Yakuza must be lawful, and may be lawful good, but this is rare. Although they have no prime requisite and gain no experience point bonus for high scores, they are required to have at least a 16 charisma, 15 strength and dexterity, and 11 intelligence. They gain d6 hit points per level, and attack and save as thieves. They may use any weapon, but are restricted in armor to types which will not interfere with their ability to perform thief skills, only wearing leather or padded armor without a shield. (Some referees may allow these characters to wear certain other armor types allowed to thieves, with similar penalties on their skills.) They belong to a family, all of whom are members of the yakuza clan, and must roll on the birth rank table with a -5 penalty. This family adopts him; he does not need to roll on the ancestry and birthrights tables, as he is no longer connected to the family of his birth. The character begins with proficiency in gaming, plus three other slots which may be filled as desired.
These standard thief abilities are shared by the yakuza: move silently, pick pockets, hide in shadows, open locks (all at the same probability as a ninja), and hear noise (at the level of a monk). They also have two unique skills: investigate and contacts.
Investigate skill enables the character to collect information through sources which would normally be secret. It is not magical, but relies on gossip, disgruntled current and former employees, drunken soldiers, and other informers. Examples of the types of information which may be gathered include floorplans of private buildings, guard schedules, hiding places of particular items, identity of the thief of something stolen or the informer who spoke to the police, a fence for stolen goods. It cannot obtain legendary information such as the magical properties of an item (or its command words, unless they can be gleaned from someone connected to the previous owner) or the hidden treasure of magical monsters or spirit creatures. There is a die roll for success, and the process takes time and money--a day and 2d6 fen for information which is known to many people ("common"); d3 days and 2d4 yuan for information not commonly known but not particularly secret ("uncommon"); 2d6 days and 2d10 tael for information known to only a couple of people told not to repeat it ("confidential"); and at least 2d10 ch'ien and 3d6 days for anything known to only one or at most two people ("secret"). It is also possible that information that is not common might be incorrect--dated, inaccurate due to having changed since the rumor began. This chance is 10% for uncommon information, 25% for confidential information, and 40% chance for secret information. Such incorrect information is not useless, but contains some errors: the guard schedule may have been shifted by an hour, a new wall may have been added to the floorplan, the fence may have moved to another location.
Investigation is also limited by the area of operation. A low level yakuza is the big fish in the small pond--he can discover things on his block. At the highest levels, information may be drawn from the entire province. For purposes of defining area, several terms are used. A block is the smallest section of a city, the distance in each direction to the next crossing street. A ward is a separately governed and supervised section of a city made up of many blocks--perhaps similar to a precinct in modern American cities. In major cities in oriental worlds, wards are often individually walled sections. Several wards make up a district, usually defined by a recognizable feature such as a large temple, geographic feature, or type of business. Thus a city might have a harbor district, a jewelers district, a Shang Ti district. If wards are walled in the city, districts will usually have a separate guard and supervisor structure to oversee the wards. A province is much like a county, a large area generally containing a large city and many villages and farm areas.
Contacts are specific non-player characters who are resources for the yakuza--sources of specific information, buyers of stolen goods, messengers, and others who provide needs of the character but do not adventure with him or put their own lives at risk. Ward gatekeepers, ship's captains, wealthy merchants, local judges, minor samurai, minor officials, household servants, and many others are possible choices. They are never more than four levels above the yakuza himself. They remain helpful and do not reveal their contact as long as they are treated fairly and neither threatened nor implicated. The character gains one contact every other level, beginning with level 2.
Contacts are peculiar to the needs of the character. The player keeps track of the number of contacts he has, and uses them at need. To use the contact slot, the player invents a person who would be useful to him as a contact in the current situation, defines who that person is and how it is that the yakuza knows him. If the referee believes that this person is appropriate in terms of level and station, that the player has created a plausible explanation of how they have met, and that such a contact would fit the task intended by the player, he should approve the contact. Otherwise, he should suggest what modifications should be made to make the contact acceptable. If the contact is approved, he (or she) is given a name and noted on the player's character sheet as one of his contacts. He may use this same contact at any future time that he wishes for anything that this contact would be able reasonably to do without significant risk to himself, but he may not use this slot for another contact.
