The Shining Empires Campaign Guide

[Steveman]

I thought i'd set up a thread for my big project. I got a lot of stuff to do still, a whole hell of a lot, but for now I'm fiddling with monsters... So, yeah, the first one that isn't just a renamed monster from the core rules. Guess which traditional dungeon fantasy monster this is an adaption of (should be hella obvious, even with the changes beyond just the ones from the cultural lens.)

Shikyo no Ronin
Armor Class: 19 (+1 shurogane o-yoroi)
Hit Dice: 9+3 ** (+10 to hit)
No. of Attacks: 1 special
Damage: By weapon +2
Movement: 20’
No. Appearing: 1
Save As: Fighter 10
Morale: 10
Treasure Type: Special (weapons only)
XP: 1,225

A shikyo no ronin is a terrifying undead monster, a former samurai cursed by the kami of the spirit world to forever walk the world of men in this corrupted form as a punishment for betraying his shogun, his family and bushido itself. A shikyo no ronin resembles a large powerfully built samurai in full o-yoroi shurgane armor (honor-dress iron plate armor), standing a head taller than any other samurai. The armor is blackened and reeks of death. What little flesh of the shikyo no ronin that can be seen is withered and decaying, and instead of eyes it has two tiny orange-red pinpoints of light. The voice of a shiyko no ronin is deep and chilling, as though it is echoing through the tunnels from the Sanzu river itself. Shikyo speak the Imperial language and up to four others as deemed by the gamemaster – the languages it knew before the curse overtook it.
Shikyo no Ronin fight as a bushi, since it has little regard for its own safety and an intense hatred of most living creatures, it is an extremely dangerous opponent. Even though their eternal unlife is a curse for forgetting their honor, a shikyo no ronin will not forget it again – It never ambushes opponents from behind, nor does it attack before an opponent has an opportunity to ready his weapon. Surrender is unknown to a shikyo no ronin, and it will parley if offered information it would deem useful (such as the fate of a former loved one, or the honor of its former shogun). Shikyo no Ronin are wary creatures with supernatural senses, allowing it to be surprised only on a roll of a 1, as undead creatures they are immune to poison, charm and hold, and take no damage from cold attacks. A shikyo no ronin can Detect Magic and Discern Honor at will, as the spells if cast by a 10th-level sohei, and a shikyo no ronin has control over undead in the same manner as a 10th-level sohei would turn them. A shikyo no ronin cannot be turned, and will consider turning attempts as insults of honor that must be retorted.
A shikyo no ronin carries the same weapons onto the battlefield as it did in life. When generating a shikyo no ronin for your campaign, roll 2d6 and consult the following table:

Roll - Shikyo no Ronin's weapons
2 - Katana of iaijutsu focus +2
3 - Katana +2
4 - Katana +1
5 - Two-piece daisho +1
6–8 - Two-piece daisho
9 - Nagamaki
10 - Nagamaki +1
11 - Wakizashi +1, casts darkness on command
12 - Wakizashi +1, +3 vs. humans

[MedievalMan]

Looks cool. I will de looking forward to seeing more of this.

[Steveman]

http://rolecorner.blogspot.com/2012/07/monsters.html

Warning, my beloved wife has not proofread this yet. O:

[Steveman]

I've been drawing a lot more than writing this last week. So yeah. I do have this to show though,

Preview:
Link: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v604/ ... es_Wip.jpg
Human/Korobokuru/Ushitora/Nyaren/Hengeyokai (dog sub-type)/Ningyo/Spirit Folk

[SmootRK]

I've been drawing a lot more than writing this last week. So yeah. I do have this to show though,

Preview:
Link: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v604/ ... es_Wip.jpg
Human/Korobokuru/Ushitora/Nyaren/Hengeyokai (dog sub-type)/Ningyo/Spirit Folk

Nice image! Your setting will no doubt be nice with various artwork such as that sprinkled throughout.

[Joe the Rat]

Kanabo no Ushitora?

Being able to put names to faces, or faces to races does help to anchor the setting. Looking good.

[MedievalMan]

My interest in this just went up about 75%. Cool picture, looking forward to seeing what else you come up with.

[Steveman]

I've started putting color on the pic, and I have a couple of splash pics already done. Speaking of art, I also have my wife on illustrating the higher-level precon adventure that will be in the book, and have a friend pennames Takumi who has promised illustrations for the Basic classes.

[dymondy2k]

Are you planning on adding eastern style classes to the game? I'm curious how you will be doing the Samurai.. I kinda kit-bashed one in mine based on the fighter supplement and oriental adventures from AD&D

[MedievalMan]

I personally see no reason to add in "eastern" classes. All that really needs to be done is re-flavoring the core classes, why create a separate "samurai" class, for example, when the fighter class is supposed to cover warriors in general? Again just my take.