Just wanted to say that this is a really fun game. Have been playing it as co-op mainly. The translation is really well done, and the added things, such as the advice section was handy. I loved reading the full replay at the beginning of the book, and found it had nicely set up the rules section the first time through. I’ve used the replay a few times to confirm things too. It’s also pretty easy on the gamemaster’s prep time.

Character creation is quick and gameplay is pretty elegant. It's basically narrative interaction between player characters and/or NPC’s, and the dice play adds to the fun. As player characters try to complete assigned missions, maybe reveal another ninja’s secrets, the game session seems to flourish as ‘scenes’ flow by, reaching the final scene/climax where, hopefully all is revealed (maybe)…

We found Shinobigami captured the manga/anime esthetic really well. With the merit system for advancement, we’re now looking at playing out a full ‘season’ of ‘episodes’ (single session each). It’s certainly worthy of an attempt anyway. A super nice break from dungeon crawls. Kind regards.

All Souls Night is an excellent introductory scenario for Ryuutama, with a great emotional core and well thought out, flavorful encounters. I frequently reccommend it to those new to the game looking for pre-written content.

As written I think the scenario really shines when run in 2-3 sessions. Although Pureka includes several optional encounter tables, I think the game is much better if you use them, and captures more of the feel of journeys in Ryuutama.

If you're committed to running this in a single session, I recommend cutting the Witches Tasks and going straight to the "Preparing for the Ritual" section, which should cut the game down to one-shot length.

This is a lovely slice-of-life game. Not quite ritualistic, the way something like Dead Friend is, but it's very good at sliding you into a rhythm. I did find inventory a bit difficult with the provided sheet, but outside of that, I dig it!

This is a really good game. Ever since reading The Lord of the Rings and being a massive Dungeons & Dragons kid, I've longed for a game that delivered on simply going on a journey in a fantasy world. Ryuutama does exactly that. Something that isn't explicitly stated in the book (I think) but what we've discovered during play is that it's in a really fun way set against delivering "big stories". It's all about the small details, the day to day on the trail, the conversations around campfire, and not a massive goal at the end of weeks of travel. Just getting through the day when you're lost on the mountains is exciting in itself!

This is what brought me into the RPG fold. It's an accessible, fun game with broad appeal (my 5 and 8 year old daughters had a blast and my 40 year old friends enjoyed it too). The focus on relatable events (trying to cook, gather herbs, get a good deal on equipment, stay warm during a storm, avoiding injuries while climbing) made it a great introductory RPG. The presentation is generally logical and user friendly and the design, while I wish there was more art, is pleasant in its simplicity. I give this high marks. Despite moving on to DnD 5e, Gurps 4e, Cypher, and other RPGs I still pull this off the shelf from time to time and give it a go. If you are new to RPGs start here. If you are a veteran then discover something very different by trying this out. Ryuutama is a joy to experience.

Shinobigami is a great change of pace from D&D for our group! The translation is fairly clear, and the replay really helps explain how to play the game.

This game has been really fun for our group, with most members being anime fans. The rules are strict about mechanics and how stuff works, but lets you run free with the flavor of your character. For example, you pick from a list of attacks from the book, but you're free to describe that attack however you'd like. It's great to let your imagination shine through in the unique character you make. For most things, the translation is very clear, though our group went back and forth on how the Perfect Defense ohgi is supposed to work due to its wording. But that's the only example I can think of where things weren't clear.

Because the sessions are meant to be self-contained episodes, they may run longer than expected, so I definitely recommend getting everyone set up with an understanding of the rules and their characters created beforehand.

Overall, this is a really fun TTRPG, and I look forward to seeing more!

Game is a ton of fun, and a nice change of pace from games my group normally plays (longer campaigns in the DnD/Pathfinder mold). I wish the PDF had bookmarks for easier and quicker navigation, but that's apparently coming in a future update. The starting Replay and footnotes added some helpful context too, and was generally an enjoyable read. This is definitely a game worth checking out if you like ninjas (obviously), but also rules that try to marry a clever skill system (the skill matrix) with narrative focused gameplay. I love how it empowers players, encouraging their creative expression and use of ninpo, but also providing tools for personalizing ohgi. The flashback rule in the climax phase is too much fun, and the secret goals and missions can create some great tension and surprising reveals.

