What sort of hidden gem is this?! It looks perfect to represent Japanese movie, anime and manga horror scenarios! If you are handing out review copies, I would love to feature it in my Youtube channel; is there an email where I can contact you?
(Sorry, if there is some mistakes in this comment. English is not my native language)
Hello! Just bought a physical copy of this game and read it. Everything is so cool and I really love that aesthetic! But I don't understand, how "Reserve" works? If I understand it correctly, the number of dices is written in the character profile. But, if there is four players... Game needs A LOT OF d12 dices?
Hey there, thank you for purchasing the game! Yes, a reserve is the amount of D12 a player has linked to their character. This can be done by using 1 D12 and marking how many you have, then deducting from that and rolling the D12 one at a time. However it's more fun if each player has the full amount of D12 to roll at once.
Ordered a physical copy of this yesterday as well as Liminal_ and Bilge, somehow completely unaware that you made all three of them. Haven't looked through the latter two yet, but I read through this while waiting for my flight at the airport today and my GOD am I excited to try it out - the mechanics seem so tense and fun, and every single scenario, story prompt, all of the IFs etc, are just so ridiculously good. And it seems like it's really designed to require minimal prep to run which is perfect for someone like me who has been too intimidated by the idea of longer campaigns because of the amount of prep that would have to be involved.
It also seems like it would be really easy to make homebrew campaigns for this, so I'm definitely tempted to give it a try and maybe put up a couple adventures on itch at some point. Very excited thinking about potential different settings it could be adapted to. A UK folk horror adventure? Or a nautical themed one in Bermuda or the Bahamas? Something in the Middle East with horrors inspired by Islamic mythology? Something in Russia with lots of brutalist urban horror? A North European winter themed adventure??? The possibilities just seem endless.
Oh, and very excited to hear you'll be at Games Expo this year, will be dropping by and saying hi for sure, and hopefully picking up even more of your games!
Hi, I bought the game and it's beautiful, the atmosphere is what I've been looking for for a long time and the rules are very simple. I just have one problem: how does character creation work if I want to create one that isn't included in the list? How does the distribution of points and reserves work? A thousand thanks
Hi Hadess. Thank you for the kind words, I'm glad you're enjoying the game! If you want to create your own character card I tend to try not to go above 8 with any of the stats as this means the character has to roll at least one dice to succeed in a check and can't just auto succeed (with a small scale for failure.)
For pool I try not to go above 9 dice and stick around 7, 5 being the lowest. The Philanthropist is an exception with a pool of 10 as they have terrible stats and make up for this by 'paying their way' through stat checks.
In terms of skills do whatever feels right for the class. Create something interesting and out of the box that puts the game on its head. The Tulpamancer for example or the Artists homunculus.
It's best to think of a very interesting skill, then make it weaker and have your initial idea as the advanced version.
Hi! Got the game on Kickstarter and I'm getting ready for an Halloween game night but I cannot understand how investigators level up, the manual says they "get better" every investigation and that every two level they power up theyr skill but I cannot understand how they actually level up. Do you mean that every investigation they level up so every 2 investication they get the new skill?
Sorry if the text is strange due to machine translation.
Today, I saw information about this TRPG on Twitter in Japan and bought it on impulse.
I haven't been able to play it yet, but this TRPG is fun to read. It has a nostalgic feel to it, yet is nonchalantly cool! And I feel like I'm being sucked in by a strange gaze of the eyes.
Thank you for your wonderful work.
Also, I found what looks like a typo in the Japanese version, but let me report it here. (If there was another place to report it, I missed it. Sorry.)
Three of the four skills of the 「芸術家(ペイントイーター)」 on the explorer card are homunculus.
Absolutely love the aesthetics and systems, I couldnt help but back the Kickstarter and I love the pdf. I wondered if u have any plans to create/release any in-depth investigations for it too, like one shots and scenario zines for example. I would absolutely grab up content as such without hesitation!
Hi - I've just discovered this project and I'd really love to get the physical version. Therefore, is there or will there be any way to purchase it at a later date since the kickstarter has already concluded?
Hi, of course, once it's printed and sent out, it will be available on my online shop here https://ko-fi.com/neonrot/shop in the meantime maybe check out my other games there. Chorogaiden should hit the shop within the next month.
This is a fantastic little game. Easy to understand. The rules are incredibly evocative, the art and presentation is cool, and it feels easy to hack and adjust. It is dripping with flavor for helping you build a very lightweight and easy to run adventure for exploring horrible dark secrets lurking in a quiet town.
Only complaint is technical, 250mb is gargantuan for a 36 page pdf and it lacks bookmarks or other features. Hardly a reason not to buy the game though, because the system is very cool.
Thank you for the kind words. Feel free to create and post/sell any hacks you want, I need to add a creative commons license but rest assured its there.
