Recently, my weekly table-top group decided to start a new Legends of the Five Rings campaign (L5R). Being a total newbie to L5R, I thought the best way to build my knowledge base and brush up on my rules-fu would be to dive in headfirst and GM my own campaign. And, thanks to the convenience of the Internet, and the rising popularity of pbp's, I now have that opportunity.
Here's the quick and dirty:
- Rule system will be Legends of the Five Rings, 4th Edition only. It's only been out for a few months, but my limited time with it has revealed it to be fast, brutal, and surprisingly balanced. It's also a whole lot of fun and a fair departure from d20 systems.
- Everything in the core rulebook is fair game as far as character creation is concerned. This includes the Spider Clan, blood magic (maho), Shadowlands Taint, Imperial families, minor clans, etc. In fact, I encourage characters that use obscure mechanics, because that will force me to learn those systems more intimately.
- This will be one of the only times where I will care more about the mechanics of a character, rather than a strong concept or detailed background/personal history. I want to build a party with varied and complimentary abilities, so I'm looking for characters that can fill different niches more than I'm looking for concepts and fluff. HOWEVER, if you can whip up a good story for your character, then that will probably get him/her a second look from me.
- Seeing as how I'll be sort of winging this and making it up as I go along, I don't have a particular era of history that the campaign will take place within, so don't build your concept to be to dependent on a certain time period. The world we will be using will be Rokugan, but more of a loose interpretation of it than what is strictly in the book. I like adding my own personal touch to my campaign worlds.
- When posting a concept, you need to include at least these five things for it to be considered:
1. Your character's clan.
2. Your character's family.
3. Your character's school
4. Your character's "thing" (basically, what he or she does best)
5. Your character's name, and what it means (if it means something)
This is a pretty open ended recruitment, so take your time creating your character. If I get enough interest in the campaign and enough concepts submitted, then I will close recruitment and kick off the game.
EDIT: I just realized that there may be some of you out there that have no idea what L5R is. It's sort of like samurai d&d. The world and culture is derived heavily from feudal japan, with a smattering of ancient Chinese and other asian cultures thrown in. Think samurai, ninja, sumo wrestlers, Mongolian warriors, monks, etc.
There are three broad archetypes that your character will fall under. Bushi (fighter types), shugenja (caster types), and courtier (social, or "face" types). Within those three archetypes are about a million different ways to build and customize your character.
Combat is fast and particularly brutal, with a heavy bent towards realism. It's a far cry from most d20 combats. Honor, glory, and personal status matter more than sweet loot, and actually tie into your character's abilities. Samurai duels also play a large part in the game, and often are the only way to resolve a conflict or dispute.
~thinks~ I am be interested. The issue will be time. Let me think on if I can do this.
Edit - I have all the 1st and 2nd edition L5R stuff as well as some of the 4th edition stuff. You might also want to provide a link as to what books you will alow.
I think I'm going to stick with just 4th edition. They've altered the rule set enough that to try to shoehorn in stuff from previous editions would create a balance issue.
Hmmm... evidently L5R isn't that popular on these boards.
There were a couple of PbPs on here for Heroes of Rokugan about a year ago... They folded, though, and I don't think I've seen much movement at all on them since then.
I have a bit of interest in this but have no 4th ed books at present.
Well, they have the PDF for sale at www.drivethrurpg.com
Also, I'm totally not recommending that you do this in any way shape or form, but there may exist other ways to get the PDF for free *cough*4chan*cough*
There are a species of intelligent rat people called the Nezumi, and in the early Rokugan history, the world was dominated by a naga empire.
nightflier,
there are some that say that Lion clan samurai may as well be catfolk, and there are even rumors amongst the court that their priests and shamans are descended from magical form changing catfolk.
the concept may need a little translation, but could still be a lot of fun.
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nightflier,
there are some that say that Lion clan samurai may as well be catfolk, and there are even rumors amongst the court that their priests and shamans are descended from magical form changing catfolk.
the concept may need a little translation, but could still be a lot of fun.
