| Latest topics | » lets get a game cookin right here in the forum! 23rd March 2014, 11:53 pm by Daikichi» Video Xxx Follando A Una Huancaina19th December 2013, 6:22 am by » Video Xxx Follando A Una Huancaina19th December 2013, 6:22 am by » One Piece Kaizoku Musou Pc19th December 2013, 5:57 am by » Meanwhile, back in Rokugan...20th February 2013, 9:02 pm by Daikichi» Map of Rokugan17th December 2012, 5:22 am by Kitsuki Kyo» Toritaka Temba16th December 2012, 6:10 am by Kitsuki Kyo» Character Application (WIP)3rd September 2012, 2:16 am by Kitsune Shuzo» Character Template2nd September 2012, 4:03 pm by unrealistic.entity |
| | | Meanwhile, back in Rokugan... |  |
| | | Author | Message |
|---|
Daikichi
Posts : 10
Join date : 2012-09-01
 | | Subject: Meanwhile, back in Rokugan... 18th September 2012, 9:11 pm | |
| So I've been working on my own L5R game for a few weeks now, and my small ideas mixed with a few of your suggestions and some lumped together inspiration has created something which I think could be a diverse and intriguing campaign. I haven't finished enough of it to cover my bases and start play, but I'm excited enough that I wanted to start a dialogue with those who want to play and make sure you're all informed about what your characters will be getting into with this campaign. To start, here's an explanation of how I perceive court, as well as a fairly lengthy accompaniment about how your character can excel in this adventure. I'm going to shrink it into a openable box so this post doesn't seem too intimidating. - Spoiler:
The hook is thus: You, for whatever reason have been selected to attend Winter Court for your clan. Winter Court is an annual event held in the coldest months of the year, and is considered the main event for all courtiers. At Court Rokugani from every clan, Great and Minor wax social as they attempt to shift the Empire's laws and edicts in their favor, and broker alliances or trade between clans. As stated, Court is a mainly social game, but by no means does that mean you as a player have to play a mainly social character. My suggestion as the game master is that you all try to plan your character around being diverse. There will be challenges in this game (even in the first sessions) where social prowess will not help you succeed. With those ideas aside, creating a character whose life-focus is in the ways of the courtier leaving out the more physical and mental portions of samurai-dom, could prove to be interesting if you as a player are willing to deal with them failing and learning from failure.
Just keep in mind that while your character may be going to court, the road leading there and away may be long and treacherous.
Now, I can hear some questions forming in your mind, mainly this one: "Dear Casey, won't a bushi feel naked and useless if he's not bathing in gallons of his enemies' blood? What kind of things could my Lion berzerker possibly have to do at court?"
Those are great questions, and I'd like to thank you for asking them. The short answers to them are "possibly yes" and "maybe nothing" but I'd like to take a moment to address places where a bushi, whose main job is rending the flesh of his enemies and hearing the lamentation of the women, could be useful or even find he excels in a courtly situation.
There are a few layers to court; the inner sanctum are those who are organizing the court, they usually hold power over the event's location and timeframe on top of being lofty and influential simply because of their position at the center. The next layer out is the "target" layer, usually consisting of influential guests at the court, these are people who can hear pleas and have the power to turn them into realities. Third is the courtier layer, dedicated courtiers, fast-talkers, gift-givers, and plea-makers; these are the people who are here to manipulate those in the layers above and convince them to turn something in their clans favor. The final layer is perhaps the largest, the sycophant layer. They are the people who orbit all of the inner layers, who are there solely to mingle and disrupt the progress of rival clan deals. Most times the sycophants will show up at court not even realizing that their clans sent them there to hinder progress. They treat court like a huge, expensive party, schmoozing from person to person. This final layer is considered a very necessary part of court, as court is not just a place where samurai can move politically but also one where they can connect on a social level by bridging gaps between clans who seem philosophically so far apart, even if it only lasts one season.
This final layer is where a bushi may find he fits in to the delicate dichotomy of court. It's a place where a Lion general and a Mantis admiral who might otherwise be bitter enemies would meet to play shogi and talk about military theory. It's a place where a Crab can get drunk over dinner and tell the people around him the terrifying story of how he beheaded an ogre. It's a place where a Crane duelist may find that he's fallen hopelessly in love with a demure Scorpion courtier.
