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Boci
2009-11-04, 07:32 PM
I started an oriental D&D 3.5 game and the plot seems to be going well. I have things planned out in advance, but they are flexible enough to allow the PC to change things. The problem is with the feel of the game. It just seems like any other D&D game except I have to put more effort into naming the NPCs. Does anyone have any tips on how to make this feel like an oriental setting?

Dusk Eclipse
2009-11-04, 07:40 PM
You can watch some anime set in japan feudal era, it might give you some ideas.

JonestheSpy
2009-11-04, 07:44 PM
Immerse yourself in stories from Asian cultures. Akira Kurosawa films, Hong Kong ghost story-martial arts epics, feudal-period manga like Lone Wolf and Cub. But don't neglect prose - histories,mythology, and folktales of far eastern cultures; remember, you're going to be creating the worlds for your players with just your words (and maybe the occasional visual aid), so you should defintely spend some time with them.

After awhile, you'll have a good enough grasp of the setting that it should come naturally to you.

EDIT:

You can watch some anime set in japan feudal era, it might give you some ideas.

Or it might warp your brain forever and soon you'll want to have all your characters be cat girls. Don't risk it!

jiriku
2009-11-04, 07:48 PM
If you have access to them or can get them cheaply, buy and read any of the Rokugan sourcebooks. The Legend of the Five Rings Rokugan books published by Alderac Entertainment Group are best, but the one from WotC are acceptable if you can't find the AEG books. These books contain HUGE, SPRAWLING VOLUMES of culture, color, and flavor for your campaigns.

If you don't have access to that, let me offer a sampler pack of Rokugan styling for you to build from:

Touching a corpse makes you ritually unclean. Only the lowest of the low would loot a body. Players do not acquire wealth from the corpses of the fallen, but as gifts from their daimyo. That will throw most D&D campaigns a curve right there.

Even your most hated enemy is worthy of respect if he is of high station. You should greet him politely when you see him, and bow to him if he outranks you. If he is your prisoner, you should see that he is kept comfortable, and offer him staples like rice, tea, and sake when he is hungry or thirsty.

Money and mercantile behavior are the tools of commoners. Discussing money or finances is impolite, and you should at least project the appearance of being uninterested in wealth.

Honorable characters do not buy things. Instead, they exchange gifts that simply happen to have roughly equal value. When someone offers you a gift, you must refuse it twice, so that the giver may show that he sincerely wishes to offer it to you. Accepting a gift without refusing it twice makes you look greedy and self-serving.

Favors are the currency of the wealthy, and politics is the most honorable pasttime after war. An invitation to have tea with a powerful politician might be worth more than a suit of magical armor, and arranging an advantageous marriage for your cousin or niece is just as important a task as clearing a dungeon full of monsters.

The Big Dice
2009-11-04, 08:06 PM
You could try ditching D20 for Legend of the Five Rings. But it does depend what kind of feel you're going for. The traditional place for Japanese style gaming to go for inspirado is Kurosawa. He of the Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Rashomon and Hidden Fortress to name but a few movies. They are a bit more grounded than more anime or wuxia style films, but they give a great feel for the setting.

Elves-as-People
2009-11-04, 08:39 PM
to OP:

Are you interested in a more Chinese, Japanese, or Korean feel? (or do you care?)

LibraryOgre
2009-11-04, 08:51 PM
Another suggestion, and a little bit more portable than Akira Kurosawa (as fantastic as he is... we've got a number of his films available at our library, so check them out), is manga. Dark Horse is putting out manga by Kazuo Koike and Goseki Kojima... there's "Lone Wolf and Cub", "Samurai Executioner" and "Path of the Assassin" that I have read. The last, especially really got me in the mood to play some L5R, so I imagine it would help with OA.

elliott20
2009-11-04, 10:27 PM
If you want to ham it up a little, focus on the concept of "honor" and "shame" in the course of play.

When I say "honor" though, I'm not talking about chivalry necessarily. But rather, we are thinking honor in the context of being heavily influenced by confucianism and the concept of duty.

