New OOTS products from CafePress
New OOTS t-shirts, ornaments, mugs, bags, and more
Results 1 to 10 of 10
  1. - Top - End - #1
    Pixie in the Playground
     
    Lady Corvus's Avatar

    Join Date
    Oct 2020

    Default Help with Oriental Campaign!

    Hey everyone!

    I'd love it if I could get some help with possible encounters, quests and plot points in an oriental/eastern inspired campaign.

    Essentially, it's set across four fantasy states, each one inspired by the culture and mythology of a real world country: Japan, China, India and Indonesia (though the fourth has general Oceanic influences).

    As a requested spiritual successor to my previous sci-fi campaign, this one is also centred around an Academy where prospective heroes go to learn how to become adventurers, warriors and inventors. The Academy itself is a symbol of the four states' unity, despite years of conflict and war.

    Generally, I'd just love to hear some ideas regarding plot lines, mythology and mechanics that could work well in the setting.

    Huge thanks in advance,
    Corvie
    Married to Mister Biffo.

  2. - Top - End - #2
    Orc in the Playground
    Join Date
    Sep 2017
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Help with Oriental Campaign!

    A portion of this could be Legend of the 5 rings style game.

    Oni and demons of nature are played up in Japanese culture when presented to Western Culture. So, have an ongoing secret war be fought with Oni in several countries. This would be similar to war with Fey in D&D. Have this war be the focal point of several adventure arcs.

    The idea of saving face should play a large part of the Chinese and Japanese style states. Unusual high detail to etiquette and decorum and ceremonies. Dealing with an ambassador of the Japanese state should be wildly different than dealing the Indian style ambassador.

    Have at least 1 third of the country of the Oceanic country be underwater. Friendly underwater races would make it quite unique. There are a large number of water spirits/folk in indo culture.

    All 4 states/regions should have not just their own deities but completely different religions and creation stories. And major portions of those various stories are real and observable.

  3. - Top - End - #3
    Barbarian in the Playground
    Join Date
    May 2009

    Default Re: Help with Oriental Campaign!

    Quote Originally Posted by Lady Corvus View Post
    Hey everyone!

    I'd love it if I could get some help with possible encounters, quests and plot points in an oriental/eastern inspired campaign.

    Essentially, it's set across four fantasy states, each one inspired by the culture and mythology of a real world country: Japan, China, India and Indonesia (though the fourth has general Oceanic influences).

    As a requested spiritual successor to my previous sci-fi campaign, this one is also centred around an Academy where prospective heroes go to learn how to become adventurers, warriors and inventors. The Academy itself is a symbol of the four states' unity, despite years of conflict and war.

    Generally, I'd just love to hear some ideas regarding plot lines, mythology and mechanics that could work well in the setting.

    Huge thanks in advance,
    Corvie
    So...three out of four of these countries I've lived in and grown up on the history and myths of, and I can get voluable, so I'm going to pare this down to critical stuff. I'm also an anthropologist by trade, so I also get voluable in other ways.

    1. Metaplot

    Right off the top of my head, you need a metaplot to make these states have some kind of shared conflict, setting up the idea of both an adventuring academy and "adventuring" as a necessary task. It also makes sense if this conflict is not a full, total war but a kind of simmering long-term cut-and-thrust where there's both pockets of conflict to weed out (dungeon-equivalents, occupied towns, etc) and new incursions and plots that can be stamped out by a small team. A fully external enemy that unifies the four nations and is a strategic threat to all four at the same time in a way that creates "hot spots" of conflict a random points on the map makes more sense as a supernatural threat than a mundane outlander army that occupies and holds space. One deals with armies by raising armies, not adventurers.

    And there's actually a ready-made model for an overarching supernatural threat.

    All of the regions mentioned have in common a single document, the Ramayana. There are many versions in India, at least one version in Indonesia, in China the story becomes Xi You Ji (Journey to the West), and in Japan Xi You Ji becomes Gensomaden Saiyuki (which eventually becomes Dragonball).

    So a very apt general threat would be rakshasa or "demons" (not in the D&D sense of "from the Abyss," the general sense of roughly people-like supernatural beings with very humans drives but little to no morality) who have previously ruled or invaded these four nations, creating a common cause first to overthrow them and then to both resist re-capture and to weed out the remnants of a malevolent magic empire (the dungeons they leave behind and the scattering forces that are now bandits or evil rulers, and maybe even the human allies). If this was a long occupation, it would explain stuff like--having a common language across enormous territories; abandoned structures and other cursed places to explore; secret societies and hidden malevolent actors in the background--while the resistance war creates the basis for a conditional peace and exchange of information between nations, and the need for an extra-military exploratory force to solve problems in far-flung regions. This framework also creates a series of power vacuums and social upheavals that allow for stories about intrigue and internal conflicts, as each society has both their customary understanding of rulership, hierarchy, etc...except that in the aftermath of a total war most of those structures are weakened.

