The NIHON Setting

[Ironnerd]

Nihon: A Japanese setting for BECMI D&D
RPG’s like Dungeons & Dragons, Villains & Vigilantes, and Mechwarrior have always been an escape for me. These simple games have provided years of entertainment for myself, and for the friends with whom I have shared many wonderful gaming sessions. One of my other escapes has been Anime. While I enjoy Mecha genre anime, I was also surprised to find how much I enjoy fantasy stories like Heroic Legend of Arislan, Record of Lodoss War, Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai , and even Dragon Half and Gestalt. More recently I have found myself really enjoying Is it Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? and That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime.

I began playing D&D with the Mentzer “Red Box” Basic Set. Since then I have played around with AD&D 1e, AD&D 2e, D&D 3e, and D&D 5e. I have even dabbled in OD&D. To be honest, I can see the appeal of all of these versions of the game, but I also find that I really like the old school weirdness (and simplicity) of BECMI.

This led me to create a BE(CMI) setting inspired by Anime (which was in turn inspired by western fantasy like the works of Tolkien and Dungeons & Dragons) which I call Nihon. I do not take anything in this setting too seriously. Almost every Fantasy Anime has some levity, and a few are outright comedies. The better ones, however, are a pleasant mix of comedy and drama that I try to weave into the adventures I run in this setting.

Physically, Nihon is the Japanese archipelago with the major islands of Shikoku, Kyushu, and Honshu. These are civilized lands that form the core of Nihon culture. To the north is the mostly unexplored Hokkaido; a mysterious and dangerous place according to Nihon lore. Farther to the north, and shrouded in myth and mystery, is Kita-Ezo (Sakhakin). This northern-most island is thought to be the realm of great dragons, powerful wizards, and strange creatures. Farther north, the world turns to an ice-covered waste populated by wild men.
To the west is Goryeo; a strange nation filled with strange, but pleasant people. Limited trade is permitted between Nihon and Goryeo, but this is strictly regulated by the Shogunate. To the South and East, there is the sea dotted with far-flung dots of land.

The Kamakura Shogunate rules Nihon from the Palace in Kamakura. The Emperor, in Heian-kyo is little more than a figure head and no longer wields any real power, although there are many who would like to see that change. Fear of the Shogun and his many Samurai relegates any efforts to place Emperor Go-Toba back at the head of the government to the shadows.
The monsters in Nihon are straight from the BECMI material, although a few new ones have been added (notable “Skunk Bears” and “Fire Bears”). The Character classes are from BECMI as well, with some additional classes from the Gazetteers, and Dragon magazine like Faeries, Pyxies, and dog- and cat-people.

For the thread about these kinds of characters follow THIS LINK

MAP OF the NIHON SETTING


To view a close-up map of the island of Shikoku, follow THIS LINK

To view the Nihon World Map, follow THIS LINK

[Ironnerd]

I currently run a BE(CMI)/Cyclopedia campaign in a setting I created for my kids and I to explore. Called the Nihon setting, it is (not too surprisingly) a D&D version of feudal(ish) Japan. Kind of Tolkien's Japan.

The story so far...

Kiki is the constable in a mid-size village on the island of Shikoku. She caught Kitsune stealing rice and chickens from a local farm, much to the praise of the locals. Since Kiki is a little too popular with the village-folk, the local Daimyo (Mayor) decided that she needed to go away for a while. So he sent her on a quest to get a "Book of Knowledge" from a cave at the base of Mt. Isahi-dake on Hokkaido. Along the way they met Kenji, a young monk-in-training, who helped them fight off a skunk that Kitsune the thief had attacked (and failed to kill). Kenji had been sent out of the cloister by his teacher on a quest to "aid two adventurers on a quest"... The reality being, Kenji's teacher was tired of not being able to best his student during their daily martial arts training sessions.

