Legend of the 5 Rings- 1 Year of Rokugan- Campaign Journal

[Ameraaaaaa]

Cheers Soul Salvage, I am enjoying running it and playing it!

Thanks to some players travelling, new adventure update posts will miss the next couple of weeks. However, do not despair as the campaign is not over yet! It will be back soon.

The next couple weeks will be some other games, but still TBD, and then back at it in Rokugan when the full party returns.

Hope their trip goes well!

[Easy e]

After two weeks off due to travel, we are back. One of our players actually returned from a work trip from Japan.

Last Time
Dragon envoys came calling to the Valley of the Emerald Stairway. Their leader, Lord Takoe came to collect his bride, our players Crane Shugenja to unite the two families. With him was his younger sister who despised our Dragon clan monk. He also brought a political assassin, who tried twice to kill the Crane Shungenja, once at dinner with poison, and a second time at a lakeside meeting with a poisoned arrow. Both were thwarted.

In addition to bringing an assassin, the Dragon party also brought in a Yasuki Crane spy, who snuck into the former Lord's room and tried to find his will. This Yasuki was caught byt he PCs, and he revealed that his lord sent him to find the will in order to boost their claim to the Valley during the Winter Court.

At the end of the last session, the PCs were pretty sure that the culprit was one of the Dragon entourage, but they had no testimony. In addition, their Lion clan duelist was poisoned when they intercepted the poisoned arrow intended for the Crane Shugenja. Things were at a boiling point, but just short of accusations in the courtyard of the Stone Walled Estate.

The Final Session of Summer
The players found additional tertiary evidence about who they suspected was the poisoner. However, they could not find any testimony. The Poisoner and the PCs had done enough to muddy the waters, so the Testimony was critical. They had various ideas about how to find additional evidence, but struggled with the concept of Rokugani law about testimony vs evidence. Evidence means nothing, only the eyewitness of a fellow samurai mattered.

The Dragon tried to convince the Crane Shugenja to simple leave with them to the safety of their own lands. However, the Crane artfully dodged such advances, instead compromising to let one of the Dragon become her Yojimbo since the Lion Duellist was out of commission, wandering around in a hallucinogenic state, be escorted around like a mad-relative from the poisoning.

They considered challenging the suspect to a duel, BUT backed off because their best Duelist was out sickened. They had seen the suspect use Iajitsu dueling techniques previously, and the second best duelist was not confident they could win. They knew this was the worst possible outcome was to challenge and lose. They also contemplated the idea of allying with the Yasuki in their custody in an attempt to gain the Testimony they needed, but realized that their plan would only lead to more evidence and not true Testimony.

Finally, they settled on a plan. They knew their Crane Shugenja was the target, so she decided to use herself as bait. They set a trap for the assassin. They forced the killers hand, in order to lure them out into the open to try and kill them again. The plan worked well enough, but almost got the Crane Shugenja killed. However, they were able to apprehend the suspect alive, and they confessed to the crime as the Dragon Yojimbo and other PCs could provide the necessary testimony. The assassin let the PCs know that they were following the orders of... (edit to add this part in)Lord Takoe's father, who ordered the hit on his son's potential bride. It was unclear why.

Lord Takoe agreed to post-pone the wedding until the ownership of the Valley was resolved at Winter Court. He and his colleagues left the Valley with the assassin. In addition, the PCs decide to let the Yasuki go back to his lord, empty-handed. However, the PCs did locate the documents to help solidify their claim that the Yasuki had been looking for.

We wrapped up Summer, and the characters gave quick epilogues on what they did from the end of Summer, through the Harvest, through a Harvest Festival and then into the start of our next Autumn session. The Unicorn leaned into her background and talked about how they were starting to write a play to prove they were as good as their great-aunt. The Crab leaned into his character about helping gather food for the harvest, help the peasants, and start canning stuff for winter. The Crane and Lion leaned into their background about looking for his lost sister, and finding clues to her location in the City of the Winter Court. The Dragon Monk and Scorpion were less sure what their characters would be doing.

For Autumn, the PCs were instructed by Lady Ao to collect the taxes from the three villages of the Valley and then take them to her Father's estate in 12 days time. They travelled up and down the valley and collected the taxes with no incidents. They suspected treachery or challenge from the Peasants along the way, but it was an easy collection process. They then began the trek up the pass that lead out of the valley.

Once they got to the top, they realized what the complication was going to be. A group of 10 or so Lion Samurai were waiting for them at the top of the Pass. They had blocked off the trail and demanded that the party turn back by order of their Lord Matsu Katari. The Lion were claiming that they were the rightful owners of the Valley, and that none were allowed to leave. The PCs ended the night facing this latest challenge.

Character Details
The Crane Shugenja is very weak, and the other PCs nicknamed them Origami-Chan. Therefore, it was a surprise to me when they came up witht he plan to use themselves as bait to draw out the assassin. I did not expect them to develop this plan, and was assuming that Lady Ao would have to suggest it to them. The other PCs tried to come up with other ways around using them as bait, but ultimately the Crane insisted. I gave them a bonus to their Honor and glory for such a bold and self-sacrificing move.

The poisoned Lion also did a good job of making his character spout feverish nonsense, and wander around causing complications for the party. However, he also studied up on the rules and discovered a clever way to use his Void and Medicine skill to potential off-set the effects of the poison for the final showdown. They players were not sure if they would have to fight all of the Dragon retinue or not. In addition, the player spent time understanding the rules for grappling in order to subdue the poisoner alive. They are trying to learn the actual game.

The Crab and Scorpion are doing a fine job actually role-playing. I think they have discovered who their character is and applied it in the game. The two of them did give me some guff about my GMing skills, but it was good natured ribbing. I don't do voices at all. Plus, they were joking about how the game was too much like a drama and not enough Fantasy. Again, good natured fun as they dialed in and played detective, their characters, and focused in when the big showdown occurred. The group also was challenged by Rokugani law as they really just wanted to use combat to solve their problems, which seems to be a theme with this group.

