Legend of the Five Rings General

Unfortunately, I couldn't find the artist signed image of the tanuki card where testicles obscure the card text.

"LOOK AT MY BALLS, SCORPION. LOOK UPON THEM!"

>that pic
>can only imagine john wick screaming from out of nowhere in pirate garb and a cardboard scythe

Edit the REEEEEE to be REEEEEEEEis. Also yes, John Wick a weird shit. I've still liked 7th Sea 2e despite the fact it is clearly his writer staff can't hold him back entirely from stupid shit at times

Traveling packs! I usually go with a tent, blanket, ancestor statue, week's rations, something giftable like sweets, writing kit, rope, personal chop, and then either a pet or some personal items.

My players math out their travel and living necessities and use the pack to get the most expensive ones without having to touch their koku stash.

My last character was a Hiruma Bushi (Ancestral, not Scout) on the fast track towards being a 'zerk-slayer, with a talent for cooking and I tried to make his traveling pack as self-sufficient as I could.
Blanket, Chopsticks, Cooking Pot, Flint and tinder, Lantern, Sake cup, Spices, Week's rations, Whetstone, Tatami mat.
It basically ended up that he'd roll out his mat and set up a little kitchen every time we camped out (Except when it was impractical or dangerous, of course).

...

I'm considering an L5R game set in the winter time for winter court political shenanigans, so I have a few questions for you all, if you don't mind. I'm pretty new to the setting, so I'm sorry about potential ignorance.

Firstly, assuming a lord were to send representatives to another lord in order to negotiate some kind of deal, as I understand these winter courts work, is it common for them to travel across the country, or just to neighboring lands? For example, would a delegation of Phoenix samurai going to Scorpion lands be weird? Also, how many would be sent? Would a group of 3 be too many? Or maybe too few?

Secondly, and I'm not sure how you would do this, but could a player realistically (in terms of setting rules and the availability of game mechanics) play a commoner such as a geisha or a businessman?

Thirdly, how often does combat occur in a winter court situation? Something tells me having a duel a session would be somewhat odd.

Finally, how many other guests is it likely that a lord would keep during the winter court? Would it be strange for there to be three or four delegations staying over, all currying for his favor?

In return for your gracious considerations, I offer you this humble art.

Usually, traveling in winter time is hazardous to your health. Most wont risk the travel unless they plan to winter at the location until spring.

The Emperors Winter Court has a rather large attendance, which is why everyone prefers dealing with their clan politics at that event

>playing a geisha\businessman
the rules don't much allow for playing anything other then a Samurai, but their are some schools for playing commerce focused samurai (yasuki for example). Considering Geisha are non-people, you can't play one, but there are some schools, notably the kakita artisans, shosuro actors, that get you close enough in any case.

Have some more art

>Considering Geisha are non-people, you can't play one
There's a third rank ronin technique called silken promises geisha. Combined with the second rank master of games, and first rank (repurposed) hawk purist, you can play a 0 status character that can convince others to treat them with the same respect an average samurai would accord, make allies, and sway others' attitudes and choices.

That said, Master Of Games works better without status, and Hawk Purist may not be allowed (or wanted) - a socially aligned monk or minor clan school could also work. (the latter allows access to Minor Clan Diplomat, while the former has Brotherhood Defender)

>Firstly
Across the country is a little weird, but it happens for important resources, knowledge, and sometimes people. How many kind of depends on how high the agreement is. Two rinky dink local lords working out a small trade deal might only send a diplomat, a yojimbo, and maybe one assistant, while big, important lords working out a marriage deal or potential alliance might be sending upwards of dozens of people (A handful of diplomats, one high ranked diplomat leader, yojimbo for most/all of them, random guards for their temporary compound if tensions are high, couriers and assistants, ect)

>Secondly
Strictly speaking, they can, but they'll suck ass mechanically and have no social power or even basic agency in most cases.

>Thirdly
Duels aren't that rare, but they're usually set in advance to keep things extra civil. Dragging someone outside so you can cut them up is not going to happen.
>Finally
Big, important courts can easily have delegates from every Great Clan, many Minor Clans, the Brotherhood of Shinsei, and a few randos kicking around, while small courts might only have locals. The Imperial Winter Court allows exactly 20 representatives from each Great Clan (I don't recall the limit for Minor Clans, but I think they keep their delegations small to avoid trouble) and then a number of free floating invitations to be handed out to interesting or important individuals.
Something to note is that the Crane try to have at least one or two people in literally every court, so even a tiny provincial court might have some of them around.

>Finally, how many other guests is it likely that a lord would keep during the winter court?
Before Mantis & Unicorn, WC was always slated to hold 250 guests in any castle/palace worthy of the name kyuden, give or take. This was later increased to 330 to accommodate the new clans. Most clans have at least one kyuden capable of a full court, possibly some older ones, too.

Most families, I should say.

Thank you all for your replies.

I see, thank you. I wasn't planning on having it happen, but the concept seemed interesting to me.

