SHINOBISHONEN

by Ricardo Tavares

This is a tabletop Role-Playing Game for two players, one who plays as the Day and the other who plays as the Night. It is centered around two iconic protagonists: the Japanese feudal lord (the daimyo) and his master of spies (the shinobi). It uses a two-character sheet that is called the scroll (or makimono) and a set of five 4-sided dice that are called the caltrops (or makibishi). It is a simple game about love and duty during a time of great turmoil.

The daimyo is the lord of his clan, he has lands, peasants, samurai, ancestors, an army, a marriage, a certain degree of power and a lot of responsibilities. In this game, for some reason that the players may need to determine, he cannot completely trust those around him. People are completely loyal to the clan, but, as times are changing and risks have to be taken, he can’t be sure that they are loyal to him. There are also news of impending war and rumors of rebellion from the peasantry.

The shinobi is the master of his lord’s spies, he has techniques, secrets, agents, disguises, mysterious enemies and strange allies. In this game, he is somewhat young, talented and beautiful. He is the leader of his family of ninja, but he is also inexperienced and an upstart amongst the underworld. He has just a handful of people scattered under his command and, for matters of vital importance, he cannot count on anyone but himself.

The feudal lord and his master of spies are in an undisclosed romantic relationship and love is a dangerous issue among honorable samurai and humble ninja. Both of them are expected to give their lives for the clan, but each of them would rather sacrifice himself to save the other. The daimyo knows that a noble samurai should dedicate himself to growing his lineage for the sake of the clan and the shinobi knows that a ninja should always remember his station, but both of them try to rise above their sense of shame and be together when they can.

The two players, Day and Night, create the story of this couple during a time of turmoil where each passing hour can be decisive. During the daytime, the Night chooses to play the daimyo or the shinobi while the Day sets the scenes and plays any other characters, including the other protagonist. This means that, during the nighttime, it’s the Day who chooses to play the daimyo or the shinobi while the Night sets the scenes and plays any other characters, including the other protagonist. Both players have a chance to play with any protagonist at any time, but usually the daimyo (who can also be called the Sun) is more active during the day and the shinobi (who can also be called the Moon) is more active during the night. Because of this, the player who mostly wants to play the Moon should be the Day and the player who mostly wants to play the Sun should be the Night.

In feudal Japan, there are six hours during the daytime: Hare (sunrise), Dragon, Serpent, Horse (noon), Ram and Monkey. During the nighttime, the six hours are: Cock (sunset), Dog, Boar, Rat (midnight), Ox and Tiger. Each hour should be a scene taken from the point of view of the active protagonist, either the Sun or the Moon. Maintaining a growing feeling of urgency, each scene should at the very least be tainted by the troublesome events that are affecting the clan.

Now, pick up your five four-sided dice and roll them as many times as you want. Feel the sharpness of those caltrops and how quietly they tumble onto the table. Take a look at the numbers you end up it with each roll and notice how you always find at least two dice with the same number. This is what you do with your five d4s in a game of SHINOBISHONEN: you look at their numbers and you count the greatest set of matching dice. Usually you will find them in pairs, but often there will be three with the same number and sometimes four or even five. Roll them and see for yourself. Each time you lay down your caltrops, their sting is the size of their greatest set of matching dice.

The pointed edges of your caltrops have a special rule: 1s are always dull and 4s are always poisonous. When you have a set of 1s, they count as having one less matching die. On the other hand, when you have a set of 4s, they count as having an extra matching die. Usually, 2s and 3s don’t have anything special about them, but sometimes your caltrops may be seen as dull or poisonous. If they are dull, 2s follow the same rule as 1s and, if your caltrops are poisonous, 3s follow the same rule as 4s. Roll your dice a few more times and try this out for yourself. Sometimes, you will get a pair of dice that end up having a sting of one, but there are also times when your five matching dice may have a sting of six.

Sun and Moon will have to endure the sting of your caltrops and they will suffer when it overcomes the strength of their bodies, hearts or minds. The matching dice will also determine the pace by which turmoil and shame shall grow and greatly trouble the feudal lord and his young beautiful spy. However, if they find enough strength to use that sting to their advantage, your caltrops may even predict good fortune for this ill-fated couple.

Across the middle, you have several domains that are measured in groups of triangles that will stand against the caltrops that you will roll. You can see that some triangles are closed while others are open, some have three completed lines while others have none. The value of each domain is determined by the number of closed triangles that it has and these are formed by the lines drawn on open triangles. Before the game begins, each domain has a value of 1’0, which means one closed triangle and zero lines on the next open one. These values can be increased by drawing lines on the next open triangle. If an extra three lines are drawn, another triangle is closed. Therefore, their values in ascending order are: 1’0, 1’1, 1’2, 2’0, 2’1, 2’2, 3’0, 3’1, 3’2, 4’0, 4’1, 4’2 and 5’0.

At the top and bottom, the two domains are turmoil and shame. These guide the Day and the Night to gradually restrain what the Sun and the Moon can do as the tension within their story keeps growing. Along the middle, the three domains are body, heart and mind. These are the protagonists’ strength and resilience, their ability to affect the world around them and withstand what it does to them.

Day and Night start the game by each taking a pencil and, while talking about the protagonists, drawing lines on their domains, body heart and mind. They cannot have more lines drawn than the sum of their age and that total should be something between 35 and 45 years. For each domain, the strength of the Moon is indicated by the triangles on the left and his resilience by the triangles on the right. At the same time, the strength of the Sun is indicated by the triangles on the right and his resilience by the triangles on the left. This means that both of them feel safer the more powerful the other is. Joined by their love, they are one in body, heart and mind. The more closed triangles they have on each domain, the greater their ability to influence it or protect it.

