The first, and last, adventure for Bushido, Valley of the Mists (1982) was a pretty promising supplement for the game. It’s a shame that FGU owner Scott Bizar was so against supplementing games at all; we’re lucky we even got this much.

So, Bushido is a game set in feudal Japan, inspired primarily by samurai movies. It’s complex, but fairly light for an FGU game; I feel like there is a lot here than anticipates Pendragon in terms of the way social responsibilities are integrated into the mechanics. As with Chivalry & Sorcery, the main rules tend to downplay the potential fantastic elements, while the adventure definitely leans into them.

The players are hired by a Yakuza masquerading as a merchant, who had a treasure box stolen by brigands — that box is important for a plot he is cooking up against the local daimyo. The first scenario is the raid on the bandit base, which includes a contingent of lantern goblins. After that, the daimyo falls ill and the players are charged with finding the source of the illness, which seems at first to be the Lord of the Mountain, the daimyo’s old enemy. This is not the case, however — the true culprit lives in the titular valley, which is infested with spiders and other monsters. The culprit is a spider demon who, in a nice detail, her body is decorated with weapon hilts still stuck in wounds from assassins that failed to kill her. Intimidating!

It’s a solid bit of plot and escalation, with plenty of loose threads left at the end to continue play for quite a while. Shame the game wasn’t expanded on further.