Now, they need to hurry up on that supplement, please! We want more ninja clans and tools to play with.

Great fast paced and fun game! Though the translation has been a long time coming and is over two years overdue the game is really good. The PDF could use a few updates to include bookmarks in particular, but has everything you need to get playing your own ninja adventures!

The game itself is interesting but the PDF version feels a little lacking. The table of contents has a total of four entries for a 200 page book. The PDF has no cover and no bookmarks. Hopefully it gets updated later. I'd probably knock it up a star then but I find bookmarks essential for making good use of RPG pdf's.

It's an excellent game, where every session you go through the whole story arcs like in your favourite Shonen anime, with very fun character powers, and a very flavourful character advancement rules. However, there is one serious problem - the rulebook is massive, and reading through it all to run a one-session game (the default mode of play for Tenra) feels like a chore.

I haven't gotten a chance to read deeply into the book yet, but this vendor deserves 5 stars simply for customer service. Responded to an email inquiry within 5 minutes from their main site and sent me a code for here.

Keep up the good work!

Aesthetic- This book looks great, and really fills your mind with the feeling of the subject matter (the honobono/fantasy anime atmosphere). The artwork ranges from adorable sketches to gorgeous, and really inspire.

Theme- The overall theme of the game, that of a series of journies between small fantasy towns by "normal" sorts of fantasy characters is novel in a market full of either high gonzo fantasy or grim and bloody sword and sorcerery. Nature plays a large role in the theme of this game and overall I think it achieves the "Miyazaki's Oregan Trail" nickname it is often given.

Rules- I wouldn't call it "rules light" so much as being in the bottom range of "medium". It's got some crunch to it, though all rolls are always made by combining two skills (or one skill rolled twice together) and so should be easy for anyone to pick up. The gathering, crafting, camping, animal, and other such rules makes the journey itself the main thing a given session should be about. Combat for me is a little too simple, being abstracted with a front and back line (ala Final Fantasy) and 5-10 objects on the battlefield that can be used by anyone to help their fighting rolls. For me combat is the weakest part of the ruleset, it's not very exciting. I think that might be the point, however, as combat is implicitly not the main focus of the rules or the game. (Running this game, however, I plan on using a grid mat to try and achieve a Final Fantasy Tactics feeling).

The journey rules are really interesting and require a good amount of improv for the GM. I wish the book had come with tables, perhaps in appendix form, for some example hazards in each terrain type to help newer GMs out (or GMs that need some inspiration).

The idea of a built in DMPC that helps the party as a sort of helping (or maybe even trickster) spirit is refreshing and fun. The fact that there are options like items to equip your dragon spirit with that change how the rules work is super fun and exciting.

Overall I like the rules and think they support the kind of game Ryuutama tries to be.

Usability- The rulebook is set up well, beginning right off with a short summary of the game and it's rules, followed by character creation, and continuing with detailing out everything. I see no problem with it's formatting or usability.

I am excited to both try this game and to pillage it for ideas to use in other games. I really think the overall way the travel and crafting is done would work well in D&D 5e, for instance. I recommend buying this if you are at all interested in: anime/manga, a less violent sort of game, the fun of the journey itself, nature, or cat goblins.

This is an excellent and charming little game. The art's uniformly great and the rules hang together well. It's a simple game, best suited for beginning players or groups who're interested in something lighter. I usually run much "darker" or at least more serious games and Ryuutama offers a charming alternative. I ran it over the course of two sessions with five players (all of them experienced in RPGs) and I will say that with that the "balance" seems to break down in the travel minigame. With enough characters there are a good number of combos to mitigate most failures. The enemy types provided in the base game also don't provide much of a challenge to that many characters, unless you throw in quite a few of them. This wasn't a huge problem for me--combat's not really the point of the game, nor is grueling travel always desirable. But the occasional dash of peril is still important, even to a gentle game like this. Sticking with three player characters might be the best strategy, until you have a hang of the system and can tailor the challenge level.

