ONLINE RULES

For those of you wishing to look up rules for merits, equipment etc 

when creating a new character, this website has most of what you will need.

Click the pic or HERE for the link

CHARACTER SHEET

Here is a link for the final (for now anyway) 

character sheet for the Kwaidan theme nWoD game.

Print it out and get cracking on a new character.

Chances are you'll be dead soon anyway.

Click the pic or HERE for the link.

The beak of the beast

This unusual headdress was once worn by a giant kappa alpha male. It is made from the skull of an unknown creature, decorated with feathers and painted with blood.

Wearing it not only makes the wearer more intimidating (giving a extra dice on intimidation rolls) but spending a point of willpower lets the wearer breath water for a single scene. This can be done once per day.

Naturally it would not be acceptable to wear it in polite company.

The bone charm

This disgusting fetish necklace is made from the skull of a small mammal and what looks to be human knuckle bones. It was found on the corpse of a giant kappa alpha male.

By grasping it in one hand and spending a point of willpower the wearer can increase their armor rating by one for a single scene. Giving their skin a shell like appearance. This can be done once per day.

Wearing it however prevents 10s from exploding on all social rolls made among civilized society.

The Hungry Maw

Giant Kappa War Club
(Maul) 4L / Size 3N / Dur 3
This two handed club appears to be made from the jawbone of some long extinct prehistoric animal. Taken by the party from the cold dead hands of a giant kappa alpha male, it still emits a foul odor even after numerous attempts to clean it. Once per scene, by cutting themselves on the pommel spike, (inflicting 1 point of lethal damage) the wielder can cause 9s to explode on the next use of the club. This however cause the club's teeth to drip black blood for the remainder of the scene. Caring it openly in public would result in more than a few strange looks, it is clearly a vile instrument of slaughter.

HUNTERS

You might want to consider the hunter conspiracies that are out there. 
I’ve adjusted them a tad to fit the setting.

Task Force: VALKYRIE (The Shogunate’s Special Police) – Employing the latest in both international and domestically researched weapons technology to combat threats to government interests.

The Lucifuge (The Demons Shadows) – Bastards of human and Oni union. Their unholy bloodline lets tap the realms of darkness. Seen as unclean, most members are drawn from the underclass sections of society.

The Cheiron Group (The Brotherhood) – The Yakuza don’t appreciate anyone muscling in on their turf, human and monster alike. They drain the ichor from monsters and use it to carve upon themselves tattoos that grant them abominable powers.

Aegis Kai Doru (The Agency of the Imperial Regalia) – The Overgods gave their children gifts at the dawn of time to help them conquer the untamed lands. This ancient cult carries on this tradition via any means possible.

Ascending Ones (The Hand of the People) – The common folk were forced to learn to protect themselves from the darkness via means other than the sword, they achieved this through the secret art of alchemy.

Malleus Maleficarum (The way of Light) – The temples of the land have stood against the darkness since time immemorial. Over the aeons they have developed numerous techniques to aid them in their struggles.

Yuuo's story

The Ancient Traveler sank to his knees in desperation. Either he was dealing with the insane or with one whose development was so stunted, no attempt at reason would ever bare any fruit.  A child of five trapped in the body of a callow young man. A young man devoid of panache, showmanship or even a visual flourish to mark him out from common farmers, fishermen or stallholders. The young man stood before him in the abandoned room, straw coloured sunbeams of early spring infiltrating the decrepit tiles of the lodge that was their temporary home.

Yuuo displayed the half smile of one mixing frustration and familiarity. His brow wrinkled in slight contrition. A fawn uneasily shifting his barely substantial weight from leg to leg. Half contemplating an exit through the rotten doorway. He was well versed in this argument.

“Perhaps these gods you speak of exist on a higher plane of reality, insulated from my contact. I do not for one moment seek to disabuse you of your belief. Absence of evidence is in no way evidence of absence.”

Junzaburo's story

The frozen ground crunched beneath the weight of father and son like bones, their wooden sandals leaving odd tracks that stretched for leagues.

Wordlessly the father pointed off into the woods, a patchwork of dark trunks across a white canvas.

 “I don’t see it father.”

The father held up his hand indicating silence and slowly unslung his pack and rearranged his travelling clothes for freer movement. The son followed suit and strung his bow to fill his supporting role as hunter. However, this was no ordinary hunt. Weeks ago people talk had spread of strange happenings in the villages surround the Tameikinomori, or “Sighing Woods”. Wood collectors said that winter had come early to the deepest wood in an uninhabited valley. A sickness spread to three of the villages. The sick started to walk feverishly in their sleep into the wood, first the young and very old, then women, and finally full grown men. The father was renowned for his skills at tracking and hunting, as well as archery and swordsmanship, and was duty-bound to protect his vassals that remained.

Episode I - Down the well

No movement can be seen inside the station. We take position in some tree cover just byond the station's broken gate. Cutting its shoulder to scent the air with blood, we use a goat to lure the creature out. Having heard tales of the beast's foul stink, we tie perfumed cloths about our faces. We wait. 

               Time passes slowly. Just as we begin to think that perhaps it was all nonsense, a dark shape crawls from the mouth of the well. It bounds straight towards the bleating goat at an incredible speed. A hunched monstrosity with a vicious hooked beak for a face and cruelly spiked shell upon its back. Arrows and bullets fly, the crack of the musket echoing loudly through the gloaming. The creature falls to the ground, still and lifeless, its thick black blood staining the white snow. The noise has attracted others, two more claw their way from the well mouth, one a giant hulking beast much larger than a man. They are aware of the trap we set for then and ignore the goat, heading straight for us. The perfume has most likely given away our position. A single arrow suddenly whips past the larger monster’s face and slams into the smaller creature. The force of the blow knocks it off its feet and it lies kicking on the ground, the arrows fletching protruding from its mouth, the arrowhead from the back of its skull. The samurai Tsukimi Junzaburo smiles, a perfect shot indeed. The large beast does not slow however, taking no notice of its kin’s fall. It also fails to notice the hulking bushi Moto Kenichiro hiding just beside the remains of the broken gate, for as it passes through he swings his huge axe in a low arch, almost severing one of the creature’s feet. The beast crashes into the ground, black blood spraying in all directions as it struggles to stand. But before it can right itself, it is descended upon by our group, katana, club, axe and spear making short work of the foul thing. 

Introduction / Prologue

Setting

Kareki is a miserable town that lies on the cold northern outskirts of the empire. Were it not for the precious darkwood trees that grow there, no one would bother to try and settle this shithole, that is, at the best of times, dangerously inhospitable. The darkwood is not only light and flexible, but also incredible strong, and will bend without breaking. The wood sells for unimaginable prices and this alone is the reason so many risk their lives living here. The ruler of the land, Daimyo Matsuyoshi, was sent here years ago as punishment. The details are not clear, but the shogun wanted Matsuyoshi alive yet at the same time, far away from the capital. Recently strange events have been occurring, darkness stirs, sickness runs rampant, and the locals tell grim tales of monsters that eat human flesh and the dead who walk. Winter has not broken this year and the locals are beginning to starve as the supply trains they rely upon have had more and more trouble getting through. This growing shadow draws to it heroes, much as a flame draws moths. You are one of these heroes.