/l5rg/ Legend of the Five Rings General

>>48475239
Played a session where my unoptimized Mantis Bushi and two other players fought against five bandits. Not a scratch on me, other PCs dead and I chased the last bandit through the streets and stabbed the fuck out if him.

Note on Inheritance; RAW it's +1k1 to non-combat rolls made with the item. Specific skills are given for items as example uses, but it doesn't quite restrict you to one skill. It's just a smart way to do it.

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What's the lewdest clan?

>>48476768
Yoritomo.

>>48477683
Yoritomo is not a clan!

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>>48477765
Pick the non-Yoritomo in this image.

Identify the non-Yoritomo personality traits and habits that have influenced the Yoritimo family, then consider vice versa.

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>>48475239
I'm far out planning for a L5R game for after my current campaign of four years ends (people will be leaving for grad school so I've got a plan to conclude things), and I'm planning on doing something different. I'm going to mix it with a metric shit-load of wargaming. The rpg element will be important for setting up battles, court intrigue, infiltration and so on, but there will be a lot of big set-piece battles for my currently ordered mass of 6mm samurai miniatures. I've already figured out what rule set to use (the weebishly named "Killer Katanas 2"), but I'm wondering how to solve another conundrum.

Why should the characters be in a position to command armies? I can think of two solutions to this problem. First, put them somewhere so obscure and ruined that even the most green samurai are all that they have to put in charge. Second, make the characters start at a higher level of play.

For the first, I'm struggling for ideas. In what situation would IR1 characters be allowed to command a full battle's worth of people? For the second, there doesn't appear to be a proper system for starting at higher than IR1. Should I just throw a certain amount of experience points at the players and let them end up wherever they do IR wise, or is there a better way?

>>48477765
Mantis is so poorly written that yes, it is.

Every family they have are just Yoritomo with a different name, and every minor clan that they absorbed became the same. They're the worst written clan in L5R.

>>48478185
But I'd a yoritomo bitch for a koku though

>>48477974
Just give them high status/powerful connections for free and let them build characters as normal. Having the right parents goes a lot further than experience.

>>48477974
>>48479303
It doesn't even have to be the right parents.
I think earlier editions did this better in some ways - Rokugani samurai were considered part of the military almost by default, which meant you had a military rank - regardless of whether you were capable of fulfilling the duties of rank or not. If not, then your aides and advisors were certainly the true caretakers of the position.

>>48479303
This.

Don't be afraid to give out free advantages for the sake of the campaign if everyone is getting them. This isn't D&D, you're not going to shatter some kind of already fragile game balance doing things like that.

>>48479514
It's still expected that every samurai can contribute something to the military, and the Crab (And probably the Lion) explicitly give everyone a rank in the military to make this fast and easy.
It's also quite common for samurai to get thrown into posts they're not ready for, with soft courtiers left in charge of garrisons and internal patrols because all the real bushi are out on the front. And then you're assumed to have the skills because you got the post. Lots of circular reasoning that can't be disputed without calling down a lot of dishonor on yourself and your superiors. Magistrates in particular have it bad.
You were given the post, which implies you have the skills, which means you don't need training, which is evident by the fact that you were given the post. Claiming that you don't have the skill means that whoever assigned you there made a bad call and you yourself look bad for not having the skill for the job you've been assigned.

>>48479582
Most clans skirt around these issues by either putting the person in question in an unimportant situation where their lack of actual skill won't do any damage, or they get second-in-command types who actually know how to do the job and the fop in charge just stamps the paperwork and gets all the glory. The latter actually makes for pretty fun campaigns, where the PCs are said officers and they have an NPC over their head that just stamps their paperwork, gets all the glory, and occasionally throws his weight around.

Oh, there is a third situation too, where the unskilled person given the position was set up to fail by a political rival. That one is equally fun.

>>48478185
Is there an easy fix for that? I mean, if you've got access to old fluff about the Wasp and Centipede, how difficult would it be to extrapolate the Mantis looking as if the Tsurichi and Moshi actually had an effect?
(And honestly, given that Yoritomo himself was damn near a cult of personality, and the clan was led by competing useless slut-pirates after his death, you'd think that the basic Mantis identity would be way more up-for-grabs.)

>>48479990
Probably the simplest way to fix it is to have the new Mantis just act like the old Minor Clans Alliance. They're all the Mantis Clan for tax and political purposes, but as far as the clan is concerned internally they're extremely close allies.

>>48480052
What *was* the old Moshi personality, anyways? The Tsuruchi I mostly remember (or at least, could jog my own memory on, if I needed to), but all I remember about the Centipede is that they were matriarchal and liked the sun; not really sure what that means.

>>48480110
THE SUN IS FUKCING AWESOME

BOYS ARE SHIT

>>48480110

They were a little isolationist, quite religious and very proud. If you pissed them off you'd get burned as they inherited a lot of the Phoenix 'Magic solves all our problems'

The real annoyance I had with Book of <Element> stuff for the Moshi was that it treated them like they were Air primary when Fire has always been their jam. They literally run the biggest library of fire spells in the entire setting.

>>48480110
As said, they were an extremely religious, fairly isolationist, matriarchal clan dedicated to the Sun. And had extremely powerful fire magic.

But you wouldn't fucking know that looking at their post-absorption description. Because I swear the AEG writers went out of their way to make things as stupid as possible sometimes.

I said it before and I'll say it again, I'm fucking glad FFG got the property away from AEG. They could half-ass everything and still be more competent than AEG ever was.

>>48480162
I used to get really irritated by stuff like that, but after dealing with it for so long, and having it overshadowed by more retarded things on much larger scales, I got used to just ignoring or changing stupid parts.

It feels like a lot of writers for third and fourth edition work were just commissioned a certain piece of work for a book, given a primer on stuff in the setting and how it relates to the card game, then are left to their devices.

>>48480279
>I said it before and I'll say it again, I'm fucking glad FFG got the property away from AEG. They could half-ass everything and still be more competent than AEG ever was.

I tell myself this pretty much every day, anon.

>>48480279
It'd been about a decade since I'd last been following along with the story. I was surprisingly willing to go along with all of Rich Wulf's stuff, but I started drifting away when the Enlightenment stuff started up, and by the time a random Kitsuki was the Empress, I checked out. Then I heard something about them killing Kali and colonizing India, which just made me even more glad I'd checked out.
Then, I heard about the FFG thing, and I assumed that it was correct.

>>48480469
I pretty much checked out after Khan's Defiance, and only looked into things here and there just out of curiosity. Every time I looked in things were just getting stupider and stupider, it was like a constant downward spiral of stupidity. After I found out about Daigotsu going full Gary Stu, the Spider becoming a great clan, and the nu-Taint I actually got pretty disillusioned with the entire IP for a while and dropped L5R completely. I couldn't even play campaigns in different eras or timelines anymore because something would just remind me about how stupid everything became. I manned up and got over it only to find out about all the bullshit with the last plotline before the FFG buyout and just said "fuck this entire setting" and dropped it again.

I actually only recently got back into L5R again BECAUSE of the FFG buyout. It makes me feel vindicated somehow.

Last I heard of the metaplot, Yoritomo had a Black Scroll opened on his stupid kami face and the Mantis were in shambles. Was that real or what? What's the state of the setting right before the FFG transfer?

>>48480561
The state of the setting before the FFG buyout was basically "fuck everyone, Spider win everything forever."

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>>48480568

>>48480561
>>48480568
>>48480607
From the totally unsubstantiated rumors I've heard it actually got to the point story prizes were basically "decide how the Spider gets to be awesome while fucking your clan in the ass" and people were leaving the CCG in droves. Apparently, shit even got so stupid even the Spider players were quitting.

>>48480666
So all the Wick-era Scorpion wankery and then some, now over the literal Shadowlands clan?

>>48480666
I have a hard time understanding why the Spider were so popular when they go so strongly against what I thought were the draws of the setting.

>>48480666
The thing about the Spider is that its very existence was always controversial to its own player base.
There were a LOT of horde players who quit when their faction was standardized to fit in with the Clans (IE, when the Spider was formed). Then some players quit when the spider were made a Great Clan and shunted away to not!India, and then some quit because they were made less evil and more normalized, and then a lot of the ones left were upset at the idea of dumping all of that to follow the tantrum boy back into the darkness.

>>48480756
I think it's because the marketing executives were pulling shit out of their ass and they were never actually *that* popular.

>>48480756
they were probably popular in focus groups of people who didn't play the game. spider were striking and violent and dark and clearly evil and badass... at least from the art.

>>48480756
Look at how much /tg/ wanks over their bad interpretations of the Crab and Mantis. Most of the fans of these clans on /tg/ like them BECAUSE they think they're an excuse not to play by the social rules and get away with it.

>>48480843
I haven't seen anyone here claiming that the Crab or Mantis can freely not play by the social rules.

>>48480850
Not in this thread. Yet.

>>48480855
Or in the last 6 or 7 threads. I think you're just making shit up.

>>48480862
I think you need to go back and read some threads.

Though, to be fair, it was far more prominent two or three years ago than it has been recently. There was even a period of blatant anti-Crab trolling as a backlash to it.

>>48480862
Shit, the last two or three threads have had quite a bit of FUCK YORITOMO, and you can also scroll up.

