There's an interesting.

For Samurai in Hyperborea I'd use Cataphract (samurai, I believe I've read somewhere, were quite adept at horseback fighting) or Fighter (lots of Weapon Mastery, plus Weapon Grand Mastery and Heroic Fighting, all do a very nice job of capturing samurai as portrayed in both Western and Japanese cinema).

I'd add Honour, Horsemanship, no shield allowed and no Chaotic alignment to the Fighter class to make a samurai subclass.

What disturb me most with 47 Ronin was the "based on a real event" speech at the beginning. WTF ? It's a movie about monsters, sorcery and invincible Keanu Reeves.
It's quite a good inspiration for L5R though. At least visually. 

Yeah.... my Bachelor's in history is based around feudal and pre-modern Japan... I have some problems with the Reeves movie, though I can put it aside if its fun. I imagine it irks the Japanese considering that 47 Ronin tale is a much loved cultural story. I understand there was some outrage against the Shogun miniseries because of the way it portrayed their history (many of the characters are based on historical figures). Anyway... i'll have to catch the movie on Netflix.

As far as samurai in Hyperborea... heck yes! The changes mentioned all sound good... no shields, lawful, etc. Mounted archery was an important skill to samurai of the early period, though it was a rarity by the 16th century, when matchlocks were adopted. The bow they used, the daikyu, should be considered a longbow, it is unique in that the handle is off-set to allow its use from the saddle. Do a quick search for the modern sport "yabusame" for examples.

For questions I'd weapon mastery, I might restrict it to:
Bastard sword (katana)
Short scimitar (wakizashi)
Longbow (daikyu)
Long spear (yari )
Glaive/halberd (naginata)
Maybe a few other "most common" or respected weapons.

Last edited by joseph (4/07/2014 4:03 pm)

Yeah I can usually do that, I see movies for what they are ..entertainment. Same thing with the Last Samurai, terrible history but not a terrible flick.

For those interested in samurai film:
Seven Samurai
The Hidden Fortress
Ran
Yojimbo
Sanjuro
Sword of Doom
Zatoichi (many film versions)
Lone Wolf and Cub (5 films?)
47 Samurai
Musashi Miyamoto (Mifune trilogy)
Musashi Miyamoto (5-film series)
Rashomon
Kwaidan
Shinobi no mono (ninja series)

Ran, Rashomon, and Seven Samurai. Impossible to go wrong there.

Odysseus wrote:

Add to that Hideo Gosha's movies like 3 outlaw samurai, Goyokin or Hitokiri.
This last one might be better appreciated if you have some knowledge about the historical characters portrayed.
 

Another great director!
As far as favorites, all of the Akira Kurosawa films are excellent, I an particularly found of Yojimbo and Sanjuro. Seven Samurai is also great, and kind of D&D - a group of unemployed samurai are hired to protect a farming village from banditry. The characters are great!

Aside from those, Sword of Doom is visually fantastic and has very interesting characters. The main character is actually the bad guy. The movie ends abruptly, but it is in fact only the first part of a novel called "Great Buddha Pass." The remainder was never completed ...though another trilogy called Sword Devil does the whole tale.

I'm also fond of the Shinobi series... if you want to see reasonably believable ninja films, this is them.

The original Zatoichi films are great adventures, but since there are so many (like 26?) they can be formulaic but still fun... I mean, the hero is a blind masseuse master swordsman, who protects the weak and does a little gambling on the side, fully employing his super-hearing to cheat.

Thanks for your list there, joseph! I will be cheking out Sword of Doom and Shinobi for sure

Saw The VVitch with two capital Vs (not a W). Very, Very cool horror flick set in 17th century New England. Creepy, subtle and authentic feeling with a good script and good acting. Really makes me want to feature a coven as the main antagonists in an adventure. Highly recommended!

I'm pretty excited to hear the director/writer has plans to make a Nosferatu film because I think he'd do a terrific job.

Handy Haversack wrote:

Chainsaw wrote:

Saw The VVitch with two capital Vs (not a W).

I saw this, too! It was good. I think my interpretation was different from a lot of people's. I thought it was a successful animal-liberation parable starring an awesome goat. Here's what happens when you suck at farming and mistreat the animals, jerkwad! (. . . I may have shouted out loud in the theater.)

Hahaha!