The Island of Yomi, Modern adventure in Japan

[TheKingInYellow]

To my dear friend, respected colleague or hated enemy,

I don’t know who will get this, nor do I know how you will receive it. Perhaps I am writing in vain, squandering away the last hours of my life penning a letter that there is no way to deliver… But I have to trust that somehow, in some unimaginable, perhaps horrible way, this letter will reach you.

My life is in dangerMy life is already over. I’m hesitant to bring any other innocent people into this madness, but many more are in danger and I fear that there’s nothing I can do by myself. I haven’t the time to explain it here, but you must come. My colleague, Dr. Ishida in Hiroo, can tell you more. Contact him as soon as possible.

Professor Richard Keegan

The unaddressed envelope came this morning, tucked under your front door before you were awake. Inside was the letter, written in a hurried and nervous hand, accompanied with a name card for Professor Keegan’s and one for his colleague, Jun Ishida. Beyond that, there’s no further information.

Out there, others are getting the same letter. You have all known Richard Keegan, a professor of Japanese history and mythology at Hokkaido University, at one time or another; while the letter is bizarre, you know he doesn’t make jokes. He wouldn’t have written something like this unless he was serious.

-----

I’m judging the interest for a game idea of mine. It’s a modern game set in Japan, drawing a little bit from the Cthulhu Mythos, Japanese folklore and a handful of crap I made up. I’m aiming for a mix of our traditional investigative horror and survival horror, although in a freeform, rules very light, storytelling experience.

I’d like to get three to five players together and start maybe late this week or early next. Anyone interested?

[Laraqua]

Survival horror AND Japanese? Ooh, I'm interested. Very interested...

[TheKingInYellow]

Great! I was fearing that nobody was interested.

My idea for the game is a mix of investigation and survival; something like classic CoC with a healthy dose of Forbidden Siren, which is pretty much what inspired me to do a modern scenario in Japan. In spite of that, Hiroo offers a few unique qualities that should make it interesting.

I'm hoping to get two or three more players, but feel free to come up with a character concept at your convenience. I figure we'll make characters per standard rules, though feel free to take liberties with that, once we have a full group.

[Laraqua]

Forbidden Siren? I'm in. I don't care if I'm the only player, I'll just keep posting along with you until someone else takes notice and starts playing too.

Hmm... Characters.

I could play a naieve librarian / amateur astronomer at a university, sweet, gentle, somewhat wry, and very unworldly. That's very different from most of my characters personality-wise, but for Susan, and the skills will be knowledge-focused and very different.

If it's survival horror, I could go with the age-old folklorist/photographer, calm, wry and a little irritated by people, yet with a heart of gold.

Ooh, I've been meaning to play an urban explorer, though. Brave, a little brash, with a pet dog s/he's trained to bark loudly when s/he's exploring old buildings, allowing him/her and his/her pals to be warned and run away.

What would you prefer, really?

[TheKingInYellow]

Any of those are fine and would work well in this setting. The urban explorer may find herself out of place, however, as most of the settings will be more rural. But any of the three would work just fine as long as you'd have fun playing them.

I'm still working out the details, so if you don't mind playing a one-person campaign until (of if ever) others get in on it, then I think I'd be more or less ready to go Wednesday or Thursday. How's that sound?

[Mr. Handy]

I'm interested in this too. I actually know some Japanese, though it's been years since I learned it and my skills are rusty. My main concern is that I might be spreading myself too thin due to lack of time. I'm already in a few other games here and I'm signed up for another, but that one won't start for months and most of the ones I'm in move slowly. If I do join, I'm planning on playing a native of Japan, but beyond that I'd need to give it some thought. How quickly do you expect this game to move?

[Laraqua]

I think I might go with the urban explorer. The physical skills should complement a survival horror setting beautifully. And there's nothing like having a dog in a survival horror! I'll put in a few knowledge skills too for when we do the investigative stuff.