>>48480877
I was here for those threads.
The idea that the Crab completely ignore social rules always comes from people bashing the Crab or Mantis for ignoring social rules.
The most I've seen is someone asking for an easy way to get into the setting and someone else saying that it's easier to do if you play as a character who isn't great at etiquette, such as a Crab or Mantis. And even that advice came with warnings that outright ignoring the social rules was suicide.

>>48480880
Man why would we do that? Why would we ever rag on the most perfect of all mortal men, personally chosen by the thunder dragon for his honor and courage and duty and all the other tenets of bushido apartment complex? Yoritomo was literally the perfect human being that did nothing wrong. The Kami who fell to Rokugan are clearly shitty examples of how things should be done because let me tell you all about how Yoritomo lives up to none of them.

Well I couldn't actually because the wordcount is too limited. But the only thing you need to know about Yoritomo-sama is how he uses Kama instead of the incredibly overrated Katana. I mean, for real. It's stupid. Just because a bunch of gods used it as their weapon of choice for like... probably centuries while they were fucking around in the heavens? Means that it's the best? Or whatever? Fuck that. Kama. Yoritomo is the best.

>>48480908
Don't forget about the extortion racket he was running.
When the gods came down, they clearly forgot about the most important part of bushido, placing your own wellbeing above the wellbeing of every other person in Rokugan.
Truly, only someone as great as Yoritomo would be willing to take their toys and go home if they didn't get their way.

>>48480902
>The most I've seen is someone asking for an easy way to get into the setting and someone else saying that it's easier to do if you play as a character who isn't great at etiquette, such as a Crab or Mantis.
I never understood this line of thinking. If anything playing as that kind of character is L5R hardmode because it shuts you out of so much and you have to deal with the consequences constantly.
The best clan for newbies is without a doubt the Lion, particularly Akodo, because anyone even partially interested in L5R is at least somewhat familiar with the bushido-bound samurai stereotypes they revolve entirely around.

>>48480902
Not to mention that just because they are rude and lacking in manners by Rokugani standards it doesn't mean that they're CN fishmalks. The Crab in particular shape the fuck up at home even if they're not doing all the bowing and sincere talk required of samurai behind the Crab lands: you follow commands, you do as you're told because you're in a fucking war that will never end and people will die if you fuck up. You can be a brash asshole - hell, any clan can have brash assholes - but you will be put in your place if you stray too far. Even if that place is under a small stone tablet with your name on it.
>>48480936
I want to say Dragon, actually. Everyone knows they're a bit weird so minor lapses can be excused while people learn the ropes of the setting, they're average Honor so they aren't as straitjacketed, and dual wielding is cool.

>>48480967
>I want to say Dragon, actually. Everyone knows they're a bit weird so minor lapses can be excused while people learn the ropes of the setting, they're average Honor so they aren't as straitjacketed, and dual wielding is cool.
I can also accept that. Lion and Dragon are good choices for new players.

Honestly the social mores of Rokugan are complex enough that any GM worth his salt should be all but straight up holding the hands of new players and letting them know things that their character would know, instead of punishing them for knowledge the player lacks.

>>48480902
>>48480936
>>48480967
The general gist is that while a new player should try to conform to the setting, it's easier to bend the rules/remind them after shit happens/let it slide *if* they're from a clan whose in-setting stereotype is ignorant or boorish. They'll cop some flak for upholding said stereotype in places where failing social graces can get you killed/duelled/sudoku'd/assigned to protect the emperor's peacocks for eternity, but not as much as someone with any meaningful status, glory, or clan rep.

>>48480967
>Dragon, actually. Everyone knows they're a bit weird
I think people drag the Togashi byline onto the rest of the Dragon a bit too much. Mirumoto are a bit poetic & pragmatic, Kitsuki can be confronting when faced with deception, and Tamori unusually violent for shugenja, but they're not all like the few hundred Tattooed Men, even if they're Taoist Swordsmen or actually a tattooed man.

For a new player, I'd start them off as Lion, help them read up on Bushido in Rokugan, and let them go from there. Maybe offer the Haunted disadvantage as a way for their ancestors to keep them in line every now and then.
Otherwise, if they want to be completely external to Rokugani etiquette, the Shinmaki order in Emerald Empire. Blatantly honest, spiritually pure and honourable monk will let them question everything and not look like they're ignorant/rude in the process.

>>48482056
>The general gist is that while a new player should try to conform to the setting, it's easier to bend the rules/remind them after shit happens/let it slide *if* they're from a clan whose in-setting stereotype is ignorant or boorish. They'll cop some flak for upholding said stereotype in places where failing social graces can get you killed/duelled/sudoku'd/assigned to protect the emperor's peacocks for eternity, but not as much as someone with any meaningful status, glory, or clan rep.
Sounds like you run a pretty high risk of teaching them bad habits. "Oh another L5R game? This court stuff is boring I'll just play a Crab again and act like a D&D murderhobo and get away with it because that's just how Crab are, right?"

>>48482056
>I think people drag the Togashi byline onto the rest of the Dragon a bit too much. Mirumoto are a bit poetic & pragmatic, Kitsuki can be confronting when faced with deception, and Tamori unusually violent for shugenja, but they're not all like the few hundred Tattooed Men, even if they're Taoist Swordsmen or actually a tattooed man.
I think the "everyone knows they're a bit weird" refers more to how people in the setting look at the Dragon. Depending on the era most people might only know the Dragon clan as "those weirdos who hang out in their mountains all the time. I heard they're all mysterious and spiritual and enlightened and shit."

>For a new player, I'd start them off as Lion, help them read up on Bushido in Rokugan, and let them go from there. Maybe offer the Haunted disadvantage as a way for their ancestors to keep them in line every now and then.
That's pretty much my line of thinking. Akodo bushi are pretty much THE quintessential samurai stereotype as far as the average Joe would be able to identify.

>Otherwise, if they want to be completely external to Rokugani etiquette, the Shinmaki order in Emerald Empire. Blatantly honest, spiritually pure and honourable monk will let them question everything and not look like they're ignorant/rude in the process.
Actually monks in general might not be a bad choice for newer players, all things considered. They don't have the "might get mistaken as a free pass to murderhobo" thing going on (for the most part), they're detached from the consequences of most social mores, are still respected by the upper class and looked up to by the lowers, but still have certain expectations of them due to their position.

>>48480717
>So all the Wick-era Scorpion wankery

Wick's general philosophy is that shitting on the players is "fun", and at the very least the Scorpion were treated like actual garbage in the CCG and most of the RPG books he was in charge of. The Kolat basically played them for fools all of Clan War and Jade and they were literally stomped out of existence twice; they never became the unstoppable secret police until Gold rolled around. A better comparison would be the Crane in Diamond era, who were so loved by the story team ended up getting god damn ninjas in story while dominating the tournaments due to Kakita shenanigans. Ree Soesbee's handling of the Crane in 1E had the same favoritism problem, but it was mitigated by the fact that the Crane got horrible story "prizes" whenever they won tournaments like Doji Reju joining Hitomi or having the giant sea spider destroy their lands.

Good thing I was an Alliance player back then.

>>48482088
>I'll just play a Crab again and act like a D&D murderhobo and get away
Nah.

>They'll cop some flak for upholding said stereotype in places where failing social graces can get you killed/duelled/sudoku'd/assigned to protect the emperor's peacocks for eternity, but not as much as someone with any meaningful status, glory, or clan rep.

They'd need to stick to the boonies of Rokugan to avoid higher standards of etiquette, and require double plus bland monk asceticism to avoid gaining glory over time to avoid ever being called back into polite society. Even then it would happen eventually in a standard game, or the group would split.

It's lesser effect while they're nobody, not no effect forever.

>>48482143
>Depending on the era most people might only know the Dragon clan as "those weirdos who hang out in their mountains all the time
That would be the Togashi, again. Every other family had some involvement with the courts of Rokugan.

>>48482277
I think that's true of the eras featured in the cgg, but if memory serves there were periods where the whole Dragon clan might not come down from their mountains for a century at a time, which is why the appearance of their armies was so notable and why the Dragonfly were so important as the gateway to the Dragon.

It's not fun for a faction to be isolated and never show up while the rest of the clans are doing stuff, so they got and remained active from the Clan War era on.

Which made the Dragonfly pretty pointless. Why do you need to speak to a middleman to communicate with the Dragon when they have courtiers from the clan in courts around Rokugan?

I could be wrong, but that's how I thought things were presented. Maybe there were a couple Mirumoto at Otosan Uchi, but I doubt most people knew anything about their presence.

>>48482157
>Wick's general philosophy is that shitting on the players is "fun"
I like his Sound of Silence era philosophy, such as it is. It wasn't considered shitting on players by groups, so much as people liked playing Die Hard in Rokugan & Full Metal Kimono PCs.

>>48482157
>Ree Soesbee's handling of the Crane in 1E
2e.

>>48482340
>I think that's true of the eras featured in the cgg
Really isn't.

>Why do you need to speak to a middleman to communicate with the Dragon
You don't have to, unless you're intending to present something to the Dragon that you would prefer not to present under the direct view of other clans. There are so many, many .... many possible reasons for that.

>>48482401
Both.

