Mini Review - Blood and Honor

John Wick has returned to feudal Japan with Blood and Honor.  Here's your chance to play Samurai and their clans using the system from Houses of the Blooded (Houses of the Blooded is NOT required).

Personally, I like the idea of Clan emphasis, it reminds me a bit of Ars Magica (one of the best games I never played)

From the blurb:

After ten years, John Wick has returned to the world of samurai!

Blood & Honor: Samurai Tragedy in Old Japan is a new way to tell stories of honor and steel!

Blood & Honor includes:

* 170 Fully Illustrated Pages

* Rules for Creating Both Clans and Characters

* Task Resolution that allows Player Narration

* A New System for Duels and War

* Magic and Religion from Old Japan

* Streamlined Seasons System for Long-Term Goals

* Chapters Devoted to Player and Narrator Advice

Welcome to Old Japan...

Then then there is my (so far) favorite quote from the book:

But I Want to Play a Ronin!

So... you want to play a wave man, eh? Okay. Here are the rules.

Make a character. You get no Clan Points. All of your equipment is poor quality. You have no horse, you have no food, you have nothing.

Oh, and samurai treat you like crap because you’re a coward. You didn’t have the courage to kill yourself when your Daimyo died.

Playing a ronin is the modern equivalent of playing a homeless person in modern America. Yes, you can get picked up by a Clan as a sword arm, but they’ll put you in the crappiest part of the army and expect you to die quickly. You’ll have to do manual labor for food—remember the samurai cutting wood in Seven Samurai?—and you’ll be scorned wherever you go.

Those are the rules. Have fun with them.

I haven't played with an Oriental RPG setting since Oriental Adventures for AD&D.  This is tempting, even if it is just for the good read.  At 5 bucks, its a steal.