Bushi d6 - Honzu Empire Timeline

This is a basic timeline. More to be added. I won't go back 5000 years like most fantasy settings, as it would not really matter to the adventurers.

Timeline for the Empire of Honzu.

(IA = Imperial Age)

-500 IA The City of Nekoji founded.

-450 IA The neko begin trading with the human barbarians on the island.

-350 IA The City of Kujo founded.

-330 IA The City of Ichijo founded.

-300 IA The City of Honzu founded.

-290 IA The City of Konoe founded.

-260 IA The City of Gojo founded.

-240 IA The City of Takashi founded.

-200 IA An oni army nearly destroys Gojo, but is finally repelled with the aid of Honzu.

-198 IA Honzu conquers Gojo.

-93 IA Honzu conquers Ichijo.

-55 IA Honzu conquers Kujo.

0 IA Honzu conquers Takashi. Honzu Shuzo becomes the First Emperor. The City of Honzu is renamed Miyako.

9 IA Imperial armies are repelled from Sarumori.

30 IA Konoe joins the Empire.

79 IA A massive oni army rampages through the center of the Empire. It is finally defeated west of Takashi.

81 IA The Empire forms an alliance with Nezoka.

122 IA An oni army attacks Gojo, but is repelled.

157 IA A dragon flies over the city of Kujo for a few days for some unknown reason. A festival is started in its honor the following year.

163 IA A warfleet from Konoe destroys a pirate haven on the islands south of Nagazawa.

165 IA Yamashina Tetsu slays Daigo Kazuo in a duel at the Imperial Palace, to settle a border issue between House Takashi and House Gojo. Takashi wins some territory from Gojo as a result.

168 IA Pirates reestablish a stronghold on the islands south of Nagazawa.

170 IA Current year. Death of Emperor Ryoto. The Civil War begins.

Bushi d6 Armor

Armor

Samurai wear dou armor when going into battle. Anyone wearing a dou while not actively with a military unit will be challenged by the local samurai, therefore samurai tend to be unarmored most of the time. Samurai do wear jingasa and hachi gane without armor, and this is socially acceptable, but provides no in-game armor bonus.

A set of dou armor consists of the Dou (cuirass), Kote (gloves), Kabuto (helmet), and Suneate (boots). The Jingasa (armored coolie hat) and Hachi gane (headband with forehead armor) are sometimes worn in place of the Kabuto, especially by poor samurai. For battle, many samurai wear a Sashimono (back banner), with nobles wearing a Horo (cloak for nobles).

A set of dou armor provides 3 armor points. At the GM's discretion, he may allow a character wearing only one or two pieces of armor (often the jingasa) to provide one armor point.

Bushi d6 - weapons and armor

Melee Weapons	Damage	Cost
Bo Staff	+1D+2	1
Dai-tsuchi* (hammer, 2h)	+3D	12
Jo Stick (club)	+1D+1	1
Kama	+1D+1	2
Katana (sword)	+2D+2	30
Manriki-gusari (chain)	+1D+1	3
Naginata (polearm)	+3D	10
Ninja-to (sword)	+2 D	5
No-dachi (Sword, 2h)	+3D+1	50
Nunchaku	+1D+2	1
Ono (battle axe, 2h)	+3D	10
Sai	+1D+1	2
Sasumata (man-catcher)	+1D+entangles	4
Shuko (climbing claws)	+1D	1
Sode-garami (sleeve entangler)	+1D+entangles	4
Spear	+2D	3
Tanto (knife)	+1D	2
Tessen (war fan)	+1D	5
Tetsubishi	+1D	1 (f)
Tetsubo* (maul, 2h)	+3D	8
Toami Jutsu (weighted net)	entangles	3
Tonfa	+1D+2	2
Wakizashi (short sword)	+2D	10
*Weapon ignores one point of armor.
Missile Weapons	Damage	Ranges in Feet (S/M/L)	Cost
Aiguchi (throwing knife)	+1D	5/10/15	3
Blowgun	poison	10/20/30	5 (f)
Daikyu (Longbow)	+2D+2	30/100/300	50
Nageteppo (egg grenades)	smoke	10/20/30	1
Shuriken	+1D	5/10/15	1
Yumi (Bow)	+2D	30/80/250	30
Armor Type	Armor Value	Cost
Dou (lamellar armor)	3	50

Merry Christmas

Bushi - Honzu Empire

My Samurai D6 game is currently going under the name Bushi. I have uploaded a map and a very brief setting introduction. Both are pdf files. I am leaving the map mostly empty, so GMs can modify it to fit their campaign. I may add in one or two more locations, but then again, maybe not.

The game is mostly going to be based upon Mini6, from AntiPaladin Games, but with my own tweaks.

MAP HERE

SETTING INTRO HERE

Please feel free to provide feedback. I've got lots of stuff not listed, such as Minor Families, Bushi Families, Monsters, etc., but I'm nowhere near done with them.

D&D 5e next summer

Announcement HERE

I'm not surprised. If anything, I would have expected it sooner. Wizards has to be hurting on sales, since they will have gone almost two years without a "living" edition of Dungeons & Dragons in print.

Working on Samurai D6 game

I'm working on a D6 game focused on samurai. It will be a weird mix of real Japan and fantasy. Characters will all be samurai. Most will be human, though naga (snakemen), neko (catmen), saru (intelligent monkeys), and nezumi (ratmen) will exist as player races. I'll make a new map, but a lot of the names will be based upon Japan. 

Brief intro 

The Emperor is dead. The five Great Families are maneuvering to take the throne. War is already breaking out. You are a bushi samurai, either working for a clan or wandering as a ronin. You may fight in great battles, or just defeat local bandits or monsters. The choice is up to you.

Not sure if or when I will put this on the web. For right now, at least, I just want a good, rules-lite samurai game, and none really exist (L5R has gotten way too rules heavy).

The Night of the Doctor

Just in case you missed it, the BBC posted a mini-episode on YouTube in preparation for the upcoming 50th anniversary.

Expanding empires

One thing I've noticed in most rpg settings is a lack of dynamic, expanding empires. Usually, when empires exist, they are in decline. Yeah, this gives a great reason for ruins and old magic, but I would love to see either a revived empire, or a newly-formed one, expanding and taking over the place.

Heck, if the players work for the empire, part of their job could be to explore and clear old ruins and claim them. They could be members of the army, or just special agents out to discover and utilize magic to help the empire in its quest for expansion.

This also allows players to fight against the new empire, which might be utilizing either new magic or new technology, which is why it is expanding.

Malazan needs a setting book

I'm just about done reading "The Crippled God" by Steven Erikson, book 10 of the Malazan: Book of the Fallen. Damn it's epic and awesome. Easily my favorite book series ever.

But why oh why doesn't he publish a setting book? He's a gamer, damn it! Give us a big book of maps and pictures of characters, with some bio for each. I'd buy it, and I daresay a whole lot of other people would, too.