DriveThruRPG.com
Browse Categories
$ to $















Back
pixel_trans.gif
USAGI YOJIMBO ROLE-PLAYING GAME 2nd Edition
 

This product is no longer available from DriveThruRPG.com

Average Rating:4.1 / 5
Ratings Reviews Total
7 3
4 0
0 1
0 2
0 1
USAGI YOJIMBO ROLE-PLAYING GAME 2nd Edition
Click to view
You must be logged in to rate this
pixel_trans.gif
USAGI YOJIMBO ROLE-PLAYING GAME 2nd Edition
Publisher: Sanguine Productions
by A customer [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/24/2023 23:41:06

This is a review for the print version from the kickstarter. Received mid-2020 but haven't had a chance to review it until now. Spelling and grammer errors everywhere. Paragraphs cut off mid sentence. Poor organization of text. Few gameplay examples. Was hoping to get some errata or a pdf of a corrected version, but support for this was dropped almost immediately after release. Will never support this group (publishers, authors, etc) ever again



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
USAGI YOJIMBO ROLE-PLAYING GAME 2nd Edition
Publisher: Sanguine Productions
by Wayne P. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/02/2022 13:54:07

A ¾ complete project abandoned to the internet

I bought the PDF of this game shortly after its release in March 2020. This review is based on the PDF as it was when I downloaded it on 8th April 2021. It’s roughly a year old and has had several updates since release.

When I first heard that Sanguine had got the rights to do a Usagi Yojimbo RPG I had mixed feelings. On the plus side, Sanguine are the go-to publisher for furry RPGs and despite being quite cumbersome and horribly complex, I actually really liked the original Jadeclaw, so it seemed like a really good fit. On the downside, however, they announced that it would use Powered by the Apocalypse, a game which I’ve bounced off in the past because it felt like it was trying way too hard to be cool and edgy and different for the sake of being different, which is a shame because from what I could see it seemed like quite a neat narrative system. I hoped that, with Usagi as its focus it might drop some of that pretentious nonsense and as a consequence be substantially more palatable, and it does to some degree, to be fair.

So, where to begin? Well, let’s start with the positives. The art is gorgeous, but let’s face it, Stan Sakai’s art is the lion’s share of the reason we’re here, right? The two column layout and black text on a white background is simple and clean and the square shape is quite pleasing, aesthetically.

Powered by the Apocalypse is, as I suspected, quite neat. It’s a simple, narrative system that collaboratively tells stories in broad strokes rather than granular, blow-by-blow detail and that’s definitely my bag.

The downside is that, having read the book from start to finish now, I’m not sure I really understand how to play the game and I don’t think that’s PbtA’s fault. Some of the rules are explained in the Rules chapter at the beginning of the book, some in the Playbook and some in the Master of Ceremonies chapter toward the end but I can’t really connect the disparate elements in my head. I think having the rules gathered together and explained with play examples might have helped connect the dots. This is not, however, a game for people new to roleplaying. I think folk not familiar with the concept will really struggle to understand what the hell is going on. It’s worth mentioning here that the GM (Master of Ceremonies) doesn’t roll any dice. Outcomes are decided by how well or how poorly the players roll and whilst I really like that, and I guessed as much from the Rules chapter, it’s bafflingly not explicitly stated in the book until page 205 (of 244) where it is a throwaway line in parenthesis in the middle of the second of three adventure plot hooks! This should have been stated in bold in Chapter 1: Rules. It is kind of an important and noteworthy feature of the system.

This particular version of Powered by the Apocalypse does, as I said, eschew much of the pretentious nonsense that has put me off the system before now but still has some irritating ticks. First to annoy me was the ‘Moods’. Moods are different styles of play. 'Casual' is when PCs are just wandering about exploring or chatting to NPCs via the GM, 'Dicey' is when dice are rolled to determine an outcome (skill checks and such) and 'Combat' is, well, combat. You know, like in absolutely every other RPG where ‘moods’ are a sort of intuitive given, but PbtA feels the need to formalise it, therefore making it feel much more complex than it actually is. We have the Playbooks with a couple of actions that your character has, called ‘Moves’. Moves in any other system are just the actions that your player can take on their turn but PbtA feels the need to also formalise it and give it a fancy name. The biggest offender though, is the name of the GM, the Master of Ceremonies or MC. No need. I’m fine with GM. It feels too much like it’s trying to be different for the sake of being different and I just want to cuff it about the head and tell it to grow up. PbtA also suffers from one of Fate’s problems in that it expects you to be able to use adjectives as scores. A ‘weak’ hit, a ‘Grand’ strike. All very admirable and narrative but I still need to convert them into numbers to be able to use them which is inefficient and I wish they’d just use the numbers instead. These bellyaches aside, the various 'Moves' that the PCs have, are quite neat and if you use the optional ‘Upgrade’ system, then characters have the potential to become quite varied and interesting mechanically as well as narratively.

