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"Shiki" is Gold Rush Game's first supplement for their Sengoku game. It is a series of four interlocked adventures following the fortunes of a clan in feudal Japan. It follows the demise of one clan and its rebirth as the sole heir comes of age. Along the way the characters must ensure the heir's survival from a horrible curse and his own deficiencies.

"Shiki" is unique in several ways, the most noticeable one being the timeframe involved. This is a campaign set in time, close to 20 years pass between the start of the campaign and the final scene. Characters are expected not only to mature their skills, but to also become mature (i.e. older) themselves. Good roleplayers will be able to play a hot-tempered youth in one session and a more collected individual in the fourth adventure. Particularly cruel GMs may be tempted into forcing the players to buy down some of their character's physical characteristics to reflect the onset of middle age.

This unique presentation allows the GM to exercise one of two options. The first is to insert the adventures into an existing campaign that runs over the required time frame. The second option is to run Shiki as a separate campaign with arbitrary advancement and aging between scenarios.

"Chapter One: Heavier Than a Mountain" starts the campaign with a bang and sets the tone of the campaign. The characters are trapped in a castle on the verge of collapse. Enemies ring the walls, panic is rampant within the walls and the characters are preparing themselves to die with honor. The situation is hopeless and there is little to do other than to pick the spot your character plans on defending to the death.

In the midst of this chaos comes a summons to immediately attend Lady Kiku, the wife of the clan leader, on an urgent matter. Upon gaining a private audience, the characters are tasked with a dangerous mission: sneak her son Kozo, the lord's only heir, out of the castle, through the surrounding army and to Lord Hosokawa, his granduncle, in the adjacent province.

This adventure provided my players with ample roleplaying opportunities with some combat thrown in for good measure. Rushing past their lord in the midst of his last stand almost caused a couple of the characters to abandon their mission and join their lord. Later the players had to contend with samurai characters with little wilderness survival or baby-caring skills while trying to sneak a wailing child through heavily forested terrain and undead guards.

Upon reaching the sanctuary of Hosokawa's castle, the characters are offered a choice: become retainers in Hosokawa's clan, retainers for Kozo or become ronin. Most players will probably take the second option, which is also the preferred option.

"Chapter Two: Shinobi", while a good story, is the weakest adventure of the lot. A cold war has been simmering between Hosokawa and Ishizaki, as both sides are too weak to directly confront the other. Spies, border raids, ninja and other low-intensity machinations are the preferred tactics.

In an attempt to bring peace to the land, a third family offers to hold negotiations at his palace. The characters are sent as part of Kozo's representatives. Naturally things are tense and only get worse with both sides spying on each other and a supposed love interest between the families. Eventually the story comes to a climax with a nighttime ninja attack and the Hosokawa family being implicated.

This scenario, while relying on roleplaying, may get a bit too convoluted for players to follow and may cause confusion. It also has the feel of filler, it really doesn't have any direct impact on the overall storyline. Frankly, a GM could even forego this scenario altogether and not affect the over-arching story.

"Chapter Three: Tears of Ice" presents some of the strongest opportunities for roleplaying that I have seen in a published product. The curse affecting the heir has seriously affected the land as well and all may be lost. The characters must embark on yet another desperate journey to save the life of their young lord.

Divination has shown that the tears of a ghost near Mount Fuji can lift the curse afflicting Kozo. Braving dangerous winter weather, the characters set out to find the ghost. Along the way they must deal with forest spirits and a tribe of sentient monkeys.

Eventually the characters find the ghost and must attempt to make it cry. The ghost issues a challenge - it will cry if suitably moved by a sad story. This presents the players with the opportunity to come up with a tale of woe and tell it convincingly. There is only one tale that will make the ghost cry and it is a fairly obvious one, but make the players work for it anyway. But, the best part is in the telling…don't rely on dice rolling, make the players tell their stories.

Assuming the ghost cries, the characters collect the tears and return with them to Kozo. And, the boy is healed, the land recovers and it is time for the next scenario.

