http://www.mediafire.com/folder/c7tfqff9sqp71/L5R
>lots of stuff from 4e and previous editions
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/xpa768hxwcezl/RPG#2nbbe1kyny4qo
>some other 4e stuff can be found here (9th link from the top)
What's the absolutely worst thing you can do to another person in rokugan? Something that not even a hundred seppukus can't redeem.
Bumping this shit with more cute oni girls
>>46268154
Is the game dead?
>>46268857
Pretty much. There's a living card game coming up sometime in 2017.
>>46268857
L5R got bought by Fantasy Flight Games. They've announced a LCG coming out in 2017, and said something might come for the RPG sometime after that.
>>46268154
breaking on oath and fleeing in terror when a lord you're protecting comes under attack, followed up by lying about what happened to make yourself look better.
Bonus dishonor if your were guarding somone really important like a clan champion or the emperor himself.
Can you sell souls for power in rokugan?
>>46270149
You can sell your own soul.
And then when you die, it goes screaming into Jigoku with no hope of ever being reincarnated as anything more than an oni poo.
>>46270149
you can share your name to with an Oni. This binds the oni to your will and makes it more powerful as it uses your name to define itself and anchor itself to the world.
If you have a strong will the Oni will be defined by your name enofgh that it will start picking up your beliefs and mannerisms. There is at least one example of this ending with a redeemed Oni.
of course if your will isn't strong enofgh the Oni takes complete ownership of your name and you explode into giblets. How strong your will needs to be depends on the will of the Oni, and given if it totally steals your name it gets a major power up the Oni will be very motivated to grind its willpower up enough to break free.
>>46274054
Don't forget that an Oni mark will constantly try to dump corruption into you.
So you have to have a will that is strong enough to beat the Oni AND strong enough to resist corruption from an unavoidable source.
Many people willing to knowingly summon an oni are the sort who aren't strong enough of mind or body to accomplish what they want on their own, and so are easily beaten by their Oni.
>>46268154
>title of this thread is depressing
man, one of my favorite games too....
anyone here going full Legacy? to keep a private group active?
>>46274275
People still play the RPG at least.
>>46274285
that is my hope...the RPG is great...
card game was Ok....
>>46274275
source of WEBM?
>>46274712
animatrix clip..they had a short samurai segment in 1 of them....
here's a question: how does clan territory... like... work? We know there are cities that are neutral territory, and it seems strange to me if each clan has strict borders, as if each was their own little country. So how does territory work?
>>46268154
I dunno, suck his wife's dick?
>>46275103
One clan says "this is mine, I own it" if another clan doesn't say "no, it's mine!" then no one fights over it. The emperor can also say "this is mine and none of yours" and there isn't much anyone can do about it because L5R's central government is stupidly powerful.
>>46274275
That's less L5R and more Tenra Bansho Zero.
>>46274275
animatrix anon. good stuff.
>>46275241
I'm not talking ownership obviously. If a clan owns a region they get to reap its taxes, but I mean, what are the rules for owning land? What are the rules for traveling?
>>46275561
If you don't live in the area you need travel papers, either from the Clan in question or Imperial authority
>>46274349
The RPG is alright I guess. I played once and had fun.I had fun once, the other times were awful.
>>46275561
Officially, you don't own land. Period.
Practically speaking, territory well inside of the often nebulous borders is owned by the clan. It "belongs" to the Emperor, but he's not going to come down and tell a clan what to do with it unless there's some massive problem or he's a petty cunt doing something petty.
Border territory lines basically boil down to "Where our patrols stop and their's begin" in rural areas. Officially, it's all mapped out and very clear, but cartography is a very subjective art in Rokugan, so it comes down to what the local officials have to say about it, in many places.
Traveling outside of your family's domain requires papers. They're easy to get if you're going anywhere in your clan's territory and usually easy to get if you're going outside of it too. Some places don't bother checking travelers for their papers, while others have rigorous and constant checks. Most papers will explain why the traveler(s) are traveling and where their journey is supposed to end. The papers can also allow one to freely travel while wearing armor and openly carrying weapons aside from the katana, which is otherwise a bad idea because it can be construed as hostile by local fuckwits.
But again, the reality is that traveling papers are easy to get, easy to forge, and sometimes easy to ignore entirely (Monks in particular don't usually need them), so it's not as restrictive as it sounds.
