Steampunk Amahara: Rules

Steampunk Amahara

Character Creation

Classes

Classes are a broad description of your occupation, social background and the role you play in the party but should mostly be treated as an idea guide and a partial description of the perceived social divisions in Amahara. It's perfectly fine, for example, to make gunslinging "samurai" with the Ronin or Ashigaru class, or a ninja Miko etc. Each class template gives bonus starting arts and bonus stats.

Core Classes

Shrine Maiden

Shrine maidens are a class of Shinto cleric that ranks below priestess. In theory, they are maidservants to the kami where and when they choose to inhabit the mortal realm. This is in contrast with the priestess, who is more like a diplomat or herald, though some shrine maidens do become priestesses-in-training. Where the priestess's life is regimented with taboos and devotions and has a role that remains purely religious, the shrine maiden has expanded into many areas, including the day to day administration of a Shinto sect's or shrine's temporal affairs, and responsibility for military force where it exists. In some instances, they have even become real leaders, relating to their sect's High Priestess much like the Shogun once related to the Apostle.

As a class, shrine maidens can excel at almost anything but are always female and always have a religious core. They start with Shinto Lore, three other arts, a +1 to any stat and the choice of a +1 to a second stat or a fifth art. This is the only absolutely critical class for the game to start - there needs to be at least one, but hell, we could have nothing but shrine maidens if we like.

Samurai

Just a generation ago, the samurai class were the rulers of Amahara. The end of the Yanari Shogunate dealt serious damage to their prestige and ended their class distinctions and privileges, but it has not broken their power entirely. The relatively peaceful transition of power in the Home Islands would not have been possible without compromise with the samurai. Moreover, being far better educated than most Amaharans, they naturally filled high positions in the government and military. Many former samurai families transferred their loyalty to the new state but cling to older traditions, transmitting their disciplined lifestyle to a new generation.

Samurai can be either gender. They start with Bushido, Close Combat, Traditional Education, two other arts and +1 Resolve.

Ronin

Some samurai were alienated as far back as the end of the Sengoku era when defeat took away their masters or peace took away their jobs. They joined an established class of experienced ashigaru who had grown unused to the idea of farming and became (stereotypically) bandits, organised criminals, bounty hunters, or mercenaries. They are still well regarded enough for their skills to regularly find work so long as they can overcome social stigma but are not as respected as proper samurai. However, the lack of expectations and regimention gives them more options to adapt.

Ronin can be either gender. They start with Close Combat, three other arts, +1 Strength, and +1 Dexterity.

Ninja

While Amahara's governments have had to grapple with overabundant samurai at various times in the past, it has rarely found itself with enough ninja for all the dishonourable work that needs to be done in the name of honour. Though they have needed to learn many new techniques to operate overseas, the ninja is a job that has made the transition into the modern era with minimal difficulty.

Ninja start with one art out of Athletics, Stealth and Trickery, three other arts, +1 Wits and another +1 in Dexterity or Intelligence.

Ashigaru

The common soldier has been important in warfare for at least seven hundred years. Today, these "ashigaru" swear fealty directly to the Apostle instead of samurai barons as in the past and it was the threat of these commoners, armed and trained in the foreign methods, that brought the samurai to the negotiating table during the restoration. While they haven't entirely inherited the prestige of the samurai, the gap in status has closed greatly with the fall of the shogunate and it helps that many members of the former samurai class are in the new military. They also have the whole Firearms thing going for them.

Ashigaru are assumed to be junior officers or experienced enlisted who have gained a few ranks to deserve special treatment. They are generally male and start with Art of War, Athletics, Firearms, two more arts of their choice, and +1 Resolve.

Geisha

Traditional female entertainers who could purely be artists or be part-time prostitutes. Either way, they are the femme fatales of Amahara, serving their masters and mistresses as spies and assassins. Many Geisha consider themselves kunoichi, though they have a clearly different emphasis in training. Still others are actually of samurai lineage with unique training, or consider themselves a distinct class from others.