    Three out of four of those nations* also have an epic about internal civil conflict, with long meditations about the ideals of society versus the reality of controlling power. Mahabharata, Sanguo Yanyo...Romance of the Three Kingdoms...and Heike Monogatari** are difficult to compare--they all feel very different and have different functions--but for purposes of the meta-structure of an Asian-themed setting they suggest a similar feature of a mytho-history. Depending on how solid and homogeneous you want each state to be...it would be appropriate for the setting's past to have a knowable history in which the same geography was divided differently, and recollection of that conflict and those precursor societies has not completely gone away.

    An advanced version of this...which would make sense, given what happens when empire collapse...is that the antagonistic supernatural empire is defeated, but in the aftermath there is a conflict that determines the new distribution of territory. So the four kingdoms are culturally "old" but politically "new" (not year zero, but year 100), which also explains why there would be a need for adventurers and a landscape full of threats. This also centers adventurers also the problem solvers, while formal governmental entities are divided between mundane internal bureaucracy and national interests and aren't necessarily positioned to create state entities to solve problems.

    *I know the least about Indonesia, and what I do know is that it's has the least uniform folklore and body of cultural documents, as the various kingdoms and islands were only unified by colonialist fiat. There are recurring themes and elements, but it is harder to pick a small numbers of texts and say "this conveys a theme."

    ** There is no definitive single cultural document that depicts the later Sengoku Jidai, but there's an enormous quantity of material about it in Japan culture. Just because of sheer weight of material to go through--films, manga, anime, novels--there is a more inspirational material to work with.

    2. Supernature

    Given the cultures you're talking about, what they have in common in their belief structures is:

    The "real" world is the middle world, and there are upper and lower worlds. Some of these upper and lower realms functions as temporary afterlives that reward or punish, but many are just of a different substance and thus have different qualities. Lower realms are defined by spiritual blindness and acting without thought of consequence; upper realms are more balanced and thoughtful. Beings from the corresponding realms are likely to behave in a manner that fits with their realm, but stories often emphasize that virtue can bloom even in surprising places, and even those born into a pure upper land can become self-indulgent and inert. These realms are sometimes seen as reachable through physical travel--descending into caves or climbing mountains.

    Furthermore, the "real" world also contains spiritual realms that are not readily accessible by normal people. Running and still water leads to the realms of quasi-divine creatures like naga and dragons; mountaintops house the mansions of deities and faerie-like creatures like gandharvas. These locations are at minimum hard to physically travel to, and often can only be visited by consent of the realm's owner or by having some kind of supernatural power that makes these locations accessible, like being a powerful ascetic or a shaman. And while it isn't identical...large inhospitable forests are the places where ascetics and hermits retreat to, but also where ogres and witches create their domains.

    Regional folk religion posits varying degrees of land spirits, animal spirits, ancestor spirits, and malevolent spirits as being that are not divine but should be supplicated or warded against.

    Esoteric and ascetic practices creates a class of saintly mortal people who achieve immortality, supernatural powers, and even abilities equivalent to an intercessor deity.

    "Monsters" in the sense of supernatural beasts are prodigies rather than species: beings that exist as a physical manifestation of some kind of violation or misdeed, or brought into being by a powerful curse.

    Typology of quasi-divine things blurs frequently. Spirits become gods, monsters become spirits, undead become saints. Gods become smaller gods...lots of them.

    3. The map

    You also need a sense of map scale, welded to a sense of how complex you want each state to be. Three out of four of the nations you mention are really large physically and have for most of their history been smaller kingdoms. With a smaller map, it makes sense to play up commonalities because cultures are literally physically closer and thus have an easier time exchanging ideas, such that the four nations of your setting would have, say common vocabulary for religious concepts and kingship and family structures. The bigger the maps the more diversity of social structure and thought there's going to be.

    Smaller is more elegant and manageable, larger means more nooks and crannies to include more people, more stuff, and more subplots rooted in local history and regional conflicts.

    Maps also matter because of social geography--all of the nations are to a degree defined by the land they occupy, the annual rhythm of nature, the logic of what there is to eat and build with, and ease of travel.

