Let the Haunt begin!


So, I was recommended this site when talking about sharing what I made and so I decided to upload what I have finished so far.

Yurei World is inspired by and is based off a game called After School Curse Club. The premise of the roleplaying game is a monster-of-the-week style J-horror game where characters, be they native to Japan, foreigners, or even spiritual creatures, must fight against disturbed spirits known as Yurei and must dispose of them, either by banishing them or by resolving unfinished business.

Players play as these characters while one of them plays the role of the Yurei Master, controlling the NPCs and Yurei, as well as the story they tell. While it's a roleplaying game, the usual aim is much like After School Curse Club: players must complete a Talisman to banish the Yurei. 

I feel as though the game's pretty straightforward, though I have added some Playbooks (basically the Powered by the Apocalypse equivalent of classes) that change up how you play the game. There are nine Playbooks I have considered, three of each belonging to these three categories:

  • Native: Characters who are inherently Japanese and thus are strong-willed towards the Yurei.
  • Foreigner: Characters who are from another part of the world, using their investigative skills to solve the Yurei cases.
  • Spiritual: Characters who are either spiritually attuned or are spirits themselves, weighing in on the Yurei conflict.

Every playbook comes with a bonus point to a stat that you use, as well as Boons (bonuses that help you in the game), Banes (flaws that either flesh out the story or give you a significant disadvantage along with a slight advantage) and Enlightenments (things to help upgrade your Boons), as well as a unique move that they can do, each being customizable from the start as well as when your character progresses with each Yurei defeated.

So far, there's only three that are complete, though they may be subject to change following a playtest.

  • The Senior: A venerable character who has seen it all and while retired, is ready for one last adventure. The Senior's play style is growth-themed. Although the Senior starts off with less than stellar bonuses that only apply to menial tasks like building, by utilizing the Enlightenments or bonus Banes, to gain additional bonuses to more relevant skills.
  • The Detective: Ripped right out of a film noir, the Detective arrives to Japan ready to crack a cold case wide open while closing a hot case. The Detective's play style is device-based. Their Boons usually are used once per session, which makes for interesting tension as you struggle to find when the best time is for the Detective to use their gun in a society heavily stingy on firearms.
  • The Miko: A shrine keeper who tends to the shrine, they are tasked by their deity to quell the Yurei. The Miko's play style is magic-based. Their signature Move allows them to cast spells, their boons include exorcise Yurei easier, having the Yurei Master give you an idea of what to do, or not consume the Talisman completely when preforming Moves with it.

Along with this, there are six other Playbooks that are in their conception phase, each referencing a piece of pop culture:

  • The Student: Your typical student protagonist. I feel as though their play style is beginner-friendly.
  • The Employee: A stressed out salaryman. Their play style would most likely revolve around building up stress and then venting it out in some way (maybe death metal?)
  • The Blogger: An intrepid who would boldly run across traffic or sleep in a spooky forest to gain likes. Their play style would be using their viewers to assist them in situations.
  • The Businessman: The person who closes out deals and opens up new ones. I feel as though their play style would be a contrast to the Blogger. While the Blogger uses outsiders to help them out, the Businessman would use his money to influence insiders to help them out.
  • The Shinigami: Translating to Death God, I feel as though their play style could be pretty meta-themed.
  • The Yokai: The play style I feel is more or less gonna be "Hey, you wanna play a Pokemon?"

With those in mind, I hope you guys enjoy this game I created.

Files

Yurei World (with three playbooks).pdf 343 kB
Jan 27, 2019

Get Yurei World

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