>>46275797
And the punishment for being caught without traveling papers depends on how far you're going and whether the locals like your clan.
If you're in your own clan territory, you'll probably just get a stern talking to by a local lord, who will then give you proper papers and send you along.
If you're in a friendly or physically close clan's territory, they might question you a bit, but probably still just give you a slap on the wrist and proper papers after determining that it was an honest mistake.
If you're in a neutral or near-hostile clan's territory, you're probably going to be questioned harshly and they'll probably call in Emerald Magistrates to deal with you. Expect actual punishments.
If you're in an actually hostile clan's territory, they will probably just kill you for being an enemy.
>>46275241
>L5R's central government is stupidly powerful.
I abolish the central government in my home games. everything is all on the great clans. no emperor worth mentioning.
>>46275241
>L5R's central government is stupidly powerful.
Literal, actual Divine Right to Rule is a powerful thing. When actual gods whom you've sworn complete loyalty to say that their actual god brother and his descendants will be the emperor of everyone, it's hard to argue. When your ancestors who agreed to that tell you that it is and should be so, it's hard to argue. When the very spirits that make up all of everything tell you that it is and should be so, it's hard to argue. When your entire afterlife is based on how well you serve this divine order, it's hard to argue.
>>46276048
Unless you're some kind of filthy Kolat.
>>46276048
What if you just don't give a shit? What are they gonna do? Damn everyone?
>>46276435
Yeah basically. You get sent to one of the shitty realms, like the one where you're constantly being murdered by evil spirits. Then when your time is up in there they wipe your soul clean and try it again and see if it's better this time around.
>>46276435
Send you to one of several bad afterlives.
You can be downgraded to peasant or eta, where you either can't do anything important or are literally treated like the shit you're expected to clean up.
You can be turned into a gaki, where you literally eat shit (Or something similarly unclean) until your time as a shit eater is up and they reinstate you as a human.
If you're particularly violent, you get sent to the slaughter realms, a miserable place where you constantly fight and die and get up to fight again until there's nothing left in you but the will to fight and die. This is a permanent end.
In certain fringe cases, you might also be downgraded to an animal, which is near permanent for no reason other than animals don't usually get the chance to prove themselves worthy of moving up to human.
If you willingly served or worked with Jigoku, you get sent there and are probably eaten or converted into a mindless husk that exists only to serve the will of Jigoku.
Emma-O and/or the Shi-Tien Yen-Wang don't fuck around. He's been pushing these papers since the first death and they are dedicated to the correct use of afterlife punishments.
>>46276435
torture and shitty treatment in life, quick execution if you are lucky
and then you will be reincarnated...as a slug for your sins, with just enough consciousness to know your a mindless slug now
in the l5r metaplot, the sun and moon (main deities) where replaced by 2 mortals....temporarily
other actual gods just threw their ass back to earth (dead) and put dragons on the main seats of heaven
mortals do NOT have choice in the l5r universe
>>46276491
>>46276643
>>46276867
Fine then, they can fucking deal with having no people around to suck their divine cock.
>>46276867
Well no. Mortals do have choice. It's part of the reason why the entire celestial wheel revolves around them. There's just consequences for it.
When push comes to shove, mortals are the ones doing the shoving. Both days of Thunder were mortal driven. "Fortune favors the mortal man" and all that.
>>46276952
People like you would be in the vast minority.
>>46276952
A few people ignoring the rules and being dishonorable don't outnumber the vast majority that do what they're told.
>>46276952
>tips fedora
>>46276952
Filthy kolat will never win and never outnumber average people.
>>46276952
there's this book called "the merchant's guide to rokugan"
you'd probably love it, just saying
>>46276048
Yeah yeah yeah, in universe there's a perfectly valid reason for the stupidly powerful government.
Problem is having a stupidly powerful central government is contrary to the whole warring samurai clans thing and stifles a lot of potential the setting could have had in regards to plots not involving demon attacks.
>>46277106
>treating the rich campaign world of Rokugan like you would a generic DnD shitshow
Look, if it's not for you, then it's not for you. Use the same rules in a different setting if you really need to.
>>46276995
Doesn't Rokugan's rules literally only apply to Rokugan? He sounds like a foreigner.
>>46277106
Most of the time, it's just an excuse to bring things back to a normal state after doing the warring samurai clans thing.
