so basically grimdark touhou?

Well, try this site for weird monsters and suchnot.

http://www.obakemono.com/

>>14786803
Can give more information on the setting, characters, game so far, ect if anyone needs it, or storytime on some of our exploits so far.

Current methods of spirit hunting are sword/combat, Imperial magic, which is heavily controlled by the empire, Shinto magic (Priest Wizards), chants (Half bastardized weak sauce Psudo-magic chants and rituals that anyone can use, but that have a lot of supersition involved in them and arn't always that useful, created by the hunters by stealing bits from every other idea that wasn't nailed down and mixing in some other stuff) and Seals (Which are a bit of paper magic, words that can effect spirits, and that can be used to created a boundary, or seal a creature into something, such as an kettle, cave, some sort of item, whatever.)

>>14786803

There are japanese demons that pass themselves off as humans during the day, but during the night their heads detach and fly around, hunting for flesh.

You beat them by hiding their bodies during the night time. When the sun rises, their heads catch fire and die.

DRR…DRR…DRR…

just read japanese mythology. it is full of crazy shit.

>>14786830
More Blade of the Immortal with Magic and crap.
Or a Noir movie in Feudal Japan.
Or (For a list of some of what my friend is using as inspiration) Spirited away, Princess Mononoke, that sort of thing, meets the Crab Clan if the Wall wasn't there and they wandered around killing shit in L5R, meets Warhammer Fantasy RPG if you were fighting dragons and crap with your normal characters; every fight so far that has been even slightly important has been a near TPK and left us with some seriously vicious wounds that take a long time to heal.

At higher levels when we become legendary and Heroic figures, it's going to be slightly grimdark Touhou meets the combat of Berserk.

>>14786835
Cheers, I think he's got that one but I'll send it to him anyway.

>>14786803
Ok, classical japanese Monsters:
(going into detail with my next posts)

>long-necked women
>demon-possessed householditems (umbrellas with one eye)
>kappas (turtle/human like things that attack people in water)
>onis (demons)
>tengus (big-nosed, feathered assholes)
>Foxes
>Tanukis (uhm... badger dogs or whatever they are called)
>wall-monsters
>ghosts (very special in Japan)
>daily household items that came to life

>>14786905
>Tanuki
Raccoon-dog with huge testicles. No really.

>Tengu
Only Crow Tengu are crows. And yes, they're colossal dicks who wear silly masks all the time and like to make fun of you.

>Kappa
Suck your soul out of your asshole. Really.

I've always liked tsukumogami.

Wikipedia:
>Tsukumogami are an entire class of yōkai and obake, comprising ordinary household items that have come to life on the one-hundredth anniversary of their birthday. This virtually unlimited classification includes Bakezouri (straw sandals), Karakasa (old umbrellas), Kameosa (old sake jars), and Morinji-no-kama (tea kettles).

How you'd fight them and why you'd want to would be a bit weird though

>>14786925
Or karakasa.

Surprise!

>>14786905
>long-necked women
Well, Women that can extend their necks. I don't really get what they do or why they are scary, but you could have them do all kinds of weird stuff.
Another intersting thing is 'Hannya'. It's a woman that has been traumatized and is griefing so hard that she turns into a devil-like beings and try to cause harm. They are sad (not necessarily angry). They might attack other women, kill children or cause other problems. Pic related, it's a Hannya Mask from No.
>demon-possessed householditems (umbrellas with one eye)
Again: not really that scary, but the idea of demon-possessed items that drive people crazy might be worth a shot.

>>14786905
>>14786923
Not entirely correct with the Onis and Tanukis, so I add a bit as I go along...

>kappas (turtle/human like things that attack people in water)
As someone said, they suck out your soul through your anus. Or bite you in your hip.
They can use powerful magic but are very dumb.
In order to use magic, they need water on a bowl like dent on their head (so they are nearly undefeatable in water) but on land, all you have to do is bow before them, and they will bow, too, spilling their water and become powerless.
>onis (demons)
Well, Onis are a bit strange, they are a bit troll-like and most often brightly colored. Think of them as japanese ogers. There are different kinds of Oni, that are more like our demons, though. Also a really big load of all kinds of strange buddhistic demons.

>>14786905
Kappa have made an apperance so far, infact, we've got an imfamous Bad Ass Kappa civillian who we're friends with who managed to solo hold back an entire invading malaign spirit army at sea to protect a town (Storytime if you want it.); Tengu are going to make an apperance apparently, Kitsune have and are (Mostly) benevolent albiet dicks, ghosts havn't yet, how are they special in Japanese mythology?
Oni are an enemy coming in in the next Arc as a military force who are going to cause problems while the country descends into civil war because one of the top ranking generals is a spirit and another of the top ranking generals thinks he's an evil spirit...
And we've hunted a Tankui, the bastard was the hardest thing we've chased so far for getting away.

I'm more hoping for specific personalities for creatures, like a Oni thats hiding up in the mountains feeding off a shrine, an undead monk that haunts a dead village, protecting his never to rest congregation and adding new comers to the fold, ect.
Run wild as you like.

Captcha; Herpre full

>>14786803
>Umibōzu
An ocean spirit without any hair and round, scarlet eyes. It will only break the surface of the bay in which it hides if it sights a boat overhead, intent on smashing it. Your players are probably going to need to be on such a boat. Fortunately, it can also be outwitted.

>Ao-sagi-bi
A common heron which is actually a spirit. It is fiercely territorial, as it is protecting it's nest of eggs. Did I mention it can use magic spells? Yeah, it can use magic spells.

>Sagari
Literally, a hanging horse's head. It makes people that see it sick, and also is quite fond of biting them.

>Kitsune
One particular shapeshifting fox spirit keeps on bumping into your party and managing to escape. He looks different every time your players see him, but he is always polite and helpful. He does tend to mislead the players and start conflicts between people for his own enjoyment, but he rarely takes up arms himself. Also, he has his tails hidden under his clothes, which pop out on some occasions and lead to his discovery.

after a big encounter to defeat a baby killer of some kind use jizo statues to fuck with your players. they walk down a path they have taken before, they notice jizo statues lining the path that weren't there before. they wake up, jizo statues encircling the camp. they kill a seer for food, jizo statue in its belly. will o the wisps chasing the party, party comes to field full of jizos and wisps do not enter. player opens his travel bag, jizo. player puts money in collection plate at temple, turns around and sees a hundred jizos that were not there when he walked up.

Try reading some of Lafcadio Hearn's compiled stories. They're basically Japanese fairy tales, but most of them go into great detail about the superstitions involved.

>>14786958

>tengus (big-nosed, feathered assholes)
As already said: assholes. They are masters in everything that has to do with warfare (weapons usage, tactics, military technology). They can fly and use to fight in trees and in the wind.
When a war breaks out, they usually help the generals to make better strategies. However they might do this on both sides in order to fulfill their bloodlust and amuse themselves while thousands die. They prolong wars and cause great suffering. Very smart and good at martial arts.
>Foxes
Turn into people and sleep with them. Can cause severe social problems as they might take shape of other people. Often fall in love with humans (and sometimes are forced to prostitiion by their lovers)
>Tanukis (uhm... badger dogs or whatever they are called)
Turn into people and sell them nice stuff, which turns into leaves and twigs the next day

>>14786990

>wall-monsters
Uhm... monsters that look like walls...
>ghosts (very special in Japan)
Special about them is: they have no legs and can't move. Most often they are caused by grief (a warrior that dies a painful death at a young age, a woman driven to suicide... stuff like that)
They come back to haunt certain places which they cannot leave (no feet, you see) or are bound to items.
You have to enshrine them in some cases and turn them into gods which calms their anger. (Yasukuni, I'm looking in your direction)
Chinese ghosts are afraid of ghosts, btw. When they see themselves in a mirror, they run away.
>daily household items that came to life
Already mentioned. After 100 years, stuff becomes 'alive' in a spiritual sense. Treat it with respect or face it's wrath.
I've seen a No Mask that was 100+ years old... it send shivers down my spine. The No-Actor that used it treated it like a god, which it kind of is...

>>14786925
GM is planning to use one, which I'm dreading, if you've ever played Genma Onimushia, he's using the demon doll from that.
Which considering he only knows about since I told him that thing makes me shit bricks makes him a massive smart ass.

Oh, Genma Onimusha and the Otogi games are also in with the feel of the game, Genma for the more grim moments, Otogi for the higher level stuff, apparently the last fight in the game is going to be killing an evil God, why, where or how the hell we're going to do that considering the fight with a Giant Otter Monster nearly killed me, as did the fight with a murderous Ninja, not a clue.

>>14786987
And if and only if they defile a jizo statue do they stop appearing, and later they start seeing the silhouette of something enormous against the night sky, something that is feeling them out them, before it strikes... konjiki ashisogi jizo.

