They're meant to be linked...chronologically, even. You introduce Tensei after you play through Makkura.
OK, first we're going to talk about the presumed Kuro Campaign...a.k.a. What Asen Doesn't Like About Kuro.
Yes, I'm serious. But it's still presumed you'd be using it...no, don't tell me it's not - everything even in the corebook points you in that direction. The adventure in the basic book is part of it, and you basically have to play through Kuro: Makkura to get to Kuro: Tensei!
SPOILERTIME:
The Incident, the Blockade - they're both parts of it. And they're part of the reasons the setting is what it is.
/SPOILERTIME
So...this won't be the usual review. Instead, I'm going to talk a bit about the campaign, and a lot more about how to salvage it.
Yes, it's that bad, speaking from experience. I've run part of it (readers of my blog can remember that this is one of the very few campaigns I've tried to run...and it's also one of the reasons I'm not actively looking for other people's campaigns).
So, what is the campaign.
It begins with the adventure in the corebook (mandatory - you introduce recurring NPC there), and continues. The point is to get increasingly deeper in the occult world of Shin Edo.
SPOILERTIME 2!
So, first the characters are kidnapped by terrorists and save themselves or are saved, not without the help of an AI (or is it an AI?) they meet in the next building - a laboratory - after the terrorists blow up the floor.
Then they chase a murderer who's obviously not merely human.
They try to save missing students and find themselves in a demon's realm.
Then various shenanigans ensue. OK, that part isn't exactly spoiler-worthy. Oh, and more recurring NPCs are introduced!
FWIW: all the 7 adventures are keyed to the days of the week.
And then they have to chase the demons to prevent a great evil from appearing....but they fail (no questions here).
And then they have the option to return to ordinary lives, or become avatars for the kami who were their ancestors, and to fight demons (though not with this exact wording). You know what PCs are going to pick, right?
(The question, though, is asked as "Do you want to live or die?"
/SPOILERTIME 2!
What's bad about the campaign?
It's frigging linear. Like, I've read a short story ("Regret With Math", by Greg Stolze) that was less linear.
And this is supposed to be a game. But you can change nothing.
If I had to guess what the authors were thinking, it would be something like this...
"The players aren't going to read all about the setting (arguably true in some groups). So, the characters have to reach from A to B by clearing middle points C, D, E, and F, and by the kami, they're going to do it! And the players are going to get immersed in the setting in the process! Those baka players just need to pay attention to the scenery as the train is passing!"
Ahem, maybe not quite like this, but it's what I imagine - not what happened.
Now, for those without the game, and for everyone who might think I'm exaggerating: The adventure in the corebook is, like, the worst example of a glorified railroad you can think of. Or, quite possibly, worse than that!
I mean, it is fully linear. You can't, by design, stray in any direction - short of dying deliberately against obviously superior forces (NPCs with assault weapons and power armour, while the characters are unarmed...exactly how stupid do you have to be in order to stay and fight?) It gives you TNs for checks and stats for NPCs that are going to be fighting. And it also gives you an explanation why, if you fail the checks and have the mind to run, you're still going to pass - and the NPCs couldn't chase you!
Though admittedly, there are brighter moments in the campaign...like the Darkness Demon, amusingly enough. At least you could die for something other than bad dice rolls.
Verdict: Kuro is a great game, and well-researched, but the campaign basically makes all its potential unnecessary, except as a combat engine!
The campaign is exactly as bad as it seems, while the game and the setting are exactly as great as they seem. But it is a good way to showcase the setting, and to introduce its darker parts, and unknown beliefs - step by step.
So, how to combine it with an actual, you know, game (where, by definition, your decisions should be able to change the outcome)? I have a solution!
Here's what I actually did, and I'd recommend the same to you as well. It's the adventure in the corebook (yes, that same one) that gave me the idea...
Remember, it is fully linear. So, obviously the authors wanted to tell you this as a story. Should I rewrite it with much effort, or should I run a railroad? "No way" to both, I said.
Instead, I allowed them to do exactly what they wanted (and I recommend you doing the same). I told the players the story.
So, listen: the game begins less than a week after the corebook adventure. The PCs meet and introduce each other, but you tell them that they know each other.
At this point, let the players introduce the PCs.
And then tell them the first adventure as a cut-scene: "Three days ago, you met at the bank that was attacked by terrorists and survived together. Worse, some things you found while escaping point to you that you're all related in some ways! At the least, your names are all on a list." (Also refer to the spoileblock).
Then I read them how the adventure was going to go anyway.
(The players, of course, asked: "why aren't we playing through this?" They were assuming they might do something that might change the events, the poor souls...
Me: "Because it's a total railroad and I can't stand to run it, nor do I have the time to re-write it basically from scratch. And when I say this, I mean it doesn't matter what you're going to try and do").
