TEXT: Shinigami Chronicles RPG                1 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  Shinigami 
  Chronicles 
   
   
   
   
  24 Hour RPG Project 
   
  By Megan Marie McKnight 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  
  Shinigami Chronicles RPG                2 
  Table of Contents 
   
  Introduction………………………………     …  ……………3 
  About the Game…………………  ………… ………….4 
  Character Creation………………… ………………4 
   
  The Basics…………………… …     …………….4 
   
  Abilities…………………………    ……… ……….5 
   
  Skills……………      ………   ………… ………………6 
  Mechanics………… ………………   …………    ………  …….8 
  Special Powers…………………………… … ………….9 
   
  Arcane Spells…………………… …………9 
   
  Spirit Powers…………………… …………10 
   
  Summoning………………   ………     ………   …..12 
   
  The Secrecy Rule……………  ……….13 
  Combat………………   …………………      ……………    ……..13 
  Characters and Creatures…………………15 
  Improvement…………   ……………   …………     ………….16 
  Notes and Ramblings…………………   ………..16 
  Character Sheet……………………  …………  ………19 
  Sample Characters……………………  …………….20 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  
  Shinigami Chronicles RPG                3 
  Introduction 
   
  There are a lot of role-playing games that deal with what happens before you die.  
  Characters usually live interesting lives, and die in an impressive way. 
  This isn't one of those games.  This is about what happens after death. 
    
  Some way or another, you died.  It may have been suicide, an accident, or 
  even murder, or something else.  But for whatever reason, you didn't want to go 
  on to the afterlife.  Something kept you here.  Your unfinished business, if you 
  will.  It might have been looking after a loved one, or continuing your life's work, 
  or some other reason.  But that's okay; there was a place for those who didn't 
  want to go on. 
  So you became a Shinigami; a Guardian of Death.  It's your job to help 
  monitor the mortal world.  You're supposed to help make sure people die when they 
  should.  Not before, not after.  Sometimes this might mean protecting a mortal 
  from a supernatural threat.  Sometimes it might mean finding and stopping a 
  mad killer.  Sometimes it might even mean hunting down and killing someone who's 
  somehow outlived their allotted time.  Mostly it's the first two.   
  Mostly. 
  But hey, there are perks to being a Shinigami, in the form of 
  supernatural powers, a monthly paycheck (Yes, you get paid.  This is a job after 
  all.), and a warm fuzzy feeling when you help people. 
  Oh, and there's also the fact that you're really freaking hard to kill, what with 
  being dead already.  You can take massive amounts of damage, and though it will 
  still hurt like hell, you can regenerate fairly quickly.  That's the good news. 
  The bad news is that you can be destroyed if you take enough punishment 
  in a short enough time.  And this is all you get.  If you die now, you're gone 
  forever.  You just… cease to exist. 
  There are also other dangers.  Demons tend to take your existence 
  personally.  And there are the rare few sorcerers and madmen who know about 
  the Shinigami, and try to use that knowledge to their advantage.  Usually, it's 
  these same sorcerers and madmen who find ways to live beyond their time, so 
  you'll probably run into at least one eventually.  And in a job like this, it's easy to 
  get disillusioned and depressed. 
    
  Anyway, that's in the future, and this is now.  Welcome to the ranks of 
  the Shinigami. 
    
  
  Shinigami Chronicles RPG                4 
  About the Game 
   
  This is a modern mystery/investigation type of RPG with elements of the supernatural 
  and horror.  The characters are Shinigami, a combination of detective, mystic, 
  troubleshooter, and hero.  They're dead, as well.  There isn’t a “game world” per se.  The 
  game takes place in the modern world, although a darker version of it.  A homicidal 
  psychopath might decide to make your life interesting in unpleasant ways, or a demon 
  might take offense because you’ve foiled a plot.  This game tends to lend itself to mature 
  themes.  Just a warning.  It might be a good idea for the GM and the players to have a 
  discussion about elements they're uncomfortable with.   
  I'm sure that if you're reading this, you're at least passably familiar with role-playing 
  games.  If you're not, here's a quick rundown.  This is a game about imagination.  It's a lot 
  like improvisational acting.  There are the regular players, who each have their own 
  character.  Then there's the Game Master (GM), the person running the games.  The GM 
  is the person who makes up the basic plot and plays all characters that the players run 
  into, including supporting characters and villains.  Especially villains.  But this doesn't 
  mean that it's the GM versus the players.  Everyone's out to have fun; that's the real point, 
  after all. 
    
   
   
   
  Character Creation 
    
  The first step is coming up with a concept for your character.  That's the crux of 
  the whole matter.  Once you have a concept, you can flesh it out a little.  You don't have 
  to write pages and pages of background if you don't want to (although you certainly 
  could!); just have some idea of where this character is coming from.  It's all right if you 
  don't know everything about your character; it's also perfectly fine if you leave most of 
  the background to come out later.  All characters evolve while you play, so you may 
  come up with a really cool idea for your character that has nothing to do with the original 
  concept. 
    
  The basics- 
   
  This is the basic info about your character. 
   
  • First of all, you need a name.  Duh.  Moving on. 
  • You also need to decide who your character was before they died.  This can be as 
  vague as, "She was a doctor" or as specific as "He was a high school student from 
  Texas with a 3.7 GPA, a cheerleader girlfriend, and a silver BMW."  It's really up 
  to you.   
  • Also important is how your character died.  This can sometimes be important, 
  depending on the way the game goes.  Possibilities are suicide, murder, car 
  accident, and illness.  You can also be as specific as you like here. 
  