    Japan isn't just an island, it's a very mountainous island where ideal growing conditions for calorie-dense crops is rare and thus at a premium. The verticality means lot of people living on manageable flat surfaces at different altitudes, but surrounded by too-vertical wild regions resulting in a society that's sedentary yet constantly surrounded by nature. If you're a ruler, controlling the land and the staple-producing peasants is even more imporant than elsewhere. Hot summers and cold winters has resulted in a layered food system--rice for spring and summer, wheat for autumn, buckwheat for winter--and a robust tradition of foraging and hunting for subsistence. The size of the island(s) and its distance from the mainland means that while there have been many internal power struggles, the culture has not been transformed by invasion or cultural overthrow where another hegemonic force has alter social structure, top-down (though it has experienced diffusion of ideas through trade). The pressure for land expansion has repeated driven invasions and colonization attempts--the takeover of Hokkaido, the Ryukyu Islands, Korea--and left cultural stamps in those locations. Japan is also near a tectonic plate and tsunamis, volcanoes, and earthquakes are traumas embedded in the culture's mythology.

    India is defined by the Himalayas, which accumulate snow that melts to form the basis of many rivers that irrigate North India--and because of this they view these mountains as divine abodes--and by the monsoon which allows dry regions to collect water and also creates west-east winds that facilitate boat trade. Even just clinging to coastlines, vessels from India can reach the Red Sea and Borneo. The overland tracks to the Caucasus Mountains and the Caspian Sea have facilitated a constant influx of both traders and invaders, each movement of people creating a more and more complex syncretism of beliefs and practices. Because it's geography and climate create many locations with food and wealth enough to sustain cities and militaries, India has had many regional powers that have become empires, though the central desert plateau has proved a logistical problem for northern invasions of southern territory, so the region has rarely been one nation.

    China is effectively five to six regions that have clashed with one another and unified at different times in history. It's earliest large sedentary populations form on the banks of a river that originates in the Tibetan Himalayas and travels west-east through the center of the nation, creating conditions conducive to first the domestication of rice and then the water-intensive paddy growing methods...which is a double edge sword because both drought and flooding are especially devastating. The high steppe to the north and the cold desert to the northwest resist the plow, but provide conditions for pastoral nomads who forge trade routes west, all the way the Black Sea, but also invade the warm lowlands in time of privation; many border regions are ethnically and cultural diverse because there's always a few trade-oriented outlanders who naturalize and become sedentary. The southern coast faces the East Indian Ocean and has winds that make passage to the islands of South East Asia possible, and has incredible fishing, and the peoples of the South have old cultural connections with the peoples of continental Southeast Asia. Like India's geography created an avenue for ready movement of goods and people in the region but also a box of valuable territory that all empires fought over, China's geography creates a sort of container in which the there are many biomes and climates that are good places for settlements, and the regions on their land borders--deserts, mountains, dense forests, taiga--are so hostile that an entirely different cultural mode is required to subsist and imperial expansion is just too expensive and difficult.

    Indonesia is a archipelago of tropical volcanic islands close enough to one another for their to be commerce and some cultural exchange, but far enough from one another that it's only very late in history that they were unified under a single political entity or were subject to homogenized top-down cultural forces. The islands are accessible from India and China, and seem to have been in continuous trade contact with those regions...this not just being a function of the demand for Indonesian spices or rice, but because the straits of Malacca and Sunda are chokepoints in the movement of trade through the Indian Ocean and whoever held them commanded enormous power over trade. Because the interiors of the islands are both dense forests and mountainous, premodern kingdoms have cleaved to the coasts--for fishing--and the hills--for terrace cultivation--preferring to create zones of suzerainty (regions paying tribute to a kingdom dominated by a single city) rather than direct rule. These kingdoms gain hegemony by superior naval power, and are thalassocracies in the same mode as Athens. This tribute system combined with the emphasis on coastal regions meant that even as there were powerful political entities operating, peoples were not assimilated or encultured to match hegemonic standard of dress, language, belief, etc, so throughout Indonesian history there many communities--riverine peoples, foragers and hill tribes in the interior of Kalimantan and Papua--simply left to do their own thing. And since almost all trade and movement is done by boats on coasts and rivers, and there are tons of hidden inlets and viable docks...piracy is always a viable survival strategy.