Geisha start with Performance, Trickery, two other arts of their choice, +1 Charisma and another +1 Dexterity or Wits.

Scholar

These are Amaharans who have spent time studying overseas or in a foreign taught school. They have great prestige in many circles for their fresh perspectives and knowledge of things that could be used to improve Amahara as a country. On the flipside, conservatives find them quite insufferable, especially those who consider themselves learned yet have no background in traditional studies. Although most peasants have trouble affording the expenses of this course of education, every social rank is represented amongst the scholars to some extent.

Scholars start with Gaijin Learning (and need not take Traditional Education for it), four other arts of their choice at least two of which should be non-combat, and +1 Intelligence.

Secondary Classes

These classes are not as central as the above. Would you like to know more?

Merchant

Trade was beneath the dignity of a samurai, but wealth was never dishonorable.

Stats and Specialties

You have 50 points to design your character and a total of +6 in specialties which cannot be stacked more than +2.

Level 1 - 1 XP
Level 2 - 3 XP
Level 3 - 6 XP
Level 4 - 10 XP
Level 5 - 15 XP
Level 6 - 21 XP
Level 7 - 28 XP
Level 8 - 36 XP
Level 9 - 45 XP
Level 10 - 55 XP

Up to 10 points can be banked for later use as unspent exp. The system is accumulative – that is, if your stat is at 3, you need only to spend the 4 additional points to push the invested XP from 6 to 10. Moreover, any bonuses to your stats originating from your character's class or elsewhere are not factored into the cost and are always added on top of your base stat for free.

The same goes for specialties, which give you additional dice in specific situations. Specialties are bought as stats and can be customised but as a rule need to be fairly specific. For example, Swording or Parrying are no good, but Kendo works. Dodging is too broad, but Diving for Cover is okay. Specialties are not explicitly tied to any one stat and may be rolled with unexpected ones should appropriate circumstances arise. They do not, however, stack with each other except under special circumstances. Note also that while they add dice, they do not reduce difficulty threshold on their own. Hence, even if you have a specialty in kenjutsu, you will still be rolling at difficulty 7 unless you reduce it with the Close Combat art and others further up the art tree. If you start with an art requiring a specialty or minimum stat you must buy that either with XP or with your starting bonus specialty slots.

As an exception to usual nature of things, language proficiency can be purchased as specialties instead of arts with the fluency governed by the number of dots in the specialty – about a +2 makes for decently understandable Engrish for example.

Base Stats

Strength

A measure of overall physical potency. It is used alone for standing feats of muscle power or physical endurance and also adds directly to damage and soak. When attacking hand to hand, every point of Strength the attacker has over the defender subtracts from the defender's Parry.

Dexterity

Dexterity Man, Dexterity Man! Does all the things Dexterity can!

Wits

Mental speed and the ability to carry on thinking under pressure. When attacking hand to hand, every point of Wits the attacker has over the defender subtracts from the defender's Dodge.

Intelligence

Raw smarts. Is used for perception when reflexes don't really matter.

Charisma

A measure of personal presence and the most common stat to which physical beauty is attached as a speciality.

Resolve

A measure of mental toughness and focus.

Derived Stats

Strength + Dexterity: Having more Strength than the defender in hand to hand subtracts from their Parry. This is also your Sport rating which is used for feats requiring both precision and muscle mass.

Dexterity + Wit: Having more Wits than the defender in hand to hand subtracts from their Dodge. This is also your Init rating to which you add d10 for initiative.

Wits + Intelligence: When someone "attacks" a problem with Wits and is already successful, every point of Intelligence over the perpetrator adds threshold success.

Intelligence + Charisma: Every point of Intelligence a would-be manipulator has over her mark adds threshold success if the Charisma roll is already successful.

Charisma + Resolve = (This will totally do something or help in some way!)

Resolve + Strength = Double it and that's how many hitpoints you have.