  Shinigami Chronicles RPG                5 
  • Something else that might be useful to know is how old your character was when 
  they died.  Shinigami don't age, so they'll be that age forever.  (Think about that 
  before you decide you want to play an eight year old Shinigami.) 
  • The most important part, however, is why you decided to become a Shinigami.  
  What was your unfinished business?  You need to be as specific as possible here, 
  because the GM will need to know so she can use it in a plot at some point.  This 
  game is just as much about why you didn't "cross over" as it is investigation.  All 
  Shinigami have some important reason for staying behind, and often they'll use 
  their newfound abilities in pursuit of that reason.  (This is why Shinigami have to 
  work in groups.)  Once you complete your unfinished business, you have the 
  option of “retiring your Shinigami: allowing them to “cross over,” and starting a 
  new character. 
  Examples:  
  Hisoka was a sixteen year old high school student.  He was murdered by a 
  serial killer (wrong place, wrong time).  He became a Shinigami in order to find 
  the man who killed him and take revenge. 
  Watari was a scientist specializing in chemical research.  He died in a 
  freak lab explosion.  He became a Shinigami in order to continue work on his 
  dream project: a gender-changing serum. 
    
  Once you know all that, and write it down, then you can get to the number part. 
   
   
  Abilities- 
   
  There are four basic abilities in Shinigami Chronicles: Physical, Mental, Social, and 
  Spirit.  These are basic, inherent qualities that everyone has.  
  Physical is a measure of your ability to do, well, physical things.  This is the 
  ability associated with doing fun athletic things, administering beat-downs, and taking 
  beatings, etc.  A high Physical means that you're tough, strong, or athletic.  A low 
  Physical means that you're a wimp. 
  Mental is a measure of your intelligence and reasoning.  This is associated with 
  problem solving, general knowledge, and things like that.  This is also tied to the ability 
  to use arcane magic; more on this later.  A high Mental means you're smart or logical; a 
  low Mental means that you're not so much. 
  Social is a measure of how you interact with others.  This is associated with 
  getting people to do what you want without making them mad.  A high Social means that 
  you tend to get along with others, or that you're good at manipulating people.  A low 
  Social means that you "don’t play well with others." 
  Spirit is a measure of how in tune you are with the Spirit world.  Shinigami are 
  special; they’re technically a part of the spirit world, so they start off with a higher Spirit 
  score.  Spirit is tied to empathy and any spirit powers. 
    
  You have a number of ranks in each ability, ranging from 1-8.  One is pitiful, 
  three is average, six is insane, and eight is nigh godly.  You can only get up to 6 ranks at 
  character creation. 
  
  Shinigami Chronicles RPG                6 
    
  To determine how many ranks you have in each ability, you have nine ability 
  points.  Each ability starts off at zero, except Spirit, which starts at three.  You can assign 
  these points how ever you like, but in the end, you have to have a score of at least one in 
  each ability. 
  Examples:  
  Tsuzuki is a highly Spiritual person, so he spends two points on Spirit.  He 
  then spends three points on Mental, and two each on Physical and Social.  This 
  gives him starting scores of Physical-2, Mental-3, Social-2, and Spirit-5. 
  Tatsumi is a logical man with an interest in arcane magic.  He spends five 
  points on Mental.  He's not too bad at Physical things, so he spends three points 
  on that.  The other point goes into Social (people tend to find him unnerving.)  
  This gives him starting scores of Physical-3, Mental-5, Social-2, and Spirit-3. 
   
  Note!  
  There is a fundamental incompatibility between Mental and Spirit.  Partly, this is 
  because they work with radically different magic types, but mostly it's because they 
  represent almost opposite ways of viewing the world.  Therefore, if your Spirit score is 
  above four or if your Mental score is above three, you take a penalty.  Decrease the lower 
  ability by the same amount that the higher ability is over the limit.  You can't take a 
  penalty that would drop you to zero.  This means that if the penalty would drop you to 
  zero, you either can't take that many ranks in the dominant ability, or you have to spend 
  more points to increase the rank of the lesser ability.  This only applies at character 
  creation, however. 
  Examples: 
  Tsuzuki's Spirit is five.  That's one above the limit, so he has to reduce his 
  Mental by one.  This gives him adjusted scores of Physical-2, Mental-2, Social-2, 
  and Spirit-5. 
  Tatsumi's Mental is five.  That's two above the limit; he drops his Spirit by 
  two.  This gives him adjusted scores of Physical-3, Mental-5, Social-2, and Spirit-
  1. 
   
    
  Skills 
   
  This is a classless system; it's based more on skills.  Each ability has three skills 
  associated with it. 
    
  Physical skills are Athletics, Combat, and Toughness.  Athletics is a measure of 
  how good you are at running, jumping, dodging, swimming, etc.  Combat is a measure of 
  how adept you are at hurting people and avoiding being hurt.  Toughness is a measure of 
  how well you resist fatigue and your ability to take a hit. 
  Mental skills are Investigation, Technology, and Arcane Spells.  Investigation is a 
  measure of your ability to use logic, and find and interpret clues.  Technology is a 
  measure of your ability to use advanced tech, like computers, and making it do what you 
  want.  Arcane Magic reflects your ability to cast spells, and is covered in a later section. 
  
  Shinigami Chronicles RPG                7 
  Social skills are Deception, Diplomacy, and Convincing.  Deception is a measure 
  of your ability to bluff, conceal, and confuse people.  Diplomacy is a measure of your 
  ability to change the way others feel about you.  Convincing is a measure of your ability 
  to get people to do what you want. 
  Spirit skills are Empathy, Spirit Powers, and Summoning.  Empathy is a measure 
  of how sensitive you are to other people's emotions.  Spirit Powers represents how well 
  you can use special powers; this is covered in a later section.  Summoning is a measure of 
  how good you are at summoning spirits to do your bidding.  This is covered in a later 
  section. 
    