>>48482460
>You don't have to, unless you're intending to present something to the Dragon that you would prefer not to present under the direct view of other clans. There are so many, many .... many possible reasons for that.
That's a really good point. Thanks, anon.

>>48482465

What did Soesbee do with the Crane aside from her self-insert and her pathological inability to spell "hakama"?

God damn did that second one grate all through the Crane Clan War novel, fuck damn.

>>48483644
>her pathological inability to spell "hakama"?
Please explain further.

>>48483733

Throughout the Crane novel, the word hakama is consistently spelled "hakima".

It's like nails on a damn chalkboard, I know I've never seen that shit in L5R sourcebooks.

>>48483644
As said, Crane were to Soesbee as Scorpion were to Wick.

A lot of the stupid bullshit surrounding the Crane, both benefiting the clan or hindering it, were the fault of Soesbee. Her writing is pretty much the soul source of a lot of /tg/'s hateboner for the Crane.

>>48483869
>It's like nails on a damn chalkboard
That describes most of the Clan War novels, honestly. The only good one was the Scorpion one only because it gives some insight into Shoju's mindset and the political climate before and after the coup.

>>48484229
>That describes most of the Clan War novels

I'm starting to get that impression, yeah.

I got them suggested to me because I wanted to know more about the Clan War, but I'm starting to think the whole thing was an epic troll.

>>48484229
They're not that bad. Not great, but more or less average fantasy pulp; if you can stomach those, the Clan War books will be fine. The ones by Sullivan and the Crab one are okay. Ree's are Reetastic for better or worse. I can barely remember the Unicorn one. I think it if was god-awful it'd at least stand out for that.

In fact, compared to the shitty, Yojimbo rip-off Wind(War? Whichever stars Kaneka.) book, they're shining examples of literature.

After the last thread Im giving thought to a comfy adventure series set in the boonies. What clan would have the coziest adventures by a countryside court and castle?

>>48485206
Phoenix. Relatively peaceful. Cool forest atmosphere. The only clan-specific stuff going wrong is the occasional inquisitor visiting town and touching everyone with jade. Generally peaceful clan means your territory probably wont be under dispute any time soon.

>>48482390
"The players were asking for it" has been one of his lines for decades now. He's on the record as calling players at his table masochistic fucks that knew (or should've known) what they were up to when they sat to play with him.

>>48475239
>What's the largest battle in which you had a PC involved? Did they survive?

We once had a one-shot for testing a homebrew Mass Battle System. It pitted 800k Rokugani led by the Kami Ryoshun against 500k Yodotai led by their war god Conquest.

My character survived due to lucky Battle Events and smart switching between engagement levels.

It was actually a fairly boring game.

>>48485846
Just wanted to say: It's heavily implied that the Yodotai gods and Rokugani gods are one in the same with different names. The idea is to paint the Yodotai as this bizzaro pseudo-mirror version of Rokugan.

>>48485206
Golden Sky Stories: Fox Clan Edition.

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>>48482157
>giant sea spider destroy their lands.
Oho

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>>48487126
Did someone say Great Sea Spider?

>>48487567
>I know you guys wanted to play a fantasy samurai game but I think what we all really wanted is a kaiju survival adventure, am I right or what?

did anyone here get the onyx and after leaks? I only caught the TBS stuff off normiebook.

>>48480756
They were cool to me because they were villains. I could play PURE EVIL and others could battle me. That was cool, because inter-clan fighting is the most stupid shit ever. Then the spider became a great clan and I quit playing.

>>48489899
from an rpg standpoint they were kinda shoehorned. From the ccg view theyre great.

>>48490364
>From the ccg view theyre great.
That's always the issue, isn't it?

>>48485690
And?

How do bastards and other cross-caste children or marraiges fit into the Celestial Order? Do they belong to the lower caste by default? Can an acknowledged bastard be lifted up?

>>48490745
They can be acknowledged, yes.

Also there are several cases of heimin being "discovered to be of a lost samurai bloodline" and uplifted.

>>48477974
Make them the sons (or daughters) of prominent members of the commanding families. Like the Clan Champ's 3rd cousin. Put them in charge of border garrisons, small detachments of 3 companies or so. Let them earn higher rank with successful command of their small border garrisons in skirmishes against other clans and large bandit bands that like to plunder their supplies as they come in from the various villages that support them.

Have them do small scale recon work to find the actual bandit hideout before they get to have the large battles. Let them find out about rumors of a Maho-tsukai being run out of a town in their area of influence and then have them hear about the improperly buried dead bandits that they slaughtered getting up and walking around and heading deeper into their Clan's lands. What do they do?

There are all sorts of ideas. Just use your brain. It's the lump, 3 feet above your ass.

>>48490989
How often do border skirmishes happen? Wouldn't those be diplomatic incidents that would cause problems for the clans in court?

>>48492643
Not really, since two lords of, say, the Scorpion and Lion could go to war to settle a dispute while the rest of the Clan stays fairly amicable.

>>48492643
Minor lords can muster troops to go fight similarly minor lords in their own clan or across borders. This happens often enough that any given day during most Summers sees at least a small skirmish here or there across the country.
In fact, one of the warning signs of the Lion gearing up to fight another Clan at the highest level is all of their shitty little lords resolving all of their internal disputes diplomatically or through sudden and decisive duels, in preparation to send all of their troops to the Clan's muster.

Has your character ever been in love? How did it work out?

>>48493039
Back when I had a local (sort of) L5R scene, it was a common thought that there simply weren't wars at all - everything was Winter Court all the time, everything was sincerity and poisoned words (and tea), the only violence came from duels and assassins' daggers.

Which is kinda silly. The samurai are a military aristocracy. There's at least one small war going on across the Empire at any time: even if there's no actual change of lands involved, everyone needs experienced troops for when real conflicts flare up, and a release valve for the bunch of proud, angry 18 year olds with three-foot lengths of murdering steel that make up most of the low ranking bushi.

>>48493821
>it was a common thought that there simply weren't wars at all
Why would they all think that to begin with? It's not supported by anything.

>>48493813
I've been in love with one of my player's characters before.

That was a weird time.

>>48493913
>That was a weird time.
That you will now elaborate on.

>>48493813
Previous campaign, everyone got hitched or had love in their lives. Didn't work out well for anyone but the person it shouldn't have, because I had them roll for epilogue stuff.

Top two, Daidoji Gorobei (NPC) and the Topaz Champion Katogama Aoiki (PC) had a pretty terrible marriage because she was like 8 years older than him when they got hitched (at the request of his father, a sensei she admired). Pretty loveless because she got in the way of him doing an honor duel with his former best friend when he was like 12 (his best friend assumed Gorobei's brother Junpei killed his father because the killer and Junpei wore the same masks).

Hanegansi Umigoto (PC) and Tsurichi Khan (NPC) were pretty much doomed from the start because Umigoto had a lot of issues. She was half-Mantis to start with (Mom was a Daidoji Marine, Dad was a chubby Yoritomo Courtier with a heart of gold), she was a trained duelist but lost the Topaz Championship to Aoiki, and she only became the head magistrate for the region because she said she'd take the job. Oddly Khan and Umigoto got on well by the end, because they both believed in the pursuit of JUSTICE and lining your pocket with as much koku as possible. Umi's dad was so proud his daughter went back to "The Winning Team."

Katogama Hikaru (PC) and fuck I forget her name but she was a geisha (NPC) had the True Love disadvantage. It ended horribly. Hikaru outed department plans against a pirate king as a way to save her from getting a train run on her by Sanada and some ex-Daidoji Harriers. Ended up dying horribly after getting impaled into a wall by a no-dachi and his innard being eaten by tigers. And then the mountain collapsed on him too. His True Love ended up being a plant who worked for an unknown third party and was keeping tabs on him the whole time.

Current campaign is getting somewhere now.

>>48493856
It was the early 2000s, fighting was for ROLLPLAYERS instead of TRUE ROLE PLAYERS. It was as dumb as it sounded.

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>>48493995
Ah crud.
>>48493913
Curious as to this as well.
>>48487567
I never understood why there was a giant sea spider. Is their cultural precedent for that or was this just some strange appeal to daikaiju and mass destruction shit?
>>48485206
Seconding the Phoenix, though coastal Crane are a lot of fun too. Northern Lion or hell, Lion during their occupation of Kirin Lands (due to their journey west) could be cool. Depends on what you want to do with it specifically.

>>48493968
>>48494031
its not a funny story.

>>48493813
True Love and Bad Fortune: Secret Lover are my two favorite disadvantages to take. So my characters often are in love.

>>48494047
I don't expect it to be, but it does sound horribly fascinating and possibly even disturbing. Please share.

>>48494047
Well the concept of a real person being in love with a fictional character created by someone they know has equal amounts tragedy and comedy to it; albeit not the laughing with you type of comedy I'm sure.

>>48494049
I've got a character with Bad Fortune: Secret Lover. He got bitch-slapped by the new daimyo of the Kaiu Family because he rebuked her. He's a small time minor clan diplomat who only met her back when they were in the Yasuki Yashiki and they had nights where they got drunk and fooled around. And the worst part is, still not sure if that's the Secret Lover who had a woman he slept with one time assassinated.

But it also wasn't the maho-tsukai my diplomat married for the purposes of outing her family as being complicit in Shadowlands bullshit. I'm personally hoping it is the gay Bayushi Bushi who is my diplomat's best friend; because at least my guy is stupid enough to believe anything he'd ask is just "warrior bonding that we're not allowed to talk about."