>>14786803I'm looking for ideas for creatures, based on Japanese mythology prefferably, ideas on various hunting methods beyond 'stick the fucker with a sword' and ideas for more normal encounters, such as crooked nobles, deserters from the army, benevolent spirits hiding from lynch mobs, ancient sealed creatures, ect that we could use, as well as maybe some advice on how to make the setting gritty and dark without going over the top.

young men studying for exams tend to attract fox girls and ghost lolis who are after his life giving semen.

>>14786974
>Ao-sagi-bi
>A common heron which is actually a spirit. It is fiercely territorial, as it is protecting it's nest of eggs. >Did I mention it can use magic spells? Yeah, it can use magic spells.

It's after my pots and pans i tells you.

>>14786987
That's perfect; that'll freak them out, maybe have it give them a thank you of some kind, or protect them, but the actual things will make them shit bricks.

As for the PCs, think Noir, flawed, but heroic, they wont kill any seers for food, but we've got one cynical asshole who occasionally uses dead spirits for trail rations and who has borderline PTSD from fighting this shit, think Sam Vimes as an adventurer and one very, very idealistic young priestess whos just come down from the mountains and whos going to get a nasty shock when she realizes what life is like outside the shrines.

>>14787065
eye am a nine if you do not send this to seventeen people in the next five minutes eye will come in to your house at night and make a mess of your pots and pans

Maybe some seriously corrupt Samurai? What're Ninja like in the setting, is he being a retard and using the Naruto style or what?

Nobility always make a good enemy, maybe some crimials, Yakuza? Or a crooked hunter who's hunting benevolent spirits for HUGE CASH PRIZES from supersticious locals?

You mentioned a civil war, what's happened in the game so far?

Inugami.
See, if you really want to fuck someone up, you raise a dog, with all the kind, loving care you can manage.
Then you bury it up to the neck in the ground, put food within sight but out of reach, and while chanting the appropriate spells to keep the result from killing or possessing you, you cut off its head.
What you get is an extremely dangerous spirit creature that kills shit dead, and also constant danger because if you screw up it either kills or possesses you and either way you're fucked.

Now THAT'S folklore.

>>14786987

>>14787021
also Ghosts can possess people and alter their personalities without taking over.
One of my lecturers told a story about a woman that started disliking her child. As it turned out there was some sort of ghost in their house and after a shaman made a special Mamori Badge thingy and a small exorcism, everything was ok.


Anyway, ghosts:
Ghosts can be a conglomerate of souls, I think.
In Japan it was normal to kill infants (even up to the 8th year, as they don't have a 'soul' up till then) when you couldn't support them. So there could be an entitiy that consists of the dozens of hundreds of killed babies.
Normaly, people would give their babies to temples, just leave them there at night or give them to nursing moms.
In the temples they might die of malnutrition and the nrusing moms sometimes simply killed the infants right after getting their money.
Also concubines that kill other concubines children to not lose their place as #1 in the harem. This may lead to a Hannya or revenge ghosts.

Also there's women that (while not becoming Hannyas) still cause sickness or shit due to their grief.

And if you want to dip really into fucked upness that is Japan:
In Kyoto, there's the Kyomizudera, with a little shrine that is specialized in Love-matters.
There's a very old tree where women used to place letters and prayers for certain gods (yes gods) to cause sickness or baldness at their rival women in court or otherwise.
So there might be a plot where you hunt down bad ghosts or shit and it turns out it's a gods doing...

>>14787089
>Nobility always make a good enemy

This. Maybe turn the tables on the PCs at some point and have the yokai be the good guys for a change.

a fishing village has seen better times, there is scarsely enough food to go around and the fisherman spend ALL of their time at temples praying when they are not on their boats. after asking around the players are told of a whale-gorilla that keeps stealing from the fisherman's nets.

>>14787105
"The head of the Forest Spirit grants immortality..."

>>14787117
I was thinking more along the lines of this:

If oni look very human in OP's setting, how about a human noble's son falls in love with a female oni (or a nobles daughter with a male oni, either works). The oni don't have any problem with the town/city the noble is from, but the noble goes out of his way to try killing all the oni so his son/daughter can be set up into an arranged marriage for power/land/money.Noble hires PCs to go kill oni, PCs meet oni in love with noble's kid, PCs have to decide what they're going to do

>>14787090

Considering one of the characters has not only a serious love of dogs and was raised by a dog trained, but has an empathy with dogs, that shit is perfect.
Same with the horse thing in >>14786974 since he has a horse-phobia after nearly getting stamped by one as a child.


>>14787089
Ninja are basically an army of trained autistic sociopaths with a 'Any job for a price' mentality, less humans, more living, breathing weapons led by a council, they're quite strong in setting and relied on a lot.
The Vimes PC has a huge anti-ninja feel after seeing a random innocent girl get assassinated by one for reasons unknown, and has been trying to pick a fight with the ninja ever since, which is going to be impressive since he's one low level dude, and they're an army of trained killers.
The Civil war is between the Forces of Orochi, an ancient spirit working for the Emperor and a huge player in the setting/Empire since he is huge, blue, terrifying and can kill armies using his control over water, and Arukaga, a Human general who looks like a cross between Lord Genome and the Incredible Hulk, Arukaga thinks Orochi is letting people get eaten through apathy/secretly playing both the empire and the malaign spirits, and Orochi's attitude isn't helping, since hes apathetic as fuck and hasn't bothered to defend himself from the accusations.
A lot of people are siding with Arukaga, but Orochi is 9 dragons in the form of a man, so its going to be a hell of a fight, particularly since the Spirits, currently led by a spirit of vengance who was created by a massacre of benevolent spirits, are getting organized for the first time ever and are going to use this oppotunity to wreck shit up and down the country and kill a lot of people.

Something from the Nansou Satomi Hakkenden:

A troubled Daimyo (jokingly) promises his dog that he can marry his daughter if he brings him the head of his enemy.
The next day, the dog actually brings the head and takes away the daughter.
A Samurai wants to save her and shootes the god with a musket but the bullet bounces off a rock and kills the princess.
As he goes to her, 8 glowing pearls come out of her body and fly away.
Some time later, 8 different people find these pearls in strange situations (one finds it in the corpse of his dog, one in the hands of his dying mother and so forth) they are brought together and fight for the Satomi clan.
Might be a nice background for a party of 8 elite warriors that might make you trouble.

Might wanna take a look into The Hakkenden, awesome anime that is based on the novel.
Foolish me, when I started learning japanese I planned to translate the Nansou Satomi Hakkenden (a series of Novels that is as of now untranslated)... I was kinda impressed when I found out it was one of the 4 longest books of all time...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t5Y18vrYcQ

>>14787113
GOJIRA!

>>14787135
We are talking about medival Japan, so it can be son falling in love with male oni...

>>14787135
>>14787117
>>14787105

Oni don't look human, but there are spirits who do, known as Yokai; which come in 2 flavours, benevolent; don't eat people...well; don't have to, and Malaign, which waste away if they don't eat people.

Cities are about 70% human, 30% benevolent Yokai on average, and yeah, even beneovlent Yokai are opressed like fuck, unofficially; there are a few Eda style benevolent Yokai towns, which are mostly Yokai from what I've heard.
As for that plot, fucking grand (We've already had a plot where we murdered an entire town to protect a spirit from a Lynching, same Kappa who later protected that Seaside town), that'll be used probably, any more ideas?
Might even up it to a non-human looking benevolent spirit, since they won't expect that to happen.

>>14787157
>shootes the god
>shoots the dog

DANG

also if you want whacky ideas, watch Dororo... if you can live with it's strange sense of humor it's a fantastic movie.

If your players aren't too familiar with modern japanese popculture you could take a look there. Namely some anime and Jidageki (if you aren't hating them, that is...)

I'd say that you should play Okami, but the game is so god damn long. Worth playing, but very time consuming.

>>14787185
People are going missing.
There's a local spider-woman-yokai-thing in the woods being blamed.

Spoilers- She's sick of the whole deal and is staying in the woods to starve to death, helpfully sealed in by a local priest, who comes to visit and talk religion.

Spoilers spoilers- He's the one killing people to feed her, because he's fallen in love.

>>14787180
Yep.
By the way, sexism is rampent in the setting as well, female soldiers hardly exist, women can't join the army, ect, but they can join the hunters since we don't give a fuck we're all mad as ass and going to inevitably be eaten by something nasty anyway.
As is homophobia (Only a little, mostly by the upper classes), Classism, racism, Honourism and a whole lot of other types of bigotry, oh and Hunters are hated on for being a bit like Ronin crossed with gypsies, no masters, drink, cuss, some of them give the rest a bad name and anyone can pretend to be one since we're not really an organized branch of government or anything, feel free to use them as you like.
The main characters are also quit deep involved in local prostitution in Osaka (As in Vimes-like has many friends who are hookers, since his mother was one as far as he knows and he gets on well with them), their base of operations, and the more proverty riddled areas.

