This review was published at RPG Now. ¹
#RPG #Kitsunemori #Review
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As a DM, I don’t like prestige classes and multiclassing, since it makes important NPC creation more complicated. That’s why I didn’t like the details of the kitsune classes; similarly the interactions between prestige and fox magic was a bit too complicated to predict for a level 9 kitsune character I needed for a little adventure. Even if I had liked the idea, the necessary background information was spread over various sections of the PDF file (myubo character class, kitsune prestige, fox magic).
That was the bad part. I overcame it by using a simplified d20 system (M20). I liked everything else about the product and wished for more!
I like the fox magic system where you gain new spells like feats. I’m not sure whether linking fox magic to prestige was necessary. Prestige seems to be interesting in and of itself. I’ve been using it a lot: Players making fools of themselves check for prestige loss. Players visiting a famous shrine check for prestige gain. Players trying to impress villagers check for prestige. It’s an interesting GM device.
Similarly, there’s a very simple mechanic to describe shrine power, and how to tap shrines, providing an in-game reason for building shrines, adding spirit gates and all these other things. There’s a section on deities, spirits, etc. which is just the right size: Big enough to inspire a GM, but not wasting your time with information you will never use in your games.
There’s also a section on hearth magic which I haven’t yet used. It’s a sort of “cantrips for commoners” mechanic that can be useful for healing & warding, for example, but goes into worship (atonement, summoning, communion, etc), blessing & curses. Could be interesting plot devices.
I loved the monster section and have used some of them already (tengu, kijo, and kappa). They provided inspiration for the adventure on the village level; the province descriptions and the big temple background allowed me to settle on a bigger campaign on the province level, and there’s still the overall campaign goal that I haven’t even mentioned. Allo this information worked out really well.
A few more buildings with some adventure hooks beyond the initial two would have been superb. The extra weapons added a nice touch to both PC and NPC creation, and I wouldn’t want to miss it. In our current game, however, players just picked an appropriate outfit and that was it, so they didn’t get to investigate equipment lists as thoroughly as they usually would. No need to buy Oriental Adventures or anything like that, which is great.
I’ve used one of the adventure ideas already (tengu kidnapping a child) and have been inspired to plant a few more hints on the things to come. Having more of those beyond the initial 1.5 pages to choose from would have been awesome.
If you plan on printing it out, be aware that the PDF uses colored backgrounds, which looks wonderful on-screen but makes for very expensive color printing. The package also contains a text-only file so that you could easily print selected parts of it. In my game I just removed the GM section via a PDF editing tool and gave my players an electronic copy just in case they wanted to read up on some background information.
There are only two buildings detailed in the PDF, which is a pitty, since I would have loved to see more of them. Ten would have been a good number: From merchant villas to small castles, a few more maps with some background and adventure hooks would have been nice.
One very simple idea that I have used countless times is the list of Japanese names. That’s something I need time and time again. A similar list for village names is missing, but Wikipedia to the rescue. 😄