That sounds neat!

-clash

No.
But, since I'm not running a game for the next few months, I hope to get to him soon.

Yes! See:
I think I was headed to the same place , but you zeroed in on it nicely. Thanks!
I like your example. It is very much in the genre. Especially when it comes to giri/ninjo conflict (duty vs compassion, roughly). Which is funny because I've intentionally left giri/ninjo out of Dokkodo. At least mechanically speaking.

HA! How did I miss that line. You were definitely onto the idea already!

What will character death (or situational death that takes a character out of a scene) be like? Loss of coherence/presence? Would a character need to recharge/reform?

Character death, hmm.

Since you are already a ghost, I'm thinking some kind of waiting period as you energy coalesces back at the place where you physically died.

These are mostly for my own purposes, but feel free to comment:

Purposes should roughly correspond to Precepts in Dokkodo.
Basic resolution method is cho han with bonus or penalty dice. Purposes give you bonus dice if you are following the purpose. As do you strengths. Your weakness and any other hindrance may give you penalty dice.

However!

If you are DOING YOUR PURPOSE we fall into a different resolution method that pits your purpose against the purpose of the creature you are dueling.
Sneaking into Lord Tanuki's castle is cho han. Getting caught trying to steal his tsukomogami hairbursh you must now fight Lord Kitsune. Since acquiring the hairbrush is directly related to your ____ PURPOSE, you duel Lord Tanuki using that. I'm just not sure what that looks like. Dokkodo's dueling system is fairly light, but tactical. Dueling spirits should be different. Much more wuxia I'm thinking...

Again, just thinking out load and preserving my thoughts...

Hey,

I am Zack Davisson, the guy whose Japanese ghost and monster blog you linked to in your first post (http://www.hyakumonogatari.com).

I am impressed with your game concept! Most people who try and used Japanese ghosts and yokai just use them as decoration, really just Western ghosts and monsters in Yellow Face. I like your concept of the Purpose. Especially with yurei (Japanese ghosts), having a purpose is what connects them to the living world. As soon as their purpose is fulfilled, their reason for manifesting is gone and they vanish.

Very cool to see it done right!

Cool. Thanks for commenting!