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The Man Unmasked
United States
Jackson
MS
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I've never run L5R before, though I've always wanted to. Thanks to
Todd Rowland
United States
Mobile
Alabama
I have good news! That gum you like is going to come back in style.
and his awesome generosity, I finally can. For my first game, I think I want to run a game I've been mulling over for a long time.
An invading force is taking over lands in Wherever (in this case, Rokugan) and players are involved in the task of tacking that land back and repelling the invaders. I've had the map made for ages (hand drawn on linen and hand stitched to fake leather) and I've come up with rules for the benefits of controlling certain types of land (plains let you produce food, cities give you more people for your armies and have better defenses). I've come up with travel rules and an overall format for time passage in weeks and months and seasons. I'll probably rely on the mass battle system far more than the regular battle system as they'll be controlling armies more than fighting duels. There will be treaties and alliances. It's going to be a war scenario.
I've run a lot of RPGs (and a lot of experimental campaigns, like one where the whole campaign is a flashback, and this is established right from the start). Like I said, however, I've never even played L5R before. Most of my players haven't and none have played 4e.
My question is this: Is there anything I NEED to know before I attempt something like this? Will it not work in 4e? Am I being too ambitious for a n00b? Should I run while I still can? Any clans I should emphasize or evil forces I should use for my invaders? Or are there just a couple of nuggets of wisdom that should smooth out the process and make things easlier?
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Adrian George
United States
San Antonio
Texas
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If you are planning on having external forces invade Rokugan, the obvious choice is forces from the Shadowlands. Which means you have to have some explanation for what happened at the wall and why the Crab have failed in their duty.
Now if you just want to do a war in general you can do a clan war. Which offers plenty of opportunities for large battles, alliances, and political shenanigans.
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Todd Rowland
United States
Mobile
Alabama
I have good news! That gum you like is going to come back in style.
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Alternately there are some potential foreign invasion forces, though they are not as well developed in the RPG (a conscious design decision given the inherent xenophobia of Rokugani citizens). You could fill the in with powers/etc as you like.
Many of these can be found in the Emerald Empire sourcebook for 4th Edition, in the "World Beyond" chapter. There's also a chapter on mass combat as well.
Senpet - Egyptians. Some necromancy (mummies). Chariots, etc.
Yodotai - Roman legions. Their ancestors fight alongside them and create a sort of "magic shield" that prevents and/or defuses spells cast against them.
Merenae/Thrane - sort of your Portugese analog, traders expanding into the empire (or trying to anyway before they were booted out).
Ivory Kingdoms - India. Some blood cults, etc. MOLA-RAM!!!!
Or as mentioned you could have an organized Shadowlands force attack. Someone like Tsukuro, an ancient Crane general that fell in the shadowlands centuries ago, now organizing the various chaotic evil forces into an efficient machine to destroy his former home. But yes you do have to answer what happened to the Crab in that case.
The setting will work perfectly well, and in fact it can even be more interesting given the inherent antagonistic attitude between the Clans. Sure the Crane and Lion may have to work together to prevent the invaders from taking Beiden Pass, but that doesn't mean a side word from the Crane wouldn't result in a duel between the two allied generals right there on the spot. Honor is paramount, even in the face of destruction!
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The Man Unmasked
United States
Jackson
MS
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Thanks for the quick responses! I didn't want to do Shadowlands because, again, the Crab have that on lockdown and I don't think a "push to retake" campaign is what I want (though it would give the enemy some seriously entrenched strongholds, and taking those could be a fun challenge for the players).
I'd mostly considered either one clan falling under evil influence (or not) and simply making a land grab. Other options were having someone invade from the Burning Sands or some other external place.
As for the internal politics, even with Shadowlands, there would be room for alliances and backhanded dealing, especially in a reclamation campaign. After all, if Lion armies take this area of land, though all work together to defeat the Shadowlands' incursion, there's always the debate of who controls reclaimed land after the fighting's through.