He's got a head for numbers, and nothing else.

>>48494104
I've never had a game last long enough for the secret lover to appear, but my first true love was a PC, who ended up having a happy ending because her betrothed was a useless piece of shit who failed every event at the topaz championship while my character was the winner.

>>48494031
There are all sorts of crazy Japanese mythological monsters, and several different kinds of spider ones. They usually tend to not be that ecksbawkshueg(else how is the hero going to defeat them?), though, so it might have been exaggerated to make it cooler.

>>48494149
Well I think the GM just likes using it because I took the Dangerous Beauty advantage too and a lot of people have been into my character--almost always to his detriment. He's shaved his head at this point and inflicted at least two scars on his face to avoid capture. Its kind of great, he went from being Chris Traegar from Parks & Rec to being this super burnt out 20 year old now in charge of his family and winning wars by saying the right things on the battlefield and being willing to sacrifice his glory to get it done.

He just wanted to start the damn pony express before shit got real. Still proud of his shining achievement trying to frame up a rival diplomat with an opium addiction as someone who fucked a pig. Me and the party shugenja rolled high enough, it should've worked. We ended up glassing him and just planting a bunch of drugs on him. Its a great in joke now between me and the shugenja, lots of pig-themed gifts.

It is a fun disadvantage, probably a lot more manageable fun if you're not a courtier.

>>48494218
Oh yeah, I know. Its just...A giant sea spider is rather specific and strange. Because I'm googling and failing to find an example yokai, but I might just not be googling deep enough.

The giant sea spider is actually supposed to be a good guy... thing and is Tainted. Someone manages to cleanse it at some point, at least in one of the alt histories.

>>48494283
That's why I think the giant part is embellished. I did a search for 海蜘蛛(sea spider) and came back with all sorts of terrifying real life shit and there are those giant spider crabs as well, so it's not too hard to imagine coastal Japanese peasants creating a monster out of one back in the day. If you're really interested, try adding 妖怪(youkai) to the search and see if you can dig up a good picture. I saw a couple likely ones, but it also floods the results with anime shit because of Yokai Watch. It definitely doesn't seem as common a monster as the tsuchigumo, or the bull-headed or woman ones, though.

>>48494500
It's not like they made it a common thing in Rokugan either.
The giant sea spider is *The* giant sea spider. There's only the one, and if you could kill it, there wouldn't be any left.

>>48492643
Often enough that while oaths aren't uncommon, no one in Rokugan will swear on any clan's border stones.

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I need some inspiration, /l5rg/. My players have been sent to a distant province of the empire with the mission to manage the area and reduce the chaos that has been prevalent there. In doing so, they've encountered and dealt with many of the influential factions there, helping them out to restore order.

I'm hoping of introducing them to a new faction next session: a local shugenja temple. Here is where I've run into some problems though, as I can't think of what the players can do to help the shugenjas. Any suggestions, /l5rg/?

One idea I've been thinking of is that the shugenjas have an annual festival to the elemental kami, but can't perform it this year because of the chaos. Thing is, I don't know what sort of thing the players could do to help solve this problem for the shugenjas.

>>48494773
Brokering a temporary cease-fire among the most rowdy of the factions because their presence is needed for the festival. They have to keep everyone in their best behavior while the shugenja do their thing and prevent any bloodshed from happening. Sure, maybe the temple could fight off offenders on its own, but then the festival could not take place and you know how kami get.

>>48494773
Common stuff, but maybe an expected shipment or delivery has yet to arrive and they need someone to track it down or the festival will be ruined. Or a child or other family member has gone missing and they need outsiders to help investigate so that it won't be noticed. Say one of the more antagonist factions(or even people they originally thought were cool if you wanna throw the party a curveball) the group has run into wants something from the temple and decided to strong arm them into cooperation.

>>48494773
Given the chaos, the shugenja petitioned for aid from a village on the good side of a nearby mountain that has fertile steppe farms. The shugenja are expecting relief food to arrive so that they will be able to harbor the displaced populace come the harsher seasons.

That food has not come and there is dispute in the temple over the truth of the matter. The elder priest believes that a recent rockslide/avalanche/mudslide must have knocked out the road--though that doesn't bode well because such an act would speak to the will of the kami. A younger shugenja whose parents were hurt by the chaos believes that the food was likely taken by another faction--she harbors a grudge against them so of course this must be the truth. The most enlightened of the youngest shugenja is the only one willing to go and investigate personally, but he knows if he leaves other priests who are jealous of him might arrange his death or should he be harmed anyway, divine it as the will of the Heavens that the temple not get involved in aiding anyone.

The temple would love to provide aid and shelter to the party but they are stretched quite thin and the taxing situation is making everyone a little short. If anything the kami probably wish for the priests to realize that in times of chaos, perseverance under stress is a righteous path. But the priests are weak or in disharmony, due to the situation, and they'd sooner read it as each one being the only correct person in the room. They'd sway the party as best they can to their own causes, but they all serve the temple first as best they can.

Perhaps there was an avalanche, but only half the caravan of aid went lost; the other half was saved by a yobanjin and his daughters and they're enjoying the rice while waiting out the bad weather in a lean-to. The father goes to the wreckage daily to salvage what he can. If the party sees a yobanjin barbarian with rice that belongs to the temple, what will they think?

>>48494857
I should probably mention that the chaos isn't being caused by the factions going at eachother's throats, but by outside influences (bunch of tainted bandits).

>>48494991
I kinda like this idea of "we can't do the festival because someone important is missing." One of their high-ranking priests needs an escort from out of town back to friendly territory, perhaps?

>>48494997
The PCs actually just managed to get the famine situation sorted out in their neck of the woods, so it'd need to be something else for motivation. I like the idea, though.

>>48495062
Oh! Split the difference. Not food, but missing people. The temple is awaiting a nun who was dispersing aid in a nearby village, she was supposed to be back by now along with some children shown to have potential with the kami. But there was an avalanche. So some yobanjin man and his family have been digging people out, saving a few of the children, but also finding the body of the nun.

He's performed the gaijin burial rituals on the side of the road near the rockslide, and to anyone who sees him and his relatives carrying off wounded and crying children---well it doesn't look good. The temple should be furious that there were strange burial rituals enacted anyway, but tack on kidnapping and it becomes far more obscene. Easy to mistake as a bandit overcome by the taint crudely burying bodies but maybe mummifying them a bit or removing an organ or two.

Plus there's certainly a language gap, and the yobanjin man lost his wife to the Rokugani so he doesn't trust people wearing their armor style. If the War of Dark Fire has taken place, he's probably not of a mind to give children over to shugenja as a whole; for the children's own safety.

But it is a stressful situation and handling it correctly could see the Temple having new students, recovering the bodies of those who didn't make it for proper ritual cremation, and those within the Temple realizing they are acting on their worst impulses during a stressful time. Or if they fuck it up, race relations go completely down the shitter, some children go through even greater trauma and that could lead to a kansen Damien Omen-Child thing down the line, and the Temple could fall into in-fighting which leads to them being even further out of harmony when things are important.

>>48494031
>just some strange appeal to daikaiju and mass destruction shit
This.

>>48494773
Have you tried Kaze no Shiro and the compiled CFSs there?

>>48496169
I have not. Could you give a link?

>>48496169
Didn't they take down a bunch of shit after AEG sold off L5R?

>>48496219
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Kaze+no+shiro&l=1

>>48496233
That's the AEG forums.

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>>48496219

>>48496844
thanks a tonne, man.

>>48496844
Silly, how is he going to find the other CFS pdfs (Volume 1-4, Illustrated, Collected 1-9, and the twenty something CFSs from named authors) available in the rpg section if you spoon feed him that one alone?

>>48493813
Not my character, but helped plan a L5R campaign for a first time roleplayer once. Void Shugenja - we established that they could basically read minds (complicated, but that's the gist of it), and that they had gotten fewer and far between in later years. He kept having love affairs all over the Empire, rolled a d10 for potential shugenja talent in children when he got anyone pregnant and somehow rolled 0 (void) every fucking time.

Hung out with an Ide courtier for a while, until she was married off to Hida Yakamo (who was unaware that she was already pregnant with PCs baby), was forced into a loveless marriage with a Fox shugenja, accepted a Scorpion deal during the coup where they'd send an Actor to replace her.

He hid said Scorpion spy in the heart of Phoenix lands, sharing everything with her, even though she was obviously reporting everything. Never read her mind, never even tried, much to the confusion of his daughter, who looked into his new wife's mind the first time they met and knew exactly what she was. PC insisted on protecting her at every turn, even when the clan found her mauled and without makeup and started wondering why she looked so much different. When she eventually left him he insisted on getting the Lost Love disadvantage (for no points).

His real wife was still alive in some Scorpion dungeon. And she was not happy.

>>48493813
Ishiken in love with his male yojimbo. The feelings were returned, which really only made it worse.

>>48494283

Pretty sure AEG just took the umigumo and made it the size of Godzilla.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsuchigumo#Y.C5.8Dkai_tsuchigumo (umigumo is mentioned towards the end here)

>>48498658
Those actually seem like the best circumstances a Rokugani can have an affair in. Your lover is always going to be by your side since they're assigned to you and you don't have to worry about bastards since you're gay. Unless you get a Bitter Betrothal and your spouse will try to fuck you over about it, chances are good she'll be a pretty decent beard for you if you treat her right and do your duty in the kids department at least once.

