Legends of the Samurai: Escape from the Haunted Lands

[Vigilance]

"To ignore tradition is foolhardy; to anger the dead by not providing for them tempts fate; to be in a place where others have died subjects you to forces beyond your control. Avoidance, care, ritual, respect, tradition. These are your bywords."

-The Rule of the Dead

Welcome to legendary Japan, a land of unhappy ghosts and mischievous spirits, of cannibal demons and merciful kami. A place where honor is more important than gold and where one's skill with sword and etiquette is the only thing that stands between glorious victory and shameful defeat.

"The Escape from the Haunted Lands" is the first chapter in the "Haunted Lands" Adventure Path, a 10-installment campaign designed to lead the characters on a wonderful journey through the fabled lands of ancient Japan and latter Koryo in a quest to avenge their master's death and restore his son and heir to his rightful place.

This adventure is intended to serve as a tutorial to Japanese adventuring in general and as such contains many iconic encounters taken straight from traditional Japanese folktales and kaidans (ghost stories). Also, the "Seven Tales of Old Japan" at the end of this adventure is designed to give both the DM and the players a glimpse into Japan's rich and fascinating folklore by retelling some of Japan's best-known and loved stories.

Learn more about this full length Legends of the Samurai adventure or purchase it at the ENWorld Store.

 

[Voadam]

A 10 part adventure path of short adventures? For what level characters?

 

[Vigilance]

This adventure is for 1st level characters.

 

[bento]

This is a great idea! I'll be picking them up. How often will they be published?

 

[Vigilance]

This is a great idea! I'll be picking them up. How often will they be published?

My hope is to get one out every 2 months. So it will be a slow process, but I think it's a nice addition to the line.

I wrote the plot for all 10 adventures, and Uri did a great job fleshing it out.

I was real happy with how this turned out and think it will make a nice, spooky start to a campaign.

 

[Jason Anderson]

Bought it, read it, loved it! I have to say I was rather surprised though - it seemed to come out of no where. Or is there a secret discussion group that's talking about it that I need (need I say!) to know about?

Cheers,
Jason

 

[Vigilance]

Bought it, read it, loved it! I have to say I was rather surprised though - it seemed to come out of no where. Or is there a secret discussion group that's talking about it that I need (need I say!) to know about?

Cheers,
Jason

Well- we're a small dev house, and I'm the whole marketing department, so not everything gets hyped to the max.

Still, there has been a cover and a product description on the RPGObjects website for more than a month.

That's the best place to get a peek at what's coming down the pike.

Chuck

 

[Jason Anderson]

Another question Chuck - do you plan on releasing some sort of campaign guide or GM guide for the adventure path, so GMs can get an idea of where the story is going to go? I'm thinking about running this for my wife (she's a huge fan of all thing Japanese, and has been wanting to play in a Japanese RPG for ages), but the slow release schedule means I'd have to create a lot of filler adventures. Having an idea where the campaign is heading would be a huge help

(I'd also get an idea if the campaign would suit her tastes! )

Cheers,
Jason

 

[Vigilance]

Well- my time estimate was conservative, mostly because we're a very small Dev house, which makes something like this tough unless I want to do it personally, as my full time personal writing.

In other words, it's my hope that it comes out much faster than that.

Projects like this, that have been on the drawing board for a long time waiting for me to come free, are the reason I issued my open call awhile back, looking for other writers, and Uri took up the call admirably.

But, I see your point, so I put a synopsis of episodes 1-6 up on my blog. The text is the same color as the background, so you need to highlight it to read it. This is to prevent accidental spoilers.

 

[Jason Anderson]

Thanks for that - it gives me an idea of where you're heading. Two questions for you (in a spoiler block in case any players are reading):

Spoiler

1) Would it have any affect on the story if it wasn't Etsu who cursed the lands, but some sort of evil entity in the attacking forces?

2) How reliant is the story on the PCs going to Koryo? I'm half-tempted to just move that part to a remote part of Japan.

Cheers,
Jason