Yeah, I had a similar idea. I need to dig out my Rokugan books from the storage and look, but I have to wait next week to do so.
Berwick's right, we could flavor the concept for the setting pretty easily. Heck, with a little work, I could probably work it into the point buy and make it a character advantage.
nightflier,
there are some that say that Lion clan samurai may as well be catfolk, and there are even rumors amongst the court that their priests and shamans are descended from magical form changing catfolk.
the concept may need a little translation, but could still be a lot of fun.
Not the whole clan but the Kitsu Family was decended from the union of Kitsu and humans. The Kitsu were given protection from the extermination that they had been facing.
A suggestion of Advantages to represent Kitsu blood might be;
Hands of Stone (if you want 'claws'), with the Kitsu blood you might have the DM give you the advantage for 5 points like a monk.
Inner Gift: Animal Ken, which gives a connection to animals.
Large, which allows you to be bigger. A slight increase with damage particularly large weapons. Up to the GM whether this might apply to say your 'claws'.
Sacrosanct, people who are honourable don't dare challenge you. If people 'know' of your blood line then amongst the Lion you might be slightly revered and most wouldn't dare touch you.
Bishamon's Bless, another Strength increasing advantage. Personally, the mechanics for combat are a bit on the hard side at low level to work but later becomes better (if you succeed at 3 rolled raises <+15 to the TN> then you can a 4th raise for free). You also get an aid in non-combat strength tests.
Silent, gives a bonus on stealth skill.
Strength of the Earth, which allows you to ignore wound penalties. You are still hurt but you shrug off the effects.
Touch of the Spirit Realms, which is a collection of different abilities. There are further bonuses to handling animals and the ability to move slightly faster on an attack (kinda like pouncing).
It really comes down to selecting how you see your Kitsu/Litorian. The nice thing is you don't have to take all the Advantages at Character Creation.
If you talk to the GM and they approve then you can develop some advantages during play. This could allow you to 'perfect' your Lion nature as time went along.
Nice work, Smerg.
@ Nightflier: I'm pretty lenient as a GM, and I like to reward my players for playing their characters well. So if you want your character to develop his cat-like form more and more, chances are that I will approve of little "custom" changes to certain rules, especially if they fit the character.
I can't remember if Ememies of the Empire includes rules for shapeshifters, but if GM would be willing, the 3rd Ed rules could likely be updated well enough, and the bakeneko would be a pretty good place to start with a more literal translation of the idea.
I'll take a look, although I am hesitant to start opening the doors on what is/isn't allowed from previous editions. The whole point of me GMing this campaign (aside from having fun) is to wrap my brain around the 4th Ed rules.
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Nice work, Smerg.
@ Nightflier: I'm pretty lenient as a GM, and I like to reward my players for playing their characters well. So if you want your character to develop his cat-like form more and more, chances are that I will approve of little "custom" changes to certain rules, especially if they fit the character.
I do intend to do something about that, but first I want to do some reading and to brush the dust off my Rokugan sourcebooks. I have almost all of the clan books - I intended to use Rokugan as default Oriental Campaign continent in my own home brew game world, but I never paid much attention to crunchy part of things. To be honest, I think that you would attract far larger crowd of players if you'd use d20 version of L5R, modified for Pathfinder. But I am in either way.
You're probably right, but after finishing up a rather lengthy campaign with my RL group, GMing my own homebrew Pathfinder pbp, AND playing in a Council of Thieves pbp, I'm a little burnt out on d20 systems right now. L5R's roll and keep system is refreshing, as is its realistic and lethal combat. I just wish the majority of the players on these boards would give this and other unique systems a shot, rather than just always sticking with d20.
You're probably right, but after finishing up a rather lengthy campaign with my RL group, GMing my own homebrew Pathfinder pbp, AND playing in a Council of Thieves pbp, I'm a little burnt out on d20 systems right now. L5R's roll and keep system is refreshing, as is its realistic and lethal combat. I just wish the majority of the players on these boards would give this and other unique systems a shot, rather than just always sticking with d20.
