No Such Thing as Ninja

[Tesoe 46]

A lot of long time players will already know this, but for any new people you should know that while the setting is inspired by Japan, there is no such thing as a ninja.

Anyone trying to tell you differently is trying to destabilize the peace between clans and probably undermine the imperial families. Do not trust them.

[nameless ronin 706]

And then there’s Ryoko Owari, where every other bad thing that happens gets blamed on the ninja.

Of course, it is the City of Lies...

[sndwurks 1,257]

15 hours ago, nameless ronin said:

And then there’s Ryoko Owari, where every other bad thing that happens gets blamed on the ninja.

Of course, it is the City of Lies...

And those so-called "ninja" were proven to be just a gang of peasant criminals by the skillful and honorable magistrate, Kakita Naritoki no Ashidaka.

[The Grand Falloon 1,718]

Of course anyone can dress as kabuki stage crew, call themselves ninja and set about committing all manner of crimes.  If we decide that ninja just means "sneak-thief in black pajamas that will throw farm tools at you," then yes, every major city has plenty of spooky ninja clans.  Faceless men vanishing into thin air?  Such tales reek (pun most definitely intended) of peasant superstition and drunken guardsmen grasping for excuses.

[Tramp Graphics 2,326]

23 hours ago, Tesoe said:

A lot of long time players will already know this, but for any new people you should know that while the setting is inspired by Japan, there is no such thing as a ninja.

Anyone trying to tell you differently is trying to destabilize the peace between clans and probably undermine the imperial families. Do not trust them.

Of course there's no such thing as "ninja". the proper term is Shinobi. And Shinobi are used primarily as scouts and "irregular" forces, not assassins. Most are Jisamurai as well. 

[TheWanderingJewels 226]

and to further complicate this. In the early 18th century, shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune founded the oniwaban, an intelligence agency and secret service. Members of this office, the oniwaban ("garden keeper"), were agents involved in collecting information on daimyōs and government officials.^[42]The secretive nature of the oniwaban—along with the earlier tradition of using Iga and Kōga clan members as palace guards—have led some sources to define the oniwabanshū as "ninja".^[43] This portrayal is also common in later novels and jidaigeki. However, there is no written link between the earlier shinobi and the later oniwabanshū.

[Tramp Graphics 2,326]

5 hours ago, TheWanderingJewels said:

and to further complicate this. In the early 18th century, shogun Tokugawa Yoshimune founded the oniwaban, an intelligence agency and secret service. Members of this office, the oniwaban ("garden keeper"), were agents involved in collecting information on daimyōs and government officials.^[42]The secretive nature of the oniwaban—along with the earlier tradition of using Iga and Kōga clan members as palace guards—have led some sources to define the oniwabanshū as "ninja".^[43] This portrayal is also common in later novels and jidaigeki. However, there is no written link between the earlier shinobi and the later oniwabanshū.

Yep. The original Shinobi clans were jizamurai from the regions of Iga and Koga in what are now the Mie and Shiga Prefectures respectively. 

[GrimmSqueeker 137]

And most importantly, ninja aren't dangerous.   In fact, they're more afraid of you than you are of them

[Sincereagape 364]

Is there are many ninja they are terrible at fighting and the arts. 

If there is one ninja with different color garb and ornaments then he or she will kill you all. TPK

[Hida Jitenno 586]

3 hours ago, Sincereagape said:

Is there are many ninja they are terrible at fighting and the arts. 

If there is one ninja with different color garb and ornaments then he or she will kill you all. TPK

Ah yes, INL: Inverse Ninja Law. The competency of the ninja you're fighting is inversely proportional to the number of ninja there are in the fight.

[The Grand Falloon 1,718]

3 hours ago, Hida Jitenno said:

Ah yes, INL: Inverse Ninja Law. The competency of the ninja you're fighting is inversely proportional to the number of ninja there are in the fight.

Hm, I always called it The Law Of Diminishing Ninjas.

[Tramp Graphics 2,326]

4 hours ago, Hida Jitenno said:

Ah yes, INL: Inverse Ninja Law. The competency of the ninja you're fighting is inversely proportional to the number of ninja there are in the fight.

 

1 hour ago, The Grand Falloon said:

Hm, I always called it The Law Of Diminishing Ninjas.

Also known as Conservation of Ninjutsu

[TheWanderingJewels 226]

in a less fatuous vein, Shinobi or whatever you want to call them, the amount will vary according to the relative idealism of setting, local tensions, and general level of paranoia the local lords have

[spudboy58 2]

This looks like a ninja to me. Yes there are Ninjas and yes I am a long time player since 1995. Unless you don't count the CCG as lore or are we ret-conning Ninja with the FFG product?

[Shiba Gunichi 2,235]

1 hour ago, spudboy58 said:

This looks like a ninja to me. Yes there are Ninjas and yes I am a long time player since 1995. Unless you don't count the CCG as lore or are we ret-conning Ninja with the FFG product?

[Tonbo Karasu 2,606]

"Appendix 2 is a lie.", to quote Bayushi.

[AtoMaki 1,431]

This reminds me a game where the PCs were investigating Crab Clan ninjas and stuff. The jokes about hulking brutes in black discreetly assassinating people with tetsubos (with throwing tetsubos!) were unreal. Thus, their first encounter with the so-called Shadowed Crabs was quite inconvenient: a shocked first question from the party leader ("Are they at least wearing heavy armor?") and several instances of "that's why the GMs in the club banned Kobo Ichi-Kai" later the investigation ended with all the PCs dead via broken necks and backs. Officially, they all fell from a very long stair and hit some very hard edges. Crab Clan ninjas? Don't be ridiculous  !

[tenchi2a 442]

13 hours ago, AtoMaki said:

This reminds me a game where the PCs were investigating Crab Clan ninjas and stuff. The jokes about hulking brutes in black discreetly assassinating people with tetsubos (with throwing tetsubos!) were unreal. Thus, their first encounter with the so-called Shadowed Crabs was quite inconvenient: a shocked first question from the party leader ("Are they at least wearing heavy armor?") and several instances of "that's why the GMs in the club banned Kobo Ichi-Kai" later the investigation ended with all the PCs dead via broken necks and backs. Officially, they all fell from a very long stair and hit some very hard edges. Crab Clan ninjas? Don't be ridiculous  !

I have always wondered why every one has this idea that all crabs are "hulking brutes".

The Hida family is not the entire Crab Clan, and not even all Hida are "hulking brutes".

[AtoMaki 1,431]

6 hours ago, tenchi2a said:

I have always wondered why every one has this idea that all crabs are "hulking brutes".

The Hida family is not the entire Crab Clan, and not even all Hida are "hulking brutes".

I blame the official art.