  Skills have ranks as well, and each rank costs on point.  You get the number of 
  skill points by multiplying the associated ability score by two.  Points can be distributed 
  any way you choose.  You do not have to have a rank in a skill if you do not choose to, 
  except for Spirit Powers, which has to have at least one rank. 
  Examples: 
  Tsuzuki has a two in Physical.  That gives him four skill points for 
  Physical skills.  He's not terribly Athletic and doesn't like Combat, so these both 
  get ones.  He puts the other two points into Toughness; he may not like fighting, 
  but he can take some abuse.  He has a Mental of two, so that's four Mental skill 
  points.  Primarily, he's a detective, so Investigation gets a three.  However, he can 
  barely use a computer, so Technology gets a one.  He wouldn't know an Arcane 
  Spell if it bit him, so he doesn't put any ranks in that.  For Social, Deception and 
  Diplomacy get ones; he's not very good at either.  Convincing gets a two; he's a 
  little better at talking people into things.  He's got a five in Spirit; this is what he 
  does and does well.  Empathy and Spirit Powers both get twos; he can be a little 
  oblivious and hasn't concentrated on learning more Powers.  But he's a 
  Summoning powerhouse, with six ranks. 
  Tsuzuki's character sheet now looks like this: 
  Physical - 2 
  Combat - 1  
  Athletics - 1 
  Toughness - 2  
  Mental - 2 
  Investigation - 3  
  Technology - 1 
  Arcane Spells - 0  
  Social - 2 
  Deception - 1  
  Diplomacy - 1 
  Convincing - 2 
  Spirit - 5 
  Empathy - 2  
  Spirit Powers - 2 
  Summoning - 6 
    
   
  
  Shinigami Chronicles RPG                8 
  Mechanics 
    
  This is a good place to explain how the mechanics of this game work.  Basically, 
  this is what you do with the numbers.   
  This runs on a d6 base core mechanic, which means you only need regular six-
  sided dice to play.  But you need a lot of them. 
  The basic system works on a "number of successes" principle.  Basically, the GM 
  will specify a target number, and a number of successes needed to accomplish a certain 
  action.  The goal is to roll that number or higher as that many times or more.  The target 
  numbers range 1-6, since we're just using d6s here.  Generally speaking, the higher the 
  target number, the more raw skill necessary to accomplish the task.  The number of 
  successes range 1-10.  Usually, the number of successes needed is a reflection of the 
  complexity of the task.  Targets are noted like this: X,Yx.  X is the target number, Y is 
  the number of successes.  So, if you were trying to meet a target of three, with two 
  successes, it would look like this: 3,2x.  The more successes you have (and the higher the 
  successes), the better you did.  If you fail a check, the number of successes you were 
  short is an indication of how badly you did.   
  This is where the ranks come in.  They tell you how many dice you get to roll.   
  The most common type of roll is a skill-check.  You take the ranks of the relevant skill 
  and add half of the associated ability, rounding down.  Then you roll that many dice. 
  Example: 
  Tsuzuki is trying to catch a fleeing suspect (an Athletics roll).  Not being a 
  particularly athletic man, he has a Physical of 2 and an Athletics of 1.  This gives 
  him two dice to roll (1 for Physical + 1 for Athletics).  He's rolling for a target of 
  4 (she's fast!), and needs one success (4,1x).  He rolls, and gets a three and a two.  
  Neither one is a success, and the suspect gets away. 
  Sometimes you'll be trying to do something, and two skills apply, such as (Combat + 
  Athletics) for trying to shoot someone, or (Investigation + Technology) for trying to find 
  important clues on a hard-drive.  This is a double-skill check.  You get the number of 
  dice by adding both relevant skills.   
  Example: 
  Hisoka is showing off in a sharpshooting contest.  Guns fall into the 
  Combat category, but Athletics also apply.  He has a 4 in Physical, a 3 in 
  Combat, and a 3 in Athletics.  He can use the two skill bids together, giving him 6 
  dice to roll.  To win the contest, he needs four successes of three (3,4x).  He rolls 
  and gets 2 twos, a three, a four, and 2 sixes.  He wins the contest easily. 
  If a double-skill check comes up, you can either use the two skills, or you can use the 
  single skill check, which ever is higher. 
  Example: 
  In the sharpshooting contest, Hisoka could have chosen to make a straight 
  Combat check or a straight Athletics check instead of the double-skill check.  A 
  straight Combat check would give him five dice (1/2*5+3), as would a straight 
  Athletics check.  The double-skill check is better with six dice, so that's what he 
  uses. 
  
  Shinigami Chronicles RPG                9 
  Occasionally, you'll need to make a check for something where no skill really applies.  In 
  this case, you can make an Ability check, where  the number of dice you can roll is equal 
  to your ability score. 
  Example: 
  Watari is trying to remember what a specific chemical does.  The 
  container is unlabeled, and there are no notes, so it's just a straight Mental check.  
  He has a six in Mental, so he gets six dice.  Watari keeps a lot of random 
  chemicals in his lab, but he's worked with them for a long time, so he needs two 
  successes of five (5,2x).  He rolls and gets a one, a two, a four, and 2 fives.  He 
  just barely makes it, and finally remembers what it does.   
  The other type of check is an opposed check.  This is what happens if you're being 
  opposed by another character (player or otherwise).  This could be arm wrestling, chess, 
  an argument, gambling, whatever.  Especially combat.  Combat is always opposed.  In 
  this case, make a skill check, a double-skill check, or an ability check as usual.  The 
  target number is announced, but there is no set number of successes.  Instead, both parties 
  roll their dice, and whoever gets the highest number of successes wins. 
  Example: 
  Tsuzuki and Hisoka get into a food fight.  There is nothing remotely 
  shaped like a weapon, so this is an Athletics roll.  Tsuzuki has a Physical of 2 and 
  an Athletics of 1, while Hisoka has a Physical of 4 and an Athletics of 3.  Tsuzuki 
  gets two dice, and Hisoka gets five.  Three is declared to be the target.  It's only a 
  food fight, after all.  Tsuzuki gets a five and a six, giving him two successes.  
  Hisoka gets two ones, a two, a three and a six.  This also gives him two successes.   
  In case of a tie in opposed checks, both parties roll one more die each, same target 
  number.  Whoever gets the highest success wins. 
  They roll to break the tie.  Tsuzuki gets a three, a success.  Hisoka gets a 
  five, a higher success.  Tsuzuki puts up a valiant fight, but Hisoka emerges the 
  victor (and cleaner). 
  It is possible that you might not be able to make a check, because too many successes are 
  needed.  This is an automatic failure. 
    
