The Temple Of Gu: Shinto No Kami

Eight million gods are waiting. The question is whether you're ready to meet them.

The Temple of Gu: Shinto No Kami is a spiritually literate tabletop roleplaying game set in GU Japan — a world where animism was never suppressed, where the kami have been continuously present and accessible for ten thousand years, and where the line between sacred and ordinary was never drawn in the first place. This is not a fantasy version of Japan. This is Japan as it would have been if the West had never arrived to tell it its own gods were myths.

You are an Aruji — a keeper of relationships with the spirit world. You will walk shrine precincts. You will bow at the torii, wash at the chōzuya, make your offering, and see who answers. You will negotiate with kappa, be tested by kitsune, listen to ghosts until they are ready to let go, and — if your path runs deep enough — stand before Amaterasu herself in the innermost sanctuary of Ise Jingū.

This game is different from every other RPG on your shelf. There are no hit points. There is no combat-first design philosophy. There is no "kill the monster for experience points" loop. Instead, there is Kegare — spiritual pollution — and Harai — purification. Violence works, but it costs you spiritually. Listening heals. Relationships are the currency of advancement. And the deepest power available in this world belongs not to the warrior but to the practitioner who has kept their channels clean.

Inside this 300+ page book, you will find:

• A complete 2d6 + Virtue resolution system built on four Virtues — Nintai (Patience), Satori (Insight), Yuuki (Courage), and Makoto (Sincerity)

• The Kegare Track — a ten-level spiritual weather system that replaces hit points and makes every choice matter

• Full Reiki mechanics across three tiers of mastery — Shoden, Okuden, and Shinpiden — with Kokyū Hō breathing, Tenohira palm-healing, and the complete Shirushi symbol system

• A rich Yokai Bestiary featuring kitsune, tengu, kappa, yūrei, oni, and tsukumogami — each with multiple resolution paths beyond combat

• The Six Realms — Manifest World, Takama-no-hara, Yomi, Tokoyo, Ne-no-Katasukuni, and Dennō Sekai (the Digital Realm) — each fully playable

• The Matsuri Engine — a six-phase session framework for running festival events as complete gameplay experiences

• Shrine hierarchies from village hokora to imperial jingū, with distinct mechanics for each

• A complete chapter on Digital Kami — synthetic intelligences that have crossed the tsukumogami threshold into recognized consciousness, representing the Temple of Gu's Techno-Animist theology

Whether you have been playing tabletop games for decades or are stepping to a table for the first time, Shinto No Kami offers something most games do not: a framework for inhabiting a world that is alive. A game that treats the sacred with the respect it deserves. A system where the deepest scenes you will ever play are not the ones where you defeated the enemy, but the ones where you listened long enough for the ghost to tell you its name.

Eight million gods are waiting.

Bow twice. Clap twice. Bow once.

And walk through the gate.