Green Ronin Publishing has launched an English-language Kickstarter campaign for Yusuke Tokita’s Japanese tabletop roleplaying game, Nobunaga’s Black Castle. Licensed from CONOS, the project translates and expands an alt-history doom metal game built on the MÖRK BORG third-party licence, having already secured £38,867 against a modest £3,773 initial target.
The campaign introduces Western gaming tables to an alternate 16th-century Sengoku era where warlord Oda Nobunaga survived the Honnō-ji incident to become the demonic Sixth Heaven Demon King. Players take on the roles of resurrected corpses slain by Nobunaga, dragging themselves back from the underworld with a singular objective: destroy the warlord and claim 108 Glory.
Yusuke Tokita’s Japanese Dark Fantasy Pedigree
Creator Yusuke Tokita brings serious industry heritage to the project. Known in Japan for his dark fantasy roleplaying game The Abyss, Tokita also authored Hieizan Enjo (The Burning of Mt. Hiei) for Call of Cthulhu and contributed to official Shin Megami Tensei roleplaying adaptations. His translation credits include the Japanese editions of Shadowrun, Eclipse Phase, and Magic: The Gathering.
Professional translator Su Mon Han handles the English localisation, with an adaptation catalogue spanning more than 50 manga volumes and 200 anime episodes; project lead Chris Pramas of Green Ronin discovered the original game at Tokyo Game Market in 2024.
Rules and Tabletop Mechanics
Nobunaga’s Black Castle uses the stripped-down, d20-based rules familiar to players of MÖRK BORG and spin-offs such as Pirate Borg and CY_Borg. Character creation runs briskly to accommodate high lethality, offering six core undead archetypes:
- Ashigaru Musketeer Renegade: Ranged gunpowder specialist surviving on the fringes of the conflict.
- Corrupted Court Noble: Decadent aristocrat wielding tainted imperial influence.
- Heretical Sect Missionary: Fanatical zealot drawing unholy power from suppressed faiths.
- Mutated Oni Ninja: Infiltrator warped by demonic physiology.
- Outrage Sword Master: Frontline melee combatant driven by raw vengeance.
- Maggot-Ridden Undead Samurai: Heavy martial warrior decaying in ancestral armour.
Unlocked campaign milestones expand the core text with extra scenarios originally sold as separate Japanese supplements, including the Kuniyoshi Utagawa-inspired adventure The Legendary Monster, Nakane’s Moving Castle, and a standalone game master booklet introducing an additional class: the Million-Crying Nembutsu Monk.
Pledge Tiers and Production Formats
Backers can opt for digital PDFs at $20 (approx. £16) under the Dead Avenger tier or pair electronic manuals with the screen booklet at $30 (approx. £23). Physical collectors can access the standard 5.75″ x 8.5″ sewn hardback via Mutated Oni Ninja at $40 (approx. £31), add the physical four-panel game master screen at $55 (approx. £42) with Corrupted Court Noble, or secure the cloth-bound, gold-embossed special edition at $60 (approx. £46) under Heretical Sect Missionary. Complete bundles offering both standard and collector hardbacks alongside the GM screen sit at the $100 (approx. £76) Outrage Sword Master level.
Atlas Games manages fulfilment, with physical reward deliveries estimated for May 2027. Green Ronin notes that while domestic US shipping remains standard, international backers should account for volatile global freight conditions and direct at-cost postage via BackerKit. The all-or-nothing Kickstarter funding period closes on Thursday, 8 October 2026, at 5:01 PM BST.
