred of War)) to reduce his KARMA/SIN. She can even increase her FATES and add new ones (there is a maxmum though), but this does not reduce her KARMA/SIN.

Should after that a PC’s KARMA/SIN be [color=#FF0000]over 108[/color], she will turn into an Asura = a Karma demon => a world of constant warfare and loss proves too much for her and she goes nuts and berserk and becomes an NPC.

Piloting an “Armour” (the mechas in that setting), increases your KARMA/SIN a lot, so that’s why most of the pilots are children.
The strongest “Armours” need “soul-mirrors”, that shield the pilot from the worst loss. The technique to produce those is fiercly guarded by the Shinto Priesthood Sects (there are two).^^

In South-East Asia 108 is considered a unlucky number (like our 13).
For instance (almost) no hotel in SE Asia will have a room with that number.

108 comes from Buddism and is the number of “defilements/unholesomeness”, one must face and struggle against in one’s life.

It is not supposed to be a set number - it just means “a lot” - although later some (Chinese as well as Japanese) wrote down a list of 108 “defilements”.

The math is, that there are 6 Senses in Buddism (the 6th is not ESP, but mind or thinking), 3 States (good/bad/even), 2 Purity-States (pure/impure) and 3 Life-States (your past/present/future life) = 6x3x2x3 = [color=#FF0000]108[/color]

this reads like quite the alignment system from hell

and there seems to be an Austrian company who named itself in honour of one of the mechanics of this game: karmasin.at/html/index.aspx? … en&mid=244 - so its probably more popular than we realize (at least in certain circles perhaps) ^^

[size=130][color=#FF0040]Tests[/color][/size]

You roll as many D6 as your Attribute and every Number that is equal or lower than your Skill Rank is one success. Typically only one success is needed to succeed, but more difficult tasks may require more successes.

P.S.: Attributes are ~5-6 and typically range from 3-10.

[size=130][color=#FF0040]Combat[/color][/size]

Attacker and Defender roll their dicepools simultaneously.[ul][li]In Melee Combat the one with the most successes is the winner and deals his successes plus the damage bonus from her weapon in damage.[/li]
[li]In Ranged Combat only the Attacker may deal damage (and only if he has more successes).[/li][/ul]

So for a melee combatant it is a good idea to “aggro” a lot of opponents, instead of spending [color=#FF0000]KI-AI[/color] chits to get extra actions.

What it does in play is, that no player-character stays the same. Their ideas, ideals and goals change constantly. They learn to let go of their old “worldly desires”, but get new attachments, desires and fears during their journey.

This is a very different view as opposed in (most) Western RPGs, where you have your player character with her somewhat “fixed” personality, alignment, etc.

I love this part. Will it be likely to happen right during the first (and only) session, though?
Sounds like it might take a little more time than that - but that may depend on the game’s pacing…?

I love this part. Will it be likely to happen right during the first (and only) session, though?
Sounds like it might take a little more time than that - but that may depend on the game’s pacing…?[/quote]
You will encounter this mechanic during the first (and only) session, since you generate your [color=#FF0000]KI-AI[/color] chits by spending [color=#0000FF]AI-KI[/color] chits with your FATES (the higher your FATES are, the more [color=#FF0000]KI-AI[/color] chits you will gain);
and you want to delete or change/reduce your FATES to lower your KARMA/SIN, to be able to spend more [color=#FF0000]KI-AI[/color] chits to boost your rolls, or to get extra actions.
Remember, that if you have a KARMA score of over [color=#FF0000]108[/color], after reducing that via deleting and changing/reducing your FATES, your PC will go nuts and will become a NPC.
(you can do that willingly of course for dramatic purposes)

[size=130][color=#FF0040]Vitality & Wounds[/color][/size]

When a PC takes damage, she can choose if this would reduce her Vitality score or if she would suffer Wounds, or any combination thereof.
If a PC’s Vitality goes down to 0 or below, the character will be unconscious.

A character gains a [color=#FF0040]bonus to all tests[/color] depending on how grievious her worst Wound is:[ul]
[li]Light Wound: +0; [/li]
[li]Heavy Wound: +1; [/li]
[li]Critical Wound: +2; but the character looses 1 Vitality per round during combat, unless her “Death” box is marked as well. [/li]
[li]Death: +3; but the character will die instead of being unconscious, if her Vitality drops to 0 or below![/li][/ul]
By marking the “Death” Wound box you are basically telling your dm, that this is so important to your character, that you do not care if your PC dies!

Vitality is easily regained and fast; Wounds on the other hand heal very slowly.

P.S.: Vitality is ~11 for PCs.

Anime the game…

This sounds awesome!

Hi, by the way.

… well …

that’s like saying “that is so like a tv series or a movie”

there is a certain art style
(and the writer of Tenra Bansho is a distinguished manga artist)

hmm the anime that would come closest would be “Visions of Escaflowne” I suppose

this is a japanese 4th Edition Shadowrun cover for example

600×840

or if a ticket vending machine at the metro does not work, you might encounter this

1944×2592

That was really, really awesome!

I’ve never would have imagined, that this would work so well

Thanks for playing everyone

hope to be there for an eventual rerun, perhaps!

but BTT: that is Shadowrun?!

But… but… but where are all the cables and plugs and the big guns and the obvious cyber limbs? Where’s the obvious magic gone?
And what is the gothic maid doing there?

I do love the troll in the suit, though^^

But… what is that little creature sitting on his horn? Please say “spirit familiar”, and not “dwarfen rigger with one of his drones”…

600×1051

No - the Troll is a Rigger and the “Mini-Trolls” are his drones. They even have his horns.

(P.S: The gothic maid is a human razorgirl)

… aaaaaaaaaaand just for Auburney:

[spoiler=Shadowrun?]Answer: “Yes”

If you have guessed correctly, I will pm you a japanese D&D book cover as a reward. Hmmm … dunno which one yet. Maybe similar in style like this CoC one. We will see.

1240×1743

Not 100% sure, if I will make a rerun of the same scenario - will see

That last one was so incredible epic

If i have an idea for a new TBZ scenario, I will let you know

thanks for playing guys

[spoiler=“The TBZ Scenario from 22/01/15 and 26/02/15”]Lotus Blossom’s Bridal Path

• written by Albert Hwang

Changes I made:[ul]
[li]recalculated all PCs and noticed a few mistakes[/li]
[li]therefore statted all PC from scratch, with some attribute changes here and there[/li]
[li]build all PC only with templates (just for fun)[/li]
[li]“Kaneyori’s” Karma = 90; “Lotus Blossom’s” = 80; all others’ = 85;[/li]
[li]gave “Lotus Blossom” her Empty Fist martial art (again)[/li]
[li]calculated the attribute changes during transformation in “Rena’s (Chie’s)” and “Soujiro’s” character sheets.[/li]
[li]would have used the optional rule that “Kaneyori’s” Art of War Style changes to True Illusion, if he would change or would buy off his “Hatred of War” Fate.[/li]
[li]therefore changed Kaneyori’s Knowledge to the same level as his Senses.[/li]
[li]changed the name of “Chie” to “Rena”, because “Chie” sounds to similar to “Chi”, for my taste.[/li]
[li]changed “Flying Razor’s” Art of War Style to Celestial Kongohki.[/li]
[li]changed the bandit encounter in the scenario into a flying cyborg ninja scout team, that looks for survivors[/li]
[li]put an encounter with a wandering Oni tribe into the scenario.[/li][/ul][/spoiler]