Okay OP, tell me, is this system homebrew, based on something or a game of it's own, it sounds fucking awesome...

>>14787227
>>14787227

>As is homophobia

Japan was about as homosex as Greece was back then.

-PCs are hired to protect a cursed noble whos being hunted by a spirit; turns out the spirit is the undead body of someone he kileld, wife/brother/sister/father/whatever, coming for revenge and he deserves to be eaten alive by it, what do the PCs do.
-Body guards to a caravan of merchants taking supplies to a highly spirit dense area, when they get to the town, someone has been kidnapped by the spirits, the marchants don't give a fuck, do their job, or save an innocent?
-Hired by a poor town to protect them from a low level spirit, turns out when they get there the job is bigger and more dangerous than the Mayoress said; are they willing to risk their lives for pittance to save others? Will they walk out?...what if the villagers offer them everything they own, make the reward something crazy like a different one of their virgin daughters for each night they stay, or one of their daughters for life as wife/slave/whatever; make it obvious the girl objects but is willing to do it for her village, or even the village itself (Save the village, become the mayor); make the rewards worthless in gold, but very valuable to the villagers.

>>14787256
Japan's homosex was a sorta "don't tell daddy about this seme-kun" way. If you suddenly craved some dickings, you simply went to get them and didn't tell anyone, because daimyos were kinda pissy about that shit.

>>14787256

It was a little less actual homosex (for men, at least), and more just that if you were a dude who liked to arrange flowers and write poetry... it meant you were way upper class and likely drowning in pussy.

>>14787319

And if you liked sticking it in men's poopers, it meant you were a hard-as-nails military type who didn't spend a lot of time around women due to your duties.

>>Or a Noir movie in Feudal Japan

Done that recently. Ran City of Lies using A Dirty World's rule set. The Yasuki Magistrate and his shugenja ended up dead, betrayed and sold out by their bodyguard (who did not care about the money but wanted to "save" that scorpion lady) after legalizing the opium trade and fixing imperial prices way below market value.

Next time, the Shosuro wife of the magistrate comes town with her retinue to avenge her husband.

Can't wait.

As for OPn in temples or in a magically protected treasure room: holes in shojis. Player can see eyes through them, watching, but if they check the other side/attack through the door they'll find nothing.

If the player steal something from the place makes one sudden attack. If the player gets hit, eyes start growing all other his body, marking him as the thief.

If he dies before the priest has forgiven his crime, he'll die and turn into a monster in the month, who'll steal from and kill everyone he cared for.

>>14787319
>>14787325

This explains everything about Japan's apparent obsession with girlymen.

>>14787231
Homebrew; basics of it are '6 stats; Strength, agility, Perception, intelligence, Charisma, willpower, which start at 25 for a normal human, plus others that arn't 25, Endurance (Ability to take a hit) and Magic/Shinto magic/Chi/other types of magic (100%)'
Combat is tell the GM your planned move, smart things get you a modifier as do various other things such as how long you've been fighting, the light in the area, the weapon your using, the size of your opponent, how benevolent the GM is feeling, the position of the moon, ect; roll a D10, add your associated stats and modifiers, the enemy takes attempts a move at the same time, highest roll hits and does damage, most items don't give modifiers, but using them right does, so using a sword against an unarmed opponent gives a huge modifier for the fact you have a sword and that fucker doesn't.

Skills come in 10s, use is +10 to a roll, proficient is +20, ect; there are also feats, but I don't have a clue how he uses them, but they give awesome shit like 'ignore the endrance of any enemy larger than 8 meters (Fuck dragons!)' or '+30 bonus when organizing panicing civillians' and are given out apparently when the GM feels like, theres no levelling system just 'You did well this arc, gain +3 agility, +5 Cha and the skill; Horsepunching [Use]; got it? Good'

>>14787414

Basically its very free flowing and very, very freeform; the combat is bloody, usually fast except when both opponents are wary of each other and usually devolves when its human against human into one sitting on the others chest, punching him in the head while trying to push his face under the mud while pinning his sword arm and the other scrabbling for the knife he has down his sleeve, while fights against spirits require you to be very clever because they have huge stats, big teeth, ect and you have a pointy bit of metal, some chants which may or may not work and standard issue brass bollocks, so its usually wear them down, trick them, go for a weak point or use the enviroment for huge bonuses so you can even the playing field rather than an outright fight. Theres also been pitched battles between massive hordes of weak enemies and one/two characters, but thats usually cut down to a single roll and the Player saying what they're doing, like 'back up person X', 'get to the leader', murder as many as I can, burn the village, so forth and 'take X much damage from the fight and fatuige' rather than 'You hit a spirit, you hit another spirit, you hit another spirit, only 30 more to go, ect'
Thats mostly because the 'main' hunter so far loves a brawling fighting style though and fights like the worlds dirtiest bastard. Which is halarious since he's a sort of warrior poet meets cynical noir detective meets jaded idealist and not many warriors are used to 'trained' Samurai using kidney punches.

>>14787227
>vimes mother is a prostitute
I don't wanna derail... but she is/was?
Where is that said?

>>14787412
actually, it doesn't.

It's just that homosexual relationships were quite common back in the day.
This is based on the confucian principles of Relationships (Friends, Father/Son, ruler/servant, Man/Women... I think there's one more) ... and somehow this leads to homosexual stuff between samurai and their vassals...
It is, however not something you'd make public, rather something everyone knows about but doesn't like to talk about it.

As it stands: today it's 100% ok to be gay. But it is unforgivable to not be married.

>>14787489
Basically his dad is a local Samurai clan leader who had a problem with sleeping around; his mother was/is a benevolent spirit with GM discresion as to how powerful she was, what she was, where she is now, all that, that his dad had a one night stand with during a war campaign.

She then travelled to Osaka, popped him out in a back alley surgery in the red light disctrict, named him and left for her own reasons...probably not wanting to look after a kid, he was sent to the clan head, who went 'fuck, bastard...but I got to take responsibility', had him adopted by his dog keeper and made him play mate of his own legitimate son, everyone knows who he's the bastard son of and its a sort of non-secret that no one mentions, the rumour is his mother was a dockside prostitute and he's found the doctor who birthed him, who said 'eh, probably' so thats as far as he knows.
Everything else background wise is GMs call.

Transport an object containing a 'ancient powerful malevolent spirit' to be destroyed/resealed.
Some malaign spirits attack, intending to get a leader/great warrior for their cause, protect the object at all costs, if you fail, reseal the damn thing before it wakes up properly while its still confused.

>>14787414
>>14787427

Sounds like an awesome system, have you thought of having a malaign spirit town? Out in the forest somewhere, they keep and breed humans like cattle (I know the logistics of that are crap, but if it was all you could eat, you'd find a way too.)

PCs stumble across it...and naturally butcher the place, only problem is, now they've got a mass of incredibly traumatized, maladjusted people who have no idea how to live outside of the food pens and belive that humans only exist to have babies for Spirits to eat alive.
Good luck intergrating them.

>>14787749
The usual small, creepy village with a dark secret being a spirit that protects them from the war fallout in exchange for sacrifices. Outsiders, of course, are preferred, and the hunters are even better because the spirit HAET them.

I'd say use normal people a lot, don't have too many extraordinary figures if this is the feel you're aiming for, think Berserk, where there are only a few, very select people, who can really do much in a fight with monsters, normal people, and even trained soldiers, shouldn't be as extraordinary as a relativly good hunter who knows his shit just because fighting in wars, or harvesting rice, isn't as good training as fighting huge, powerful beasts all day erry day; so when you get to somewhere in the middle of the game, you should be able to do things normal humans can't do, or at least be at the limit of human power; think Dresden.

As for personalities you can use? Corrupt merchant selling dubious hunting wares, some bandits pretending to be hunters/tax collectors/imperial soldiers who are abusing a town, some really bad samurai would work; if you're using the burakumin or other outcasts, have Nobles be totally unafraid of killing them as an example to others. Ever read the grass for his pillow series? That'd be some damn good inspiration.

Have people hate hunters, hunters come in during their most desperate moments and demand cash to save them, they wander, they're not from around here, they fight monsters, how can normal people fight such things, obviously they're freaks, shun them, fear them, so forth.
Nothing is as quietly dark as a world where heroes exist, fight, compromise and die protecting the innocent, and those that return are thanked, then told to get the hell out because when they're not needed, they're outcasts.

