How do you add a samurai into your European medieval fantasy world without him standing out like a pain in the ass?
How do you add a samurai into your European medieval fantasy world without him standing out like a pain in the ass?
How do you add a samurai into your European medieval fantasy world without him standing out like a pain in the ass?
I'm not adding a samurai into my European medieval fantasy world if I don't want him to stand out moron.
Also
>slide post
Just embrace that he stands out as some foreign warrior.
That or quit playing generic not!Europe fantasy settings.
>sensible chuckle.gif
For Honor did it right. For more higher fantasy stuff you can always do like the samurai dude in bloodborne. Aside from the fact that he was in a cell smacking his head against a wall or something, his clothes were different but not at odds with the rest of the designs.
But anyway, why would he not stand out? Samurai went to europe in diplomatic missions and they would of course stand out by virtue of not being natives.
You see, if you took a medieval fantasy knight and transported him to medieval fantasy nippon that knight would eventually adopt the equipment and mannerisms of his indigenous counterparts adapting to the new social norms while retaining as much of his identity as possible.
Now do this vice versa. Your samurai would dress in plate and chain Armour and use a long-sword. He would seek a lord to pledge service and probably adopt some aspects of the chivalrous code. His fighting style would seem unorthodox to his peers and his skill with the bow unusual for one in his station but for all effects and purposes he would be a foreign knight.
>Medieval knight would adopt Japanese equipment
Why would he use inferior equipment? Armor and swords and even blunt weapons were worse in Japan at that time.
This again?
Are we pretending that swords were primary weapon, and not polearms and ranged weapons?
I guess anything applicable to swords would also be applicable to polearms and such but the Japanese spread was just as interesting and good as the European one.
In particular at base the spear is the same weapon on either side of the continent so a knight could just keep doing the lance bit as long as he had a horse. Actually the horses would be a much more significant factor than weapons and armor.
Getting stuff repaired or replaced would be hard, we also saw this happen IRL where as the Crusades went on Crusaders became harder and harder to distinguish from the Saracens because they adopted their style of dress and to an extent their armor to endure in the desert heat better. So a knight could certainly find some combination of Japanese armor and weapons that he'd like, it's not like every knight was rich or had all of the best and most expensive armor and weaponry. A suit of armor is like a car, in terms of cost, and while you might prefer a BMW it wouldn't kill you to drive a Honda if you had to. At least you're not in a Yugo.
Same with the Japanese coming over, sooner or later you're going to need another sword, so you go show some German guy the remains of the katana and ask if he can make you another one and he'll do his best and come up with a kriegsmesser with a weird circular crossguard and wrote down that he made a giant bread knife for der pajamritter and maybe he'd get the visor of his helmet done to look like a menpo for nostalgic reasons. Kinda fun idea tbh.
I mean, it's true they sometimes used Saracen equipment of it was around, but I'm not sure what it has to do with heat. Everyone was in chainmail.
Also knights would be equipment from silk road merchants sometimes leading to knights with Persian scimitars, Chinese Jian and there's art in a church of crusaders in Chinese helmets.
Also equipment lasts a while if appropriately taken care of
Have him be black
Simple i add A samurai (singular, yours), frick your whiney b***h "i want to be speciul without the hussles of standing out", do you want that one thousand folded steel katana while roaming Camelot? Then it's the "13th warrior" treatment for you b***h, fricking own it.
Perception of people is 90% about looks, so just make the samurai wear localy made equipment insted of imported exotic gear and he will fit right in.
Let the stick out for the most part, but give them common culture. For example, the Shienarans from WoT are pretty exotic, but they still have legends of the Dragon just like practically everyone else.
Well, how would such a samurai actually rate against a medieval fantasy knight?
Samurai trained harder with worse equipment. Knights mostly feasted, went on hunting trips, or raided against underfed bandit camps. Occasionally they'd be shock troops in a border skirmish or foreign crusade, but european campaigns mostly consisted of camping and beating up someone else's peasants to steal their food to feed the army. Samurai also spent a lot of time beating up peasants, but they were in obsessive honor cults of peer to peer combat and were forced by their superiors to kill their way to promotions. This meant that the ones that survived in their caste for any appreciable amount of time had a lot more experience than their european counterparts.
