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In Short

The Good: Many of the ideas feel fresh and fans of steampunk games can expect to find a lot of cool little ideas buried in this book. The culture and monsters manage to maintain a strong Japanese influence while avoiding the problem of merely being derivative fantasy fare. The new rules are easy to understand and incorporate into an existing game. The game works to minimize prep time and maximize adventure at every step.

The Bad: A lot of the book is tied to the Iron Gauntlets system, which may make it less worthwhile for some folk. I would like to have seen even more steampunk gear and/or rules for creating steampunk items. This is probably a more enjoyable game to play than to just read and place on a shelf, as a lot of the information is presented with adventure in mind and details that are enjoyable to read, but not necessarily to game, are left off. So, if you buy just to read, this may not be the best choice for you.

The Physical Thing

Under the Cover

Steampunk Musha includes a little bit of every type of crunch you’d expect from an Iron Gauntlets supplement. New Gimmicks, Backgrounds, Skills, Vocations, Races, and still more rules fill the first third of this book. What’s impressive about this crunch is how well tied to the setting it is. Instead of just a general expansion on the powers and options available in Iron Gauntlets, all of the new material here is very setting specific and serves to either enable new character types or to drive home the feel of the setting.

New Vocations are the most immediate of the additions, and they cover everything you may want to play. Clockwork Engineers, Ninja, Alchemist, Samurai, Yakuza, and more do an excellent job of developing the sorts of character concepts players will likely greet this setting with. Several advanced Vocations, or Kits, such as Shangti Cowboy and Mechanist are present and offer even more specific character build options than the general Vocations do.

A new Dishonor system makes it easy to implement the code of honor of this era in game, while a variety of new Skills (such as Firearms and Steamworking) round out the initial additions. On the whole, I’m pleased with all of these. As a GM I find the new mechanics to be simple to use, while as a player I find just enough crunch to enable me to easily build whatever sort of character I can think up. Even better, the crunch really supports the setting and encourages me to build a character that fits just right into the world of Steampunk Musha.

Chapter 2 Character Races - 14 pages

What do ya get? Gaijin are foreign humans well acquainted with technology, Clockwork Ronin are clockwork robots inhabited by the souls of dead bushi, Jinteki-Oni are half-human half-demons gifted with great strength, Junishi-P’O are animal/human hybrids that come in at least 12 distinct varieties, from rabbit people to snake people, and finally the Keshou are a kinda like desert dwelling dwarves. All of that on top of the possibility of western fantasy races!

Without a doubt my favorite addition is the Clockwork Ronin. While the Junishi-P’O are a close second thanks to the sheer diversity they provide, the Ronin are interesting because they came about through an accident. These noble warriors didn’t ask to become clockwork things. Rather, after fighting a great battle against these clockwork soldiers many awoke to find that their spirits had merged with the creatures. Continuing their lives as samurai, these clockwork ronin are a truly unique addition to the setting and possibly my favorite part.

Chapter 3 Magic and Religion - 16 pages

Two major new forms of magic are introduced here, both of which are well considered and offer the same degree of rules light flexibility as fans of Iron Gauntlets would expect. The first of these, Gui magic, involves calling upon and manipulating the elements of Earth, Water, Wind, Fire, and Void. Various techniques are used to harness these elements. Katas, for example, tend to physically buff the character through pre-combat meditation while Talismans are physical objects carefully crafted by the Gui practitioner that confer similar but different combat abilities.

Tenshu-Mahou magic, on the other hand, involves bargaining with spirits from different animal Houses. Through these pacts summoning, curses, favors, and other forms of magic may be performed. While examples for each House are provided, imagination is really the limit when it comes to what a spirit may be convinced to do on the magic user’s behalf.

While I wish there was a new system a little more like a traditional magic system, I expect the authors believed the core Iron Gauntlets magic systems already fulfilled that need handily.

Chapter 4 Arms and Armor - 12 pages

The gear expansion here occurs on two fronts. First, a variety of eastern martial arts weapons are introduced. Kama, butterfly swords, naginata, and others are included to provide a moderate base of options for those interested in playing martial artists of some sort. While some excellent illustrations of these and other weapons can be found in this chapter, not every weapon is illustrated.

Second, there’s a good bit of generic technology here. Various firearms representing everything from early black powder guns to six-shooters and rifles can be found here, along with such gizmos as mechanical horses and steamboats. Even more exciting items, such as chainsaw-katana and freeze-bows powered by small steam engines, are include and there are a variety of core components that can be mixed and matched to create various weapons – though this always comes down to “apply fire effect to weapon” or something similarly generic.

Chapter 5 Rosuto-Shima - 26 pages

The setting itself is short but interesting. Clearly inspired by both westerns and samurai stories, Rosuto-Shima has been written specifically to be a roleplayer’s paradise. Crime and other problems seem to lurk around every corner, and at times it’s hard to imagine a character walking down the street without running into a dozen plot hooks. A strong variety of interesting cities and locations are presented in order to give the GM a firmer setting to play around in than just a general description. My favorite is easily Talu, the Floating City. What began as a brothel servicing warring navies soon became a town of floating gambling houses, taverns, and other nefarious establishments that attracted great attention. A haven for pirates and other outlaws, I see this city as being more than capable of sustaining many adventures on its own. What’s more, there’s a certain novelty to how it – and other locations – is presented that makes me more interested in exploring it than other stock setting towns. The potential for hiding contraband underwater alone deserves exploring. By including information on Plots and Rumors, Notable Locations, and Law Enforcement for each major locale the book does a good job of jumping to the material that matters most in a more action-adventure oriented RPG and letting some of the less exciting details fall by the wayside.

Chapter 6 Bestiary - 16 pages

While demons and the undead are both common adversaries, as you may expect from a game borrowing from Japanese lore and customs, the Bestiary is still wonderfully fresh. Rather than a long list of orcs and almost-orcs we have creatures that are interesting in their own right, and which could easily be the focus point of an entire adventure.

Take, for example, the clockwork dolls introduced here. Parents who lose their children sometimes have clockwork replicas built to ‘ease’ their grief. These creatures, however, are at least somewhat sentient and often outlive their buyers. Over time they have gone mad, or at least developed an unhealthy resentment towards real children, and so they try to find ways to inflict suffering on others. It’s easy to imagine a session based around loss, suffering, and the unintentional infliction of pain on others focusing in on one of these clockwork creations as the tragic villain of the piece.

Chapter 7 The Stories - 14 pages

This simple adventure does a good job of introducing Steampunk Musha while also spinning out a variety of plot hooks that could quickly become adventures in their own right. While short, ample GM support is provided to make this serial killer mystery easy to run with very little preparation.

My Take

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