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Shinobigami: Modern Ninja Battle RPG is a role-playing game originally developed and published in Japan by legendary designer Toichiro Kawashima and gorgeously illustrated by the talented Shie Nanahara. Shinobigami is a fast one-session RPG focusing on character drama, stories of conflict and cooperation, and light tactical strategy in a dark modern "World of Shadows" setting where mysterious ninja exist and engage in inter-clan conflict in an ongoing hidden cold war.
The overall effect is a very easy-to-learn game that is equal parts story-driven RPG, German-style board game, and secret identity/role game (like Werewolf or Coup): With a few friends, you together create a dramatic story that starts and ends in the course of just a few hours (one evening). From there, you can revisit the same characters or make new characters, and create another tale set in the Ninja Cold War.
The book is divided into two sections: The first half of the book contains a Japanese-style Replay, or an entire session of play - from character creation to epilogue - written out in screenplay format. This is a real session that happened, and provides the reader with a blueprint to understanding what kinds of stories and fun you can create with Shinobigami. A replay is also a great reference for new or inexperienced role-players, because it shows you what to expect from the game, how the rules work in actual play, and what an actually good, fun session with enthusiastic players can look like.
The second half of the book contains all the rules you need to play the game. Once you read the replay, you've got an idea of the flow of the game: The rules show you how you can take the next step and run the game yourself. The rules are written simply and concisely, and there are lots of random tables to help you with the character creation process, especially when trying to come up with authentic Japanese ninja-like character and NPC names.
Shinobigami is a tabletop role-playing game: To play this game, you will need some friends, a few hours, and some six-sided dice.
To learn more, and download free resources like character sheets and scenarios, please see the official Shinobigami website at www.shinobigami.com .
192 Seiten, Hardcover
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