So the three set off on the long quest from Shikoku to Hokkaido. They never made it. During a storm, they took refuge in some Inu ruins, and began exploring them. They found a pocket dragon, which fought for a round before fleeing, and helped themselves to the small dragon's small horde (mostly some gems and some chain mail that was better than Kiki was already wearing). They stayed in Osaka for a couple of days. Kenji donated his share of the treasure to the local temple, and in return the temple provided food and a room for them. A few days travel north of Osaka, they found themselves trapped in a dungeon of sorts that featured teleportation blocks. Each time they stepped on one of the blocks, they were transported to another, separate area. City ruins, a forest, a desert, a cave system, a farm, and a palace. Eventually they came to a lake and found an old man fishing. As he sat drinking Sake and "fishing" he noticed them and said, "Dang that woman!" After a brief discussion it was discovered that the "dungeon" was really a sort of trap for the thieves in the area. The old man was a wizard who had created the trap, and often cam to the lake to fish and drink sake, while avoiding his nagging wife. He also explained that the Quest they were on was bogus. The book was not on Hokkaido because it didn't exist. But, he also understood they could not go back empty handed so he gave them an old spell book he had created when he was a young magic user and was very interested in creating his own spells (none of which worked out the way he had hoped). He also gave them each a broom of flying to make up for the ordeals they had suffered in his dungeon.

When the trio returned, the Daimyo was thrilled. He quickly went to the royal palace in Edo to present the book to the Emperor in hopes of currying favor, and helping the Emperor take back control of Nihon form the current Shogun. One of the Emperor's oldest, and most trusted mages red a spell from the book, and promptly turned into a young woman. The Daimyo was saved because the advisor did not seem to mind the change all that much.

[Ironnerd]

After a short rest back at home, Kiki, Kenji, and Kitsune found themselves on another adventure when fishing boats began to vanish. They would go to the fishing grounds, and never return. Finally one came back, burned to the water line. The badly burned fisherman said, "Dragon... Haaken..." and died. Haaken was an island to the east. The three grabbed their brooms and flew out to the island and met a dragon who gave them an ultimatum. They had two days to find a lost island and recover a gem precious to the Dragon (also named Haaken, but it’s not clear who is named for whom), he would find them and eat them (he’s kind of an older dragon without much patience for human nonsense). The island was actually in the sky within a cloud bank. Fortunately they were able to use their brooms of flying to reach it. After examining the burned remains of a Wizard’s home (and the wizard himself), they found a rather small but very charred and clawed cave entrance behind a waterfall. Within the cave, they found long passages lit by lanterns that grew bright as they approached, and dimmed again as the passed. The rooms had fountains, tile wall art, and a disturbing number of living statues. They managed to avoid the statues and eventually found what they figured had to be the gem (it was big and glowing… so duh…) . Upon removing the gem from it’s pedestal, the ground began to shake, and parts of the catacombs began to crumble. As the entire island fell to the ocean, they trio escaped on their brooms and delivered the gem to Haakan (bot the island and the dragon) as the sun set on the second day, thus saving themselves form becoming dragon snacks. With the gem in hand, Haaken let out a sigh of relief and transformed into a human. He thanked them for their help, explaining that without the gem, his magical abilities (like taking human form) were rather limited, and told them that he owed them a favor.

The trio returned to their village without much in the way of treasure, but pretty satisfied with being owed a favor by a dragon. Of course, no one in the village believes them...

[Ironnerd]

Sitting at their normal table in the "Laughing Carp" Inn. Kiki, Kitsube, and Kenji (who was sent to town to "observe the villagers" by his martial arts teacher, Master Warii, after another morning spent helping Warii back to his feet), notice four adventurers enter the Inn. They are in pretty rough shape and look like they have not had a decent meal or a night's rest in a couple of weeks. The clearly have not had a bath in many (many) days. The apparent leader of the group, an elf, sets her gold coin on the bar and says one word - "Bath". Iuki (owner of the inn) examines the coin.

"That's enough for the four of you," he says. "Meals to."
"Later," says the Elf. "Which way?" Iuki leads the elf and her dwarf and two human companions to the baths and returns smiling. He polished the coin and drops it into his pocket.