Arts

Arts represent the skillset and proficiencies of your character. Having a relevant art lowers the success threshold from various unpleasantly high numbers depending on how necessary training, knowledge and experience are for that task. Generally, tasks that require precise and obscure rituals will be difficulty 10 and "natural" skills will normally still need a 7. It is hence a pretty good idea to make sure your starting arts reflect what it is you want to do. Arts may also have various other beneficial special effects as well, such as increased numbers of actions, raised static values, or conversion of various rolled actions into unrolled.

This list is not exhaustive (though it probably covers most of the bases) and is more meant to spark ideas of both how to start and how a character might progress. Generally, studies at Level 1 are fairly common basic techniques, Level 2 are considered fairly advanced, while even higher tier arts are amazing feats suited for movies or demigods.

Most arts do not stack within a tier as far as the difficulty reduction is concerned. This allows simpler customisation. For example, a ninja may opt to take Streetwise as a variant of Trickery in order to alter the connotation of his skills somewhat without any question as to whether it would be better to have both arts when covering a task that seems to fall under both. However, higher tier arts that are progressions of lower level ones or same-tier art with very minimal relationship to each other will stack where applicable

Level 1 Arts

Animal Friendship

The ability to make friends with animals and other creatures (including magical ones) or, failing that, to at least quickly make sense of their habits and behaviours. This art reduces the difficulty of interacting with animals by 2 and makes ordinary work with trained ones too easy to roll for.

Art of War

Amahara borrows most of its traditional military study from the Middle Kingdom's Art of War, which is the foundation upon which a corpus of strategic treatises has accumulated over two and a half millenia. It remains highly applicable today through its total and comprehensive view of strategy and broad-stroke theories that find reflection in many facets of competition besides war. It does, however, lack specific answers to some threats that have become common worldwide, such as ironclad warships or regiments of Francian infantry.

Art of War can be combined with Gaijin Learning for western military science which, on its own, deals mainly in the practical aspects of equipping, training and directing men to win battles. The bulk of its literature is from the past two centuries of Europan warfare and it has answers for everything from correct tactics to assault a building to survival rates and average levels of amputation from wounds of differing ammunition.

Artistry (req. +2 specialty in one form)

Covers a general proficiency in making and understanding comparatively useless things that look nice or read very well. Reduces the difficulty of producing and understanding art.

Athletics

A general proficiency to jumping, tumbling, climbing, swimming, and running around which adventurers into wild and forgotten lands are wont to often do. Reduces the difficulty of athletic feats by 1 and grants an additional athletic action.

Bushido

The Way of the Warrior teaches its followers not to fear death and to value loyalty and honor above all else. This reduces difficulty on all relevant Resolve rolls, including saves from death and knockout so long as one stays true to samurai ideals.

Clockwork Prosthetic

Some extremely skilled foreign surgeon-mechanics are able to construct clockwork prosthetics to replace missing limbs. This makes one of your arms mechanical with all attendant benefits and disadvantages.

Close Combat

A general proficiency in fighting at close quarters. It reduces the difficulty of armed and unarmed combat by 1 and grants an additional close combat action.

Craft (req. +2 specialty in one form)

Covers a general proficiency in working with your hands and using them to make practical objects.

Enigmas

Covers problem and puzzle solving, reducing difficulties by 1.

Fast Draw

Your weapon is considered drawn the moment your first initiative arrives.

Firearms

This gives a general familiarity with firearms, reducing shooting difficulty by 1 and lowering risk of malfunction. If a gun would take four or more rounds to shoot, this reduces that by 1 as well. The art also includes the knowledge of how to maintain guns between use – an important skill in the era of black powder.

Gaijin Learning (req. Traditional Education)

Indicates time spent studying abroad in a Gaijin country or in one of the newfangled institutions springing up in the capital. Provides a solid understanding of gaijin society (especially in one country), humanities, mathematics, and basic understanding of their arts and sciences. Obviously there are advantages to this set of studies or else Amahara wouldn't be so keen on incorporating it. Provides a free foreign language at +2.