I can't believe no one thought of Mushi-shi for this. The spirits (Mushi) in that show are usually neither benevolent nor malevolent, but capable of doing great harm if they come into contact with humans in the wrong way. An example:

>The particular mushi afflicting Ginko emitted a bright, glimmering silver light on the surface of the pond it lives in, that when stared at for too long will consume the individual. The person who is thrown into the darkness of where this mushi thrives must then sacrifice one of their eyes and become a mushi attractor for the rest of their lives till they either die or are eaten by the mushi.

>>14787821
Building on this; have one side, or someone, hire a group of mercinaries, infamous ones, known for their savagry and brutality and for their massive collateral; once you let go of the leash, they rape, pillage and burn their way towards a target and will fight it until its dead, they can take cities (With no one left alive naturally), slay heroes and generals, hold back armies through sheer fear, so forth.

They're an entire formation of malaign spirits...bad ones, really bad ones, their pay is food, coin, women, drink, blood and flesh in every meaning of the words.
The hunters can't stop them, but the army leader whos superior hired them buys the hunters to kill the unit, even though it will leave his own army so weak that the next passing enemy army will destroy them, they're holding a vital position for the war effort, he is literally willing to sacrafice himself, his men and the post they protect to get these damned monsters killed.
Do the PCs do it? Can they do it? The reprocussions will be huge, and the entire army they were hired by will be after the PCs, thinking they were hired by the enemy to kill those troops.

Or have them defend a village from these monsters, make them a semi-long running antagonist in the war arc if you can, war atrocities, war atrocities everywhere.

Sealing in caves should happen at times; as a final solution to huge ass monsters; since it was common/used in Japanese mythology, see Tenchi muyo for Ryoko for the basic idea.

Also; Genma Onimusha, fuck, that game was awesome; tell your GM to look up battle realms for other ideas, a group of malaigns based off the Lotus clan looking for a way to become unmalaign could make an awesome morally grey group, on the one hand, they're trying to make a way to make spirits not eat people, on the other hand, they're monsters of the highest caliber, they're experiments are horrific, they probably won't share it without a price and they're evil, evil bastards.

Also; dragon clan for Hunters, samurai, whatever, Serpent clan for Nobility, bandits and the Empires army.

>>14786892
>Spirited away

Enjoy your No-face and Bath houses.

Seriously though, bath house could be a good place for a fight, or relaxing; does the GM give you time to unwind, if so bath house.
Talking might be hard since the two PCs appear to be different gendre, mixed sex bath house maybe? Might send the wrong message though and end up with either the players going 'what the fuck GM?' or the game turning into a sleazy porno for a scene.

>>14788025
>sleazy porno

>>14787079
>Priestess

Not likely, considering what the Shinto religion was like, sounds like Vimes isn't going to be tapping that any time soon.

Mountain Oni horde coming down from the mountains, theres a city in the way; hold the city wall with the guards until either they're all dead, you're all dead, or the civillians are out.

Local girl has a spirit baby (Why? How? Secret love? Romance? Rape? Is it malaign? Is it not? Your call) and is exiled from her village, PCs come across her half dead from infection, ect.
Or they come across the village just as its born somehow...protect the child from the now rabid locals who think that this young girl they've known their whole lives is now the devil and are about to stone the child...could be very, very grim.
For a really downer ending, they get her away, only for the child to bite her breast when it suckles...its malaign.
Brain it now, and have the girl hate you for killing her child, possible infront of her, or let it grow and go on to eat people.

Shameless self bump

>>14788069
>priestess

that reminds me, the first known form of Sake was not brewed by modern ways.
It was rice that got chewed by shinto priestesses until it was a very soft mush and then spit into a barrel to brew there. I refer you to moyashimon for this. Anyway, this could be used as a 'so weird it's true' detail in your world where this kuchikomi sake is special sacred stuff to fight certain monsters, cleanse a person/place or as a special gift to onis or tengus to calm their wrath as they are too powerful to be stopped otherwise.

Obtaining that stuff alone could be fun as hell...

>>14788366
Sacred Sake?
Reminds me of the purification ceremony Shinto uses; maybe a corrupted water spirit takes over a shrine and posesses the locals via the purification ceremony; only the dregs of society are left untouched.
Team up with these Pariah to take back the village without killing any/too many of the locals by slaying the water spirit to remove its corruption

>>14788366
Chewing up the grain to prep it for brewing also appeared in Central America I believe. It was also women who did it, but the grain was corn instead.

Are the three sacred objects of any importance in the setting?

>>14786854
Those are the Penaggallan, which is actually a phillipino monster/vampire.
It likes to eat unborn babies.

OP here again.

>>14790647
>>14788366
Brilliant ideas, the second one works really, really well, but delivering Sake will be a good one too.
>>14790751
Possibly, I don't know, however there are several magical items in the world that I know of, one of which is a Fox statue that makes people immortal (Which another PC who isn't with the main group stole, he was meant to be with the main group, but he's more concerned with his own Derp-quest than hunting spirits and crap.)
Another is a 'unbreakable' sword, which the hunter PC has bought for vast wads of cash after getting sick and tired of his swords breaking/wearing down on the flesh of various beasts he was fighting, nothing special about it except it doesn't wear down and it looks cool, it was used to kill a relativly important spirit at one point, so it has a tiny history too, which might become a side quest in my opinion.

>>14788025
>>14788069
Nah, although sex and death are both very, very heavily ingrained in the feel of the game, I mean the hunter has a problem with being lecherous and has had a string of one night stands which mean nothing all over the country, both he and the Priestess are more mature than that, both IC and OOC, his reaction to mixed bathing would be 'meh, I would bathe in a puddle right now since we've been on the road *x* days', and in the monestaries, mixed bathing happens all the time.
They're likely to share a tent realistically, so they're not exactly bashful characters, they're quite military really, Hunters are somewhere between police and PMC.

As for racist hunters, perfect, Samurai in this are quite honourable by code of honour, think somewhere between nobles and Paladins, but most of them break it at one time or another in one way or another, be it sleepinga round, doing something dishonourable or going 'Fuck it, KILL EVERYONE HERE AND BURN THE BODIES SO NO ONE CAN PROVE WE WERE HERE!'
Although most are subtle, and are good hearted sorts, but there is a lot of manipulation and infighting in the Samurai clans.

Do they have to be from Japanese mythology?

>>14790945
Nope, just need to have the feel of it, literally go mental on strange and horrific creatures with strange goals, twist old ideas, go crazy, all ideas are welcome, persnalities, creatures, items, techniques, sword schools, Hunters, Samurai, anything.
One creature is probably going to be based of Pic related, basically, if you can think it up and it works within a vaugly dark and mostly fuedal low fantasy setting with an oriental-ish feel, go for it.

>>14790990
I think you should take a look at these guys then. They can't cross fresh water and they're extremely poisonous. I'd also add the only thing you can kill it with is fire due to it being "exposed" all the time.

>>14790990
That whole game is a mine for ideas, as for other ideas...

Do you have gunpowder? If so, land mines, for taking out spirits, because fighting fair is for pussies.

>>14787325
there were 250 years of no warfare whatsoever in japanese history and homosexual acts were quite the normal thing.

>>14790990

Ooh, Zephon, nice. What stage of his evolution are you going to use as a basis?

>>14791107
Its a psudo-japan; basically; geography is the same, names the same, but our Imperial general is a 8'7 Blue Dragon guy, we're fighting Serbia, the entire southern Island is malaign spirit territory and forest; and there are a few other changes, like natural medicine not being totally BS.

Oh, also, any interesting details anyone knows about Fuedal japan that could add gritty little details would be very useful, we've so far got prostitution, povery, outcasts, the Hunter has come down with an infection at least once from a wound (By the players choice), ect.

>>14791126
All the Soul Reaver vampires are likely to pop up as inspiration in one form or another.
Zephon is likely to be crossed with the old Japanese Spider-beast/people myths for a horrifying seductress monster, one moment, sexy woman, next, sweet fucking christ what is that?
Possibly in a mountain cave somewhere.

>>14790851
Well I mean the mythical regalia of Japan: The Mirror, the Sword and Necklace of ancient legend dating all the way back to Ameterasu supposedly.

>>14791182
Could have them meet a benevolent Oni; terrifying to look at, but his goals are basically 'Fight, drink, do manual labour for cash for the first two'

Could be an amusing/interesting NPC; maybe even have him join their party or company or whatever if they get attached to him.

Have someone send them to kill him, having heard of a 'rampaging Oni' in the area; they find him in a pub, alone, with a terrified bar maid giving him keg after keg of Sake and everyone else giving him a wide berth.

>>14791202
Those are more likely than not going to make an apperance, but as Huge Powerful items of great significance...probably owned by the Emperor.
Who's about 90.

Why? Got an idea for them? Throw it in, can't hurt to have it on the board.

