Yes, I know katana is a Japanese word and shouldn't be plural.

Dime-Store Katana's is a game about fucked up people who solve problems with violence because they are deluded and a mess. When I get it to where it works it could very well be a pdf but more likely it will be a batch of notes on my computer, some vague idea that I e-mailed to myself while at work.

Cheap Katana's or Dime Store Katana's would be a game about solving one's problems through flagrant violence or the threat of violence, about solving one's problems while carrying a cheap katana in every day life.

On the character sheet:

Name of Character:
Name of Katana: (Examples: Katanatrix, Dragonsblood Katana, Katanarama, Swiss Army Katana etc.)
Katana's Curse: (Examples: Sprays owner's name onto walls with the blood of the wounds it causes, Must be used in front of at least a dozen people, etc. )
Iconic Fantasy: (Lone Wolf, Trenchcoat Vampire, Neo, Six String Samurai, Gangstah Samurai, etc.)

Stats:

Pose: how cool one looks while displaying katana
Edge: how much damage katan can cause with its edge
Balance: how easy the katana is to use
Make: how much damage a katana can take before crumbling to pieces

Delusion: how strong the wielder's delusion

Name five people and what they said when shown the character's katana when they were showed it for the first time. One of these people can be the person that bought the character the katana, these people should be incorporated into episodes.


how to play:

Everyone talks about their katana, saying where they got it, why they bought it and what it means to their character.

Then everyone writes down one problem in every character's life. Each problem is a scene, although the GM can decide to combine two problems into the same scene. Any problems that are too alike should be thrown out.

The player must have his character solve the problem while wielding their katana.

An episode is a round of presented problems. The episode ends when everyone has solved all of their problems. If their katana falls apart they must buy a new one, incorporated into the first scene. If any of their solutions results in their PC's being imprisoned their character is retired.

The first episode should have each character attempting to deal with their own problems but the second episode should have characters crossing over into each other's episode until the final episode, when every character ends up in the same scene together, all to solve a different problem.

Next up:

Dice mechanics and the numbers of character generation

Y'know, what I might do is make this game a pdf, if it ends up working at the table and putting all proceeds towards a victim's support organization such as http://www.trynova.org/supportnova/.

That might be nifty.

A game about an important issue that supports the issue presented at the table.

Huh.

Hi Judd,

I'm not sure whether Make is relevant. In all the source material, breaking a sword is a really big thematic deal, not much to do with "it took so much damage that it broke." Are you sure you're not including that as a strategic factor?

And if you do want it in there as a strategic factor, which isn't automatically a bad thing, you might want to consider reducing its importance relative to the other features.

Best,
Ron

Since you brought it up, I'd like to point out that apostrophe 's' doesn't pluralize. It indicates ownership. So, the name should be "Dimestore Katanas."

Also, you might want to take a look at Metal Opera by Zak Arntson:

http://www.harlekin-maus.com

It's, like, about totally different things, but with guitars instead of katanas. :)

"Dime-Store Katana" is pretty much the greatest name ever.

Hi Judd,

This is a great idea for a game because it made me laugh...

I'm assuiming that the lack of a stat for how good the character is with their katana is also a deliberate decision? Based on the premise that the characters are all a bunch of losers with no actual swordsmanship skills? Because that does appear to rule out the possibility of a loser who has trained obsessively with their katana.

Just a thought, but Edge, Balance and Make could all be wrapped up into a single stat for Sword Quality. Unless you are looking for more "crunch" in your combat, it could be sufficient to say that this is a good/great/crap katana, and leave it at that.

I think if someone did REAL training (like, with a teacher, rather than waving it around in mom's basement) they would no longer be at that bottom-rung of loserdom that this game represents.

Vaxalon: I agree. Sounds like characters in this game are about 1 or 2 steps up from those in kill puppies for satan.

I also think that the name is absolutely awesome.

-- Ben

Ben Morgan wrote: Vaxalon: I agree. Sounds like characters in this game are about 1 or 2 steps up from those in kill puppies for satan.

I also think that the name is absolutely awesome.

-- Ben

Right, Vax, absolutely. This is like, Napoleon Dynamite the RPG. "Training" is kicking a tetherball, and stuff.

Ben Morgan wrote: Vaxalon: I agree. Sounds like characters in this game are about 1 or 2 steps up from those in kill puppies for satan.

'Up' as in instead of taking out your sociopathic tendencies on small defenseless animals, you've move on to actually harming people, which according to lumpley, Satan disapproves of (IIRC).

-- Ben

Exactly why I'd say it's DOWN.

Satan wouldn't take these guys.

Hi Judd,

For some thought-provoking, and maybe a neat contrast or comparison, check out Sorcerer ponderings.

Best,
Ron

And of course, the only person LOWER than the KPFS or DSK drone is the guy who argues which one's lower between the two...

I actually like the bad grammar, Nate; "Katana's" just enhances the whole cheapy loser atmosphere.

Ron Edwards wrote: Hi Judd,

For some thought-provoking, and maybe a neat contrast or comparison, check out Sorcerer ponderings.

Best,
Ron

There's an episode of Home Movies(A cancelled Adult Swim cartoon) called The Wizard's Baker that's perfect for this, wherin the sleazy soccor coach buys a bunch of replica swords from late night tv.

"I'm trying to get rid of them. No one wants Swords, Brendon."
"Why did you buy them then coach?"
"Because I'm a lonely man."

Because of that, I'd be greatly intereasted in running this.

Something that I think would be neat for this game would be a stat that increases based on the number of problems they solve with violence. Let’s call this stat Limit for convenience here.

Limit would do three things
1. Makes solving problems without violence harder until its lowered.
2. Make solving problems with violence easier.
3. When Limit reaches a certain level, perhaps the katana's Make, the katana breaks and the whole thing come tumbling down. Stuck with the penalties but cannot apply the bonus until he gets a new katana. Perhaps have Limit clear or at least lowered when he gets the new katana? Or just let him keep going and not break the katana this way agin.

Perhaps if he solves a problem without using violence or doing a certain action (A bit of good left in him despite everything else.) he lowers his Limit and can prolong the life of his katana but that might take away from the violence as the solution idea to the game.

I think this could fit into your game well since it give a mechanic for causing them to resort to violence ever faster in situations leading the end of their downward spiral that brought them to this point.