Now that you understand that your bushi character concept is back on the table, I feel the need to reiterate: A character whose only skill is swinging a sword will not end up satisfying his player in this campaign. Spreading out your skill points a little and making sure your character is diverse is going to give him or her more depth anyway so don't be afraid to parse new ground.
Oh... oh no... I'm picking up more questions...
"Dear Casey, I want to play a devious, dick-ass courtier. Does what you just said imply that I too should have a diverse character?"
Another great question. The short answer is "yes." You should always strive to have a deep character, and one way to devise depth in a game like this is by taking a well rounded skill-set.
Conversely, in a game like L5R you can't always expect another player to step in and make a roll for you on the simple merit that they have the skill that you need to roll. While in D&D it's fine to let all of the social stuff fall on the bard and paladin, in this game of katana-swords and wacky-zashis it's simply better to put your money where your mouth is and fight your own battles.
So as I pointed out above, unless you expressly tell me that one of the flaws of your character is that he or she is simply inept at something, such as defending himself, I'm going to insist that you pick up a skill that allows you to do so.
So in the end, I guess what I'm trying to tell all of you is just to be the best at everything. Specifically A) Be the best at fighting. B) Be the best at talking to people. And slightly to the wayside C) Be the best at logical deduction and finding clues. Jokes aside, let me encourage you by saying that you shouldn't overthink anything that you've just read, and try to go with your gut and play a character that you think will be fun.
Questions and character concepts are well received. Lay them on me. My next big post will be in regards to me working together with you to give your character a goal to work with over the course of the campaign. | |
|  | | Kitsuki Kyo
Posts : 10
Join date : 2012-09-01
| | Subject: Re: Meanwhile, back in Rokugan... 16th December 2012, 5:06 am | |
| Well Daikichi-sama, I am most displeased the others have not yet taken advantage into this little insight offered by the DM about the game. Personally I rather enjoy your take on the system and I think I'll be posting up a rough outline for a future character I will probably play. You can give me a little review if you feel like.
Dylan has already expressed interest in playing and I think others will probably join on. You've got a cool idea from what I've heard so far and I'm actually pretty hopeful this gets off the ground. | |
| | | | Daikichi
Posts : 10
Join date : 2012-09-01
| | Subject: Re: Meanwhile, back in Rokugan... 16th December 2012, 7:50 pm | |
| Why thank you Bones. You’re interest in the campaign has somewhat revitalized my own. To commemorate that, I’ll be making that fabled “second post” that I talked about at the end of the opening one there. Again, shrunk down so that it’s not as intimidating... - Spoiler:
As stated in the last blurb, your station in this campaign is going to be to attend Winter Court. But where exactly is that? Well you've been invited to a rather prestigious court in the Lion Clan lands, which sits on the North Eastern side of Shemate Pass, one of the only highways that pass through the mountains that separate the Lion and Scorpion.
For whatever reason (no matter which Clan you end up hailing from) you find yourself dangerously close to the turn of winter and staying the night in the tiny city of Beiden, a backwater that flanks Shemate Pass on the Scorpion side. You’re running late, and you need to find a way across the mountains before travel becomes impossible, luckily if you’re traveling briskly, Shemate only takes the better part of a day to traverse. Sounds like a smooth ride, right?
So now you guys know the full hook, but it raises a few questions... for instance: “Dear Casey, how does it make sense for my Lion commander character to be on the wrong side of the mountains? Shouldn't he be at home for the start of winter? Especially if he wants to make it back in time for court...”
Thanks for asking that question whoever you are, because it’s the perfect segue for me to talk a little about a couple of unique concepts that I’m going to implement into this game. Before I talk about them though, there are a couple things I want to address about WHY I’m implementing these things.
It’d be easy enough for me to just say “come up with a reason to be in Beiden” and leave you each to your devices, but personally I like to incentivize these things, and I also have a small problem with l5r’s concept of progression. In my opinion it takes far too long for a character to reach the second rank, and when that happens I risk losing your interest as players. You may end up getting bored with your characters by the fourth of fifth session, and that’s something that I just don’t want. But instead of having you mainline experience, I’m going to give you a couple of different ways to flex your creative muscles and allow me to reward you for your effort. So if you’re interested in starting with a little extra Insight, the next couple concepts might interest you.