>>14791151
peasant uprising. no srsly. the medieval villages in japan had a lot of co-operation contracts and where willing to fight for their land against even imperial or shogunat troops.

by the way do you include the splitting of the imperial court and the shogunat? I expect some infighting between these two in a setting like yours.

HEY. HEY OP. HEY.


The anime Mononoke is going to be your best bet. Not Princess Mononoke, just Mononoke. Good amount of psychological horror and insights into japanese mythology.

Sup, OP. I've got your back. Sorry if I'm late, I'm just gonna post stuff.

Probably no Jap equivalent, but I had an idea for Mask Ghosts, the remains of people who never showed their true feelings to the world. They would have a spectral body, but a physical mask that they would wear. If you broke the mask before killing the ghost, all it's pent up rage would release in an energy blast, killing it, fucking you up, and possibly breaking another mask in the process.

>>14791282

There's also some pretty "dark" pictures I've got. They're not really monster related, but they might be useful?

>>14791292

There's also some fucked up scrolls I have which are too large to post here.

>>14791248

We've got a lot of infighting, there was a Samurai revolution 30 years ago, lead by Yoshimitsu, who lost his sword and now wanders the earth as a dishonoured undead, attempting to find the one who stole it and return to life and regain his honour.
The new civil war is another one, and everyone is split in that, half the Samurai are with Arukaga, while some are with Orochi (The big blue dude), and others are basically flipping the bird to everyone and making a break for indepedance; the nobles don't give an ass as long as they're safe, the courts...well, I don't know anything about the noble courts in the game.
Also; theres a huge plot involving the Kensai's son taking over, after an old PC brought the family into the light by playing his daughter, Pic related for how that went; that PC is no longer with us.

>>14791258
Mononoke? Can you throw us a link? I'll pass it on to the GM

>>14791300

They involve tentacle rape, which seems to have been a theme in Japanese culture for a very long time.

>>14791317

A giant cat made out of cats should definitely be involved in your campaign.

>>14791282
>>14791292
>>14791300

You're awesome.
Also OP; human sacrafices, used to lock spirits in using the Chi of an entire person and to act as eternal guardians to the sealed item/cave/whatever; think the living mummies in Japan, a bit like that.
Why can I imagine hunters not only have a low life expectancy, but by the end of their first few years, look like they've been thrown through a barbed wire fence from all the scars?

>>14791333

Even though this is just supposed to be perspective (I think), I still can't help but see the skeletons as mini-undead monkey Samurai.

>>14791300
OP here, can you make them into a .rar and link them? I will be eternally grateful, the GM isn't a huge fan of using rape in games, since its uncomfortable, cliche and easy drama, but the monsters themselves could be interesting as rare, horrific encounters.

>>14791353

Also OP, I'm not sure if it's been mentioned yet, but there is a cool spirit that appears to be female, but with a snake tail. It sits by water (ponds and other shallow water) holding a baby. She'll ask a passer by to hold her baby while she does something, then the baby will attach itself to the person and become incredibly heavy so the person can't run. Then the "woman" will drink the persons blood; killing them.

Pic unrelated.

>>14791368

I'd be happy to. In the meantime here are some links to satisfy your needs until it's up.

http://pinktentacle(DOT)com/2008/02/edo-period-monster-paintings-by-sawaki-suushi/

http://pinktentacle(DOT)com/2011/03/monsters-from-the-kaibutsu-ehon/

http://pinktentacle(DOT)com/2010/07/macabre-kids-book-art-by-gojin-ishihara/

That last link has some really cool stuff.

>>14791409

>>14791306
http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4985323/%5BSHS%5D_Mononoke_1-12_%28Complete_and_Subbed%29

it should be noted Mononke is a spinoff from another series Ayakashi, which is linked to in that file's description, that is also largely horror set in the same time period.

>>14791422

Also, I didn't mean to suggest rape as part of the story. I was just noting how even way back, the Japanese loved them some tentacle rape.

The upload is at 62%.

>>14791458

Herp derp. Here's just a link to the torrent where I got all of this stuff from.

http://thepiratebay(DOT)org/torrent/4711851/Huge_collection_of_Japanese_art

There's some cool huge scrolls in there about samurai fighting demons.

>>14791479

I forgot a picture.

Anyway, I hope I helped, OP.

>>14791368

To OP; tell your GM that rape happened in Fuedal japan, not often, but it did happen in the nobility abusing their power and since you're linked with the local prostitute population...they're going to have some pretty horrific stories to tell, if you're all mature about it then don't be afraid to face that sort of thing; only in passing, but like you said, sex and death.

>>14791306
Oh jesus fucking Christ, I remember that thread; what happened to your albino partner?

Could do a 'Our Mrs _____' side plot, like Firefly, have the Hunter pick up a woman by accident somewhere.

Could have them hired by a Benevolent spirit who wants to visit a friend in a very, very racist part of the world, to protect him/her from the locals. I'm assuming the Hunters are more 'On the wall between worlds' than 'Hunt down and lynch every spirit' from what you've said?

Well; inevitably, little girl spirit; a powerful one, think the whole stringy haired ghost cliche.
Could go totally all out horrific evil, or just misunderstood, your call, benevolent is prefferable since it takes the whole 'No! She is malaign, I must kill the demons!' aspect out of it.

Very powerful, unwitting monster; maybe make her long running, for a really horrific dynamic, make her either attracted to the hunter/have a crush on him, or seek his approval, which could be a clever way to defuse her without killing her, by going 'Killing is wrong, don't do that and I'll approve...no, not even if they're bullying you'

Then getting her to fit in with normal society could be a bitch.

Jack the ripper style spirit, hunting hookers in the dock side; end with a huge brawl out and the hunters and the spirit basically bashing each others brains out with bits of cobblestone and fists in a back ally over a sobbing hooker.

Noble hires the PCs to hunt down a spirit that stole something from him, turns out he lied and the spirit just looked him in the eye on the street, if they bother to find out.

Have someone, possibly a PC undergo a 'hang 'em high' situation and nearly get killed by some racist villagers, watch him go for revenge.

Sent after a Spirit thats looking for revenge for its slaughtered tribe...turns out they were all benevolent and killed anyway; help him get justice, or kill him for the job.

A kind, gentle, non-threatening Malaign spirit, only feeds from people when it needs to and helps people all the time...kill or let go?

Hired by an anonymous source to 'keep an eye' on a noble family in a two noble-clan town, turns out their entire family is malaign spirits after some watching...go in, fight everyone, turns out the other family hired the PCs, and they're malaign too, spirit clan fued, or even they're non-malaign and its some ancient spirit fued, in which case, Romeo and Juliet in this bitch.

OP here; thanks all.
Any advice on generally running dark/grey games without leaning over into Berserk/40K grimdark, we're aiming for nobledark probably, emphasis on dark.
Good, heroic, kind people are going to be few and far between and people are going to mostly be slightly dicks, that's the only way we can think of so far to make it quit dark, any other advice?

OP here; thanks all.
Any advice on generally running dark/grey games without leaning over into Berserk/40K grimdark, we're aiming for nobledark probably, emphasis on dark.
Good, heroic, kind people are going to be few and far between and people are going to mostly be slightly dicks, that's the only way we can think of so far to make it quit dark, any other advice?

(I know the pic is Naruto, but fuck it, it looks awesome.)

Oblitagory evil sword post; a demon sealed in a sword, useful but EVIL.

Also, he has spirit blood, have him tempted to eat human flesh, or have it give him strength, he's partially malaign, the horror and irony will work well, or even have him want to feed off the flesh of spirits, since he does it anyway, have him be a predator of spirits, literally; have him do to spirits at higher levels what malaign spirits do to normal people.

As a folklore nerd and part-time /a/sshole: Look up Requiem from the Darkness. The main character is an idiot, but all of the supporting characters would feel right at home with your PCs.

Also, Mononoke is excellent. Real grand horror show, like Agatha Cristie with japanese ghoulies. Also, the medicine Seller is boss. Also, look up Ayakashi: Samruai Horror Tales. The Final arc of Ayakashi (the so-called Bakeneko/Goblin Cat) repeats itself in Mononoke. Torrent is here, though it requires a signup to download. [http://www.bakabt.com/130701-mononoke-shs-h-264.html]

Mushishi might give you an idea for non-animate ghoulies, too - forces of nature, rather than malicious. Interesting ideas, if nothing else.


Foxtrot's kitsuen lore has a LOT of good info on kitsune, the fox spirits. While some stuff is a little weeaboo/furry oriented, the collection of stories and secondary resources are still worth your attention.

I have to say, this game sounds utterly bad ass.

Do you do it in person, or over IRC or what OP?
How far in are you? Any good stories you can share? What about that Kappa you mentioned?

>>14791996
>Do you do it in person, or over IRC or what OP?
Online, over Messenger.

>How far in are you? Any good stories you can share? What about that Kappa you mentioned?