Gaijin Learning can combine with many traditional practices to provide background to the western equivalents that the art itself doesn't normally cover. This is a minor perk more often than not but can be very helpful for pure knowledges like Art of War or Traditional Medicine.

Meditation

A prerequisite for a whole bunch of things and allows easier meditation or feats of concentration using Resolve. Successful meditation takes on many forms and may provide bonuses in a variety of tasks.

Occult Lore

Involves knowledge of eastern occultism derived from the Tao of the Middle Kingdom and many other belief systems.

Performance (req. +2 specialty in one form)

A background in secular performing arts like instruments or drama or dance or whatever.

Shinto Lore

Gives a solid background of training and knowledge in shinto rites, rituals and ceremonies. Has some overlap with Occult Lore.

Stealth

Improves stealth.

Survival

You know your way around the wilderness. Improves difficulty for tasks relating to surviving outside populated areas for yourself and for people you help. Includes hunting (provided you know how to use a weapon), tracking and so on.

Tattoos

Tattoos are serious business in Amahara, with deep roots in tradition and ancient secrets of unimagineable power. Even when completely mundane, they are on the whole rather more impressive than tattoos available elsewhere in the world. Having a set of these reduces the difficulty of various social interactions (generally intimidation) depending on the amount of skin exposed.

Tough

Doubles your hitpoints and makes Strength rolls of physical resistance easier.

Trickery

Deception and misdirection.

Traditional Education

All characters are assumed to have a basic command of writing and numbers but Traditional Education indicates a higher standard of learnedness that most peasants cannot afford. It includes a somewhat more extensive understanding of mathematics and significantly greater proficiency in the Amaharan language, including formal writing and at least the basics of poetry, calligraphy, literature, etiquette, histories of the realm, and generally things that a samurai of old would be expected to know.

Traditional Education (Middle Kingdom)

This is something of a variant of regular Amaharan education but is a lot less artsy, concentrating on morals, incredibly dry and formal essays, the imperial legal code and a side of financial theory of debateable value. It assumes passing a provincial examination, which implies social status in the Middle Kingdom and usually though not always the male gender.

Traditional Medicine

Level 2 Arts

Animal Companion (req. Animal Friendship)

Anthropology (req. Gaijin Learning)

The western view of other peoples, their histories and their artifacts.

Body Control (req. Meditation and Toughness)

Bunraku (req. Craft and Performance)

Bunraku is the art of controlling creepy Amaharan dolls from a distance with wires and clockwork. Foreigners see it as an amazing and exotic art, making it as useful for entertainment as for other more sinister purposes when overseas.

Chi Aura (req. Meditation)

Cultivation of internal energy allows greater physical and magical feats.

Disguise (req. Trickery)

You are very good at disguising yourself and others and would certainly be able to appear as a totally different person and perhaps even change apparent ethnicity or gender.

Heart of Clear Water (req. Meditation)

Grants preternatural perception.

Intrigue (req. Traditional Education)

You are practically experienced in politics, probably due to the social class you were born into but perhaps also a little luck and opportunity. You gain easier insight into what's really going on and can more easily navigate current events and bureaucracies. A vital prerequisite to game out of being pawns.

Jujutsu (req. Close Combat)

The traditional

Jukendo (req. Close Combat and Firearms)

Jukendo is the uniquely Amaharan art of fighting with a rifle in hand to hand combat with or without a spike or sword bayonet. Considering that rifles are unwieldy up close, it is considered a beneficial skill for quality troops. The rifle becomes treated as a weapon in close combat, which reduces its difficulty to 6 and prevents close combatants from cutting through it without a higher level art. Gain an extra athletics action for the purpose of bayonet charging.