    
  Special Abilities 
    
  Arcane Magic 
    
  This refers to a character's ability to use spells.  Each spell has a point cost.  A 
  character has spell-points available equal to his score in Arcane Spells. 
  Spells have ranks, and can be improved over time (see Improvement).  A higher 
  rank means that more impressive or farther reaching effects are possible.  However, once 
  a spell rank is purchased, those points are gone.  They can't be traded out for a different 
  spell.  Unspent points can be saved.   
  There are five spells.  (GMs should feel free to add their own.) 
  • Shadow - 4 points per rank.  This spell manipulates existing shadows.  You could 
  change a shadow, cause a shadow to become tangible, animate shadows, etc. 
  
  Shinigami Chronicles RPG                10 
  • Flame - 4 points per rank.  This spell creates and/or manipulates fire.  You could 
  control an existing fire, start a fire, create the ever-popular fireball, etc. 
  • Earth - 3 points per rank.  This spell manipulates earth.  You could change the 
  ground into quicksand, turn a stone into sand, cause an earthquake, etc. 
  • Water - 2 points per rank.  This spell creates and/or manipulates water.  You 
  could create water, purify existing water, cause the water cooler to attack 
  someone, etc. 
  • Air - 2 points per rank. This spell manipulates air.  You could create a breathable 
  atmosphere, pressurize an area, or create a gust of wind. 
  Example: 
  Tatsumi has a five in Arcane Spells, so he has five points to buy spells 
  with.  He decides to get one rank of Shadow.  This leaves him with one spell-
  point.  If he increased his Arcane Spells skill, he could get more points. 
  This magic system relies heavily on the player's description of what they want the magic 
  to do.  Magic can be made to do anything that the user can imagine, within reason.  
  Basically, the player describes the effect they want.  GMs have the final say on what is 
  within reason for a given spell.  They are encouraged to allow highly inventive or very 
  well described uses of magic, as long as the desired effect is appropriate for the rank of 
  the spell. 
  Example: 
  Tatsumi gets into a fight with a homicidal doctor.  He wants to use his 
  Shadow spell to call forth the surrounding shadows into life and have them attack 
  the doctor.  He describes it particularly well, and the GM decides that he can 
  animate some of the smaller shadows (he only has Shadow 1, after all.) 
  The only problem with arcane magic is that it's tiring to use.  After successfully casting a 
  spell, the character needs to make a Toughness roll vs. (Point cost of the spell), (Rank of 
  spell)x.  If they make the roll, then they're fine.  If they fail the roll but had some 
  successes, they become fatigued (see Combat).  If they don't make any successes, then 
  they pass out.  This means that if the character's Toughness score is too low, they're going 
  to have a problem casting spells. 
  Example: 
  After using his Shadow spell to create living shadows in a combat, 
  Tatsumi must make a Toughness roll.  Shadow is a four point spell and Tatsumi 
  only has one rank, so his target is 4,1x.  He has a Physical of three and a 
  Toughness of two, so he gets three dice.  He gets a two, a three, and a four, which 
  is one success.  He feels slightly tired, but he's fine to keep fighting if necessary.   
   
   
   
  Spirit Powers 
    
  All Shinigami have some sort of spirit power; that's part of the benefit.  A 
  character has a number of powers equal to his Spirit Powers rank.  Individual powers 
  don't have a rank; you either have it or you don't.  Powers can be maintained for a total 
  
  Shinigami Chronicles RPG                11 
  number of minutes equal to the Spirit Powers rank times five.  After that period, the 
  character must wait for at least twice that time before using spirit powers again. 
  There are seven powers.  (Feel free to add your own.) 
  • Invisibility - This allows the user to become invisible.  While this power is active, 
  the character cannot be seen or heard.  The character can still interact with the 
  environment, but doing so causes invisibility to drop for a short period.   
  • Intangibility - The user becomes intangible.  While this power is active, the user 
  cannot be attacked, nor can they interact with the environment.   
  • Flight - The user is able to fly.  While this power is active, the character hovers in 
  midair approximately fifty feet off the ground, and can maneuver.  Speed 
  inversely affects maneuver ability; the faster you fly, the clumsier it is. 
  • Jump - The user is able to jump to extreme heights.  While this power is active, 
  the character can make a standing jump of up to a hundred and fifty feet. 
  • Warp - The user can warp himself.  While this power is active, the character is 
  able to 'warp', that is, move to a different location without having had covered the 
  intervening distance.  The character can warp to any place he can see within a 
  hundred feet. 
  • Swiftness - The user becomes remarkably fast.  While active, this allows the 
  character to move almost too fast to be seen.  However, this increased speed 
  means that the user cannot make any skill rolls because he is moving too fast to 
  perceive his surroundings. 
  • Telekinesis - The user is able to move things with his mind.  While active, this 
  allows the character to move objects of up to fifty pounds.  Some manipulation is 
  possible, but not operating the object; you could pick a gun up and move it 
  around, but you could not fire it. 
  Example: 
  Tsuzuki has a Spirit Powers score of two, so he can get two powers.  He 
  chooses Invisibility and Flight.  He can use them, in any combination or order, 
  for a total of ten minutes.  After that, though, he can't use either for another 
  twenty minutes. 
  Using two or more powers at once is tricky.  To do so, the user must make a Spirit 
  Powers check vs. 3, (Number of Active Powers)x.  If the check is failed, all active powers 
  are dropped. 
  Example:  
  Tsuzuki is spying on a suspect.  He thinks that the best thing to do is to 
  become invisible, so he does.  However, the suspect goes into an apartment on the 
  third floor.  If he flies, Tsuzuki can get close enough to hear.  He starts to activate 
  Flight, requiring a check for having two powers active.  He has a Spirit of five 
  and a Spirit Powers of two.  This will give him four dice to roll against a target of 
  3,2x.  He rolls three twos and a three.  Oops.  His concentration fails, and he 
  becomes visible as he hits the ground. 
   