Body is flesh, bones, muscles, blood, this living breathing thing that we are made of. If a protagonists wants to affect someone else’s body, he tests the strength of this domain. On the other hand, if someone wants to affect the protagonist’s body, he tests its resilience. The other two domains work in the same way. Heart is, of course, dreams, feelings, emotions, moods, moral, courage, panic, desire, peace, whatever makes it beat faster or slower. Mind is, as you might expect, thoughts, conjectures, knowledge, ideas, objectives, clues, facts, messages, convictions, anything you might wrap your brain around.

For each domain, Day and Night will surely think of something more specific and personal to each protagonist than a mere collection of years turned into lines. Therefore, they should write that under the name of the Moon or the Sun and next to its relevant domain. There are five lines on each side for body, heart and mind. Each player should write what helps the other player paint a picture in his head of the two protagonists: their backgrounds, skills, traits, resources, training, oaths, talents, etc.

Characterizing body, heart or mind, each description should occupy only one line. When something you have written applies to how a domain is being tested, add that line to its value. Multiple written lines can add up and count as a triangle for their domain (to a maximum of 5’0). However, Day and Night should not worry about filling out every single line, because that space also exists to further help describe the protagonists during play. Everything in the scroll should emerge out of the free-flowing conversation between the players as they ask each other questions and write down what they feel is interesting.

The first session of play begins within the hours before Horse as the players imagine the two protagonists as the day begins, talk about them and fill out their scroll. The Day then enters his or her role by describing the afternoon and what is happening in the province within three hours before nighttime: Horse, Ram and Monkey. For his or her role, the Night chooses to play as the Sun or the Moon and does so by taking the initiative of saying something like I-am-here-doing-this-thing.

If the Day sees an opportunity for turmoil, that player can seize the initiative for a number of hours equal to the value of that domain (which begins at 1’0, meaning one hour) and say something like this-is-happening-what-do-you-do. When turmoil is low, the protagonist has time to do what he feels like as the other player can only force him to respond to something for a few hours. As turmoil grows, the protagonist has less time to go about his business as the other player can seize the initiative more frequently.

As you can see on the scroll, nighttime and daytime have six hours each. When turmoil is at 1’0, Day or Night can only seize the initiative in one out of six hours, but when turmoil reaches 5’0, they can barrel down on the protagonists during five out of those six. This means that, as the game begins, you have more time to get to know the Sun and the Moon when they don’t have to be putting out fires everywhere. However, as play progresses, more bad things happen to which the protagonists have to respond or, at the very least, events seem to overwhelm them.

Turmoil can grow when any player announces it somehow within the fiction of the game. At any time that worrisome events appear to be unfolding, Day or Night should roll the caltrops and, if the sting from the dice is greater than the current value of turmoil, it increases by one line (0’1). Whether it stays the same or escalates, turmoil can only be stung once per hour by the caltrops. When it reaches 5’0, Day or Night have the option of seizing the initiative for a period of five hours during which time the story will rise to a final point of resolution after which turmoil will then automatically drop back to 1’0 for better or for worse.

Among the many events that may threaten or disturb the two protagonists, shame is a central theme and it is also represented on the bottom of the scroll by a value that ranges from 1’0 to 5’0. Shame has weight on the actions of each protagonist, because sometimes they rise above it and feel empowered by their love for each other, but there are also times when they feel torn apart by it. When body, heart or mind is greater than shame, the caltrops become dull and everything seems so easy to do. However, when shame surpasses these domains, the caltrops become poisonous and therefore much more difficult to endure. Remember that written lines may help each domain as the protagonists wrestle with their shame.

In simple terms, the story of this extraordinary romance is one of love vs duty. Similarly to turmoil, shame can grow when there is any kind of friction between how Sun and Moon view their affair and how others see it. People who are close to the two protagonists may already know about their relationship and, as the game proceeds, they may voice their concerns and others may learn about it. Marriage is an essential political tool in times of turmoil and love may never be put above the clan. Some may say that lust does not taint a man’s honor, but all will agree that love will surely lead him astray.

At any time that the world of feudal Japan looks unfavorably upon the love between this daimyo and his shinobi, Day or Night should roll the caltrops and, if the sting from the dice is greater than the current value of shame, it increases by one line (0’1). Whether it stays the same or escalates, shame can only be stung once per hour by the caltrops. When it reaches 5’0, Sun or Moon have the option of facing their drama by resolving it one way or the other, which can go to either extreme of renouncing all their ties to the clan or even taking their own lives. Whatever happens, their life together will never be the same and shame will then automatically drop back to 1’0.

Both turmoil and shame can be stung when the fiction for any particular hour is colored by these feelings. In the beginning, it is likely that they will rapidly gain additional lines, but, as these domains rise and form more triangles, the protagonists will become more accustomed to these stressful circumstances and these values will probably need more time to escalate.

This game was made as a gift for my friend Inês who likes yaoi, ninja and all Japanese culture in general. As an initial idea, I thought about it as a joke, but as I sat down and tried to write it, SHINOBISHONEN ended up being something seriously fun. The game itself inspired me into creating it, if such a thing is possible. It also helped that I wrote it with a specific person in mind, so I hope she finds the time to read it and a chance to play it soon.
Happy birthday, Inês!

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