Kendo & Role-Playing Games

[budoka05]

I have been looking at different various role-playing games, and have found them thus far an unsatisfactory experience of kendo or koryu type of action. For those who do role play, the damage and penalty systems do not seem that appealling. If my impression is entirely off basis, let me know. But if its not, which games capture the experience of a good kendo match?

P.S. For those who would recommend more time in the dojo, I already have a great experience training and sparring; I just would like a genuine weapon experience in my role playing.

[Newbie]

That's cos kendo isn't so good in a real fight and a shinai doesn't do huge amounts of damage (yes, I've been hit in the head with a shinai when I wasn't wearing a men). It also depends on what system you're running. I mean, if it's larp, you want to keep it as simple and quick as possible so you're not slowing everything down and you can't afford to make mechanics for every single different type of fighting style. L5R's (Legend of the Five Rings) mechanics are more likely to be helpful, a lot more actually.

[h2o]

If I had time to play roleplaying games I would definately be playing a swedish game called "Skymningshem: Andra Imperiet" which is a sort of manga/wuxia space-opera game.
Nice looking cartoon which includes kendo can be seen here : http://home.foxtail.nu/mambo/downloads/serie01.pdf

[Newbie]

I gotta say my fav games are Legend of the Five Rings, Deadlands and World of Darkness LARP (not a fan of WW's tabletop though). There's quite a few roleplaying kendoka out there. In Aus, there's a werewolf pack for Werewolf: the Forsaken LARP based on samurai of which two are kendoka who wear their hakama and gi. Looks very cool.

[Anjin-san]

I don't speak sweaty otaku but maybe this (http://www.shinai.org) is what you're looking for?

[Yann]

Deadlands
Yeaaah ! Deadlands rocks !

I usually play AD&D2, D&D3.5, MV/INS and many others

[Mugu]

I don't speak sweaty otaku but maybe this (http://www.shinai.org) is what you're looking for?

I dunno which is funnier... the other otaku groups insult them and challenge them for "battles", or some of our fellow kenshi badmouthed them with no shame and understanding the concept of, "Kendo begins with manners and ends with manners".

[Newbie]

I don't speak sweaty otaku but maybe this is what you're looking for?

What the hell was that?!?! Looks like some bizarre shinai fight club!


MV/INS and many others

What's MV/INS?

I love my bag and I love taking it to roleplaying cons. It's a goats.com Advanced Dungeons and Hamsters bag. :)

[yohed55]

P.S. For those who would recommend more time in the dojo, I already have a great experience training and sparring; I just would like a genuine weapon experience in my role playing.

Where do you train?

[lemi]

I also think, that Legends of the Five Rings have the best sword fighting rules. Also World of Darkness (so Wampire, Werewolf, Mage, Mummy, Wraith, etc, etc) have nice fighting system.

Personally I don't enjoy systems in which you hit guy with a sword in his head and you take 50HP out of his 700HP, simply because he is a Mega-Super Chief Dwarf ;-)

Cheers,

[Newbie]

Also World of Darkness (so Wampire, Werewolf, Mage, Mummy, Wraith, etc, etc) have nice fighting system.


Only if you're doing LARP, else the system is too generic (which is why it works for larp - has to be streamlined).

Sorry, I just really don't like WoD mechanics for tabletop but love them live. I don't know if they're any better in New WoD but I doubt it.

Definitely L5R. (Go you Phoenix!!!)

[h2o]

Personally I don't enjoy systems in which you hit guy with a sword in his head and you take 50HP out of his 700HP, simply because he is a Mega-Super Chief Dwarf ;-)Any system which uses health points in the form of "this is a number, when it reaches zero, you are dead" is off my list.
Luckily, health points is generally considered as ugly here, so there was a long time since I actually played a game that had them.

[Newbie]

Any system which uses health points in the form of "this is a number, when it reaches zero, you are dead" is off my list.
Luckily, health points is generally considered as ugly here, so there was a long time since I actually played a game that had them.

Come on. There has to be a way of monitoring damage. It's how it's monitored that shows how good the mechanics are.

[h2o]

Come on. There has to be a way of monitoring damage. It's how it's monitored that shows how good the mechanics are.
I didn't say I don't want to monitor damage. I said I don't like to have a healthmeter which shows exactly in percent how badly injured you are. The systems I play(ed) have used some kind of damage markers, but just because you received X damage markers doesn't mean you are dead. They measure amount of damage, not the amount of life.

[The great I AM]

I dunno which is funnier... the other otaku groups insult them and challenge them for "battles", or some of our fellow kenshi badmouthed them with no shame and understanding the concept of, "Kendo begins with manners and ends with manners".

I prefer to think that "life is dull without a sense of humour", something that I see you have been lacking of late, Miss Mugu!

[The great I AM]

Where do you train?In his head. His dojo is called "Atama-no-naka-shika-nai-kan", and he practises "ima-tsukutta-bakkari-ryu".

[Mugu]

I prefer to think that "life is dull without a sense of humour", something that I see you have been lacking of late, Miss Mugu!

I was typing that with a big smile on my face and laughed my ass off before that after reading those comments from the guestbooks. Those guys who had a big mouth make kendo looks bad, but on the other hand, it was true and damn funny. And then of course the other otaku wants to challenge the shinai group to "kick their asses". So I couldn't decided which one was funnier :p

[yohed55]

In his head. His dojo is called "Atama-no-naka-shika-nai-kan", and he practises "ima-tsukutta-bakkari-ryu".


:cheerful: makes sense..... I see he hasn't replied.