The Emperor doesn't usually exercise his power and there are provisions for warring between clans that were set in stone by Emperor Hantei I and Hantei II, the god-emperor and the shining prince. Warring states is entirely possible and happens often. It's just not worth looking at from an overarching plot point most of the time because it's boring and results in nothing interesting. The times where it does result in interesting things have been noted repeatedly.
>>46277106
Ooh, can we do a bitching thread? Because there's one part of L5R that really sticks in my craw.
The whole anti-Gaijin Powder thing. Sure, the Mantis get away with using cannons on their boats, but actual Japan were huge on matchlocks. Because real-life Japanese people were smart enough to see their usefulness as a tool of war and adopted it. Whereas almost all samurai fiction either doesn't show them at best, or casts them as tools of the devil at worst.
I know L5R is schizophrenic when it comes to the 'historical realism' vs. 'fantasy depiction' versions of samurai, but this is one point I really wish they'd have gone towards the historical side on.
>>46277155
>implying wanting to add layers of intrigue and conflict that wouldn't make sense thanks to an aspect of the setting holding it back is "a DnD shitshow"
God you L5R purists are retarded.
>>46277172
It's weird. They apply if you opt in to the system, basically. The Moto, for example, were originally foreigners but they joined up with the Kirin to become the Unicorn and started worshipping the kami, which pissed off their original deities, the Gods of Death.
Later on the Gods of Death actually came to an arrangement with the kami, and were incorporated into the Rokugani pantheon, although I think only the Moto still actually worship them.
In any case, the takeaway is that even foreigners can find themselves on the Celestial Order.
>>46277295
Then there's also the weird fact the Yodotai gods are suspiciously similar to the Rokugani ones and show them just as much favor.
>>46277261
It takes away from the samurai-centric focus and shifts a lot of combat and war related ideas in ways that aren't wanted. If any shmuck with a gun can fight and win easily, why do you need highly skilled, relatively rare warriors?
>>46277261
game design decision, less fun playing a samurai if any random peasant can smash your lobes in with a gun. A gun is no different in the hand of a samurai or common people. In the l5r continuity, samurai didnt want to end up bureaucrats, heh
>>46277264
I don't see what taking away a major part of the setting actually adds.
>>46277229
>Most of the time, it's just an excuse to bring things back to a normal state after doing the warring samurai clans thing.
This is honestly my biggest beef with L5R, thankfully also the easiest to just wave off and "L5R your way" it.
>>46277295
There's also a lot of the early Tortoise clan members, who were gaijin and were secretly integrated into the new clan as samurai.
>>46277398
urg, i dont like this l5r your way thing
everytime i see this i read: we where too lazy to supply our opinions/facts for this topic
>>46277261
In the fiction, gunpowder doesn't interact well with the kami, and so is considered to be a form of maho. It's not that the samurai can't see the use in it. It's that it is literally heresy that conflicts with major parts of their religion.
>>46277366
Do samurai make up the bulk of Rokugani militaries? I figured they relied more on ashigaru.
>>46277368
A solid point. The answer there I'd say is to make Gaijin Pepper-based weapons powerful, but rare. That way guns become something to achieve and have an interesting rarity vs. utility design space as opposed to being strictly better.
And to be fair, I'm not trying to shit on L5R specifically. It just bothers me that there's this idea that fantasy ends where gunpowder begins, and that L5R ascribes to it.
>>46277366
>It takes away from the samurai-centric focus and shifts a lot of combat and war related ideas in ways that aren't wanted. If any shmuck with a gun can fight and win easily, why do you need highly skilled, relatively rare warriors?
Not really, Japan did it. Samurai were still a thing and were still elite warriors alongside guns. They were better trained and equipped than an ashigaru with a rifle, and played the role of marksmen (if they had guns themselves), Dragoons (on horseback), and were overall just better fighters than the rabble with pikes could ever hope to be, as well as the leaders of said rabble.
There's PLENTY of need for highly-skilled relatively rare warriors, guns in real life didn't make these people disappear immediately (that was a lot of complicated economics and happened over a very long time) so why would it happen in L5R?
>>46277522
>>46277482
But the setting doesn't want guns
why does it need guns
>>46277482
Samurai make up the bulk of certain armies, and are usually the deciding factor in most battles.
Ashigaru are mostly there to make up numbers and prevent their samurai from being overwhelmed by the enemy ashigaru.
