Yamato: The Great War is a narration-first tabletop world for one Game Master and 1-5 players. It uses a homebrewed narration first, 1d20 rules light aporoach to drive your personal story in Yamato and fast, cinematic combat. What you describe to the AI GM matters the most. You begin as a nobody or small fry and grow into a legend along the way. Or Yamatos worst nightmare. Maybe you create a trade empire,become a warlord or a Yakuza or just smooch the whole character roster. Levelrange is 1-12. It is highly encouraged to start at lvl 1.

Set in a Sengoku-inspired era before history was written, humans and yokai stand divided, kami pursue their own agendas, and a young Oda Nobunaga begins his uncertain rise. It was built on original Yamato lore about "The Great War Era" and may feel different in tone and setting compared OG Edo Japanese Mythology Yamato. The reality for NPCs and players is different in this Yamato, given that it is an era of constant war, power shifts and conflict, felt by everyone on a daily basis. You will have references to the original Edo Yamato, in terms of places you might already know by name, but they may be very different here. Or you may meet an NPC you know from Edo Yamato, but here they are way younger and inexperienced.

You will encounter weird glitches. Systems might bug out or not work as they are intended to. This project is not completed by any means and will, like my OG Friends and Fables Yamato was, be maintained and grow with Craft as a platform.

You create your own so called "Tags" when you level up, reflecting your characters personality, abilities or background. You can use those as an element to weave into your narration, to get things done, to get an advantage, to impact things or turn things around, No matter how poetic, dramatic, action packed or just factual they are: use them to your hearts content to make your story in Yamato completely your own. The GM decides if the tag you want to use is fitting the current situation. If it fits, you may add +2 to your dice rolls.

There is also an integrated social system, impacting how people will react to your ancestry (species), the things you wear, your deeds and decisions. Maybe you are a feared and rejected Yokai, but when when you do impressive things, people will noctice and may see you in a different light in the end. You can focus on 3 Pillars: Honor, Heart or Glory or ignore those all together and just do your thing. The 3 Values will grow with you automatically and naturally, depending on your behaviour and decisions. 100 is the limit of each.

Weapons and armor dont have stats here, consumables either. Enemies as well. This is narration first, they are elements you can use to spin your story in imaginative, interesting ways. They come with ideas how you can use them, but it is completely up to you to decide what you will do with them and how you describe what you do. All items have their advantages and disadvantages. Bosses and Legendaries have baked in 2 phases instead of 1. When they reach 0 HP the first time, they regain a bit less HP, but change into a rage like mode and they will get more relentless, using another attack pattern.

Combat is without initiative and has no official turn order. The GM and your party decide narratively what will happen and who has their turn. Yamato was build around the idea that Combat is cinematic, fast, punchy and maybe a bit over the top depending on what you describe. Do you want to go full Bankai and cut through the heavens with your sword? You can. You want to inact your own Akira Kurosawa movie with precise, cinematic duels? You can do so as well. Abilities are inspirations, optional and you can still come up with your own and add new ones on the fly. Attack damage is always the same and depends on the type and weight of attack you use (normal, heavy, limit breaks/finisher, Tag Team stuff).

Embrace choice and consequence, trust in your originality and critical thinking, do not feel down when failing forward. Embrace the chaos.Thanks for taking the time to read through my wall of text. Have fun in Yamato and hopefully, in the end, you can leave your sessions here with a feeling of "Yeah, today I had fun."