Purpose (+6 Insight): This is what I expect most people will take. A purpose is a small concept with a big reward, and the idea behind it is solely to “set up the pins” so to speak. It’s meant to help you find a good reason to be in Beiden running late on your way to court. It doesn't have to be particularly deep, especially since all it is is a simple set up and depending on what you choose for it to be, it may never be addressed in the game again. Your character could have been going on a pilgrimage to remote temples, visiting distant relatives (perhaps after being married away from your home clan), going on a pleasure tour (rather common in some parts of Scorpion territory), delivering an important message across the empire, or scraping up the last remains of his enemies before the change of season. It can be anything you can imagine as long as it puts him or her on that southwestern side of the mountains.
Now this raises kind of an interesting opposite conundrum from the first question: “Can my character benefit from a Purpose if he’s a Scorpion or a Crab, or someone else who already hails from the southwest?” And the answer is yes. Remember that it’s not necessarily about location, it’s also about time crunch. You’re running late, which means that even if you’re a Scorpion in your home territory, you’re still not in the right place, and need to get a move on. Picking a purpose is simply going to define what made you late in the first place.
If you’re having trouble coming up with a Purpose, a good way to get the juices flowing is to look across your Advantages and Disadvantages. They could be the key to figuring out what’s keeping you in one place for so long. If you’re still having trouble ask me, or the other players, even if all of our suggestions are terrible you might be able to scrape out something usable. Remember: your Purpose can be as detailed or as sparse as you want, but it has to satisfy me before I’ll hand over the Insight bonus.
Personal Goal (+4 Insight): Now, even in the face of something like a Purpose, a Personal Goal is quite a bit more of an abstract concept, and I don’t expect everyone to be interested in thinking one up. The idea of this is that your character has something that he or she wants, or has to do that is attainable within the confines of the campaign. For instance “find a suitable spouse” would totally be a workable Personal Goal for a samurai going to court, but “learn all of the secrets of maho” obviously doesn't ring the same kinds of bells. Other things like “help my superior courtier try to lower my clan’s taxes” or even “successfully assassinate my assigned target” are great Personal Goals, while something vague like “impress everyone at court” just kind of falls flat. You could instead try “raise my fame” which is totally attainable and much easier to measure.
The trick with a personal goal is that you don’t get the Insight bonus right off the bat. You only get it when you make significant gains toward its completion. Notice that I didn't say that you have to complete it, I only say that you have to try. A goal should give you something to work toward and make the game’s role playing environment a little more rich and interesting, so if you can do that then I’ll reward you with the Insight. The reason why it doesn't give quite as much of an Insight bonus as a Purpose is because it could actually offer you other unseen benefits. Hunting for a spouse may eventually garner you a related advantage for instance, or helping out your Clan could raise your Honor or Status.
The last thing I want to mention about it is that while your character’s goal may be personal, it may not be something that he actually desires. It’s common for red-tape to get in the way of a passionate samurai’s desires in Rokugan, and unfortunately court is the place where the most red tape resides. These facts could open up brand new doors when picking goals, for instance, maybe your character wants to fail at his goal, but still wants to convince those who assigned it to him that he tried. Keep these ideas in mind, and try to find deep, but simple concepts that could twist the campaign in interesting directions. Oh! And let me help you too; one of my jobs is to facilitate what you want to bring to the campaign, so get vocal with me when designing your goal, so that we can make sure that all the parts are in place.
Now, neither of these concepts are a requirement. You can chose to do one or neither or both. My encouragement is to say that you should only go as far with this as makes you comfortable. If you they make you excited, then I invite you to take advantage of them, but if they seem overly complicated then just go ahead and make a standard character, nobody’s going to think less of you for it.