Again, I really recommend it despite my minor nitpicks (which aren't even really nitpicks, just areas that the game doesn't intend to cover). Ryuutama facilitates player creativity and buy-in as the GM and players collaboratively build destinations, it puts the focus on developing nice and fun relationships between characters (PCs and NPCs), and it plays very quickly and intuitively.

Beautiful and solid book. Paints a great world, gives everything you need to start adventuring. Uses a class system, but it's easy to figure out.

The DM PC is actually a character in the story, and gives the DM mechanics by which to manipulate the story. I thought this was a pretty cool idea, and it fits the setting.

There are two things about this book that I did not like. The first was that while the mechanics are clean and simple, some optional sub-systems would have been nice. The second was that while I loved everything the book game me to work with, I wasn't really sure what I should be doing with it. There's some sample arcs, but they're a bit weak.

Fact is though, I can always find sub systems to add in and re-watch some old anime to steal ideas. My complaints aren't huge, this book is a must have for any whole like a rules lite version of D&D with a strong anime/JRPG bent to it.

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This massive RPG clocks in at 245 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page editorial, 2 pages of ToC, 6 pages of KS-backers, 1 page back cover, leaving us with 234 pages of content, so let's take a look!

I received this book as a gift from one of my patreons for the purpose of a review. This pdf has been prioritized and moved up in my review-queue accordingly as a prioritized review.

The first thing you'll notice when opening this book is that it's extremely newbie-friendly: The concept of RPGs is explained in concise, easy to grasp terms - including an explanation of dice, terms and the like: I embarked on a brief experiment: I handed my printed out copy to my granny and told her to read it. Guess what? She got it. She finally understood what this roleplaying-mumbo-jumbo was all about. Ryuutama is extremely user-friendly and guides the players and GM, step by step, through the process of character generation, with classes being grouped by focus: Attack Type, Technical Type and Magical Type.

You have 4 basic stats: Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence and Spirit - at character creation, each of these values can be either 4, 6 or 8: You choose from 6,6,6,6, or 4,6,6,8 or 4,4,8,8. The stat itself also represents the die you roll when testing. All other relevant stats are derived from these simple base attributes: Hp is Str x 2, MP (the resource used to cast spells) is Spirit x2, Carrying Capacity is Str+3 (if you exceed this level, you take the excess as penalty to your checks). Each character is supposed to have mastered a weapon, the use of which and damage is governed by attributes as well: Light Blades, for example have an accuracy of Dex+Int+1 and a damage of Int-1, while Axes use Str+Str-1 for accuracy and Str for damage. Each character also has a personal item, to which s/he has an emotional bond as well as 1000 GP starting budget to get ready for the journey...for in Ryuutama, the focus does not lie on slaying monsters or defeating demonic incursions.

Instead, the basic focus of this roleplaying game is one refreshingly different, one on properly traveling the world, hearkening back to the picturesque ideals and romanticized notions of the apprentice's journey, blended with a sense of wide-eyed wonder and creativity you'd expect in Hayao Miyazaki's works - and this focus also shows in the easy class kits available: From merchants to farmers and nobles, we have roles that go beyond the traditional 4-6 roles often featured in fantasy roleplaying. The respective classes sport unique skills that are derived from the base attributes in much the same way as the weapon damage I described above: I.e., you have dead simple basic math.

As for magic- there is incantation magic, which unlocks in 3 steps and season magic similarly unlocks with the progression through the character levels. The pdf also champions different roles for players and characters to fill - from quartermaster to leader and mapper, the roles make sense and prevent issues in game.