However, I think for me, the biggest negative of all is the incredibly poor quality control on the book. It is absolutely riddled with typos, spelling mistakes, grammatical errors and layout issues. The worst offenders being two paragraphs that end mid-sentence. It seems that the book wasn’t proof read before they hit the publish button, or if it was, it was done very poorly. This could be forgiven if it were caught and fixed almost immediately after publishing but twelve months after release I still count over 70 errors, that Sanguine have apparently never made any attempt to fix despite updating the PDF several times. I’ve catalogued them all in the comments page (if they’ve not been deleted) in the hope that it helps Sanguine correct them. (Reading reviews for several other of their products, however, this seems to be a common complaint with Sanguine!) My other gripe is that the covers of the book are supplied as JPG files separate to the PDF file. I don’t understand why. A friend suggested it might be because it made it easier to print but you can just choose to not print the covers. Another reason might be that the cover would throw the page numbering out but I’ve seen PDFs that list the cover as page 0 or i so that page 1 is still page 1. The shame of it is that without the front cover, viewed in double-page mode, the pages are out of order with the right hand page on the left and the next page over on the right. The page numbers are then on the inside which looks wrong and each playbook has the wrong accompanying comic strip image alongside it.

This last is admittedly a minor thing but combined with everything else it gives the whole product the feeling of a project three quarters completed and then just abandoned to the internet, which wouldn’t be so bad if people weren’t paying over £14 a time for it. Indeed people are ordering printed hardbacks of the book for over £43 in the above described condition! It’s absolutely shocking.

It’s so frustrating. I wanted to love it but I am, on the whole, very disappointed with Usagi Yojimbo 2nd ed as it could have been something quite special. As it is, I think if I ever run a Usagi Yojimbo game, it’d be less taxing on my nerves to just use the old Gold Rush Games’ Fuzion system rules.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
USAGI YOJIMBO ROLE-PLAYING GAME 2nd Edition
Publisher: Sanguine Productions
by Angelo P. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 12/28/2020 08:18:15

This is one of my favorite implementations of a Powered by the Apocalypse system. It uses the Weak / Strong / Grand scale of challenge and success that I first encountered in Far Flung. I enjoy this because it enables storytelling in an intuitive way, one that fits the rising arc of escalating danger so common in stories of heroism. The "classes" feel authentic, and when I use the system I strip out the animal-aspects and just let folks assign a combination of +2 / -2 as they see fit. You could play out any number of stories and movies, from Seven Samurai to 13 Assassins to Shogun. It would be easy to file off the serial numbers and play a game of The Lord of the Rings with this; once you understand the system it lends itself to telling those kinds of stories.

Like any new system, it takes a hot minute to understand how the roles fit together. At the begining, the character abilities feel a ittle mechanically indistinct. At first I worried this would be a little boring, but it actually helped me see how the different core abilities interacted, gave the opportunity to see how Setbacks and Story Points work, etc. After a few games the special abilitis start to crystalize and the game really hums.

That said, you need to bring your own story and play this with people who want to tell a story. The mechanics will facilitate it but the narrative has to be brought to the game and all the players work together to tell that story (e.g. it wouldn't be easy to just drop them in a dungeon). If you want to tell an exciting, sincere story in the Warring States periods this is a fantastic choice.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
USAGI YOJIMBO ROLE-PLAYING GAME 2nd Edition
Publisher: Sanguine Productions
by MANOS K. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/21/2020 13:50:24

Blurred use of the Apocalypse system. Too many different effects based on the roll and no clear MC intervention windows. Also, a lot of paragraphs in the book do not have an ending and they stop middle sentence... Not new player friendly, you will struggle a lot learning how this game works (and I have read and played as a GM a lot of different RPGs). On the plus: I discovered the Magnificent Pbta system!!! The Pbta system is difficult to understand at first because is very innovative but very rewarding and full of action!



