The Warring States

Feudal Japan (circa 1400s Japan), reworked and set in a fictional Western United States during the Civil War era. Think cowboys with katanas, and states as warring fiefdoms.

Themes

To be written.

System

I'll either use the DitV system, modified as necessary to enable multiple combatants (I've got a few ideas), or I'll use my own which I'll illustrate below, for use in important conflicts.

Sengoku Hold Em

I'm thinking of a conflict resolution system that uses cards instead of dice, because I'm looking to instill this with a little old-west flavor. Coming into a conflict, you have a rating determined by your proficiency in such a conflict (example: "I'm an expert fencer 5"). This determines how many cards you'll eventually get dealt in the game of hold-em.

One card goes on the table, one to each participant. A round of betting, described below. Then, another card on the table, another card to every participant who still gets a card. Another round of betting.

Another card is revealed on the table (the river or whatever). Anyone with a Rating may exchange cards in their hand. You get up to your Rating in exchanges. You can only exchange when it's "to you".

Betting

Betting is conducted in terms of 'stakes'. The stakes must apply to everyone in the conflict. If the stakes don't seem to apply to a particular participant, that's a good indication that several conflicts should be taking place.

A 'raise' constitutes increasing the stakes, and the new stakes again must apply to everyone. If the stakes are, for example, "who backs down?", and a party wants to raise, they could raise the stakes to "who gets hurt for 1 card?" (meaning one card is drawn for damage). Another party could see, and further raise to "who gets killed?"

Folding

Folding gives your character the opportunity to exit the conflict on their terms; they only surrender the stakes of their last raise or see, and may describe within reason how they lose those stakes.

Calling

A participant may call on their turn. Cards are shown, and a winner is determined. To determine stakes lost from a call, the stakes established by the owner of the winning hand prevail.

An Example

To Be Writtten

Lower-priority conflicts

Conflicts which do not have the potential for a lot of drama (where the stakes are guaranteed to be low, or for actions closer to routine), a game of 5-card draw is played (usually against the GM), with the character's Rating in draws permitted, and the Difficulty of the task in draws to the GM. If a player feels their hand is inadequate, they can then get further draws by escalating the stakes. The GM is not permitted to escalate the stakes on static actions.