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Ronin is a new d20 OGL game published by Highmoon Media Productions.  The product description at RPGnow looks something like this:

My review copy is a watermarked PDF that weighs in at around 10MB and 139 pages.  The cover image is simple, but I like it.  I opted to review this product because of a mailing list post that billed the game as “Roleplaying in Tokugawa Japan.”  Now my friends will testify of my distaste for Japanophilia, but I’ll give an honest look at any RPG that aims for a low/no-magic historical feel.  You might want to grab a snack and a drink and before reading on, this review is a long one.

Alright, let us move on to the the table of contents.  Along the left border of the page we see a vine, pagoda and Buddha statue.  This image is re-used on the border of every page.  It’s quite grainy and could use some serious polish (it appears on every page).  The chapters are broken down as follows:  Rise of the Tokugawa Shogunate, Tokugawa Japan, The Way of the Samurai, The Way of the Commoner, The Way of the Outcast, Social Class and Culture, Skills and Feats, Magic, Equipment, and Bestiary of Feudal Japan.  The PDF is strangely lacking a bookmarked Table of Contents (they might want to get that fixed).

The first chapter is a very thorough overview of the history of Japan up to the Tokugawa Shogunate (which is referred to in the book as the present day).  Included are sidebars on the mythology of Japan, the use of Japanese words in the book (and their pronunciation), and a brief time-line of Japan’s history.  The second chapter is all about the day-to-day activities of the people of the time; it covers things like food, climate and terrain, government and law, religion and faith, art, culture, and noteworthy locales.

At the end of chapter two is a brief section on the inclusion of magical and fantastical elements in what would otherwise be a purely historical setting. This really should be a sidebar in a chapter dedicated to running the game. This section, which I consider to be of some importance, is easily missed along with the mechanical information on things like Honor and tea ceremonies from later chapters. This highlights two particular problems with this book: the table of contents merely lists chapters, and the “crunch” sometimes runs-in with the “fluff.” It would be preferable to also list the sub-sections of the chapters in the table of contents while including more visual cues that enable readers to easily identify the mechanical portions of the book. Now don’t dismiss this book just because of these organizational gaffes — Ronin is stil full of excellent content. Highmoon Media should definitely consider hiring an editor, though.

Chapters three, four and five detail the three castes of player characters available: Samurai, Commoner, and Outcast.  Each caste’s chapter includes lots of details and information about the dress and activities of the members of that caste (such as the incredibly detailed section on samurai dress).  At the end of each caste’s chapter is a section detailing the availability of SRD classes for that caste. There is some advice for adapting the Barbarian, Bard and Ranger classes for inclusion in such settings. Druids, Monks, Paladins, Sorcerers and Wizards simply don’t work in strictly-historical settings, so some new character classes are introduced.

Each caste has one new class available to it, in addition to a couple of new prestige classes. The Courtier (samurai gentry), Shudoshi (an enlightened and skillful healer) and Vagabond (an experienced wandering outcast) are introduced for the Samurai, Commoner and Outcast castes, respectively. Samurai also have new prestige class options in the form of the Medium and the Blade Saint, whereas Commoners have the Merchant and Hedge Witch and Outcasts have the Shinobi (ninja) and Blind Swordsman (for when you want your character to be an obvious nod to Zatoichi).

Chapter six, Social Class and Culture, begins with a section on substituting social class for race.  This section should probably come before the character classes section and, ideally, it would be broken down and included in the previous three chapters.  There are also a few new races that are appropriate for a fantasy-Japan setting.

Chapter seven covers the new uses of skills and new feats found within the book.  Craft (Alchemy) can be used to make gunpowder.  The Perform skill has some new uses for kabuki theater, haiku, tea ceremonies and weapon maneuvers.  Only Perform (tea ceremony) features any new mechanics — haiku and kabuki theater are just specialized poetry and theater, and weapon maneuvers might as well be juggling.  There’s a note on “low” skills: actions a samurai would simply not be caught doing.  There are several new feats here, and they all fit in well with the setting.

There’s a section at the end of chapter seven that covers flaws.  There are a few new flaws listed here, one of which is a prerequisite for the new Blind Swordsman PrC.  Characters taking a flaw at character creation still get a bonus feat (should the DM allow that variant rule), but characters that are inflicted with the flaw after character creation do not get a bonus feat.  This is good — taking a flaw and a bonus feat at character creation is representative of your character having lived with that flaw for some time and adjusting to it in some way.  That sort of adjustment doesn’t happen instantaneously.

The chapter on Magic is very brief. There are descriptions of the roles of magic users in a fantasy-Japan setting (miracle workers, shrine maidens, etc), gives a handful of new spells and 6 new magic items.  The only problem I have with this section is the Rust Cloud spell (Drd 6).  Basically, all non-magical iron and iron-alloy items within the area (30 foot radius centered on caster, 20 feet high) are destroyed and/or ruined.  Such armor loses 1d6 AC (it is destroyed if it reaches 0 AC) and such weapons are destroyed outright.  Magical items are unaffected, with the exception of golems and constructs (which are specifically mentioned as being affected, taking 3d6+casterlvl damage).  That’s kinda crazy, in my opinion.

The ninth chapter, Equipment, opens up with an introduction to the units of currency used in fuedal Japan.  There is a chart that gives the Japanese names of the standard SRD weapons in addition to a note whether or not the weapon is considered “low” (that is to say, Samurai would not be seen using such weapons).  There are four new exotic weapons and six new miscellaneous items.  Armor is no different than in the SRD.

The tenth and final chapter is a bestiary.  It includes many notes about the animals of feudal Japan and several monsters that would be appropriate for a fantasy-Japan setting.  My only gripe with this section is that there are no example entries for human entities.

I really like a lot of the things in this book. It’s very focused on helping you to run or play a d20 game in a feudal Japanese setting and it excels in delivering the information you need to do so.  If you’re looking to run a d20 game in a more historical, true-to-life setting, then you should strongly consider picking up Ronin.  Be sure to check back later (hopefully no more than a week) when I post a actual-play report.