Tenra Bansho Zero
After much deliberation I finally bought a copy of TBZ. This is not the full package, which would have had a truly monsterous $80 shipping charge, but it is the core rulebook, which is good enough for me. The covers are nice and glossy, whilst the pages within have a fairly rough grain to them.
The game is intended to be played in a very theatrical manner, which is reflected in the game structure, which takes place in several acts, much like a play. Players can also reward others with chits for good roleplaying, which can then be used between acts to upgrade that players character, which encourages players to give the most dramatic performance possible. If you’re looking for an example of a full one shot then I’d recommend checking out the Youtube channel “The third wheel”. Much of the character progression is based on purchasing upgrades that cost “karma”- which represents your negative worldly obsession. If you accumulate over 108 karma then your character becomes and asura and is no longer playable, having fallen to evil. Functionally this is similar to Call of Cthulhu’s sanity meter, though in TBZ it is possible to reduce your karma by achieving a fate, which is a goal or guiding principle that you establish for your character, first of all at character creation and then again in between acts.
TBZ is set in a “Hyper-asian” anachronistic feudal Japan, that exists to facilitate a number of classic story archetypes. I can’t say much more than that, since I only have the core rule book and not the setting primer. Classes include samurai, cyborg, mech pilot, ghost-inhabiting-armour, mage, “annelid user” (a person who gets powers from symbiotic worm colonies) and of course, ninja.
The rules are explained across multiple chapters, with each chapter ending with a short comic depicting the rules in use. I’ve seen others say that the rulebook overexplains some very basic things, but that doesn’t really bother me.
The last 1/5th or 1/6th of the book is dedicated to useful resources including possible plot hooks, general activities, Japanese media that inspired this game, as well as a range of pre-built characters and archetypes to speed up character creation.
I think this game really requires the right group who don’t mind fully committing to the anime silliness, but I’m excited to try this game out sometime this year.