My biggest concerns were with my Unicorn and Dragon Monk players. The Dragon Monk is still struggling to wrap his head around his character, and decided that he is a reactive fellow. He has few goals of his own. The Unicorn was just having a tough time getting into the game after being off for a few weeks. I will need to think about how I want to engage them further, or if I want too. It maybe enough that they were not distractions.

GM Notes
This was a really tough game to GM. After being off for two weeks, the group was a bit rowdy and tough to keep on point. I have a pretty light hand as a GM, and generally let them go about what they wanted to do and then corralled them back when I was ready to move forward. The group is large, and I really have to force the spotlight to move around. They do not generally move it around to each other. If I let them, a few of the Players would keep the spotlight on themselves all night.

They were really struggling around Testimony, and that evidence literally means nothing. However, I was pleased that they eventually figured out a dangerous way to get what they wanted on their own and finally overcame their block on Testimony. I was open to any solution they wanted, but reminded them of a few key points to help spur their creativity. That the assassin was targeting the Crane, that the poison antidote was not available except for a few weeks away, that the only antidote was probably with the poisoner in case they accidentally poisoned themselves, etc.

I am happy how a few of my players have gotten comfortable and are leaning into the game. However, not everyone is there yet. That is fine, if I have over 50% of the group the game can continue. My biggest concern is my Dragon Monk, as he has not found his character's spirit yet. He has no goals for the character at all, and we he said he was having a hard time. I will nudge him a bit next time, and give him a few options based on his characters advantages, disadvantages, and being a member of the Tattooed Orders. The Unicorn knows, but was just off their game last night. It happens.

However, I think the biggest challenge of the game was keeping the stakes high and interesting after a few weeks off. I had spent the previous two sessions ramping up the tensions, building the stakes, and ultimately all the effort was wasted. We came into this session cold, and ultimately I had to try and build all of it back-up again but quicker. I do not think it worked very well.

I got some good natured ribbing about the nature of the game and my GM style. I laughed along with it, and leaned into the jokes myself. However, these good-natured jokes I also filed away as a warning. The players maybe telling me what they want more of, or need. I may have to adjust what I have planned going forward to meet those needs. Not sure about the voices though, I never was good at those, but I think they are asking for more theatricality and possibly tools to differentiate NPCs in an NPC heavy game.

In addition, I think they want more katana action and less drama. The big showdown tonight lasted about 15 minutes, and less than 2 turns in initiative and no one died. I think they are looking for more Red Meat, and that might impact how they approach some of the political problems they will face as they themselves get restless.

However, we are onto Autumn. I expect this to last about 2-3 more sessions, and then maybe 3 session in the Winter Court. Assuming we can stay on track, I should have it wrapped up by June.

[Ameraaaaaa]

The assassin let the PCs know that they were following the orders of

1st sounds like a good session. Nice gming and good you noticed the ribbing and planning to adjust.

2ed who was the assassin following the orders of. You forgot to type that part.

[Easy e]

LOL..... I got pulled away and got distracted apparently!

The assassin was working for Lord Takoe's Father, who had ordered the hit in the first place! The reason why is still unclear.

Edit: I also went back an added it into the full text above.

[Pauly]

Sounds like another really good session.

With the tattoed dragon monk - what is his tattoo? Is there some hook that you can work in around the tattoo?

[Easy e]

He has Arrowroot (for Healing) and Cloud(the one that allows him to commune with the Kami). However, he has not made use of that one much. It was not entirely clear if the group would have a Shugenja when he picked that tattoo.

[Pauly]

He has Arrowroot (for Healing) and Cloud(the one that allows him to commune with the Kami). However, he has not made use of that one much. It was not entirely clear if the group would have a Shugenja when he picked that tattoo.

Maybe you can give him a chance to RP a way to change his cloud tattoo, since that doesn't seem to be useful to him.
In the L5R wiki it says the cloud tattoo allows him to communicate with all spirits, but I’m not sure if that is how it works in 3rd edition. Maybe some of the local spirits can start engaging with him? Kind of like in Ghost when Whoopi Goldberg’s fake medium turns out to be a real medium and then she gets all the spirits lining up to get her to speak to the living.

[Easy e]

Oof! COVID has struck our group, so it seems unlikely we will get in our normal game this week.

I am starting to think this campaign is cursed! Cursed I tell you!

[Ameraaaaaa]

Oof! COVID has struck our group, so it seems unlikely we will get in our normal game this week.

I am starting to think this campaign is cursed! Cursed I tell you!

Sorry to hear that. Covid sucks. I know. I had it.

[Easy e]

Well, this campaign has been a bit choppy with lot's of starts and stops. I think this has hindered the players ability to understand the rules and "get into it" very well. After another week of missing, we got back at it and picked up where we left off. Sadly, we are going to miss next week as well due to travelling. The general rule is if more than 2+ people are out, we do something else other than the campaign. Next week, we know 2+ people are out. Like I said, I think this campaign is cursed.

Last Time
The players managed to wrap up the poison plot of Summer with the Dragon Clan they were hosting. We then time skipped to autumn, just after the harvest. Lady Ao asked the PCs to collect the rice taxes from each village in the Valley and take it to her father's house for pick-up by the Crane authorities. The PCs went up and down the Valley and easily collected the prepared taxes from each village and then proceeded to head out of the Valley.

At the top of the Fumiko Pass at the Traveler's Shrine, their way was blocked when they came across a large group of Lion samurai led by Akodo Kafur. The young Lion insisted that the PCs return to the Valley by the order of his father. The Lion had laid claim to the Valley. The PCs explained that Lady Ao was in charge and that she had ordered them to bring the taxes for collection. They were at an impasse.

Session 7
We started the session with the stand-off. The Players had a quick discussion and decided they were in "the right" in this case and proceeded to just try and move through the Lions. Kafur restated that the orders from his Lord were that no one can leave the Valley through the pass. The Lions responded by pulling out their weapons, restating their orders and asking the players to de-escalate. The players did not, and violence erupted as their was no face saving way for the Lions to avoid fighting, and the Players did not think their was a face-saving way to avoid conflict.