   
   
   
  
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  Summoning 
    
  This is the ability to call spirits to fight for you.  Each summon has a point cost, 
  and a character has summons points equal to his rank in Summoning.  Spent points are 
  gone for good, but unspent points can be saved up.  Summons do not have a rank.  A 
  summoned spirit will stay until the end of combat or until dismissed.  To summon, the 
  character must make a Summoning check vs. (Point cost of summon),2x. 
  There are eight summons.  (As always, feel free to add your own.) 
  • Suzaku - 6 points; this is the great firebird spirit.  If someone who can summon 
  her is in mortal danger, there is a chance that she will appear without being 
  summoned (GM's discretion.) 
  • Byakko - 6 points; this is the great white tiger of the wind.   
  • Sohryu - 6 points; this is the dragon spirit of water.   
  • Genbu - 6 points; this is the great turtle spirit of the earth.   
  • Touda - 4 points; fire snake spirit.  His abilities are one of the few things that can 
  actually kill a Shinigami, and using him is dangerous, since he often does not 
  distinguish between you and your opponents 
  • Kijin - 4 points; a lesser dragon water spirit 
  • Rikugo - 1 point; the six-eyed astrologer spirit.  He really doesn't have much 
  combat value; he is mostly called on to provide guidance and divination 
  • Riko - 1 point; a cactus defensive spirit.  Yes, a cactus.  Quite possibly one of the 
  oddest summons.  His abilities are almost all defensive and water-based.  
  However, if pressed, he can attack. 
  Example: 
  Tsuzuki has a six in Summoning, so he has six points to spend on 
  summons.  He decides to go all out, and gets the Suzaku summon, spending all his 
  points. 
  Later on, Tsuzuki is confronted by a vampire, so he summons Suzaku.  He 
  has a Spirit of five and a Summoning of six, giving him eight dice.  Suzaku is a six 
  point summon, so his target is 6,2x.  He rolls a two, a three, four fours, and two 
  sixes.  He just barely makes it, and Suzaku appears to lay waste to the vampire. 
  Summoning can be just as, or even more tiring than magic.  After a successful summon, 
  the character must make a Toughness check vs. the same target as the summons check.  If 
  the check is successful, there are no further effects.  If the check is failed, then the 
  character becomes fatigued.  If there are no successes, then the character passes out. 
  Example: 
  After summoning Suzaku, Tsuzuki must make a Toughness roll.  He has a 
  Physical of two and a Toughness of two, giving him three dice.  His target is the 
  same: 6,2x.  He gets a two, a three, and a five, which is no successes.  It took too 
  much energy to summon Suzaku, so he hits the ground, unconscious. 
   
   
   
   
  
  Shinigami Chronicles RPG                13 
  The Secrecy Rule 
    
  One of the rules of the Shinigami is that mortals can't be allowed to see them exhibit 
  supernatural abilities.  This means that a Shinigami who is caught using magic, spirit 
  powers, or summoning by a mortal is in some pretty major trouble.  Spirit powers are 
  bad, magic is worse, summoning can get you fired.  This should discourage effects-happy 
  Shinigami from casually using their powers in public. 
    
   
   
  Combat 
    
  Combat is determined just like everything else, mechanics wise.  It's just an opposed 
  check.  However, it does not stop there.  When two characters fight, then there's the very 
  real possibility that they'll hurt each other.  Unless one party is using a ranged weapon 
  and the other one isn't, the winner of the combat check does damage to the other, in the 
  form of wounds.  (If only one is using a ranged weapon, then he won't take wounds if he 
  loses.)  Ranged combat is Combat-Athletics, melee is straight Combat, and actively 
  dodging is straight Athletics.  The number of wounds is determined by a Toughness roll, 
  where the target is (Original Target),(Opponent's Number of Successes)x.  (Tie-breaker 
  successes don't count.)  If the check is failed, then the character takes a number of 
  wounds equal to how many successes he was short. 
  Example: 
  Hisoka is facing off with a dangerous killer.  At the moment, he's trying to 
  shoot him.  The killer doesn't have a gun, so Hisoka isn't in any danger of taking 
  wounds right now.  Hisoka rolls a Combat-Athletics check vs. the killer's 
  Athletics.  Hisoka has three in both Combat and Athletics, so he gets six dice.  The 
  killer has a four in Physical and two in Athletics, so he gets four.  The target is 
  four.  Hisoka rolls three threes, a four, and two sixes, giving him three successes.  
  The killer rolls a one, a two, a three, and a four, giving him one success.  Hisoka 
  shoots him.  The killer must now make a Toughness roll vs. 4, 3x.  He has a three 
  in Toughness, giving him five dice.  He rolls two ones, a three, a five, and a six, 
  giving him two successes.  He takes one wound. 
  Hisoka's had his turn, now it's the killer's.  He rushes him, attacking head-
  on.  This time it's just a straight Combat roll.  The killer has a three in Combat, so 
  he gets five dice, as does Hisoka.  The target is four.  Hisoka gets two threes, a 
  five, and two sixes, for three successes.  The killer gets two ones, a four, and two 
  fives, also three successes.  Hisoka gets a three on the tie-breaker, the killer gets 
  six.  Hisoka gets hit.  His Toughness is two; he gets four dice, and his target is 4, 
  3x.  He gets two twos and two fives.  He takes one wound. 
  Combat is divided into rounds, consisting of each person involved acting once, started 
  with who ever declared the challenge.  (Alternatively, the players could roll for it, high 
  roll acting first.) 
   
