Rogues
Thieves in Myoshima can follow several paths, depending on the type of criminal activity and organization preferred.
Class specializations drawn from Gaz F8 Streets of Landfall are used for several OD\&D Thief specializations in the rest of this section.
Note that while many specialization are provided, it is by no means necessary that a Thief character belong to one.
Many thieves in Myoshima are simple pickpockets or burglars (nusubito).
Kabukimono
Kabukimono are wandering gypsy-like folk, who mostly act as peddlers, selling herbal remedies or other uncommon goods, as well as gamblers, actors, and sometimes thieves or swindlers.
They are generally independent, though in some provinces they have banded together in Yakuza-like organizations.
Kabukimono are dual class Thieves/Fences or, more commonly, Bards/Fences.
Their primary skills (used for the Skill progression ability) are Gambling, Cheating, Bargaining, Acting and Deceiving.
Kabukimono tend to use small, concealable weapons, or weapons that double as tools, especially staves, daggers, and rope weapons.
Kabukimono often gather in troupes.
By far the less formal type of rogue organization, Kabukimono troupes are groups of itinerant peddlers, gamblers, and actors who gather for protection against bandits, yakuza, the law and class discrimination (entertainers and merchants are the lowest class in Myoshima, and Kabukimono are usually poor, which doesn't help).
Some troupes act as a form of carnival, travelling together in a given province, while others are more similar to bardic colleges of other nations, being just information networks which the member can access to know where to travel and where not, keep up to date with the local gossip (which is also part of the trade of the Kabukimono, who act as wandering storytellers and newsmonger as well), and sometimes to avenge gross injustices against one of their own.
Kabukimono troupes have no formal structure, but generally recognize elder and charismatic members as leaders of sorts.
Nobushi
Bandits (Nobushi) are common in the wildernesses, especially in impoverished regions, where there are few employment opportunities, and most goods only pass through in merchant caravans bound to richer provinces.
In OD&D, Nobushi are simple Thieves, who use a d6 Hit Die, but do not learn the Open Locks, Find Traps and Remove Traps skills.
Fighters (Bushi) with the Stealth skill are also found in most Nobushi bands.
Nobushi must also get the Survival skill for their home terrain, as well as the Intimidation skill at first level.
Nobushi tend to choose simple weapons that look dangerous, to better scare their victims.
Swords, axes and clubs are popular with these characters, though many will also learn the use of missile or thrown weapons.
Shinobi
Ninja (or Shinobi) are assassins employed by the noble families.
They tend to operate mostly in the cities, but keep secret lairs in the jungles as well to avoid retailiation from the law or the victims' families.
Female Shinobi exist, and are known as Kunoichi.
There are dozens of Shinobi clans -- at least one in every province, but they are usually quite small (a dozen or so members).
A smaller number of clans have influence over more than one province, and have more members -- up to 200 for huge clans such as the Urumi.
All Shinobi excel in disguises and acting, and are able to pass themselves off as commoners, samurai, priests or any other social class.
Many of them spend most of their time in a single disguise, which allows them to conduct a normal life when not engaged in clan businness.
The clans are organized along several ranks, all reporting to a single clan leader.
Senior shinobi, or Jounin, form the upper rank, and are responsible of major operations involving several operatives.
Middle-rank shinobi, or Chuunin, are the rank and file clan members, while Genin, or apprentices, form the lowest rung of the social ladder.
Experience and ability, as well as trustworthyness, are the basis on which the shinobi is judged.
Membership in a ninja clan is for life -- no one resigns, though elder ninja may not be called for a job.
Leaving the organization guarantees a death mark on the head of the betrayer.
Shinobi use a set of traditional weapon, including a type of short sword (Ninja-to), thrown weapons (shuriken and kunai), the kama, and several types of chain and rope weapons (manriki-gusari, musarigama, kawanaga).
The character must spend at least one half of his weapon proficiency or mastery slots on such weapons, or Ninjutsu.
In OD&D, Shinobi start as basic Thieves (and must take the Disguise, Acrobatics, Alertness, Acting skills, as well as Basic mastery in Ninja-to and Shuriken at first level), but can choose three different paths: the Taijutsu specialist, dealing mostly with hand to hand combat, the Genjutsu specialist, focusing on illusionary techniques, and the Ninpo specialist, a type of Shinobi who studies and controls the supernatural abilities that are part of most Shinobi clan heritage.
There are ability score requirements for each of the three specialization: Taijutsu requires 13 Strength, Genjutsu requires 13 Intelligence, and Ninpo requires 13 Wisdom.
The Ninpo specialist has the same powers as the Super Thief from Gaz F8, but the training can start at any level (though 3 levels of training are still required before the first power is gained).
