Credits INTROductiON Creators Thomas Boulton Brandon Baker Jason Boulton Editors Nickolay Krumov Stephanie (Salt and Sage Books) Rob Giles Playtesters Rob Giles, Jess Armstrong, Jason Boulton, Nathaniel Boulton, Brandon Baker, Dave Semark, Matthew Tyler-Jones, Arne Sahlberg, Niclas Jareborg, Frank Graeff A very personal note of thanks. I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the development of this somewhat out of control idea. In particular I want to thank Brandon and Jason for being involved from the beginning and providing historical accuracy (Brandon) and guidance on tooling and approach (Jason), we would not be releasing this somewhat crazy think without you. I also want to say a special thanks to the three editors whose work was vital to this product, we were in your debt from the beginning and in particular the work of Stephanie in undertaking a sensitivity read through was vital. I want to express that this is purely a community thing, although I did get some vital and insightful feedback from Martin T at Free League, who reached out to offer some fantastic guidance. I also want to thank all of the play testers who got involved in the testing of the game, without you it would not exist as a supplement. "This work contains material that is copyright Fria Ligan AB and/or other authors. Such material is used with permission under the Community Content Agreement for Free League Workshop. All other original material in this work is copyright 2020 by Thomas Boulton and published underSample the Community Content Agreement for Free League Workshop." file · 3 · INTROductiON Contents Servant 34 Introduction 4 Writer 35 Welcome to Mythic Japan 4 Talents and Equipment 36 Ukiyo 4 General Talents 37 Mythic Japan 4 Archetype Talents 37 Hi-ningenteki na ikemono (inhuman crea- Equipment and Services 39 tures) 5 Conflict-KeyThemestoDriveAdventures 41 Daisan no Me (The Third Eye) 5 HumanonHumanConflict 42 The Six Principles 6 TheConflictbetweenHi-ningentekiand Your player character in Mythic Japan 8 Humans 43 Transition and Tradition - which are you? 8 Yurei, Yokai, and Oni 45 Gender roles in Japanese society 8 The supernatural and Japanese Society 45 Status 9 Ameonna (Rain Woman) 46 Mementos 10 Inugami (Dog God) 48 Your Mythic Japan 12 Jurogomo (Spider Wife) 50 Life in the City 13 Kappa(RiverYokai) 52 Important Cities in Meiji Period Japan 14 Kawuso(Otter) 54 Communication and Travel 16 Kitsune(FoxWife) 56 Daisan no me no taisei (The Society of the Third Korori(CholeraPlagueSpirit) 58 Eye) 18 Rokokubi (Long Necked Woman) 60 The First Scholar 19 Tengu (Mountain Spirit) 62 The Second Scholar 20 Tesso the Rat 64 The Third Scholar 21 Wanyudo (Flaming Monk) 66 The End and New Beginnings 22 Yuki Onna (Snow Maiden) 68 Archetypes 23 Life Paths 70 Academic 24 The Great Shift 84 Warrior 25 Criminal 26 Doctor 27 Entertainer 28 Hunter 29 Police 30 shrine maiden / shaman 31 Officer 32 Priest 33 Sample file · 3 · INTROductiON Introduction UKIYO Welcome to Ukiyo - a game set in Mythic Japan, WELCOME TO MYTHIC JAPAN and an expansion for Vaesen, Free League’s outstanding mystery/horror game. Ukiyo is a word with two meanings in Japanese, both You arrive at Nagoya, a city on the railway line of which speak to the nature of this game and between Kyoto and Edo - or as it is now known, the experience your characters will have as Tokyo. From the corner of your eye you see a they explore Mythic Japan. First, The Floating rickshaw being pulled by a small Japanese man. In World, represents the transience and change the back seat you spot a foreign officer, no doubt represented by the urban culture that is taking French or Prussian, brought here to train the troops over Japan. Second, The Sorrowful World, of the Emperor. As the rickshaw pulls away, you captures the end of the tradition and the loss take in other people on the road - an industrialist of certainty that is washing across Japan as a rushing to some critical meeting no doubt, a shrine result of the Meiji Restoration. Like Vaesen, we maiden wanders aimlessly across the road. have been informed by art in the creation of this game - in particular the work of Toyama Sekien, A train conductor, with his new peaked cap and Katsushika Hokusai and Kobayashi Kiyochika. heavy blue overcoat, approaches you from his office. The work of these and other artists, commonly “Are you lost?