   
  
  Shinigami Chronicles RPG                14 
  Example: 
  It's Hisoka's turn again, so that means it's the start of a new round.  He 
  has a few choices; he could try to shoot the guy again, he could make a straight 
  melee attack, or he could try to summon or activate a spirit power. 
  Summoning, casting a spell, and using a spirit power all count as the character's one 
  action.  Also, a character can move up to fifty feet and still attack.  He can move eighty 
  feet without attacking. 
  Example: 
  Hisoka is at a disadvantage in melee combat with this guy, so he decides 
  to activate his Warp spirit power.  He uses it to Warp a hundred feet away, where 
  he has the advantage.  He cannot attack this turn, however. 
  Sometimes, a character will enter a combat late.  When this happens, they take their turn 
  after everyone else has gone. 
  Example: 
  Tatsumi has come to Hisoka's aid.  Since he's entering combat late, the 
  killer gets to go first.  The killer starts to close the distance, but he can't quite 
  make it before his turn's over.  He gets to twenty feet away from Hisoka.  Now it's 
  Tatsumi's turn.  He's not all that great at combat, having a three in Physical, and 
  twos in Athletic and Combat.  But he can still take a shot at the killer.  He makes 
  a ranged attack, with four dice.  The killer also has four.  The target is four.  
  Tatsumi rolls a one, two twos, and a three, for no successes.  The killer rolls a 
  four, two fives, and a six, four successes.  However, since Tatsumi is not in melee, 
  he isn't threatened.  He missed horribly, but he didn't take any damage himself. 
  Wounds measure how much damage a character has taken.  A normal human can take ten 
  wounds before they die; a Shinigami can take twenty.  In addition, a Shinigami that has 
  taken one or two wounds will regenerate two rounds later.  Three to five wounds can be 
  regenerated over a period of hour.  Six to ten wounds take a day, eleven to fifteen take 
  two days, and sixteen to nineteen take a week.  At twenty, you're dead. 
  Example: 
  It's the next round.  Hisoka took a wound two rounds ago, but it 
  regenerates now, so he doesn't have any wounds.   
  Getting severely wounded can cause fatigue.  Once a character hits half of their wound 
  levels, they must make a Toughness check vs. (Combat Target Number), 3x.  If they fail, 
  they become fatigued.  If no successes are scored, the character passes out.  Fatigue 
  means that the character can only use half the number of dice that he normally could on 
  checks.  Note: this condition also applies to spell casters or summoners who fail their 
  Toughness checks.  Fatigue lasts until the character rests.   
  Example: 
  Between the two of them, Tatsumi and Hisoka have managed to do a 
  respectable amount of damage to the killer, bringing him to five wounds (half 
  level for a human.)  He makes a Toughness check, rolling five dice, with a target 
  of 4,3x.  He gets a one, a two, a three, and two fours, for two successes.  He fails 
  the check and is fatigued.  He can only use half his normal amount of dice for all 
  checks. 
  If a character reaches the half mark, and makes their Toughness check, then they can 
  keep fighting at their normal level.  However, every time they take a wound after that, 
  
  Shinigami Chronicles RPG                15 
  they must make another Toughness check, same target or become fatigued.  Once a 
  character has taken three-quarters of their wound levels (round up), they must make a 
  Toughness save vs. (Combat target), 4x, or lose consciousness.  Unconscious characters 
  can take no actions and automatically fail all tests.  An hour after losing consciousness, 
  the character can make a Toughness check, same target, to wake up.  If they fail the 
  check, they can try again in another hour.  If they fail that check, then it will take them a 
  day to recover.  
   
    
  Characters and creatures 
    
  NPCs (Non-Player characters) are built exactly like player characters, mechanics 
  wise.  Some of the numbers are different, as follows. 
  o Straight humans start off with a zero in Spirit, just they start with zero in the other 
  three abilities, and have ten ability points to spend.  Their ability maximums are 
  six.  They don't have access to the Spirit Powers skill, and only special purpose 
  NPCs should have access to Arcane Spells or Summoning. 
  o Creatures - usually, there isn't much point in stating out anything other than their 
  Physical skills.  You'll have to stat creatures out yourself; I'll just provide the 
  baseline, which is that average for a human is a three (for abilities).  A creature is 
  defined as any non-human, non-spirit, and non-demon.  They don't have access to 
  Arcane Spells, Technology, Spirit Powers, or Summoning. 
  o Spirits - again, use your imagination.  The only real purpose to stat these out at all 
  is so you have their combat stats for summoning.  Spirits do not have access to 
  Summoning, Arcane Spells, Spirit Powers, or Technology.  Feel free to get 
  creative with their attacks; just keep within their associated element. 
  � Six point spirit-summons (Suzaku, Byakko, Sohryu, and Genbu) 
  have their abilities maxed out at eight, with skills focused on 
  combat and athletics.  They have sixty wound levels. 
  � Four point spirit-summons (Touda and Kijin) have their abilities at 
  seven, focusing on combat and athletics.  They have forty wound 
  levels. 
  � One point spirit summons (Rikugo and Riko) have their abilities at 
  six, and are generally only defensive.  They have thirty wound 
  levels.  Rikugo has access to the Mental skill of Astrology and the 
  Spirit skill of Divination.  Use of either is solely at the GM's 
  discretion.  They are used to gain hints about the future (but never 
  more than a hint.) 
  o Demons - They probably have the biggest variation in stats.  There is a vague 
  hierarchy, based on power.  Demons commonly have access to Arcane Spells, but 
  not to Spirit Powers or Summoning.  Instead of Spirit Powers, demons have 
  Demon Powers, which are much the same thing.  If you want a rough guideline, a 
  greater demon lord is comparable to a six-point spirit-summon, a lesser demon 
  lord is comparable to a four-point summon, a greater demon is comparable to a 
  one-point summon, and a lesser demon is comparable to a Shinigami. 
   
  
  Shinigami Chronicles RPG                16 
  Improvement 
   
  Players can earn experience points to improve their characters.  This is a slow process, 
  however.  A player can earn 1-3 experience points per session.  This can be for anything, 
  such as staying in character, accomplishing a plot point, surviving a particularly 
  hellacious combat, or even just role-playing in a memorable way.  It’s completely up to 
  the GM. 
   
  Experience points are spent to improve the character.  It costs eight experience 
  points to raise an ability by one rank.  It costs two experience points to increase a skill by 
  one rank.  Increasing an ability will increase the number of skill points available in that 
  ability, and raising a skill will increase any derived factors, such as Arcane Spells, Spirit 
  Powers, and Summons. 
   