To be honorable is to perform one's duty. That is the central theme of it all. Honor is also about the formalities, customs and rituals that you perform, regardless of the situation. Jiriku's post outlines this fairly well, so let's use that as a springboard for more.

Remember that honor is often less about the actual guilt and internal self-reflection of one's moral compass, and more about the perception of truth and adherence to structural values and there are degrees of such.

for example,
being rude to someone brings shame upon you. But even greater than that is to disobey the orders of your lord, even if you are doing for a more altruistic reason. i.e. a daimyo has ordered a PC samurai to sack/slaughter an entire village because they couldn't afford the heavy taxes levied upon them as punishment. The right thing might be to try to persuade the daimyo that his decision to do so is wrong. But you know what, you have just committed a great dishonorable and shameful act. Sure, the villagers might be thankful for it, but in the eyes of your peers, you have brought great shame upon yourself and your social status will suffer incredibly. And god forbid you were to rebel against your Daimyo because he is a tyrant. You're now probably a social pariah among the Bushi ranks.

And also, you have to understand that appearance can often be more important than the truth when figuring out what is honorable. For example, say one of your samurai PCs, in a drunken rage, completely defaced a statue that belonged to a daimyo. If the truth came out that it was YOU who defaced it, you could be faced with the order to commit seppuku. Ahh, but wait, you have a son who is only 12, not yet a man, and thus would have an excuse to escape from this fate. (instead, he would be reprimanded and shamed) So, in order to escape from having to gut yourself, you persuade your son to take the blame for you. Your son, wanting to do his duty for his father, takes on the shame onto himself and is given a slap on the wrist for being a bad boy.

Now, from a morality standpoint, that's a TERRIBLE thing to do, blaming your child for your own failings. but from the honor standpoint? there is no difference. Somebody has received just punishment for a crime committed. They don't care if in truth a father has totally sold his own child out to save his own skin.

SparkMandriller
2009-11-04, 11:20 PM
You can watch some anime set in japan feudal era, it might give you some ideas.

I recommend Sengoku Basara!


(do not make your campaign like sengoku basara)

Somewhere
2009-11-05, 12:01 AM
Read some Romance of the Three Kingdoms for some taste of war in China circa 200 AD :smallcool:

Pharaoh's Fist
2009-11-05, 12:08 AM
When I say "honor" though, I'm not talking about chivalry necessarily. But rather, we are thinking honor in the context of being heavily influenced by confucianism and the concept of duty.

To be honorable is to perform one's duty. That is the central theme of it all. Honor is also about the formalities, customs and rituals that you perform, regardless of the situation. Jiriku's post outlines this fairly well, so let's use that as a springboard for more.

Remember that honor is often less about the actual guilt and internal self-reflection of one's moral compass, and more about the perception of truth and adherence to structural values and there are degrees of such.


Alternatively, go all jianghu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jianghu) on people's asses.

elliott20
2009-11-05, 12:13 AM
jianghu style adventures would kick so much behind. too bad I never got to play in a good wuxia game.

Deth Muncher
2009-11-05, 12:13 AM
So, I DM'd an OA game. Best way I found to make it more oriental flavored: MSG. No, I'm kidding, that's terrible. What you SHOULD do, however, is choose a particular area that you want to focus on (as has been mentioned). You've got Chinese, Japanese and Korean for your "Oriental" region, and you've got India for a slightly different flavor if you want to go that in depth. I'd say be sure to read every word of the OA book and glean from it what you can. While you COULD watch Kurosawa (And you should. I haven't, but I hear he's amazing.), but if you need something else, I'd say read/watch Ruroni Kenshin. Do some Wikipedia searching too.

JonestheSpy
2009-11-05, 12:39 AM
You've got Chinese, Japanese and Korean for your "Oriental" region, and you've got India for a slightly different flavor if you want to go that in depth.

Hey! Don't forget Thailand, Vietnam, and the rest of Southeast Asia. Amazing culture to mine from there.

