Using the new advanced class: Oracle, Kaidan features a Shrine Maiden (Miko) whose primary domain are ancestral spirits. Any accumulated positive and negative karma cancel one another out. While 50- negative karma sends one's soul downward in caste. As one consistently accumulates one type of karma (positive or negative)ĥ0+ points of positive karma accrued before one's death, means one will "reincarnate" into the next higher caste. As characters progress through the setting they accumulate positive and/or negative karma points. Acts that enforce the rules of Kaidan, or those that benefit others grant positive karma, well its opposite denotes negative karma. Kaidan introduces a mechanic known as karma, recorded as positive or negative score, based decisions made in life that affect other people and the empire at large. They will have a new face, new body, even new class and occupation, but they also retain their previous life's class and level - in a sense they are now multi-class over multiple lifetimes. Under the right circumstances, the memories of the previous owner's spirit is retained and remembered, and a "reincarnation" into a full adult at near the same level of the previous life with some or all of the memories of the previous life. The possessing soul steals the memories of the being from the primal soul, but also retains the memories of the previous person who died releasing their possessing soul into the Wheel. However, if the possessing soul wins, the primal soul is expelled to the spirit pool, and the possessing soul takes over in a perverse form of reincarnation, called Death Spirit Possession. If the primal soul wins, the possessing soul goes into the spirit pool to once again return in a new born as a primal soul itself. A struggle occurs for dominance of the being. However, when one dies, their spirit attempts to possess another being, currently inhabited by a primal soul. When one is born, that person is inhabited by a primal soul, a possibly a temporary spirit that exists throughout their lives. However, this is not true reincarnation, but an artificial mechanism that is part of the Wheel of Life. Ressurection and Raise dead do not function in Kaidan, when one dies Reincarnation is the only result. Only enlightenment can allow escape, but in Kaidan enlightenment is considered a heresy, by decree of the Imperial Court and the governing Shogunate.įor the majority, if one is born a farmer, one will die a farmer, and will reincarnate to a farmer maintaining one's caste into perpetude. The Wheel of Life is also an endless cycle of reincarnations that the living is doomed to eternally travel. Heaven is held by the nobility, Asuras (Jealousy Realm) is held by the Samurai, Human realm is held by the Commoner Caste: farmer, fisherman, artisans, monks and merchants (the largest realm of the wheel), Animal is held by the non-human races and the shape-changers (hengeyokai), the Hungry Ghost is held by the Hinin caste: criminals, prostitutes, actors, musicians, butchers, tanners, grave diggers (considered the Tainted Caste.) The remaining five co-exist on the prime material plane but are divided by the caste system, with one technically outside the castes. Of these six, Hell is only true separate plane of existence, represented by the Yomi Underworld. The Wheel of Life consists of six planes of existence: Heaven realm, Asuras, Human Realm, Animal Realm, Hungry Ghost Realm, and Hell. However in Kaidan the Wheel of Life is its cosmology and is hard-wired into its social caste system. Kaidan features a number of twists to give it a darker flavor than other oriental settings.īorrowing from Buddhist thought is the concept of the Wheel of Life - six states of mind that trap humans and prevent enlightenment, the goal of Buddhism. On the surface is seems comparable to Oriental Adventures with many of the same classes and some races, and definitely a fictional setting, not an historical Japan game like Bushido or Sengoku. Kaidan is the Japanese word for "ghost or horror story" and tied to the ancient myths and folklore. For the last year, I've been working on setting for Pathfinder RPG called Kaidan: a Japanese Ghost Story setting.
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