Jon Slack's Blossoms Review

From Burning Wiki

Excerpt from : Race & Rpgs: The Blossoms are Falling - Setting Book Done Right.

Sweet mother of mercy. Mr. Crane, you make good RPGs. So I'm learning about Heian Era Japan. The Blossoms are Falling is a setting book for Burning Wheel, being released during Gen-Con. It focuses on this Era, along with it's tales of spirits and demons, in a very rich and incredibly entertaining setting. I managed to snag a pre-order before it's official release during Gen-Con. Now, I just got the PDF thus far, the physical book is on it's way by post. Sadly this can take a bit. But with the PDF, I was able to run a small session of the game, and rather than crosspost, you can give it a read over here. (My handle is Glendower over on the BW forums) Post 1 deals with the creation of the game, and post 5 has a nice Actual play report. I also recorded the game, both to take care of note taking (my hands cramp up really badly when I write with a pen, and laptops tend to distract me) and because I'm a big fan of recording and posting Actual play. I'm still cutting and finishing the recording, but I'll toss a link up when it's ready. The book is beautiful, and I very much like it's clear reading of the historical backdrop of the end of the Heian-era for Japan. We're talking about the pre-dawn of the Samurai, the events that take place to push forward the warrior culture as dominant, the rise of the Shogun, the decline of the court nobility in several key conflicts, with it's results changing the culture dramatically. I've been inspired by the text to learn more about this era, utilizing many web resources listed at the end of the book for everything from fashion to foods. It's been educational, and the material really encourages you to do your homework to make the world come alive. After the glut of "ninja/samurai porn" that most Japanese setting books have, this is a really respectful and detailed work. Plus the game I'm running focuses around a budding romance between a Ronin disguised as a cook, and the head of a Japanese Onsen (hot spring bathhouse). The play session was just an hour and a half, and it flowed beautifully. I encourage anyone and everyone to pick up this book. It's a great read for those that don't love Burning Wheel, and a useful resource for those that are a BW fan.

I Would Knife Fight a Man
By: Jon Slack

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