    4. Choosing essential qualities.

    All of these nations you've mentioned have enormous histories, most only being "nations" with homogenous law, governance, etc in the modern era. There's really no way to condense them down, so you're going to have to pick what features are the essence of a fantasy version of each region, or if there's some governing theme that transcends essentialism (I'm going to argue there is, btw)

    For example, to me high fantasy India, in its own media, is roughly:

    - Protagonists are mostly princes that are chariot warriors that wield bows and have magic spells they shoot like arrows. While there is sometimes character nuance, protagonists tend to be clear moral actors.
    - Antagonists are other princes, but also wicked creatures that are humanoid, eg asuras and rakshasas, that like power and control but have less instinct to be virtuous.
    - The heightened reality of the setting means mortals can do extraordinary things simply through prowess and skill. An arrow can behead a man leagues away, a single strike with a mace can kill an elephant, etc.
    - Magic is prayers to obtain boons (divine), the obtaining of supernatural power through asceticism (divine and/or psionic), war magic involving incantations (arcane and/or divine), alchemy.
    - Particularly notable and distinct examples of high magic are: creating "mind-born" offspring to perform tasks; the ability to render a curse that determines the nature of a person's death; oaths are supernatural covenants; half-human/half-deity hybrids with inherent physical and mental talents; disintegrating someone with mental energy; immortality through ascetic practice; magic arrows that create mass destruction or have the ability to harm invulnerable targets.
    - There are numerous semi-divine entities that are intelligent, shapeshift, have a humanoid form, and can acquire and wield magical powers, that can be allies or antagonists; there are very few supernatural beasts that are a general threat.
    - There are numerous sapient animals and/or therianthropic creatures that have societies, most notably, monkeys (macaques and langurs) and snakes. Sapient bears and eagles also turn up.
    Some of these elements don't jibe with rpg-style adventuring (heroes are literally princes), or are just hard to represent mechanically (spending years in meditation to get a wish fulfilled), or just are a constraint (very few magic beasts), but there's definitely a distinctive feel.

    I'm not sure how to condense down picking elements that are rooted in history and culture, because all the places you mention have really long histories and are very diverse. I mean, can't talk about religion, a lot of what makes places distinct is orthogonal to play--kinship structures and subsistence economy--or overwritten by the conceits of standardized playset--mortuary beliefs don't matter when the afterlife is knowable, superstitions don't explain the world when the supernatural is materially "real"--so really it's down to: what do people eat, what labor do they do to survive over the course of a year, how is power distributed, what is valuable and how is value circulated through exchange. I think it just comes down to making choices because there's no right answer. It would probably make more sense if these nations had a baseline tech level in common, with hot and cold spots where scarcity was different-particularly if players are expected anachronistic rpg-markets where they can get anything--but material culture would be more a function of social geography...which means a map and a round of "let's imagine" about what kind of people would live how at what place.

    [okay this is long...and is any of this helpful?]
    Last edited by Yanagi; 2021-02-14 at 10:06 PM.

  4. - Top - End - #4
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    RedMage125's Avatar

    Join Date
    Mar 2008
    Location
    I'm on a boat!
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Help with Oriental Campaign!

    Quote Originally Posted by Lady Corvus View Post
    Hey everyone!

    I'd love it if I could get some help with possible encounters, quests and plot points in an oriental/eastern inspired campaign.

    Essentially, it's set across four fantasy states, each one inspired by the culture and mythology of a real world country: Japan, China, India and Indonesia (though the fourth has general Oceanic influences).

    As a requested spiritual successor to my previous sci-fi campaign, this one is also centred around an Academy where prospective heroes go to learn how to become adventurers, warriors and inventors. The Academy itself is a symbol of the four states' unity, despite years of conflict and war.

    Generally, I'd just love to hear some ideas regarding plot lines, mythology and mechanics that could work well in the setting.

    Huge thanks in advance,
    Corvie
    It would help if we knew which system you were playing.

    For 5e D&D, for example, there's a product on DM's Guild that I eventually just shelled out for "Heroes of the Orient" that had a lot of good ideas for gameplay in an Oriental setting. There's some new classes and subclasses, some new races and subraces, but also new mechanics like an Honor and a Taint system, Iajutsu duels, and things like that. There's a separate book for Oriental Monsters, but I didn't pick that one up, so I cannot speak to it's quality.
    Red Mage avatar by Aedilred.

    Where do you fit in? (link fixed)

    RedMage Prestige Class!

    Best advice I've ever heard one DM give another:
    "Remember that it is both a game and a story. If the two conflict, err on the side of cool, your players will thank you for it."

    Second Eternal Foe of the Draconic Lord, battling him across the multiverse in whatever shapes and forms he may take.