The Ninpo specialist can choose from an extended list that includes the following abilities:
- [Water walking]: the character can walk on water or other liquid surfaces, for 2 rounds/level.
- [Pass without trace]: as the Druid spell, cast at the character's level.
- [Featherfall]: the character takes half damage from a fall; this power can be activated as the ninja is falling, and only affects a single fall.
- [Fast movement]: the character gains the speed of a Mystic of the same level, lasting for 2 rounds/level.
If the specialization is taken before 9th level, the character can only select abilities from the extended list hereabove, until he reaches the 12th level.
The Genjutsu user has similar powers to an Avenger or Paladin, in that he receives the powers of another class at 1/3 of his current level: the Genjutsu user uses the spell progression of a Magic User, though his spell selection is limited to illusions, plus a few enchantment spells that act on the target's mind.
Genjutsu spells from official sources are listed in Table \ref{tab:genjutsu}, though the DM may add to the given list other illusion or mind magic spells.
The Taijutsu specialist gains the bonus Weapon Mastery slot as a Fighter, a +1 to hit rolls, and can use two handed weapons of the chain group.
If this specialization is taken after first level, the character receives one Weapon Mastery slot immediately, and one after 3 levels, and must use these two slots to gain Basic masteries in Ninja-specific weapons.
Larger ninja clans are not entirely composed of Shinobi -- these organizations require specialists in other areas, especially magic and combat, as well as non-specialists that help provide a cover to the clan and perform everyday tasks, much like the auxiliaries in an army.
Therefore, larger ninja clans will have Ashigaru or Kensai combat specialists (employed both as guards and as weapon trainers) and Magic Users (employed as alchemists, advisors, and genjutsu trainers), who will generally have at least some general skills typical of the Shinobi, plus the Stealth skill.
This way, a type of campaign where all characters are part of the same ninja clan can be managed, using fighter-types and magic users to further increase the flexibility of the party.
A PC Fighter or Magic User belonging to a Shinobi clan must get at least 1/2 of his general skills from the following list, until it is exhausted: Disguise, Stealth (Urban), Stealth (home ground), Escape, Acting, Mountaineering, Acrobatics, Alertness.
Also, all initial weapon proficiencies (barring those required by the Fighter specialization, if any) must be filled with ninja weapons or Ninjutsu.
Like Samurai, ninja are also bound to a master -- in their case, the leader of their shinobi family.
If they fall out of favor or dishonor the family, Shinobi are marked for death.
So, few rogue Shinobi exist -- but those few are highly skilled, since they are able to evade pursuit from other ninja, and very dangerous, since they cannot trust anyone, except sometimes other rogue Shinobi.
These rogues are known as Nukenin, and generally act on their own as bandits or thieves.
Being already marked for death, they are ruthless in covering up their crime by murdering all witnesses.
The ninjas in particular. Basing the ninjas on the "super thief" sounds like a good idea. BTW are they tied to the Tengu somehow?
The Yakuza are also interesting. The Lone Wolf and Cub graphic novels have a great portrayal of the Yakuza and their origins. Good for inspiration on these guys I think
Havard
I like this treatsie on the Myoshiman Thieves.
Thanks, Havard!
The ninjas in particular. Basing the ninjas on the "super thief" sounds like a good idea. BTW are they tied to the Tengu somehow?
That's one option that came quite naturally -- GAZ F8 Super Thief has the right type of powers (passwall, wall running, invisibility) that one would expect from Ninja. I just added a few for a lower level option.
The other two thieves offer one more combat-oriented and one magically apt version. They could be replaced by Fighters and Magic Users with the appropriate skills, but since Thieving Skill are still necessary for these characters and would take a lot of time to develop (as well as making most Ninja very similar to each other), I felt the two options may be useful.
The Genjutsu user is basically a Paladin/Avenger variant -- it uses wizardly magic, but being limited to illusions should make it balanced enough.
The Taijutsu specialist has some Fighter-like abilities, though it is still not on par with real fighters.
The three specialization offer at least two interesting possibilities:
1) The Ninja-only party, composed of one of each type, plus one leader (a shinobi with higher than average mental abilities), could act as a tactical unit (this is straight from the Naruto anime, BTW, as are the three specializations).
2) Specialized shinobi clans -- e.g., one clan could be famous for its Genjutsu (and maybe have a couple special spells), another could be a clan of Taijutsu specialists (and maybe have some special weapon or secret martial arts), etc.
As for the Tengu, thanks for reminding me of this connection -- there'll definitely be a clan instructed by Tengu ;)
The Yakuza are also interesting. The Lone Wolf and Cub graphic novels have a great portrayal of the Yakuza and their origins. Good for inspiration on these guys I think
I'll look these up.
GP