"Chapter Four: Debt of Honor" is the climax between Kozo and Ishizaki. This scenario is one drawn out battle with plenty of opportunities for roleplaying, glorious cavalry charges and even the opportunity to take on the chief bad guy in a duel. A GM should be well prepared for this scenario as it will involve a good deal of bookkeeping. It will also consume a large chunk of time given the various actions that take place. But, despite that, this is an exciting scenario that should keep your players on the edges of their seats for the duration.

The GM is well supplied with additional information to help run the campaign. Each adventure has an anticipated outline, some hints what to do with different character actions and finally well detailed NPCs. Adventure seeds are also provided at the end of each scenario to provide the GM further ideas. The amount of work that went into this product is evident and the end result is a GM-friendly adventure book.

"Shiki" uses the "Sengoku" rules, a Fuzion game system with appropriate plug-ins, and all of the characters are presented using that system. Users of other game systems can covert using the handy charts in the back of the "Sengoku" rulebook. The basic Fuzion rules are also available on-line for those individuals who don't want to buy the "Sengoku" book (though it is an excellent book in itself). Those wishing to use other systems, like Hero or Legends of the 5 Rings (L5R), can easily convert characters with a bit of elbow grease.

"Shiki" is product that is sure to draw your players into the storyline. It provides ample opportunities for serious role-playing, dying with honor and moral quandaries for the rigid Samurai code. Furthermore, the story feels uniquely Japanese. I have no idea whether or not the author borrowed from Japanese literature to write this book, but he certainly wrote a story that feels Japanese. It was fun to read and better to run.

This book is a must-have for fans of Chanbara; it perfectly captures the feel of the genre. Fans of L5R will also have fun with this book. I simply applaud the author for an outstanding product.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 5 (Excellent!)