Consider this: between the great forest of the lions, and the river that borders the world spine mountains, there exists a village on the coast that is considered the borders of crane and the scorpion. Here there lives a talented, respected, but relaxed lord of the Akodo. In his minor castle a court exists; not one of great import, but there none the less. Here, in the comfy breadbasket of the lion, spring begins. In one year's time his only daughter shall marry, and his new son will come to live among them. You samurai are there to help the year pass, and ensure the forts cozy life to continue to pass in the 9th century.

>>48498658
IIRC, homosexuality in Rokugan is pretty tolerated. The only issue is when your gay love interferes with your duty to your daimyo, but that also goes for straight love. There was this minor NPC in City of Lies that kept his orientation a secret not because of shame (because he really didn't have anything to be ashamed of) but because he was a Scorpion and he felt he should keep at least one secret, since he was otherwise every bit the genial, honest aristocrat that he appeared to be.

>>48501891
I don't think they ever really talk about it in the books; my headcanon is that it's shunned publically and that so long as you keep it nominally behind closed doors nobody really gives a shit.

>>48503013
Unless they're females, then you write a play about it.

Whats the average insight rank of a captain of the guard or inportant courtier. Of an minor area lord? Im trying to make npcs and cant figure out how powerful they should be.

>>48503013
>>48503013
>His life has no hidden criminal activities, no connection to smugglers or ninja or Kolat. He brews sake, and does a very good job of it. He sells it for a fair price. Perhaps he takes advantage of his connection to Hyobu (G9, P1) to get his taxes assessed with a light hand, and perhaps a few casks of sake find their way to Thunder Guard captains in return for selective blindness during tariff assessments - but compared to many businessmen in Ryoko Owari, he’s honest as Shinsei.
>If he smiles when he’s suspected of being a criminal, he has to suppress a loud laugh when he’s suspected of being Hyobu’s lover. Nothing could be further from the truth. The reason he’s never taken a wife is that he likes men instead of women. This is a secret he’s careful to keep - not so much out of shame (homosexuality carries much less of a stigma in Rokugan - the only reason it might be considered bad is that it might make a samurai less loyal to his daimyo) but because he does enjoy having one secret at least.

There's that, at least. Historically Japan accepted buggering boys and the like, but just doing it with men was weird (purely gay men were 'onna-girai', women-haters or misogynists). Mild public shun but no one really caring sounds alright. I don't think it gets brought up in L5R material further than this - weren't there a couple of Unicorn ladies turbogay for each other?

>>48503170
I'd say about 3 insight for guard captains.

a good rule of thumb is...
>1 insight for foot soldiers and other mooks
>2 insight for cavalry, elite soldiers and more important mooks
>3 insight for minor commanders, important courtiers and less-important named characters
>4 insight for major commanders, experienced courtiers and memorable named characters
>5 insight for clan champions, the emperor, powerful lords, and other important and renowned characters

>>48500327
>>48501891
Ishiken saw that as asking a lot, though. He wasn't interested in marrying a woman and having kids at all (despite pressure from the rest of the clan because void), nor was he terribly great at keeping secrets - so the yojimbo's betrothal was also an issue. Being able to peer into the void and see things he couldn't quite get to made him kind of inflexible.

>>48503301
>completely hereditary positions start at max insight rank

All that Emperoring sure is great for mastering the Kakita style

>>48504943
Insight and school ranks are two completely different things. An incompetent emperor is gonna have 0 school ranks but 5 insight.

>>48504943
The non-tutori emperors are divinely infused. They wield a significant amount of heavenly power.

>>48505124
Shoju the first was Emperor for five days, and I'm pretty sure he didn't have the mandate of heaven either.

>>48505086
So the incompetent emperor just has epic level rings and skills and never got around to asking their sensei to teach them school techniques?

>>48505086
That's not how it works.
Emperors tend to have high IR because they have the best teachers in the entire country, bar none. The only times they don't increase School Rank in addition to their Insight Rank is when they don't have the time or opportunity to do it.
For example, Yugozohime (Hantei VII) was IR 4 (233 insight), Akodo Bushi 4 before becoming Empress, then she was IR 5, SR 4.

>>48505330
Whoops, the 233 is her IR5 number, not IR4.

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Courtier waifu bump

What clan waifu/husband would you hook your character up with if you could?

>>48508286
Dragon or Mantis for major clans, Sparrow for minor clans.

>>48508286
Crane because she'll either be hot enough to keep him from the whores, or good enough at courtly stuff to keep him from getting caught.

>>48508286
Crab, although that's keeping it in-house in this case.

>>48508286
Fox or bust. Touch fluffy tail.

>>48508888
But if you find out about fluffy tail, don't they have to go?

>>48508286
None, going for peasant girl.

>is playing a Spider Monk

How big is a castle, even a small one? How big do they have to be to monitor a couple villages and be considered more than a garrison? I want my players to have a nice mini-court to play out of, but I don't know what scale to go for.

>>48508968
>>48508968
Not always. A kitsune has to take a couple of vows before they can come to Ningen-do, and that's one of the vows they can take, but it isn't a mandatory one.

>>48509144
A proper winter court held at a kyuden/palace is 250 samurai guests plus entourage (pre Unicorn return) or 330 after. Go smaller.

>>48505330
Depending on the writer, school ranks 1 & 2 may or may not be standard teaching for all samurai, and that may or may not be because few are blessed with real insight & opportunity to learn a given technique, even after raising insight rank.

I don't mind this, depending on situation.

>>48510188
Those numbers are only for the Emperor's own Imperial Winter Court, and were only put in place because some clans were bringing way, waaaaay too many people and intentionally overtaxing the host's resources.
Lesser courts don't have such artificial restrictions, although most clans follow those guidelines anyway, because any guideline related to the Emperor is copied and downsized.

>>48505330
>For example, Yugozohime (Hantei VII) was IR 4 (233 insight), Akodo Bushi 4 before becoming Empress, then she was IR 5, SR 4.
Insight and ranks given out for NPCs should not be trusted. All the Way books just slapped stats, skills and school ranks and didn't bother tracking insight (which is why the reprints had the infamous sidebars where you were supposed to give NPCs "appropriate" skills to make them have the appropriate insight ranks for their schools)

>>48510552
I counted that Insight manually, since the statblock doesn't actually give it.

>>48510605
Exactly. That's how you end with Rank 5 hardasses with stats that could only give them Rank 3 at best.

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This pic pretty much sums up the /tg L5R campaign I've been in. And it is glorious.

>>48510188
>>48510255
Dubs aside, how about a twenty to fifty samurai along with castle staff to hold down a couple villages by the coast and a forest?

>>48510669
DM for that campaign here. This is painfully accurate.

Fuck you, Boulder, and your incredible powers of Common Sense

>>48510793
That's fine for a provincial court. Most of the invited guests will be from the host clan and whatever clans have a nearby border, usually along with a couple Cranes and maybe a Miya or two. Most of the business being done at the court will be about local resources and trade (Via peasant merchant proxies).

My players are too smart; how can I enjoy their suffering if they find logical workarounds to all of the unfair challenges I put in their way?

>>48498606
I've already found them, but not the bunch of plot hooks that were actually relevant to my situation.

>>48512002
Easy, just emphasize one of the more fun/frustrating aspects of the setting: What's the most logical or practical workaround isn't always what's honorable.

Also: Bureaucracy.

>>48510255
>Those numbers are only for the Emperor's own Imperial Winter Court
Nah, bro. They're for winter courts. A kyuden is literally defined by it's ability to host a full court appearance from each clan. (oddball locations like Kyuden Kitsune not withstanding) The emperor hasn't even visited all of them. Kyuden Kuni will never be on the itinerary.

>>48512565
"Kyuden Kuni" is not a place that exists. Shiro Kuni doesn't even have many Kuni in it. It's only called that because the family is "supposed" to have a seat of power. It's just a waystation for Hida troops along the wall.

A Kyuden is defined by being called a Kyuden by the Emperor. That's it. Most of the time, the title is only given to places that can gracefully (Meaning with amenities and a good road leading up to it) handle the Imperial Winter Court, which is 20 delegates from each Great Clan and a couple dozen miscellaneous guests, but it's not actually necessary, and it doesn't have any bearing on them being able to go over that capacity.

>>48512645
That should be 30 delegates, not 20.

>>48512645
We have to? Ok then.

>"Kyuden Kuni" is not a place that exists.
http://l5r.wikia.com/wiki/Kyuden_Kuni
Oh look! Referenced, too. Way of the Shugenja does not have your back on this.

>A Kyuden is defined by being called a Kyuden by the Emperor.
Not sure where you're getting that. Book of Earth does not have your back on this.

These places are capable of hosting the emperor, but hosting the emperor is their requirement, not their sole use. Winter Court goes on regardless.

The suggestion was still 'go smaller'. Fewer clans, smaller delegations, lesser structures.

>>48513624
>The castle was abandoned as the area surrounded it began to be infected by the taint, and the Kuni family moved to Shiro Kuni.
He's /technically/ correct.

