Yokai Hunters Society | Review

In this review we talk about Yokai Hunters Society, a GdR rules-light on the hunters of creatures (in fact, the “yokai”) of the folklore of Japan of the Meiji era.

Born from the ideas of Chema González and published in English by Punkpadour, the game is localized in Italian by Nigredo Press and published by MS Edizioni, and we thank them for sending us a copy to review. We recommend that you follow Punkpadour on their site, itch.io and Instagram to stay up to date on their many projects. Please note that on the itch.io page, you can find many tools and adventures for the game.

You can find the game on the Lulu Punkpadour page for 10$ for the physical version including PDF; otherwise, you can find here only the digital version for 4$.

Structure and Art of the Manual

The manual has 36 pages, is pocket-sized and easily transportable. The effect of the slightly yellowed paper makes reading even more pleasant and does not strain the eyes.

In addition, the excellent use of italics and bold allows convenient navigation of the manual and an immediate focus on keywords. In addition, the pages on the regulations and the section dedicated to the narrator (here called Grandmaster, of course, GM) are on a black background, so you can find them immediately when you browse the manual.

The manual explains in a very minimal way what an RPG is and how to approach it; this implies that a basic knowledge of the subject is needed, although the regulation then proves to be simple.

The illustrations, all well made and impressive, are a strength of Yokai Hunters Society and you can see some of them in this review; they are all in black and white and follow a style inspired by classic Japanese hand drawing.

Japan in Yokai Hunters Society

In Yokai Hunters Society we are in a Japan (during the Meiji era, that is between 1868 and 1912) in which the supernatural and yokai exist, leading to a pleasant combination of historical references and folkloric elements.

It is a period that brings great changes and innovations, aiming at the modernization of the country; two key elements of this process are, for example, the abolition of the feudal system or the restructuring of the army. However, this has also led to great discontent among the population and an increase in sightings of Yokai. The Yokai Hunters Society brings together people who are brave and ready to protect their country.

The manual offers insights into politics, religion, economics and other aspects of Japan at that time, but always in a synthetic and essential way; this can be an excellent strength because it allows narrators and players to embroider their stories on a solid basis, but consequently also requires a basic knowledge of the subject (or the desire to delve into it). I admit that I would have appreciated a map or some topographical indication to indicate the places that can be exploited for the various adventures.

To overcome this, various questions that players and the GM can ask themselves during the zero session are suggested, so as to deepen the game world according to what you want to highlight.

Creating Yokai Hunters

Creating a character in Yokai Hunters Society is very fast and takes at most ten minutes, a very welcome feature given the high mortality of the game.

A PG is composed of Name, Surname, two Traits, Age and Occupation. These items can be chosen or generated randomly by pulling 4d6 per column on the Character Creation table.

Our Hunter has four Paths to face the various situations: Courage, Self-Control, Wisdom and Sharpness; in creation, we will have to distribute 4 points between them and the more the value will be high the more chances we will have to succeed during the various Actions.

As a last step, we will have to determine the Health Points (HP), whose value equals 8 + the value of Courage, and the Curse Resistance, which starts from 2 plus the value of Self-Control. This counter is fundamental among the game mechanics because it will allow us to obtain bonuses attracting bad luck, but we will talk about this later.

Finally, we will have to summarize in one sentence the Background of our PG, to give it even more depth and thus conclude the creation phase.

Equipment

Obviously, our PC cannot hunt monsters with his bare hands and will need the right tools of the trade.

Each Hunter can carry up to 8 items before becoming Encumbered; in this state, for each item beyond the limit, he must subtract 1 from any Self-Control or Courage roll. During the creation phase, a PG has 3 free items of which 2 must be linked to his Occupation; in case the player needs inspiration, the manual provides a convenient table full of interesting ideas.

One of the most interesting mechanics for me is related to the objects: when used during a roll they can provide a bonus to improve the success in the Test. This bonus is determined when you purchase or create the item via a Wisdom roll; the better the roll, the higher the bonus. The value has a minimum of +1, but does not have a maximum score and this leaves open many narrative and at the same time mechanical possibilities.

Thanks to very narrative and simple equipment management, our sessions can flow smoothly without getting lost in complex mechanics.

Review of the Advancement in Yokai Hunters Society

Advancement is how our PG is empowered and experienced so that we can deal with dangers more and more efficiently. Each time a mission is completed, the Hunter earns 2 points; these can be spent in three ways:

• Increase the value of one of the Paths: each point spent coincides with a +1 to a Path. But beware: only one can reach 5, while the others can reach a maximum score of 4, 3, and 2 respectively.
• Increase HP: each point spent increases the maximum of our Health Points by 1; the maximum number of Health Points reachable is 15.
• Obtain Resistance to the Curse: even here there is a maximum value and it is 4.

In addition to this, we will write a short sentence about our Background on how that mission influenced and changed us. This new sentence will count as a true Trait for the purposes of the regulation.

The result is a very simple and functional growth system, which is not lost in complex calculations and also has an excellent narrative component to give more and more depth to our Hunter.

Yokai Hunters Society System

The game system of Yokai Hunters Society is simple, lethal and fast, always giving a feeling of constant danger and adrenaline.

When a Hunter performs an action in which he is likely to fail, the player must perform a Trial. It begins by deciding the most suitable Path: Wisdom for actions that require knowledge, Courage for those characterized by impetus or anger; Self-control is used instead for cases in which you do not have to be carried away by emotions and Acumen for actions that involve the senses.