There's a bigger difference between samurai and peasants in Rokugan than just their social status. Samurai have better nutrition and education growing up, and have a certain divine touch on them that makes them objectively better than peasants. Rokugani aren't strictly made up of pure biological components. The elemental balance in their soul reflects on their body and mind, and samurai have stronger and more balanced elements than other people.
>>46277368
>>46277482
A lot of gamers and game designers GREATLY over-value the capabilities of early firearms.
Honestly in RPG terms they'd probably be less useful than a good bow.
>>46277564
There's guns in the setting already. I just want them to be worth using.
>>46277564
Go cry in the corner.
>>46277597
Early firearms aren't the problem.
The problem is that once you have firearms, people want better and more advanced firearms. The battle of White Stag (Where firearms were first introduced) was almost 900 years ago. That's a lot of time for things to shift over to the "who needs samurai when a line of peasants can blow away literally anyone opposing them?" state of things.
>>46277628
>lets not improve what the setting wants and bitch about what's not in the setting
ewewewewewewewe
>>46277635
And actually, they wouldn't be early firearms anyway. White Stag had matchlocks and cannons. That's well past early and well on its way to rifles and gatling guns.
>>46277635
L5R already has built-in control over progress, just apply that to guns.
An emperor said "these matchlocks are awesome!" so everyone took him too literally again and somehow it got taken as an imperial decree you cannot change their design ever. Boom. Done.
>>46277676
That's actually a good point.
>>46277687
That's actually what happened to the gaijin who made firearms in the first place.
But do you think that's enough for autistic (And I mean this literally, in the sense that the topic of guns actually triggers a legitimate mental tic) gunfags?
For god's sake, there's already a "Rokugan with guns" in Imperial Histories 2. If you want it, it's not hard to find, and if you don't want it, it's easy to exclude.
>>46277726
Well, like you said, that's why flintlocks stuck around for over 900 years outside of Rokugan.
Also honestly I find the anti-gun fags to be just as, if not more, autistic. No one has a problem with the capabilities of other gear being abstracted for game playability or any other tech not progressing but add guns are the exception because reasons.
>>46277726
The fact that some peeps in the playerbase will obsess too much over something isn't a good enough reason to leave design space unexplored, IMHO. I'm not saying I want my fantasy samurai adventures to go full /k/, but there's untapped opportunities that I wish we could explore.
>>46277795
We can actually see the stats of the guns. They're in the game.
And they generally blow everything else out of the water and make things not fun. There's literally no reason to make a bushi with cool techniques when you can make a courtier with three ranks in a firearms skill who can do literally twice as much damage and ignore armor.
>>46277845
To be blunt, those stats are fucking stupid.
>>46277815
The design space is literally not unexplored.
Iron Rokugan is a thing. The Era of White Stag is a thing.
Firearms are a thing, and they should stay in that one particular era and that one particular alternate history era. There's literally no reason to bring them into the main timeline beyond what they already are.
>>46277899
>and they should stay in that one particular era and that one particular alternate history era
No, fuck you. We're free to decide otherwise if we damn well please and there's nothing you can do about it.
>>46277886
That's the problem with adding guns.
They can either be completely bad, in which case, why have guns at all, or they can be amazing, in which case you're changing huge chunks of the setting to accommodate easily available weapons that require little skill and might as well play something else.
>>46277933
Don't act like your completely altered setting should be the default then.
>>46277954
Or, you can make them crossbows that go bang.
>>46277994
Then why add guns at all if they're consistently outclassed by bows?
>>46277982
I will if I want to. And I'm going to just to spite you specifically.
>>46278017
That's a very poor argument considering L5R has a huge weapons list and are all outclassed by the Katana.
>>46278021
Have fun with your declawed bureaucrats then.
>>46278069
Man, you really have no idea what you're talking about.
>>46278067
Except they aren't. The katana isn't even particularly good as far as swords go. Its ability to add to damage can only be done once and barely brings it in line with certain heavy weapons.
>>46278104
Fine then, why have half the weapons list if they're outclassed by these heavy weapons?
>>46278101
So you're going to go with the "guns are bad" option then? Because the decline of the warrior caste is pretty inevitable if you can arm literally anyone with a gun and outclass a trained warrior.
O you gun-monger,
your poor taste is as leaden
as a musket ball.
