Tales from Plum Mountain

A wily local lord has granted a hapless ronin (a wandering, masterless samurai) a large estate on his lands. A remote swathe of land between snowy mountains and a great river.  After years on the road, the estate is a dream come true for the samurai. A large house, orchard, village and a modest spread of rice fields.  A place to settle after years of wandering.   There is a catch of course—the place is cursed, teeming with monsters and ghosts.  But the daimyo is not entirely unscrupulous. He sees something in his new minion—tenaciousness, skill or simply good fortune—that suggests he might just survive.

The game requires a single main character to be the ronin awarded the estate. Either a high-ranking samurai (therefore something of a poet, calligrapher, scholar). Or of a lower rank but with impressive grit to compensate.

Other characters could be his companions or members of his retinue. A lower ranked ronin, monk/nun, veteran peasant soldier, sumo wrestler or entertainer.

Or additional characters could be locals who come to his assistance: a cunning magistrate, shinobi (secret agent), farmer, ex-bandit, yamabushi (hermit), or ryoshi (hunter/trapper). Or anything else that appeals to you.    

— you don’t have to be an expert in Japanese history, but hopefully know few of its tropes. I don’t claim to be an expert and don’t want the game to be a history lesson. 

—I’d like to play at a decent post rate (every two days ).

—play will include few maps, aids, etc as I don’t have a lot of time to prep resources. For the same reasons, we’ll just go with the SWADE’s core edges and hindrances.

—the game will include supernatural elements. I’ll poll players as to the extent of fantasy requested, but it won’t be a hard historical game. 

I’m keeping the setting period and location slightly vague  so we don’t get pinned down by details of real history. Some time in the the early Tokugawa period . Outright war is rare but tensions bubble beneath the  surface. The Shogunate maintains expensive spy networks and imposes restrictions on wheeled vehicles and bridge building to maintain its control.The location is rugged NW  Honshu (Japan’s main island).