Ianuagonde
2009-11-05, 06:46 AM
I DMed a OA adventure once, and the things that helped my players the most with getting the right vibe were (according to my players):

-a pregame talk about how important you are. Others with samurai rank are your equals and superiors, all others are beneath you.
-meals: lots of rice and fish, very little meat. No beer, but sake and tea.
-peasants and merchants clear the road when you approach. They bow and take great care not to look you in the eye.
-if you want it, it's yours. In the local village, you can claim anything you fancy. Need shelter? Claim the largest house. The villagers will say "yes my lord" to whatever you demand, because doing anything else is unhealthy. Need a new horse? Ask your lord. If it's not unreasonable, he'll arrange it.
-your katana is an I Can Get Away With Anything Badge. Suppose a merchant claims you don't pay your debts and takes it to a magistrate. You claim otherwise. Since your rank is samurai, and his is lower, he's a lying dishonorable dog.

These things were based on my mixed-up experiences with and knowledge of China, Japan and L5R.

Longcat
2009-11-05, 08:10 AM
If you're basing your OA games on medieval Japan, make sure to incorporate the caste system. Essentially, there were 4 castes: Commoner, Samurai, Nobility and the Emperor (in rising order).

Your sword is part of your honor, and allowing anyone to touch it without permission dishonors you. A commoner who dishonors you in this way is most likely to be killed. Also, only Samurai were allowed to carry katana, and Samurai/Shugenja were allowed wakizashi.

LibraryOgre
2009-11-05, 10:20 AM
-your katana is an I Can Get Away With Anything Badge. Suppose a merchant claims you don't pay your debts and takes it to a magistrate. You claim otherwise. Since your rank is samurai, and his is lower, he's a lying dishonorable dog.

I'd make it clear, however, that doing this too much results in problems. Did you cheat Sato, the fish merchant? Well, Oroku Saki, who is also a samurai, loves Sato. He finds his anecdotes amusing, and Sato always sells him the BEST fish. And his friend Sato just told him about the evil samurai Hamato Yoshi has left him, the poor humble fish merchant, with debts that he cannot cover... well, Oroku Saki may feel it is in his best interests to act in Sato's best interests. He obviously cannot call you out for harming a fishmonger... that would be unthinkable, and a slight to his honor... but he can find something you are doing wrong and paint you with that. Or otherwise make it difficult for you to act as you please.

jiriku
2009-11-05, 11:24 AM
Elliot nailed it right on the head with the focus on honor.


Society is more important than the individual.
Obedience to duty is more important than following personal morals.
A daimyo owns the lives of those he commands.
If your actions dishonor your associates, seppukku cleanses the shame.
The testimony of a high-ranking person trumps that of a low ranking person.


Examples:

A samurai journeys to a dragon's lair in order to kill it and take its treasure. No one is impressed. Contrast: A samurai falls in love with a samurai-ko from another clan. When the two clans war against each other, the two set aside their love for one another and duel to the death when they meet on the field of battle. Songs are sung about the couple for generations.

A daimyo's peasants are starving because of a poor harvest, so he does not collect taxes from them for a year, leaving them food so that they may live. Everyone comments on what a poor daimyo he is for failing to collect the Emperor's taxes. Contrast: A daimyo's peasants are starving because of a poor harvest. He sends warriors to take their koku by force and kill any who resist. The peasants die in scores during a harsh winter. The daimyo is praised for delivering his taxes in spite of difficulties and mildly rebuked for allowing some of the emperor's peasants to die.

A samurai is insulted by one of his fellows and challenges him on the spot to a duel to the death. Unfortunately, he is killed. He has brought great shame to himself and his family for dying without his daimyo's permission: his life was not his own to spend.

A samurai's daimyo commits adultery with his brother's wife, and orders the samurai to kill the brother, that he might marry his brother's wife. The samurai is dutiful, so he obeys and no dishonor accrues to him for the murder. In fact, by concealing the adultery, he is acting honorably, for he is protecting his lord from the shame that that would accrue if the adultery were made public. Later, while drunk, he loudly curses his daimyo in the presence of others. His actions shame himself, his ancestors, his living family members, and his lord. If his lord instructs him to commit seppuku and he does so, his shame remains as karma he must work off in a future reincarnation, but his seppuku cleanses the shame on his family and his lord. If his lord is throughly disgusted with him and believes he is too cowardly to commit seppuku, the lord may give him a wooden sword to commit seppuku, which is a terrible insult. If he refuses seppuku and his lord dismisses him, he becomes a ronin, a servant with no master and the scum of the earth. No honorable person would associate with him then, for if he cannot obey his lord then he is good for nothing.