Only season 2 of 10, our GM is a planning freak of the highest caliber.
Stories, yes, lots. Starting with the Kappa...

Now, we first met Shigeki when we were travelling by cart with some NPCs to a job, we were going by road, our local albino idiot PC had the map and no navigation skills; eventually, we ask her the vital question.
"Where are we?"
'According to the map, we're in a rice field.'
"...we're not."
'Oh *Turns it around*...we're on the edge of a clif-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH'

Cart gets ruined by falling about 30 meters into a deep pond; luckily a local sees us drop and drags us all out, he's a Kappa, known as Shigeki, he lives out here in the middle of no where with his wife, Amaya.

>>14792034
Big house by the lake, middle of no where; our cart is fucked...he and his wife are young, friendly and king, they offer to let us stay the night, tell us theres a village a few miles down the road where we might be able to get a new wheel, we ask if he can take us...he says that he's not really welcome there, we go fine, two of us, the hunter and a new guy, Naito, who's a Yokai, go to get the new wheel; our white haired sociopath and Naito's teacher, whos a fully fledged hutner known as Goto stay to help pay our savior back by helping do manual work and cooking dinner (Hunters; we got 4 basic food groups, Rice, alcohol, Dried things and Lard.)

We get to town together, Hunter goes for a walk while Naito; who used to be a black smith and knows his wheels and shit, goes to the black smith to ask for the wheel...
Hunter while walking, notices that theres a huge statue in the middle of town, of a massive blue dragon, infront of a temple in the middle of town; now no god in the setting has a giant blue dragon as his or her statue, so he's curious.
He goes to check, apparently, its Orochi, the River god...

Yeah, the same Orochi who's an actual living spirit, whos the general of the Emperor in the capital.

At which point our fine hero hears a riot on the streets break out, screams of 'Spirit' and 'Monster!'; as everyone rushes out; with improvised weapons.
He naturally hot tails it, and at the middle of a rapidly forming lynch mob, finds Naito; who's got rocks thrown at him, a gaping head wound and is hiding behind an outside toilet, he would probably be dead, but none of the locals have the balls to approach him head on.

@guy who posts ancient japanese scrolls
He, reminds me of a trip to a museum I had... I went to see Kyosai (or something like that) pictures... he's famous for his images of devils and stuff... was pretty damn interesting...

>>14792100
Hunter gets to front, stands between the now terrified and sobbing student and the villagers and asks What the fuck is going on.
Apparently they don't like spirits in these parts; he quickly disperses the crowds with a mix of threatended violence, having a sword, being a hunter, proving he's not a malagin spirit by putting a spirit seal on his head, and almost killing one guy that tries it on by kicking the shit out of him.

He gets Naito out of there...
They head on back; Naito in a hell of a state, get back to the house, Shigeki picks up on it instantly...asks what happened...
Now at this point, its obvious that Amaya and Shigeki are so deeply in love that you could write a bad mills and boon novel about it and sell it to middle aged women with sexual frustration; we explain what happened...and Shigeki snaps, he kicks over a table, rages for a bit, then says something about finally giving them what they want and sorting this shit out, then storms out...
Hunter notices that their house is quite big...and has some old bedrooms...he puts 2 and 2 together on who they are and what they want, and charges after the Kappa.

>>14792139
He flat foots it to the town and arrives just in time to find Shigeki on the edge of town.
A huge mob is forming as he speaks, Shigeki gives them a huge speech about how they're all dick sucking fucks and how he's turning himself in, so they can stop trying to lynch every Spirit that passes by.
Hunter earlier talked to some locals, who thought Shigeki was only with Amaya until he got bored and ate her...apparently she's a local girl, her father steps forward and goes for Shigeki.
Hunter decks him in the face with a mean right hook, raises a loaded crossbow and asks who wants to be the one whos wife recives the bad news tonight...

Theres a mexican stand off; tension slowly rising as the crowd thickens and bubbles and the hunter holds them off, standing between Shigeki and them, threats slowly rising in direness and becoming less and less effective...until, finally, he says that Orochi might protect them from spirits, but heaven help them if they touch this Kappa.
"HEY! OVER HERE!"
A cry from the top of the temple; everyone looks...Goto, sitting atop the statue.
"Orochi, protect you from spirits?...you all realize Orochi is a spirit right?...and damn, you are all pathetic, can't even be happy for two people in love, what the hell is wrong with you?!"
The local priest tells him to get down, he does...then he kicks over the statue.
They instantly swarm the two hunters.
5 minutes later, between Gotos crossbows, the hunters sword and the Kappas sheer brute strength, everyone in the town is dead...

Then they notice; there are no children in this town.
Turns out there was a plauge...and the children all died...so the locals blamed Shigeki...

And killed his kids to try and appease the 'God' Orochi; to protect them from spirits.

if it's based on the edo period wouldn't that mean the emperor is useless and the shogunate is the real power?

>>14792207
Hunter, known as Takuma, has a soft spot for kids.
He doesn't even bother to bury the damn towns people, just burns the town to the ground, hopes everyone will think it was spirits...he tells Shigeki and Amaya they'll get blamed if they stay here, but theres a town called Matsue, which is over that direction, by the sea, lovely town...tell them Takuma sent you, he saved the Mayors daughter there in the first mission, so they owe him one...they say good luck in their new life, name a kid hope or something if you have some more, good luck, see you some time soon.

4 months later IC; long story short, the imperials found out who killed the village, Goto takes the blame, almost gets hung for it, but Orochi steps in and says 'No, fuck those guys we would have burned them all anyway; child killing chucklefucks' (Which was the catalyst for the civil war really...)
Matsue is attacked.
Now there was a NPC/Villian PC thing the GM was doing, where major villians are played by extra players, filled out realistically like PCs and then sent into the world, the first of these was the Kiyohime, a revenge serpent woman; who hated people.
She was backed up by a bunch of Malaign Kappa, including one called Roku.
Now, one of the major BBEGs, is a creature known as white forest, who has been going around, stirring up trouble by organizing spirits, he visits the Kiyohime, riles her up, convinces her she can be part of some 'great spirit revolution/army' and to organize the water spirits and make an army to attack the empire...

Starting at Matsue.

>>14792256

Now, the Kiyohime plans, sets up an army IC, gets together an assload of spirits and plans her glorious revolution, like a snake version of Scar from Lion King...only crazier.
Eventually, the day comes; and a storm arrives...they take the oppotunity.
Matsue is a fishing village, with floating slums; nice place, great food too. OOC all the good PCs are shitting bricks as we watch, since we love Matsue and have NPCs we like there...but its doomed.
The army attacks, wiping out the harbour within minutes, charging the shores, with the Kiyohime and a dragon known as the Mitzuruki leading the charge; as well as Roku the Kappa and his brother Toga.
The water fills with corpses, death and chaos, then...someone jumps in on purpose.
Shigeki; with a two handed sword, he puts it into a nearby Kappa and starts kicking ass and taking names. Holding back the entire 'invasion' by himself, and generally being a one man bad ass army.

>>14792227
The emperor is 90; the Shogun is Loyal, but the real power at the moment lies with no one, since the military is strong, but there are a lot of factions muddying the water.
But the main power is the Emperor, at least officially.

>>14792314
The Kiyohime attacks him; and through some lucky rolls (I think he got 10, 9, 8, 10.) Shigeki not only manages to wound her, but hold back the entire invasion, piss her off no end, then escape when the entire army bares down on him by jumping out the water. By this point, Toga reached the Elders palace, alone, due to Shigeki's efforts; and goes to kill the Elder.
Fortunatly, the Elder had guards, and thanks to Shigeki, they had time to get their shit together and plan a counter attack, driving off the forces, descimating the 'army' and driving off the Kiyohime, who was later murdered by the Hunters, leaving only Roku alive (By accident) who is now hunting us...Oh, Amaya was also taken hostage by the Kiyohime; and Roku brought her back out of a sense of honour; we in return, pretended to let the Kiyohime and the remaining Kappa go, only to attack them later that night and murder them all when they left their safe fortified Light house...
Hey, honour is for Samurai and pussies, I never said we were nice, just that we saved lives. The fight against the Mitzuruki dragon was quite awesome as well though.

>>14792314
it's your setting so you can do whatever you want with it, but the edo period was defined by the shogunate so by changing that you're in fairly different territory

>>14792034
>>14792100
>>14792139
>>14792207
>>14792256
>>14792314

...holy shit. Thats awesome, can we get a draw fag in here to draw a Kappa with a sword, facing off against an entire underwater army during a storm?
I love when GMs bring back characters you've effected and have them effect the world, makes a whole ripple effect for your actions, which feels awesome.

Kudos to your GM, he sounds like a fucking awesome GM.