The file size is because there's a secret mystery hidden in the meta data of the code and not because I don't own indesign and create all my pdfs raw in photoshop.
Choro is 長老 Elder. But it is a play on the lovecraftian concept of Eldritch or Elder God which relates to The Eyes within the game. Hope this clears it up!
Hi! I read over the PDF in one sitting because it really grabbed me. This game is just dripping with style and I can't wait to run it. However, I noticed that the Gumshoe and the Reporter character cards have two abilities the same, with the text on the Gumshoe abilities still saying "Reporter" Not sure if they were intended to have the same abilities or not, but I thought I'd point it out.
Chorogaiden is a low-fidelity occult horror ttrpg in the vein of stuff like World Of Horror.
The PDF is 36 pages, with a sludgy, consistent aesthetic, and everything is easy to decipher.
Setting-wise, Chorogaiden takes place in a small town in Japan. The world has a slightly gothic, slightly weird vibe, and the overall atmosphere is that most people have probably had a brush with something horrible, but few people talk about it.
Gameplay-wise, the players work with the GM to flesh out their town, and then work against the GM to close a Gate inside the town. The Gate is an opening through which a force called the Eyes sends monsters and horrors. As the Eyes sends them, the Gate slowly opens, and when it opens fully the world ends.
For rolls, players spend d12s from a pool and use the sum of their spent d12s + a relevant Skill against a target number. If they beat the TN, they get back one spent d12---encouraging players to either risk failure or open up with big permanent spends on rolls that matter. At the same time, when any of their rolled dice match numbers from a set generated by the GM, the game advances towards a lose condition. This sort of puts an onus on the GM not to call for frivolous rolls and also to make the results of all rolls meaningful---but I'm not sure if the book is quite emphatic enough about communicating this.
Combat in Chorogaiden is handled through regular rolls, and doesn't play out granularly. If there's an axe-wielding maniac in town, you can choose to go after them and make a roll, or you can choose to do something else and roll for that instead. And if you do something else, the axe-wielding maniac will take their own actions in the meantime. Essentially, you're not going to be moving around a little tile grid and using abilities---the feeling is more like a series of skirmishes, or of playing cat-and-mouse.
Because the game's theme is investigations, and because investigations in rpgs have a tendency to brick if the players and the scenario writer aren't on the same wavelength, Chorogaiden does have a mechanic for players getting hints from the GM. By spending a d12 and advancing the game towards its lose condition, any player can get a randomly generated insight. These insights aren't scenario-specific, but they're worded in such a way that they will usually help unstick the players no matter the circumstances.
Character creation is Class based, with Classes and skill cards that loosely mirror World Of Horror's system. Skills generally influence the core rolling mechanic, as there aren't damage/hp/mp/items the way there would be in WoH, but everything fits the scope and themes of the game.
For GM utilities, there's a list of sample adventures (some of them beat-for-beat World Of Horror investigations, although I think that's because they're both pulling from the same Junji Ito material.) There's also advice throughout, but the game leans on the GM a lot to substantiate plots, to come up with the endgame, and to improvise antagonists and consequences. If you like to freewheel and design on the fly as a GM, you'll enjoy this style a lot, but conversely if you hate those things you'll struggle hard here.
Overall, Chorogaiden is a game with a strong atmosphere, great art, and a sort of loose framework. A lot of what you get out of it will depend on what the GM puts into it. If you're a fan of occult horror games, Junji Ito, or maybe even the PC-98, I'd recommend giving this a look.
Minor Issues:
-Page 13, if a player helps another player on a roll and the rolling player fails, does the helping player get back their d12? A strict reading of the rules suggests no, but it does seem to be implied.
-Page 17, the text mentions increasing the IF. IF isn't explained until the next page.
Hey thank you for the kind words. A helping player does not get back a D12 on the Checking player's success, instead, they do it simply to help the Checking player.
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What sort of hidden gem is this?! It looks perfect to represent Japanese movie, anime and manga horror scenarios! If you are handing out review copies, I would love to feature it in my Youtube channel; is there an email where I can contact you?
Of course, send me an email on willpiddington@yahoo.co.uk. also if you're interested, there's a Kickstarter for the original + an expansion that ends in 35 hours https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/neonrot/chorogaiden-sunflower?ref=android_project_share
Thanks! Email sent.
(Sorry, if there is some mistakes in this comment. English is not my native language)
Hello! Just bought a physical copy of this game and read it. Everything is so cool and I really love that aesthetic! But I don't understand, how "Reserve" works? If I understand it correctly, the number of dices is written in the character profile. But, if there is four players... Game needs A LOT OF d12 dices?
Thank you!