Then you serve them the actual adventure. See the parts with "adventure seeds" (after the adventures in the campaign, titled "Continuing the Day of..." and on p. 183 of the corebook)?
Those are almost as good as the actual campaign is a failure (for me, at least). They give you suggestions, point out what info about the setting they're meant to introduce, what to focus on...
They are even grouped, so you could pick one depending on the party composition!
So, I'd read each adventure in the campaign as a cut-scene (barring maybe 3 of them, but probably less). The rest of them, and that's the majority unless you're willing to do a lot more work than me, you introduce as cut-scenes.
Remember, they're meant to evoke a mood and progress a plot. Let them do it!
Then you use what you've actually got, and run the adventures that are obvious in the adventure seeds!
And you can decide to stop after some of the events - especially if you don't want to get into playing Kuro: Tensei (where the game becomes less of a horror and more of a supernatural technothriller in a dystopian future...like Eric van Lustbader on steroids. I mean, his ninja guy never met the Japanese Emperor...)
Also, the events from Makkura, which are meant to pre-date Tensei, need never happen - unless the group would like that! Just because you're using them as background, doesn't tie you to that turn of events.
You can even play Tensei without the kami returning in such a spectacular fashion...they players have been considered "worthy", and got a kami's attention. Period. Like so much else in the game, it's a mixed blessing...
Or they might decide to continue the same way as before, without the Ki Powers in Tensei. Personally, I'd love that!
And you know best what your group would like.
Tensei
So, maybe you played Makkura, or maybe you're introducing just Tensei. Either way, it's assumed that a kami (a spirit of a Japanese hero) has merged with your character. It's not possession, see - you're their descendent, so it's obviously fine!
But no matter, the point is that mechanically, you're introducing Kewl Powerz. (And narratively, you're now becoming one of the movers and shakers...while in-world, your PC is now indeed apart from the common man - or woman - at the street, and risks forgetting who he or she used to be in the 21st century).
Oh, and you now have the option to play one of the Onimachines. Get the supplement to learn what those are...
They all give you access to different abilities. For example, all the warriors except Benkai give you only the techniques Kekkai and Okuden - while Himiko, the Miko archetype, gives you access to Divination, Kagenie, Kamitsuki, Kekkai, Kichiyose, and Kuji-Kiri.
Kekkai, for example, are "areas of supernatural purity, where the supernatural cannot harm innocents". The PC(s) and your opponent(s) simply disappear, and fight in a place with no bystanders (unless you want to protect those...them dying leads to Taint), but with all the structures that were there. Anyone who dies there, is dead, but that's it. You can blow the Emperor's Castle, but no
They've got different "Sacred Gimmiku", different ways to recover Ki, allow you to use different items and amulets. The only thing they have in common: the closer you get to "your" kami, the less human you become - and the more powerful.
And since I know you want it, here's the list of "powers".
Divination (duh!)
Kekkai (see above)
Kagenie (the ability to create a paper doll that augments someone's abilities)
Kami-Tsuki (summoning kami to control things around you, like the kami of a house, a car, or whatever)
Katatagae (teleportation)
Kuchiyose (summoning protective spirits)
Kuji-In (using 9 magic rituals to augment your abilities, cure ills, become invisible to impure beings, or throw energy attacks)
Kuji-Kiri (using the raw power of Kuji-In - regardless of whether you know Kuji-In itself - to generate a terrible energy attack)
Maboroshi (wounding your opponent with terrifying illusions woven from Ki)
Okuden (create weapons of energy or inject existing ones with Ki to improve them)
Shinobi ("the originus of the occult knowledge of assassins, ninja and hinin spies", this Technique modifies your body, changing it to fight or fool an enemy - and it is enhanced by having Taint).
Even more importantly (meaning, I don't see any reason not to use those rules and information in the game before Tensei), you get an in-depth explanation of Purity and Taint, and ways to remove the latter. In fact, I believe this should have been in the corebook!
There's also a chapter detailing which regions of Japan are more or less tainted and what it means for those visiting it or living there. The Shin Edo (the New Tokyo capital, remember?) is given its own chapter.
There is a list of the different factions of supernatural creatures, and stats for some of the supernatural creatures (but fair warning: without the options in Kuro: Tensei or really damn heavy cybernetics, you're toast against one of the weak ones, like Okami-Otoko, or Ybao-Kuni).
There's two adventures. What was said about Makkura, applies here as well, in spades. Except there are no Adventure Seeds.
That's fine, though. The whole book is one giant adventure seed - especially the parts about Taint!
For obvious reasons, I'm not going to rate Makkura.
Tensei gets the following ratings from me:
Style: 5/5
Mechanics: 5/5
Setting: 5/5
GMing advice: N/A
Adventures: N/A
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