>>14792374
...he's already mentioned that their national general is a giant blue dragon with an attitude problem, that Ninja are sociopaths with autism and that people are frequently eaten alive by roving monsters...
How different can you make it? I think he means Edo level tech.

OP's GM here. Thanks for the ideas guys. Definitely going to use a bunch of them. Here's a picture I drew for the game.

>>14792404
OP; Pretty much, we got bows, we got swords, we got sword schools, techniques and samurai attitude, Ronin, ect have no real rights and are seriously disliked, we have wooden buildings and no actual gunpowder yet, although China has and we're going there soon IC, but the government is totally GM brewed.

Basically, we're somewhere in the Fuedal era, not sure where, the GM knows more about the world building than I do frankly.

>>14792441
Holy shit; are you serious? You're kidding right?
If you arn't, may I congradulate you on creating what sounds like a fucking awesome game that the OP seems keen as fuck on.
Also; thats a pretty damn nice drawing.
More damnit, tell us more about this setting, who the hell is that, have you got any more pictures?!
Moar!

>>14792466
Yeah, I have more pictures. Here's another.
That first picture is Toma, leader of the hunters in Osaka. This one is Jubei, leader of the hunters in Kyoto.

Setting: What do you want to know?

>>14792441
Got any stories you can share as GM, or future plans for this game, or the setting, so we can build on what you give us, since OP hasn't given much in specific detail, only Japan, Fuedal and Grim-but-not-too-grim

>>14792489
>>14792492 Here
Factions, what groups could be crooked, how magic works, what the world is like, what's happened so far, what kind of missions you're looking for, or creatures, ect.
Basically, tell us everything you can, since OP is here I assume you're not willing to give spoilers since he's a player, but give us everything you can without ruining it for him.

>>14792492
Well, currently, here's where it stands. The Capital, Kyoto, is ruled by the Emperor, who's in his eighties now. Kyoto also hosts the Samurai Palace, which is the seat of Shogun Nobunaga.

The Samurai used to operate from Edo, but Edo fell during a Samurai Rebellion lead by Yoshimitsu, which failed when Orochi defeated them in battle. Orochi then claimed Edo, demolished it, and built the rising city of 'Tokyo' on that ground.

Orochi is one of three 'half divine' spirits that serve the Emperor, and is called the 'Kami (God) General.' The other two are Jiraiya, the Kami Advisor, and Tsunade, the Kami Treasurer. This was taken from Japanese mythology and twisted a bit, not Naruto, fortunately.

>>14792441
>>14792489
Your setting sounds like the kind of thing I'd usually call weeaboo frankly.
However this sounds more like Hunter the Vigil in Japan than anything...and that's fucking awesome. Keep on rockin'
How much has anime and crap inspired this by the way, as oppose to other things?

Also; illegal/rouge magic users, nercomancers and crap; do they come under the whole Spirit killer Schtick? Or do they have their own organization for hunting them down?

>>14792505
Crooked factions: The Black Market, basically gangs that perform very risky, high stakes trade across asia, managed by Yakuza in Japan, triads in China, etc.

The Ninja are a shady bunch with a council and 9 ninja 'clans' scattered across the Empire: Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Air, Ice, Lightning, Moon and Sun.

The Blood Gangs are basically low level thugs employed by people like the Black Market to keep streets clear of city guard, Imperials, or Samurai.

Also, nobles can be corrupt.

As for magic, there's Chi energy in any human, but there's also Imperial Magic, which can only be gained through an oath ritual which grants access. The Imperial Army practically owns you after that. Then there's Shinto Magic, which is taught in shrines and temples, to followers of the faith. Finally, there's Spirit Magic, which is an obvious one.

Tried Yuki-onna? Snow-women both incredibly beautiful, but whose desire for a lover will result in many a man dying of hypothermia?

Should we archvie this thread? highly imaginative, with some excellent worldbuilding and horror elements other GMs would know and/or like.

>>14792534
>Uses Orochi, Jariya and Tsunade.
>Not Naruto related.
...I love you OP.
Also, have you thought of using some of the really legendary figures in Asian mythology, maybe Journey to the West, or the Princess Otohime.
Possibly as the leader of the spirits in an area, or an ancient spirit being, or whatever; then throw in a romance thing with the hunter for a star crossed lovers thing and some moral complications; two people in love from two spereate worlds, watch depression ensue.

Neil Gaiman's the Dream Hunters was a good supernatural romance, but it had a few horror elements which might appeal to the campaign's goals.

>>14792588
I have a Yuki-Onna planned for Season 7.

>>14792552
I draw in an anime style, but I try to be inspired by games, films, aninmated film, popular mythology and culture, and the more obscure bits of cultural folklore. Basically a big mix-up.


More on the Spirits -

There are also very powerful Spirits scattered in remote parts of the Empire called 'Kishin.' These can take the form of an animal or human-like creature, and are often referred to as 'Spirit Kami', (as opposed to 'Shinto Kami', which are the mythical gods), for being able to effect the natural environment around them and creating other spirits using their magic.

Also, a spirit is either born malignant or benign. Malignant Spirits starve without eating human flesh, whereas benign ones are accepted (with prejudice) in human society. It's a birth mutation either way. However, a powerful enough spirit can awaken dormant malignant blood in a weaker benign spirit if it has the ability.

I want to hear the most about this campaign. I want to hear it all.

Who else wants to hear it all as well?

>>14792589
There will be an arc in Season 5, where the Hunter Unit which the OP is part of will travel through China into India, in a sort of referencial adaptation of 'Journey to the West.' Complete with a Monkey King homage.

>>14792588
Thread archived >>14786803

>>14792673
If you'd like, I'll make a new thread full of details about the world and system, if enough people want it.

>>14792446
>no actual gunpowder yet
but guns were an important part of the feudal era and were one of the elements that resulted in the edo period to begin with. from what you described it sounds more like the preceding era.

>>14792673
Me; damnit, that Kappa-dude sounds fucking awesome.
OP's GM, tell us Everything so far. Because I now really, really want to blatently steal from your game...also, how do feats and all that work, OP told us the system, but he didn't know how feats worked. Do you have a list, or just make them up on the fly?
Out of curiosity, what happened to >>14791306 this girl; is she still around, OP didn't mention her...well, unless she's the Priestess, but it doesn't sound like she is.

>>14792687
>>14792712 here
Tell us in here or start a new thread, your call, but we need to know.
Damnit fa/tg/uys get in here; this sounds like it could work as an Alt setting for L5R as well as on its own; we need to get shit done here and help OP.

>>14792712
I have a table of feats. 300, to be exact. At the end of each arc, I roll a D100. He won't unlock the second table of 100 feats until Season 4. So it's randomly picked.

As for the albino freak, she got... kicked out of the game. The guy PCing her never got online anyway. The Priestess is being played by a new person, who's actually female. Thank the lord. I hate it when guys play female characters and turn it into self-indulgent fetish fuel.

Alright guys, GM here. Probably should've put that on all my posts so far... still. Anyone want me to make a new thread tomorrow with a summary of the story so far, and a big FAQ on cities, factions, and spirit types?

OP, I ran a game almost exactly like this years ago, the summer before I started my BA in Japanese studies and came to hate all things Japan. It was fantastic, would do it again in a heartbeat. Very dark and gritty, highly lethal combat, lots of supernatural dangers but very little in the way of supernatural power available to regular mortals such as the PCs, used an adaptation of White Wolf's Storyteller system.

A major source of inspiration, and a way to immerse players unfamiliar with Japanese mythology into the mood of the game, was a computer game called Cosmology of Kyoto... set in the Heian period more than Edo, its an adventure game of sorts (light on the 'game' part) that should still be floating around the internet as abandonware. Would recommend you/your GM/anyone on /tg/ check it out for inspiration.

>>14792788

I'll check that out. Cheers for the tip.

>>14792761
Sure thing, set up a thread tomorrow, definetly something we're interested in. By the way, does this setting have a name or anything; call yourself by '*Setting name* GM; that way we'll know its you.'

>>14792745
Ahh, a that guy. Always something isn't there?

>>14792859
The setting is called 'Spirit Hunter.' Which is HORRIBLY generic of me. But it works. OP and me just call it 'SH.'

>>14792745
Would you eventually upload these to /rs/, OP's GM? Because this would look like a FINE project for us to contribute to the "/tg/ get s shit done" scoreboard.

>>14792964

Ignore me. I know what it is now. Yeah, I'll give it a shot.

bump without shame

Has your setting made any mention of Amatsu-Mikaboshi?
The dude's pretty much a borderline Lovecraftian horror in Kami form. He's the primordial darkness that existed before creation and he seeks to return all creation to that state.
The only "problem" is that he kind of hit the big time by being the main bad guy in Marvel comics like a year ago, and so there's a lot of information on him based on the comics instead of the actual myths.

