#What Kind of Game Is Konsei Reiyotan (混世霊妖譚)?
Contents
A Sengoku age of blades and yoma. A TTRPG of breath, held in two 10-sided dice.
#A World in One Breath
The bridge was narrow. Barely wide enough for two people to stand shoulder to shoulder on each side. Masamune stood in the middle and drew his blade. Beyond the mist, five shadows approached. Red skin. Twisted horns. Ko-oni descending from the mountain.
Behind him, five young spearmen raised their yari. It was their first time seeing yoma. Beneath the bridge, along the riverbank, Hayame held her breath between the rocks and circled toward the far side.
The lead ko-oni lifted its club. Masamune did not move a step. If he moved, the bridge would break open. In this breath, now — would he hold, cut, or let the blow pass?
That one breath was everything.
#What This Game Is
Konsei Reiyotan is a TTRPG about one breath exhaled on a narrow bridge in the Sengoku age.
- Era: Japan in the 15th to 16th centuries, while Oda Nobunaga and Tokugawa Ieyasu still lived. In this world, however, the gate to the Spirit Realm has opened. Oni descend from the mountains, tengu watch from towers, and the grudges of the war dead become vengeful spirits that wander the battlefield.
- Scale: Not a vast pitched battle, but clashes between small elite forces. 2 to 4 protagonists + several squads vs a yoma pack or an enemy detached unit.
- Tools: Two 10-sided dice. If you have two d10s in your pocket, you can roll every check in this game. There are no damage dice.
- Question: "What will you do in this breath?" This is not a loop of move-attack-repeat. It is a chain of choices, each one selecting a single possibility from ten branching paths.
#How Is It Different from Other TRPGs?
If the world's most famous RPG is "sword and sorcery," Konsei Reiyotan is "blade and yoma."
| Famous Fantasy TRPG | Konsei Reiyotan | |
|---|---|---|
| Dice | Several types of polyhedral dice | d10 x 2 only |
| Damage | Separate damage roll | No damage roll (whether it hit is everything) |
| Battlefield | Grid / 5 ft squares | Zone-based (Front Zone, Rear Zone, Core Zone, Flank Zone) |
| Scale | 1 hero at the center | Hero + squads (one person cannot hold the line alone) |
| Villains | Incomprehensible horror | Emotions you know too well — anger, grudge, and greed given form |
| Alignment | Good/evil, law/chaos | Three Ways and Six Hearts (Loyalty, Hegemony, Compassion, Void, Truth, Demon — six hearts) |
To "cut down" a yoma is only a stopgap. If the emotion remains, the yoma returns. The true solution is to resolve the grudge, seal it away, or purify it. That is why warriors, monks, and onmyoji fight together.
#What This Game Promises
#Choices Inside One Breath
On your count, you have five Energy to spend in sequence by default. Inside those five points are movement, attack, defense, command, and the twisting of fate. For a warrior holding a katana, a side cut, a thrust, and a parry shine in entirely different moments. If the enemy wears heavy armor, thrust. If the enemy rushes in, parry. This chain of choices creates combat.
#Heroes Who Fight with Squads
The samurai holds the Front Zone. Before him, ashigaru spearmen make a wall; behind him, an archer squad pours down rain. Heroes are strong, but they cannot hold the battlefield without soldiers. When a squad collapses, the line breaks.
#One Move that Twists Fate
The moment the two dice of 2d10 show the same number, an ordinary strike becomes a Critical Hit, and a small mistake turns suddenly into ruin. A character with the Fate(運) attribute can twist one die by ±1. If you fail to use it when you should, it is wasted; if you use it too early, it will not be there when you truly need it. That tension is the essence of Fate.
#A Rulebook Worth Reading
This rulebook is not a dictionary. Every rule is built in two layers: scent(香) and law(法).
- Scent says what that rule is within the world.
- Law says how that rule moves at the table.
What stance does a Licensed swordsman take when gripping the blade? How does the battlefield look through the eyes of a Master archer? The rules are written so that the image rises even when you read only the numbers.
#Roles You Can Take
In the status society of the Sengoku age, you can become almost anything. 6 base classes, 12 expansion classes, 12 fiend classes, and 3 outsiders from beyond the era — 33 classes in all.
- Warrior line: samurai, ronin, shinobi
- Spiritual line: onmyoji, esoteric monk, Pure Land monk, shugenja, feng shui master
- Rear line: scholar, merchant, artisan, entertainer
- Outside line: gaijin(Nanban gunner), wildlander, hanyo, arahitogami, autonomous automaton, puppeteer
- Fiend line: Shurado, Kekka, Tatarigami, Jikiniki, and 8 others
- Outsiders: modern person, heroic spirit, celestial
A commander bearing a daimyo's order. A ronin who lost their lord. An exorcist monk from a mountain temple. A gunner who crossed the sea from a foreign land. A shinobi running through the battlefield. — Whatever you become, you take up that breath on the bridge.
#The Names of Choice
Characters do not merely fight. They choose.
Will you obey your lord's command, or follow your own conviction?
Will you cut down the yoma, or understand it?
Will you protect your companion, or complete the mission?
Those choices move the Three Ways and Six Hearts — Loyalty(忠), Hegemony(覇), Compassion(慈), Void(虛), Truth(眞), Demon(魔). Six hearts. When the heart changes, the story changes.
#To Begin
- If you want to know the world → What Is This Game? · World Overview
- If you want to align table principles first → Golden Rule
- If you want to start from the roots of the rules → 9 Core Premises
- If you want to make a character right away → Making a Character
- If you want to roll one breath directly → First Combat · Example of Play
- If you want to see the whole map → Wiki Home
The bridge is narrow. The mist will soon lift. It is time to draw the blade.