Folded Steel Session 1 - The Akamatsu Girls Take Gerozato
I kicked off my campaign 2026 last week with our first session of an OSR hack I'm calling Folded Steel (don't tell anyone, but it's just lightly modified Old School Essentials with some custom classes).
This session was a quick one since we did character creation and system learning at the beginning, but I think it set the stage well for the upcoming adventure!
The Premise
The island of Gekkōshima has been shrouded in mist for centuries, perhaps forever, depending on who you ask. Twenty years ago, the mist subsided. While most of the powerful clans on the mainland were too busy fighting for control to explore a mysterious island, it became a travel destination for commoners and wannabe Daimyo seeking to establish their clan on this new land.
Of course, Gekkōshima is covered in creatures, yokai, and the ruins of a long-forgotten society, so staking a claim to the land is not so easy.
Enter: The Akamatsu Clan
I gave my players a few options for why they might be traveling to Gekkōshima, but they ultimately chose to be part of a small clan called the Akamatsu. Their assignment was to claim territory, glory, and riches for their clan.
Clan creation just involved a few choices. Their name, their symbol, and their virtue. My players came up with
Name: Akamatsu
Symbol: Red Pinecone (Akamatsu translates to red pine)
Virtue: Dignity
The virtue is the most important part here. I am using an honor system in which players start with 10 honor, and at the end of each session, players decide whether they acted in line with their virtues, failed to act in line with their virtues, or if their virtues weren’t challenged. Depending on their decision, Honor goes up by 1d4, down by 1d4, or stays the same. It can also change during combat but I’ll get to that when it comes up.
My players defined Dignity as the Akamatsu clan's belief that it is essential that all act in ways that befit their station, and that others' dignity be defended by anyone who would deny them the agency their role permits. This will come up later.
Each character also gets one more virtue based on their class. I look forward to the drama of these virtues inevitably clashing throughout the campaign!
The game is being run in an open table format on a server with about a dozen people, so new characters may come and go, but for session 1, we have the Akamatsu Clan’s leading ladies (plus the picrews some of my players made!).
Akamatsu Shiori - Our resident Shrine Maiden. Shiori's second virtue is spirituality. She is bound to help the spirits of Gekkōshima, care for their shrines, and respect practices regarding local spirits.
Akamatsu Sen - Akamatsu's shadowy shinobi. Sen's second virtue is loyalty, she is bound to her word and bond, even when it would be more convenient to break it.
Akamatsu Sumire - A yumihiki (like a bow woman) who has mastered the bow. Sumire's second virtue is abstinence. She is bound not to take part in superfluous indulgences that could distract her from mastering her spirit.
Akamatsu Furi- A bushi seeking mastery of the blade and glory for the Akamatsu clan. Her second virtue is bravery. She is bound not to back down from challenges or allow others to face danger for her.
Landing in Gerozato, Pleasing the Spirits
Our adventurers landed in the port city of Gerozato on the east side of Gekkōshima. A common entry point to the island that is controlled by the Yahagi clan. They were immediately overwhelmed by the city's foot traffic. The docks were bustling with travelers, traders, and a well-dressed Samurai offering tours to confused-looking travelers.
Rather than wait for the next tour, though, the party decided to pay their respects at the local shrine before anything else. Gerozato’s shrine isn’t much to speak of, just a gravel path leading up to its offering hall. The shrine is best known for its Torii, which is built into the sea, giving it the appearance of rising and sinking with the tide.
A sacred hall sits behind the Offering hall and is closed off to the public. It is said to contain the body of the town’s spirit and is accessible only to the town priest and shrine maidens (I wonder what’s inside :O). Or at least, it would be accessible to shrine maidens if the shrine had one.
The party was quickly approached by the shrine’s priest after he saw Shiori’s shrine maiden uniform. He explained that a couple of months ago, the town’s shrine maiden simply left, with the (in his view asinine) goal of becoming a samurai. Desperate, he asked Shiori to perform a Kagura to please the spirit. She agreed to do so after she rested, and she did, in fact, come back and perform the Kagura before the end of the session.
The Little Frog & The Fickle Fish
Looking for a place to rest, the party passed through Gerozato’s market district, including all the shops where they would be able to pick up adventuring essentials. They were most enamored by The Little Frog Tea Parlor, a tea shop known for its sweets. Sumire was tempted by her sweet tooth, but held fast to her virtue of abstinence, and pushed forward to the inn (I suspect they’ll be back here in a session or two, though :) ).