  5. - Top - End - #5
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    Flumph

    Join Date
    Feb 2016

    Default Re: Help with Oriental Campaign!

    I second RedMage that what system you are using would be beneficial, especially when asking for advice about mechanics.

    I also second gijoemike for mining Legend of the Five Rings for some ideas. Depending how closely you want these actions to cleave to their real world counterparts, the L5R material would most closely align with Japan, however, you could also look at how the clans interact and balance/war with each other as a model four your four nations.

    I find the "r/Rokugan" subreddit to be a relatively good place that I can mine for ideas for my own, more classical/occidental campaign settings. Of particular note are the "C/F/S" posts ("Challenge/Focus/Strike", apparently a L5Rs thing, giving a situation, a problem, and a twist or climax).

    You might also look into the Four Gods/Four Symbols (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_S...ive_Principles) if you want a second set of themes for your nations. Each is associated with a color & direction for "ease of use". Also an "element" and a season that can use as a theme.

    As a big "bonus" (at least in my opinion), there is a 5th associated neutral creature (a Qilin/Kirin), when can be the stand in, or theme, for your academy. Quick thought, you can have a Kirin actually (or at least nominally) running the academy. Move over, Dumbledore, we've got a flying, talking holy dragon-horse at the helm of our academy.

    I don't know if this campaign is also Traveller based, but if its D&D or similar you could also populate each nation with differing exotic creatures (I guess you can kind of do this in Traveller, but my impression is that it is less of a thing, with e.g. Aslan being very close to Humans performance wise, where say, a PC and dragon would be very different). For example, India has Nagas and Rakshasas, whereas Japan has Oni and Fey-like Yokai.


    In terms of mechanics, some things come to mind:
    1. Decide early on if you want the PCs to spend most/all of their time in the vicinity of the Academy or do you want them to travel regularly afield. If the former, build mechanics based around that relatively unique premise. For example, XP (or whatever advancement mechanic you use) can be doled out on the basis of doing well in classes; your PCs will probably have rivals among the student body as "recurring antagonists. If the later, you'll probably want to prepare some travel mechanics (either by land or boat).

    2. If you haven't already (you didn't mention anything), determine what kind of focus you want your game to have and what system you want to run. For example, D&D tends to be combat based (it can do some other things, but some the classes mostly focus their ability on combat). Call of Cthulhu is built around investigative horror. Traveller, from what I can tell, has a lot of focus on starships, etc.

    3. If your desired genre and system don't match up, build mechanics to bridge the gap between the two. For example, L5R has judicial duels be the norm, binding and socially acceptable, in order to give combat centric characters some to contribute in courtly social situations. You could do something similar in a D&D game, for example, but I'd make it party against party (because D&D is based around party combat).
    Last edited by Sharur; 2021-02-15 at 08:17 AM.

  6. - Top - End - #6
    Dwarf in the Playground
    Join Date
    Mar 2009

    Default Re: Help with Oriental Campaign!

    Quote Originally Posted by Yanagi View Post
    [okay this is long...and is any of this helpful?]
    I'd love to here more about your thoughts, especially more about the individual culture's...your anthropological approach is killer, super intresting.

    @OP I know it's got a storied history with RPGs, but you might consider ditching "Oriental". That's getting to the ole timey kind of racism at this point, and it took me showing this thread to friend to even notice myself, but even instant noodles are oriental anymore.

    Cheers
    Last edited by Gorilla2038; 2021-02-18 at 01:11 PM. Reason: Avoid double post

  7. - Top - End - #7
    Ettin in the Playground
     
    t209's Avatar

    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    California
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Help with Oriental Campaign!

    So I got some talks from RPG communities about one iffy subject.
    Honor system, or how they are usually implemented in the usual session.
    Other than the restrictions and problematic association with Asians--mostly Japanese and Chinese--with honor (also the ever-annoying "Samurai not using guns because of dishonor despite heavy utilization"), part of me feel that most Asian stories don't deal with such concept (Chinese fantasy, Wu Xia and Xian Xia tends to be focused on humble average joes fighting the good fight, either saving the day or beating tyrannic nobles--and concept of honor is mostly deconstructed).
    Also maybe mostly doing the consequence and reputation system (like saving the town, doing work for magistrate, or groups will earn respect) being more suggested, even in normal DnD settings.
    To be honest, I tried reading OA but it felt really dated (works when your audience isn't in time when anime--at least close to original source--wasn't widespread, the availability of Chinese works like Three Kingdoms in visual media, or Avatar setting the high-bar for Asian-style fantasy) mostly it's trying to emulate Samurai movies but have issues to not wanting to put more fantasy--like monsters or sorcerors--to keep its authenticity for players. Aka not the type for those who wanted to RP Naruto or Tanjiro.
    Badly drawn helmet avatar drawn by me.
    Rest in Peace:
    Spoiler
    Show
    Miko Miyazaki, Thanh, Durkon- Order of the Stick
    Krunch- Looking For Group
    Bill- Left 4 Dead
    Soap Mactavish- Modern Warfare 3
    Sandman- Modern Warfare 3
    Ghost and Roach- Modern Warfare 2
    Gabe- Dead Space 2
    Dom- Gears of War 3
    Carmine Brothers- Gears of War series
    Uriel Septim VII- Elderscrolls Oblivion
    Commander Shepherd- Mass Effect 3
    Ned Stark- Song of Ice and Fire
    Apple Jack's parents