>>46278130
You seriously have not a single fucking clue what you're talking about.
Go read a book.
And not that fucking Noel Perrin book. A real one.
>>46278104
The Katana has the advantage of being usable with almost every school technique.
>>46278126
Because you can't bring a heavy weapon with you everywhere and they have different abilities and effects attached to them.
But I have to ask you why you want guns if they're going to outclass everything else? Bloating up the numbers isn't a sound game design decision.
>>46278126
Because they fill different roles than a tetsubo.
>>46268154
Letting the emperor die in front of you?Because fucking mob grey text bs makes it happen.
Later stealing his daughter, the child empress?To stop a returned spirit psychopath emperor from marrying her.
This is an actual thing a character of my has done. He is in a baaad place mentally.
>>46278169
"It can be passed around like the village bicycle" doesn't make it the "best" weapon.
>>46278183
>But I have to ask you why you want guns if they're going to outclass everything else?
They're not.
>>46278156
You have yet to give an example of how adding guns does anything interesting aside from devaluing samurai. So how do you intend to use guns? Explain for the class.
>>46278234
Then why do you want guns? What do they add besides an acrid cloud of smoke and long reload times?
I really hope the answer isn't historical realism, because guns isn't even near the top of the list if you want that.
>>46278267
Why are you so adamant about guns having to outclass everything else in order to be allowed?
>>46278479
I think they shouldn't be allowed if they outclass everything else.
But I want to know why they're necessary if they don't. I can understand why some people would want badass guns that overpower any other weapon. I don't understand why you some people want realistic guns that don't. All I'm hearing is something about some kind of drama that can apparently only exist with certain types of gear available and I'm curious about what it is. The drama surrounding the inevitable march of progress is apparently not the drama that is being talked about, so I want to know what it is.
>>46278267
Because Japanese matchlocks are sexy.
>>46278541
Wasn't the drama argument in regard to the imperial government?
>we need historically accurate warfare!
>in a setting where magic mage-priests can summon a 50' tall pillar of fire basically anywhere they want
>>46278607
So it's just an aesthetics thing? I can respect that, but I don't agree that it should be included in the main setting because of it.
>>46274275
I've got a group who play the RPG regularly. Is good times.
>>46276003
> Not upholding the honour of your divine emperor through lifelong duty unto death.
Absolutely Disgusting. Here is a wooden spoon. I will you you tomorrow morning for your seppuku.
>>46276435
If you've pissed of the emperor and he is feeling particularly wrathful, you may get appointed the fortune of something horrible. Like shit. There is a man who was made the eternal spiritual overseer of all shit everywhere, because he annoyed an asshole emperor.
>>46276963
> When you've literally a member of the group,humans, who are the rightful divine inheritors of all reality but the gods don't want to give up power.
>>46277172
Are you trying to suggest that anyone outside of Rokugan matters? Gaijin are literally just talking animals, anon.
>>46277106
You do realise that the warring clans is a system put in place to stop an entire nation of glory hungry warriors from turning on the emperor, right?
>>46277613
They are worth using. Being create by Gaijin, Guns exist outside the Celestial Order. Thusly they ignore just about anything that isn't physical barriers. Makes them excellent for killing Oni and other supernaturally protected nasties.
You just have to avoid getting caught using one...the answer is of course kill everyone in the empire. Then no one can dob you in your using filthy Gaijin weapons. Say anon, can I interest you in some maho?
>>46278652
I think the concept of firearms could have been part of the setting without grossly upsetting the balance of society had Rokugan's first encounter with them not have been late colonial period level technology. The writers basically wrote themselves into a corner by adding too advanced tech to the world too early.
>>46278720
>If you've pissed of the emperor and he is feeling particularly wrathful, you may get appointed the fortune of something horrible. Like shit. There is a man who was made the eternal spiritual overseer of all shit everywhere, because he annoyed an asshole emperor.
That actually can't happen after the reign of Hantei XVI because he was such an asshole that the next emperor created an inviolable law against stuff like that. And not even emperors can directly contradict previous emperors without a LOT of political support from basically the entire country. And there's no way an emperor is going to be able to get that kind of support for that purpose.
>>46278826
>And not even emperors can directly contradict previous emperors without a LOT of political support from basically the entire country.
And yet the Spider still became a Great Clan.
>>46278873
Not even an Emperor can beat executive babysitting from the marketing department.