It's not a meme that European armor and weapon technology was superior to their Asian contemporaries. They benefited a lot from the innovations coming out from North Africa and the Near East, which were major global trade hubs with scholarly cultures. On top of that, Europeans (mostly talking about the Germanics and going eastward, the further north you were the more you lagged behind, though Spain was doing alright overall as an exception to this rule) had the benefit of the rich mineral resources of the mountainous Asian peninsula they lived on, and plenty of slaves - sorry, I meant serfs and criminals - to throw into the pits and fetch it for the monied classes.
If given the same armor as their opponents, an average samurai would fight more competently than them. If given the same weapons, they'd probably do worse. It's not like all fight training translates. And except for the iron-shod staves, they'd struggle to kill knights with softer steel and unspecialized weaponry for dealing with plate and chain. The best of each are pretty much comparable: each war culture had its fair share of predatory athletes who would train more often and more efficiently than their contemporaries. But the average for the samurai is a head above the average for a knight, which might just be an armored bully.
Hit and miss accuracy.
While there were many Knights who were very much just armoured big guys, all throughout their history from when Knights were still considered peasants, to their retirement from the battlefield, Knights did have a lot of similarly in-depth martial training, that also started from a very early life.
The difference being is that they trained a lot more broadly, as weapons tech changed too much unlike the Samurai, and put a lot of work into physical fitness and how to fight in armour.
Also, while av Nippon steel was shite, the stuff used in Katana's specifically, was closer to parity with European steel.
There'd be a fair amount of cross-comparability, but I'd wager the Knight wins due to; bigger dude, who's more used to fighting against vastly different martial styles.
(X) DOUBT
It's pretty hard to believe european knights were in average just some dudes that didn't train and beat up peasants in their spare time given both their dominance in warfare against multiple cultures, the literal nonstop wars (lots of experience and higher natural selection pressure), all the cultural exchange and borrowing of arms, techniques, etc, etc. There are also a bunch of autistic european martial arts treatises from the 16th+ century that are probably the result of hundreds of years of martial development in europe.
It's kind of like comparing a pro videogame player scene that has evolved throught years of worldwide competition between tens of thousands of players with an ever improving and adapting meta versus the island of bumfrick nowhere scene where 10 autistic guys play against eachother for 15 hours a day. Obviously the islanders would have absolutely no chance against the pros and would have a really rough reality check if they met (just like it happened in real life).
>Average battle with Samurai
>Samurai slightly outperformed peasant Ashigaru
>Average battle with knights
>500 heavy cavlry of which only 30 were knights routed a force of 4800 infantry and lighter cavalry
Rout is about breaking enemy morale, and the prospect of taking cavalry charge can be pretty damn terrifying.
>Samurai trained harder blah blah
Samurai were literally just the same as knights, in the sense of being noble warriors with an on-paper code of conduct. Officially they were supposed to be gallant fighting men but in times of great peace they ended up being bureaucrats and administrators instead of warriors. By the end of the Tokugawa shogunate there were tons of now ex-samurai families who could show off their family's ancestral armour and swords for tourists to (pay to) see that still looked pristine because it literally had not been used in centuries.
So basically, how well they trained is, like literally any other warrior class, based on how wartorn the times they lived in were.
There were chivalry courts, but there never were bushido courts.
Checkmate, yellow barbarians.
reminder that the knight wins at everything vs samurai
Better genetics
Better food
Better upbringing
Better, more competitive and structured training
Taller, heavier and stronger
Better horses
Better armor
Better sword
Better polearms
Better siege weapons
Better shields
Better bows
Also, there's nothing special about a katana other than the fact that it's really fricking heavy for it's length, it's shit material and it's laughable thrust potential. A katanas special ability should be people with European armour get to laugh in your face when you roll up with that weeb stick in your hand.
