Coming Tomorrow from the minds of Jonathan McAnulty and Michael Tumey,
Cover Illustration by John Wigley
When I read through it a while ago, it seemed like they weren't the opposition you'd expect. Just another facet of life. Although my memory of it isn't the best.
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Content teaser, pretty pretty please?
What's the expected function of Yakuza in one's games? Are they the opposition, mafia-like sinister organization or something else?
Do we get NPCs?
The role of the yakuza in one's game is completely up to the players and GM involved. There is enough information to create Yakuza PCs, including yakuza traits and feats. There are Yakuza NPCs presented and even a mountain village in the grip of a Yakuza gang, complete with adventure seeds for the GM. I do mention in the book, that, in my opinion, a game focused solely on the Yakuza is going to be a bit dark, as the Yakuza, as a whole, are evil (this is a matter of taste I recognize, as I prefer heroic PCs). However, there is no reason not to have heroes who have yakuza backgrounds, and perhaps are trying to escape the life, and there are ideas for faithful yakuza member/adventurers given as well. So hopefully there is a little something for everyone.
There are four parts to the book. The first part presents a look at the Yakuza from the 1st person viewpoint of a yakuza member. If you've read the Rite race books, you should have a good idea what to expect, as I followed the same format. The second part of the book provides the information necessary for making yakuza members, including traits, feats, spells, archetypes and a Prestige class. There are magical tattoos (I borrowed some feats and tables from Inkantations, but the tattoos are original) and one of the archetypes is a tattoo oriented wizard. The third part of the book describes a method for creating a Yakuza gang, so that each gang has its own focus and personality. Finally, the fourth part of the book presents a Yakuza controlled mountain village, complete with notable yakuza NPC stat blocks and half a dozen adventure ideas.
And a map!
I think the second part is great for NPC generation as well as yakuza PCs - useful to both GM and players. The third part is meat for the GM, great tool for building unique yakuza gangs, so that every town could have one, but each would be different. The fourth part is putting the third part into practice and developing a ready-made mountain village as an adventure location for use in Kaidan, Tian Xia, or any oriental setting.
I have a sneaking suspicion that this book might be handy for GMs to use with the later half of the Jade Regent Adventure Path, in particular once the PCs get to Minkai.
and bought!!
Been waiting on this one for awhile. Can.not.wait!
Thankfully, it's only a few more hours :)
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A Link for the convenience of those interested in acquiring the best PFRPG Yakuza supplement around.
Content teaser, pretty pretty please?
What's the expected function of Yakuza in one's games? Are they the opposition, mafia-like sinister organization or something else?
Do we get NPCs?
Regards,
RuemerePS. Guys, any word on when Curse of Golden Spear, part two and part three prints will become available at Paizo?
Ruemere - all the Kaidan books are under the control of Cubicle 7 and not Rite Publishing specifically, however, just got word that Dim Spirit (module 2) is heading for the distributor as of now. Part 3 sometime later.
GP
Content teaser, pretty pretty please?
What's the expected function of Yakuza in one's games? Are they the opposition, mafia-like sinister organization or something else?
Do we get NPCs?
Regards,
RuemerePS. Guys, any word on when Curse of Golden Spear, part two and part three prints will become available at Paizo?
Ruemere - all the Kaidan books are under the control of Cubicle 7 and not Rite Publishing specifically, however, just got word that Dim Spirit (module 2) is heading for the distributor as of now. Part 3 sometime later.
GP
Thanks for the update. I've preordered the series based on very imaginative concept (and story), and I have been worrying that something was wrong.
Thanks for putting my mind at ease.Regards,
Ruemere
What was wrong was the printer actually failing to print the books, but they have now been printed (part 3 was printed by the printer before part 2 was, the printer is not on my Christmas card list.)