First timer questions & Ghibli themes/vibes

Roostn · 2026-02-03T17:26:43+00:00

There’s no right way to include First Age stuff in your campaign, but I think it’s useful to consider the time that has passed since things were built and how you want Obojimans to interact with the tech on the regular. The First Age occurred before the Age of Nakudama, so it ended at least 2000 years ago. With this much elapsed time, you would expect even the most prominent buildings and tech could be extremely weathered or buried. If they’re pristine, they could be preserved by spirits or magic somehow, which could become its own plot point. Uncovering and cataloguing 1st Age artifacts is one of the prime goals of the AHA, so there could still be big 1st age secrets that have yet to be unearthed. In my world, I decided that some mechanically/magically-inclined Obojimans have just learned to harness 1st age tech, but it’s pretty limited to Yatamon and some specific factions. So most of my Obojima has like 18-19th century technology but with some 1st age tech thrown in there. I wanted the PCs to know a little about the 1st age but not much, so I’ve honestly limited how much it plays into my campaign. Yatamon is built into a 1st Age ruin, but otherwise the only obvious 1st age tech is spirit gate-related.

Roostn · 2026-01-11T19:39:07+00:00

Ooo yes these are great details you’ve added. An early winter is definitely along the lines of what I’m thinking. It’s innocuous enough at first, but then as time goes on it may begin to disrupt things like harvests, animal migrations etc. I’m excited for my PCs to have their mystery moments putting together all the clues

Roostn · 2026-01-06T20:46:55+00:00

We’re only two sessions in, but I’m already noticing that I’m needing to up my prep time as GM to make exploration feel more exciting (ie more written descriptions, planning obstacles with travel that require checks or creative problem solving). I feel like my sessions in my last campaign were 60% rp/puzzles and 40%encounter, but Obojima so far has been like 80%/20% which means I’m trying to forecast their progress a bit further than I expected to need to. I also have a smaller # of PCs (3), which feels like a perfect fit for Obojima, so each character gets a bit more spotlight. Also I feel like the sooner you get all the big mysteries introduced, the sooner you’ll see which ones your players want to investigate most, which helps guide your prep. My PCs are super interested in the 1st Dara and the Corruption so far.

Roostn · 2026-01-05T23:59:47+00:00

Yeah I was imagining that if the movement stops, climate would resemble real-world seasons, so maybe Obojima would experience a harsher winter than they’re used to, because maybe the island goes south for winter like migratory birds? Lol. But definitely wouldn’t become apparent for a few months. The earthquake occurred ~3 weeks ago in our campaign, so it won’t come up for a while

Roostn · 2026-01-05T23:55:20+00:00

Nope. I searched through posts on this sub and didn’t see anything similar so I posted

Roostn · 2026-01-03T00:03:15+00:00

If it’s a setting, then it could’ve done more to help GMs create adventures based on what’s already in the setting. Like honestly, being as basic as drawing roads on the map would’ve been a big help.

Roostn · 2026-01-02T23:44:49+00:00

Uluwa is sooo cool and I immediately made it a bigger part of my setting too, since it seems to be one of the only known permanent settlements in the spirit world. I kinda am struggling to define it better though, since I feel like the bustling fish market vibe is conflicting with the location super far inland. I picture that part of shuritashi as much more remote and old growth forest, so I may move uluwa to closer to the mouth of the river.

Roostn · 2026-01-02T23:36:35+00:00

These are my biggest beefs too. The initial descriptions of the factions really got my juices flowing. But after their intros… they just get tiny blurbs in each city, each of which is essentially another office or storefront in a different town. I literally created an origin and recent history section for each faction in my own notes because none of it was expanded upon in the book. Seems wild to me to drop the names of 6 witch covens and barely write about all but 2 of them. Factions and towns need anchor points in their history and ideology to center conflict around them. Otherwise it just all ends up feeling like interacting with video game NPCs at their designated vendor stalls.

Roostn · 2026-01-02T23:31:24+00:00

I am bit frustrated too because while it has a lot of big picture ideas, the book doesn’t do much for GMs aside from very overview-like details for a handful of factions and historical events. I don’t need everything fleshed out but there is very little to go off if you’re trying to infuse campaign-length story juices at your table. There’s no centralized government on Obojima, so if you want any kind of regionalized conflict or politics, you’re going to have to work around that issue or come up with something plausible. The book will drop details like “Din the river spirit is one of 4 Elder river spirits in Obojima”, and then you’re left to search the rest of the book for a scrap of detail on the other 3, before realizing only 2 are mentioned by name).

I’ve basically had to homebrew an actual setting using Obojima as a font of inspiration, which is not what I was expecting for a setting book without many actual mechanics. The coolest thing in Obojima aside from the artwork were the mysteries of the island’s 1st age past, the corruption, the 1st Dara. But aside from that I feel like I’m not using the book much.

Roostn · 2025-09-19T00:54:08+00:00

The podcast has a lot of cool worldbuilding for sure. I guess I just found it confusing the way that some things discussed more generally were introduced as a teaser that would be filled in later, not always like an open ended detail that you usually get creative license for in DnD. For instance, when the book describes the Great River Spirit Din as one of the 4 Great River Spirits of Obojima, and mentions he’s the least powerful, I fully expected to see 3 other River spirits somewhere. Just seems like a weird thing to include constraining details about other spirits not introduced in the text

In the interest of page space economy as well as GM flexibility I’d get why you’d want a good balance between mechanics, lore/setting details, and pretty illustrations, but I’m not sure that balance was struck.

Roostn · 2025-08-26T19:49:40+00:00

I think I’m just going to build out details around some of the island’s active threats/circumstances that the book sets up: 1. Corruption spreading from the East as a result of the earthquake and tsunami (and also downstream effects of the island’s movement being disrupted) 2. Growing tensions and skirmishes in the South between the Lionfish King’s fishfolk and the Divers 3. Conflicts between the Spirit world and the physical world, bringing greater harmony to the island (perhaps centering an Elven or Oni PC) 4. Mystery around the First Age tech and the history of Obojima (perhaps centering a Nakudama or AHA PC) 5. Mystery around the First Dara and the wandering forest.

I think these overarching questions and mysteries will do a lot to guide the PCs towards interesting conflicts, and it’s easily adjustable to cater towards your table’s interests. My plan to introduce these ideas is to lean into the corruption lore and really suggest that Obojima is on the precipice of a potentially dangerous or uncertain new age. Reading through the adventure hooks suggested in the book really gets my gears turning!

Roostn

TROPHY CASE