>>46278897
Truly a power greater than even Heaven itself.
So our GM gave me the sword of Amaterasu, which was only recently revealed to us when we visited a Crane Clan Swordsmithing academy.
I've been told (ooc) that I'm now a legitimate candidate for next Empress.
I'm also an violent alcoholic shugenja maho-tsukai, who is planning to join Kokujin.
Thoughts?
>>46278781
This guy gets it. There is also a cannon alt setting where that battle went differently and the emperor survived and declared guns awesome. Rokugan then gets trains and pistols become part of the daisho.
>>46278826
Huh. I didn't know that. Neat I guess. Doesn't stop them from turning people into fortunes to get them out of rokugan and stuck behind a celestial desk for all eternity.
> Actual canon ending for a long running character of mine.
Poor bastard spent his life running around Rokugan trying desperately to fix things. Then he got too close to enlightenment and got turned into a fortune to stop that from happening.
>>46278897
Pic related.
>>46278932
Your DM is a bit of a fuck up?
That Kokujin is going to steal your skin and be Emperor for a year before he gets bored?
>>46278932
>I'm now a legitimate candidate for next Empress
Technically Daigotsu was a legitimate candidate for Emperor, so whatever.
>>46278972
I fully expect to get ganked by Kokujin.
The thing is, that nobody knows, not even out of character, that I'm fully planning to join him.
>>46278983
Funny story, we met (from afar) and tried to attack Daigotsu when he marched the army of The Lost on the Kaiu Wall.
>>46279186
A++ Do iiiiiiiiiiiiit.
Actually last game I played I lost a character to Kokujin. She was a Kaiu Engi that had gotten tainted. Deciding that taint was crap and nothing she wanted she went looking for options/alternatives. Ended up deciding to go with Shurido. Then we encountered Kokujin. I kept trying to leave but the party wouldn't go. Ended up pondering the temptations for too long and agreeing to join Kokujin for a Salamander tattoo. Whoops I guess.
>>46279423
And here's my favourite part: I'm a Tamori, I'm carrying Kokujin's Challenge to my Clan, our entire plot so far has been because I came up with the idea of forging a sword made of metals mined from each of the eight Great Clans, I was given the Sword of the Heavens after we defeated and re-sealed the Orochi in the Mantis shrine to Osano-wo, and, we're all Jade Magistrates.
>>46279824
Your game sounds like a really, long and drawn out chain of fuckups waiting to happen. I love it.
>>46276963
It's worth noting that the Celestial Wheel...might not be as all-inclusive as Rokugan thinks it is.
Other nations seem to have fully functioning afterlives that look nothing at all like Rokugans, and though they're certainly heretical to Rokugani belief systems, they also WORK even if they are and don't automatically screw them because it's not the Rokugani way.
A recurring theme in the early fluff was that the Rokugani people didn't really know quite as much about their universe as they thought they did and that a lot of their belief was heavily tinted by ethnocentricism and simple racism.
>>46280091
It is. From our Crane courtier having 1 Earth, our Scorpion Bushi "merely pretending" to be a Courtier, and our Lion Bushi only appearing about half the time, to the pair of Tamori Shugenjas who are apparently trying to outdrink the entire Empire, one tavern at a time.
We have built a mighty castle of matchsticks. It's simply a matter of wind or fire that will take it first.
>>46277172
Yeah, basically.
Medinaat al-Salaam has a different afterlife, so does the Senpet Empire, so do the Yodotai, etc.
>>46277366
Because actually they kinda still did.
I mean, in actual Japan. When they actually had guns. Japan's MOST FAMOUS samurai in their entire history came from that period.
>>46278932 >>46279186 >>46279824
Forgot mah Kokujin pic.
>>46280245
Ahahahahahah. Oh that's great.
I'd actually been playing 2 characters in this current game. One being the now unplayable Kaiu, the other is a Scorpion 'Courtier'.
He's a ShosuroInfiltrator. Canonically they wear the Bayushi Courtier school mon so I thought: Hey! Why not just make one with the skills to actually work the courtly angle. So thus did the party courtier turn out to be a Scorpionninjawho cruised around being very proper and smooth and occasionally walking up behind someone and absolutely blending them with knives.