If you guys have any questions about this stuff, smack them my way and I’ll address them promptly. My next big post will be about reusing characters and the timeframe for when we’ll actually start playing this game. | |
| | | | Kitsuki Kyo
Posts : 10
Join date : 2012-09-01
| | Subject: Re: Meanwhile, back in Rokugan... 16th December 2012, 8:20 pm | |
| Personal Goal is actually a very interesting system and would probably encourage people to focus more on what their characters want to do rather then just come up with tangential things. I actually really like that as a house rule. Hrm. Overall I like how you're trying to make sure people are prepared storywise/character wise and that you're embracing the RP side a bit more for any characters. Also I am going to single handedly make this site popular if I have to.  | |
| | | | Yoritomo Yoichi
Posts : 2
Join date : 2012-09-03
| | Subject: Re: Meanwhile, back in Rokugan... 17th December 2012, 5:57 am | |
| so we can play whatever we like.
courtiers on deck bushi on ice.
i just wanna be yoichi forever. he will make winter court the funnest place.
But really, you mentioned the cold being an issue before. About how much are you expecting the game to be a treacherous weather and how much will be treacherous court? | |
| | | | Daikichi
Posts : 10
Join date : 2012-09-01
| | Subject: Re: Meanwhile, back in Rokugan... 17th December 2012, 8:07 am | |
| I kind of jumped the gun when I revealed the weather stuff to you guys. I intended for it to be a bit more of a surprise, but it’s not so bad that you know about it. My intention is for the hard survival stuff to only happen for maybe the first four or so sessions. The whole point of getting stranded in the snow is that your characters probably aren’t adequately prepared for it. You’re not ready to camp and survive in the wilderness, you’re ready to spend three months schmoozing in a building with other courtiers.
That being said, I don’t want to stop you from making a character who knows how to survive if that’s what you want to do. But I intend for sessions five through nine to be mostly about social workings, so a bear grylls kit may end up not getting used much through there. While survival skills are going to mesh well with the beginning portion of the game, you’ll probably have a much easier time making survival checks then you will making courtier checks sans having put points in either.
On the subject of playing Yoichi: I actually think that it would be really cool to just port Yoichi over into a new adventure, assuming that he survives. My campaign takes place in the following winter after Dave’s, so it’d make sense that Yoichi would be coming back over the mountains and heading off to his next assignment. I think one thing that’ll end up coming up is fairness within the campaign though, as Yoichi will probably be close to, or at “Rank 6” by the end of Dave’s campaign. One way that we could deal with that is to challenge Yoichi with tasks that are over the rest of the party’s head.
My prospective idea is to make players who wish to reuse characters from other campaigns take one or two rather lofty Personal Goals, the consequences of success or failure for which would be much more scary than those set for a Rank 1 character, and also no Insight bonus would be available to you for completing them.
Another idea would be to cut a higher ranked character’s experience by a certain amount. So for instance: If you’re reusing a character, for every rank above the next highest party member you are you are you get -1 exp per session, to a minimum of 2. Assuming that’s the formula we use, until someone managed to rank up to school rank 3, you would likely get 2 exp a session while everyone else gets 6.
The first idea would mainly be there to engage Yoichi with a challenge that may consume him beyond what the rest of the party is doing, and the second would be to make sure that his progression is stunted slightly so that other characters have a chance to catch up to him. But again all of it is prospective, and I need to make sure that other players are cool with reuse and let them state their cases for or against it before final decisions are made. | |
| | | | Kitsuki Kyo
Posts : 10
Join date : 2012-09-01
| | Subject: Re: Meanwhile, back in Rokugan... 17th December 2012, 8:26 am | |
| Personally? While I love those characters I kind of want their fate to be solely left to Dave and that campaign. And Dave has expressed ideas about maybe, after we take a few weeks break, coming back with new interesting challenges for our Ivory Kingdom gang. It might be nice to have them make small cameos as NPCs or mentioned in passing conversation but I feel it makes the group tighter when we all start off at one place and advance together, Rank 1.
That's my personal preference tho.
