Settsu Province · 1702
Rice, reputation, and smoke in the merchant city
An Edo-period life simulation set in Osaka in 1702, where rice prices, merchant credit, neighborhood discipline, fire danger, and samurai demand shape daily survival.
Opening situation
Trade remains lively, but everyone speaks more carefully around prices, debts, and officials; one bad week can turn a respectable household into one living on apologies.
Rice nerves are reshaping ordinary confidence in wages and prices.
Officials are watching the market more closely than merchants prefer.
Crowded households feel one accident away from cascading trouble.
Locations
market
Rice, ledgers, and men who treat rumor like a second currency.
harbor
Boat traffic, porters, and the city's daily flow of goods and arguments.
residential
Longhouses packed with laborers, clerks, and people one missed payment from trouble.
religious
Rituals, charity, and the quiet weight of respectable behavior.
authority
Petitions, inspections, and reminders that merchants never rule alone.
travel
The road and river corridor carrying travelers, produce, and trouble in both directions.
Factions
economic · influence 80
Commercial houses squeezing certainty out of a city built on fluctuation.
social · influence 58
Laborers who keep the city moving while taking most of the bodily risk.
political · influence 70
Bureaucratic authority balancing order, taxation, and appearances.
religious · influence 60
Charity and discipline intertwined at the street level.
NPCs
rice clerk
A precise clerk who knows prices, grudges, and which voice matters in a room.
teahouse runner
Fast, observant, and very aware that politeness is a kind of armor.
boatman
A tired boatman whose patience gets thinner as payments get later.
temple steward
A stern steward who knows exactly who can be helped without inviting trouble.
assistant inspector
An official who prefers compliance to heroics, but still likes to be feared.
World state
Status order should shape every social risk you take.
Neighborhood reputation is protective until it turns against you.
Officials prefer order and appearances to fairness.
Merchant opportunity exists, but mostly for those already tied to a house.
Osaka is a commercial city where market shifts can travel into poor households quickly.
Rice prices and merchant credit matter beyond the exchange itself.
Fire, inspection, and reputation are permanent background dangers.
Freeform play
Risk low
Seek practical labor moving goods through the docks.
Risk low
Read mood, prices, and openings around the exchange.
Risk low
Approach a superior, steward, or elder for aid or placement.
Risk high
Keep a little money away from debt, kin claims, or house scrutiny.
Risk medium
Travel outward for delivery, carrying work, or a risky opportunity.
Risk medium
Trade some freedom for steady backing from a local bloc.
Risk medium
Push a whisper where it might shift mood or price.
Risk medium
Look into a supply mismatch, unpaid errand, or suspicious account.
Ready