CorpCommander Posted May 29, 2009 Report Share Posted May 29, 2009 Recently I've been trying to revive interest in Hero. 6th edition is steaming along and is the only RPG product of 2009 I am interested in. So I am thinking of doing a one off game to get people interested in it. Mainly my friends are war gamers as opposed to role players so getting them interested requires a bit of subtlety. Which to me has NINJA written all over it. Ninjas are the "b" in subtle! OK so here is the game from a logistical point of view. I was just at Nashcon here in Nashville TN and Wargames LLC had a sale on Dixon miniatures. I discovered they had a TON of ninja figures! Good ones. So I picked up 8 of them for a buck each. I'll have those painted up by this weekend. I already have about 250 painted Samurai figures. I also have painted up several Japanese buildings. Here is the game from an historical point of view. It is the nambuko-cho period, the early Muromachi era when, for a brief time, Japan had not one but two Emperors. There was the Southern Court and the Northern Court. Samurai and their vassals were split on who to support. One represented a dominant Emperor with Samurai clans in support, the other represented a dominant military family with the Emperor as figurehead. The first (the Southern Court) is the weaker but more sympathetic to the people in general. The Northern Court is more interested in regaining power and control. In a recent raid a strong Samurai with many vassals has moved against lands friendly to the Southern Court. In order to deny the Southern Court logistical support they have set up road blocks, burned crops and taken farmers from their lands. Little did they know that in their rampage they destroyed a small ryu of Ninja who were part of the Iga clan. Here is the game from the player's point of view: It is time for some payback. The local daimyo is a real hot head. His hatomoto of body guards are all killing machines. A frontal assault would be suicide given that one on one the Samurai are better warriors and also that the hatomoto out numbers the Ninja by 8:1. However, they are Ninja. Ninja don't do frontal assaults. They don't call out challenges and face the enemy in one-on-one duels. They don't care a whit about honor (which really is just bragging rights, bling and respect gained through brutality.) Using stealth, special fighting abilities, special and exotic weapons and gadgets, the Ninja team is to infiltrate the camp, find the Daimyo, kill him in a way no one will ever forget and get away. No one is innocent so if anyone is in the way between you and success then they must be overcome by any means at hand. I am hoping to have my writeups, figures, and all things needed to run this done by next weekend. I am giving myself a tight deadling in order to help me get this thing done and not leave it as yet another half done project. If it goes well I will run it at Historicon. Source material: Ninja Hero / Fifth Edition Hero System, revised Sengoku, 2nd edition (Gold Rush Games) Shinobi (Gold Rush Games) If you don't have any of these I highly recommend them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lucius Posted May 29, 2009 Report Share Posted May 29, 2009 Re: Ninja Hero - Samurai vs. Ninja blood bath Sounds like a good tactical game. Lucius Alexander It took up ninjutsu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorpCommander Posted May 30, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 30, 2009 Re: Ninja Hero - Samurai vs. Ninja blood bath I am hoping it will be. I am doing some intersting things lately with a GM-less encounter system. Older players might remember a great solo game that came out years ago called "Ambush!" by Victory Games. It was a psuedo RPG/Tactical game in which you squad had missions and you did paragraph lookups as you traversed the map. It simulated enemy alertness (which often started off pretty low) along with changing battlefield conditions. After reverse engineering it (with the help of some old articles from "The General" magazine) I've come up with a new system more applicable to skirmish miniatures or RPGs. It is in the development stage. My goal is to have it more fleshed out by this summer but I have enough of it ready to play something next weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peregrine Posted May 30, 2009 Report Share Posted May 30, 2009 Re: Ninja Hero - Samurai vs. Ninja blood bath Ninjas are the "b" in subtle! May I .sig this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorpCommander Posted May 31, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2009 Re: Ninja Hero - Samurai vs. Ninja blood bath May I .sig this? Absolutely. Glad you liked it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorpCommander Posted May 31, 2009 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2009 