Way of the Demon Slayer is a supernatural Chanbara playset for the PARAGON system from the AGON roleplaying game. A copy of AGON is required to play. For more on the PARAGON system, including how to publish your own playsets, visit AGON-RPG.com.

It is the third year of the Taishō era. After a forty years slumber, the father of all demons, Onizuka Satzumai (鬼塚 殺舞), has been seen in Tokyo. Last time he awoken, the Shinano river was dyed red by the blood of his victims. The only weapons the human have to stop him are the sun... and the Demon Slayers

You are a Demon Slayer, the last line of defense between humans and demons. The Demon Slayers gather their power and endurance from the same blood that flows in the demon's veins. The price they pay for this incredible power is a slow corruption that inevitably kill them or make them into the very same creatures they have sworn to fight: the way of the Demon Slayer is death...

Way of the Demon Slayer adapts the fast and flexible PARAGON system to a world of Yokai and Oni, in pre-WWII Japan. It is heavily inspired by anime like Kimetsu no Yaba, Ushio e Tora, Blade of the Immortal and Dororo, and by videogames like Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter, Ryū ga Gotoku Ishin!, Onimusha, and Way of the Samurai. This game is in development, but is totally playable in its current state. As I add to the game the price may increase.

The game includes two set of character sheets, in color and greyscale (for printing or easier reading). The interactive version of the sheet is made with online play in mind (I might make a roll20 sheet after finishing the playtest).

気剣体一

Terminology

AGON	Way of the Demon Slayer
Name	Sword ~~ 剣 (Ken)
Epithet	Style ~~ 流 (Ryū)
Domain	Way ~~ 道 (Dō)
Art & Oration	The Way of the Tea ~~ 茶道 (Sadō)
Blood & Valor	The Way of the Warrior ~~ 武士道 (Bushidō)
Craft & Reason	The Way of the Ninja ~~ 忍道 (Shinobidō)
Resolve and Spirit	The Way of the Yin and Yang ~~ 陰陽道 (Onmyōdō)
Pathos	Body ~~ 体 (Tai)
Fate	Demon Blood ~~ 血鬼 (Kekki)
Divine Favor	Spirit ~~ 気 (Ki)
Bonds	Brotherly Love ~~ 悌 (Tei)
Heaven's Vault	Righteous Path ~~ 正道 (Seido)
Boons	Breathing Techniques ~~ 呼吸術 (Kokyū-jutsu)
Sacred	Faint Spirit~~ 幽霊 (Yūrei)
Mythic	Vengeful Spirit ~~ 怨霊 (Onryō)
Perilous	Ogre ~~ 鬼 (Oni)
Epic	Devil ~~ 悪魔 (Akuma)

Now the game also have 2 tracks you probably haven't seen before the Kagura 神楽 (god-entertainment) and the Sin 罪 (Tsumi). The Kagura keeps track of the enemy you have encounter. If the Demon Slayers defeat the demon in the final confrontation, the can decide if they want to  Purify 祓  (Harae) them or absorb the blood to become stronger committing a Sin.

Rules

The Slayers

You start choosing a name and an honorific (-hime, -sama, -san, -chan, -kun, -domo, he/she/they/xe, ...). You then give the word to your demon sword and choose a fighting/philosophy style.

Fighting Spirit	Element
Creativity	Void
Evasiveness	Wind
Stability	Earth
Flexibility	Water

Next you choose your favorite fighting spirit from the table (mark 2), and mark 4 additional fighting spirits of your choice. After you introduce your Slayer to the group you need to create the brotherly bonds.

• If your are an Student living in his master dojo 内弟子 (Uchi-deshi): record 1 bond with each other slayer and a bond with your Sensei (worth 1D12).
• If you don't live with your Sensei 外弟子 (Soto-deshi) or you are self taught: record 2 bond with each other Slayer.