I do like to keep the universe fluid and together though. I want Dave and Jon's games to be taking place in similar time frames or having some shared themes. Gives it a feeling of overarching unity in our group of friends. | |
| | | | unrealistic.entity
Posts : 3
Join date : 2012-09-01
| | Subject: Re: Meanwhile, back in Rokugan... 17th December 2012, 8:31 am | |
| I'mma have to agree with Corey. I absolutely adore the idea of having our characters be able to adventure, but based on Dave's campaign Tyuki is, hopefully, going to become the Master of the Void for our Rokugani world.  So it'd be weird to have her running around with newbies, imho. If that even happens, I guess.. Haha. Gots lot of work to do with her!  But, yeah it was a good idea. | |
| | | | Daikichi
Posts : 10
Join date : 2012-09-01
| | Subject: Re: Meanwhile, back in Rokugan... 17th December 2012, 8:47 am | |
| - Kitsuki Kyo wrote:
- ...Dave has expressed ideas about maybe, after we take a few weeks break, coming back with new interesting challenges for our Ivory Kingdom gang.
O RLY? That puts a bit of a damper on some of my ideas. If we end up continuing to run with Dave's group I doubt there'll be a whole lot of room for one of my own. I was kind of thinking of suggesting a segue into this campaign so that we had something to look forward to and pick up after his is done, but I don't want to flex him out of his timeslot if he wants to keep the jeep riding. Guess we'll just have to figure out what he wants to do. I hear your guy's opinions, and they are things I've also thought about. Bones is right, a party usually ends up closer together when they mesh and grow as a party. And to Chelle, there's nothing stopping you from making a new character. My rebuttal is this: What if Dylan ends up wanting to just make Yoichi, or a character very similar in style? Wouldn't it then just be prudent to allow him to play the character he obviously wants to play instead of asking him to make a carbon copy? | |
| | | | Kitsuki Kyo
Posts : 10
Join date : 2012-09-01
| | Subject: Re: Meanwhile, back in Rokugan... 17th December 2012, 8:51 am | |
| There's nothing srs on the table yet and we still have like 6-8 weeks to finish the campaign we're already in. I think Dave will also be as glad as we are to take a break.
And I'm sure Dylan has cool ideas he could try out but I get what you mean, what if he's too attached to Yoichi and doesn't want to make someone new. Hrm. It'll be up to him of course. | |
| | | | Yoritomo Yoichi
Posts : 2
Join date : 2012-09-03
| | Subject: Re: Meanwhile, back in Rokugan... 17th December 2012, 8:54 am | |
| i'm fine either way. if i'd be the only one carrying over i probably wont tho. | |
| | | | Daikichi
Posts : 10
Join date : 2012-09-01
| | Subject: Re: Meanwhile, back in Rokugan... 17th December 2012, 8:58 am | |
| I just thought of this: What if my campaign happened in shorter bursts?
Since my first adventure is probably going to take five weeks maximum, and it's already done, we could play it while Dave figures out his next move. Then he can take the timeslot back and do what he wants, while I prepare another four or five session adventure to serve as the next leg of my camp. It'd be like leapfrog, but my leaps will be shorter then his.
Am I a genius?
I think I'm a genius. | |
| | | | Kitsuki Kyo
Posts : 10
Join date : 2012-09-01
| | Subject: Re: Meanwhile, back in Rokugan... 17th December 2012, 9:19 am | |
| I honestly thought that's what the game would be, heh. But it sounds like it'll be a cool way to do things if Dave is down with that. | |
| | | | Kitsune Shuzo
Posts : 2
Join date : 2012-09-01
| | Subject: Re: Meanwhile, back in Rokugan... 17th December 2012, 10:19 am | |
| Sounds like a good plan to me. | |
| | | | Kitsuki Kyo
Posts : 10
Join date : 2012-09-01
| | Subject: Re: Meanwhile, back in Rokugan... 18th December 2012, 11:24 am | |
| Casey! If you're looking for one thing to do that might be some fun and give people some free things, you could always use the Heritage Tables in the back of Great Clans.
Players roll on tables built for their characters clan and can have good, bad or mix things happen for their characters. From random rolls you can get Advantages, Disadvantages, Skills and some cheaper stuff too.