  If you choose to, once the characters have maxed out, you can move this to higher levels 
  by increasing the ability maximums and possibly moving up a die size, and changing the 
  target numbers accordingly. 
   
   
  Notes and Ramblings   
   
  This is the first time I’ve created an RPG for the 24-Hour RPG Project.  I foolishly 
  started at midnight, partly because I was bored and partly because I needed to stay up all 
  night to get my sleep cycle back on track.  Well, in the end, I wasn’t bored, but I was 
  lucky to be conscious. 
   
  A few notes on Shinigami Chronicles.  This is heavily inspired by the excellent 
  anime and manga, Yami no Matsuei (Descendants of Darkness).  The basic concept, as 
  well as the example characters came out of it.  *By the way, Yami no Matsuei, 
  Tsuzuki Asato, Kurosake Hisoka, Watari Yutaka, and Tatsumi Seiichiro 
  don’t belong to me.  Neither do the assorted Shikigami (spirit-summons).  I 
  don’t own them, I didn’t make any money off of this.  If you want to get 
  picky about copyright, consider this a fan work, and leave me alone.*  If 
  you’re having a problem figuring out what kind of plots to run, I highly advise either 
  watching or reading the series.  (Avoid the English dub though; it sucks.)  Fair warning: 
  there’s quite a bit of shonen-ai and implied and occasionally explicit yaoi. 
   
  Probably the hardest part of this was coming up with a system that I felt would 
  work.  (Granted, this hasn’t been playtested as of this writing, but I think it would work.)  
  I quite prefer rules-light systems myself; to me, the best part was always the story.  The 
  dice rolling just got in the way.  By the way, this is an excellent place to make a point I 
  probably should have made in the Mechanics section (but am too lazy to go back and fix 
  it at this point.)  The GM should only ask for a roll when necessary, and as seldom as 
  possible.  If it’s not dramatically important, don’t ask for a roll.  If it’s really easy, don’t 
  ask for a roll.  There isn’t any point at all in asking for a roll when the target number is 
  one, and rarely is there a point when the target number is two.  
  
  Shinigami Chronicles RPG                17 
   
  Anyway.  I wanted a fairly streamlined system without much math, and I think I 
  got that in an acceptable way, especially since this is the first system I’ve ever created.  I 
  know that it probably bears a remarkable resemblance to the FUDGE system, possibly to 
  the official d6 mechanics, and I have no idea about dice pool mechanics.  I probably have 
  encountered these things before, and I liked them.  That’s why what I came up with 
  seems fairly intuitive to me. 
   
  Some people might take issue with the way I’ve handled combat.  They can do 
  that, but I had a reason.  I wanted to minimalize the combat system as much as possible 
  and still stay within my core mechanics.  The actual combat mechanics were always my 
  least favorite part of any system, because they were necessarily much more complicated 
  and took much more time to work with.  That’s why I didn’t take any kinds of weapons 
  statistics into account.  Overall, I felt they weren’t that important.  If you feel the need for 
  weapons statistics, feel free to work them out yourself.  Just leave me out of it. 
   
  Another issue people might have is the way Shinigami seem to be encouraged to 
  favor Spirit and Spirit-based skills.  Yes.  It’s supposed to be like that.  Shinigami are the 
  detectives of the afterlife; you can’t become one without developing a close tie to the 
  spirit world.  In a sense, Shinigami are part of the spirit world.  So things connected with 
  it should come a little easier.  And believe me, I reigned back some on what I wanted to 
  do.  My original version of Summoning didn’t really have a drawback at all.  I think I 
  made it more or less balanced when I added the Fatigue check. 
   
  Speaking of Summoning, if you want to create different spirit-summons, go for it.  
  The spirits I’ve presented are also from Yami, which is why their names are all Japanese.  
  If you go back further than that, they’re also based on Japanese mythology to some 
  extent.  Except maybe Riko.  I don’t know where that came from.  I like the idea of the 
  spirit-summons reflecting the “four elements” thing that the Arcane Spells have.  I didn’t 
  start out to do that; it just kind of happened. 
   
  So, anyway.  I think that the system itself is fairly stable and workable.  I might 
  tweak it some later, but I think I like it the way it is.  I also think that I’ve come about as 
  far as I will content-wise, at least for now.  I think any world restrictions I imposed would 
  just limit what a GM could come up with.  I know how I would run a Shinigami 
  Chronicles game; I also know how a friend of mine would run one, and neither is 
  remotely like the other.  You can make this world as dark or as mysterious as you want.  
  Just because I would concentrate on a horror theme doesn’t mean you have to.  Later, I 
  may flesh it out more, but not as part of the 24 Hour Project.  I’m too damn tired. 
   
  Right now, I’ve been working on this for about fifteen hours, I guess.  Like I said,  
  I started at midnight.  I shoved a CD into the comp, hit the “loop” button, and forgot 
  about it.  (I swear to God that at this moment, it’s playing “Who Needs Sleep?”)  When I 
  decided to do it, I got several ideas right away, and the best one turned out to be this.  I 
  may keep the system and design something else using these mechanics; I haven’t 
  decided.  I spent about… oh, five hours, I guess, working out the system mechanics, and 
  about seven more working out how the Shinigami would work with this system.  The rest 
  of the time was spent typing my interesting collection of random notes and making it 
  reasonably coherent.  Plus about an hour break to shove food in me and run some errands.  
  (Partly because I needed to run errands, partly because my wrists had given out, and 
  partly because I needed food badly.)  I’ve discovered the freezing pineapple makes it 
  
  Shinigami Chronicles RPG                18 
  sweeter apparently.  What does that have to do with anything?  As Rick O’Connell would 
  say, “Not a damn thing.” 
   