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
USAGI YOJIMBO ROLE-PLAYING GAME 2nd Edition
Publisher: Sanguine Productions
by Andrew B. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/29/2020 11:18:22

This is a fairly simplistic mechanical system, but a very rich world. If you love the Usagi books, this one is for you. If you love feudal Japanese history, culture, etc. This is for you. The book provides rules for playing any of the animal "races" as well as a number of different occupations. It even provides a fairly good list of characters for gamemasters to tie into the game. But where it really shines is how it gives a summary of Japanese history, politics, etc. through the Tokugawa Shogunate, as well as a breakdown on the different provinces of the nation.

If you want to run a Usagi game, this is a fun stand-alone book. If you are interested in running a historical campaign, this book provides enough maps and details to use as a sourcebook for any mechanical system.

For those unfamiliar with the books, the default era of Usagi Yojimbo is the first five years of the Tokugawa Shogunate (1600-1605).



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
USAGI YOJIMBO ROLE-PLAYING GAME 2nd Edition
Publisher: Sanguine Productions
by A customer [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 02/19/2020 09:50:47

I was very pleased with how this game turned out. Looking through the material, anyone who is a fan of the Usagi Yojimbo comics can make a character like their favorites from it! Any of Usagi's adventures can be mimic'd as well, as I've experienced, which is great fun when you realize how well things mesh together. If you have any doubts or questions, I'd recomend watching the video and see how that group played the game. Everything I experienced was basically one to one with that. ;-)



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
USAGI YOJIMBO ROLE-PLAYING GAME 2nd Edition
Publisher: Sanguine Productions
by Declan F. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/04/2019 20:20:20

The game, as currently written, is seriously broken.

Its never really clear if the game was written with the intent that the narrative triggers the moves (like most PbtA games) but if this is the case if simply doesnt work due to the absense of trigger conditions on any of the moves. In addition there is a paragraph suggesting that combat occur in turns and that everyone should get a chance to use a move each round. This simply wont work with the freeform narractive structure of PbtA games. What if the narrative they describe doesnt trigger a move. Also there are huge gaps in the moves - so for example there is a move for knowing something, a move for negotiating, a move for assessing things, and it feels like about 30 moves for hitting things with a sword/staff/fist or other weapon. There are no moves for pretty much anything else - for example performing a dangerous arcrobatic feat.

Also there is almost no MC guidance, no MC Principles, no Agenda and no MC Moves. There is a single page Conflict whihc talks about story structure, but nothing as useful as Fronts in Apocalypse world. There appear to be a couple of Blades in the Dark / Forged in Darkness ideas thrown in around position setting... but these arent really developed. I'm going to see if I can find some actual play examples and figure out how this is supposed to be played - because its really not obvious from the rule book.

The layout is very pretty, the history section is great, as is the world section and of course the art is wonderful. Shame about the game.

(And don't get me started on the number of typos)



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
pixel_trans.gif
Creator Reply:
This review is from a early-access version of the game. We have since addressed these concerns. While PBTA has the strength of "freeform narrative", our goal behind RPG design has been that everyone should have a good time. Some players are more outspoken than others, or think faster when under pressure. We didn't want any players "loosing their turn" because one player stole the spolight by barking moves faster than other players could keep up. USAGI is also a game about dealing with overwhelming odds; in the writing of the coimcs, Sakai is careful to make sure we know what all principals are up to and what danger they are in, so our rules encourage each player to describe their frantic action. The final edition includes extended sections on how to play in a dramatic structure, including Usagi's unique "story point" system, where dealing with the intermediate story beats give players more points for later encounters. One unique feature is that combat prowess isn't based on any one attribute, but upon how far the story has progressed; this system encourages players to try options other than combat in the early parts of the story, and it saves the dramatic fights for the ends. We have our playtest sessions documented online, courtesy of Raktus' "Know your Roll" stream-cast. You can find the video link on the point-of-sae page. While the final version of the game has a few different numbers from this version, we have taken great care to document the process behind the narrative choices in these stories. Thanks to all our early-access readers who made helpful suggestions and encouragement, so that we could make a game that works better for your style of play. We hope you will enjoy the release version of our USAGI game, as a game that lets players work together to enjoy the fantastic world of Sakai's 17th-century Japan.
pixel_trans.gif
Displaying 1 to 7 (of 7 reviews) Result Pages:  1 
pixel_trans.gif
pixel_trans.gif Back pixel_trans.gif
0 items
 Gift Certificates