japs were like 5 feet tall
Their shitty swords would barely dent a full plate armour
It's not even a contest
Depends on the era, if they have horses. and loadout. Samurai generally were mounted archers with polearms and katanas as a last resort. Their armor would be inferior however with their combat on horse I would give them the win especially giving them their most advanced loadouts. On horse a knight would have to go in and hope he isn't knocked out before he can catch up not impossible but not easy however near the end of both the knight's and Samurai's historical periods they had guns so it would really even the playing field however given the Samurai's dedication to specifically mounted combat I would give them the edge. But it's not even really a question in martial combat without a horse. Samurai armor was more bulky and less protective than plate, while knights of the early middle ages probably lose the armor craft, techniques, and especially the halberd outclass basically everything a samurai would have without a horse or gunpowder. Even a samurai with a gun of the period would probably lose to a knight considering armor crafting until around the end of the Napoleonic era could protect from bullets better than a samurai's armor.
The only way you really can do that is by having them use european armor and weaponry, and only giving away their nature through the techniques in their swordplay.
Imaging some dude stabbing into mail voiders and breakng down in tears when he finds that the skirts can't be flipped.
I just do it instead of being a homosexual who plays generic Medieval Europe setting number 56475374635/ba33161525
In the medieval period? The main setting is visited by a diplomatic and/or trading expedition from a far off land, intended to secure diplomatic and/or trade deals in a bid to increase the power and/or wealth of their clan. The expedition is guarded by a group of bushi (soldiers), who are led by a few samurai (officers). The samurai are primarily occupied with ensuring the bushi are in proper behaviour, and aiding the expeditionary leader (himself appointed by the clan lord) in securing power for the clan.
Always remember Japan didn't become a closed country until the early 17th century, and weren't a unified nation until the late 19th. Prior to that, Japan was rotating periods of loose collections of mostly autonomous local and regional leaders all vying for power against each other, with only lip service being paid to the emperor and shogun.
I put them in a place they both don't belong.
It's not totally unbelievable that foreigners as far as India or China could end up in Europe. Japan? Honestly maybe, the Japanese were very involved in maritime trade so it's believable that one could end up in Italy or something after boat-hopping his way west, it's just not something that's recorded as happening.
Didn't a retainer of Date end up in Italy, and wrote a letter to the Pope?
Yes, Hasekura Tsunenaga, but this is iirc, one of the only two embassies to Europe before the mid-19th c.
So not impossible since it happened, still utterly unusual.
Let me take Pathfinder as an example for an established setting, so its more relatable than "in my homebrew you dont know anything about."
>there is a trade route between Tian Xia (asia) and the Linnorn Kingdoms (viking land) through the north pole, so seeing asians (including Samuari) there isnt unheard off
>Taldor has a colony in the middle of Tian Xia (asia), so asians (including Samurai) travelling back to Avistan (europe) on a ship of said taldan colony isnt unheard off
There you go. Invent some form of colony or trade route between here and there, maybe add some exchange of scholars or religious missionaries or exiles from foreign court and your good to go
>Be samurai
>Master gets his ass kicked and is in need of funding to retake his land from his cousin
>Get sent on the silk road to escort a caravan, you're trading spices for porcelain or whatever to build a war chest
>Emperor locked the country down but frick him, take 20 footmen, six donkeys, put it on some boat to India, and ride west until the gaijin are dumb enough to buy your shit for ten times what you paid for it
>Get jumped in Fantasy Iran by some fantasy italians who steal your teapots
>Chase them down
>can't find shit, those white devils arr rook same
>Now you're in Fantasy Italy, broke as frick, can't return without either a ton of gold or an army
Based down on your luck ronin.
Maybe consider joining a mercenary company or get a job as a bodyguard or swordsmanship instructor. Somebody has to be impressed by that Iaijutsu, sword quickdraw stuff. Get into arguments with the locals about how risotto is just dinner rice porridge and pasta is just dry-style ramen or something. Go be the local bathhouse's best customer because you insist on bathing every opportunity you can.
>you hired me because I'm good at fighting...
>...but you're paying me to... not fight?
