For those who took part in Kyoto Song I or II, I have made some modifications to the game. While the set up is similar to before, there are a few new twists to keep things interesting and less of an all-or-nothing daimyo on daimyo battle fest. As before, I will starting the game with a glossary and rough background of feudal Japan to help those who don't know much about the era (or the fantasy of the era) beyond "ninjas sneak around and kill shit".

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The year is 1598. It has been a year since the puppet shogun, Ashikaga Yoshiaki, has died. Japan/Nihon has been torn by bitter fighting amongst the daimyos, the regional lords who battle and scheme in the power vacuum left in the wake of Yoshiaki's death. Amongst these daimyos, three have risen to vie for the role of shogun, the ultimate military dictator of all Japan: Toronaga, Tozama, and Yamasu. Each of these three daimyos recruits amongst the peasantry to fortify their samurai army with ashigaru footsoldiers, with some adopting new gunpowder weapons from the West.

At the same time, the land is ravaged by bandits and the coasts by ships of wako pirates. While this danger threatens all of Nihon, the daimyos must also band together against these outside threats.

Each of you will help decide the fate of Nihon. By battle and by guile, you will work to prop up your daimyo while eliminating your enemies. But who is the enemy? Do you defeat the other daimyos to secure your lord's place as shogun, only to be defeated by Wako pirates? Or do you join with your enemies against the forces that threaten Nihon from without?

For those unaligned, will you stand to the side, trying to survive in the chaos of war? Or will you bring your arms to help a daimyo, hoping to secure your position should he win?

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Notes: This game will involve customized roles, recruiting, surprise attacks, a mercenary ninja role, a groups of pirates and bandits, and even the "VTs" will have optional night actions (the peasants are revolting, after all).

The "alignments" in this game are not traditional scum vs town. Instead, a peasant may find himself conscripted into a daimyo's army, only to be free of his control when the daimyo is killed. The daimyos, and those allied with them, only win if they are the final surviving daimyo *AND* they remove the external threat of pirates and bandits. Many of the rest of you win only if you survive to this endgame point.

Days will be 48 hours with 24 hour nights. Weekends will count as "24 hours" (meaning that a day phase starting Friday would end Monday, Friday to Sunday being half, then Sunday to Monday being the other half). There will be no plurality, since it forces differing sides to have to work together to eliminate opponents, providing additional information to their opponents. There will be at least one round of Night 0 recruiting.

The game will start in a week or two, depending on how long it takes people to sign up. The sign up thread is below and is open to all- if you wish to play "secretly" you can PM me and I'll have you on the list as ????. It is a full alias game: I can provide fake "aliases" if you are unable to develop your own.

Signups:

1. Ahoda
2. Curtis
3. Josh
4. Tricks
5. Nav
6. TIB
7. farlig
8. spin
9. Lamps
10. JJ
11. DS
12. J$
13. Jackie
14. im317
15. Sock
16. Primate
17. Jamie
18. Herm
19. Darkus Black
20. ????
21. timmah
22. ????
23. Merc
24. Wikey
25. Robbnav
26. Havo
27. Zach
28. ????
29. Misunderstoodspider
30. TT

You've played two versions already, so you know the basic drill. :)

Spin @ 15/9/2018 15:15

One of these times I'll get something other than a VT role in these. Maybe. In.

Didn't you get the Shinto Monk last time? Or am I remembering wrong?

JJ @ 15/9/2018 16:17

Do we need Japanese aliases?

Nope- last time I remember just from the aliases I created for people I had a know it all nerd from the future and a Portuguese explorer. This is like any other alias game who you can be whoever you want.

I remember DS was an ancient Roman general, IIRC.

Got everyone to here.

I think I gave you a character last time, im317, so no problem. Or you can use your zersch ORG one. Nobody will tell on you.

everyone updated to here

Added our first anon player.

I'm also deciding whether to get a new board or to use the old one, which has most of the set up already and just needs some tweaks for new groups.

Last two times, there was no plurality. If you think you can get a majority vote sooner than that, I'll shorten it. But otherwise you are gonna have a lot of no lynches if people don't stay active.

Still in Step 1: Signups

Then we have to collect aliases (though a few people wrote already)

Some folks are a character underneath their alias, but they could be a Daimyo Lord pretending to be Primate's dog. If I assign people say, Lord Toranaga, as their name, it will make it super easy to find the daimyo.

I can set you up with one, but it is likely more fun if you have a character you want to get into a bit.

Though I might have an idea for Spin's already.

Ahoda @ 21/9/2018 7:29

Sock @ 21/9/2018 7:19 Make me be ahoda If anyone could pull me off, it would be you

This was Ahoda's wedding vows.

Starting to build the board for this, so everyone needs to think about their aliases.

OK- board is made, so I am starting the set up. With that in mind, folks should start working on their aliases.

OK, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that the vacation we had to put off for the work on our bathroom is available Columbus Day Weekend. The bad news is that even if I started today, the game would end up having to take a five day hiatus while I went and hung out in Connecticut.

So I'm going to postpone the game temporarily until after the Halloween-theme game. This will also give folks more time to come up with aliases (I have about six of them in so far, so you have time to think up some good ones).

Since we're under 30 players, I've also made a few adjustments to the set up. If we get any more players before start, I can include those elements again.

Sorry for the delay but not sorry to be enjoying vacation soon. :P