Uzumaki maybe a good fit for your setting,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uzumaki

I am so fucking jeallous of you OP

This game sounds fucking awesome, I wish I could play it...

Bumping; maybe we can keep the thread up until the GM returns, then we won't need a new thread.

Also; that guy? We need to know more, that guy stories are the best stories.

this setting needs a Musashi-like character.

Some legendary half-yokai... or a guy that is trained by Tengus for some shady reason.

One should always keep in mind that in Japan, human beings can become gods, too. Some even during their lifetime.
This could lead to a lot of interesting stuff.
The wise old priest that has become a minor kami of its own is slowly corrupted by his pent up emotions and lust.
The monk that became a boddhisatva and now wants to help his monestary that is in need.

If you want to go full crazy, have crazy voodoo like priests and as a twist it turns out they are christians (if that topic isn't a problem for religious reasons). Thing is: the Japanese don't understand christian believes, less so in the middle ages. Christian missionaries always tried to pry open the land and its resources for the west and make it a colony under god and [insert country]. Could be pretty interesting.

So, has OP and his GM come back?

>>14797640
Not yet; but I think they're at GTM, they're probably at their jobs or something, GM promised to come back today and tell us the whole thing so far, so keep the thread going. Maybe post some more ideas, we can bribe him.

Also OP's GM, have you ever thought of becoming a drawfag? Seriously, your stuff is awesome.

>>14797745
I feel bad for simply bumping the thread, but I have written almost anything that came to my mind...

>>14798073
Don't feel bad, anon. There's only so much folks can say about a given topic.

Tell me, how did the Japanese interpret dragons in their stories? Dragons (or Lhong in Chinese) were key players in the Chinese Celestial bureaucracy, but the Japanese don't have as many stories about them. Anyone know any good stories?

>>14798383
I'm not sure, but I think Dragons are mainly good things in Japanese Stories.
I think they stand for strength and prosperity.
Seeing one is a good omen and I think they don't interfere much with humans, but I'm not too sure.

There's only one Story that springs to my mind, and it's not really about Dragons but it's kinda interesting, so I'll have a go anyway:

In one of the (untranslated) chapters of the 'Hagakure', there is a man that is a great fan of Dragons. He collects images, poems, clothes featuring dragon images, calligraphy... everything.
One day he goes into his garden and is greeted by a real dragon.
He then dies of shock and fright.

Quite a strange story, isn't it?

>> half-mercenary
ok
>> half-Ronin, half-government
PICK ONE

>>14786803

This is the strangest coincidence. I recently ran a Mage: The Ascension game set in Japan, based on the Nasuverse, Japanese myth, and a fair doze of supernatural horror. It went down fairly well; It did, however, become a very strange game, as few of the players had any frame of reference.

>>14798916
Well... they can work for the government and still be ronin as they don't have a real affiliation with the Shogunate/Imperial court.

And yet another thing that springs to mind:
Back in the Edo Period, there was a huge Surveillance going on. Basically there were more government spies and infomants than there were normal people.
It was even worse than the Stasi in the DDR in eastern Germany.

Could be an interesting thing to have shogunate spies in a session... Or rather: normal people that do their business and half a month later after they are gone you find out you have been ratted out to some lord.

Right everyone, I'm back. I'm impressed that this thread has kept on going as long as it has. Thanks again for all the further advice and suggestions. If anyone still has questions on the system, story, or characters, I'll take them. I'll also start giving feedback on ideas.

>>14799471
welcome back... I guess this will take a bit, though...

So... someone requested some more That Guy stories...

>>14799490
The guy who played the albino, psychopathic, nymphomaniac girl with the stupid sword? I swear, if I knew he'd be playing it like that I wouldn't have let him in...

Okay, here's some details on her:

-The guy only wrote the background after the game started, and got upset when I told him stuff needed changing.
-The guy said in her background that she'd been trained by a legendary warrior (Yoshitsune), which was basically an excuse for the character to never listen to anyone and prance around thinking she was invincible.
-She went into battle blindfolded. And the guy got irritated when she got crammed full of arrows. I did say wearing a blindfold has a MASSIVE minus modifier on perception in combat. Urgh.
-He made her bisexual. And she had an incestuous crush on her big brother. Who exiled her for being a disgrace to the family...

After she (no joke) physically tortured all the kids her age when she was little.

>>14797203

There's a warrior in the Imperial Army who is a Malignant Yokai. The soldiers volunteer to have their bodies eaten if they die on the battlefield. He's not very popular with the humans in the Empire. Also, I've edited the Tengu spirits now. They're basically huge talking bird-like spirits. They'll get to fight a normal Tengu, and a more powerful one later in the game. I was thinking of having it fly to China and have them fight it on that mountain with the boardwalks running up the sides, Mount Hua.

>>14799578
How did that Character survive all that shit?
But it kinda reminds me of ye days of olde in which I was part of a group where he had Codephrase which meant disposing of an obnoxious character.
Whenever someone said "Let's get a club with rogue-knight emblem", it would be the 'go' signal. The character in question was a rogue knight thingy (don't ask, he made it up himself under shady circumstances) and the plan was for our magician to turn the character into stone (a spell that only works for a limited time), encasing him in molten iron and drop him into a lake.

As long as he's in stone shape, he is gonna survive it unscathed... however when he is transformed back, he will die a slow painfull death of asphyxiation while the now solid iron filled mouth, nose, ears... and most probably even the lungs.
Also while in Stone Shape he still is able to think normally and see what happens around him...

Yes, he was THAT annoying...

>>14799694
I kicked the player out before that character could die. Now I have to NPC it in an attempt to redeem the game... that'll be an uphill struggle.

>>14798504
The players have fought one dragon so far: A Mizuchi, a raggedy old blue water dragon that vomits oil instead of breathing fire. Yeah, I made that up... but breathing fire seemed impractical for an ocean environment. It chased the party along some coastal cliffs while they were trying to escape on a wagon.

I have two other dragons planned for Season 5. They'll have human forms and fight in a duo.

Then of course, there's Orochi, who can split into 9 separate, very large, dragons. I doubt the party will have to fight him though. He hasn't featured in a big way. He more an influence on world events rather than the players.

INFORMATION ON MONSTERS SO FAR:

I've edited these for the purposes of my game. I tried to put an original spin on some of them.

JIKININKI - A spirit that takes human form and devours the flesh of young women. Can disguise itself in human form. Operate alone. When their form breaks, their eyes are revealed to be slitted and their teeth are razor sharp.

TANUKI - A mischievous, evasive spirit in the form of a Raccoon. Some can assume the form of a human child. Known for their speed, intelligence, deception, theft and cunning. Also, the Tanuki they've encountered was a pipe-smoking Raccoon. It's now chained to the desk in their boss's office.

AOSAGINOHI - A glowing heron that lives in marshes. Usually a peaceful spirit, but will defend it's territory fiercely if threatened. Most cannot assume a human form, but some can.

YAMAARASHI - A giant, carnivorous porcupine spirit that hunts at sunrise, mostly found in farming lands or prairies.

DATSUE BA - A Spirit that takes the form of an old human woman, and spins wool from the hair of the humans it kills. This wool is then knitted into clothing. When sealed in an object, these can take the form of a moth.

KIYOHIME - A woman whose hatred or bitterness has caused them to be reborn as a serpent after death. They can revert back into human form at any time, though their features have a more reptilian appearance.

>>14799944
pretty interesting stuff, really

>>14799944
do you have any more images you made for the game?

>>14801151
Here you go. This is Fujimoto, leader of the Fire Clan (Ninja).

>>14801204
Don't get me wrong, it's an awesome image, but you can't deny a bit of influence for this image from a certain mango...

Do you have an image of Orochi, though?

>>14801319
also you seem to have a quite awesome image of that That Guy's character... could you also post that one?

>>14801360
Here's his character.

>>14801319
Found the pose, thought it was cool. Can't say I intended any further inspiration than that.

>>14801319
I'm still working on my Orochi poster. I'll post it when it's complete, possibly in a new thread.

>>14801430
I can't and don't want to imagine how it feels to make an image as awesome as that for a character that is an insult to the entire game as she was...

You want Tengu son.
The little bastards are clever, and are not to be beaten with brute force. Get some stats, but then just play them like Tuckers Kobolds. Except they probably know some Japanese, so they can brutally verbally abuse and mock the party for their clumsy, and inept attacks, and stupidity, if they play that way.

Kitsune might be a nice way to mess with the party. They ARE foxes after all. Foxes are tricky. Feel free to be as cruel as you want with making them unreasonably cunning and insightful. Anyone who is talented only at swinging around a sword is doomed, frankly.

You could throw down with a Dragon, too. They aren't evil, but they can be pissy. Even if you killed it, which wouldn't be easy, you might still lose, because it might curse the land, or you.