Leveling up is similarly a very simple, streamlined process: There are 10 levels, with every even level providing a stat-increase (i.e. d4 -> d6, d10 -> d12...). At 3rd and 7th level, characters get a terrain/weather specialty, choosing one of the 22 types and gaining +2 to rolls regarding this type. 4th level provides immunity versus one status effect and 5th level provides an extra class's benefits. 6th level provides a second type. At 9th level, you may 1/day take 10 in a given specialized season and 10th level provides basically a GM-centric ability to embark on a truly legendary journey.

Different qualities for objects are covered with easy modifiers - you can e.g. get uncool-looking items at a discounted price or unbreakable orichalcum items, all with mechanical repercussions. Similarly, effects of good (or bad!) food and public facilities like bath-houses, specialty goods and the like are covered in impressive detail. Animals also deserve special mention - you can bring one free animal with you (and don't have to micromanage said creature's upkeep), but only the merchant and farmer class may have more animals - and, interestingly, there are special qualities for animals: Loyal or particularly tough animals, for example, cost more but also grant you interesting benefits, while animals with an attitude problem may be cheaper...but refuse your command in inopportune moments.

From food to perfume to containers, there are a lot of nice items to bring along...including e.g. a grandfather clock! This item-driven approach also extends to healing herbs, of which a vast array is provided, by terrain and level: From moonlight Snowgrass to Barrierwood Stalk, the prevalence and usefulness of these can generate a healthy respect for mother nature.

Spellcasting is dead simple: Choose a spell you know, choose a target in the spell's range, speak the magic words, expend the MP and roll INT+SP - if you roll a double 1, the spell fails, otherwise it works just fine. Spell effects from the same spell do not stack, but those of different spells do. Casters may end a magical effect at any time. Incantation magic is based on study, seasonal magic is based on emotion...and that's about it. One paragraph and we have the foundation of a simple, efficient magic system. It should come as no surprise, then, that the presentation of the spells is similarly simple.

Now I've mentioned skill checks before, but how do they work? Basically, each skill is based on two attributes, like Str+Int or Dex+Sp. You roll the two dice. If you have a double 1, you have a critical fumble, if you roll maximum die-size, you instead get a critical success. If you're thinking that this makes criticals less likely in higher attributes, you'd thankfully be wrong: If you have e.g. a stat of 10 in a related attribute, any roll of 6+6, 6+8 or 6+10 would result in a critical success, making them pretty common occurrences. Skill-checks have a difficulty (like a DC) - if you manage to reach this number, you succeed. Contested checks are similarly simple: Both parties roll, the winner takes it all. Ties are simply rerolled. From hard exercise to drinking or delicate work, sample skills are provided and their difficulty, obviously, is modified by situational modifiers and retries are penalized slightly.

Concentration is interesting - you can pay a fumble point (gained from a fumble) or half your MP for a +1 bonus; both for a +2 bonus before attempting an action...but if your MP are 0, you faint...so in case you only have one MP, better make that shot count! This system is very simple, but one that provides a surprising element of tension in play - kudos! Condition is also important, as are conditions like sickness and injury.

With a focus on journeys over combat, travel speeds and terrain and weather types (and lavishly rendered, gorgeous dragons for each terrain type!) can be found here alongside common topological sights for the respective environments.

Battle is simple: I already covered weapon-rules; initiative is governed by Dex+Int and the battlefield has abstract areas and 5 objects strewn about the battlefield, making the tactical options available more diverse. Item use, defending, feinting - everything combat-related is just as concise and simple as the rules introduced so far. Characters die when their HP reaches negative Condition - so keeping up with food etc. is important indeed! And yes, the system per se champions a low lethality without making it too easy on the PCs and yes, nonlethal damage is covered in accordance with the child-friendly tone of Ryuutama.