A high-ranking samurai starts a drunken bar fight and kills a lower-ranking samurai. Fifty commoners saw the bully start the fight and kill his opponent, but three of the bully's noble friends testify that it was the loser who started the fight. The courts rule in favor of the bully, since the word of three samurai who are in agreement carries great weight, and everyone knows commoners can't be trusted to deliver reliable testimony anyhow. Other samurai publicly aknowledge that the bully was blameless in the fight, and anyone who says otherwise is merely repeating a scandalous, unsubstantiated rumor.

Krow
2009-11-05, 12:11 PM
For the feel of the game, dialogue and setting are quite important. Dependent on the setting and which place of the Orient you are basing your game on, be descriptive and inject some cultural nuances. Things like caste, duty and honor would also help here. Literature and stories (Legends, Mythology) of a particular country / setting would individualize the setting as well.

TheThan
2009-11-05, 12:59 PM
Simply changing the names of NPCs to something vaguely Asian is not good enough. You need to show the oriental world. Create an atmosphere that feels like an Asian setting. Descriptions are where it is at. Don’t just tell the players that the enemy is in full plate and wielding a katana, describe the detail on his mask, the colors of the armor plates that make up the armor, the color of the rope bindings that hold it together.

There is a world of difference between this armor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tosei_Gusoku_Hatisuka_clan.jpg) and this armor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Maximilienne-p1000557.jpg).


Another thing you’ll need to do to create the feel of the setting is to incorporate different aspects of their culture into your game. Japan, china, Korea and the rest of Asia have different cuisine than the west. They have a different manner of dress, of architecture, music, culture etc.

All you really need to do is a little research and observation. A good place to start is foreign period films. It doesn’t matter which ones, as long as it takes place in the culture your pulling your world from. Old Chinese Jiānghú movies, epic Akira Kurosawa period pieces, there are lots of places to look at to find the sort of information I’m talking about. Just don’t forget to take notes.

Boci
2009-11-05, 01:57 PM
Thanks you all for the useful and quick replies, you have given me a lot to think about. I do not have that much free time, but I will try must best to read some of the recommended material.

I will start using all the simple changes, such as food and basic customs. So a typical days worth of trail rations would be 3 sets of rice balls with a sliver of fish? Maybe some cheap herb or dried seaweed for flavouring?

Also, the PCs are not currently aligned to any higher authority. They have just completed a mission for a lesser noble (he didn't want his own men doing it for fear of loosing them). Given that they completed their task both swiftly and efficiently, wouldn't the noble try and recruit them as his own men? Maybe as guards if not immediately as his samurai.

And finally, is it safe to say that any martial class in D&D could be a samurai?


Edit: More information. As far as sourcebooks go I only have access to Oriental Adventurers. I think the main RL inspiration for the game should be Japan, but I think it is flexible enough to allow Chinese and Korean aspects as well. I've read Orchid the last Chinese Empress (or something like that, I cannot remember the exact title) which is supposedly based on RL so that should help.

JonestheSpy
2009-11-05, 02:17 PM
Thanks you all for the useful and quick replies, you have given me a lot to think about. I do not have that much free time, but I will try must best to read some of the recommended material.

Some thing I can't believe I forgot - if you're particularly interested in Japan, you must check out Stan Sakai's comic Usagi Yojimbo - an amazing, long running comic about a wandering ronin who's lord was killed in a disasterous battle. Loaded with Japanese folklore, religous beliefs, class interactions etc - oh, and the protagonist happens to be a rabbit, something very eay to forget except he's often referred to as "that long eared samurai".

It's also a great illustration of the fact that you can be a samurai and still not be a flaming jerkwad to those of lower social class.



And finally, is it safe to say that any martial class in D&D could be a samurai?



