Tale of Ronin tells the story of the ronin as a group. Rather than focus on a single character, it looks at how an entire class of people might have lived. One way the game seeks to do this is by letting players take on the role of multiple different ronin trying to survive in the same world.
The core gameplay loop will be the following: players will begin as a ronin with a specific background and goal. Once that ronin falls, likely due to survival challenges or combat, the player will get a new ronin with his own background and goals. However, the game time will not reset and the world will keep moving forward. In other words, any effect the previous ronin had on the world will still be visible for the new character.
It might even be possible for gamers to play as a character who used to be an NPC in their party—or someone they dueled with before and didn’t like.
Each ronin’s choices can make life easier or harder for the ronin that follow. One example would be saving a doctor and bringing him back to a village, which would give future ronin a healer to visit. We call this the Sekai System: an evolving and persisting world experienced by impermanent ronin.
At some point during the game, rumors of the legendary daimyo Toyotomi Hideyori being alive and looking for samurai will begin to spread. Following these rumors will become the main goal for most ronin. Some will be looking to be hired as retainers again, some will yearn to serve the true shogun once more, and some will seek vengeance on the Tokugawa. Finding the legendary daimyo will be a major challenge. However, the collective efforts of all the ronin will hopefully be enough to overcome all obstacles and meet with the revered lord.
Your ronin might die on his quest, but thanks to the Sekai system, the effect he had on the world will carry on for the next characters you play as.