I just finished this movie a while ago. Very good stuff, the kind that gets me on the GMing mood.
Some usable ideas:
1. The whole movie is a very interesting plot hook: The spoiled brother of a Shogun kills a random peasant; the local lord recriminates this behavior and the Shogun's brother kills him too. The lord's clan wants revenge, but the Shogunate wants to incriminate (and expoil) the clan themselves so they don't lose the moral authority for having such a psychotic member on their family. The PCs (eleven samurai) want to vindicate this injustice,
2. Cannons can be made from bamboo. Easily enough, it seems, to prepare an ambush with a day of anticipation. Also cutting some trees and dropping them at the precise moment can split a retinue in two.
3. One of the samurai is a woman who comes to the party to replace his dead brother. It seems to me a very original background. It also made me wonder how exploitable it is, on historical or other settings in which women are not expected to be warriors, to present yourself as a harmless lady and avoid all attention in ways that veteran men with the 100 yard stare cannot; while having by rules the same combat stats. Even if it happens one time in a hundred, the existance of this unexpected warrior women can entice superstition and legends; maybe granting them a name (kunoichi or something like that) and place on the world's inner bestiary.
4. Its surprising how the whole movie, set as it is on the XIX century, features katanas, bamboo cannons and some bombs as the only weapons (and some bows on the hunting scene), It this were an rpg everybody would wear at least leather armor. Feudal japan seems like a pretty lawless place to the point that a trifle involving lords and high nobility seems a little like a street gang war. Special importance is given to the Chambelains of both nobles, so probably is a good idea creating interesting assistants when making noble NPCs. Technically is easier for normal PCs to interact with those intermediaries than with the nobles themselves, so giving them depth will make them easier to portray and easier for the PCs to find ways to interact with them meaningfully.
5. At some point, there is a scene where people is inside a cabin while some stalking group is outside hiding in the rain. In a game this would not be an important fact, but in real life, every minute spent in the cold rain decreases the pursuers health and energy, while the people inside recovers hp. However, getting into the cabin and making fire is a tricky choice when you are being pursued. I really must make things like rain matter on a game. If I was running a campaign and I cannot transmit the importance of "thinking as humans" on a situation like this, I would fail as a GM. Be it rolling for rain damage or something. In fact, I think this kind of situations can be as interesting as combat if not more, if done well.
No comments:
Post a Comment