Hey there, thank you for purchasing the game! Yes, a reserve is the amount of D12 a player has linked to their character. This can be done by using 1 D12 and marking how many you have, then deducting from that and rolling the D12 one at a time. However it's more fun if each player has the full amount of D12 to roll at once.
Ordered a physical copy of this yesterday as well as Liminal_ and Bilge, somehow completely unaware that you made all three of them. Haven't looked through the latter two yet, but I read through this while waiting for my flight at the airport today and my GOD am I excited to try it out - the mechanics seem so tense and fun, and every single scenario, story prompt, all of the IFs etc, are just so ridiculously good. And it seems like it's really designed to require minimal prep to run which is perfect for someone like me who has been too intimidated by the idea of longer campaigns because of the amount of prep that would have to be involved.
It also seems like it would be really easy to make homebrew campaigns for this, so I'm definitely tempted to give it a try and maybe put up a couple adventures on itch at some point. Very excited thinking about potential different settings it could be adapted to. A UK folk horror adventure? Or a nautical themed one in Bermuda or the Bahamas? Something in the Middle East with horrors inspired by Islamic mythology? Something in Russia with lots of brutalist urban horror? A North European winter themed adventure??? The possibilities just seem endless.
Oh, and very excited to hear you'll be at Games Expo this year, will be dropping by and saying hi for sure, and hopefully picking up even more of your games!
Hey frogge, thank you for all the kind words! I'm really glad you're enjoying my work and I'd love to see anything you homebrew for Chorogaiden!
I also look forward to seeing you at UKGE, in the meantime feel free to come join the discord! https://discord.com/invite/bntR5YRU
Hi, I bought the game and it's beautiful, the atmosphere is what I've been looking for for a long time and the rules are very simple. I just have one problem: how does character creation work if I want to create one that isn't included in the list? How does the distribution of points and reserves work? A thousand thanks
Hi Hadess. Thank you for the kind words, I'm glad you're enjoying the game! If you want to create your own character card I tend to try not to go above 8 with any of the stats as this means the character has to roll at least one dice to succeed in a check and can't just auto succeed (with a small scale for failure.)
For pool I try not to go above 9 dice and stick around 7, 5 being the lowest. The Philanthropist is an exception with a pool of 10 as they have terrible stats and make up for this by 'paying their way' through stat checks.
In terms of skills do whatever feels right for the class. Create something interesting and out of the box that puts the game on its head. The Tulpamancer for example or the Artists homunculus.
It's best to think of a very interesting skill, then make it weaker and have your initial idea as the advanced version.
Good luck and good investigations!
Hi! Got the game on Kickstarter and I'm getting ready for an Halloween game night but I cannot understand how investigators level up, the manual says they "get better" every investigation and that every two level they power up theyr skill but I cannot understand how they actually level up. Do you mean that every investigation they level up so every 2 investication they get the new skill?
Exactly that, apologies if that was unclear.
hi ,, i really like ure game aesthetics,, maybe we can make a collaboration im a HOROR ambient music producer,, thanks and have a nice day !!
Hi satanic, your stuff looks great! I've already made an album for Chorogaiden available here https://neon-rot.itch.io/chorogaiden-album
but if I make any more for this game I'll send you a message.
ok ,, thank you so much !!
Nice to meet you, I am Japanese.
Sorry if the text is strange due to machine translation.
Today, I saw information about this TRPG on Twitter in Japan and bought it on impulse.
I haven't been able to play it yet, but this TRPG is fun to read. It has a nostalgic feel to it, yet is nonchalantly cool! And I feel like I'm being sucked in by a strange gaze of the eyes.
Thank you for your wonderful work.
Also, I found what looks like a typo in the Japanese version, but let me report it here. (If there was another place to report it, I missed it. Sorry.)
Three of the four skills of the 「芸術家(ペイントイーター)」 on the explorer card are homunculus.
Please confirm.
Thanks again for a great TRPG.
Thank you for your comment, I'm glad you're enjoying the game, there's more content coming soon!
Homunculus being 3 skills is an error, thank you for catching that, I'll fix it in an update tomorrow.
It has already been updated.
Thank you for your quick response.
You are awesome!
Absolutely love the aesthetics and systems, I couldnt help but back the Kickstarter and I love the pdf. I wondered if u have any plans to create/release any in-depth investigations for it too, like one shots and scenario zines for example. I would absolutely grab up content as such without hesitation!
Hi, yes I definitely plan to create some one shots for this, a whole zine of them even!
Hi - I've just discovered this project and I'd really love to get the physical version. Therefore, is there or will there be any way to purchase it at a later date since the kickstarter has already concluded?
Hi, of course, once it's printed and sent out, it will be available on my online shop here https://ko-fi.com/neonrot/shop in the meantime maybe check out my other games there. Chorogaiden should hit the shop within the next month.
