Fallen Blossoms in Print

[Second Chances]

The awesome Fallen Blossoms dark era is now available as a separate book!

Discuss

[RomulusGloriosus]

This is the only dark era I've had the privilege of playing so far. It has a lot going for it since Tokyo, Japan gets a section in every single venue. I'm glad that people can buy it individually now as well as in the big hunking doorstop. (I own the big hunking doorstop.)

[espritdecalmar]

Out of curiosity, what sorts of sea monsters have people invented for the Ama-San to hunt?

[RomulusGloriosus]

well I mean I didn't invent it but

[LostLight]

Fallen Blossoms is among my favorite Dark Eras- the setting itself is awesome, and the art is glorious. It is also full with crossover potential, together with story hooks and a great atmosphere of a distinct time and place. Among the compacts presented in the book, the Bijin are my favorite ones, while the Hototogisu's writeup got me all excited (I'm kinda obsessed with those guys- I call them the "new God Machine", that is some setting feature which is always mentioned but its nature isn't really clear). The only downside is that the Gimu didn't got into the finale version of the book, but we did got the Azusa Miko, and we do have their writeup from the blog, so it's not that bad.

[2ptTakrill]

I was actually disappointed with the Hototogisu write up. Don't get me wrong, the idea of Merchants who have found a way to profit from monster hunting is a great one with a lot of potential (and historical precedence), it just didn't match up with the group given the same name in Requiem and Awakening. For one thing in both of those books the group is described as a recent one, not one with centuries of history. Awakening even declared it to be a Silver Ladder front.
I would have liked something of an explanation of how the group came from the Hunter group to a Ladder one that does business with Vampires.
The Bijin and Miko groups both fit very well with Japanese history and society, again with lots of potential uses.
I was surprised, especially with the Shogun supporting the hunt, that there were no Ninja based groups or even the flavor of such for groups like the Bajin.
I too have been considering a Tokyo chronicle, if I could just figure out a good way to run it in both modern and ancient time periods. Perhaps I need to dig a well?

[ArcaneArts]

It's worth noting that David Hill said that the Hotogisu of the 1600's is not the same as the Hotogisu of today. I mean, he might have changed his mind, but that's the way it was.

Also, it's not a Silver Ladder Front, the Silver Ladder just has a guy who is in the board of directors.

[Second Chances]

It's worth noting that David Hill said that the Hotogisu of the 1600's is not the same as the Hotogisu of today. I mean, he might have changed his mind, but that's the way it was.

Things to explore if we ever get a Tokyo Chronicles book.

[MachineIV]

I was actually disappointed with the Hototogisu write up. Don't get me wrong, the idea of Merchants who have found a way to profit from monster hunting is a great one with a lot of potential (and historical precedence), it just didn't match up with the group given the same name in Requiem and Awakening. For one thing in both of those books the group is described as a recent one, not one with centuries of history. Awakening even declared it to be a Silver Ladder front.

There are things tying the two groups together loosely. But they're not the same. The Hunters did not become a modern corporation.

I'm not going to spill it here. But think of it like the Knights Templar and the Freemasons. Sure, there are some associations, iconography, and other ties. But, they're not the same.

[RomulusGloriosus]

There are things tying the two groups together loosely. But they're not the same. The Hunters did not become a modern corporation.

I'm not going to spill it here. But think of it like the Knights Templar and the Freemasons. Sure, there are some associations, iconography, and other ties. But, they're not the same.

Sounds like a story hoooook....

[LostLight]

My theory is that "Inoue Akio" is not an actual person- instead, I think it is more in the lines of Yodogiri Jinnai's case from Durarara. That is, a circle of people who are using the same name through the course of history and lead an organization called the "Hototogisu". The exact nature of the organization and its leader change with the current Akio, and every once and awhile the organization fall- only for it to rise again by another who use the Akio moniker, to achieve new goals as the leader of a new Hototogisu.

Oh, and there is a giant Cuckoo demon-goddess behind all of it- but never mind that :P

[MachineIV]

My theory is that "Inoue Akio" is not an actual person- instead, I think it is more in the lines of Yodogiri Jinnai's case from Durarara. That is, a circle of people who are using the same name through the course of history and lead an organization called the "Hototogisu". The exact nature of the organization and its leader change with the current Akio, and every once and awhile the organization fall- only for it to rise again by another who use the Akio moniker, to achieve new goals as the leader of a new Hototogisu.

Oh, and there is a giant Cuckoo demon-goddess behind all of it- but never mind that :P

That's a neat theory. Although all have a theme of theft or impostorship involved. That's important.

Alternatives include but are not limited to:

Could be a complete coincidence

Could be a relative with the same name

Could be the same guy

The name could be a magical power, who gets stolen by new people

Could just be an homage

Could technically be two different names. The way kanji work, you could have thirty different people with the same sounding name, who all have technically different names because of the various readings

That's just a few off the top of my head.

[21C Hermit]

Could technically be two different names. The way kanji work, you could have thirty different people with the same sounding name, who all have technically different names because of the various readings

For once, I support the completely mundane explanation.

[2ptTakrill]

Could be an example of the Shadow Name Merit, if the modern Ladder Mage learned of the history of the original and his organization he might have borrowed the symbolism of a centuries old compact that 'took power' from Vampires.
In which book might we get the whole story, eventually?
I also noticed that Fallen Blossoms gave away the secret of Nakatomi and it has little in common with the modern myths and does a 180 from the Hierarch's claims. That means his copy of Nakatomi's rules is truly fake.

[2ptTakrill]

I haven't read the whole book yet but so far I would have to say that Fallen Blossoms is my potential favorite.
As one of the core settings we have more information about it than is included in this book.
It is focused on one city making it easy to further develop the setting as a home base, while its location on the Shogun's roads make it easy to include the rest of Japan in a chronicle.
I'm not big on Hunter but the example compacts really fit the setting. The Baijin wouldn't even need supernatural elements to fit in and play a significant role.