Shiki
Author: Mike Montesa Category: game Company/Publisher: Gold Rush Games Line: Sengoku Cost: $16.00 Page count: 96 ISBN: 1-890305-19-7 SKU: S103 Caspule Review by Tomas J Skucas on 07/30/00. Genre tags: Fantasy Historical Asian/Far East	"Shiki" is Gold Rush Game's first supplement for their Sengoku game. It is a series of four interlocked adventures following the fortunes of a clan in feudal Japan. It follows the demise of one clan and its rebirth as the sole heir comes of age. Along the way the characters must ensure the heir's survival from a horrible curse and his own deficiencies. "Shiki" is unique in several ways, the most noticeable one being the timeframe involved. This is a campaign set in time, close to 20 years pass between the start of the campaign and the final scene. Characters are expected not only to mature their skills, but to also become mature (i.e. older) themselves. Good roleplayers will be able to play a hot-tempered youth in one session and a more collected individual in the fourth adventure. Particularly cruel GMs may be tempted into forcing the players to buy down some of their character's physical characteristics to reflect the onset of middle age. This unique presentation allows the GM to exercise one of two options. The first is to insert the adventures into an existing campaign that runs over the required time frame. The second option is to run Shiki as a separate campaign with arbitrary advancement and aging between scenarios. "Chapter One: Heavier Than a Mountain" starts the campaign with a bang and sets the tone of the campaign. The characters are trapped in a castle on the verge of collapse. Enemies ring the walls, panic is rampant within the walls and the characters are preparing themselves to die with honor. The situation is hopeless and there is little to do other than to pick the spot your character plans on defending to the death. In the midst of this chaos comes a summons to immediately attend Lady Kiku, the wife of the clan leader, on an urgent matter. Upon gaining a private audience, the characters are tasked with a dangerous mission: sneak her son Kozo, the lord's only heir, out of the castle, through the surrounding army and to Lord Hosokawa, his granduncle, in the adjacent province. This adventure provided my players with ample roleplaying opportunities with some combat thrown in for good measure. Rushing past their lord in the midst of his last stand almost caused a couple of the characters to abandon their mission and join their lord. Later the players had to contend with samurai characters with little wilderness survival or baby-caring skills while trying to sneak a wailing child through heavily forested terrain and undead guards. Upon reaching the sanctuary of Hosokawa's castle, the characters are offered a choice: become retainers in Hosokawa's clan, retainers for Kozo or become ronin. Most players will probably take the second option, which is also the preferred option. "Chapter Two: Shinobi", while a good story, is the weakest adventure of the lot. A cold war has been simmering between Hosokawa and Ishizaki, as both sides are too weak to directly confront the other. Spies, border raids, ninja and other low-intensity machinations are the preferred tactics. In an attempt to bring peace to the land, a third family offers to hold negotiations at his palace. The characters are sent as part of Kozo's representatives. Naturally things are tense and only get worse with both sides spying on each other and a supposed love interest between the families. Eventually the story comes to a climax with a nighttime ninja attack and the Hosokawa family being implicated. This scenario, while relying on roleplaying, may get a bit too convoluted for players to follow and may cause confusion. It also has the feel of filler, it really doesn't have any direct impact on the overall storyline. Frankly, a GM could even forego this scenario altogether and not affect the over-arching story. "Chapter Three: Tears of Ice" presents some of the strongest opportunities for roleplaying that I have seen in a published product. The curse affecting the heir has seriously affected the land as well and all may be lost. The characters must embark on yet another desperate journey to save the life of their young lord. Divination has shown that the tears of a ghost near Mount Fuji can lift the curse afflicting Kozo. Braving dangerous winter weather, the characters set out to find the ghost. Along the way they must deal with forest spirits and a tribe of sentient monkeys. Eventually the characters find the ghost and must attempt to make it cry. The ghost issues a challenge - it will cry if suitably moved by a sad story. This presents the players with the opportunity to come up with a tale of woe and tell it convincingly. There is only one tale that will make the ghost cry and it is a fairly obvious one, but make the players work for it anyway. But, the best part is in the telling…don't rely on dice rolling, make the players tell their stories. Assuming the ghost cries, the characters collect the tears and return with them to Kozo. And, the boy is healed, the land recovers and it is time for the next scenario. "Chapter Four: Debt of Honor" is the climax between Kozo and Ishizaki. This scenario is one drawn out battle with plenty of opportunities for roleplaying, glorious cavalry charges and even the opportunity to take on the chief bad guy in a duel. A GM should be well prepared for this scenario as it will involve a good deal of bookkeeping. It will also consume a large chunk of time given the various actions that take place. But, despite that, this is an exciting scenario that should keep your players on the edges of their seats for the duration. The GM is well supplied with additional information to help run the campaign. Each adventure has an anticipated outline, some hints what to do with different character actions and finally well detailed NPCs. Adventure seeds are also provided at the end of each scenario to provide the GM further ideas. The amount of work that went into this product is evident and the end result is a GM-friendly adventure book. "Shiki" uses the "Sengoku" rules, a Fuzion game system with appropriate plug-ins, and all of the characters are presented using that system. Users of other game systems can covert using the handy charts in the back of the "Sengoku" rulebook. The basic Fuzion rules are also available on-line for those individuals who don't want to buy the "Sengoku" book (though it is an excellent book in itself). Those wishing to use other systems, like Hero or Legends of the 5 Rings (L5R), can easily convert characters with a bit of elbow grease. "Shiki" is product that is sure to draw your players into the storyline. It provides ample opportunities for serious role-playing, dying with honor and moral quandaries for the rigid Samurai code. Furthermore, the story feels uniquely Japanese. I have no idea whether or not the author borrowed from Japanese literature to write this book, but he certainly wrote a story that feels Japanese. It was fun to read and better to run. This book is a must-have for fans of Chanbara; it perfectly captures the feel of the genre. Fans of L5R will also have fun with this book. I simply applaud the author for an outstanding product. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 5 (Excellent!)