This game is 18+

Shogun is a weekend-long freeform for 72 players, loosely set in our version of late 16th century Japan. However, the game is not an historical re-enactment and, whilst inspired by the setting and time of the eponymous novel, is in no way a recreation of that story.

Our primary driver in writing this game has been to make it a fun role-playing experience for all participants. This means we have made some significant changes to the setting to include concepts from a variety of East Asian cultures and non-traditional sources. We have tried always to be cognizant of cultural appropriation and inadvertent offence to the culture we are depicting, but dramatic opportunity and roleplaying have always been the primary focus of the game.

We hope that we can be forgiven for sacrificing realism for the purposes of fun and playability.

Character Gender

Your Character

All players will be required to complete a casting form in order to communicate your character preferences. Once all casting forms have been completed, players will be assigned their characters and given a short character hint. It is important that you express any concerns you may have at this time as there may be a possibility of altering the assignment of characters. Your full character sheet will be sent to you closer to the game.

Your character sheet will give you all the information regarding your character. It will include your character’s name and any titles, some general information and stats, an overview of how people see you, some background about your characters, various areas of interest, a summary of goals, any skills, abilities, or items you have, and who you know. All the information on your character sheet is from the point of view of that character and is subjective based on your own knowledge and opinion.

The information provided will give you a baseline for your character however as the game progresses your character may change and grow depending on the interactions you have. There is no right or wrong way to play but we ask you to try and step into your characters shoes for a while and connect with what they might feel, think the way they do, and behave how they would. Allow yourself to make decisions based on what your character would do.

Each character has a list of goals which may help you get started with the character. You may decide to pursue certain goals and abandon others. Sometimes you may find you have contradictory goals and you will need to decide which is the most important to your character.

There will be secrets that will be revealed in game. For this reason we ask that you are careful about what you share with other players prior to the game. Different characters will have different levels of knowledge regarding different plots and discussing plots prior to the game may spoil the experience for another player.

Your character sheet will give you everything you need to get started. We suggest you read it carefully to begin with and after that it is yours to study, transform, cry on and play. The character is yours to interpret however you wish. Feel free to ask any questions to the GMs if you are unsure of something.

 

Influences

Books

Shogun by James Clavell
The novels of Robert van Gulik about Judge Dee
The novels of Laurah Joh Rowland about Sano Ichiro
The novels of Dorothy and Thomas Hoobler about Samurai
Samurai William by Giles Milton
Nathaniel's Nutmeg by Giles Milton
Servant of the Empire by Janny Wurts / Raymond E Feist

Films/TV

Hidden Fortress
Rashomon
Ran
Yojimbo
The Seven Samurai
Throne of Blood
Hong Kong Shuffle
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
13 Assassins
Sanjuro
The Hidden Blade
Zatoichi
Hero
House of Flying Daggers

Manga

Lone Wolf and Cub
Samurai Executioner
Path of the Assassin
Lady Snowblood

Costuming

The following are sources for ideas on costuming (note these are for information purposes only and have not been vetted per se):

If you know of any good resources, please send them to us ( shogun-gms@ishtari.co.uk ) and we will add them in here.


To keep current with all the latest news and discussions, you should join the Shogun Weekend Game facebook event page:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1056479872308084

For those who prefer to avoid Facebook, we have also set up a Shogun mailing list where all formal announcements will also be reposted. ShogunUKFreeforms+subscribe@groups.io

There is also a Discord Server for the game: Shogun UK 2025

Should you have any questions for the GMs you can email us at shogun-gms@ishtari.co.uk