Very interesting. It seems like maybe a game of rinky-dink lords and their servants might be a bit easier to handle than major ones if that many interests are going to be involved.
For duels, do you think one a session would be appropriate, or should they be reserved for serious breaches of etiquette? Under what circumstances would a challenge be appropriate?

Duels can settle arguments in a very dramatic and final sort of way, and in court, forcing an issue to firmly close in your favor is exactly what everyone wants, which means duels can be very common.

I started looking at the system a couple weeks ago. I was wondering how much my purely theoretical knowledge meshes with play in practice:

Toku-Bushi looks amazing. Extra dice for virtually all rolls it matters for, simple attacks for all melee, lower wound penalties, boosted rerolls, all of the techniques are great. On top of that, school skills include perception and hunting. Is Toku Bushi school used often for bushi/magistrate combo characters? With the alternate family for perception bonus and two relevant school skills, it seems like you could handle the physical side of investigation while still being decent in a scrap. Someone would need to come along to handle the testimony part of course, but it'd still fill out part of the roll.

The "Great Destiny" trait seems fantastic, it will save you from most flukey deaths so long as you're not in a situation where they take their time to ensure you're dead. Combine it with a character type like Crab or Matsu Berserker and you end up with a character with huge offensive bonuses and a get out of death free card once per session.

Also Luck, like it seems to be in most systems, is great. Rerolls are great.

Also the history stuff is convoluted as hell, going to have to sit down with Imperial history.

The Toku are fantastic because of writer favoritism.
Great Destiny is pretty good, but it does force the GM to include that, so it's entirely possible for it to be banned (Alongside Dark Fate) if it doesn't fit in with what the GM is doing.
Luck is pretty good, yeah.

Does this seem about right for necessary roles in a party?
Someone to fight, someone to talk. And then, by campaign type:

Magistrate: Someone to investigate.

Shadowlands: More people who can fight, someone to heal and use buffs.

Court: More people who can talk, someone to duel.

POST YOUR FAVORITE ADVANTAGE AND STORY LINE TYPE

Blissful betrothal and comfy ones!

Haven't played in years, and back then my tastes ran more towards Strength of the Earth+Deathtrance+Heart of Vengeance.

Nowadays, I like simple samurai who smile genuinely, and laugh heartily. In which case, I'm very fond of Gullible+Bentens Blessing+Luck

psst

someone should run some l5r

On the other hand, in courtly settings it's preferred when samurai are capable of not raising the ire of others, thus defusing potential duels before they are issued.

If one does get a reputation for being unable to resolve differences without a duel, it's virtually a death sentence as far as being invited anywhere is concerned.

I like using Obligation to make characters who clearly don't want to be here but have no other option.
Especially when that Obligation runs towards them being a guardian of some sort. "Matsu-san, please stop antagonizing every single thing we come across here. We're eventually going to find something that we can't kill and then it's going to kill us."

>someone should run some l5r

I'm sorry, I only run 1st Edition

Especially when you have to guard someone bigger than you like a Hida!

>I only run 1st Edition

Me too.

I tried to get into 4th and it just wasn't quite the same. I just really enjoy the idea of all samurai being bushi or shugenja.

It's fine if you want to be a courtier, or w/e but you are a fucking warrior and your life is to be given for your lord.

Don't want to threadcrap too much but I feel like most of the special snowflake bullshit came in later additions.

> implying that's a problem

Nah, 4th edition is cool. Back in the 90's, you had rules heavy balanced games (D&D), and rules light narrative games (anything white wolf). 1st Edition was more in the rules light narrative camp.

Over time, its become more rules heavy and balanced.

I really only continue running 1st Edition because its easier to teach to new players, there are less rules to have to deal with, and it saves me having to learn all the new shit Im fairly certain my group would have no problem learning 4th though, considering they love 5th ed D&D to death.

I don't suppose any of you three have a digital copy of it floating about. I had a physical but it's currently in an ex's place, likely never to be retrieved.

>I don't suppose any of you three have a digital copy of it floating about.

Oh what, 1st Edition?

I have pdf's of all the relevant books

Might take me some time to mega\mf it though

If you dont care about torrenting, theres a torrent on kat\pb floating around of everything

1st Edition, yes.
>kat\pb
I have no qualms about that, and I appreciate the knowledge.

It's interesting that the "be a general skill," battle, is based off of perception. The mass combat rules in core seem to be highly water-based, with the distinct possibility of duels I guess, which would be it's own whole thing.

Anyone know about the expanded rules from the supplement, "Sword and Fan?"

Battle is also the "be a soldier in mass combat skill". It's linked to perception in both cases because you're using it to see openings and weaknesses in the ranks. If you're in the thick of it, you're looking for opportunities to fuck up the other side and avoid getting yourself fucked up. If you're commanding the battle, you're looking for places where you need to force units through or places that need extra reinforcement.
Either way, most of what you're doing is observing and not getting blindsided.

>is based off of perception

Leading an army is usually done from the back. You give orders based on how the battle is going. Its akin to playing an RTS\Total War game.