Kagura (req. Shinto Lore and Close Combat and Athletics)

Kagura is the sacred unarmed combat form of the shrine maidens that evolved from the various ceremonial dances and rituals associated with the Shinto religion. It is a highly acrobatic, striking martial art with an emphasis on flexibility, kicks and dodging. In the real world, its closest cousin would be capoeira. It grants an extra athletics action and an extra close combat action while unarmed and there is sufficient space to move. The practitioner can strike immaterial targets.

Kappa Affinity (req. Athletics)

You are a fish. Swimming, diving and holding breath (within reason) are unrolled actions except under hostile circumstances. You can also see and even fight reasonably well underwater. You also have resistance to the unpleasant effects of icy bodies of water.

Kenjutsu (req. Close Combat)

Grants an extra combat action with an Amaharan sword. Lets the practioner roll Strength to cleave through weak objects, including bodies and improvised weapons.

Kyudo

Archery is a dying art these days, but the use of a yumi was once almost as prestigious a samurai skill as kenjutsu. Although guns have replaced bows in most areas, they still have a few advantages, such as stealth.

Naginatajutsu (req. Close Combat)

Grants an extra combat action with a naginata. Proper usage of the naginata's leverage gives an effective +1 Strength while wielding it with enough room.

Ninjutsu (req. Close Combat)

Ninjas aiming for combat effectiveness and lethality will train in a variety of weird weapons - basically every other weapon in the Amaharan arsenal that aren't standard samurai weapons or guns is reduced in difficulty by 1.

Ninja Parkour (req. Athletics)

This is the real ninja action deal and allows ninjas to use grapples and swing lines, leap across rooftops and generally just appear out of the woodwork when everyone is least expecting it.

Onmyodo (req. Occult Lore and Shinto Lore)

Onmyodo is a synthesis of eastern occult knowledge combined with Shinto beliefs. While it also provides for interaction with spirits, the onmyoji does all the heavy lifting herself with observances, sacrifices and rituals.

Shugendo (req. Occult Lore)

Control of five elemental forces.

Spiritualism (req. Shinto Lore)

This allows the summoning of spirits and the invocation of the kami to assist you. This type of magic still works in the homeland but its usefulness drops rapidly in other areas. In civilised areas, the kami find it difficult to manifest for any length of time if at all. In places untouched by Amahara Shinto, they may behave in unexpected, even hostile ways and against the traditions and rituals that have long governed the norm of interaction between the worlds of gods and humans. Changing this situation by spreading Amahara Shinto is of course a primary directive of your mission.

Voice Artist (req. Performance)

Level 3 Arts

Burning Aura (req. Chi Aura + Tough)

Partially literal.

Killing Intent (req. Chi Aura)

Your chi aura is dark and full of killing intent (if you are in fact intent on killing). Roll Charisma + Resolve to terrify people in an incredible way.

Living Tattoos (req. Tattoos and ??)

Ludicrous Parry (req. Kenjutsu and Heart of Clear Water)

Split Image Strike (req. ??)

Sunder (req. Kenjutsu and ??)

This grants totally cinematic powers to a katana, allowing them to slice through all kinds of stuff.

Equipment

Players start with three gear slots. A Samurai must spend two of them on the traditional katana and a wakizashi. Gear slots can (and probably will) be held in reserve until you need them. Generally speaking, you don't need specified gear to do the basic stuff described in an art but may need it for specific rituals or superior results.

Unless otherwise noted, proper weapons hit on a 7 by default while improvised ones usually hit on 8 or higher.

Melee Weapons

Pistol and revolver aside, this is the Amaharan strong point.

Tanto

An Amaharan knife with a straight, single-sided blade. Because of its short length, it has little reach and is hard to parry with but deals lethal damage rather than unarmed bashing and is usually quite easy to hide on one's person. Its skill arts are Close Combat and Ninjutsu.

Katana

While Amahara is behind the West in terms of modern technology, it is somewhat ahead in many older crafts. Nothing makes this more clear than the katana, the finest longsword in the world. The katana has significant reach, is good at parrying, and deals a ton of damage. Its skill arts are Close Combat and Kenjutsu. A properly wielded katana can cut through solid objects. Can be taken twice to make it a master grade katana.