So, BRP, right? Random rolls?

[Laraqua]

Aww, there's no skill for Animal Handling. I've got 55 points free to spend on that. What would the base score be, you think? 10%?

I rolled up anyway, naughty me. I've got Strength: 12, Con: 11, Siz: 7, Dex: 16, App: 8, SAN: 60, Int: 14, POW: 12, Edu: 15, Idea: 70, Luck: 60, Know: 75. She will be 21-year-old, Yaida Hitomi, who's name happens to be identical to a J-pop star, which irritates her to no end. She is an insatiably curious person who dropped out of university when she was 20, much to her parent's rage, and is now estranged from them. She loves her 4-year-old dog, Saijō, whom she has trained to bark at anyone coming near when she says: "Guard" as an early warning signal for her. Other then that, Saijō is mostly trained to do the usual such things: "Heel, fetch, roll over, play dead."

Sound okay?

[TheKingInYellow]

Mr. Handy: I figure the game will move as quickly as the players want to take it. This is my first time keeping a play-by-post game, so whatever the players are comfortable with is fine by me as long as we're having fun. If you want to give it a try and then later feel that you can't handle it, no worries.

Speaking of which, I'll be away from the 26th of June to the 1st of July, so we'll probably take a break at that time and pick up when I get back.

Laraqua: Yes, I figured everyone would roll for their characters, so that's fine, and like I said, feel free to take some liberties if it fits your character. I don't plan on doing much (if any) die rolls, so it's really just a judge of what your character can and can't do.

But yes, Handle Animal base of 10% sounds good. And everyone else looks good for that matter, if you could PM me or post a final version, you're good to go

[Mr. Handy]

Okay, I'm in! I'll have to create my character in the next day or two. Right now I need some sleep, and after that I'll be at work during the day.

[TheKingInYellow]

Great, welcome aboard. Take your time with your character and post an idea when you have it.

[paradys]

She will be 21-year-old, Yaida Hitomi, who's name happens to be identical to a J-pop star, which irritates her to no end.

damn. i was thinking of joining in if i could play a J pop star, although i've no idea how i'd make that work..maybe she could be on vacation or something

[DSIGFUSS]

How many spots do you have open for this game?

I'm definitely in for a Japanese game.

If I were to play a Japanese character, I would love to play a Yakuza type Japanese mafia. Or a ninja of coarse.

Other ideas would be an ex-gamer. I would have just gotten out of rehab (gaming rehab, which they have in Japan)

or a loyal corporate lap dog.
My first choice would be the modern ninja though. You (as the keeper could pick any of the above choices and I'll roll up a character) -If there are any spots left.

[coffee demon]

I wouldn't mind playing. The only thing is, i know NOTHING about japan. Because of that, I'd like to be a just-off-the-plane tourist from rural Canada. Like, 23 years old, just left his parents' house, and wants to see where Akira and Gundam came from.

He'll be going through some serious culture shock.

[TheKingInYellow]

paradys: That could certainly work, if that's what you want to play. A few suggestions, if I may. A J Pop idol who is currently "in" will probably spend most of her time in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, etc. and most of her free time will still be spent in a vaguely promotional way; she'll keep a personal website her fans expect her to post on frequently, her vacations will be to famous, photo-op friendly sites around Japan, and chances are she will have a recurring seat on one Japan's many daytime chat shows.

If her popularity is in decline or she was never one of the top 40 artists, she'll probably have more free time to herself. Likely, she'll still be producing new music and promoting, but her life won't be under constant supervision (Either by media or the general public). When she's not working of doing promotion, she'll be free to do as she likes unless she does something major/something major happens to her. Perhaps useful is that many celebrities in Japan both popular and hasbeens often find a role on Japanese TV shows, travelling across Japan visit local hot springs, staying at local hotels and eating local specialty foods (I know, it sounds rough).

