Ryuutama

Ryuutama
The Ryuujin
Ben, (Page Here)
The Travelers
Kenji - The Noble Diego - The Minstrel Fairmond - The Merchent Lykos Rrit - The Hunter Et al.
World Atlas
The World Town List
Traveler's Records
Journal Quatermaster's
Resources
House Rules and Choices

The World

Some features of the world will be determined during a character creation section, but a few things are set in stone. There is a long standing tradition in this world that every man and woman will embark on a long journey once in their life; and these journeys are watched by the Ryuujin (that may meddle when the feel they need to for the story); and the Ryuujin feed these stories of adventure to the Seasonal Dragons who created the world. Those on their Journey tend to travel in groups for protection against the threat of monsters, to ease the burden of the elements, and the simple joy of companionship. Monsters are a common enough occurrence in this world that almost everyone has some kind of weapon they can use for protection. This is a fairly close knit world, it rarely takes more than 3 days to reach the next village, town, city or landmark. A template world creation page (that will be filled out around the time of character creation) is linked to here template world page, as well as a template creation page for towns template town page

The Ryuujin

Within the world are 1,001 Ryuujin. The Ryuujin make their lairs in quiet secluded corners of the world, and venture forth to watch over travelers. Ryuujin come in four color each of which take an interest in different kinds of stories. Green Ryuujin specialize in tales of journey, pilgrimages, exploration, and hope. Blue Ryuujin collect tales of romance, friendship, heartwarming episodes, human dramas, families, and of animals. Red Ryuujin create tales of battle, war, growth and experience, of monster hunting, and dungeonous exploration. Black Ryuujin sow stories of conspiracy, betrayal, tragedy, corruption, suspense, and the solving of mysteries. Ryuujin have three forms they take; usually they take the form of beautiful humans with dragon wings and horns; in dire circumstances they may become the ferocious creatures we think of when we imagine dragons; and finally each has its own innocuous form it takes to blend in with society, which could be anything from an old man, to a mangy dog, or even a potted plant. The Ryuujin are venerated with Ryuuzoh (small stone dragon carving) along the road as the guardians of travelers. These statues are said to point traveler in the right direction. Finally the Ryuuzoh hold walking sticks that any traveler in need are free to take, and it is customary that when you find a Ryuuzoh without a walking stick that you leave yours with it to help the next weary traveler in need.

Mechanically Ryuujin act as a GM character that behave very differently from both NPC and PC characters. The Ryuujin's goal and coloring shape and show the overarching themes of the stories they watch over. There are three main powers Ryuujin have that can influence play beyond normal NPC interaction (which a Ryuujin might participate in with its innocuous form). The first of these is its Artefact, which passively changes the natural order of the world. These might be informing the players about how the game will be played (like the Sextant which indicates to the player that house rules are in effect, or the Dagger which warns then that once during their Journey an NPC will die, no roll required), they might be getting the PCs to think about and add some aspect to their backstory (like the Ring which indicates that PCs are relatives, students or disciples or the Chalice which indicates the PCs have a dark past), or might change the rules more mechanically (like the Crystal that makes PCs survive till they hit -21 HP, or the Longbow which makes it so defense is rolled for every attack instead of being their initiative). Even at their most mechanical these Artefacts are about informing players about parts of the game that the GM wants to emphasis. The second of the Ryuujin powers are Benedictions, blessing that can influence the behavior/fate of NPCs, the flow of time, the rolls about to be made, or other effects based on their color. As the Ryuujin collect stories they gain Benedictions they can use for free, but when the need arises they can always sacrifice their Life Points to cast Benedictions, which can be used to save the travelers, increase the excitement of a scene, advance the story, or even fix problematic events. The third special power is their reveil (or Awakening), where a Ryuujin can take on its full dragon form to help the PCs in the most dire of circumstance, although it is a terrible drain on its life force.

The Travelers

The travelers come from every walk of life, and the trials of the road can bring together people from every part of society. When they leave their home community protect the assets and save a place for the travelers to return to, at least for the year or two that people generally expect a journey like this to take. Generally people set out with some personal goal they want to accomplish with their journey, and not everyone sets out for the same reason. It is common wisdom that groups of about 3-6,coming from different walks of life, make for the safest most enjoyable journeys. That being said travel isn't free. Clothes, lodging, food, pack/riding animals, camping equipment etc. can be vital to keeping the journey going. This has led to practice of having job boards (often at local inns or in the town square) for townsfolk to post odd jobs (like delivering a letter, or dealing with some local monsters) that travelers can do to for the funds they need.

Character creation

I will outline the character creation process a bit. First there are 7 classes that represent your characters job/place in society. The classes suggested for beginners are Minstrel, Merchant, Healer, and Hunter; although Artisan, Farmer, and Noble are also options. Each class comes with 3 skills that either add a passive boost, or have a unique action your class can take with a successful roll.

After classes you will choose one of 3 types, Attack type, Technical Type, and Magic type, each of which increase one of your derived values, and add two more passive skills (or in the case of Magic type, gives access to 2 different spell types).

Then you will set your ability scores. There are 4 ability scores: Strength (STR) which represent physical power, stamina and endurance; Dexterity (DEX) which represents speed, nimbleness, and lightness of foot; Intelligence (INT) which represents power of judgement, thought and memory; and Spirit (SPI) which represents focus, bravery and strength of conviction. Ability scores always have even values that represent die type, at character creation, these can only be 4, 6 or 8, and the total number sums to 24. From these scores there are 3 derived values, Hit Points (HP) that starts as STR x 2, Mental Points (MP) that starts as SPI x 2, and Carrying Capacity that starts as STR + 3.

After this you will choose a Mastered Weapon Type. There are 6 weapon types (Light Blade, Blade, Polearm, Axe, Bow, and Unarmed) each of which bases its accuracy and damage on differing ability dice based on the type. Travelers start with a basic form of their Mastered Weapon type (note a basic Unarmed weapon is...nothing).

Next you start with 1,000 gold to buy equipment with. This should be done as a group, so if we do not spend a session on character creation than the early part of the first adventure will be used spending the starting money to outfit the first leg of their journey.

Finally we reach the key character details. Beyond name, age and gender there are a few other sections I want to mention and elaborate on. The first is that you should determine your character's personal item. Personal items are small items that your character has a strong emotional bond with. It is the kind of thing your character keeps on their person at all time, and, unless you get GM permission, should not be an item with a mechanical effect in game. Secondly is the Image Color/Outward Appearance section. The outward appearance part of this is relatively self explanatory (your style, clothing, skin eye and hair color etc.) but the Image Color is a bit different. A character's Image Color just always seems to be represented on your character's person, perhaps it is their favorite color, or it is just some coincidence, and you should try to make it unique from the rest of the players. The Hometown/Reason for Journeying section is for your character's backstory, the section title is giving you a starting place, and makes sure you cover these key parts of your character's backstory. Finally the Notes section is for any additional information you want to add about your character.