Exploring My Process of Character Creation in Ryuutama

May 9, 2020 | Articles | 4 comments

Find out how to create solo RPG characters in several creative ways with an introduction to a Ryuutama campaign.

Long have I been attracted to tabletop roleplaying games. The sheer amount of settings and systems always offers up something new to read. But to play a solo RPG? There are some unique considerations. After amassing quite a collection of PDFs and print books, I knew where I wanted to start: Ryuutama. Learn more about my character creation process!

RPG Overview

Game Name: Ryuutama
Publication Year:
2007
Designers:
Ryûtarô Matsukawa and Atsuhiro Okada
Artist:
 Ayako Nagamori

The mention of tabletop RPGs typically conjures up classic fantasy and plenty of combat. Gameplay often focuses on violent quests and leveling up characters. I enjoy these experiences, yet I like to explore other settings.

Ryuutama is very different. Combat is possible but uncommon. Travel and friendship are paramount.

A Pleasant Sort of Experience with Natural Fantasy Roleplaying in Ryuutama

The Meaning of Natural Fantasy Roleplaying

One of the main elements that immediately drew me into this setting was the character classes. The protagonists aren’t the standard warriors and wizards. Who are they? Regular people. Classes encompass occupations like an artisan, farmer, hunter, and merchant. Just ordinary. Which, quite often, leads to the extraordinary!

The system is vague enough to develop a lot of characteristics. There is magic, but the spells often involve illuminating tools, conjuring up flowers, or boosting healing effects. Offensive spells are present, too, yet the creatures of the world are more fantastical than terrible. Weapons are often more useful as tools than… Weapons? Ha!

Everything is supposed to be laidback. Each person makes a journey at some point, though that may happen late in life for some. The purpose of the said journey? Unknown! That’s where the joy of RPG creativity comes alive.

Lastly, I’m far too excited about the map-making potential with this world! I have plenty of tools in place, and plan to go into detail with some of those processes in the near future. Beak, Feather, & Bone is right at the top of my list!

Simple Fun

I love solo board games, and solo RPGs occupy a unique space. With the way this one works, it’s simple to simulate a day of travel without a lot of prep work and time.

My usual routine involves playing a solo board game daily… Or at least, mostly daily. I miss a day sometimes.

With this solo RPG, I can continue the adventure on a daily basis without necessarily pouring hours and hours into play. Or, I can decide to play as long as I want to!

The point is that this is my world where the unexpected can happen. But it’s all very lighthearted and positive!

The Simple Joy of the Journey in Ryuutama

Rolling for Classes

One of my favorite tools is my partial collection of Rory’s Story Cubes. Although seemingly simplistic, rolling 2-3 dice creates the basis for so many possibilities.

I decided to roll for a couple of characters to create a party. Well… Someone got carried away with 6 sets. Oops.

There was a moment when I figured I would just pick and choose. But then I started to get interested in each of these characters. That was that. All of them it was!

Can you see some obvious classes here? A few jumped out at me, while others were up for a little interpretation.

A Simple and Effective Base for Character Generation with Rory's Story Cubes in Ryuutama

Making Sense of the Nonsensical

Not everyone will like this storytelling tool because it comes down to interpreting the results. Some people might like concrete words, sentences, or definitions. That’s awesome! That works for me sometimes, too, yet I often enjoy the open-ended creativity. So let’s see what I came up with the following examples:

  • Set 1: Someone is silently taking something near the water or in the wild. Definitely the hunter class!
  • Set 2: Shadow puppetry, laughter, and falling for the sake of entertainment could only point to the minstrel class.
  • Set 3: A mirror and telescope point to speculating and planning. Add someone stealthy to get the merchant class.
  • Set 4: Tricky! Running low on energy, physical activity, and locked away danger? That’s the healer class!
  • Set 5: This one just screamed at me. Directional arrows, a maze, and a ship? How is this not the navigator class?!
  • Set 6: The wooden chest and basket are handmade precisely, indicated by the gears. Artisan class all the way.

Are these the right answers? Yes and no, because there really can never be a wrong answer to interpreting these cubes. I was a little sad that I didn’t end up with a noble in the group… But parties can be fluid. We may just run into one!

Additional Characterizations

With these very basic concepts in mind, I set to work randomizing and crafting these characters. Some may like to see a character develop throughout the course of play. I can go either way, yet I also wanted to use everything at my disposal. It was rather interesting, to say the least! I used a combination of the following tools:

  • Trait Randomizer: I collected various resources over the years, and have 30 optional elements, such as:
    • Emotional Disposition
    • Hobby
    • Interactivity
    • Sense of Humor
  • Character Portraits: Artbreeder is absolutely amazing, particularly for anime portraits almost designed for this.

Enjoy the following basic introductions! I expect them to come to life even more once the adventure begins. I like to avoid locking everything in during character creation to allow things to develop over the course of play. Just having the foundation for different behaviors is interesting enough for me! There’s a lot that can be learned early on.

Tsurume, the Artisan

Tsurume is an artisan (containers) of the attack type. She enjoys carving and religion.

  • Agreeableness: Empathic
  • Conformity: Arty
  • Motivator: Vice
  • Outlook: Resigned

Original Image Credited to Artbreeder User deadfoot

An Artbreeder Portrait of Tsurume from Ryuutama

Kageharu, the Merchant

Kageharu is a merchant of the technical type. He enjoys music and philosophy.