>>46280402
Oh and this 'Courtier' was a Yogo who'd discharged his family curse by murdering his little sister. So anything small and female tends to turn him into a puddle of sad, malleable crying. Like the child empress he had to steal. Had a complete breakdown when she asked him when her daddy was coming home.
>>46280402
N i n j a s d o n o t e x i s t
>>46281443
Eaxctly. Stop telling lies, anon, or Ninja Oni will kidnap you tonight.
>>46280271
>so do the Yodotai
Actually the Yodotai's cosmology is heavily implied to be the same as Rokugan's with different names, and the implication that the Rokugani's belief that they're the center of the universe is totally wrong.
>>46282436
I thought they had some great Conquest god that drove them forward.
The Rokugani had Akodo, but he stopped after a certain point.
>>46275103
The clans have ancestral turf, which is almost always under their control. Provinces outside that are gradually under greater contest, until you hit the current border stones between clans. These move almost constantly, as the clans war almost every year and record the events as "minor skirmishes" to prevent imperial censure.
When a clan gets too greedy for provinces and pushed into ancestral turf, then the losing clan will hold them off until winter court, where the emperor will step in to decide who governs what.
None of it really matters to the emperor beyond keeping everyone happy/subservient/not plotting fire the throne, as no matter who governs anything, it all belongs to the emperor.
>>46282807
Yeah, and it's implied Conquest is, IIRC, Bishamonten.
>>46278826
They can do so. "We're ignoring that last guy's rulings" is usually considered a really poor precedent to set. Most emperors don't do it, and those that do attempt to draw focus elsewhere afterwards.
Cool ideas for a dark secret?
I want to fuck some poor guy up really bad, was concidering killing them before their seppuku.
>>46281443
>>46281593
I can assure that Yogo-san is and has always been a courtier. Yes he certainly does carry at least 6 tanto up his sleeves at all times. This is simple because he is a collector and fancier of tantos to such a degree that he is unwilling to part with is favourite pieces for even a moment. No of course he isn't some sort of warrior. Yes it's true that he owns and wears a set of light armour, but that's simple because it's sometimes dangerous out on the unpatrolled border roads. And while the stories are true and the only mark on said armour was inflicted by a Goju, that only proves what Yogo-san himself says; 'that any courtier should have the skills to avoid harm so as to not overburden their Yojimbo.'
>>46285174
I'm this guy >>46280402 >>46285799
One of my party members is an honourableevil SOBMirumoto. He had a great rival in the dojo from the Crane clan. He killed said rival with poison and then stole his swords, rewrapping them in dragon colours.
>>46285825
That doesn't sound honorable! That doesn't sound honorable at all!
>>46277106
>Problem is having a stupidly powerful central government is contrary to the whole warring samurai clans thing
Didn't stop the Japanese IRL during the imperial era. It worked because the court had completely subleased policing and tax-collecting duties to dependants in the provinces and wasn't strictly and consistently keeping track of land deeds any longer either. Heck, they didn't even keep relieable records on the numbers of armed forces.
They still were the only source of legal land deeds and official posts and they could demand anyone's head to be delivered at the drop of a head and count on having it delivered within a few years at max though.
>>46277261
It's US fiction on FatansyJapan and NOGUNZ is a big thing for othering fantasy nations .
>I know L5R is schizophrenic when it comes to the 'historical realism' vs. 'fantasy depiction' versions of samurai
It really isn't. They mashed up China, Japan and Mongolia into one big ching-chong-nip-nong HONORABUUR SAMYOORAY nation.
>>46278205
lol, HoR 3
>>46286279
>Didn't stop the Japanese IRL during the imperial era.
The Emperor was also virtually powerless for most of Japanese history.
>>46286439
Didn't stop courtiers from sucking up to him.
Even in Rokugan, while the emperor is the head of literally every institution, it's the bureaucracy that actually makes things tick and it's the bureaucracy that he will delegate (Or have delegated for him) petty (Petty in this instance meaning "Doesn't directly impact national security") issues to the vast majority of the time.
>>46286457
A lot of the time, even very important things like massive interclan warring only goes as high as one the Imperial Chosen, like the Emerald Champion, or the Otomo daimyo. The Emperor will definitely hear about it, but nobody is going to go and directly ask him to do anything about it.
Okay here's the pitch /l5rg/
In a duel to first blood, obviously when you get hit you're not supposed to commit to your strike because its a sign that you're a shitty loser, but also the person who swings first doesn't always hit, right? So when you realize you're just a bit slower than them you still need to be ready to strike.
