Play chambara TTRPG
MASAMUNE: SUFFERING OF THE BLADE's itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Overall | #24 | 3.732 | 3.958 |
| Did it build on the Havoc Engine and add interesting stuff? | #24 | 3.653 | 3.875 |
| Did it make good use of the Havoc Engine? | #24 | 3.889 | 4.125 |
| Does the game seem fun to play? | #33 | 3.653 | 3.875 |
Ranked from 8 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
Judge feedback
Judge feedback is anonymous.
- Well-executed concept, and the mechanic for claiming narrative leadership in a scene is very good. Had to resist giving bonus points for having Tanukis in it.
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Hello! Thank you for making such a cool game! In case you haven't seen the discord or itch announcements: your game Masamune was one of Chant's selections. We have a certificate with your name on it; if you'd like us to mail it to you, please email admin@rrdgames.com with an address for us to mail it to (and a phone number for our delivery partners).
In the meantime, please feel free to use our Seals of Approval for your game:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ShhLB_D4KHDKvuXebAzJXjESvcoSRzpb?usp=dri...
Best wishes,
Jim
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Having played Bluebeard’s Bride I really enjoy games that have all the players taking on aspects of a single character, and having the lone Samurai be split in personality seems like a great way to balance it all out!
The flavour rating in this book is off the charts; you've done an awesome job of evoking that legendary-Samurai-story feel. I'm interested in the application of the Bluebeard's Bride-style players-fighting-for-control-of-one-character system to Havoc, and I would lean in to it even more; give the aspects competing agendas to provide a reason to vie for that top initiative slot. The initiative system is cool but I'm not quite getting how players decide how many dice to roll for initiative or what costs there might be to trying for high initiative. I like that burdens don't kill the PC, just set back progress. It wasn't immediately apparent to me how many burdens a PC can take (I assume 3 of each since there are 3 spaces on the circle above?) and if there was any further effect for taking more than one of the same burden. (I would venture to suggest, since I've seen it used to good effect in several other entries, that some form of positive benefit for higher burden levels could work well here.) The way the retribution pool works builds well on the Havoc Pool system with more of a strategic, give-and-take aspect showing up. I'd also note that the Blade doesn't seem to have a Special ability; I'm not sure if that was a deliberate choice, but I always feel like each PC needs at least one. I love the concept here, I think it's well realized, and I definitely would be interested in trying it out once the campaign is filled out a bit more.
I really like the theme. I think that making the characters share control over a single character is an interesting choice that hopefully keeps everyone really in tune with each turn as what one player does with their has a big impact on each other players potential actions.
The round structure is an interesting twist in that it feels like it adds a slightly competitive aspect to determining turn order. I've seen a few games do one big threat roll at the top of a round. Maybe you could use that to great effect as every character inhabits the same body.
I do think that there may be room to add additional objectives or pressure. Right now it seems like there aren't many decisions to make with your beyond protecting yourself and pushing the main objective. Bamboo Forest is closer to what I think you could do with all areas after the first one (to keep things simple for the first scene).
Also this is a sight nitpick but I'm assuming the x by some objectives and threats is difficulty. I saw difficulty mentioned once but not sure I saw how you represented it on the page explained.
Last note, I love the haikus on the character sheets.
Thanks for the comment and for the feedback! The haiku were certainly my favourite part of the design process, I really wanted to get trope-y with this game and I think they add a little flair that goes a long way.
The single threat roll idea is really intriguing; I'll admit I probably haven't read as many of the other entries as I should have but having all the players (given that they're playing one character) act in tandem to address a single stimuli seems like it could be a great addition/change that would improve this system. Might just try to incorporate that somehow :) The overall idea is to generate friction between the aspects and I think the round structure system (though I've been looking at slightly retooling it) is the backbone of generating that sweet inter-party conflict.
Also not a nitpick at all! I can't believe I didn't mention that difficulty was shown like that, but you're right that the X is referring to that.
Lastly you're right to criticize some of the location design, I didn't finish all of the areas I would've liked to in time for the submission deadline. However, I've been slowly progressing towards considering the next area feature complete. I wanted area 1 to be fairly simple in design, with only a few locations having secondaries/bosses so keep the introduction easy to digest. But rest assured Areas 2, 3, and 4 will have much more interactivity with secondary objectives/treasures!
A final note, but I've also toyed in the WIP document with linking the locations in each area through a sort of web, and having certain areas become inaccessible depending on which path is taken. This would, in theory, link to the round structure/bidding conflict system in order to encourage bartering amongst the players, Perhaps certain locations might give Memories (advances) to certain aspects, or something to that effect. I think it'd be interesting, but we'll have to see.