Author's Games: Samurai

Fun Facts

Since this is historical, not only was Nobunaga Oda a real samurai in Japanese history, but he was the first to unite all of Japan. I want this to try to be as accurate as possible, but one thing will have to be different. Whoever wins and takes over Japan in the story, is obviously NOT Nobunaga Oda. I just thought you guys would want to know some historical facts. 

All of the clan names that you have to choose from WERE real clans in or around this time period. (For anyone who cares, I was thinking that the year Samurai takes place is 1560). Feel free to research whatever clan you choose so that way you can include historical aspects, or make everything up as you go. Having more historical aspects would help make it more realistic, but it's not required. So just keep in mind, your clans WERE real clans. 

All the "Gamemakers" if you want to call them that, including Nobunaga, his generals Mitsuhide and Hideyoshi, and later on Togugawa were his real generals as well. Nobunaga's story line is going to be as accurate as I can get it, while adding in the addition of your invented characters to it as well. 

Your names should be Japanese, and in Japan, people are called by their family names (aka their clan names or their last names), which is listed first. You don't have to do this in your entries or the emails, but in dialogue if someone other than family is talking to them, they would call your character their last name as a sign of respect. This is why many people will call Nobunaga, just Oda because that's his clan/family name. His name listed correctly is actually Oda Nobunaga. Just as another fun fact. 

If you guys want me to, I'll also post a chapter containing a few Japanese terms and stuff, in case you want to include them in your entries to add to realism. You don't have to, but it would help if you wanted to. Just let me know if you want me to, or if you guys are okay with researching it on your own. 

Also, I would appreciate it if you stay true to what being a samurai means historically and what they were. This means a little research, but I can also post a chapter with more details about them if you wish (comment and let me know). 

Even though this is 1560, you can include other aspects of Samurai from the 1800s if you want. 

Random fun fact, 1860 is actually my favorite period of Samurai history (mostly because its the most tragic). If we all love Samurai so much, I might make a sequel game to it, that takes place in 1860, where you guys can do the competition again, but from that time periods' history (which is horribly sad, tragic and... gahhh. Too many feels already). Okay, I seriously think I might do this anyway. What do you guys think?

Back to fun facts. 

Nobunaga was the first samurai daimyo to take over and unite Japan. In the 1500's, Japan was ruled by an Emperor (technically speaking, it was the Ashikaga clan, but since I'm listing that as one of the available clans for you guys to chose, for our story it's not the related to the Emperor). He was ruler with pretty much just the title itself. The Shogun was the military leader and advisor, so he controlled everything to do with the army. Both worked together to rule Japan, but their power often fluctuated (sometimes the Emperor would have more political control, other times the Shogun would). In this time, Japan was ruled mostly by diamyo, which were made of the warrior social class called Samurai. Diamyo were clan lords who had power over their clan, their clans' army, which all consisted of samurai warriors. 

So by taking over all the clans, Nobunaga united Japan for the first time in history. After he was assassintated, one of his ex-rivals/loyal generals, Iayasu Togugawa became the next man to rule Japan, and his clan lasted throughout history (all the way into my favorite time period, 1860). 

What made Nobunaga's campaign a success was his use of the arquebus, which was the first real gun/refile used in Japan at the time. It decimated army lines, replacing bows, arrows, spears and other samurai weapons. It completely changed Japanese warfare around, instead of an era with samurai lords challenging each other and fighting as they had before. Remember, these were early, early versions of the weapon, which means its not like anything we have today. Later on in 1860, more rifles were used, replacing the katana,  a true weapon of a samurai, and thus the end of the samurai era began...

Okay feels again. *ahem* anyway...

I have no idea why I'm telling you all this. I hope some of you will be interested in the history behind these Games. Again, I'm trying to keep it as accurate as possible, while making it a fun competition. So feel free to comment and tell me what you think! Don't forget to let me know of your opinions on doing a Samurai sequel games :) (maybe this should wait until we've decided whether we like Author's Games: Samurai or not... haha).