  I’m starting to ramble, so I guess I’ll call it quits.  Sadly, this typed version is 
  probably as pretty as it will get for the 24 Hour Project; I have the artistic skills of a 
  squid, and I am not up to several more hours of graphic manipulation at the moment.  My 
  hands would fall off.  Or I’d develop carpal tunnel syndrome.  One of the two.  
  Occasional interesting fonts and functional formatting is about as good as it gets for this 
  kind of thing.   
   
  See ya, cowboy. 
   
  ~ Megan Marie McKnight 
  Die hard mad scientist cosplayer, confirmed RPG addict, rabid anime 
  freak, student of esoteric lore, and all around goofball 
   
   
   
   
   
  - April 28, 2005 
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  
  Shinigami Chronicles RPG                19 
  Character Sheet 
   
   
   
  Name- 
   
   
   
   
  Former Occupation- 
  Physical -  
  Combat -  
  Athletics -  
  Toughness -  
  Mental -  
  Investigation -  
  Technology -  
  Arcane Spells -  
  Spell- 
   
   
  Spell- 
  Spell- 
   
   
  Spell- 
  Spell- 
  Social -  
  Deception -  
  Diplomacy -  
  Convincing -  
  Spirit -  
  Empathy -  
  Spirit Powers -  
  Power-  
   
  Power- 
  Power-  
   
  Power- 
  Power-  
   
  Power- 
  Power- 
  Summoning - 
  Summon-  
   
  Summon- 
  Summon-  
   
  Summon- 
  Summon-  
   
  Summon- 
  Summon-  
   
  Summon- 
  Cause of Death- 
   
  Reason for Becoming a Shinigami- 
   
  
  Shinigami Chronicles RPG                20 
  Sample Characters 
  Character Sheet 
   
   
   
  Name- Tsuzuki 
   
   
   
  Former Occupation- Unemployed 
  Physical - 2 
  Combat - 1 
  Athletics - 1 
  Toughness - 2 
  Mental - 2 
  Investigation - 3 
  Technology - 1 
  Arcane Spells - 0 
  Spell- 
   
   
  Spell- 
  Spell- 
   
   
  Spell- 
  Spell- 
  Social - 2 
  Deception - 1 
  Diplomacy - 1 
  Convincing - 2 
  Spirit - 5 
  Empathy - 2 
  Spirit Powers - 2 
  Power- Invisibility 
  Power- 
  Power- Flight   
  Power- 
  Power-  
   
  Power- 
  Power- 
  Summoning - 6 
  Summon- 
  Suzaku  
  Summon- 
  Summon-  
   
  Summon- 
  Summon-  
   
  Summon- 
  Summon-  
   
  Summon- 
  Cause of Death- Suicide    Reason for Becoming a Shinigami- 
  Attempting to make up for what he perceives as horrible sins 
  
  Shinigami Chronicles RPG                21 
  Character Sheet 
   
   
   
  Name- Hisoka 
   
   
   
  Former Occupation- Student 
  Physical - 4 
  Combat - 3 
  Athletics - 3 
  Toughness - 2 
  Mental - 3 
  Investigation - 4 
  Technology - 2 
  Arcane Spells - 0 
  Spell- 
   
   
  Spell- 
  Spell- 
   
   
  Spell- 
  Spell- 
  Social - 2 
  Deception - 2 
  Diplomacy - 1 
  Convincing - 1 
  Spirit - 3 
  Empathy - 3 
  Spirit Powers - 2 
  Power- Invisibility 
  Power- 
  Power- Warp  
  Power- 
  Power-  
   
  Power- 
  Power- 
  Summoning - 1 
  Summon- 
  Riko  
  Summon- 
  Summon-  
   
  Summon- 
  Summon-  
   
  Summon- 
  Summon-  
   
  Summon- 
  Cause of Death-   Murdered 
  Reason for Becoming a Shinigami- Get revenge on his killer 
   
  
  Shinigami Chronicles RPG                22 
  Character Sheet 
   
   
   
  Name- Watari 
   
   
  Former Occupation- Scientist/Chemist 
  Physical - 1 
  Combat - 0 
  Athletics - 1 
  Toughness - 1 
  Mental - 5 
  Investigation - 4 
  Technology - 6 
  Arcane Spells - 0 
  Spell- 
   
   
  Spell- 
  Spell- 
   
   
  Spell- 
  Spell- 
  Social - 3 
  Deception - 2 
  Diplomacy - 2 
  Convincing - 2 
  Spirit - 1 
  Empathy - 1 
  Spirit Powers - 1 
  Power- Flight  
  Power- 
  Power-  
   
  Power- 
  Power-  
   
  Power- 
  Power- 
  Summoning - 0 
  Summon-  
   
  Summon- 
  Summon-  
   
  Summon- 
  Summon-  
   
  Summon- 
  Summon-  
   
  Summon- 
  Cause of Death- Freak lab explosion 
  Reason for Becoming a Shinigami- Continue his life’s work of trying to 
  create a gender-changing serum 
  
  Shinigami Chronicles RPG                23 
  Character Sheet 
   
   
   
  Name- Tatsumi 
   
   
   
  Former Occupation- Accountant 
  Physical - 3 
  Combat - 2 
  Athletics - 2 
  Toughness - 2 
  Mental - 5 
  Investigation - 3 
  Technology - 2 
  Arcane Spells - 5 
  Spell- Shadow 1  
  Spell- 
  Spell- 
   
   
  Spell- 
  Spell- 
   
   
  One spell point saved 
  Social - 1 
  Deception - 0 
  Diplomacy - 1 
  Convincing - 1 
  Spirit - 1 
  Empathy - 0 
  Spirit Powers - 2 
  Power- Jump  
  Power- 
  Power- Swiftness 
  Power- 
  Power-  
   
  Power- 
  Power- 
  Summoning - 0 
  Summon-  
   
  Summon- 
  Summon-  
   
  Summon- 
  Summon-  
   
  Summon- 
  Summon-  
   
  Summon- 
  Cause of Death- Illness 
  Reason for Becoming a Shinigami- Wanted to take care of his mother 
   
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Shinigami Chronicles/Shinigami Chronicles Corebook.pdf