>your wars are quite strange
Europeans and Chinese had actual in-person contact as far back as ancient Rome, the main thing wienerblocking Japan was both their own stunted development and lack of anything reasonable to trade beyond natural resources, and the simple geographic and cultural dominance of whoever was ruling China at any given time. So the how is absolutely not implausible at all as long as you do your research and present things reasonable to how they were in the middle ages, the hard part is figuring out why they would bother going as far as Europe when they have everything they could possibly trade for in China.
The world-spanning Elvish merchant fleet hired him and his discharged in fantasy Europe.
Don't? This is like saying "How do you add something that's different from everything and make it look like it's the same?"
You don't. He's going to stand out. Use it.
>An elf, a dragonborn and a birdman of different professions can work as a clock like party
>Somewhat a samurai can't fit
Just make a knight, then make them shorter, weaker, and less cool.
>be mysterious stranger
>foreigner
>elf
>there are samurai elves of the orient
>you were your lord's loyal retainer
>your lord was assassinated while you were carrying out an errand to other lands for him
>no point in returning now that your lord's entire network has been supplanted and you'd be marked for death by the usurper
>wonder how high the bounty on your head is
>travel yet further away to lands on the far side of these distant lands from your homeland
>wind up in this adventuring party
>don't lower yourself to speak disgusting barbarian languages
>wear stylish foreign clothes
>carry a pair of slightly curved swords -- long & short -- along with a bow & arrows
>just throw down like a fighter but fight cleverly
>actually use cover
>move dynamically
>fluidly switch between archery & fencing
>don't actually be all ching chong ping pong
>be based
Same way I'd stick an Arab into a party of Northerners. People think he's a bit odd looking and sometimes he does weird things.
Have him be a Ronin traveling the world to get money so he can avenge his master
Usually I just embrace them as foreigners from strange and unidentified lands. Sometimes their origins are part of the character's mystery.
Why the frick are you adding samurai if you don't want them to stand out?
literally just do your usual "european medieval fantasy" but add "japanese" ethnic enclaves as part of the setting, like villages or big city districts. no different from how you might handle elves, honestly. once the culture is an established part of the setting, your samurai guy won't feel like he's a lone and glaring exception to everything else in the world.
By making a Renaissance setting with oceanic travel.
What do you mean by samurai? Samurai armor and weapons? Code of honor? I had a dwarven samurai who wore typical dwarven armor and fought with axes but followed a bushido code. He didn't stand out too much
Alternate history where the conquest of the Jin dynasty by the Mongols causes the Song to hire Japanese help to fortify their borders. Kublai's conquest of the Song doesn't happen, China remains an uneasy two-state area, the Kamakura shogunate maintains a strong presence in Song China, and combined Song/Kamakura expeditions venture west to find alternatives to the Mongol-dominated Silk Road trading routes.
>without him standing out like a pain in the ass
Have him wear European gear. A samurai dressed in European gear is like a savateur in a karate gi: you can't tell the difference unless you know what to look for.
Read about the Samurai who went to Spain in 1500 something , decided to stay there and now there's a town with their descendants
Better question, how do I add a ninja
Step 1: there's a ninja now.
Step 2. Eat a dick.
give him a hyperbolically japanese accent. you want it to be as brutally stereotypical as possible
Why do people want to introduce something that might be interesting yet taking away the interesting aspect of it. Something being there that shouldn't be there is a story. Why are they there? How will their cultures clash? Are there more are are they alone? Will this have bigger effects going forward? Shit like this is a role playing gold mine but you want to make it not stand out? That's the dumbest thing I've heard.
>without him standing out like a pain in the ass?
That's kind of the point, though?
If you want to explain how he got there beyond saying "he got shipwrecked lol", have him pursue someone from the Mongol!stand-ins currently invading your European medieval fantasy land for revenge or something.
By making his european handler stand out more after adopting samurai philosophy and arms, thats how Brotherhood of the Wolf did it, the native guy in France seems odd but he dresses like a Frenchman and the French protagonist ends up dressing like a native himself near the end to honour him so that's what you remember more
give him a longsword
You don't. If he comes from a different country (or continet) he should stand out, at least whie wearing his traditional armour, wepaons and clothings.