Here's my question though: as a duelist, under what circumstances can you claim that you weren't sure if you were struck? Like, for example, I'm dueling some crane fuccboi and he choses to keep low damage, a total of 8. Could I use void to negate the damage and the cut becomes extremely minor, giving me plenty of room to say "how was I supposed to feel that?"
Of course I'd still have a flesh wound of some sort and I'd lose the duel assuming the judge wasn't crooked... but could I expect to get away with wounding my opponent here? What are some other ways to do it?
>>46286439
>The Emperor was also virtually powerless for most of Japanese history.
Yes, that's the "Lies for children and other Americans", "How do we argue for not hanging the dude for war crimes"-version of Japanese history.
>>46286856
Duels are very, very fast events and its entirely possible that the slower duelist might hit only a moment after the faster one, and would have been more than halfway through their swing before actually getting hit.
That's why there's a judge at all. Someone watching very closely to tell who hit first.
>>46286961
The rulebook gives me the impression that the duelist is expected to be competent enough to not commit to a blow when they know they've lost.
>>46287001
Yes, which is why the only real way to get away with it is to either admit that you're a shitty duelist or to strike so soon after they did that nobody can claim fault on your part.
Either way, you're being petty and in the second case, you could probably just win if you tried a bit harder.
>>46286481
I do like the various imperial families and think they should turn up more. I should play one again some time.
One of my favorite PCs a long time ago was a Miya member of the Seppun Guard. She was a paragon (And Paragon) of Honor but rarely fought as she'd prefer to solve a fight through peaceful means rather than a brawl. She spent the entire game being subtly mocked by the Dueling Autist Crane in the group, along with her 'Miya' companion (Actually a relation of the Emperor in disguise who'd asked to see Rokugan in person).
Finally after he'd deliberately started a duel to get his own way one more time than she could take, she spoke up about how the Crane was a disgrace to his family. A bully and a fool who didn't bring glory to the emperor and spoke of a savage and dark character. Unsurprisingly, the duelist autist challenged her over it.
Turns out that he'd not paid attention the entire campaign and though she was a Miya Herald. As opposed to a Seppun Guardsman with several ranks in Iajutsu and a 9k9 honor reroll. She burned both her ranks of luck and the honor reroll but just edged him out in the duel and forced him to leave in shame and dishonor. This was the planned last session so the GM didn't mind forcing another player out of the game.
>>46287020
The goal isn't to win, it's to wound my opponent and take him out of court for a few days. I'm asking for ways to increase reasonable doubt that would allow a character to publicly get away with dishonorable behavior.
>>46286856
>Could I use void to negate the damage and the cut becomes extremely minor, giving me plenty of room to say "how was I supposed to feel that?"
You could try to spin it that way with social skills and being friends with the judge, but the Crane is probably already doing that, and judges are usually quite good at their job.
Just don't try to use damage negation to claim you weren't hit. This has been frowned upon every edition since 1e.
>>46287322
I've seen it used a lot IF you can reduce the damage to 0. If not a single point of damage gets through, he didn't even draw blood.
>>46287341
I'm sure people have done so. That doesn't make it the correct way to go about it.
>>46287398
*at least, for those who care about such things vs RYW.
>>46287398
Has it ever been stated to be the correct way to not do that?
>>46286457
>Didn't stop courtiers from sucking up to him.
By and large there was a lot less "sucking up" and more "patting him on the head and reassuring him he TOTALLY matters and isn't just being used and manipulated by (insert kuge family here)."
>>46286906
I'm talking pre-1868 history here, fucknuts.
>>46287341
>If not a single point of damage gets through, he didn't even draw blood.
So something like your basic finger pricking blood sugar level test does at least one point of damage?
>>46287643
>I'm talking pre-1868 history here, fucknuts.
Is this an US thing where everything that happened before the first Thanksgiving is prehistoric and irrelevant? Because the Emperors and the court were important political players until the 14th century. That would be about until 200 Before White America, btw.
>>46287899
>implying anything that happened before the first Thanksgiving is relevant
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVSONNESfyE
Does your character practise the use of the nodachi?
Bumping with poetry.
L5r makes a big deal about haiku, but does it ever mention other forms of poetry, like the tanka, or some more chinese or mongolian forms?