These are the abilities of a yakuza:
Level | Hide in Shadows | Move Silently | Open Locks | Pick Pockets | Hear Noise | Investigate | Area Covered | Contacts |
1 | 10% | 15% | 25% | 30% | 10% | 20% | 1 block | 0 |
2 | 15% | 21% | 29% | 35% | 10% | 24% | 1 block | 1 |
3 | 20% | 27% | 33% | 40% | 15% | 28% | 2 blocks | 1 |
4 | 25% | 33% | 37% | 45% | 15% | 32% | 2 blocks | 2 |
5 | 31% | 40% | 42% | 50% | 20% | 36% | 3 blocks | 2 |
6 | 36% | 46% | 47% | 55% | 20% | 40% | 3 blocks | 3 |
7 | 43% | 55% | 52% | 60% | 25% | 44% | 1 ward | 3 |
8 | 49% | 62% | 57% | 65% | 25% | 48% | 1 ward | 4 |
9 | 56% | 70% | 62% | 70% | 30% | 52% | 1 ward | 4 |
10 | 63% | 78% | 67% | 80% | 30% | 56% | 2 wards | 5 |
11 | 70% | 86% | 72% | 90% | 35% | 60% | 2 wards | 5 |
12 | 77% | 94% | 77% | 100% | 35% | 64% | 2 wards | 6 |
13 | 85% | 95% | 82% | 105% | 40% | 68% | 1 district | 6 |
14 | 93% | 96% | 87% | 110% | 40% | 72% | 1 district | 7 |
15 | 94% | 97% | 92% | 115% | 50% | 76% | 1 district | 7 |
16 | 95% | 98% | 97% | 125% | 50% | 80% | 2 districts | 8 |
17 | 96% | 99% | 99% | 125% | 55% | 84% | 2 districts | 8 |
18 | 97% | 99% | 99% | 88% | 2 districts | 9 | ||
19 | 98% | 99% | 99% | 92% | 3 districts | 9 | ||
20 | 99% | 99% | 99% | 95% | 3 districts | 10 | ||
21 | 95% | Province | 10 |
Because he learns to deal with others, he gains +10 on all reaction rolls which do not involve social class. This is based on his expertise in knowing when to bribe and when to threaten, and what other techniques to use to persuade.
Each yakuza receives a stipend from the family of 2 ch'ien per level each month.
Beginning at level 2, the character can call upon his brethren for help. This may be done once per level. The character can call a number of yakuza equal to his level, whose levels are lower than his own by at least one level and never above level 8 in any case. He does not need to call as many as he is allowed, or of as high a level as permitted, but regardless of the number he calls or the levels of those who respond, he may only make such a call one time per level. Major operations must be approved by the head of the family.
The family protects its own territory; it is the base of its operations and the source of its power and wealth. Families often war secretly against each other, wishing to extend their influence into new ground. The character is given increasing responsibility to care for and protect larger areas of that territory. Rank within the family is marked by tattoos. Each yakuza begins with a small tattoo on one arm, and gains another tattoo with each level advanced. These tattoos are never placed on faces, hands, or other places where they would be visible under normal circumstances (however, they are placed where the character can show them conveniently to those who should see them). They define rank and serve as warning to others. High level yakuza may be covered with tattoos on both arms, back, and chest.
The honor code of the yakuza is different from that of the samurai, but no less important to him. If his honor drops below that of the family, he is cast out and treated as a non-person until such time as he is able to recover his honor and return. During that time he will receive no aid from anyone in the territory (including any of his contacts within that area) for fear of retribution, but will still be regarded as an enemy by rival clans.
Regardless of any clemency extended by the daimyo to the yakuza generally, individually they are criminals, and if caught as lawbreakers will be punished appropriately. All activities of the family and in the area are strictly controlled and supervised by superiors. Any yakuza who creates trouble will be punished in appropriate ways by the clan.
Advancement table:
Level | From | To |
1 | 0 | 2000 |
2 | 2001 | 4000 |
3 | 4001 | 8000 |
4 | 8001 | 16000 |
5 | 16001 | 30000 |
6 | 30001 | 60000 |
7 | 60001 | 130000 |
8 | 130001 | 260000 |
9 | 260001 | 520000 |
10 | 520001 | 800000 |
11 | 800001 | 1100000 |
12 | 1100001 | 1400000 |
Each 300,000 experience points grants the character an additional level.
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