“, he asks. His hands are soft, his eyes referred to as Ukiyo-e (Pictures of the Floating sharp, and you cannot help but wonder, did this World), defines our view of Supernatural Japan man not carry two swords until recently? "No", you for the game and captures the shift from the reply, "We have a letter from the Lady of the Castle. traditional world of the Tokugawa Shogunate to She has requested our attendance". Gathering your the industrialized Meiji period. things, you hail a rickshaw of your own. "To the castle, and be quick about it", you command the MYTHIC JAPAN driver. As the rickshaw makes its way up the hill towards Mythic Japan is set during a period of great the castle, you observe the many sights in the cultural change occurring over the second half distance. You can hear the sounds of industry and of the 18th century, between 1850 and 1905. In commerce, new silk factories operating around the this period Japan will transform from a feudal clock to provide the wealth Japan needs in order agrarian society to a fully industrialized major to gain influence. Along the road, artisans practice power. Japanese culture will be upended - crafts as they have for centuries, slowly hand overturning 265 years of rule by the Tokugawa crafting works of beauty as is the way of old. As you Shogunate and ending the defined hierarchy of approach the castle, its rundown nature surprises caste that the Shogunate had worked so hard to you. From this place the great Tokugawa clan - the enshrine. Owari, have ruled for centuries. But now it has clearly fallen on troubled times. Norms will be destroyed, liberal and conservative forces will clash many times, and the differences Along the walls of the castle you see great Camphor between rural and urban societies will trees reaching into the sky. At that moment you become exacerbated. Modernization will take notice a small face - beautiful and haunting on religious fervor, actively supported by a amongst the branches. Her face, for it is clearly a government terrified that it will be conquered she, is framed with the most vivid red hair. Why like its neighbors by foreign powers. Trade and a woman of such beauty would choose to hide in industrialization will come to dominate a society the branches - you have no idea. The woman opens that had previously regarded classical education her mouth and yawns, showing you small, sharp and rural production as its most important pointed teeth. You see her startle as she realizes traits. Traditions will die and new ones will Samplebe born - angering the spiritsfile who ensure you can see her and with a sudden movement - she disappears into the branches, leaving you with a bountiful harvests and good lives. The Society glimpse of many tails. in this setting is seeking to reach a compromise · 4 · INTROductiON - allowing the best of both worlds, the old and new, to co-exist. Your characters work to put to rest dangerous spirits, find new solutions to old problems, and ensure that in its rush to modernize, Japan does not lose its very heart. At the same time other forces - both modernizers and traditionalists, seek to destroy your work for reasons both good and bad. HI-NINGENTEKI NA IKEMONO (INHUMAN CREATURES) Japanese fairy tales are complex and diverse with a rich tapestry of Yurei, Yokai, Oni and Kami. This diversity is in part a result of a religious tradition that accepted the existence of the supernatural and found a place for them as opposed to the Western Christian tradition of demonizing and rejecting them. There are many ways to describe the supernatural creatures (known as either Choujouteki or Hi-ningenteki) of Japan but broadly the following groupings are relevant: • Yurei: Ghosts and spirits of the dead, often returned from the grave to exact vengeance and punish the living. • Yokai: Supernatural creatures that populate the countryside. From Tanuki to Kitsuni - DAISAN NO ME (THE THIRD EYE) these are the shapeshifters and tricksters of Japanese Lore. • Oni: Demons, sometimes result of the Only decades ago many people could see the spirits. Acceptance of the supernatural was a corruption of humans, sometimes from one key part of everyday life, so the ability to see the of the many Hells. Unlike Yurei and Yokai, Oni creatures was not uncommon. As modernization are evil seeking only to cause harm to people spread, the ability to see supernatural creatures and things. has disappeared - a casualty of a changed • Kami: The many thousands of gods and mindset spreading through the population. deities that exist throughout Japan - such as You, however, are different. Some trauma in river, forest, and mountain spirits. your life has unlocked your ability to see the Hi- ningenteki - your third eye, known as the Upper Rituals, prayers, special gifts, and traditional Tanden, has been opened and will never close. ways of doing things, are critical to appeasing This ability is a curse and a blessing. Known in the spirits or avoiding their attention. In many the west as Thursday’s children, you are daisan cases, this was well known only decades ago, but no me ga iru hito (people of the third eye) - modernization and the emptying of the villages hunter of ghosts, and settler of spirits have already led to the loss of this knowledge.