What is Shogun?

Shogun is a live-combat role-playing game based (sometimes loosely) on Feudal Japan.The goal, as the name implies, is to become Shogun.

What do you mean by "Live Combat"?

I mean that the players "fight" with padded weapons in order to determine winners and losers.

Isn't that kind of weird?

No more weird than those people that put on armor and dress up in brightly colored uniforms so they can go out on a grassy field and pummel the hell out of each other.

You mean those medieval recreationist guys?

No. I mean football players.

Oh. So what do you mean by role-playing?

During the course of the game, players take on the roles of warriors, assassins and rulers. In addition, some players take on different character personalities to keep in the mood with the game.

Now that's definitely weird.

And that's not a question. Seriously though, it's the same thing as sports players getting "psyched up" for their games or a really good book where you get inside the main character's head. Or acting in a play/on TV/Movies/etc. Imagining you're someone else is something everyone does at least once in awhile.

So, are you guys one of those freaky cults?

Afraid not. We don't drink blood, say chants to dark gods, think we're really Ninja or even play Pokemon. (Well, a few of the players might play Pokemon, but we don't hold it against them.) So if you're a talk show host looking for guests, you'll have to look elsewhere.

So where did you guys come up with the idea for this game?

Lots of difference places. Books, movies, video games, martial arts, you name it. We settled on the Feudal Japan idea because the names sounded cooler.:) But basically it evolved from games alot of us used to play as kids. The stripped tree branches and He-man action swords have been replaced by padded PVC and the rules have been added to help prevent the old "You're dead!" "No I'm not!" arguments and to allow us to do some other cool stuff, but the original inspiration is still in there somewhere. We decided to broaden it a bit and get some wider appeal, and so far it's been successful.

So who plays this game?

So far, the game is played by the creators, and their friends and some friends of friends. We have over 50 players in all, but only a little over half of them will show up on any given night.

What should I do if I'm interested in playing?

Well, if you live around here you probably know at least one of us, so give that person a call or an e-mail and tell them you want to play. If you don't live around here, you're probably stuck setting up a game of your own. Which, if it ever does happen, we'd love to hear about. The information on this page should be all you'd need to start up your own game, and of course, if you have any questions, you can always post to the forum or e-mail one of the webmasters. We'd be happy to help you out.