About 2 and a half hours of real time later, and all 10 of the Lions were dead. The Characters were in rough shape too. They had used all their Void points, and all of their spell slots. The Hiruma Scout and Scorpion Tank were on the verge of death, the Lion Duelist and Crane Shugenja were Crippled, the Unicorn was Hurt, and the Dragon Monk was unharmed thanks to the Defense Stance. The players then decided to terminate with extreme prejudice any of the Lions that were not dead, and burned the bodies. The Hiruma Scout and Scorpion advocated looting them as well, but the Lion Duelist instead gathered up their Daisho to be returned to their families.

The PCs then spent the next two days hobbling down to the closest Inn, and trying to heal up as they went. When they got to the Inn two days later, they still had some light injuries despite magic. There, they ran across Bayushi Shoko, a female Scorpion courtier with her 4 Yojimbos waiting for them. She treated them to a meal and alcohol and they talked a bit. The Players decided to rest at the inn. Shoko re-iterated who was making claims on the value, and covertly tried to find out what the PCs claims were based on, and the Crane told her exactly what she wanted to know.

The Scout and the Dragon Monk decided to stay with the taxes and peasants outside to guard it, while everyone else went inside to rest for the night. We ended the session there.

Character Details
Well, the combat was the focus this week, so not much in the way of character details that I recall. I think after the last 3 or so sessions, the players themselves were spoiling a bit for a fight. Not 100% sure why, but they left the last session and came into this one ready to rumble. Maybe because they did not get to solve the Poison Plot with much of a fight.

The Scout seemed unusually blood thirsty as he normally likes to talk before attacking, and my Dragon Monk was very passive-aggressive about fighting. He pretty much instigated the fight by ignoring the Lions blockade and then spent the whole fight in Defensive stance, avoiding blows. Not sure what was going on with him, but afterwards he said he really enjoyed the fight itself.

When they arrived at the Inn and met the Scorpion courtier, they were very wary. They were careful not to over-indulge in alcohol and wary of the food they received, eating only enough to be polite. The Scout and Dragon Monk did not trust her at all, because they shouldn't have. Meanwhile, the Crane was all about chumming it up with them. The rest were a bit more interested in healing up before the next leg of the journey.

GM Challenges
Well, this was the first peer-vs-peer fight in the system, and it was a lot to juggle as the GM. I was basically running 10 characters with Void Points, various weapons, abilities, injury levels, initiatives, and special tricks. It was a challenge to say the least. I am not sure the players enjoyed it much when the enemies were using Raises and Void Points on them! I know the Crane Shugenja was really disappointed when they tried to heal the Lion Duelist and their heal got counter-spelled by the enemy Shugenja! Leaving them very vulnerable. It was a touch-and-go battle with the PCs having an initial success, to see it ebb away as the Lions re-grouped and started using stances, Void, and other tricks. The PCs also quickly learned that injury could really hamper your ability to do things and were a bit less cavalier about it as the battle went on.

I think this week, I saw a lot of D&D-isms. The whole instigation of the fight with the Lions in the first place. The displeasure at having peer enemies use the PCs own tricks against them effectively. A desire to kill every last enemy, instead of helping them and sending them after defeating them which is actually rewarded in L5R. The desire to loot the bodies which is not rewarded in L5R. The PCs did not even really try to de-escalate, which is classic D&D thinking. I think after the last 6 sessions that have been relatively RP heavy, too much time away from the game, and long held beliefs about how to RPG really came to a head in this session.

Feedback afterwards, was that they really enjoyed the combat. The players must have felt challenged, because at one point they were begging a fellow player to "use Void Points now" because they felt like they were getting their arse handed to them. It must have been close, because of how they reacted when all the Lions were down. The Crane did ask for surrenders when the Lions fell to being out-numbered but the Lions had no real face saving way to back out of the battle. In previous sessions, enemy Samurai had given up; but not this time. I had them fight to the bitter end, because the Players were so beat up too. However, I was surprised when they then decided to basically "headshot" each of the downed fighters and kill them all.

I did not enjoy the combat. It was a huge chore to run, and frankly 2 and a half hours of real time for a 36 second game time fight felt really boring and like the waste of a session to me. Where the fight took place, wasn't even that interesting to me. It was a clearing at the top of a pass, with a blizzard pressing in.

The players said they enjoyed the fight, but were not impressed with how L5R's combat worked and found it cludgy. I honestly think the problem was more that they did not know how to optimize the combat, and they did NOT like the idea of being hurt made it harder to do things. They also were not keen when the enemies used the players own combat tricks against them. What do you mean other samurai have Void points, combat stances, and Katas? Also, I am not a GM that is easily buffalo'd about things, and I heard it mention in the table talk between the players. It was no more-or-less cludgy than D&D combat, perhaps even less so as maneuver was a bit freer.

I also do not think they like that I frequently have the person who's initiative turn it is declare what they are doing, then when they are rolling, I go to the next person to see what they are doing, then go back to the person who finished rolling, and get results. I think they want me to wait until they are completely done with their spotlight moment. It really slows things down, but I get the thinking behind it from their perspective. Since this group is not great about sharing and moving the spotlight in the first place.

Finally, there was something about this session that I can not put my finger on, but after leaving I was ready to wrap up the campaign and not continue it further. I left feeling like I was not delivering the players the experience they wanted. I have asked for feedback every session, added more maps per request, more minis, and printed out images that I can hold up when talking to NPCs per request. I have adapted to what they have told me. We have had a lot of starts and stops and that has disrupted the "vibe" of the campaign and I do not think all the players have settled into what this campaign is about or even what their character's niches are. The fact that their are all these starts and stops makes me think that the players are not all that into it. I think I am going to finish off Autumn, and wrap the campaign. If they are not vibing with what has happened so far there is no way they will enjoy a Winter Court scenario I have written up and I would rather just go to the next game than play a difficult to GM Winter Court scenario that they aren't that into.

We will see what the players say when I broach the subject of ending after Autumn. I feel like I need to follow THE MOST IMPORTANT RULE and that is to make sure all players are having a good time. I get the feeling that is not happening. Therefore, it is time to end the game. Too bad, I had all ready started writing some scenarios up for Year 2 in Rokugan.