  8. - Top - End - #8
    Troll in the Playground
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    Protecting my Horde (yes, I mean that kind)

    Default Re: Help with Oriental Campaign!

    Quote Originally Posted by t209 View Post
    So I got some talks from RPG communities about one iffy subject.
    Honor system, or how they are usually implemented in the usual session.
    Other than the restrictions and problematic association with Asians--mostly Japanese and Chinese--with honor (also the ever-annoying "Samurai not using guns because of dishonor despite heavy utilization"), part of me feel that most Asian stories don't deal with such concept (Chinese fantasy, Wu Xia and Xian Xia tends to be focused on humble average joes fighting the good fight, either saving the day or beating tyrannic nobles--and concept of honor is mostly deconstructed).
    L5R is the one on that general does this, and is driven by the core conceit that political standing is a function of keeping track of one's successes and faux pas. It helps that the characters are supposed to be members of the noble families of a setting inspired by Japan.

    The games does note the is a metaphysical thing going on with Honour, which is why some very odd game mechanics like magic will interact with it.

    Also maybe mostly doing the consequence and reputation system (like saving the town, doing work for magistrate, or groups will earn respect) being more suggested, even in normal DnD settings.
    To be honest, I tried reading OA but it felt really dated (works when your audience isn't in time when anime--at least close to original source--wasn't widespread, the availability of Chinese works like Three Kingdoms in visual media, or Avatar setting the high-bar for Asian-style fantasy) mostly it's trying to emulate Samurai movies but have issues to not wanting to put more fantasy--like monsters or sorcerors--to keep its authenticity for players. Aka not the type for those who wanted to RP Naruto or Tanjiro.
    If it were me I'd do what you suggest and switch the phrasing to reputation, which is much more in line with what L5R is actually trying to do.

  9. - Top - End - #9
    Ettin in the Playground
     
    t209's Avatar

    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    California
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Help with Oriental Campaign!

    Quote Originally Posted by Beleriphon View Post
    L5R is the one on that general does this, and is driven by the core conceit that political standing is a function of keeping track of one's successes and faux pas. It helps that the characters are supposed to be members of the noble families of a setting inspired by Japan.

    The games does note the is a metaphysical thing going on with Honour, which is why some very odd game mechanics like magic will interact with it.



    If it were me I'd do what you suggest and switch the phrasing to reputation, which is much more in line with what L5R is actually trying to do.
    True, but then again, I do get into game mechanics ideas thanks to DnD.
    And tend to look at Fallout, especially older ones, for reputation mechanics (definitely not dialogue choices because players can think up on the fly).
    Still I kinda like the idea behind Path of Waves, aka "average joes, tourists, merchants, ronin, and police" stories (Bushido tried it as someone pointed out) for non-samurai stories.
    Badly drawn helmet avatar drawn by me.
    Rest in Peace:
    Spoiler
    Show
    Miko Miyazaki, Thanh, Durkon- Order of the Stick
    Krunch- Looking For Group
    Bill- Left 4 Dead
    Soap Mactavish- Modern Warfare 3
    Sandman- Modern Warfare 3
    Ghost and Roach- Modern Warfare 2
    Gabe- Dead Space 2
    Dom- Gears of War 3
    Carmine Brothers- Gears of War series
    Uriel Septim VII- Elderscrolls Oblivion
    Commander Shepherd- Mass Effect 3
    Ned Stark- Song of Ice and Fire
    Apple Jack's parents

  10. - Top - End - #10
    Titan in the Playground
     
    Prime32's Avatar

    Join Date
    Nov 2008
    Location
    Ireland
    Gender
    Male

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •