Shinrinki Ranger Corps

Two weeks ago we discussed about demon hunter organizations in Tentaika. In today’s blog post we talk more about the Shinrinki’s Ranger Corps.

The Ranger Corps was originally founded to reinforce the defense of the northern border of Hohiro Prefecture and to patrol Kuro no Mori. From the beginning the Ranger Corps accepted recruits outside the samurai caste. The bulk of the new recruits every year are skilled hunters from the peasant caste and poor rōnins. In Hohiro prefecture the samurai magistrate might give a choice to a criminal to join the Ranger Corps instead of suffering the normal consequences of the crime. However this choice is not given to those who committed serious crimes such as murder.

Anyone wishing to join to Ranger Corps is required to have sufficient skills in archery or in any other way of fighting. The training in Ranger Corps is very similar to actual samurai combat training. However this training is packed into two years of basic training. The recruits are trained in the most essential skills and nothing more. In case of the Ranger Corps this usually comprises of combat and survival training. Bushido is briefly introduced to new recruits and the virtues of courage, honesty and loyalty are emphasized during the training. Despite this bushido is almost non-existent within the Ranger Corps.

An average patrol to Kuro no Mori lasts from three days to a week. Each patrol consists of eight to twelve rangers and their job is to lay traps, ambush demons and scout for large demon hordes near the border. Ranger patrol usually encounters demons, often akuma or gaki, every other trip to Kuro no Mori. Each patrol goes Kuro no Mori once or twice a month. Anyone who survives two years in service is allowed to serve the Shinrinki Clan as a full-fledged samurai.

Samurais from other prefectures are often unaware of the extent of the dangers rangers encounter in their daily life. The fact that Ranger Corps are filled with peasants and other members of low ranking castes increases the disdain. Even the samurais who gained their samurai position in the Ranger Corps are often looked down to because of their low birth.

See you next Sunday!

Update and Patched Quickstart

Mundus Website & Quickstart Patch

Today we are announcing the Mundus RPG website! The website will launch in the near future. We also have an official feedback mail which is taken care of by our most hard-working PC Nana-chan.

Please tell us about any errors, missing rules and general feedback about Quickstart. We also answer any questions about the game, lore and the project here in the blog, in Facebook and via the feedback mail.

Quickstart Updated

We updated the Quickstart, here are the patch notes:

Mundus Quickstart 16.08.2013:

• Bookmarks added
• Tables revised
• Traits revised to present overall scores and stacks
• Added content to Gameplay chapter
• Armor Encumbrance is now Equipment Encumbrance
• Blindness Rules added
• Group Attack Bonus added
• Injury and Fatigue effect tables added
• Trailing the Calamity NPC values fixed
• Errors fixed from Character Sheets
• Kita Goro now has Leadership skill, which was mistakenly given to Murakami Kenji
• Murakami Kenji Ice Shard ability fixed
• Nitta Shiro Stealth level fixed
• Shirakawa Ryo Martial Arts skill fixed
• Overall look of the Quickstart fixed here and there

See you next Sunday!

Demon Hunters

Demon Hunters

Anyone can call herself a demon hunter, but it is usually quite simple to distinguish real demon hunters from those that only call themselves one. Experienced demon hunters are well respected because simply surviving as one requires considerable skill. In addition to private demon hunting groups, Tentaika also has two large organizations that specialize in demon hunting. These organizations are Shinrinki Ranger Corps and Warrior Priestesses.

Shinrinki Ranger Corps is a military organization under Shinrinki Clan. Their main job is to patrol Kuro no Mori and its border regions and thus prevent demons from entering Tentaika from the north. Ranger Corps enlists large amounts of rōnins and skilled peasants. Anyone who survives two years of service in the Ranger Corps is allowed to serve Shinrinki Clan as a samurai, this applies even to peasants. Unfortunately the mortality rate during these two years is over fifty percent.

Warrior Priestesses are priestesses and priests who specialize in demon hunting. Even though Warrior Priestesses are still technically speaking priests and priestesses they are also taken into the samurai caste after their graduation. Unlike people in Shinrinki Ranger Corps, Warrior Priestesses are not a part of a military organization and they do not serve under any clan. Exceptions to this are the Warrior Priestesses who serve in the city of Genkaisha as they are a part of Genkaisha’s military.

See you next Sunday!

Ropecon 2013

Back from the Ropecon 2013

Hello everyone! Last weekend we were at Ropecon 2013 and we hosted four games during the weekend. Almost all of our games were full and all in all players seemed to like the game. We would like to thank all the players for trying out Mundus RPG!

At Ropecon we game mastered the campaign from our Quickstart. Each of the four parties took a very different approach to the problem at hand. If you are planning to play the Quickstart campaign and you don’t want to spoil yourself, stop reading now (See you next Sunday!).

The basic plot of the campaign is that the players are demon hunters who are tasked to find and kill a Gaki demon on the island of Akusekijima. The campaign guides the player characters to search for a rōnin who presumably works for the gaki. The players are informed that the rōnin has probably used one of the two tea houses in the town. From either of the two tea houses the player characters find information about the rōnins whereabouts and with the “help” of the rōnin they can find the gaki. For more detailed description of the campaign check out the Quickstart’s Game Master chapter.

In one of our games the plot didn’t follow the script at all. The player characters ignored the tips about the tea houses and the rōnin and focused in finding the demon. They followed the rumors about the demon’s attacks against samurai and travelers across the island. One of the characters was a samurai from the local Murakami clan and he used his influence to arrange a small weapons shipment which the player characters then used to lure out the demon.

The trap was a success and the characters managed to capture the rōnin leader Noboru. The players managed to make a deal with him and he revealed the gaki’s hideout. Once the player characters reached the temple of water god Agura they shouted a challenge to the gaki. One of the player characters challenged the gaki into a duel, but he soon discovered that he was no match against he gaki. His not-so-honorable demon hunter friends rushed to help him and defeated the demon after many rounds of combat.

See you next Sunday!