Finally, the party arrives at the Fickle Fish, a packed bar full of raucous drunks on one side of a folding divider wall, and a quiet group of (also drunk) shogi players, enjoying their game to the tune of live Shamisen music.
Rates at the inn were double what is normal, as Gerozato’s overpopulation and frequent arrivals have left rooms in high demand. Not more than our girls could pay, though, so they grabbed their rooms and a few bowls of tofu and started listening for rumors.
They learned quickly that there’s a castle west of town with a reputation for being cursed, haunted, or both. Wanting more information, the players were pleased to learn that a Yahagi samurai was in the bar with them.
This was the first part of the game where the clan and virtue system created a little bit of intra-party friction (in a good way). Sen wanted to eat alone, perhaps even in the rafters. She believed the role of a shinobi is to be unseen and unknown at all times. On the other hand, Furi was very concerned about the clan's presentation to the town. Anything outside social norms could reflect badly on the clan, especially with a Yahagi samurai in the bar with them.
Even though this was a minor interaction that wouldn’t have earned or cost anyone honor, just having virtues and a clan to represent made players think about which behaviors their characters considered virtuous. Having a clan that they hope to expand means that considering their perception among both commoners and the more powerful clans in the region is important. I am going to be mindful that it doesn’t create too much friction, but so far it’s just been little bits that add texture to the party dynamic.
Young Yahagi Genji was at the shogi tables, drowning in Sake and chatting up the Shamisen player, who did not look like she welcomed his advances.
Wanting information and to give the shamisen player some breathing room, Sumire formally introduced herself and challenged Genji to a friendly game of shogi. Dutifully (but annoyed), Genji accepted.
During the game, Genji told the party more about the cursed castle. Castle Katsutoyo has been abandoned as long as he’s been in Gerozato, but no scouting party that’s been sent to the castle has returned. At the same time, it doesn’t seem to threaten anyone, so the Yahagi clan has largely elected to leave the castle alone. Genji also let slip that he is one of the sons of Yahagi Tomoe, the lord of the Yahagi clan.
After defeating Genji in shogi, the party debated stepping in to stop him from bothering the Shamisen player, weighing his disrespect for the woman against his higher station and presumed position of influence in the Yahagi clan. Ultimately, they decided to let it go as long as it didn’t advance beyond unwanted flirting.
Then, they retired to their rooms, ready to venture towards Castle Katsutoyo on the following day.
Poetry
After each session I'll be asking each player to write a Tonka poem about a part of the session that their character reflects on. Since the first session was short, I wrote a few this time as examples for the future. But I'll be having the players and myself each write one in future sessions. I'll always post mine, and I'll also post the ones players are comfortable with me sharing.
1
They leave home behind
Women of the Red pine clan
Sailing through the mist
Gerozato's dock awaits
The Akamatsu tale begins
2
Maidenless kami
Unobserved in solitude
No blessings given
Woken by Shioris's dance
Good fortune blooms after all
3
Clack of shogi tiles
Sumire outwits her foe -
Yahagi' lordling
Smell of liquor on his breath
Not befitting his station
Session Takeaways
I'm really happy with how clan creation went. It's a very tangible reason for the party to be together and it's going to work great for an open table game. New characters can just be more clan members arriving by boat, or retainers adopted or married into the clan.
I have a couple of players who are really into the idea of retainers, so I’m excited for them to clear out Castle Katsutoyo and have a stronghold where they can start really building out their clan! It will be particularly fun for me if they befriend some yokai. I would love it if they married a Tengu into the clan or something.
The virtues and honor also seem to be working well. Players think a little bit more about how they treat NPCs, knowing that there are consequences to behaving poorly, but allowing them to choose their own clan virtues lets them choose what they are interested in caring about, and ensures they understand it well, after all, they defined it! There’s even room for characters to have slightly different understandings of their shared virtues. Sure, all the Akamatsu girls value dignity, but do they all think of it the same way? Perhaps not. To me, the conflict there is fun.
I suspect the party will head for Castle Katsutoyo next session, which is actually an adventure I wrote for Ronin, but I made a quick edit of it for Folded Steel that I think will work well. Depending on which path they take, they might end up hitting a snag on the way to the castle, though. Either way, the adventure will begin in earnest next time, potentially with some new faces among the party!