Legends of the Samurai
rotect the Master - review by Jason Lund (Anio)
Legends of the Samurai: Protect the Master (LoS
oM) is an adventure in PDF format written by Charles Rice for RPGObjects. This product includes two versions: a screen-friendly version and a printer-friendly version, each of which is 9 pages in length (including 1 cover and credits page and 1 OGL page). This is the first adventure for the Legends of the Samurai series from RPGObjects and is meant as an introduction to a Legends of the Samurai (LotS) campaign based in historical fantasy Japan. This adventure requires the use of Legends of the Samurai: The Bushido Handbook (LotS:TBH), also by RPGObjects, and is intended for use with SkeletonKey Games’ e-Adventure Tiles: Oriental Sword School.
As an avid reader of products relating to fantasy Japan and of the LotS product line in particular, I was very interested in seeing how RPGObjects would handle the creation of an adventure for the genre. I was especially interested given that the genre is typically seen as being difficult to incorporate a key trait common to many other fantasy RPGs: the incentive of profitable gains. I was also concerned that the adventure may favour a particular path of honour rather than being applicable to both ninjas and samurai warriors, both of which are common archetypes likely to appear in a campaign influenced by historical Japan. I need not have been concerned, as the author has ensured that the adventure works with the new mechanics provided in LotS:TBH, and allows for the full range of classes included in the LotS series as well as giving profitable or honourable incentives to characters.
The plot is very simply. An honourable samurai and his school are under siege by a clan of ninja intent on destroying a legendary sword destined to destroy the clan. The characters are called upon to defend this master. With this plot, the adventure involves several key themes of Japanese influenced fantasy: honour, betrayal, loyalty, courage and destiny. While certainly not the sole province of oriental fantasy, specific mechanics are available in LotS:TBH for handling honour, fate and destiny and are referred to during the adventure.
Two introductory encounters are provided for characters, one for those interested in profit and one for those more concerned with honour. Further applying this mantra of flexibility, the author has written this adventure to be useable for a range of character levels. The only note that the author makes regarding level suitability is that the characters be no higher than 12th level. In order to facilitate this, encounter options are provided that scale with the average level of the party e.g. one encounter involves ninja who outnumber the PCs two-to-one at half the average level of the PCs, based upon the number of characters and their levels. Clearly, a DM is well advised to read through the short adventure a few times and be familiar with the PCs' capabilities as well as the new classes and mechanics presented in the LotS series.
Another key part to the design of this adventure is that the author has crafted it to give PCs a potential home base as well as a contact/mentor in the form of an honourable samurai lord and his school. Notes are also included for the likely options available to characters and NPCs in each encounter. As an introductory adventure, this product does well in including background, providing introductory hooks for a range of PCs and giving the PCs incentive to continue onwards.
Unfortunately, the overall design themes of flexibility and usability stop there. The story path is fairly linear if the PCs are going to participate in the entire adventure, with only four small episodes that each involve an encounter that builds upon the last. Another point for DMs to be aware of is that they will have to convert all of the NPCs if they are not using LotS. This adventure also requires that the DM be very familiar with the mechanics provided by the LotS series and that players be fairly aware of the repercussions of behaving honourably or dishonourably.
As previously noted, this adventure is very short. The actual adventure text, not including the product description or the NPC stats, is only a little over two and one half pages long and comprises four encounters that involve roleplaying or combat, an optional encounter and a brief conclusion. The NPC stats take up a full three and one half pages and cover all major NPCs as well as stats for ninjas ranging from 1st to 12th levels. Sidebars also address penalties and bonuses for honour for player character actions.
The screen-friendly version of the PDF is in three-column format, features a colourful front page and red borders at the top and bottom of each page. The printer-friendly version is in two-column format and features a colour-reduced front page and colour-removed borders. Both are reasonably well edited with only a few grammatical and spelling errors. The layout is easy on the eyes and contains only a single piece of artwork, though this good black and white piece featuring a ninja can also be found in LotS:TBH. RPGObjects also makes good use of PDF technology and provides full bookmarking in its screen-friendly version of the PDF. Ed Bourelle is credited as having done the cartography for this adventure, though no maps are provided and, as previously noted, this product is intended for use with both the Legends of the Samurai series and SkeletonKey Games’ e-Adventure Tiles: Oriental Sword School.
Summary
At $1.75, this short adventure packs a lot of quality but precious little quantity into its 9 pages. It addresses genre specific issues by providing incentive for archetypal characters driven either by profit or honour, but only gives them a handful of encounters to deal with. As the skeleton to a larger adventure or as an introduction to a series of adventures, this product does well, but falls short of providing more than an evening's worth of gaming by itself. It should also be noted that this adventure has been specifically written with RPGObject's Legends of the Samurai series in mind and would require some DM preparation time to convert NPCs should any other D20 fantasy game be used. I would have preferred more adventure and less NPC stat blocking within the seven content pages, even at the cost of limiting the adventure to characters of 1st to 5th levels. Introductory adventures are generally for characters ranging from 1st to 3rd levels and by seeking to make this introductory adventure work for characters from 1st to 12th level, the author seems to ignore its original intent. A single, simple black and white map would also have been appreciated. Despite this, Legends of the Samurai: Protect the Master is a good start for a Legends of the Samurai campaign and gives a flavourful introduction to the world of historical fantasy Japan.
Review by Jason Lund (Anio)