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Adrian George
United States
San Antonio
Texas
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If you are looking for one clan falling under evil influence look no further than the spider clan.
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The Man Unmasked
United States
Jackson
MS
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I'd already considered (and am still considering Spider Clan). I might do a Unicorn/Dragon Clan game and have Spider come down from the Fingers of Bone, which would suit the map I made decently as there are mountains to the east and a river running through the middle.
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Jaime Lawrence
Australia
Sydney
New South Wales
See Below.
Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!
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Will you also be going in against a Sicilian when death is on the line?
Sounds like a fun campaign!
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The Man Unmasked
United States
Jackson
MS
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The closer I get to the campaign, I realized I have some fundamental problems with the game I have in mind.
1) The game needs to be Us vs Them. Negotiations between players and secret alliances are fine, but at the end of they day, they're on the same side (though they may have their own agendas for their side, such as "Our clan could really use some good farmland. Make sure when it's over, our clan is on top of the victors."
2) I really want the players to be on the enemy's turf so that the enemy can have established defenses and supply lines and cities. Otherwise it's just crushing an incursion, which is more "Hold the line" and less "Push forward." Unfortunately, this leads to a conflict with desire #3
3) I really want Rokugan culture to play a major part, which means setting it outside Rokugan might be a challenge. If they fought in say, the Burning Sands, then the players don't have to deal with Rokugani culture so much. I could make it an effort to retake Shadowlands, but that land isn't worth a whole lot. It isn't productive (which means it doesn't provide much for players in the way of strategic resources beyond expanding the Crab buffer zone.). Even so, setting it within Rokugan conflicts with Desire #4.
4) I don't want it to fundamentally change the face of Rokugan. A clan war that would involve characters from all the clans the players would want to be from would be almost like a world war, either everyone split into two or three camps or a big gang up on one other clan, which has a big impact on the timeline.
Here's my solution for any veteran L5R players to kick in ideas on feasibility (never played L5R, so I'm not sure how well any of this would work in practice)):
While out sailing, the Mantis clan discovers a large island (with a few smaller ones surrounding) inhabited by people remarkably similar to those of Rokugan. Similar cultures and hierarchies and traditions. There are even five clans on the island (reskins of minor clans, because why re-invent the wheel). One dominant clan, the Beetle (a spider reskin), claims to have been descended from the tenth Kami Ryoshun, a claim they use to subjugate the other clans of the island: the Squirrel (Hare), Shark (Tortoise), Hawk (Oriole), and Panther (Fox).
((The idea is that long ago--five to seven hundred years or so--a ship of people from some unknown clan was blown out to sea in a typhoon and landed on a populated island. They were able to take over the island, first by treaty then by force, and subject the others to their will by claiming a fictitious divine heritage. They restructured society based on their Rokugani ways and have been ruling ever since.))
This will allow players to explore the island in a more open ended way. Rather than being forced into war outright, they can use politics and guile and treaties as well. They can choose to take the island outright (justified by the Beetle's blasphemous claims), to take power through alliances, incite a civil war among those minor clans tired of being repressed, or any other method imaginable.
Since it's only a small island inhabited by a few minor clans is not SO dramatic as redrawing official Rokugan clan lines. Further, it lets rival clans get their aggression on each other out via proxies and cats paws in a foreign conflict ("I don't care what lands we get so long as the Phoenix don't get a single acre of arable soil").
It allows the characters to focus on these blasphemous foreigners (Us v Them) while still allowing for backstabbing. It takes place on foreign soil without having to give up the intricacies of Rokugan culture, and because the island isn't so big, it doesn't fundamentally change the fabric of life in Rokugan.
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Jaime Lawrence
Australia
Sydney
New South Wales
See Below.
Evil Bob: Lawful good since 2038!
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I've quickbar'd this and will read it in depth and offer feedback soon.
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I have good news! That gum you like is going to come back in style.