  • Agreeableness: Warm
  • Conformity: Traditional
  • Motivator: Recognition
  • Outlook: Confident

Original Image Credited to Artbreeder User orionbreed

An Artbreeder Portrait of Kageharu from Ryuutama

Motokore, the Navigator

Motokore is a navigator of the technical type. He enjoys acrobatics and current events.

  • Agreeableness: Rigid
  • Conformity: Down-to-Earth
  • Motivator: Understanding
  • Outlook: Foreboding

Original Image Credited to Artbreeder User alephander

An Artbreeder Portrait of Motokore from Ryuutama

Ishi, the Minstrel

Ishi is a minstrel of the autumn magic type. She enjoys combat competition and science.

  • Agreeableness: Cantankerous
  • Conformity: Down-to-Earth
  • Motivator: Beneficence
  • Outlook: Confident

Original Image Credited to Artbreeder User 7nr1000r

An Artbreeder Portrait of Ishi from Ryuutama

Nakaari, the Hunter

Nakaari is a hunter of the attack type. He enjoys combat competition and relationships.

  • Agreeableness: Cold
  • Conformity: Traditional
  • Motivator: Competition
  • Outlook: Confident

Original Image Credited to Artbreeder User yeruscha

An Artbreeder Portrait of Nakaari from Ryuutama

Akai, the Healer

Akai is a healer of the spring magic type. She enjoys weaving and hobby discussions.

  • Agreeableness: Open-Minded
  • Conformity: Down-to-Earth
  • Motivator: Creation
  • Outlook: Hopeful

Original Image Credited to Artbreeder User idae

An Artbreeder Portrait of Akai from Ryuutama

A Complete Party

Voila! This may seem like a rather vague sort of beginning, yet I have plenty of ideas for every character. Many of their relationships are also taking shape in the background.

The very colorful portraits will also serve some purposes. Ryuutama encourages each character to have a favored color, which often gives the world a brighter appearance!

I also mentioned Beak, Feather, & Bone. This map-making exercise requires unique colors. More on that soon!

I tend to take my time when getting started, but to have my characters roughly laid out is a wonderful beginning.

Putting Together a Traveling Party in Ryuutama

Building Characters from the Outside

Up until this point, my character creation process has been all about building traits from the inside. Why does she behave like this around others? Who is he truly when no one is around? What are some of her quirks? How will he react in a social situation? There is still room for interpretation, yet I have the basics for different behaviors and opinions.

These characters have very loose ties to the world, though. That’s the next step, what I call building them from the “outside.” It’s something I’ve never tried. Go figure! But the possibilities are quite exciting.

Beak, Feather, & Bone builds a village based on the connections of characters or groups. This starting village may very well be artisan-based, or it could have much stronger ties to a healer-based culture. I’ll have to find out! This will give me a chance to further build out these characters, and create friendly (or mildly unfriendly) rivalries. Stay tuned!

Continue the Conversation

What are your thoughts about Ryuutama? Have you ever explored solo tabletop roleplaying games? I used to do some random creative writing back in the day, and this provides a nice blend of structured creativity. I’ll have plenty of other information about the tools and processes I use. Hopefully, this party will be off to begin their adventure in no time!

4 Comments

  1. It’s funny but I’ve been seeking out Ryuutama a lot lately, and then here you are talking about it 🙂

    I’ve not played it, I don’t really get an RPG group together like I used to, but I’m intrigued by the difference in emphasis with this game and a lot of other popular RPGs out now. I sort of wonder how the bookkeeping with regard to supply and travel will go for you, and how it is to play in general. I’ve heard some people say that it merely shifts complexity away from combat to the party management aspect, which is often handwaved in most people’s standard fantasy campaigns.

    Were there parts in the rules you wished were more fleshed out? Or left more to interpretation? Looking forward to seeing what you learn from the game, still considering getting it at some point because if nothing else the book looks beautiful 🙂

    Reply
    • Perfect timing is something, isn’t it? Ha ha! I had a chance to play it with a group once over the course of a few sessions. It worked nicely, and we streamlined some of the management aspects just to focus more on the action. I think everyone was a little more combat-focused than usual, but that’s typical for the group I play with!

      I have some tools for making all of the bookkeeping a little easier to keep track of. I’ll definitely share what I have along the way since you never know what might be useful to others! There are condition checks, journey checks, and camp checks on a daily basis. But these rolls can open up some interesting narratives.

      The explanation of skill checks required a little extra time for me to fully understand them. I created some custom summary sheets to help me out. The seasonal spells seem limited, with only 4 per tier. But it’s not the end of the world! The monster list is also laid out a little oddly for me. I ended up making a spreadsheet so I can easily randomize encounters based on monster levels, seasons, and terrains.

      Definitely check back soon as I continue to dive into the system! I have a few other things to complete before I start, yet I hope there will be some useful information. It’s a wonderful RPG that really minimizes violent conflict, though one can’t exactly trust a tumbling nest or poison toad, among many other possible creatures. Thanks for the comments and questions!

      Reply
  2. Thanks for sharing this review on Ryuutama RPG, Jessica. I’m still intrigued on how you play it solo. BTW, I really like how you add Rory’s Story Cubes into the mix!

    Reply
    • You’re very welcome! I’m looking forward to seeing how this adventure starts off. I usually take time to get rolling, but for me, the extra prep work is worth it. The nice thing is that it’s really not that difficult to get started if you want to start right away! Now to plan for my next bit of fun…

      Reply

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