>>48513663
With a particular interpretation of 'technically', I might agree, but it would have to be very particular.

>>48513624

Kyuden status is given for one of three reasons:

>The castle has hosted an Imperial Winter Court at some point in its history
>The castle could host an Imperial Winter Court
>The Emperor decides to use the term for whatever reason

The most egregious example of the third type is Kyuden Suzume, which is, like, two regular-sized buildings and could only host the Winter Court if the Emperor showed up by his lonesome.

>>48514229
Why does AEG have such a hateboner for the Sparrow?

>>48512002
If they are to jaded against your tricks, use it to your advantage. Play with their expectations...and do nothing!
You would be surprised how mad older players get when their paranoia goes full throttle without a single thing happening.

>>48514471
My GM loves how genre savvy I can be because he loves hinting at things and putting in potential double meanings everywhere so i go mad trying to find out what it really means
I think i did him a favor with my divination-heavy monk now

>>48509355
What are the mandatory ones?

>>48514278
Minor clans and ronin get the shaft both in game mechanics and story writing. I want to say it gets better but it never does.

>>48515345
Except the Monkey.

>>48515529
Hare are decent too.

>>48515564
Hare don't get nearly the same favoritism as the Monkey in both mechanics and story.

>>48515601
No, but they aren't shafted like the Sparrow, either. I'd say they're the benchmark a Minor Clan should sit at: only a little less effective than a Great Clan, and half again as niche.

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Storytime for the Storytime God!
>Hombrew setting (continent-spamming Rokugan with ten Great Clans for the ten divine Kami) and rules (mostly combat rules and some extra Skillz).
>Party is a Soshi Magistrate (party leader), a Miya Akodo Bushi (me), an Utaku Mounted Infantryman, and a Fudoist Nun (she loves blowing up stuff with the Utaku usually being her partner-in-crime).
>We are investigating shipments of powerful weapons "gifted" to rebellious lords all across the Empire, most likely by the Spider Clan.
>Four such lords are already down and out, we are battling the fifth one with a mixed Dragon/Scorpion/Tiger (see pic) army led by my character.
>The battle takes place on quasi-sacred grounds, the spirits and the Fortunes are not pleased (our party is not exactly pious).
>Mass Battle begins, GM decides that the restless forces of the supernatural will unleash a Rank 1 Supernatural Encounter.
>It is 'The Heavens Roar' - a fuckhuge supernatural storm rolls in, so every rolls are at -1k0... pretty much for the rest of the battle.
>As the rain pours savagely from the coal-black clouds and massive thunderbolts shake the ground, the two armies engage in a pitched battle.
>Initial fighting favors our side, the enemy general is obviously not on par with the battlefield skills of my character.
>Our artillery and elite infantry break the back of the enemy forces, smoke and blood join the unrelenting rainstorm.
>The Utaku and the Nun team up and take Battle Events together, leaving the Soshi alone in the shit. I have to support both though, wasting precious actions to save the Soshi's ass or herd the two jerks around.
>Our advantage erodes, and from 'Winning Decisively', we drop down to 'Battle Even'. My character tightens the chords on his helmet, then gives the order to his command staff: "Mount up!"

con.

>>48514229
>Kyuden Suzume, which is, like, two regular-sized buildings
>In time, Kyuden Suzume grew and became the only estate in the Minor Clans which could claim was large enough to host an Emperor's Winter Court.

>>48514278
Their entire concept revolves around humble poverty and suffering. While certain schools get actual hateboning or "shit, let's not do what we did last edition" over-nerfing, the Sparrow apparently received 'you are not going to mechanically outshine anyone' as their theme.

>>48515880
>Lotus Clan
>Literally every clan is named after some kind of animal or insect.
>Lotus Clan

It's like you're retarded or something.

>>48516004
>Some kid of animal or insect

Insects are animals too, anon. What are you, some kind of racist?

Actually thinking about it, though, all of the official Imperial families have some kind of floral mon. If one of them ever split off into its own clan for whatever weird reason, I could see it taking a flower name. That's obviously not what's happened here, judging by the names on the map, but it's something that would make at least a little sense.

>>48515880
>I move to Heavily Engaged to fish for good Battle Events. It is working, I get a 'Volley of Death', so the enemy gets fugged by our archers. As my character rides into the maelstrom, he shouts "ARCHERS!" and as his command fan flashes, a deadly salvo of incendiary arrows rise from behind him. It is now raining bolts of chemical fire that burns into our enemies despite the weather, cleaning a path for my squadron's cavalry charge.
>My next Battle event is "Meet a Worthy Foe" - as my character rides through the enemy army, a blade flashes and his horse falls into the mud. When he gets up, he comes face-to-face with an enemy bushi wielding a naginata. Through the storm I unleash a terrifying battlecry and attack without hesitation. The battle is hard-fought, but School Techniques and Katas win the day for me.
>Okay, I really need a good Battle Even now. We are 'Losing Slightly' because all the penalties on my Battle rolls (storm + being Heavily Engaged). The other PCs finally join me, so we make a push together.
>I need to roll a 2,9, or 0 - only those Battle events are good for us, the rest are all shit. I get a 9: 'Heroic Assault'... Hell yeah!
>My character drives the top of his army right into the heart of the enemy forces. The curtain of rain and smoke opens up before us as we spearhead a brutal onslaught that stomps the enemy medium infantry into the blood-soaked mud.
>Victory is ours, we only need another good Battle Event. But fookin hell, the GM's dice are on fire, and the enemy general mitigates our advantage well enough to make us roll on the shittiest Battle Event table.
>It is foggin 'The Eye of the Storm' - literally nothing happens! Our heroic assault ends in the eye of the supernatural storm, a spot of unnerving calmness in the middle of a sea of rage and death.
>As my mud and blood soaked character climbs atop the plateau here to get a view on the battlefield, the GM realizes that he has to roll for Supernatural Encounter again!

con

>>48516042
>What are you, some kind of racist?
Yes.

>>48516053
>I'm, like, it can't be worse than a Rank 3 encounter (it goes Rank 1-5). But no, it is Rank 5. The GM spares us and picks an encounter rather than generate one randomly (choices would include shit like oni/PK, shadowspawn/PK, divine spirits/PK, or heavenly intervention/embarrassment).
>So we get 'Kharmic Confrontation'. As my character reaches the top of the plateau, a helping hand grabs him in the last meter and pulls him up. Our army general suddenly finds himself in the circle of four Spider Clan Bushi.
>The GM closes the rulebook with a smile on his face. It is a motherfugging cliffhanger!
>The Nun's player throws a fit and cries until she can roll for another Battle Event. She gets 'Tides of Battle', the mother of all random tables, and gets lost. So as my character grabs his katana, his comrade down below decides to GG out and runs back into the storm to rejoin the battle.

>>48516004
The Lotus Clan is the clan of the uncorrupted Fu Leng. His name literally means "frozen lotus" and it seemed fitting that he would go haywire with naming his clan and not roll with his siblings' animal/insect theme.

>>48515880
That map looks Nobunaga's Ambition as fuck.

>>48475239
So I'm working on a setting hack for a more Sinosphere Rokugan, giving it more of a Chinese feel. The major in-setting reason being that the Yobanjin progenitors, the original Rokugani neither bowed nor left when the Kami descended; the Kami were able to take up places of power and Hantei was able to ascend to the throne of Emperor by unifying the various Yobanjin kingdoms; but the cultural identity was never lost.

Katanas and daisho in general are a mark of the Rokugani who follow and adhere to the code laid down by the Kami, but they do not make up the bulk of Rokugan. Samurai operate within and outside the bureaucracy that controls the lives of peasants and nobles alike. They are tasked with policing the kingdoms that make up the Empire, and they engage in full-sale combat; and what sets them apart is they get to have surnames. If you're not a samurai you can still find yourself going places through social mobility, but you will lack a name beyond your own.

And while that's all in-line with a lot of Rokugan proper, I feel like playing it up will speak to the differences. Samurai are the only ones allowed to use a daisho, but armies of peasants do often have swords and their own techniques. Insight and techniques are not found only in dojos, but through understanding and appreciating the differences between combatants and through observation of the natural world. Schools are more important than Great Clans, because your school determines your indoctrination and beliefs, and often who you will be loyal to beyond your master. The self-taught man is dangerous because he may be equally skilled, but lacking in obvious loyalties.

I guess my goal is to design through subtraction to make L5R more accessible without all the backstory, and to generalize things will also playing closer to the Asian mythological roots. I don't want it to be a crazy wuxia world, but I do want weapons other than the sword to be used.

>>48516976
I think I really just want to spin things to have more cultural diversity within Asia, for the sake of spicing up a setting my players have really gotten used to. Have the Moto and the Ujik-hai be an enemy that nobody expected to be assimilated to the Empire, and have a lot of fear that the group that joined up are just forward scouts for a golden horde. Have the Mantis Isles be more Bali/Polynesian, with distinctly more swarthy complexioned Rokugani. Give the Phoenix more of a Tibetan vibe while playing off their somewhat secretive trade relations with the northern tribes making them seem like they might be buying their way into future leadership of the Empire.

Really sell in the idea that a party can look like they walked out of a pan-Asian/Oceanic mish-mash while still all fitting into the same setting.

