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Message: <blockquote data-quote="John Cooper" data-source="post: 2011956" data-attributes="member: 24255">Legends of the Samurai: The Bushido HandbookBy Charles RiceRPG Objects 60-page PDF, $8.95I want to start this review by dispelling some initial confusion about this product that I had, on the assumption that there may well be people out there as confused about it as I was.  The PDF in question, Legends of the Samurai: The Bushido Handbook, is a bit misleading for a simple reason: nowhere in the entire PDF - including Section 15 of the OGL on the last page - does the term "The Bushido Handbook" appear!  After doing a bit of Internet research, I discovered that Legends of the Samurai is an inclusive title that covers all three of the PDFs planned for this series: The Bushido Handbook, The Mystic Arts, and Samurai Campaign Guide.  (Eventually, all 3 PDFs are slated to be combined into a hardcover book.)  So, everybody got that?  Even though this PDF only refers to itself as Legends of the Samurai, it is in fact The Bushido Handbook.  Okay, time to move on.The cover is unique to my experience in that it does not take up a full page; rather, it covers about 60% of the first page, with the other 40% standing in as the credits page.  I suppose this is one way to condense material.  (Of course, the "cover" portion is about the right size and shape for a "portrait" orientation; the PDF I received as a freebie review copy is in "landscape," so it is possible that the "portrait" version of the PDF is different (should such a thing exist).  In any case, the cover art consists of the "Legends of the Samurai" title in white superimposed over a small collage of samurai images in various shades of red, along with the hilt of a katana and a Japanese kanji character in black.  Jeremy Simmons is credited with the cover artwork, and while I am not sure whether he created it himself from scratch or just Photoshopped several pre-existing images together, it is a nice work in any case.The interior artwork consists of 10 black-and-white images (actually, 9 - the illustration on p. 36 is reprinted in smaller form on p. 2), all drawn by Joseph Wigfield.  These are all nicely done, with clean lines, great shading, and excellent facial expressions (I particularly like the elderly yamabushi on p. 33, who also sports some nice hair texturing and clothing wrinkles/folds).  My biggest problem with the artwork is not with what is illustrated - I really like the pictures in this PDF - but what was not; I think many people interested in playing a Japanese campaign have no real idea what some of the armor and weapons look like, and a few illustrations of some of this all-important equipment would have gone a long way toward helping the campaign.  The page layout has a red border on the top and bottom and of each page, with the same sword hilt from the cover in the top right corner.  The red, white, and black color scheme was a very good choice, being not only pleasing to the eye but appropriate given the Japanese subject of the work (Japan has a flag featuring a red sphere - symbolizing the Rising Sun - on a white background).The Bushido Handbook is laid out as follows: <ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Introduction: a page touching upon the Japanese fantasy/historical gaming tradition</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Chapter One - Blood and Honor: The bloodline of a character (his standing in society: outcast, merchant, artisan, farmer, monastic, noble, or warrior) and the effects it has upon the character (including what classes he can attain), plus rules for reputation, honor, and allegiances</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Chapter Two - Martial Classes: Character classes that are combat-based - the ashigaru (footsoldiers), kuge (nobility skilled in court intrigue and mounted archery), ninja (it is worth pointing out that this is a 20-level core class, not a prestige class), ronin (masterless samurai), samurai (fierce warrior devoted to a master), shokunin (master craftsman), touzoku (petty criminal and thug), and yamabushi ("mountain warrior," a type of warrior monk)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Chapter Three - The Martial Arts: New uses for existing skills (and several new ones as well, most of them new types of Knowledge or Perform as well as the all-new Pressure Points skill), 27 new general feats, a way to block your enemies in combat, and 72 martial arts feats</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Chapter Four - Equipment: A breakdown of the currency system, 8 types of armor, 7 agricultural weapons, 11 bows and arrows, 5 knives, 8 ninja weapons, 9 spears and staves, 5 swords, 4 exotic weapons, and 4 types of adventuring gear</li> </ul>Proofreading and editing was pretty good, with only a few mistakes getting through.  The most frequent mistake was in capitalization; several terms were capitalized (or not) almost randomly, it seemed.  The word "Hobility" on page 4 was probably supposed to be "Honor" (perhaps it was only partially changed from "Nobility").  There was an instance of phrase redundancy (yamabushi are apparently experts at "the staff, the spear...and the staff"), there were a few extraneous words in a few sentences and likewise a few missing words here and there, an inadvertent carriage return that threw the rest of a sentence to the next line, an incorrect word ("that" instead of "than"), and some misnumbered tables (and weapons not being alphabetized in about half of them).  All in all, not too bad as far as that goes, but there was also a Faith feat referenced that is nowhere to be seen (either in The Bushido Handbook or thePH).  Like usual with PDFs, I will send my error list in to the author so they can be corrected (one of the distinct advantages of the PDF over print products).As for the material itself, I think that Charles has done an excellent job at covering the material.  While the Legends of the Samurai line of products is built for both historical and fantasy RPGs, this first volume is definitely on the "historical" side of the spectrum.  In fact, there is almost no mention of magic in The Bushido Handbook at all, as that material is due in the second PDF, The Mystic Arts.  I say "almost," however, because there are a few nods towards magic in this PDF: specifically, a few of the weapons grant spellcasting bonuses when held (one example is the azusa-yumi, which is some sort of arrow, I presume - the description did not actually get around to mentioning its use as a weapon), and some of the character classes mentioned as being proper for some of the bloodlines to follow are presumably magical in nature, as they do not appear in this PDF (the shukke, for example, is probably a divine spellcaster, since those of the monastic bloodline are liable to take levels in that class).  A DM looking to run a historical campaign set in feudal Japan has pretty much everything he needs with this PDF, since the magical stuff is not going to be playing a part in the campaign.  Instead, he has got everything he needs to capture the feel of the warrior aspects of the Japanese culture.  I have seen several martial arts rules now for the d20 system, and these stack up favorably as some of the best.  I was really impressed with the way Charles tweaked the rules to best fit the Japanese culture; since they did not walk around in plate mail armor like the knights of most European-based campaigns, he created several new feats allowing other abilities besides Dexterity to contribute to Armor Class, and wrote them up in a way that makes perfect sense.  I like the "non-magic" ninja class, as well - many people cannot resist slapping on "cool magical abilities" left and right when building a standalone ninja class.I was also suitably impressed with the way Charles based a lot of his new material on pre-existing skills; rather than create an entirely new mechanic to simulate psychic duels (you know, when two samurai stare at each other, unmoving, for a minute or two before suddenly drawing weapons and fighting), he made it a new use of the Concentration skill.  I also really liked the character classes, although some of them seem like they would fit best as NPCs - how many people are likely to want to run a shokunin, who spends his days creating weapons?  Most people I know would prefer to run the PCs that are actually using the weapons, not just making them.All in all, The Bushido Handbook does a great job of presenting ancient Japan as a campaign world, and I like that it is usable for those looking to be historically accurate as well as those more interested in a fantasy feel.  While there were a few mistakes in editing and some illustrations of the weapons and armor would have been very helpful, this is still one of the better takes on the subject that I have seen to date.  I give it a strong "4 (Good)," and look forward to future installments in the Legends of the Samurai series.</blockquote>

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