[Ameraaaaaa]

Agreed about rule zero but if running long combats like this isn't fun for you like you said maybe you should be straight forward about your desires. If your players like combat and you like rp try and find balance for it. If the combat wasn't fun because of 5 rings itself then perhaps find a combat system you really like and stick with that. Afterall gm burn out is a real issue these days.

[Pauly]

Sorry to hear things went south the way they did.

This is the sort of situation where I’d be tempted as a GM to offer the players a one time only offer of a retcon. This is because there appears to be a big discrepancy between the player’s decisions and what the characters would have chosen for [reasons]. The player’s decision feel wrong because it is both against the lore and the game mechanics [specifically not getting the bonus for healing foes].
If you feel you want to try to salvage the campaign you could offer the players to bring the situation back to where they have the defeated enemies before them before they liquidated them or offer them that instead of necking them that they healed up the defeated Lions and sent them back to their master with a suitable message.

In this type of situation I find it valuable to try and analyze where things went wrong. So I’ll offer some observations/suggestions/ideas.
- The players being in a D&D mind space of “kill the monsters and steal their stuff”.
- The players believing they were in a fight to the death because their opponents wouldn’t back down from the fight and declined an offer of surrender during the fight.
- players are often more vicious to near peer enemies that are tough opponents than easy opponents they ROFL stomp.
- players might have been thinking historical Japanese warfare not the romanticized ideals of Bushido/L5R, kind of like how real 13th Century European warfare had little in common with the code of chivalry or Arthurian legends.
- the players were looking for a fight for a number of reasons (length of time between fights, curiosity as to how fights go in L5R, not wanting to do diplomacy because diplomacy is hard).

From a GMs perspective.
- What could the Lions have done to avoid combat? Is there something they could have suggested to the PCs other than ‘right let’s have on’? No one wants to go around starting fights especially when the outcome is far from certain.
- Maybe you could have offered a trial of champions to settle the dispute rather than let it escalate into a full scale blooodbath.

Re the length of time for the fight
- what caused it to take 2 1/2 hours? I don’t know the system but that seems excessively long.
Unfamiliarity with the rules causing players and GM to spend time looking things up?
Player indecision causing players to take too long on their individual turns?
Can the dice rolling be sped up by rolling chains of dice together rather than rolling one dice then rolling the next and so on?

[Easy e]

The odd part is, I do not think the Players yet perceive that "things went south". However, I have had some distance, and am in a different place. I think part of it was just personal fatigue going into the session so I was just not 100% on my GM game for this one. As far as what went wrong.....

- D&D-isms. They have never faced negative consequences for these behavior
- Gaps in play about the nature of this game
- The NPCs did not back down because there was no face-saving way to do so, and the PCs did not recognize this or care. On my part, I never explicitly said this was the case either.
- I did not have the NPCs offer an alternative, such as an honor duel, game of GO, or a story-telling contest. The PCs pushed and I pushed back.
- I did not stress enough how much a fight would be "bad for politics"
- The post-combat killings went very fast, almost an aside during a hectic wrap-up close to the end of a session. I did not stop what was happening and explain properly why that was a bad idea.
- A misunderstanding of Bushido and their Duty
- I did not properly align the players on how Civilized Rokugan is and how they would view this turn of events.

I do not think I will offer a retcon. To be honest, I'm not even sure the players were completely out of character. Instead, I want them to perceive that their actions had potentially negative consequences as they start to interact with more NPCs and the story of the Fumiko Pass starts to spread with folks they need to influence. I full expect the Lion, and the families whose kids got killed; to start a pretty aggressive grievance campaign and use this "tragedy" as leverage for the PCs and Lady Ao's unfitness to rule the Valley. Not fully sure how this will play out yet.

I think a big part of how it plays out will be how they decide to handle the return of the Daisho's of the slain. I can see 1 character wanting to take it on as a full on side quest, 3 not bothering to return them at all, and 2 willing to handle it as an epilogue action for Autumn. How they decide to handle this step will influence what happens next. As after Autumn is the Winter Court intrigues, if we get there; that will really show how this stuff all ties together in a meaningful way when they run into old NPCs again to make their final case in front of the Crane Lord.

The next challenge they face involves the Scorpion clan trying to sabotage their tax delivery in a non-lethal way. Some sneaking about, sabotaging the carrying handles of their taxes to delay them, and some performative offers for help. If their response to this is murderous..... well..... then perhaps I will wrap it all up after autumn. This might not be the game for them. :)




As for why combat took so long. There were 6 PC combatants and 10 Lion combatants. The Lions were not merely mooks, they were Peer Enemies. Therefore, anything a PC could do so could the Lions. That meant there were a lot of tricks like stances, Kata, Void Point usage, techniques, etc that were all in play. That is part of the reason it was so dangerous for the players too. Two of them were down, and the others were all roughed up pretty good. They consumed all their expendable resources. They all hobbled into the next part of the adventure with some injuries still. It just took a long time for peer-to-peer combat. It was tactical not in the sense of positioning, but choosing what resources and abilities to use when so the players and I were using a lot of brain power. Some of the mechanics also bogged things down a bit such as many rolls are opposed rolls and then damage afterwards and that just takes up time, you get worse the more hurt you are, drawing or changing weapons takes a turn, you can't change your stance until it is your turn, penalties from doing X can carry over, deciding on Raises before rolling, etc.


Overall, I still can not shake the feeling that the players are not vibing with this game because they just want to kill stuff and take their stuff. We spend plenty of time making jokes, laughing, and bantering; so it is still a very social experience with the folks at the table. However, I do not think this is the game experience they want to have. They feel that the Code of Bushido is restricting, worrying about the law is restricting, and social interactions in Rokugan are hard. Therefore, I think this might not be the game for these players. Perhaps they will prove me wrong still.

[Pauly]

Thanks for the very thoughtful reply.
I must admit if I was DMing there’s a 99% chance I’d have handled the fight the same way you did, but it’s only afterwards I’d start thinking about how I could have managed it better.