Theoretically yes, but it doesn't fit as well for some classes as others. For instance, most samurai wouldn't be spending enough time running around the forest to aquire the skills of a Ranger - but you can always find a story-driven reason for an exception.

LibraryOgre
2009-11-05, 02:29 PM
And finally, is it safe to say that any martial class in D&D could be a samurai?

Maybe. As mentioned, I think you'll find few rangers. Paladins could work in very specific situations (see Samurai Executioner... he tends more towards Lawful, but I think you can see him as an epitome of the Paladin in many ways, and a good model for a non-Western style Paladin... he seeks good within the law, is in some ways disdainful of his personal honor, but in a way that actually enhances his honor all the more, and has a reverence for the gods and the mores of society).

Anonymouswizard
2009-11-05, 02:31 PM
If its not to late: wizards are replaced by Wujen, who are distrusted by almost any honorable person (if going by CArc); and clerics can chose buddism as their religion. It is a change of both fluff and mechanics, but should work if no PCs are wizards.

jiriku
2009-11-05, 02:31 PM
If they served well, the noble might easily recruit them as bushi (peasant soldiers). To be elevated to the social rank of samurai (not the samurai class) would require tremendous deeds of valor on the battlefield and probably official permission from the Emperor or the Imperial Court. Even then, many traditionalists might be enraged to see foreigners elevated to their class, and treat the PCs with only the minimum respect required by honor. Recall that the Japanese word for 'foreigner', gaijin, also means 'barbarian' and 'savage'. They really had an extremely low opinion of outsiders.

I wouldn't say that any martial class could be a samurai exactly, but I would say that if you belong to the samurai caste, you could take levels in any class you please.

However, if you take levels of fighter or (even worse) barbarian, people will talk, and rumors will fly about how crude and uncivilized you are. Samurai were expected to be versed in arts such as poetry, painting, and witty conversation. A samurai who walks into the Imperial Court with ranks only in Ride and Intimidate will be used as someone's pawn at the very least, very probably humiliated for his inadequacies, and may be forced to commit seppuku after a rival takes advantage of his ignorance to shame him.

Classes like crusader, swordsage, and warblade fare better, since they offer the skill points and the class skills to be effective at the courtly arts, but not having perform on your class skill list is a big Achilles heel for any samurai who expects to impress his betters.

Callos_DeTerran
2009-11-05, 02:53 PM
Classes like crusader, swordsage, and warblade fare better, since they offer the skill points and the class skills to be effective at the courtly arts, but not having perform on your class skill list is a big Achilles heel for any samurai who expects to impress his betters.

Unfortunately the OP said all he has in way of splat books is the Oriental Adventures book.

Somewhere
2009-11-05, 02:55 PM
Yea, nobility in Japan were big on ceremony and poetry.
Earlier samurai also took pride in their archery. And they used polearms. The image of samurai being just katana users is that of the more recent kind; I think after Sengoku?
Although since you'll probably using the more recent kind of samurai, you may be interested in reading up on the Ako Vendetta, as well as Chuushingura (fictionalized account of the Ako Vendetta). It's a very interesting case on bushido sometime around 1700 AD.
Hagakure is also a good book on ~1700 bushido.

And there's always Gorinnosho/book of five rings by Musashi :smallcool:. Always a good read, and damnit, it's by Musashi.

Back to nobility and poetry, if you want to check some of that out, let's see...I know jack about Japanese poetry after 1000 AD, but for before that, there's stuff like the Manyoushuu, the Tale of Ise, and Sei Shonagon's Pillow Book. And if you want some insight into Heian era nobility, there's the Tale of Genji (read summaries of it, DON'T READ IT, it is LONG and BORING).

Deth Muncher
2009-11-05, 05:38 PM
Hey! Don't forget Thailand, Vietnam, and the rest of Southeast Asia. Amazing culture to mine from there.

Actually, as soon as I posted it, I thought about Vietnam, but was too lazy to correct it. Thanks!