Kagura

The final battle always ends with a confrontation with one of the 9 demons under Onizuka. If you best the demon, the leader can decide if they want to purify (Harae) the demon or commit a sin (Tsumi) and absorb their blood to become even stronger. Each choice has mechanical consequences:

• Harae:  if you decide to purify the demon, the rumor of the great slayers will spread among the population ( count it as a great deed that can be replenished with a successful Sado check).
• Tsumi:  if you decide to absorb the blood of the demon, you mark one sin on the sin track. Every time you mark one of the triangle with an inside triangle, each player get a new breathing technique and the demon gain a wrath die.

Righteous Path

By following the teaching of one of the 5 masters between missions (see pag.43 blood offering) or carrying the spirit of their teaching, you can mark one of the three petals on their crests. Once a crest is filled, each player get one brotherly bond with that master and the group can choose to either:

1. Get a new breathing technique, or
2. Reduce the Sin tracker by one AND mark the triangular stem on the top of the crest.

Acquiring new breathing techniques

There are 3 ways to acquire breathing techniques:

1. Reaching a full black moon in the demon blood tracker.
2. Completing a crest in the righteous path
3. Increasing the Sin to a new numbered level.

If you have completed all breathing techniques, any additional checkmark gives you one brotherly bond with a master of your choice and a refresh of 2 spirits

Note: by marking the stem, you reduce the sin by 1 level instead of getting a new breathing technique, this is done on purpose. So if you reduce the Sin below a numbered value, you don't lose your breathing technique and the next time you in increase your Sin you get an additional breathing technique.

Demon Blood

The demon blood is the most powerful weapon in the Demon Slayer arsenal. At any time, the Slayer can substitute a Body or Spirit point for a Demon Blood one (for example if you don't have enough to fight an Akuma or an Onryō or if a particular form of Spirit is required.

The Slayer Soundtrack

https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/5D4MQfSC1H8En9P55cB6rD

The 9 Demons

Hakuzōsu

Is a kitsune (demon fox) that likes to impersonate Buddhist monks and steal from their victims before killing them.

>  Devious (D8) [Yūrei], Silver tongue (D10), Shapeshifter (D12), Monk (D6).

Jinrinki

Half-ox half-spider, whole nightmare. He likes to prey on strong warriors, but he's not very smart

>  Huge (D10), Bull in a china shop (D12) [Akuma], Clawed spider (D6) [Oni], Miasma (D8).

Sutoku

Sutoku Tennō is one of the three most famous yōkai to ever haunt Japan. After he died, he transformed—some say into a terrible onryō, some say into a great tengu—and inflicted his wrath upon the imperial court at Kyōto. 

>  The demon who was a king (D10) [Onryō], Tengu (D12) [Ogre], Master of thunder (D10), Flying (D8).

Zenki & Goki

They are a couple of demons, husband and wife. They dwells in the mountains ranges close to Nara and terrorize the people there by taking their children. 

>  "Oh, won't somebody please think of the children" (D12) [Ogre], Moonstone wedding anniversary (D10) [Akuma] , Children of the mountain (D10), Feared names (D6) (Cannot use Sado on them).

Kinkyo

Younger of the two tanuki siblings, Kinkyo love to see people starving and suffering, nothing for him is more sweet than a prolonged agony.

Rokuemon

Older brother of Kinkyo, he is the mind of the two. Using his shapeshifting ability  he managed to infiltrate and became the Patriarch of the Rokuemon family, a subsidiary of the Tojo Clan.

Ohatsu

The most beautiful woman many have ever seen, usually the last woman everyone ever saw. She lives in the Lake Biwa and continues to trick traders and soldier into the water with her great beauty only to crash them in her spears. She's born blind so she uses he forked tongue to find her victims.

Kidōmaru

A cautionary tale for all the Demon Slayers Kidomaru was once considered the only Demon Slayer able to kill Onizuka. Once known as the God of the Warriors 武士神 (Bushigami) , he got so obsessed in his quest that he gave completely into the power of the demon blood. So admired he was when he a Slayer, he's know feared as the Demon God 鬼神 (Kishin).

Tamano-no-Mae

Known by many names: Hakumen-no-mono, Tamano-no-Mae, the 9 tail fox, etc. ... Few know her current location, even fewer are willing to talk. The only think known is that where Tamano goes, misery follows soon after.