Plus I kind of want to bring in the Nezumi as a predecessor culture and the Naga as Naga proper without any limbs; just these weird independent ancient cultures within the boundaries of an Empire with fluctuating borders.

Make it a little more spiritual and a little less hardline honor-bound doctrine in play.

Or maybe I'll just get back to adapting it to a Greek setting because fuck I'm just trying to find a way to spice R&K back up for me as a GM.

>>48517217
Something I've been thinking about myself is the way the Rokugani Pantheon is open to expansion. You could do a lot by having more outside gods joining the same way the Shi-Tien Yen-Wang did, and having a larger influx of different divinities begin to actually influence the whole tenor of the pantheon.

>>48517217
I like the idea of darker Mantis, but what kind of cultural artifacts would that bring?

>>48516976
>>48518160
Personally I'm fond of the idea of treating the Mantis not as just another clan, but an vassal-yet-independent nation in the vein of the old Ryukyu Kingdom. It wasn't until the Meiji Restoration that Japan formally annexed Okinawa, after all.

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>>48516899
Here, have another version, now with all the major locations.

>>48518160
Some interesting spiritual entities, especially if they are treated more like their own cultural group that gets a little Pan-Oceanic. Adherence to the Naga from the Sea as mythical entities they have in their cultural aesthetic, maybe Night Marchers who act like Namahage to non-Islanders. Tikbalangs and bizarre Phillipines sorcery. Maybe adherence to the kama like the Gurkha's have the overexaggerated adherence to the kukri.

Thus the Mantis Isles becomes a place with a very specific and specialized culture you don't find elsewhere in the Empire, which has their own spiritual belief center (maybe around Suitengu and Osano-Wo, as well as their ancestors---a strong hero worship culture of man overcoming enemies and acting in tandem with the will of heaven), and their own specific and strange spirit realm entities that they have to contend with.

They can work well in an alliance with the Tsurichi who are their own specific and specialized culture group, the Moshi who hold themselves to be the most religiously pure, and the Kitsune who interact with the spirit realm the most. Common ground with them helps bridge the distance between realms and they go to bat for one another to remain relevant and to gain power.

They'd deal less with shadowlands shenanigans and more with pennaggalan and maho-tsukai who make use of toyol.

>>48516042
The otomo mon is composed of snakes.

>>48520683
CHUDAAAAAAA

When has dangerous beauty or lecher ever come back to bite your flakes in the ass?

>>48515880
>>48518537
I never understood why the Imperial Histories gave the Hantei the Owl Clan. The animal totem for the Hantei is supposed to be a stag. Where did the owl come from?

>>48520874
It was the stag because stags are considered noble, regal, rare, etc. It's a kingly animal. When Hantei isn't the emperor, he needs to be something other than that.

>>48520683
Ah, you're right. I forgot about that. The Seppun and Hantei mons are both floral, though, and the Miya mon looks pretty floral too, although it's abstract enough it's probably not meant to. Actually, the Otomo mon kind of looks like a flower made of snakes, come to think of it. I wonder if that's on purpose.

Go Lion, beat Crane!

>>48523040
t. Scorpion

>be scorpion clan toddler
>mother reads you "Lies" for a bedtime story
How's it like in the other clans?

>>48525959
>Crab
>Mom tells you the story of when your uncle killed an oni with half a chopstick and then tells you a parable about why the Scorpion and Crane are worthless liars and pampered wimplings respectively.

>>48526029

>Crane
>Worthless

pls tell

>>48525959
>crab toddler
>mom makes sure you're playing around with your tiny boken, ptsd-suffering dad still finds it in himself to give you a hug before crawling back to his room and stare at the ceiling

>crane toddler
>mom and dad get you to speak from a very early age, are super sweet to you but you don't get why they become all stuffy and smiling without their eyes when visits are up

>dragon toddler
>rubik cubes

>lion toddler
>mom and dad play with you a lot when they're around, but when they're not that slightly older matsu girl comes to bully you and no one stops her

>phoenix
>you fly in dad's arms to go visit mom at her school

>unicorn
>mom whinnies and trots gently while you get used to the saddle

>>48525959
>Ox Clan Toddler
>Parents want you to know that you can do anything, because Man is more powerful than the Heavens.
>Snake Clan Toddler
>Mom wants you to know that someone who should've been the Emperor loves you very much.
>Oriole Clan Toddler
>You learned many words but not what they meant until way later, and you never ate much. Breast milk tastes like millet.
>Boar Clan Toddler
>Your mom was a rock.
>Mantis Toddler
"Son, let me tell you why we're the best clan. It's a funny story about holding the throne hostage."
>Wasp Clan Toddler
>Your tell you stories about killing criminals who sound like your Yoritomo uncles.

>>48526083
>being bullied by Matsu senpai
Truly, Lion clan has best childhoods.

>>be lion assassin
>>yell "SNEAK ATTACK" before striking to maintain honor

There's gotta be a better way

>>48526603
Be an Eversor. There are no witnesses if you leave no one alive.

>>48526636
But what happens if I find a golden weapon and taste the flesh of fallen angles

>>48526661
Cry until Deculture comes back from his hiatus.

>>48526661
Eating raw flesh is going to ding your honor for being blatantly unhygienic. Eating a denizen of Tengoku has to offend the Heavens immensely and give you a nasty, nasty curse or two, if not immediate destruction at the hands of Osano-Wo or one of the Fortunes.

>>48526603
simple: yell "SNEAK ATTACK" slightly /after/ stabbing your wakizashi into your opponent's kidney.

>>48526695
YFW he doesn't because the new quest board is cancer and quests have been exiles from their rightful home of /tg.

>>48527005
>implying quests weren't cancer
>implying they ever belonged on /tg/
>implying getting their own board wasn't the best thing to happen to quests and people like you are just being brats
>implying implications
>implicative implying

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>>48515880
>>48516976
Reimagining the setting of L5R isn't done nearly enough. Any of you have a blog or anything I could follow?

Pic related: Gozoku Era Rokugan as a comparatively small region surrounding the Capital, Shogun's appointed specifically for dealing with barbarians and Kirin remnants (usually an Akodo), no real Great Clans to speak of and most families (including the Phoenix and most of the Dragon) based in and around the Capital.

Era ends with the Unicorn returning to reclaim the motherland, the Akodo Shogun using the "barbarian" invasion as an excuse to put northern Rokugan under martial law.

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>>48527228
Yeah, but I've yet to officially start up with my like...blog document. My main reinterpretation is that anything setting document-wise for story stuff going on is a combo of Togashi Empire stuff and the Heresy of the Five Rings. Along-side the >>48516976, >>48517217 stuff. Spiritual stuff is going on, the Unicorn are absent, and the Crane/Scorpion have just fused into the Hawk and aren't really happy about it.?

Done some typing, but all I have up right now is a redo of a school that was in this thread. I should get some stuff up by next week, because I've been writing up play reports because I record my sessions.
http://kyusekai.blogspot.com/

I should really get to posting the Itachi Tracker I wrote up awhile back, but I've been working on refuluffing it to fit as the Hiruma during the Togashi Dynasty; doing their job of retrieving and breaking items. Been taking cues from Hachigoku, but I kind of want to make it less Japanese-words everywhere.

My goal is to make a more pan-Asian Miyazaki themed Rokugan with an emphasis on heroes wandering the Empire to find themselves and be heroic while a religious upheaval is occurring.

>>48527377
I know what you mean about the Japanese. I consciously tone it down as much as possible. It's useful for names, since most people find them a lot easier to pronounce than, say, Chinese ones, and calling your L5R character "Steve" is a little immersion breaking.

Shit sounds really interesting though. Can you elaborate on the religious upheaval stuff?

>>48527226
Look, if you don't like quest threads, just do what I and everyone else did: go to 8/tg/

Otherwise, just hide and ignore threads you don't like. It's that simple.


>>48527228
>Crane emperor
ABSOLUTELY DISGUSTING!

>>48527465
Only about as Crane as vanilla Hantei, with all their interbreeding. Just used that colour for the Gozoku.

>>48527462
Gorrino was a monk from a group called The Order of Five Rings. Gorinno claimed to have attained deep spiritual insight into the nature of the Five Rings and the alleged spiritual malaise of the Empire. He then proposed a cure for the imbalance he perceived: Five Rings, Five Clans. If each Great Clan was directly connected to one of the Elements, the Empire would be in balance and all would prosper. But because there was one clan too many, the Empire was unbalanced.

So he convinces the Wounded Emperor, a half-dragon divine son of Togashi who was struck with a cannon during the Battle of the White Stag, that this could aid in healing the Empire. So the Crane and the Scorpion are fused into the Hawk, which leads to a lot of bitter wars in the central region of the Empire by a faction that now has active reason to question the mandate of Heaven for listening to some peasant-born monk.

This disruption causes further trouble in the Empire. The Lion, who are already very anti-yokai begin using the growing tension between the Taoists and Fortunists over Gorinno to preach their "Pure Earth Doctrine" in which they claim the imbalance is due to creatures like the Nezumi and Naga trying to claim old landholds from centuries past. The Crab are willing to go along with this, but they support the Nezumi for helping them with Shadowlands wars and actively denounce anyone who supports the Naga.

