Shadow Scar wastes no time pulling you into its universe, framing the intro lore as an in-character briefing from Fugenbo of Okinoshima—the “Great Daitengu, Weaver of Lost Tales.” This narrative choice immediately sets a vibrant, cinematic tone, establishing the stakes of a secret multi-dimensional conflict rooted in twisted Japanese mythology. The secret organization you’ll play a part of packs an extra punch to the already amazing premise making you feel like you’re part of Men in Black but as multidimensional-traveling ninjas.
Was this game sent for review or self-purchased?: This was kindly sent for review by R. Talsorian Games.
In two sentences, what is the premise of the game?: Following a brutal century-long war against corrupted spirits of the dead, the gods banished the monstrous hordes into a dimensional rift known as the titular Shadow Scar. Now, your players act as elite shinobi agents crossing the “Mosaic” of realities to hunt down these reality destroying monsters across worlds that consist of everything from cyberpunk colonies to Victorian empires and everything in between.
Have we played any other titles by this publisher?: Yes and no. We have not played any of the TTRPGs but we loved the Cyberpunk 2077 video game and that brought us full circle to Shadow Scars!
What was surprising about this book: Honestly everything, we went into this game completely blind as R. Talsorian Games were kind enough to surprise us with this. Upon opening the book you’re greeted with a full page spread of an enormous Oni creature fighting a ninja with a green flaming sword! Then you continue reading and you’re basically a dimension-hopping ninja in a secret organization that stops mystical/magical creatures from wreaking havoc on realities. That’s a lot of info to absorb but that pretty much summarizes everything I ever wanted to be as a child. (Yes, my character will most likely be wearing a zentai suit as well).
How complicated is this to run as a GM?: The core mechanics are pretty simple, relying on simple target Successes. You roll a specific number of d6’s, depending on your stats, and you need a certain number of successes to pass the check. A 1 is easy, simply needing a single dice to be greater than 4 and a 6 would require 6 dice to be greater than 4 to pass. The main mechanic, called “Inyo” gives the Storyteller (this game’s GM) a fun, narrative currency to turn the tables on players (either reducing their successes by 1 or boosting enemy damage by 3) whenever players use certain abilities. This allows the Storyteller to also participate in the game in more than just a few dice rolls and setting difficulty spikes.
How complicated is this to play as a character?: Very approachable. Character competency is defined by low-variable Statistics (1 to 3) and Skills (0 to 3). Building a dice pool is as simple as adding the two numbers together and rolling that many six-sided dice. With a target number of 4+ for a success, and 6s counting as double successes, players will easily grasp their odds without looking up charts. Wealth ratings also simplify money and the game even includes hand signals for using your powers if you really want to get into character and start doing hand signs like Naruto.
Are other books required for play?: No, this core rulebook contains the history, mythology, full rules engine, social/stealth systems, and baseline world-building for creating adventures and realities across the multiverse (called The Mosaic).
Artwork: Excellent! This book takes inspiration from wood block prints, anime, manga, and all manner of Japanese art/mythology. It makes a great coffee table book solely for the art!
Quality: This game is excellent in terms of content. This is a complete experience and allows you to run one shots, campaigns, build a multiverse, and create numerous characters and NPCs.
What is included?: The book covers the D6 rule system, resource mechanics like Inyo, tactical rules for running infiltrations and social manipulation (like imposing “Mental States” such as Taunt or Dishearten), and combat loops for running action sequences like fight scenes.
Organization: The book is laid out in an easy to digest way, first letting you know the basics of the world, then teaching you how to run the game, then finally deep dive into the lore of Shadow Scar.
Final thoughts: If you want to run or play a game where you’re not stuck in one genre every time, or if you’ve always wanted to be a part of a secret society, then this is a game you’ll want to check out. It’s not everyday you can combine so many genres in a TTRPG without the game feeling like it’s a generic system like GURPS. Sure, your characters are always going to be Shinobi and the themes may feel vaguely Japanese, but who’s to stop you from visiting the Old West to stop a town being overrun from Oni?
Sushiball Games 