This is the home page of the Tetsubo supplement, the supplement is purely published as a paper product so this page is just for supporting the book.
Not long after the main Warhammer Fantasy RolePlay (WFRP) was released Games Workshop planned to release a number of supplements dealing with the world outside the main game area of the Old World. Tetsubo ("Warhammer" in Japanese) was one of these and was planned to deal with the distant land of Yamato an island that lay beyond even the fabled land of Cathay.
A manuscript was written by Dave Morris but after reading the initial submission the project was abandoned. It is possible to endlessly speculate about the motives for abandoning the book but it is clear from the version we have today that Tetsubo would have been a pretty unusual book in the WFRP lineup.
The supplement is fantastically researched and is full of Japanese folklore, customs and legends. Some of the rules are expanded on but it is easy for any WFRP player to swiftly move into this magic and unique land.
Like the Lustria manuscript Tetsubo became something of a gaming legend, one of the "missing supplements". Having had GW reject the manuscript Dave retained a copy and several people were able to get a copy and have a look at what the fuss was all about.
I have had a copy of the manuscript for quite a while but it has taken me until today to produce a workable copy that I think is accessible to the general gamer interested in either WFRP or Japanese historical roleplaying. One of the first challenges was to impose some order on the many pages of material.
In the end the format I chose was that of three booklets making up a total of approximately 150 pages of material. The first was the Character's Book that explains how to create characters and contains the new skills, races, careers and rules for the setting.
The second is the Spiritual Book which covers magic, religion and spirituality in general. It covers Zen, Bhuddism, Shinto, Ninja and of course sorcerors. The Spiritual Book also contains the description of those truly supernatural creatures who oppose and can only be defeated by the spiritually pure.
The final book, the World Book, tries to detail the world of Tetsubo including details of how money works in a society that claims to despise it, the astrological calender and the weapons and armour its people use. In addition there is a massive section on the animals (real and legendary) of the island and a small cameo scenario to round it off.