Samurai!

[bergh]

Hello people i wanna do some work for the a samurai setting, using riddle of steel, and then i just want to know if some other people did know a good thread already posted, or have some sugjestions that i can work with?

so far i have read that a samurai armour actually is somekind of plate armour, where the plates are part of a "leather suit". and that in later periods ex. the chest armour was very much like an "european" chest plate.

and that a normal samurai sword simply was not very armour penetration.

so first of all i need to discuss samurai armours and the samurai sword and how it should work.

[bergh]

oh! good web link i would like, im such an idiot finding pages on the net

[Tash]

It depends on what era Samurai you are talking about.  Assuming the traditional western concept of the Samurai which dates from the Edo period (roughly the early 1600s through the late 19th century) I would give the armor an AV of 5 and a CP loss of 2.  My reasoning here is that, while composed of plate, it was segmented rather than articulated.  Essentially it was partial plate held together with leather instead of solid forged peices.  In my mind that would make it more protective than chain, but not as protective as full plate.  However its CP penaly should be the same as full plate because it really isn't easy to move in tradtional armor.

Early armor, or the armor worn by less weathy members of the Samurai was made of leather and wood.  I'd give it an AV of 3 and a CP of -1, for the same reasons.  

As for the Katana, I'd use the same stats as a sabre for damage, with the ATN and DTN of a fine longsword.  My reasoning here: katanas rely on fast drawing cuts (thrusting is not what they are designed for) for damage.   Drawing cuts do almost nothing against metal, so the scaled damage seems appropriate.  Katanas are close in size to a longsword and are capable of many of the same moves, but are popularly (and arguably) considered to be better forged than your average European sword, hence making them all count as fine.

For the wakizashi I'd use the following stats:  Damage  Str+1(scaling down with armor types as above) for cut, Str for thrust.  ATN 5 for cut, 6 for thrust, DTN 6.  Not too different from a short sword, just altered damage.  

The ARMA has a neat and rather famous comparison between the Samurai and the European knight here, it may give you some more ideas:

http://www.thearma.org/essays/knightvs.htm

[bergh]

I have also read that essay!

Thanks for helping, i think that ALL what you have written is very good!

Becouse this is a RPG, im thinking on not so much to rely on the accurate time period, therefor im going to have light, medium, and heavy "samurai" armour.

I think that the SA system is PERFECT to be used in a samurai enviroment.

Anyway i will come up with a .pdf tomorrow with the first of my idea, then please judge again.

Argh, not to forget.....muskets was part of the Late samurai period, and these will ofcourse be included, but is there someone here who know things about muskets and which types the "samurai" used?
and then help me making stats for them, this is what i think is going to be the hardest.

[Tash]

Well have read that blackpowder firearms weren't used by the Samurai themselves because they felt them to be dishonorable.  Instead they were used by ranks of foot troops.  This could well be false however, as I've seen pictures of muskets and pistols that were owned by high ranking  Samurai, though weather they were owned as status symbols or used in battle I can't say.

For your campaign though you can easily define specific sub castes of Samurai who might or might not use firearms.  Another idea would be to have their use be tied to each individual Samurai's interpretation and comitment to the bushido.

As far as stats go, there have been many threads here on black powder firearms, doa quick search and you should get an abundance of ideas.

[bergh]

Arquebus vs musket, whats the difference?

[Irmo]

Arquebus vs musket, whats the difference?

http://www.geocities.com/Yosemite/Campground/8551/

[bergh]

Irmo.....THANKS! short but 101% useable answer!

[Malechi]

i'm currently working on a Japanese setting however it specifically doesn't deal with Samurai as a focus.  Katanapunk is based more on kabukimono gangs, sword schools and emerging middle-class during the mid-/late-Edo period.  It uses Edo circa 1790's as the main setting.  

Jake is also working on a Japanese sourcebook, though I get the feeling its more of an all-purpose Japanese book that applies to Tengoku in the TROS setting.  

Let me know if you're interested in what we've got thus far..

cheers

Jason K.

[bergh]

So far my plans are to just make weapons, armour and such, maybe special fighthing school, all the rest we will just imagine.

anyway one of the players got some source books for the Legend of the 5 Rings RPG, which are in a somehow fantasy-samurai setting.

[Lance D. Allen]

According to Miyamoto Musashi's Book of Five Rings the gun was used by samurai, but like the spear and all other weapons was considered a tool rather than a weapon. Only the katana and the wakazashi were considered weapons.. Though, admittedly, these could have been Musashi's personal biases.

But katana are not, unless I'm gravely misinformed, generally the same size as a longsword. They were two handed weapons, but were not quite so long. That is to say, my boken is not nearly so long as any of the longswords I've seen measurements for, and my aikido instructor says that the boken is a fairly accurate model (in wood, of course) of the dimensions of the katana. The Nodachi is more along the lines of what I'd consider the equivalent to the longsword.

[Tash]

The are shorter but still in roughly the same size class for game purposes, i.e bigger than most arming swords, but smaller than greatswords.

[Jake Norwood]

Every "real" katana I've seen is about the size of an arming sword (with possibly a shorter blade and a longer handle). The japanese, you'll remember, were smaller than the europeans, who were themselves smaller than modern americans.

Jake

[Tash]

I guess I am underestimating the size of arming swords...or overestimating the size of "real" Katana.  The only ones I've ever trained with have been sized for large Americans like myself.  My boken are all around 45" and my actual katana is 48", but as Jake pointed out there weren't a lot of 6'3" swordsmen in feudal Japan.

[bergh]

Large americans 6'3" haha

Here where i live that just abit over avarange
im 6" tall and im considered not at tall as the average men, but i have robust building instead hehe.