Re: Ninja Hero - Samurai vs. Ninja blood bath Had a funny accident today while painting the ninja figures. I use some expensive paints that come in small, soft plastic squirt bottles. The flesh tone I use for asians apparently had become a bit stopped up. I shook it fiercly (this paint needs both the carrier and medium shaken excessively) and it wouldn't squirt onto my pallet. So I worked the nozzle off, used a thin wire and prodded it to clean out the dried up paint, reassembled it and tried it again... To put this into context I was at my local hobby shop chatting with people while I paint. A guy named Ray was there. You probably know gamers who also ride motorcycles. Ray is a die hard biker who also games. Ray is one scary dude if you don't know him... So there I am squeezing the bottle when all of a sudden it goes POP! The nozzle has exploded off and a cone of asian flesh tone catches me, the table, some figures... and Ray! I don't notice this last bit for a second as I am startled, say "Geez!" and start to look for a towel. It is then that I look 3 feet away and realize I got Ray from ass to neck line. Everyone in the room pauses until Ray breakes into a huge laugh! I don't think anyone else would have taken it so easily. What a mess it was. We all got as cleaned up as one can get. Ray said it perfectly - it will be a memory and a laugh. The ninjas are coming along nicely. I should have them painted by tomorrow. The game will NOT be next weekend as they have some sort of Warhammer 40K thing going on but the weekend after. Gives me more time to prepare. --Pete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peregrine Posted May 31, 2009 Report Share Posted May 31, 2009 Re: Ninja Hero - Samurai vs. Ninja blood bath Sequel suggestion: your ninja have to deal with raiding ships coming up from the South China Sea. Ninja vs. Pirates! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubba smith Posted May 31, 2009 Report Share Posted May 31, 2009 Re: Ninja Hero - Samurai vs. Ninja blood bath Sequel suggestion: your ninja have to deal with raiding ships coming up from the South China Sea. Ninja vs. Pirates! chinese pirates vs ninja now THAT makes a little more sense than them fighting the blackbeard kind of pirate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shigeru Posted May 31, 2009 Report Share Posted May 31, 2009 Re: Ninja Hero - Samurai vs. Ninja blood bath I am eagerly awaiting your summary of the first game. I never had any luck with large-scale HERO Games battles. But I could play a jidai-geki or Sengoku-0style game any time, any place. So I am envious, but really happy for you. Good luck. Some of my favorite locations for battles were fondly named "murder in the hot springs" and "battle of the crossroads". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorpCommander Posted June 4, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 4, 2009 Re: Ninja Hero - Samurai vs. Ninja blood bath Ninja vs. Pirates (aka Wako) I actually have some Wako figures that need painting. I'll dig them up. I am pretty sure I know where they are. I have a ton of unpainted lead. Someday when I am rich I'll need to figure out what I am painting and ship the rest off. I just finished the Ninja today. I have a little bit of work to do on the bases and that should be done tonight. I'll include pictures. The game won't be this weekend but probably next since the gaming store is moving (just down the street thankfully). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BNakagawa Posted June 5, 2009 Report Share Posted June 5, 2009 Re: Ninja Hero - Samurai vs. Ninja blood bath One of the ninja needs to be purple. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CorpCommander Posted June 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted June 5, 2009 Re: Ninja Hero - Samurai vs. Ninja blood bath Ok finally finished painting up the Ninjas. You will notice two are not in black outfits. One is posing as a Sumo Wrestler. In fact all Ninjas have an assumed identity and job, usually of a lower class so as to avoid detection. The Sumo is atypical - hence even more surprising! How did he pass fighting atop bamboo shoots tests? Obviously the stuff of legend! The leader is in red. This isn't atypical at all. He is such a bad ass he doesn't need to hide. The robe is quite visible but it is pretty much the last thing you are going to see. Here is the album: http://picasaweb.google.com/peter.mancini/NinjaRevenge?feat=directlink I've blogged about the game here: http://corpcommander.blogspot.com/2009/06/ninja-revenge.html I am going with a system I've been working on for months that will allow the enemy to be run by a system instead of a GM. This allows me to "look forward to killing you soon!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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