Alma Eyre and Dr. Jack Stoneman, Asian and Near Eastern Studies Department
My project was intended as source material to aid in a role-playing game. A role-playing game is an avocation activity involving two or more people, with one person playing the role of a game-master (GM) and the rest playing the roles of characters. The player characters (PCs) interact with the world that the game-master describes to them. Players talk to the GM and describe what their characters are doing, while the GM tells the players what their characters observe in reaction. Through GM and player discussion a story develops. This describes the most common format for games labeled “role-playing games”.
Another important element of many popular role-playing games is statistics. In role-playing games, statistics are often used for several purposes. One of these uses is to describe relative skill or aptitude in certain areas. Higher skills mean a higher probability of success. These random probability elements are simulated by the rolling of dice interacting with a character’s numbers written on a sheet of paper called a “character sheet”.
The setting my book was designed for is Heian Japan as outlined below. The reasons for choosing to write a role-playing game sourcebook about such an obscure time period can be summed up by the words “fun” and “novel”. The complex social relationships of the Heian court have entertained people of all classes in Japan for centuries through popularizations of The Tale of Genji; the single most important work of Japanese literature, and written in the Heian era. The escapades of Genji (the title character) have entertained readers around the world since the 1920s when the first English translation was penned by Arthur Waley. Complex social relationships and politics existed during the Heian period, and these allow for many amusing role-playing opportunities in an exotic setting. Furthermore, many role-playing fans have expressed a desire for more socially-oriented RPG settings because the RPG market currently consists almost entirely of combat-oriented settings.
Although the purpose of this work is for a game and not scholarly, close attention has been given to historical accuracy.
Originally, I was writing this role-playing game sourcebook for GURPS (Generic Universal Role-Playing System) by Steve Jackson Games Inc. with the intent to publish it professionally on e23: a store of online role-playing source material. Unfortunately I was not able to negotiate successfully with this company.
Also, this project was part of my efforts to graduate with honors from the BYU honors program. One of the requirements is to write an honors thesis or honors capstone project. This was my capstone project. In March 2006 my honors project passed, and because of this I was able to graduate with honors. This means that a copy of this project can be found in the BYU library.
While I was working on this project for my honors capstone project, I was still in negotiation with Steve Jackson Games. Therefore, my project as published in the library is written as though it were a game supplement for GURPS.
The acronym GURPS describes its purpose well. It is a mechanical outlay for PCs and GMs that can be used for role-playing in any setting. Of the many RPG systems on the market, GURPS is the best for historical role-playing partly because its character creation mechanics allow for differing status, rank, and other important social details.
Although I am not professionally publishing the book under the GURPS rules system, I am currently in the process of researching other markets. The notes from my mentors and from my honors capstone project defense have been very helpful as I have been constantly in the process of revising the book to improve it and adjust it to other markets.
The target market for this book is people who play role-playing games but might not necessarily know anything about Japanese history or culture. While working on the project at BYU, I was fortunate to have the assistance from a wide variety of people. I asked for assistance from many of my peers in my writing and Japanese classes, as well as help from some of my friends at my apartment complex. Therefore, I was able to get help not only from my teachers who are very well learned in Japanese history, but I was also able to get help and input from the entire spectrum of my market including people with almost no prior knowledge of Japanese history.
Both the fun and novelty of the Heian setting were great to aid in my ulterior motives for writing this project. The first goal was to encourage others to learn about this time of history. If not for the fun and novelty of this project there would be some people who would never have the opportunity to learn about this very important time in history. Sources in English about this time period are lacking. Even the most comprehensive world history textbook that I could find in bookstores only glosses over this time period and creates what I believed to be an inaccurate portrayal of the time period. Other sources in English are almost all scholarly in nature. In fact, I would say that the largest body of sources about the Heian period in English is literary study guides for The Tale of Genji. Because access to this time period is limited for English readers, interest is also understandably limited. The Heian period remains obscure to most of the Western world. By writing this book I hoped to create interest in this very important, yet obscure, time period, as well as provide a much needed English resource for the non-scholar. While I was conversing with people who knew next to nothing about Japan, I was surprised how much interest I created about the Heian period. By introducing some of the more bizarre and interesting parts of the daily life of a Heian court noble, I was able to almost immediately capture the imagination of my audience. These conversations proved to be invaluable as I thought about how to present this time period in writing. People seemed interested that the life of the court was so focused on art. Daily interaction was done through the mediums of painting and poetry. Of course this meant that to re-create the life of a Heian noble, a person would need to role-play the part of a painter and poet. One of the biggest challenges in writing this book was how to create a first hand role-playing experience about a people who’s customs and aesthetic is separated so far from our world. However, overcoming this challenge was the most fun part of this project. I thank ORCA for this transitional opportunity from my college career to professional writing.