Blank Map of Sengoku Jidai Japan

I have a found a blank map of 16th century Japan on the net and I thought I'd share it.

This can be very useful for referees GM'ing adventures set at the time of Sengoku Japan, especially should the campaign revolve around daimyō rivalry and the conquest of the various provinces (the referee can track the by progress of the various armies by using different colours).

Monsters & Magic Back In Print

Sarah Newton (Monsters & Magic's author) has announced today that her seminal Old School feel/New School mechanics fantasy role-playing game would be launched soon as a print-on-demand book on DriveThruRPG / RPGNow.

Edit 17 May: here's the relevant link on DriveThruRPG.

She has also announced that there would be some new M&M announcements coming up shortly!

Wōkòu Mythbusting

A great article available here that busts several myths about the Wōkòu, the notorious Japanese pirates that terrorised Korean and Chinese coastal areas under the Míng.

倭寇 (Wōkòu)

Myth 1. Hǎijìn (海禁, lit. 'Sea ban') or maritime trade prohibition constituted the Wōkòu phenomenon
Myth 2. Poor Chinese coastal inhabitants were forced into piracy by oppressive Hǎijìn policy
Myth 3. Wōkòu were primarily swordsmen
Myth 4. Japanese Yumi is weaker/has lower draw weight than English longbow (or other bows)
Myth 5: Lángxiǎn (狼筅) was developed to specifically counter Japanese swords