If the players are happy then it’s about handling the fallout as stories about “the massacre at Fumiko pass” start to circulate. [NB I had a side job teaching young kids English a few years back and Fumiko is a common girl’s name, but the Fumiko I taught was a very cute and innocent 7 year old, so I find the phrase “the massacre at Fumiko pass” hilarious].
Some random thoughts on the situation
- How will the party react if a traveling bard equivalent starts singing the song “the massacre at Fumiko pass” at the ryokan they're staying at?
- does Lady Ao send them a letter saying she heard you got ambushed by bandits pretending to be Lion clan, please tell me all the details ASAP?
- does the Scorpion player think the heavy armor will be more necessary now?
- Will the players try to lean into a reputation of badasses not to be f**ed with? Will they get offers of work from less savory elements?
- How will the PC’s families react to the news?
- Will any of the spirits of the slain Lions contact/harass the dragon monk via his cloud tattoo?

As for combat. It seems to be more an issue of becoming familiar with the rules than anything else. Hopefully future combats should speed up.

Finally if the players really want at least some elements of “kill the monsters and take their stuff” is there a chance to sprinkle some fights with oni or hunt the bear thats on a man killing rampage into year 2? Maybe as something they can do in the down time between seasons.

[Easy e]

Well, that second point for a Retcon does apply here. Hmmm, I will have to think about it.

We are currently two days from the incident in-game, and the events in the pass will probably not become more widely know until after the Autumn adventure is over. There were no survivors so it might take a bit until the dispatched Lions fail to report in, the Peasants that witnessed it start spreading the word around, and other NPCs get an idea of what actually happened.

I imagine most of the "fall-out" will happen between Autumn and Winter. With the Valley being relatively isolated the players may not even really know the reactions of the larger community until they are on the way to the Winter Court and almost there.

Finally, I planned for the Characters to start the process of going to Rank 2 in their various schools while at Winter Court as well.

As I was thinking about a potential Year 2, the first Spring session involved a Bear and an Oni. LOL. We will see if we get that far. If we do, there will probably be an actual year between this session and any sequels.

[Pauly]

The main reason I would consider offering a retcon is that it seems to have been a collective misunderstanding of the setting. If it was just one player going murder hobo I would let the players deal with it IC. For me it’s a really rare situation , something that comes up maybe once per decade of gaming. But if the players are happy with what they’ve done I’d be less inclined to offer a retcon, but foreshadow the future fallout either by a letter from Lady Ao asking WTF dudes?! or spirits haunting the dragon monk. As long as the players have an idea that there is a storm on the horizon and it is headed their way they can prepare for it IC.

On the bear front, I assume you’re aware of the Sankebetsu incident. On a hunt the dangerous critter a really good source for ideas is Jim Corbett’s trilogy of Man Eaters of Kumaon, The Man Eating Leopard of Rudraprayang and The Temple Tiger.

As a group the players seem to be heading towards the right headspace even if they’re not quite there yet. The dragon monk player appears to be the one who is having the most difficulty, which is why I think making the spirits of Rokugan engage with him if he isn’t engaging with Rokugan could help him get to the L5R frame of mind.

For any confrontation with onis I have the perfect battle music:-
https://youtu.be/z99ajcyaeyo

This is my 2 and a half year old son’s favorite song right now. A rough translation
Oni’s underpants are good underpants
They make you strong, they make you strong
They are made of tiger skin
They make you strong, they make you strong
You can wear them for 5 years and they won't tear
They are strong, they are strong
You can wear them for even 10 years, they still won't tear
They are strong, they are strong
Let's put them on, put them on oni’s underpants
Let's put them on, put them on, oni’s underpants
You, and me, and you, and you,
Everyone let's wear oni underpants!

[Duff]

Worth considering with the retcon...
Would having the massacre as part of thier record make engaging with the game in the "Rokugan way" more fun?
I feel like haunting the characters with that may make the players feel like playing by society's rules is too hard, creating more calls for bears and oni

[Easy e]

Yes, that is my concern..... and then the whole setting goes out the window and the game eventually ends in them all getting TPK'd as outlaws and renegades.

Which might be what they want to do? Who knows.

I think instead of haunting them, they will have some folks who approve of their actions, some who are ambivalent, and others who do not approve of their actions. Plus, the Lion lord who's son got killed will just make another good antagonist in addition to the planned antagonists.

We'll see what happens.

[Resileaf]

It feels natural to me that the Lions engineered the situation to make a battle between their squad and the PCs, if not a likely event, then definitely not an unexpected one. When one faction decides to blockade a road and threaten samurai from another faction(s) that they will kill them if they try to pass (especially when the PCs have legitimate reasons to want to pass through that road), they are fully prepared to do the killing part of the blockade.

That the Lions want to call this skirmish as an unwarranted massacre is also completely natural. They want the valley and they want to stake their claim on it, so portraying the current occupiers as violent usurpers lets them build their casus belli, at which point it's up to the Cranes to decide how much they want to counter the Lions' claims and seek allies among the other clans to try and make the Lions back off. Alliances change with the seasons and wars between clans are fought and forgotten within years as the balance of power shifts between each clan.

It's up to you to decide how each clan will take advantage of the situation and how they'll assist the belligerents for their own gain. It's fine to have a change in scope of the campaign, to take advantage of the players knocking the first domino piece and see if they try to stop the pieces from continuing to fall as the chain grows or if they revel in the increasing chaos.

[Angelalex242]

Rokugan works a little better when you have people who play Paladins in D&D involved. Bushido is slightly different from the Paladin code, but it's similar enough that playing a very honor character works with minor modifications.

I once had a GM let me play an Akodo Daimyo's son. (2nd son.) The whole campaign was about being the best tactician and general around, instead of my individual accomplishments on the battlefield. Also politics were important, because I represented the entire Lion clan most of the time I said anything. I had to be really careful about that.

[Pauly]

Worth considering with the retcon...
Would having the massacre as part of thier record make engaging with the game in the "Rokugan way" more fun?
I feel like haunting the characters with that may make the players feel like playing by society's rules is too hard, creating more calls for bears and oni

Yes, that is my concern..... and then the whole setting goes out the window and the game eventually ends in them all getting TPK'd as outlaws and renegades.

Which might be what they want to do? Who knows.

.