[The great I AM]

:cheerful: makes sense..... I see he hasn't replied.Does that mean I level up?

[Newbie]

I didn't say I don't want to monitor damage. I said I don't like to have a healthmeter which shows exactly in percent how badly injured you are. The systems I play(ed) have used some kind of damage markers, but just because you received X damage markers doesn't mean you are dead. They measure amount of damage, not the amount of life.

Aww, dude I really don't get what you mean. So how do you tell when someone has finally taken so much of a beating they expire, breath their last, ash, get ghacked, etc? I mean, when you've got a hundred-odd players, or even twenty (sorry, only larping at the moment so my mind is on large games, not five-eight player tabletops) there has to be a fair system. Damage levels that monitor how far away from death you are are a good way to do that.

Anyway, soon I'm going to have my roleplaying photo portfolio up. It should prolly go in multimedia but it's not kendo related (have no kendo pics to work from) though there is one of my mate with his sword. You want me to post the link here?

[ScottUK]

I helped a buddy who LARPed once by being a bad guy (monstering, I think they call it). Nice guys but the amateur dramatics is comical.

I think the final straw was when the GM(?) said - "you're supposed to put up a fight but let them win"... ah, the beauty of a five-shaku sword and a 10 stone weight advantage. :D

As for this thread, a perfect example of trollism. Either that or a MA wannabe who just jumped in the deep end.

[The great I AM]

I helped a buddy who LARPed once by being a bad guy (monstering, I think they call it). Nice guys but the amateur dramatics is comical.

I think the final straw was when the GM(?) said - "you're supposed to put up a fight but let them win"... ah, the beauty of a five-shaku sword and a 10 stone weight advantage. :D

As for this thread, a perfect example of trollism. Either that or a MA wannabe who just jumped in the deep end.

Begone foulspawn, or I'll call the Gm and he'll tell you to let me win. I'm going to smite you with my rubber elf-hammer of poontang (which is +$$ against portuguese people) and invoke my thread-killer ability to reincarnate voltan the magnificent, so that I automatically win, without asking the GM.

[Newbie]

As for this thread, a perfect example of trollism. Either that or a MA wannabe who just jumped in the deep end.

Err.. nah, I can understand his point. Actually, heard a couple players talking about kendo and rp mechanics just the other night.


I helped a buddy who LARPed once by being a bad guy (monstering, I think they call it). Nice guys but the amateur dramatics is comical.

We call it NPCing. That was the GM though, not larp. It's is like any other roleplaying game and the style of game (lethal, walk in the park, etc) is up to the person running it. A crap GM will be a crap GM whether it's larp or tabletop.


I'm going to smite you with my rubber elf-hammer of poontang

Freakin' D&D players.

[Yann]

What's MV/INS?

Magna Veritas / In Nomine Satanis

But I think the name was sort of censored in the US, they removed the "satanis" part.

Anyway it's a (paper) role playing game where heavens fights with hell on the Earth.
Either all the players play angels or they all play demons (reincarnated in the body of a human who just died). This game is a lot of fun.


PS: And no I am no satanist or whatever lol (for the non rpgers)

[The great I AM]

Freakin' D&D players.Right mo fo, you're gonna get it with my +3 love hammer. Has special effects against people under 180cm tall. And vampires.

[Newbie]

Everything always dacks on the vampires :(

[h2o]

Aww, dude I really don't get what you mean. So how do you tell when someone has finally taken so much of a beating they expire, breath their last, ash, get ghacked, etc? I mean, when you've got a hundred-odd players, or even twenty (sorry, only larping at the moment so my mind is on large games, not five-eight player tabletops) there has to be a fair system. Damage levels that monitor how far away from death you are are a good way to do that.
One example is to mark the amount of damage and then a roll with the dices (or is it "dies"? I am confused...) and check if the damage was lethal. Exactly how you make the death/unconsciousness-check may vary. In one system I played the amount of damage received decided how many dice you should roll. The value of the roll is then compared with a value on the character sheet and if it is above this, the character dies, or gets knocked out.

In LARP's I understand that swedish LARP's differ quite a lot from the rest of the world. No gamemaster, and very often no rules of damage at all. If there are, they are most often quite basic, as in "You are a human, you have two hit points. Swords deal two hit points. Do the math :)"
Having no hitpoints in the rules requires greater respect from the players, but I guess it's worth it.
Anyway, I dont LARP anymore. Mostly because the LARP'ers actually :wink:
Since moving from my hometown to study at the university two years ago, I haven't played any tabletop RPG's either. I would if I had time though, but then there are a few more things further up on the list.

[Newbie]

I've found some larp groups are good, some are bad, some are generally good with some bad in it. Pretty much like any group of people, really.

Sucks you're not doing any rping. I go into withdrawls. Bad enough I'm not tabletopping.

Anyway - I'm so excited! I got my portfolio up, finally! Please, gamers, take a look and lemme know what you think. Pay special attention to the final three, the Requiem pics. 'specially Souther Justice. That pic took me about fifteen hours minimum. Can't wait till I get my digital camera! :)

The website is:
http://arwenspics.741.com

It's just a quick thing I threw together so I apologise for the crappy green roll overs on the text and the damned pop-ups. I'll get around to doing something about that at some stage and move it to an addless site but that could be a while off.

I'd like to do some kendo pics once I've got my camera - just need the inspiration of what to do with them :)

[ScottUK]

I'm going to smite you with my rubber elf-hammer of poontangCongratulations, this will be the first time I back away from another kendoka. In sheer fear. :D