EDIT
I also found an appropriate advantage for starting out with a Falcon for my Toritaka. You can read up about it on his App. | |
| | | | Daikichi
Posts : 10
Join date : 2012-09-01
| | Subject: Re: Meanwhile, back in Rokugan... 3rd January 2013, 7:03 pm | |
| Hmmh, I don't have that book so I can't say for sure, but the heritage tables sound more like something you'd use to expedite or randomize character creation. If i get a hold of that book, I'll definitely look into utilizing it though.
Edit: I just found a PDF of Great Clans and looked that the tables. They're actually kind of interesting. I'm going to go over them more thoroughly to make sure there's no hiccups, but if anyone wants to try this out I'd be willing to utilize it. | |
| | | | Kitsuki Kyo
Posts : 10
Join date : 2012-09-01
| | Subject: Re: Meanwhile, back in Rokugan... 5th January 2013, 3:05 pm | |
| Yeah, I felt like the Ancestors are pretty cool and give people a firmer sense of depth to the universe. I can try them out with you on one of the Roll20 Apps if you like, roll some dice to pick one of the outcomes?
Oh. And finally I have a site with a lot of Real World Japanese Ghosts; Obakemono. Just some random ghosts and demons and stuff if you're interested in them. | |
| | | | Daikichi
Posts : 10
Join date : 2012-09-01
| | Subject: Re: Meanwhile, back in Rokugan... 6th January 2013, 6:01 pm | |
| i can't see the link, it says admins only
is it that yokai database from before? | |
| | | | Kitsuki Kyo
Posts : 10
Join date : 2012-09-01
| | Subject: Re: Meanwhile, back in Rokugan... 6th January 2013, 6:02 pm | |
| I wonder what that is about. :I And yeah, the Yokai thing from before. Just making sure. | |
| | | | Daikichi
Posts : 10
Join date : 2012-09-01
| | Subject: Re: Meanwhile, back in Rokugan... 11th January 2013, 4:03 am | |
| Yeah! Actually, looking at the posts in that index gave me a lot of ideas for this campaign. The first adventure is going to have a lot of super natural happenings having to do with a couple different kinds of yokai, while the later adventures are going to level out into the mundane with super natural elements kind of peppered in. But my BBEG for the whole arc of the campaign is totes supernatural and I think he'll be pretty surprising too. | |
| | | | Daikichi
Posts : 10
Join date : 2012-09-01
| | Subject: Re: Meanwhile, back in Rokugan... 20th February 2013, 9:02 pm | |
| Alright, well I mentioned that I would make a post about time frames, so here it is. It's looking like Dave's campaign is coming into it's final huff; next week we either die or live balanced on the edge of Fu Leng's blade. Whatever ends up happening, it's been a great game, and i hope it leads into another great game after Dave's had a little time to recuperate. But the week after that we depart from the overgrown hamlet of Beiden, and into the treacherous Shemate Pass in the hopes of eventually reaching the Castle in the Canyon, Shemate Keep. I'm not entirely sure who all is wanting to play (everyone from the prior game is welcome to join up), but a few character sheets have been made up and submitted to me which I'll list as links below. As more people finish character sheets, i'll update the post to include them. What Else Falls in Winter: The Principal Cast - Shosuro Seiko: A treacherous actor. Does he hold secrets that not even he understands? Portrayed by Corey
- Kasuga Ichihara: A stern agent. Will he loosen the chains of his superiors? Portrayed by Jon
- Mirumoto Wenbo: A bright-eyed sword master. Who's blood could he spill? Portrayed by Dylan
- Yoritomo Kotaro: A dashing sailor. Is his own ship all he's after? Portrayed by David
- Ikoma Okami: A commander of subterfuge. Do his goals lie crozzled? Portrayed by Dave.
- Shosuro Airi: A treasonable woman. Will she be forced to commit seppuku before, or after she falls in love? Portrayed by AJ.
- Togashi Yuna: A diligent monk. Does she truly wont for so little? Portrayed by 'Chelle.
After next week it'd be great if you guys could let me know what evening's work for you for our first session. I'll make sure to pester you each about it though. | |
| | | | Sponsored content
| | Subject: Re: Meanwhile, back in Rokugan... | |
| |
| | | | | | Meanwhile, back in Rokugan... | |
|
Similar topics | |
|
| | Permissions in this forum: | You cannot reply to topics in this forum
| |
| |
| |