Boci
2009-11-05, 05:52 PM
Okay, that helps clarify things. I may have to bump up all the 2/int per level martial classes to avoid railroading them into seppuku. I'll need to talk to them about just how much honour they expect/want.

As a side note, I have some sourcebooks such as tome of battle and complete arcane, just no other oriental ones.

So at first, my PCs would be treated like members of the Unicorn Clan?

jiriku
2009-11-05, 11:52 PM
Okay, that helps clarify things. I may have to bump up all the 2/int per level martial classes to avoid railroading them into seppuku. I'll need to talk to them about just how much honour they expect/want.

As a side note, I have some sourcebooks such as tome of battle and complete arcane, just no other oriental ones.

So at first, my PCs would be treated like members of the Unicorn Clan?

Less than Unicorns. The Unicorn can at least make the claim the their ancestors were Rokugani. Your PCs are brute savages. Look at them! They wear the skins of dead beasts on their backs! (The prohibition on touching the dead extends to wearing leather items.) They wield odd weapons crafted for them by strangers, instead of the katana, an heirloom which houses the souls of one's ancestors. They're hairy and loud, they're too tall, and they telegraph their emotions to everyone. (Rokugani were very stoic, and were experts at concealing emotional reactions in public). They worship barbaric gods and don't even acknowledge their ancestors. They're so...other.


However, to backtrack a little on what I said before, there's room in an Oriental setting for characters who lack social skills - but the prestige and honor accorded to such characters may be sharply limited. In Rokugan, the Great Clans have a sort of social pecking order defined by what they do and how civilized they are:


1. Lion Clan (defense of the Emperor)
2. Crane Clan (mastery of the courts)
3. Phoenix Clan (knowledge and faith)
4. Scorpion Clan (secrets)
5. Dragon Clan (mysticism and history)
6. Unicorn Clan (exploration of barbarian lands)
7. Crab Clan (battle against demons)
8. Mantis Clan (jumped-up commoners and petty clans)

As you can see, there's room for nobles who earn the rank of samurai, rather than being born with it, and there's room for samurai who know nothing but barbarian culture and how to kill monsters...but they'll be at the bottom of Rokugan's social food chain.


Typical reactions they might expect:

The Mantis might respect their efforts to make a name for themselves, the Crab would only care if they know how to fight, and the Unicorn would at least tolerate their foreign ways. However, the Scorpion would manipulate and use them, the Dragon and Phoenix would ignore them, and the Crane and Lion would find their mere presence to be an insult and possibly a threat.


This is not to say that your plan to include them is a bad idea! Spicing up your game with Oriental cultures and settings adds six different kinds of awesome. But I want to emphasize that you've got LOTS of room to create a unique, flavorful campaign environment by making them feel not just that Rokugan is different from what they're used to, but that Rokugani perceive the players as different from what they're used to.

Edit: more skill points for the skill-less classes = good idea.

Valuable skills:

Craft (painting)
Craft (origami)
Craft (flower-arranging)
Knowledge (local)
Knowledge (religion)
Knowledge (nobility and royalty)
Diplomacy
Sense Motive
Bluff
Perform (poetry)
Perform (tea ceremony)
Perform (acting)
Perform (oratory)

osyluth
2009-11-06, 12:30 AM
Probably the most important thing for the feel of a setting is the fluff. So if you want the campaign to feel oriental, make the fluff oriental. So stuff that might be magical could be drawing on chi, or Weapon Focus could represent knowledge of weapon-relevant martial arts.

elliott20
2009-11-06, 01:32 AM
Less than Unicorns. The Unicorn can at least make the claim the their ancestors were Rokugani. Your PCs are brute savages. Look at them! They wear the skins of dead beasts on their backs! (The prohibition on touching the dead extends to wearing leather items.) They wield odd weapons crafted for them by strangers, instead of the katana, an heirloom which houses the souls of one's ancestors. They're hairy and loud, they're too tall, and they telegraph their emotions to everyone. (Rokugani were very stoic, and were experts at concealing emotional reactions in public). They worship barbaric gods and don't even acknowledge their ancestors. They're so...other.


