I'm honstly not sure Glory > Fate would need to be changed at all for a samurai version, John.

I think Honor would be a cool thing to call your Name and then sort of let it sit between the Glory/Fate cycle as the actual manner in which you play your character.  Sort of that whole fruitful void thing.

Regards,
Daniel

In the session I've played, one of the players cunningly manoeuvred himself into play to get the killing blow on two beasts. There was a cry of "Budo thief!" when people realised what he'd done. Anyone who has played Bushido, the venerable samuria game, would recognise it. :)

This topic is split from here.

Before the split, I said

For samurai, "Honor" seems like an obvious replacement for Glory. I'm not sure about Fate, though.

Thanks for splitting this off, John!

That's pretty much the way I saw play happening in my head, Darren.  The samurai would be competing for the glory of the killing blow and all that rot, and their honor would be what they sacrifice in order to get it.

Regards,
Daniel

To me, the Samurai ethos is defined by negation of self, exemplified in the Hagakure. Personal Glory seems to clash with that, as does the idea of achieving immortality and fame.

So, I'd do "Honor" instead of Glory, "Service" instead of Fate, and... hmmm... the Name die also feels a little off. Maybe "Budo" instead of Name. It increases as you fulfill your service to your Lord because you gradually negate your own self and desires and give yourself more fully to existence as an instrument.

Maybe the role of player characters in an Agon-style samurai game ought to be Ronin?
That way, they have a reason to be wandering around different regions, and you could have some mutated form of the Island creation system being used to create locales in crisis. I'm not sure what role the Gods would serve in such a game - who would give the ronin their Quests?