I have joined the January game jam about samurai and I am very excited about it!

Participants have until the end of the month to create a samurai game (from video games to ttrpgs or whatever). I remembered I had an old project (a few notes and brief ideas) from back in the day when I wanted to create a hack of World of Dungeons for some games that have amused me in the past but with enormous rulesets that turned to be an hindrance more than anything. Legend of the Five Rings is one of those: the idea is cool and it included some concepts that were new for me (the Rokugan protocol and the system of advantages and disadvantages forced you to role play in a neat way that interacted with the rules). I think the whole concept is very cool and could work very well for a minimalistic game. Here are my goals:

• Simple mechanics and short game (less than 10 pages).
• No magic, no monsters. I never really liked the fantastic side of Rokugan.
• Rules for social progression. Players start as low-level samurai but with time they could become daimyos, warlords or even the new Shogun. 
• Obvious  tribute to the L5A game. I like the animal-based clan concept as it's very visual. 

The shogun has died leaving the Empire of the Hundred Islands without a government and on the brink of war. After decades of peace, the different samurai clans have begun to conspire in the shadows and mobilize their armies to seize power. These are times of fragile alliances, secret conspiracies and ruthless battles.

Welcome to Otaidokan, the Sapphire Island.

So, let's rock. I have 11 days left.