After they have bathed and eaten, the four strangers relax at a table telling the villagers of their harrowing adventure. They claim to be members of the Fujiwara clan in search of a stolen family artifact. Kiki thinks this seems odd since the Fujiwara are neither elves nor dwarves, and also because they are all dead having managed to upset the Shogun, the Emperor, and even the Shinto Priests. As the strangers drink they spin a tale of their quest to find the golden tree idol, and how they came close, but were thwarted by the beasts in the hidden ruins. Kitsune quickly figures that any such idol would be worth a lot of gold (or at least made of a lot of gold), and decides she will help the Fujiwaras in their search. She buys them a few more drinks and is able to get the basic location of the ruins. Kiki and Kenji also want to search for the idol. Kiki because she's a little bored, having become something of an adrenaline junkie during her early adventures. Kenji because Master Go (the wisest of the teacher at the Temple of the Seven Swans) once mentioned such an idol, and if it has meaning to Go, it should be recovered and taken to Go.

For the Fujiwara, it is three day's travel to the west. For people with Brooms of Flying, it's a quick trip of a few hours.The Ruins are actually easy to spot from the air, and the trio set down near the edge where an opening leads into the side of the hill where the "Ainu Dungeon" mentioned by the lady dwarf must be. After they enter the gloomy cavern entrance they hear a great rumbling and the light from the entrance vanishes. Pulling their lanterns from their packs, they make sure no one is injured and go back to see what has happened. They find that the hillside seems to have collapsed burying the entrance.

"I'm sure there's another way out," says Kitsune with a shrug.
"I left my broom out there," says Kenji.

[Ironnerd]

Just where is NIHON and how big is it?



Well, it's about 1,000 miles Northeast of the Empire of Tangor, and it's actually pretty darn small. I scaled the Japanese islands to the same scale as the Mystara map, and it got REALLY small. Anyway, being that far from the nearest "civilization", and being the kind of place where foreigners are not allowed to leave, Nihon is known only to Nihon.

[Ironnerd]

The adventurers; Kiki; The destroyer, Kenji, and Secret-Keeper(a lupin thief), arrived home to find the village deserted. At dawn the next morning, a ship dropped anchor just off shore and a small landing boat full of pirates arrived. They quickly began plundering the vacant village when they were set upon by a crazed Kiki (the former constable of the village) who attacks without even bothering to put on her armor. In the ensuing fray, about half of the pirates are killed, and the other half are run off. Unfortunately, Kiki is injured and in need of a healer.

Fortunately, Maka (the village healer) always keeps a fair number of potions in her house. The party enters the house of healing to find a large variety of unmarked potions. Secret-Keeper grabs one and downs it. Kiki, however, is pretty sure the healing potions are kept in squarish blue bottles... not the round purple one Secret-Keeper took. It turns out she is correct, and manages to heal herself back enough to be able to fight if the need arises. While Kiki is putting on her armor, Secret-Keeper suddenly finds herself in desperate need of an out-house. A big one.

Several hours later, Secret-Keeper emerged from the out-house looking a bit pale and tired, but also quite cleansed. Together again in the "Laughing Carp", the party decides to make the two day journey to Secret-Keepers village at the center of the island. They have come to believe that the villagers were taken to a secret, hidden village by a couple of unpleasant wizards they ran into a couple of months back. As the sun is beginning to set, and the party is well out of view of Kiki's village, a large shadow passes over them. They look up to see a pale green dragon wheel over them and swoop down for an attack.

"Y'know," said Secret-Keeper. "Looking back, I'm actually glad I took that laxative."

[Ironnerd]

The adventurers; Kiki; The destroyer, Kenji, and Secret-Keeper(a lupin thief) were on their way to Secret Keeper's village to prepare for their quest into the Pleasance of the Twin Wizards when they were set upon by a pale green dragon. As it flew over, it breathed a cloud of green, swirling gas upon them. Soon, they fell unconscious. As the darkness enveloped them, they heard someone say:

"No time fer thet, ya idjit. Just throw 'em in the pit. We come back inna few days for their stuff, and the beasties is all fed an' happy."