This is a fantastic little game. Easy to understand. The rules are incredibly evocative, the art and presentation is cool, and it feels easy to hack and adjust. It is dripping with flavor for helping you build a very lightweight and easy to run adventure for exploring horrible dark secrets lurking in a quiet town.
Only complaint is technical, 250mb is gargantuan for a 36 page pdf and it lacks bookmarks or other features. Hardly a reason not to buy the game though, because the system is very cool.
Thank you for the kind words. Feel free to create and post/sell any hacks you want, I need to add a creative commons license but rest assured its there.
The file size is because there's a secret mystery hidden in the meta data of the code
and not because I don't own indesign and create all my pdfs raw in photoshop.I am a Japanese RPG player.
I wonder what your game "CHOROGAIDEN" means in Japanese. I think "Gaiden" means "sub episode", but what does "CHORO" mean?
This is just a question of interest. We will play this game soon. I look forward to doing it.
Thank you.
I look forward to hearing about your game.
Choro is 長老 Elder. But it is a play on the lovecraftian concept of Eldritch or Elder God which relates to The Eyes within the game. Hope this clears it up!
Thanks a lot for your reply!
Hi! I read over the PDF in one sitting because it really grabbed me. This game is just dripping with style and I can't wait to run it. However, I noticed that the Gumshoe and the Reporter character cards have two abilities the same, with the text on the Gumshoe abilities still saying "Reporter"
Not sure if they were intended to have the same abilities or not, but I thought I'd point it out.
Oof good catch thank you, I'm putting out a patch now with a few changes. Thank you for the kind words as well!
Chorogaiden is a low-fidelity occult horror ttrpg in the vein of stuff like World Of Horror.
The PDF is 36 pages, with a sludgy, consistent aesthetic, and everything is easy to decipher.
Setting-wise, Chorogaiden takes place in a small town in Japan. The world has a slightly gothic, slightly weird vibe, and the overall atmosphere is that most people have probably had a brush with something horrible, but few people talk about it.
Gameplay-wise, the players work with the GM to flesh out their town, and then work against the GM to close a Gate inside the town. The Gate is an opening through which a force called the Eyes sends monsters and horrors. As the Eyes sends them, the Gate slowly opens, and when it opens fully the world ends.
For rolls, players spend d12s from a pool and use the sum of their spent d12s + a relevant Skill against a target number. If they beat the TN, they get back one spent d12---encouraging players to either risk failure or open up with big permanent spends on rolls that matter. At the same time, when any of their rolled dice match numbers from a set generated by the GM, the game advances towards a lose condition. This sort of puts an onus on the GM not to call for frivolous rolls and also to make the results of all rolls meaningful---but I'm not sure if the book is quite emphatic enough about communicating this.
Combat in Chorogaiden is handled through regular rolls, and doesn't play out granularly. If there's an axe-wielding maniac in town, you can choose to go after them and make a roll, or you can choose to do something else and roll for that instead. And if you do something else, the axe-wielding maniac will take their own actions in the meantime. Essentially, you're not going to be moving around a little tile grid and using abilities---the feeling is more like a series of skirmishes, or of playing cat-and-mouse.
Because the game's theme is investigations, and because investigations in rpgs have a tendency to brick if the players and the scenario writer aren't on the same wavelength, Chorogaiden does have a mechanic for players getting hints from the GM. By spending a d12 and advancing the game towards its lose condition, any player can get a randomly generated insight. These insights aren't scenario-specific, but they're worded in such a way that they will usually help unstick the players no matter the circumstances.
Character creation is Class based, with Classes and skill cards that loosely mirror World Of Horror's system. Skills generally influence the core rolling mechanic, as there aren't damage/hp/mp/items the way there would be in WoH, but everything fits the scope and themes of the game.
For GM utilities, there's a list of sample adventures (some of them beat-for-beat World Of Horror investigations, although I think that's because they're both pulling from the same Junji Ito material.) There's also advice throughout, but the game leans on the GM a lot to substantiate plots, to come up with the endgame, and to improvise antagonists and consequences. If you like to freewheel and design on the fly as a GM, you'll enjoy this style a lot, but conversely if you hate those things you'll struggle hard here.
Overall, Chorogaiden is a game with a strong atmosphere, great art, and a sort of loose framework. A lot of what you get out of it will depend on what the GM puts into it. If you're a fan of occult horror games, Junji Ito, or maybe even the PC-98, I'd recommend giving this a look.
Minor Issues:
-Page 13, if a player helps another player on a roll and the rolling player fails, does the helping player get back their d12? A strict reading of the rules suggests no, but it does seem to be implied.
-Page 17, the text mentions increasing the IF. IF isn't explained until the next page.
Hey thank you for the kind words. A helping player does not get back a D12 on the Checking player's success, instead, they do it simply to help the Checking player.