Then roll 2d6 and add the score of the chosen Path, comparing the result with the level of difficulty chosen by the narrator; if matched or exceeded, you have a success. In most situations, the difficulty level will be 10, but in the case of particular Antagonists or PNGs, the value may be higher. The 9 will always generate success with an unexpected consequence; this is because in Japanese culture, the manual explains, it is considered an unfortunate number.

Obviously, the shot can be improved by taking advantage of the Equipment that will add bonuses to the shot. Also if we do an action in line with our Traits, Background or Occupation we will roll with Advantage, that is we will roll 3d6 and ignore the lowest result; while if we are in an unfavourable situation we will roll with Disadvantage: we will use 3d6 and ignore the highest result.

The Cursed Die

When we want to try to improve a single action, we can resort to the Cursed Die. We will then add to our 1d8 pool and ignore the die with the lowest result. We will have to be careful because if the Cursed Die gives a greater result than our Cursed Resistance we will lose a point of this counter. By the time it reaches 0, we will be Cursed and each subsequent roll will be made with Disadvantage.

To solve this situation we will have to purify our soul by going to a priest or a place of worship. Obviously, the process will never be free and could lead to many new game situations and/or missions to face.

So the Cursed Die is a system that allows you to have more chances of success, but at the same time can involve risks that increase the level of tension of the narrative.

Combat System

The combat of Yokai Hunters Society involves two methods of management. In the first case, the combat management is completely narrative; otherwise, for those who appreciate a more schematic style of play, you can use the Initiative; simply the PGs will roll 1d6 and sum up the chosen Path, while the Antagonists will roll 1d6 plus their difficulty level. At this point, you go in order from the highest to the lowest. During your turn, you can only perform one action and move 30 feet.

Speaking of combat, I want to highlight another fundamental point of the regulation: the GM never rolls dice, neither for the Antagonists nor for the NPCs; it will simply be the Hunters who react to the actions and have to defend and counter.

For this reason, the damage you receive when you fail a defence is calculated by the difference between the total result of the shot and the level of difficulty of the Antagonist. In the same way, the damage caused to the Antagonists also works, as a result of the difference between the total of the shot and the level of difficulty.

As a mechanic it is very stimulating to manage the HP of the NPCs; these correspond to their level of difficulty and therefore every time the HP go down also the level of difficulty goes down. For yokai things work in a similar way, only that they will always have some HP more than their difficulty level so they will have to be damaged a little before making the tests easier. This simple and intuitive mechanic effectively gives the idea of how a damaged enemy loses danger as time goes by.

Review of the Grand Master Section of Yokai Hunters Society

The section reserved for the Grand Master is quite contained as a number of pages but contains various insights, ideas for Missions, tables and ready-to-use creatures.

The first paragraphs explain the role of the GM and his relationship with the other players, reiterating that they are not opponents but must collaborate to create a compelling story.

A series of questions are then provided to add a personal touch to the setting. For example, some are: Is the Emperor aware of the Yokai Hunters Society? How serious is the Yokai problem?

Then the manual focuses on the difficulty of the Trials and advice is given on how to manage it and how to adapt it to the various game situations; this can also be done through a practical table, in order to speed up the operation.

We also find a very interesting chapter on the management of time in play; this element is treated in such a way as to give it a practical narrative impact. Making the danger of a yokai loom over the fate of a small village can, for example, be another great way to keep the tension high.

Finally, there is a collection of tables to quickly create many game elements; they exist for missions, traditional Japanese masks, an NPC’s attitude towards Hunters and favours that a monk or priest might require.

I consider this section exhaustive, although I would have liked a further in-depth analysis on how to build and how to best manage an investigation.

The Bestiary and the NPCs

At the bottom of the manual, we find a bestiary of ready-to-use yokai and an explanation of how to create new NPCs.

The creation of NPCs, be they humanoids or animals, is very simple: just determine their level; adding 10 to this value you will get the level of difficulty. The manual also suggests that, if a NPC has a very important role in the story, it should be constructed as a Hunter and interpreted accordingly. It is also specified that the really interesting part of an NPC is its personality, its desires and its emotions; for this reason, it is better to focus more on these aspects than on the purely numerical side.

Creating a yokai requires the same steps except, as anticipated, a greater number of Health Points; the level of difficulty is set as written above. But the really interesting part is the special skills; they are those elements that can easily make them unique and in fact, there is no fixed list from which to take inspiration and the manual suggests to be inspired by the Japanese tradition.

The bestiary contains ten, complete with level and special abilities. Some of the most interesting in my opinion are:

• Kappa: amphibious humanoids that feed on human entrails.
• Nekomata: giant cats with various special abilities, such as throwing fireballs; they despise humans and want to enslave them.
• Rokurokubi: a cursed woman whose neck can be stretched to infinity to squeeze her victims.

So we find ourselves in front of a good bestiary with various examples that can be used at the table. If you want to expand, the manual proposes the yokai.com site by Matthew Mayer or the compendium Field Guide to Yokai.

Conclusions of the Review of Yokai Hunters Society

Summing up this review of Yokai Hunters Society, we can say that it is a great game for those who appreciate Japanese culture. The simple system also makes it quick to learn and carve.

It is to be praised for the care in the writing of texts and in the search for material to remain relevant to Japanese culture; by browsing it I would have read with pleasure a few more pages of setting, but one would have missed another factor worthy of note: the value for money; it is not easy to find such a curated manual at such a low price.

I, therefore, recommend the purchase to fans of Japan and RPG, but beware of curses and yokai that nestle in the shadows!

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