DSIGFUSS Well, with you, Paradys, Coffe Demon, Mr. Handy and Laraqua, that would make five people, which is about as many I'd be comfortable running for this. So if you're interested, consider youreslf in.

As for your character choice, I don't think that the ninja would be appropriate for this setting. The ninja that we think of, the stealth assassin, doesn't really exist anymore. However, you could play a character who studies Ninjitsu, there are plenty of people who do that very intently.

Aside from that, any of your choices would be fine (Yakuza, recovering gamer or salaryman), so whichever one you think you would have fun playing works fine.

Coffee Demon That should be fine, although I will say one thing- Since everyone else seems to playing Japanese characters, it would be helpful if your character could understand Japanese (Learned it in college, or something). Aside from that, sounds good to me.

Also, on knowing nothing about Japan, I intend to play with the regards to the fact that none of us are Japanese. If there's some cultural oddity that requires explanation comes up, or some aspect of Japanese life or mythology needs explanation, I'll provide the information. I'm doing my senior thesis on Japanese folklore and pretty well experienced with Japanese culture, but since I'm still a white guy who lives in Montana, I can't hope to perfectly emulate an authentic Japanese setting. So please bear with me, too

Regardless, it looks like we have a full group and we're more or less ready to go. If everyone would like to roll up some characters, write up a concept and a backstory and message them to me, I figure we'll start on Wednesday or Thursday (I'll have a definite time tomorrow, if it works with everyone). Until then, if anyone has any questions, feel free to ask or message me. I can answer or find the answer to most Japanese questions. Like I said, feel free to take liberties with you character *within reason*, so long as you have a character that will be fun to play.

Okay, looking forward to it, everyone!

[DSIGFUSS]

OK, I'll Play the Die hard corporate big whig. He's going to be like Hiro's Dad in Heroes but less mysterious. He has four daughters and is super bitter about it.

By the way. If you think Ninja's don't exist anymore, you're crazy (kidding)

I'll roll up a character tonight.

[TheKingInYellow]

OK, I'll Play the Die hard corporate big whig. He's going to be like Hiro's Dad in Heroes but less mysterious. He has four daughters and is super bitter about it.

By the way. If you think Ninja's don't exist anymore, you're crazy (kidding)

I'll roll up a character tonight.

Sounds like a good character. And ninjas still exist, we just operate differently... I mean... They operate differently... And by that, I mean we operated differently... ... Damn.



Also, remember everyone, the hook is that you've known Professor Keegan in some capacity. Please keep it in mind when writing up characters.

[Mr. Handy]

It's probably a good thing you're not playing the recovering gaming addict, since I've been thinking of playing a game designer.

Unfortunately, I got my usual lousy rolls for character creation. Actually, this time they were worse than usual. I got STR:4, CON:4, SIZ:15, DEX:13, APP:11, INT:11, POW:8, EDU:9

This adds up to only 75 points, which I think is a new record low for me. I'm going to have to think a little about how to shuffle these stats around. Which of the alternate character creation rules are we allowed to use? (I'm hoping I can use the one that allows me to take a mulligan and start over )

[TheKingInYellow]

Definitely, start over and keep rolling until you have something your happy with and feels right for your character. I'm pretty relaxed about it, so go about it how you like, as long as it's within reason.

[coffee demon]

Okay, my Canadian 23-year old is going to be slightly older now, still completely dorky, but he'll be an exchange student at the university of Hokkaido, working under Professor Keegan.

Possibly a graduate student, working on a thesis having to do with... i dunno.. "The Transfusion of Traditional Japanese Mythology into Western Culture Through Manga and Anime"

Overactive imagination, still totally into comics and anime, not many friends, really good at computer games. Too shy to play the "active" arcade games like Dance Dance Revolution etc. Has a 60th level World of Warcraft character, looks at too much pornography, drinks too much Coca Cola.

Pictures himself as a "hero", so the Professor's letter sets his imagination running wild.

Speaks decent Japanese.

Sound like an okay start?