These replies have made me realize that I’ve been living in Japan for too long. Japan has a much more complex relation with ghosts, spirits and haunting than doesn’t map onto the English language in a way that I properly convey, but I will try to give a simplified explanation.

In Japan attitudes to spirits are based off 2 cultural norms. Firstly the ideal of harmony, which extends to being in harmony with the spirit world, which carries an obligation to try to placate spirits where possible. Second is the personal responsibility aka you broke it, you bought it value. For example in Japan there are essentially no public trashcans, if you create trash it is your responsibility to deal with it, it is not the city hall’s responsibility to provide you with a trashcan for your rubbish. So if a spirit contacts you specifically then it is your duty to deal with the spirit.

The Japanese word that most closely tracks to ghost in English describes a spirit that is the soul of someone who died and the soul is trapped on Earth and can’t leave to be reincarnated again. This is usually because of some unfulfilled obligation, not a vengeful or seeking justice soul which is the normal western idea. [NB vengeful ghosts do exist in Japanese folklore, but are much less common]. A Japanese ghost can be placated by either fulfilling the duty, demonstrating that the duty has already been fulfilled or showing that the duty is no longer necessary.

So using the Lions killed in the Massacre of Fumiko Pass as an example. Let’s say one of them was an orphan who was working with the Lions in order to earn enough money so his sister could have a dowry to marry a samurai status husband. His soul becomes trapped because his sense of duty to her is so strong. His soul isn’t going to be angry or seek vengeance on the PCs as the risk of getting killed in battle is part of a Samurai’s life, but he will want the PCs to solve the dowry problem. There are many ways the PCs could placate this ghost including:
- pay the dowry themselves
- Persuade a senior Lion to pay the dowry in honor of the brother’s bravery.
- Have the sister enter a nunnery
- Persuade the suitor’s family to accept the sister as a bride without a dowry on the promise of [?].
- One of the samurai PCs marry the sister
- Kill the sister.




Also just to be clear, EasyE’s plan of having the PCs encounter varied responses to the event is a perfectly good plan.

[Easy e]

If all goes well, we will be playing again tonight. A handful of the players seem legit eager to continue, so that has boasted my confidence a bit.

[Easy e]

Welcome back to Rokugan. Thanks to those reading along and those who are giving me great advice!

The group was back in action with a full 6 players. As a recap, we have a crane shugenja, a Lion duelist trained in the Kakita style, a Unicorn horse archer, a Scorpion tank, a Hiruma scout, and a Dragon Tattooed Monk in our party. We are playing L5R 3rd edition because that is what I had handy.

I have to say, going into this session I was pretty blasted. I personally had done a lot of travelling, work stuff, and non-game related stress. Therefore, I went into this session with trepidation that I could bring my A game. I hate it when real life gets in the way of make-believe life!

Last Time
As a recap, the party was asked by Lady Ao to ensure the taxes for the Valley of the Emerald Stairway were successfully taken to Doji Hansei's estate to be collected, the party had 12 days to complete this task. They went out and easily collected the taxes from the valley's villages. They proceeded to leave the Valley, when at the top of the Fumiko Pass they were halted by Lion Clan samurai tryign to blockade the Valley.

This led to an altercation in which all the Lion were defeated by the party. However, the party then proceeded to make sure all the downed samurai were dead. They then gathered up their daisho and limped away.

At the bottom of the pass, they came to the Inn on their journey. There they met with a Scorpion courtier and her escorts. They parlayed a bit and then decided to call it a night.

Session 8
We started the session with a recap. I also used this time to remind them that they killed all the Lion and gathered their Daisho to return to their families. At this point, the group shared that they killed all the samurai as they did not want any testimony about what happened at the pass to be given by survivors later. They only wanted their side of the story to be seen as "facts" based on what happened with the importance of testimony with the Dragon Poisoner.

We then sorted out who was doing what and where after leaving the Scorpion for the night. The Scorpion Tank and the NP Scorpion had an impromptu meeting in the bath house. The NPC tried to learnt he true story of the Pass from the PC, and the PC artfully ducked the questions. However, I think they forgot that part of the bargain for the armor was to find out the Scorpions claim on the Valley, as they did not try to get the information in return.

While the PCs were sleeping, the scout was awoken when he heard the call of a bird. However, the call was from a day bird, not a night bird. Finding this suspicious, he awoke and roused the Unicorn and the Dragon Monk. They went to check-up on the Rice. They saw some shadowy figures moving around at the edge of the camp.

The scout decided to try to sneak-up on the skulkers, but rolled all ones on their dice pool! I had them describe their failure for me, and they essentially fell into a nearby tinker's shed and through a collection of pots, pans, bells, and other items he was repairing. Thinking fast, the Unicorn used their acting skill to loudly talk about how drunk they were, and how they should not have drunk so much!

Despite this quick thinking, and face-saving ploy the shadowy figures had used this time to slip away into the woods. The Dragon grabbed the Scorpion form the bath house and the Scorpion, Dragon, and Crab gave chase. The Unicorn stayed back to act as a rearguard.

The figures easily outdistanced the Crab and Scorpion, but the Dragon monk was catching up fast. Then, he was hit by a dart that caused his limbs to get sleepy and him to slow down dramatically. His friends caught up, and were able to escort him back to the Inn. He acted like that famous scene from Ace Ventura after getting darted. Back at the Inn, the Unicorn watched as three men in black snuck back into one of the Scorpion's room through a window.

Once the others returned, they checked and their Rice taxes were still secured. In addition, the Scorpion Samurai on guard outside of the Courtier's room stayed in position the whole time. Later that evening, they switched off guards, who were all dressed to look identical. The PCs decided to set up a watch and went to bed.

The next day, as they prepared to leave the peasants put the poles in the carrying cases for the rice. As they lifted them to move out, the poles snapped in two. The Scorpion Courtier and her bodyguards offered to help the PCs out, but the PCs declined. They artfully managed to leave the impression that they knew what the Scorpion was up to, without outright accusing or accepting her help. The Scorpions then left. The PCs spent the rest of the day sourcing new materials, using magic, and generally repairing the poles. They were 1 day away, with only 2 days left to deliver on time.

