alhoon wrote:What rules do they use?
As stated, its designed for Pathfinder RPG Since Ravenloft is not OGC, I had to create my own horror rules. So its not Ravenloft. The setting is also Japan-inspired, it is not Japan, rather a cursed archipelago of islands (ready to drop into any campaign world). Like Ravenloft (sort of), I see Kaidan as a demi-planar bubble that coexists with the prime material plane. It has its own rules. You can travel there by ship, though its more difficult to leave - you can still leave by ship. However, one cannot teleport out of Kaidan. There is no plane shifting, no shadow walking, no astral travel. One can go ethereal, however Kaidan is cosmically connected to only two other planes, Yomi (the land of the dead) which is the ethereal plane, but is only connected to Kaidan and no other plane. Jigoku is the "hell" of Kaidan, and actually one of the layers of the Abyss.
I don't use Ravenloft's "Dark Powers" progression of 'gifts', nor any Insanity rules.
What makes Kaidan a dark setting involves PC Death. There is no Raise Dead, Reincarnation, nor Resurrection, at least not be spell. In life each character has a Karma score (probably maintained by the GM) based on Lawful and/or Good acts that denote positive karma (+1 point), while Chaotic and/or evil acts denote negative karma (-1 point) It takes a major deed of law or good to gain positive karma (its much slower than XP accumulation.) At PC Death, one's spirit goes to Yomi (the land of the Dead) for a period of 1 to 7 days. At which point one's accumulated karma score is tallied up. Some spells cast by a Miko (oracle) or Yamabushi (paladin) can grant positive or negative karma points during the burial rites to adjust the destination a spirit finally goes in the reincarnation process.
Kaidan relies on the Buddhist concept of the Wheel of Life or Sorrowful World cosmology. In Buddhist thought, everyone exists within the Wheel of Life. Though in modern thought these are states of mind, originally these different destinations in the reincarnation process, only though enlightenment can one escape the Wheel of Life and achieve Nirvana. In Kaidan seeking englightenment is considered heresy. The Wheel of Life is cosmically connected to the Kaidan social class system.
The Wheel of Life consists of six 'planes of existence': Heaven (realm of Apathy), Asuruas (realm of Jealousy), Human (realm of Choice), Animal (realm of uncontrolled instincts), Hungry Ghost (realm of greed), and Hell (realm of rage). In Kaidan the social caste system is divided into these 6 cosmic 'planes'. Heaven is represented by the Nobility, Asuras by the Samurai, Human by the Commoners (craftsmen and farmer/fishers), Animal (animal yokai monster races), Hungry Ghost (criminals, merchants and the tainted 'Hinin' caste). One's station in life is based into which caste one is born in, which limits what player classes, starting wealth, etc can have at the start.
At PC Death there is a table that determines which social class one reincarnates to in the next life. Unlike true reincarnation, in Kaidan, should a someone die violently the odds are great (based on karma score and PC Death table roll) that your spirit will attempt to possess another being of appropriate social class, that person will suffer a condition called 'Mind Fever' which means his own spirit and the invading spirit is struggling for control. On a successful reincarnation attempt, if your spirit succeeds the other spirit is driven out - either to attempt to possess another, or becomes a yurei ghostly spirit. You wake up in a new body, with a new personality and levels, but also all or most of your previous life's levels. Essentially you multi-class across multiple lifetimes. This also means that characters are subject to a possessing spirit attack at any time in someone else's reincarnation attempt...
Basically the Kaidan cosmology is an 'engine of evil' that requires the souls of the living and the dead to drive it.
There always the possibilities of other outcomes on the reincarnation table: your reincarnate into a newborn and are now an NPC, you are sentenced to Hell and become an Oni NPC, you become a Yurei ghost and either become an NPC or take on a Ghost template onto your PC, with the possibilities of resting your soul and once again moving along the Wheel of Life in an attempt to possess another.
All the nobility of Kaidan are undead, made so by a divine curse uttered at the founding of the empire that allowed the emperor, his family and grandfather the shogun to rule Kaidan eternally. They only want to maintain the status quo and remain at the top of the caste system. Because they will not die they do not leave the noble caste into the Wheel of Life and prevent all others from reincarnating into it. If a Samurai with enough accumulated Karma to ascend to the noble caste, he automatically becomes a yurei ghost.
In many ways those 'unknowns' of various undead types of Ravenloft exist in Kaidan as well. All undead fall under the Yurei ghost umbrella, though they may come in any form as normal. However, a skeleton might be animated dead, or a powerful ghost in skeletal form - one never automatically knows what one is encountering.
Channel Energy for clerics and paladins have a -1 per hit dice, several other spells are affected as well.
Aside from the fact that Kaidan is a police state ruled by a military dictator and everyone is under surveillance by the Metsuki Imperial Secret Police (inquisitors of Kaidan), constant attacks against humanity by undead and oni demons, Kaidan in most other ways is typical fantasy oriental 3x/Pathfinder game.
Does that answer your question?
Michael