The awoke in a round cavern deep in the ground. The gray light of morning showing through a small hole far above them. The floor, they notice, is soft and even springy. Whatever the floor is made of, it also covers the walls. Secret Keeper tries several times to climb the walls, but each time the silken wall covering rips away, leaving her wrapped in a tangle of sticky silk.

"Aw crap!" said Kiki. "Spiders!"

After cutting away most of Secret Keeper's cocoon, they decide to find another way out. They find a door and follow the short passage beyond to another roundish room. This one has several skeletons, all stripped of their worldly possessions. Secret Keeper decided to take one of the heads as a trophy. As she pulls the head free of the body, the half-dozen other skeletons come to life and attack. After a brief battle, the skeletons are pulverized. By the light of Kiki and Kenji's crystal lanterns, they manage to find another door hidden among the webbing. The stroll through and are teleported to another room. This one has more bodies (also stripped of their valuables) and a Crab Spider on the ceiling.

The spider drops on Kenji doing a few points of damage. As he tumbles away, Secret Keeper lets fly a sling stone that misses cleanly, and Kiki hacked into it with her sword and received a bite from the spider in return. The poison did not kill her, but she did begin to hallucinate. Since she is all in metal (armor) she became convinced that she was a teapot, and started dancing about the room as the other two fought the spider.

The next round, Kenji finished the monster off. As it died, it flailed about ripping at the silk-covered walls and revealing a door. A locked door. Fortunately, Secret Keeper did not have much trouble with the lock. She did however go back to the spider and draw her dagger. She had the idea that if she took the poison gland, she could use it against other monsters. Of course she poisoned herself. Unlike Kiki, Secret Keeper (a lupin) began running around the room screaming that she was being chased by huge,saber-toothed squirrels. Every once in a while she would stop and sling a stone at one of them ... she managed to hit Kenji for 2 damage.

Finally and after Kiki and Secret Keeper came down from their high, and the party was able to rest for a bit, they were able to enter the next room where they found four bodies, still wearing their armor and weapons. From the fighter, they retrieved a black sword and a white bow. From the Halfling, an engraved sling and two kinds of stones (very smooth, and some marked with "X"s). From the Magic User, they retrieved a ring and an amulet. The cleric had a club... but no one wanted that.

The other door to the room was jammed shut, so Kiki broke it open. Together the group entered another room. This one with more bodies, and two spiders. Kiki slashed at one the first round (and everyone else managed to miss). In the second round, Secret Keeper used one of her new sling stones (one with an X) and got a natural 20. She roll 1d4 twice (total of 6), and watched as the wound Kiki had opened nearly reclosed.

"SLING STONES OF HEALING?" shouted Secret Keeper (yes... the party does not have a healer, so I came up with this as a partial fix). The spider then grabbed Secret Keeper and bit her, reducing her HP to -1. She was dead.
Kenji dispatched one spider with two quick punches, and Kiki swung at the other. As she did, her new sword erupted in flame doing a bit more damage than she had expected. Another round, and the last spider was dead. The two adventurers gathered around Secret Keeper hardly able to believe they had lost another fellow adventurer (from the same player).

"Wait!" said Kiki. "The stones! They healed the spider!" She pulled the sling from Secret Keeper's stilled hand and loaded a stone. With a mighty fling (there can be mighty flings) she struck Secret Keeper doing -3 points of damage.

Okay... Secret Keeper was dead. Mostly because she carried a Healing Potion that she never used. But I figured using the healing stones like this was pretty good role play, so I allowed it, and Secret Keeper was brought back from the brink of death (she was only Mostly Dead... and therefore partially alive, after all) to 1 hp. Happy to have their pain-in-the-butt friend back, Kiki and Kenji began looking for a way out of the caverns. It took a bit of loooking, but eventually they found the narrow, rough-hewn stairs that wound up and out of the cavern and back to the surface.

"Can we please go to my village now?" asked Secret Keeper.
"We should eat first," said Kiki. "And we all need rest."
"I will take first watch," said Kenji.