Shinobi: Shadows of Nihon

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Game type: RPG, Supplement for Sengoku
Publisher: Gold Rush Games
Medium: Paperback
Price: $19.95

For those of you who are players and fans of the respected Sengoku role-playing game, or if you simply love games with an Asian flavor, you are in for a treat. Gold Rush Games has released their first supplement for the upcoming Sengoku Revised Edition RPG: Shinobi: Shadows of Nihon. Yes, boys and girls, Sengoku has devoted a supplement to that most guilty pleasure of Asian role-playing: the ninja.

The first thing that will strike you about this source book is the new cover art by Dennis Constantine. The picture is stylish with soft pleasing colors and a symbolic layout that creates a dichotomy of clarity and dimness appropriate for the subject within.

Once you open the book, however, you're back to basics. The volume possesses a two-column layout over a kanji watermark. Important facts, points, and examples are enclosed in shadowed boxes. Of course, the trademark Sengoku historical quote still holds its place of honor centered on the bottom of the page.

Now for the good stuff. Shinobi: Shadows of Nihon remains faithful to the nigh breathtaking level of research that has characterized the Sengoku product line. Shinobi offers the reader both an historical and legendary view of the infamous mountain warriors of Japan. Included in the text are several anthropological theories on the origins of Shinobi, and a couple of the ninja clan's own legends regarding their beginnings. Also included are the various ninjutsu skills such as demolitions, acting, poisons and even a skill in creating Oni bombs (for the more fantastic campaigns). The writers also give time to Ninpo, the philosophy and major motivator behind the ninja. The place of ninja within society, the geographical locations of their Ryu and their political leanings are also discussed in the volume.

Point of note: This is not a book about vile assassins lurking in the night ready to kill any honorable Samurai that passes by. This is the book about a despised and feared people who live on the outside of society because of the philosophies that they hold. This book is sympathetic to Ninpo, but it does not validate it. That decision is up to you. The writers stick to history but they offer you pieces of the legend as well. It is ultimately up to the Game Master to decide what will be real in his interpretation of Feudal Japan.

This comes to one of the greatest strengths of the Sengoku line: choice. The reader is given a relatively detailed history of Feudal Japan during the period of the Sengoku Jidai (time of the nation in conflict) a period of almost endless war. The reader is also given many of the legends that prevailed and what the common people at the time thought about all of it. In the end, a game master can run a game that is very close to history, or he can create an almost anime-style campaign. Take your pick: the Bakufu or Blade of the Immortals. It's up to you.

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