The Owl Clan,aren't doing too hot either. Hantei Horito, a yume-ji and daimyo, has struggled to find an answer for the imbalance and growing strife; and the whispers of the kansen have begun to infect his dreams. His brother, Hantei Jama (Iuichiban in any other timeline; Clan Champ here), is doing his best to cover for his brother's increasingly long meditations and doomsaying prophecies. Jama fears what a witch-hunter might bring here and believes he can contain his brother's ailment.

>>48527778
So really, bad shit was happening anyway, a monk used this to promote himself higher, and as a result more terrible things have been happening. In a less magical Rokugan it'd just be civil strife and unrest; but the world is on the borderlands of religious pogroms and assassinations against a depressed emperor who has lost his wife to gaijin weapons. The Heavens are not happy at all with what is happening, but that just furthers the problems at hand.

Everything is going to shit. The Lion are the good bad-guy faction; they believe that the focus on the spiritual has led man down a path of weakness and left us open to violence from enemies beyond the mortal realm---and that's sort of true. Their response is less than ideal, but they're doing the best that they can.

The Hawk are blackmailers and apologists, they despise where they've been placed and how their cultural heritage of Bayushi and Doji have been white-washed away by some monk puppeteer the Dragon. The Nothing is able to take up root easily, especially after they watch the Five Rings Order burn down a few of their archives. The Lying Darkness and gaijin weaponry are brooding away with the upper echelons of the Hawk. They want to be apart, to annul the many forced marriages that saw this bitter union; and they are willing to work together to make it happen.

The Gusai of the Mantis are treasure-hunters and islanders. The Tsurichi are doing their thing as usual. The Moshi are pretty fab as can be because Lady Sun really likes her kids in a more magical Empire.

The Kolat that are present are really...really unhappy about everything.

>>48527879
And really all the macro stuff is just present to set the back-drop for samurai who are more allowed to wander and make their own legends. The Empire is in conflict and if not for the Dragon's Veil, now would be the perfect time for a gaijin invasion. The heroes are heroic because they get to stand apart from how their Clans have fallen into bitterness, while still being able to actively attempt to uplift them via their actions.

Non-humans are more viable characters, even if they'd still get awkward looks. Everyone here knows a Nezumi isn't an oni; but they probably don't see them every day---or really like them at all because they smell and talk stupid.

More of an importance on the school than on the clan, and things like that. Its all very loose, but the goal is to have something a bit more pulpy for players to bite into.

>>48527879
>The Kolat that are present are really...really unhappy about everything.
So, Kolat.

>>48528651
Threadly reminder that Kolat did Nothing Wrong, and literally everything bad in the setting was caused by the kami fucking up, and fixed by mortals

>>48528902
Threadly reminder the Kolat are just shitty Saturday morning cartoon tier villains, worse than all of L5R's other shitty villains.

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>>48528939
>"kolat are worst vilains"
>spider exist
>bloodspeakers exist
>kolat are the only vilains with objectively good motives
>"kolat are worst vilains"
How is it physically possible for someone to be this wrong?

>>48529011
>thinks Kolat aren't the worst villains
Its like you don't even read the fictions. At least all those other faggots manage to do something sometimes.

>>48529011
>kolat are the only vilains with objectively good motives
"Objectively good motives", with the caveat that most of them have strayed into greed and money grubbing. Plus, if they ever succeed, it may straight up erase everything from existence. Whoops.

>>48529094
Kolat does tons of shit, and unlike all the other boringly evil vilains, Kolat do good shit too.

If it weren't for Kolat, Rokugan would have been absolutely fucked in the war against the Lying Darkness.

>>48529134
>if they ever succeed, it may straight up erase everything from existence
They already did that though. Humans ascended to Tengoku as the sun and moon, and the world didn't end. In fact, everything was fucking fine, until the kami got upset from having a taste of their own medicine (beings from another plane became de facto rulers of their plane).

>>48529139
The Lying Darkness is the actual worst villain in the game, and its introduction always turns L5R into Call of Cthulhu with even less chances of survival.

>>48529448
>and its introduction always turns L5R into Call of Cthulhu with even less chances of survival.

I mean I used it in a game and only one PC died truly horribly. Another died normally to arrows.

>>48508286
Scorpion

Loyalty is the most important thing to a scorpion, if you are loyal to your scorpion spouse, your scorpion spouse will be loyal to you

>>48529710
... huh
You actually have a good point there

>>48529710
>if you are loyal to your scorpion spouse, your scorpion spouse will be loyal to you
Not necessarily, if the Scorpion spouse is already loyal to someone else. They just have a role to play.

Granted, this is hardly exclusive to the Scorpion.

>>48529776
Marriage is as sacred to the Scorps as secrets, they don't fuck around.

>>48529776
Scorpion loyalty does not flow in only one direction

There is loyalty to the emperor, loyalty to the clan, loyalty to the greater family, loyalty to the direct family.

Your scorpion spouse will be loyal to someone else, but they will also be loyal to you

>>48529239
>They already did that though
They hit a milestone, and have slid backwards since. Nowhere near completing their goals.

>>48529807
Unless ordered to.

>>48529962
It's still solid proof that you can have a Ningen-do that isn't totally subservient to Tengoku without the universe ending

>>48529987
You've got a mistaken view of how the Scorpion operate.

>>48530036
>>48530115
Nice try, but no.

What's in your PC's traveling pack, /l5rg/?

>>48530977
Camping gear and cooking supplies.

>>48529011
The Kolat are cool if you only use Merchant's Guide and the Clan War flavor text as sources, they got increasingly impotent and pointless as time went on. Merchant's Guide has the Kolat running circles around the Scorpion because the latter are too proud to even realize that they could be fooled while the Ten Masters were written to be trained from birth to be fanatically dedicated toward their ideology. (To be fair, Wick showed his love for his pet clan, the Scorpion, like he did his players: by making their existence as unpleasant as possible since he considers that to be the hallmark of good writing.) By Emperor you have the Hidden Temple getting ransacked by the Scorpion and half of the masters getting stabbed by some nobodies as a storyline prize.

It all went wrong during the Hidden Emperor arc, when the Kolat moved from trying to undermine the Empire and completely erase the old ways of thinking to being misunderstood good guys saving the Empire because Doji Shizue managed to talk them all into it.

>>48531393
If they were completely immune to blunders and competent enemies, they'd be boring as shit. Villains who are literally unable to be caught by the dedicated "catch sneaky shit" faction isn't fun or interesting. Making them fallible and making the people opposed to them competent allows for some actual conflict rather than just 3sneaky5you followed by not actually doing anything.

>>48520874
IIRC, Hantei visited his would-be-wife in the shape of an owl while she was imprisoned on a random island. That's pretty much the start of his family and thus clan.

There is also some tongue-in-cheek symbolism here, because the owl is supposedly a wise bird even though in reality, it is retarded as all fuck. Kinda fitting for Hantei and his shallow holier-than-thou attitude.

>>48530977

Shamisen, camping gear, extra clothes

>>48528939
>>48529011
>Kolat are villians

Am I the only one who uses them as complicated semi-good guys?

>>48530977
Five monkeys

>>48534116
I've used them for that in a Unicorn Campaign against the Lying Darkness. The Kolat were very much the "good" guys, taking up a very The Name of the Rose mentality. They were obsessed with control and knowledge, while the Darkness and its servants were erasing names and identities. The Kolat backed the PCs in a few things, but they were never open about their allegiances. The party almost called them out on it when they "Lake Laogai'd" some Lion Samurai who were still occupying Unicorn lands.

I like the Kolat as a spy network that has humanity's best interest at heart; the idea that humanity can flourish when they're untethered from heaven or hell. They're not the Spider, who are literal corruption with very noticeable downside stuff going on. They're not Maho-Tsukai who are taking away the will of others. And they're not the Darkness, which takes away what makes you -you-. They're people who are human, and that, played straight, is a pretty nasty thing.

But they're not a bad guy to throw around a lot, and they work best when they aren't central focus. They're bad guys you can agree with a lot more easily than others because they can have a more nuanced view than Evil for Evil's Sake.

>>48530977
Ancestor statue, hand mirror, week's rations, personal chop, rope, grapple hook, blanket, small tent, spare kimono.

You'll want your own sake cup in Scorpion lands, chopsticks errywhere, and a cooking pot plus spices if you're bushing it.

>>48534116
Nope.

Over here, they are shady "good guys" who fight the supernatural forces that pester the mortals. They operate in a quasi-open way and only hide their fishiest stuff behind a conspiracy.

>Unironically calling people who kidnap, torture, and brainwash others for their own personal gain "good guys"
shamefur dispray.

>>48536266
>I don't know what the quote marks mean - the post

Obviously, kidnapping, torture, and brainwashing are not things the Kolat practice openly, and thus are not a factor in their reputation. Only their rather blasphemous beliefs could cause bad PR, but it is a very YMMV topic.

>>48537143
Who said anything about reputation?
I'm talking about the fact that the entire Dream Sect and Lotus Sect are focused on destroying other people's lives, and a great deal of what the Cloud, Coin, and Silk Sects do.
The only Sect that is almost entirely good is the Jade Sect. The rest of them are just day-to-day internal organizations.

>>48537383
>Who said anything about reputation?

Being the "good guys" is largely a question of reputation. You can justify everything and its opposite as far as morality goes.