The book also sports town-creation rules and even world-generation rules that guide the GM through the process in a rather simple and efficient manner. Speaking of the GM: It is important to note that the GM is more than just a spectator here: The GM has a dragon in human form, a Ryuujin, a kind of GM-PC that belongs to one of 4 different races, effectively the classes of the GM-PC. These characters sport an artefact and may provide Bénédictions for the players, which not only provide significant bonuses, they also act as roleplaying catalysts. Ryuujin are not constant additions to the traveling group, but they may show up when the PCs are in a pinch...or help them in other, unobtrusive (or obtrusive) ways - they are, however, not Elminster: Ryuujin may actually die, so PCs too complacent regarding their help may have to save their guardian dragon! When a Ryuujin goes full-blown dragon-form, that action is referred to as a réveil...but it does cost the Ryuujin's life points, providing an in-game rationale why they can't save the PCs all the time.

The focus on new and inexperienced roleplayers means that this book also goes, step by step, through the process of scenario-creation, simple though that process may be for Ryuutama. It should be noted that sheet-wise, I've scarcely seen a more detailed array of sheets: For scenario-structure, fight scenarios, towns and events, there's a specialty-sheet for just about everything, rendering this even more user-friendly than you'd expect. And yes, we get a simple, nice sample scenario for levels 1 - 2 to kick off the journey.

Now obviously, such an RP also requires adversaries, monsters, if you will: The massive book provides a huge array of them and going through them in detail would bloat this review beyond belief - however, there is a little gripe I can field here: Do not expect artworks for the monsters. While properly described, I still would have loved to see the absolutely lavish artwork to extend to the monster-section...but then again, I'm spoiled by the big, more main stream roleplaying games with infinitely higher budgets.

A significant and concise Q&A-section closes the book - alongside the 18 (!!!) sheets, including e.g ration tracking, combat etc. - stunning!

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are pure excellence - I noticed not a single hiccup in the whole, massive book! Layout adheres to an easy to read 1-column full-color standard that is sufficiently printer-friendly. Artworks are copious and range from explanatory, chibi-style manga-comic panels that explain actions to stunning b/w-artworks for the Ryuujin. The pdf comes fully bookmarked for your convenience and with the sheets in additional zips.

Atsuhiro Okada's Ryuutama has been translated to English with a level of love that oozes from every page by Matt Sanchez and Andy Kitkowski - going above and beyond the duties of translators, they managed to maintain the intent of the original as far as my pretty lousy Japanese goes. (A Japanese reader kindly sent me an excerpt, showing me clearly the limits of my own rudimentary proficiency in the language... btw. also the reason this review was slightly delayed...) I am thoroughly impressed by the ability to properly capture not only the wording, but the intent of the original.

But you're not interested in these particulars, right? What you want to know is whether this is a good game. The answer to this question, without a doubt, has to be a triumphant, resounding "YES!" Ryuutama is not only breath of fresh air with its wholesome take on fantasy; its level of detail is staggering, its user-friendliness remarkable, particularly considering its status as a translated game. This game is exceedingly simple to understand and works perfectly for any children ages 4+ and up, but it also is a superb game for adults that can still feel the sense of wonder and wild-eyed excitement evoked in the best of Miyazaki's movies. What I love most, though, would be the unobtrusive GM-PC-angle alongside the fact that this game does not cuddle the children: Yes, this is a roleplaying game suitable for just about all ages, one that can easily teach basic math, responsibility, planning...but also one that can teach respect for mother nature...and one that does not shirk away from topics such as PC death. In this way, Ryuutama is not only fair, it is a game that, and this is my firm conviction, will really benefit the development of kids, supporting several virtues we all try to convey as well as the usual basic math competence we want to instill.

The staggering level of detail further enforces this...so when do we get the first full-blown journeys/scenarios for this glorious book? Oh yeah, right - the final verdict: Ryuutama is worth every cent of its fair asking price, is perfect for children and adults and an all-around well-crafted roleplaying game with easy rules and a unique theme - it is an easy 5 stars + seal of approval and receives a nomination for my Top Ten of 2015. If you're looking for a great way to introduce children to roleplaying or are fed up with slaying monsters and the cynicism of our world, embark on a journey with Ryuutama - I guarantee you won't regret it!

Endzeitgeist out.