They continued their journey, and a half day away they were attacked by a large group of bandits led by their old Ronin friends that escaped the valley in session 3. Their was a big climactic fight, where over half of their peasant bearers were killed, dropping the taxes on the ground. However, they did manage to drive off the bandits and kill the Ronin without losing any of the taxes. However, the Unicorn was put Out of Action, with the other party members having light to moderate injury. Again, the Dragon avoided injury but also mostly avoided getting hit the entire time.

However, now they had to figure out a way to move half the taxes cargo without their peasant laborers. Thankfully, they had a day and a half before they taxes needed to arrive, and they managed to push, pull, and drag the taxes into the Doji Estate at twilight before the deadline.

There, they were treated to a good bath, a welcome dinner, a new pair of shoes as gifts, and Doji Hansei provided them with their formal invitation to Winter Court from Lord Kurohito. We also discussed returning the Lion Daisho to their lord who was going to be at the Court as well, possible Sensei for leveling up being at the court, etc.

That left us set-up for the final season of 3-4 sessions; Winter Court.

Character Details
The Unicorn was the most active they have been all campaign. They really tried to play a bigger part in the game in this session, and bounced off the Crab and Scorpion players very well. The Dragon Monk also must have gone and watched the old Kung FU show with David Carradine as he was much more in character this game.

That said, I am not sure they felt overly engaged with the mission itself or the challenges I put in front of them. Again, they seemed to enjoy the battle with the bandits the most. The challenges of logistics and diplomacy did not seem to interest them as much as a party. However, the Crane Shugenja seemed to enjoy their encounters with the Scorpion Lady Courtier.

Players seemed to have better grasp of the rules. They more effectively applied their skills this game, and tried to lean into what their players were good at. In the battle, they were using their advantages, their special abilities, and making use of Void. I think they understand this a bit better now and the combat was much quicker. They still struggled a bit with the Theatre of the Mind fighting, lack of "non-lethal" damage, and a few other carry-overs from D&D; but they seemed to settle in a bit better.

I was also glad they explained their thinking behind the massacre, and I advised them to look at the tenets of Bushido and think about how "Dead Men Tell No Tales" may not be a good fit. They seemed to understand that their actions may lead to some blow back, but were confident no other testimony was worth it.

GM Challenges
There were two big elements that were a challenge this time:

1. I was wiped out and not at my best. My time keeper advised me that they could not tell, but I was feeling it.

2. I still do not think I am giving them what the majority of players want out of the game.

Two threads of conversation I heard come up. One was how they wanted to try L5R 5th edition as it looked pretty innovative, as opposed to 3rd edition. Fair, but I could not source a copy and learn it before the game started. Maybe for next time. The second thread of a conversation I heard was that there was nothing that L5R was doing that could not be done in 5E D&D. Fair as well, as EDGE Studios made Adventures in Rokugan. I had also considered using 5E, providing the players a "code of Nobility" to be followed, and then have them each make their own Noble House in addition to a character but ultimately discarded it as too much work. I all ready had 3rd edition.

Therefore, I feel like they are not getting what they want out of the game. What they want seems to be "more combat", more leveling up for toys, more looting the bodies, and less social restrictions. If that is what they want, I can see why they play 5E primarily.

Final Thoughts for Session 8
I am glad that is over. It maybe a few weeks until we can start Winter Court due to our schedules. :( However, the consensus seems to be to complete L5R Winter Court. I warned them that it was going to be combat light, heavy RP, social heavy, and more intrigue but they still want to go for it. One player said, "Not sure if it is a sunk cost fallacy, investment, or FOMO driving my decision." Fair.

Our next game is Avatar: Legends and I feel for our next GM as the PbtA system is great; but even a bigger departure from 5e D&D than L5R 3rd Edition. I will be interested in watching how it fairs with the larger group. Honestly, L5R 3rd maybe a good bridge to Avatar Legends. In between the two games in terms of crunch, style, and themes.

Onto Winter Court! Hopefully, I can bring my A game.

[Resileaf]

From what I'm reading, it looks to me that the hardest thing for your players is that they're presented with obstacles that they have to handle with their hands tied behind their backs due to the code of bushido. They like the setting, but they don't like the complications of limiting their ability to adapt to a given problem because the code is so strict. The enjoy the way it makes them RP, but not the way it makes them approach obstacles.

They figured out a good way to prevent the biggest issues with the battle against the Lions. No one can contradict their version of events and even if that's not very bushido of them, it's going to make their case stronger if the Lions push for punishment. Clans who are rivals with the Lions will be that much more eager to take the side of the Cranes because they get to oppose the Lions and accuse them of being instigators without shame. It could be valuable to let the PCs have opportunities to keep getting hits on the Lions during winter court, encourage the rivalry they've started to build with that clan and increase Lady Ao's legitimacy against them.

[Angelalex242]

I still think it's a good idea to, with all the D&D parallels, to present Bushido as kinda like a Paladin code.

[Pauly]

Sounds like the players are slowly getting the hang of the setting. Although there seems to be a level of disconnect between your understanding of the setting and the player’s understanding, which I think is driving your unease.

Maybe give your Scorpion player another hint about the deal for the armor. It is possible he forgot the conditions in the heat of the moment or he may have decided not to betray his clan. Just try to make sure he is actively committing to a path.

[Easy e]

Thanks all.

Due to some medical stuff, I have to delay the Winter Court. During this time, I have made some "cards" with various NPC names, clan and family affiliations, high level relationships to the PCs, and pictures of the NPCs on them. There are 15 NPCs on the list!

This does not include incidental NPCs. It also excludes some of the "retinue" of some of the representatives or potential Sensei that PCs may use to "level-up" while at Winter Court. I expect that to access the Sensei, they will need to work with the Clan delegate who I do have a card for.

However, I plan on handing these cards out to the players as new NPCs are introduced. Then, when they are interacting I can hold up the card, and they can reference them with notes on the back in game. Hopefully, this will help them keep all the folks in order, build a "relationship map" with the cards, and jus take notes one them as they go.

[Pauly]

Thanks all.

