It's funny how a map can inspire an entire project, and then the project takes off before the map is even close to finished... I started work on a fantasy modification of Japan (repainted the country, created new province names, etc), and before long, I found myself working out a complete Japanese fantasy setting.

I've never been happy with Oriental Adventures, and from what I've gleaned of Legend of the Five Rings, I wasn't much more impressed. As a fan of Japanese culture, I decided to work out a setting with the following goals in mind:
  1. Import classic roleplaying races like Elves and Dwarves into a Japanese setting and make them natives. Include them in the creation mythos, and give them their own views on religion, cleanliness, respect for kami, arrangement of marriages, ancestor worship, and so forth.
  2. Rework the way classes operate; being a samurai is a social class, while being a swordsman is an adventuring class. Characters can be both a noble and an wizard, or a farmer and an archer, without being treated as 'multiclassing'.
  3. For the sale of depth of role-playing, realistically acknowledge that men and women are not treated entirely as equals, without crippling women as PCs. Women have their own unique social limitations, rights, abilities, protections, and so on that serve as both obstacles and advantages.
  4. Create a more historically accurate... or at least believable ninja. Ninja do not run around in black pajamas.


Though "Tsuchirou to Tatsu" (T&T) may directly translate to "Dungeons and Dragons" in English, I'm trying to avoid making it locked into a single gaming system. Though my official starting point is D&D 3.5e, I'm trying to keep most of the creative material as "system-free" as possible so it can be easily picked up by players of Pinwheels, Anima, D&D 4e, and other systems.

I'd appreciate as much input, helpful criticism, and comments as I can get! If you have any questions or suggestions, please let me know.

Tsuchirou to Tatsu Project Wiki