Thoughts on Reading Usagi Yojimbo Roleplaying Game by Gold Rush Games

​Here we are with Greg Stolze’s Usagi Yojimbo game, the first of the breed, published by Gold Rush Games in 1997 and using the Fuzion system created by Mike Pondsmith and the folks at Hero Games.  Of the 3 RPGs based on Stan Sakai’s IP, this one is the simplest and the quickest read, while still holding all the flavor or Usagi’s world.  It’s not a super-exciting system, but it does have a few cool features.
 
Let me note that I have not played this game, only read the text, so take my thoughts and evaluations for what their worth.
 
This is my first time reading a game using the Fuzion system, so I was interested to see what it entailed.  Basically, or at least in this game’s version of it, it’s a roll+bonus.  Your character is made up of stats and skills.  The four stats are physical, mental, combat, and movement.  Those stats will start out ranging between 3 and 8 here.  In addition, there is a pre-set list of skills that define how well you can do certain things.  Because this is Usagi’s world, you character has a species (dog, cat, rabbit, fox, etc.) and an occupation (bodyguard, wanderer, monk, etc.) that give you bonuses to your stats ands skills along with special powers.  After you make those basic decisions and, you have a small pool of points to finish off your character by buying skills and stats.  In the end, your stats will range between zero (if you put no points into buying them and got no bonuses due to your species and occupation choices) and 8 (technically, the numbers go as high as 10, but the game limits how much you can begin with.  Then, during the game, when you go to do a thing and want to roll to see the results, you roll 3D6 (always) and add your relevant stat and relevant skill scores.  So let’s say you have a 5 combat and a 4 kenjutsu skill (that’s skill with a sword), you’d roll 3D6 and add 9.  If it’s an opposed roll, as it would be in combat, you compare your total with your opponent’s total, and the highest roll wins.  If it’s an unopposed roll, the GM sets a “task number” for you to hit to be successful, scaling that number to reflect the difficulty of the task, with 14 being easy and 26 being nigh impossible.
 
And that’s it for the basic mechanic of the game.  It’s a rather uninspiring system, from the concept to the stat names.  On the plus side, it’s really easy to understand and use.  Like all the other Usagi RPGs that would follow it, this game saved its most exciting mechanics for combat. In order to create dramatic rounds of one-on-one dueling, Stolze creates a little rock-paper-scissors set of strategies at each combatant much choose from in any given round.  The three strategies are “total attack,” “cautious attack,” and “total defense.”  Depending on what your opponent chooses, the outcome varies from no one takes damage, to someone takes double damage.  Stolze recommends using a selection of playing cards for each combatant so that choices can be revealed simultaneously, each suit representing a strategy.  That sounds fun, and it allows for dramatic pauses in the conversation that mirror the full-page panels in the comic as both characters stare each other down before battle.  This technique will go on to be developed even further in games like Burning Wheel, but this is a cool, stripped down version that can make for solid battle scenes.
 
The improvement system is simultaneously wishy-washy and interesting.  The game doesn’t come down with a single method to say “this is how you gain experience.”  Instead it offers several without a strong commitment to any.  And the way you spend experience points to improve your character is as dull as the skill system.  But one of the suggestions that Stolze makes for gaining experience is actually pretty fun and could serve to fuel a story in addition to improving a character.  Here’s the single sentence pitch: “To improve a skill, or gain an ability, you and your Game Master agree upon three tasks which will educate you in that ability or skill.”  So you say to the GM, I want to improve my physical stat, what can I do?  Then you can work out, say, that you’re going to climb the three highest mountains on Honshu, or you’re going to challenge the best wrestlers in three of the various towns you pass through, or whatever else strikes your collective fancy.  It’s a great way to give characters drive and purpose, and it’s both simple and malleable.
 
I also give the game credit for knowing exactly what it is.  All your skills play directly into your ability to find trouble, avoid trouble, or cause trouble.  We don’t need to worry about encumbrance, drowning, falling, or any of that jazz.  Everything beyond the event horizon of trouble is left to freeplay.  You aren’t in danger of building a cool character with a bunch of suggestive skills only to find out that you don’t use any of them and should have buffed up your combat stat instead.
 
I really like the look and layout of the book.  There are a lot of panels using Sakai’s art, and it’s pretty easy to find what you’re looking for, in part because the book is so short.  The whole book is about 90 magazine-sized page, with lots of pictures.  Stolze keeps it light on history and setting information, to his credit.  While there is plenty to draw on within the text itself, he clearly expects you to be familiar with the comics, the world it depicts, and the kinds of stories it tells.  Sadly, there are no tools for the GM, only advice.  Standard fair for a game in the late 90s, but disappointing all the same.
 
I’d happily play or run this game.
 
I think my favorite iteration of the three Usagi games is Jason Holmgren’s first edition for Sanguine, but I do prefer the way this version strips out all the small stuff, leaving healing to between adventures.  In all the versions, the systems put all the heavy lifting on the GMs and give them very little tools to lighten the load.  I hate to say it, but there’s still room for a fourth Usagi game.