Alt-Onin War - A Word on Tropes

It looks like there is some confusion about what this era of Japanese history looks like. Most of the tropes you are familiar with, including the following, are actually relatively late in history. 

• Samurai following a strict code called Bushido
• Samurai with two swords, and nobody else allowed to be armed
• Samurai with shaved heads and the Chonmage topknot
• The streets filled with scruffy ronin
• A powerful shogunate calling all the shots
• Kabuki theater

All of these are products of the Tokugawa Era (1600-1868), which would be more like the 1600's-1800's of Europe. Think of the Three Musketeers, powdered wigs, smallswords and rapiers, and that's what all of that stuff is more like. Same era, other side of the world.

Our campaign setting is a medieval setting, with events cribbed from the 1300's-1400's. Japan was a rougher, more divided place, and the samurai's code of honor was more loosely defined. The ethics and morals were very similar, but "proper behavior" and etiquette were not nearly as rigid. The things you think of as "samurai behavior" actually evolved during this era. 

Wikipedia says the following: 

Welcome to the Helping Stick

This site is the latest incarnation of a long series of websites dating back to the early 1990's. I have always kept my gaming materials online for easy access by my players, as well as a way to showcase my writing. Sometime in the 2010's, like most everyone else, I shifted to various forms of social media for communicating with my gamers, and the websites (much like the blogosphere in general) began to languish. In 2021 I decided that I wanted to have just one place online for my gaming materials again. So here it is. Blogger/Wordpress has always been a better fit for what I need. 

Anyhow, welcome to the new site!

"What's the deal with a Helping Stick anyhow?"

This is "Helpy the Helping Stick", the yardstick that I "threaten" my students with. It literally has little hands and googly eyes on it. When they don't clear their desks quickly enough before an exam, Helpy helps them by pushing things off the desk slowly. Every class is a new show, people. This is how I maintain my love of teaching.

"What is the deal with Brass Bricks, anyhow?"

Growing up, my stepfather had a little brass paperweight on his desk. It was perhaps the only one of his possessions that I really wanted to keep. It has been something of an inspiration for me, for various reasons. Aspirational, perhaps.

This might be a mascot, but I think I'll stick with the dice on the header after all. 

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