Ninja Sword

The completely fictional ninja sword is a straight bladed weapon that is shorter and not as cutty as a katana but does not suffer the same small penalty in very close quarters. Can also be taken as a wakizashi.

Naginata

A sword on a stick! When properly wielded, the naginata is a good weapon with which to make up for a disadvantage in physical strength or reach. It can hit from afar but is unwieldy without sufficient room with which to swing it. Its skill arts are Close Combat and Naginatajutsu.

Bo

A long stick which lacks a sword. The bo staff deals a fair amount of bashing damage if it has room to swing with but wooden ones are vulnerable to being hacked apart. For this reason, many staves are reinforced with iron. The staff's second tier art is Bojutsu.

Ranged

Shuriken

Highly specialised Amaharan throwing weapons. Shuriken are quite hard to use without Ninjutsu and deal limited damage without Throwing Art but are silent and very easy to hide. Unless some specific effort is made to retrieve them, they are limited to three uses per battle.

Blowdart

Very hard to use without aiming and calling the shot.

Yumi

Under most circumstances, a bow works much like a rifle except it is worthless in melee, does less damage, does not jam, and does not produce noise or smoke. A bow has a higher difficulty to hit with than normal unless the wielder is skilled in Kyudo.

Derringer

A derringer is a single-shot pistol that comes in a pair. They fire once each and don't do much damage, but are nevertheless a positive way to begin or end a fight. They are generally only reloaded outside of battle.

Revolver

A revolver normally fires once every other round and but can be dual wielded to double the rate of fire and double the total number of shots possible from six to twelve. It is significantly superior to the rifle at close range but its lethality and accuracy drops with distance. As it causes a massive bang and a huge plume of smoke, it usually loses stealth the moment it shoots and like all guns, will also inevitably suffer malfunctions once in a while. It takes considerable effort to reload a revolver.

Rifle

The ultimate battlefield weapon. This is a bolt action, single shot rifle using a crude brass cartridge filled with black powder. After firing, the rifle must spend a base three round cycle out of action as the shooter works the bolt, loads a fresh round and closes the bolt again. Where the rifle is in this process has no bearing on its utility as a melee weapon (see Jukendo). A rifle round deals a fuckton of damage if it hits and has, as far as the game is concerned, unlimited damage range, though long range shots are still more difficult. Other qualities include increased benefit from aiming and unwieldiness in close quarters.

The newest rifle currently replacing various imported weapons with the Amaharan army is the Midori Type 17 of indigenous manufacture. It is a modern weapon, but one without any special features or the greatest record in reliability.

Bayonet

This attachment makes a rifle also a very convincing melee weapon. Note that good heroines seldom openly mount a bayonet on the rifle slung to her back so you may have to fix it in advance. The art of fighting hand-to-hand with a rifle – whether the bayonet is there or not – is the art of Jukendo.

Wardrobe

Foreigner Outfit (Social Class)

Makes it easier to blend in among foreigners. At least from a distance.

Miko Outfit

Highly obvious red and white outfit when worn but provides a bonus when entreating with Shinto (or converted) gods and spirits.

Ninja Outfit

Not just for ninjas. This provides a bonus to stealthing around in situations where black blends in. Unfortunately, it's also about the most suspicious thing ever if actually spotted. Can optionally include fine kusari layering for protection in melee. Can be taken twice to improve quality of that armour, remove its small mobility penalty, make it sexier or whatever.

Samurai Armour

Probably a bad idea!

Other

Disguised Mounting

This disguises the weapon as something else such as turning a ninja sword into a cane sword like Zatoichi, but only some of the smaller weapons are eligible for this. A person with Craft may be able to do this on their own.

Stocking Mounting

Can't be a proper femme fatale without being able to mount a weapon on the stocking!