However, to backtrack a little on what I said before, there's room in an Oriental setting for characters who lack social skills - but the prestige and honor accorded to such characters may be sharply limited. In Rokugan, the Great Clans have a sort of social pecking order defined by what they do and how civilized they are:


1. Lion Clan (defense of the Emperor)
2. Crane Clan (mastery of the courts)
3. Phoenix Clan (knowledge and faith)
4. Scorpion Clan (secrets)
5. Dragon Clan (mysticism and history)
6. Unicorn Clan (exploration of barbarian lands)
7. Crab Clan (battle against demons)
8. Mantis Clan (jumped-up commoners and petty clans)

As you can see, there's room for nobles who earn the rank of samurai, rather than being born with it, and there's room for samurai who know nothing but barbarian culture and how to kill monsters...but they'll be at the bottom of Rokugan's social food chain.


Typical reactions they might expect:

The Mantis might respect their efforts to make a name for themselves, the Crab would only care if they know how to fight, and the Unicorn would at least tolerate their foreign ways. However, the Scorpion would manipulate and use them, the Dragon and Phoenix would ignore them, and the Crane and Lion would find their mere presence to be an insult and possibly a threat.


This is not to say that your plan to include them is a bad idea! Spicing up your game with Oriental cultures and settings adds six different kinds of awesome. But I want to emphasize that you've got LOTS of room to create a unique, flavorful campaign environment by making them feel not just that Rokugan is different from what they're used to, but that Rokugani perceive the players as different from what they're used to.

Edit: more skill points for the skill-less classes = good idea.

Valuable skills:

Craft (painting)
Craft (origami)
Craft (flower-arranging)
Knowledge (local)
Knowledge (religion)
Knowledge (nobility and royalty)
Diplomacy
Sense Motive
Bluff
Perform (poetry)
Perform (tea ceremony)
Perform (acting)
Perform (oratory)


I agree with all of this. Establishing the social order pecking order is of paramount importance in the Rokugan game.

Now, there is one thing though, if they are simply adventuring inside of Rokugan but aren't actually getting deeply involved in the court intrigue, a lot of this will not mean too much other than just being color for the game.

but if the players are to install themselves within the Rokugani world, you want to make all of these skills matter by having people make use of them A LOT.

tie real consequences with failing to make an oratory check, or failing to observe tea ceremonies.

if they are seeking to get a local official to go along with something, they must first pass their skill checks in the relevant areas prior to making their diplomacy checks.

Crafty Cultist
2009-11-06, 02:49 AM
most of this advice applies well to noble characters but if you want a shadier focus then a yakuza based campain could be interesting

Hurlbut
2009-11-06, 01:02 PM
Regarding prohibition of leather items; I think that's only specific to one or two settings (OA's and L5R's settings). Because otherwise japanese armour did used leather http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ō-yoroi

I recall that the laquered scales on japanese armour could be either metal or hardened leather.

Frosty
2009-11-06, 01:06 PM
If they served well, the noble might easily recruit them as bushi (peasant soldiers).

Bushi means warrior, not peasant soldier. In fact, calling a peasant a bushi is probabky an insult to the celestial order and samurai will be offended and kill you.

Somewhere
2009-11-06, 01:09 PM
Along those lines, actual samurai didn't refer to themselves as samurai. They call themselves bushi, as they are warriors, after all. Samurai is the term used by non-bushi trash (and probably the higher ups too, not sure though), IIRC.

jiriku
2009-11-06, 01:14 PM
Bushi means warrior, not peasant soldier. In fact, calling a peasant a bushi is probabky an insult to the celestial order and samurai will be offended and kill you.

True. I was simplifying. In this context, I'm drawing the distinction that an offer of employment and a blade in the hand does not a samurai make.

TheThan
2009-11-06, 02:14 PM
And finally, is it safe to say that any martial class in D&D could be a samurai?


Remember Samurai is a title and position in society, you can be a soldier and not be a Samurai, just as you can be a Samurai and not be a warrior at all. Naturally they are also warriors. If you’re going for samurai as a player class then I suggest anything from TOB. It fits the setting, (specifically if you’re going for Jiānghú style worlds or you know anime).