Bushido (role-playing game)


Bushido is a Samurai role-playing game set in Feudal Japan, originally designed by Robert N. Charrette and Paul R. Hume and published originally by Tyr Games, then Phoenix Games, and subsequently by Fantasy Games Unlimited. The setting for the game is a land called Nippon and characters adventure in this heroic, mythic and fantastic analogue of Japan's past.
It is thematically based on Chanbara movies, such as those made by Akira Kurosawa, in which the heroes are modestly superhuman but not extraordinarily so.

Overview

The Bushido role-playing game was originally published in 1979 by Tyr Games but was more widely released in 1980 by Phoenix Games as a boxed set. This edition included a map of Nippon, a tri-fold screen, a character sheet, Book I, The Heroes of Nippon, the Players Guidebook and Book II, The Land of Nippon, the Gamesmaster's Guidebook. All illustrations in the original boxed set are copyright by Robert N. Charrette. The game is now sold as a single book in which the two original books are combined.
Bushido players use characters defined by a series of attributes, skills, professions and levels. The professions are Bushi, Budoka, Yakuza, Ninja, Shugenja and Gakusho. Character progression is implemented by both down-time training and level advancement. There are only six character levels, an unusually small number in role-playing games.
Social aspects are very important in the game. Each character is randomly assigned at birth to a class in the strict feudal hierarchy of Nippon - Samurai, various commoner classes, and Eta. For level advancement, honourable behaviour and loyal service to the character's social group are as important as defeating enemies in battle.
The Bushido system is dice-based, most important rolls being made with a twenty-sided die. The cultural setting, the deadliness of combat, and the need to preserve and build the character's honour score encourage role-playing and reduce "hack 'n' slash" tendencies. The gamemaster can use the various social obligations of the characters to create dilemmas which cannot necessarily be overcome by violence.
Shugenja and Gakusho can use magic but it is relatively weak in comparison with many role-playing games. The social focus of the game also works to suppress the power of magic-users. At the discretion of the gamemaster, supernatural monsters may feature in the game, greatly increasing the importance of magic-users.

Reception

Bushido received mixed reviews.
The reviewer in the February 1980 edition of Dragon was disappointed by "a horrendous amount of typographical errors in the rules... There are times when they do hamper understanding of what is supposed to be going on." The reviewer also noted a lack of detailed background on medieval Japan. The review ended with a guarded recommendation: "Despite these faults, the game is worth the price to the person interested in developing a more cosmopolitan outlook."
In the July 1980 edition of The Space Gamer, Forrest Johnson was unimpressed, saying, "Karate fans and samurai fans may dig this one. Serious students will just have to wait for something better."
In the March 1981 edition of Ares, Eric Goldberg found fault with the character generation system that determines certain aspects randomly, but then uses a point-buy system to allow a player to optimize the character. "There is a logical argument for both methods — even in conjunction — but one's purpose defeats the other." Goldberg liked the code of honor in the game, which he felt "distinguishes Bushido from most other role-playing games." But he felt that otherwise, Bushido was "unremarkable", and gave a half-hearted recommendation: "Bushido is a nice enough meld of a surrealistic and D&D-style flavor, and has a game system sturdy enough to support this impression."
In the August 1982 edition of White Dwarf Magazine, Mike Polling rated Bushido 10 out of 10, saying that it was "maybe the best game I have ever seen... The game system is one of the most intelligent and carefully thought out I have ever seen."
In the June 1988 edition of Dragon, Jim Bambra compared the various role-playing game systems set in Japan. Bambra found Bushido to be very complex. "It is a game for dedicated gamers who, in their pursuit of Oriental action, are willing to struggle with rule books that make advanced nuclear theory texts seem like light reading by comparison." Bambra found the biggest issue to be the badly organized rules. "A revamping and reordering of this material would go a long way to making the game more accessible. Compared to more recent games, the Bushido game is a work of enthusiasm, with little or no thought given to presentation or ease of use." Bambra also found the character generation system to be "difficult and involved", and the game's mechanics to "work fairly well but are convoluted in places." Bambra also pointed out that in the decade since Bushido had been published, only two adventure-supplements had been published, leaving all the work of creating an adventure to each gamemaster. Bambra concluded that newer games systems provided better ease of use. "If you’re looking for a stand-alone system, then check out the Bushido game. But if accessibility and ease of use are your primary requirements, stay well away. The two other supplements under review this month are superior models of presentation, and they build upon tried and tested systems. The Bushido game is for those who like complication for complication’s sake."
In April 1985, Imagine Magazine dedicated Issue #25 to Japanese and "far east" role-playing. Bushido was praised by Mike Brunton as focusing on "non-adventuring skills" and indicating how it was different than the current version of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.
In the pages of his own 1987 book, Role-Playing Mastery, Dungeons & Dragons co-creator E. Gary Gygax mentions Bushido in his short list of notable RPGs.
Steve Faragher did a retrospective review of Bushido for Arcane magazine, stating that "Politics and action went hand in hand with Bushido and the game had an innately epic scale."
In a 1996 reader poll in Arcane magazine, Bushido was ranked 17th of the 50 most popular roleplaying games of all time. Editor Paul Pettengale commented: "Those of us who have had the pleasure of playing Bushido over an extended period of time have noticed that this is a game which lends itself far more towards campaign play than one-off scenarios. Consequently, it takes a lot of effort and dedication on the part of the players and referee alike to play through, and even more effort to run successfully. Nevertheless, the effort is rewarded with fun, albeit a somewhat reserved, thoughtful kind of fun, rather than the more gung-ho kind of action you would usually expect from the likes of AD&D."

Reviews