# Loner: Kwaidan! tags: #game/rpg/loner-kwaidan ![[Loner - Kwaidan (cover).jpg|300]] **Loner: Kwaidan!** is the Japanese-folklore dial on **[[Loner]]** — feudal Japan where the supernatural is never quite gone, and spirits, yokai, and curses lurk in the shadows of everyday life. Same tag-based chassis and Chance-vs-Risk oracle, now pointed at a world of warring clans, ghost stories, and the uneasy border between the living and the dead. It calls itself a "kwaidan" after the old ghost-tale tradition, and it's the closest the Loner line gets to folk horror wrapped in elegant manners. ## Setting The world here is feudal Japan steeped in Japanese folklore: a land where honor and clan politics grind on above, and beneath the floorboards the ghosts, demons, and yokai do their patient work. The book lays out themes, character traits, and names built for the setting before getting into special rules, factions, NPCs, and locations. There are haunted artifacts and mystical locations to find, and a run of random events to keep the veil from settling. It's atmospheric, dreamlike, and a little eerie — very much the aesthetic of the folk tale rather than the monster manual. ## Mechanics The engine is the shared Loner Oracle — roll a Chance die against a Risk die, read the tie as "Yes, but…," tick the Twist Counter. What Kwaidan! brings is genre: special rules for a world where curses and karmic debts follow you, a roster of factions and NPCs to brush against, haunted and mystical locations with their own behavior, and the folklore tone that colors every oracle answer. You play a single protagonist trying to get through a story where the past doesn't stay buried and the spirits are always watching. The minimalist mechanics sit easily under the weight of all that tradition. ## Editions The original **Loner: Kwaidan!** is a 2023 adventure pack. A **Revised Edition** followed in 2025 and has its own entry here — see **[[Loner - Kwaidan Revised|Loner: Kwaidan Revised]]**. This original edition is *in the library*. ## References - [Loner: Kwaidan! - DriveThruRPG](https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/458066/loner-kwaidan) - [Loner SRD - Kwaidan Revised (free full text) - Zotiquest Games](https://lonersrd.zotiquestgames.com/geared_towards_loner/kwaidan_revised.html) - [Loner SRD (free full text) - Zotiquest Games](https://lonersrd.zotiquestgames.com/) - [Loner - Official Website](https://loner.zotiquestgames.com/)