However, I plan on handing these cards out to the players as new NPCs are introduced. Then, when they are interacting I can hold up the card, and they can reference them with notes on the back in game. Hopefully, this will help them keep all the folks in order, build a "relationship map" with the cards, and jus take notes one them as they go.

That sounds like a great idea, especially for well known NPCs that the PCs know by reputation at least.

I’ve done the old give the players a cheat sheet of major NPCs and the players tend to read it once and then disregard it. Doing it this way will help the PCs not just keep track of the NPCs but should help how they interact with them. I’d make sure there is enough white space on the front of the card to encourage the players to take notes.

Maybe for the card you hold up all the PCs need to see is the portrait and name. You can add your own notes/key words on the back with the stuff you as a GM need to keep track of, especially secrets the players don’t know.

Another idea is to use a color bar (e.g. use a highlighter on one side of each card) to distinguish each faction. Or a color border around each portrait. That way the players can keep theNPCs organized by faction. Any unaligned NPCs can be kept white.

I think I might steal this idea for my campaigns. Obviously not every NPC gets this treatment. I can see it being very useful in investigative and diplomatic campaigns.

[Easy e]

Funny you mention the color bar, as I did color code the cards by Clan.

[Easy e]

Welcome to Session 9

We managed to all get together for session 9 of the campaign.

Last Time
The PCs wrapped up the delivery of the taxes after dealing with the Scorpion's tricks, and then fighting their way through a group of bandits led by Ronin seeking revenge on the party for being ejected from the Valley.

There, they received the invitation to Winter Court at Lord Doji Kurohito's palace in the City of the Warm Breezes. He was the Lord of the Doji Family and would ultimately decide the claims of ownership of the Valley of the Emerald Stairway.

Session 9
The session started with a recap of the Tax Adventure, as it had been three weeks since our last session. With everyone back up to speed, we got to travelling through the winter to the City. On the way, they were met by an Doji Hanshiro, Lady Ao's brother and one of Doji Hansei's sons.

They arrived at the castle of Lord Kurohito and got settled in. Over the next few days, they ran into several "old friends" including Lord Takoe and his sister (and friends), Bayushi Shoko and her maid, and were introduced to Akoda Kaizou the older brother of Kafir (Who the PCs killed in the Fumiko Pass). They also learned that no one was entirely certain about what happened in the Pass, and there was enough smoke to keep rumors and gossip flying around the court.

The Lion Duelist and Crane Shugenja took the opportunity to return the Daisho of the fallen to the Lion clan. It was an honorable thing to do, and the player played it coy enough to avoid directly answering what had happened. The Lion made a big show of handing the Daisho to a fallen family member and swearing to "close the book" and "make things even" in the future. It was a high tension and threatening situation, but everyone player it cool.

The Scorpion also picked up his armor and was content. There was a breif, and untruthful exchange with his lady Ao about the Scorpion designs on the Valley. Then Lady Ao again reminded everyone the importance of their conduct and that their Stipends going forward depended on her and acquisition of the Valley.

They also ran into Yazuki Kanada, the man that they had caught trying to steal the will in Summer. Their was a brief exchange where they recapped who was trying to make claims on the Valley, and who had what evidence.

Three days later, Lord Kurihito held a welcome banquet and the PCs were thrown into a social situation with all of the NPCs. Here the Scorpion acted particularly loutish towards a Unicorn Moto as a Gaijin and also was obnoxious during a Noh performance. He was put in his place by Doji Hanshiro very bluntly and rudely, and it worked!

In addition, the Crane Shugenja noticed something unusual about the Scorpion maid, Soshi Hana. They used subtle casting to create a breeze that disrupted the Scorpion masks at the party. This was enough to realize that the Maid was their Sister in disguise, which tied into their own backstory! In addition, it revealed to some of the sharp-eyed that their own Scorpion may not be who they appeared to be!

The Dragon Monk went out and actually engaged with his plot hook of Ichiko the Dragon who they had a shared past. The Crane Shugenja and her sister had a role-play moment. Then, the Scorpion player and the Hiruma scout launched a "Honey-pot" scam to try and get information from Soshi Hana. This led to some fun role-play between all of them as the Hana gained more information from the Scout, than he did of her. The Scout got to keep Hana's fan as a token. In addition, the PC Scorpion managed to sneak away and find some evidence in the Scorpion guesthouse and burn it.

The next few days, they got to present their case and the Crane Shugenja eloquently spoke and provide evidence to the Lord and his Hatamoto. In addition, the Scorpions, Yazuki, and Lion also made their cases. Most of this was abstracted but it gave them a chance to RP a bit with their rivals.

The session ended dramatically when at breakfast the next day, they learned that Akoda Kaizou; one of their chief antagonists and rivals so far; had been murdered in the city last night. Suspicion naturally fell on them and the Emerald Magistrates were being summoned.

Character Details
This was a RP heavy session, and probably one of the best sessions we have had yet. Everyone had a good time interacting with the various NPCs, and made an effort to lean into their backstories and characters. They were all interested in trying to uncover who had what evidence and how to counter-it. Some more "polite" ways than others. The characters especially had fun with the "sister" reveal as it coincided with their "Honey-pot" plan so well.

Every player got a chance to be in the spotlight and leaned into it pretty heavily. The NPCs present were not there by accident, and they almost all tied into either their back story or past adventures. This gave the Winter Court a lot more weight and the players enjoyed the set-up phase of this scenario more than previous ones. I did to.

GM Challenges
The cards were a life-saver. Without them, the players would have quickly gotten lost with who was who and what was what. It also helped them a lot when I held up the card when I was talking as NPCs. Holding up pictures as I talked was something I did before, but this upped the ante. The players were also engaged with "collecting" the cards of the NPCs like some sort of Pokemon game, which was a big change of pace to how they had been approaching NPCs. They wanted to talk with them and find out who they were.

I had been very nervous going into this session. I felt rusty and I was unsure how the players would engage with the content. Previously, they had been more fighting focused. However, this session felt the best yet from my perspective. The prep of the cards, bringing a basic map of the compound, and tying everything to their own backstories, advantages, disadvantages, and previous adventures really brought them into it effectively.