I hear ya. I finally broke down and started a solo game for a friend of L5R 3e around 3 weeks ago. It was too hard to get the majority of the people that I game with in RL to try something other than fantasy.
I am fortunate in these boards and having branched into a couple of other groups.
RL I'm running a more 'Teenagers from Outer Space' then fantasy Pathfinder game at the moment. My players though have never heard of TFOS and I'm not telling them. They think they're doing a somewhat crazed Mage Academy cross Harry Potter story. As long as they have fun then I have no urge to tell them the truth.
A person that I was GMing started up a WoD Freak Legions game. It is a fun alternative to main line WoD.
On the boards, I'm in two Pathfinder games (one based in Faerun and one based in Paizo's world).
I am also running a Saga Star Wars on the boards. This is my first time getting to use the Saga system for running something so it has some interesting wrinkles from regular d20.
Though, my real interest at the moment has been listening to Podcasts talk of games like Fiasco and Zombie Cinema. Also interested in things like He is My Master, Sorcerer, and The Mountain Witch.
I own games like Burning Empires and ICONS Rpg but locally have no one interested in play. I have to visit a friend 8 hours away to get someone to play a session of Trail of Cthuhlu.
Bah! We all know Scorpion courtiers have way more fun!
Yasuki!
Learn to buy and sell your friends :>
1. Your character's clan. Spider Clan
2. Your character's family. Daigotsu Family
3. Your character's school Daigotsu Bushi School
4. Your character's "thing" (basically, what he or she does best)
-- Large, High Strength Bushi, uses Spider Black Steel Blade to discourage people (who wants to risk getting taint)
5. Your character's name, and what it means (if it means something)
-- Daigotsu Kumakan (powerful bear)
Combat between characters is prohibited, save the occasional iaijutsu duel to first blood to settle disputes, etc. Characters will not be allowed to willfully and knowingly attack each other. The group will be bound and sanctioned by an Imperial magistrate, so all the clans will learn to work together towards a common goal (even spider and scorpion members).
Bump, lest we fade into obscurity. :)
I am totally down for this. I see Smerg beat me to the Spider bushi. I'll work something up for sure. Gimme one day.
If you really want to do the Spider Clan then I can do something else.
I have an idea for Lion Akoda clan Bow (Yumi) specialist.
I had mostly chosen to go with the Spider Clan because Masquerade had asked people to stretch his understanding of the rules.
Feel free to take your time, guys, we're not in any sort of rush. We've had I think maybe four or five people show interest in playing, and Smerg's been the only one to actually throw out a concept, so as of right now recruitment is still wide open.
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Honor: 6.5 Glory: 1.0 Status: 1.0
Insight Rank:1 (142)
Rings:
Air:3
Reflexes:3
Awareness:3
Earth:2
Stamina:2
Willpower:2
Fire:2
Agility:3
Intelligence:2
Water:2
Strength:2
Perception:2
Void:2
Skills:
Etiquette 3
Iaijutsu (Focus, Assessment) 4
Kenjutsu 3 (Katana)
Kyujutsu 1
Sincerity 2
Tea Ceremony 2
Defense 2
Masteries:
Iaijutsu Rank 3: Readying a katana is a Free Action rather than a Simple Action.
Etiquette Rank 3: +3 extra Insight
Kenjutsu Rank 3: The total of all damage rolls made with a sword is increased by 1k0.
Equipment:
Kakita Blade (4k2, reroll damage once per Iaijutsu duel, 1 VP to add 1k1 to damage rolls)
Wakizashi (2k2, 30' throwing range)
Light Armor (+5 Armor TN, Reduction 3, +5 TN to Athletics and Stealth Rolls)
Sturdy Clothing
14 koku
Advantages:
Sacred Weapon (Kakita Blade) 5 pts
Great Potential (Iaijutsu) 5 pts
Disadvantages:
Haunted 3 pts
Lord Moon's Curse 7 pts