In my games, I run Battle in two ways.
An army general uses the basic rules. But most often, PC's are leading companies of men into battle, and thats less about Perception, then it is about inspiring the men fighting beside you. In which case, Battle goes off of Awareness\Social Attr.

I get that interpretation, I just assumed more skills would go into it. Intelligence seems like a natural competitor for the primary skill here (the cinematic equivalent is the brilliant shogi player who is also a general!), but it's pretty loaded with high value skills as it is, so it makes sense.

> Any Skill can be combined with any Trait for a skill roll, (at the GM's discretion) but the listed Trait I'd the one most likely to be used in the given situations.

It's worth coming up with reasons to roll differently, imo.

How intelligent you are doesn't matter if you lack the perception to notice he enemies situations and set up and the wisdom or insight to understand his methodology.

Perceptively pre-empting or intelligently predicting come down to making a successful roll. What trait you roll is defined by how you attempt to control the situation.

Intelligence for Strategy outside of battle, and Perception for Tactics inside of battle.

>Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.

So who's the Oda Nobunanga of Rokugan?

Historically or Currently?

Either way, I have no clue. Hida Kisada wanted to rule Rokugan because he thought the current leadership was weak. Bayushi Shoju pulled off a coup in order to save rokugan from Fu Leng.

There was also some dumb Moto mongol piece of shit who wanted to make himself great khan because hes a dumb mongol

But I know of no one who has the qualities of such a dynamic figure as Nobunaga - forward thinking, ambitious, embracing new technologies and new ways of thinking.

>But I know of no one who has the qualities of such a dynamic figure as Nobunaga - forward thinking, ambitious, embracing new technologies and new ways of thinking.

A shame then. At the very least Takeda and Uesugi should find some similarities with the Lion Clan then?

Not really.

the Uesugi under Kenshin were both cunning in battle and possessed of a great deal of compassion, which continued under Kagekatsu - compassion is not something the Lion know. Also, Kenshin was a devout Buddhist, and the Lion hate spirituality unless its to war gods

As for Takeda, Shingens dad is kinda the perfect Lion general. Shingen himself though was someone who was both a military strategist, and a very forward thinking civil leader. He was also compassionate and cared greatly in making progressive strides for his lands.

The Date are very Lion though - Date Masamune and the Date in general are very Matsu. As long as you overlook the whole "christians are cool with us" thing

Interesting. I know this is going off-topic, but what books do you recommend for more information? Most of the ones I've found online are relating to the Tokugawa shogunate or Meiji, and only touch on the Sengoku period briefly without going much into the personality of the clans.

I've just come off a Shogun 2 binge, and set me off with that Sun Tze quote.

>Shogun 2 bing

I've kinda been on one for the last few weeks.

As for information, I just kinda pick it up as I go along. Samurai Wiki is pretty good, coupled with Wikipedia in general. And while dramatized, watching Taiga Drama's can also be educational, if at least giving you names to look up.

btw, if your still playing Shogun 2, I recommend 2\3 mods from the steam workshop
>expanded japan
>adds 97 new provinces and 101 new clans\factions, along with a 12 turn per year mod
>spearwall training (tweak version)
>gives yari samurai spearwall, naginata samurai rapid advance, and warrior nuns have hold firm

I'm currently 1 year into a Date campaign, and 6 years into a Chosokabe campaign.

I'm already playing with Master of Strategy: includes Expanded Japan, gives you 12 turns a year, adds a whole bunch of different units while imposing a manpower cap, and (most importantly imo) making it such that food only gives one growth per 5 food,so your town growth buildings that consume food are worth the investment.

Just finished an Uesugi campaign, gave up on an Otomo campaign after realizing that pike and shot is not as cost-effective as sword-bow-artillery, and am now getting gangbanged as Oda. All told, pretty good.

The yari wall training mod sounds neat though, might pick it up once I go back to less-overhauled S2.

vanilla yari units past ashigaru aren't worth the investment, and the yari building tree is a waste past naginata dojo. the spearwall training mod actually makes yari samurai really useful, and I've actually built my armies around spear units - works well with the Date, because of the added charge bonus as part of their clan benefits (rapid advance increases charge bonus). I use yari and naginata samurai as offensive shock troops, since they have more staying power in a fight then no-dachi samurai.

I agree on the Otomo, but they do get some stuff to make up for up it. Portuguese Terco's are pretty awesome unit until you get Matchlock Samurai, and the Nanban Trade Ship basically makes naval combat irrelevant.

I've considered starting an Oda campaign, and might do that next. Ikko are also very fun

Kharmic Tie
Sacrifice and redemption, forgotten heroes giving everything they have to save a world that will never know. I used to love that shit as a kid and thought I'd grow out of romantic crap like that, but here we are.

I fear the day my gm considers giving me karmic tie for free. Then again, I'm playing a bayushi bushi w/ ancestor.

Hantei Meisho.

Acestral blade and "Peasant escapes old life by stealing a sword off the battlefield" kind of stories.

...

Glorious dark hair
and fair, smooth skin-- with a seam?
Alas, a bog hag.

Does anyone have any home-brewed ronin techniques?

Made a ronin before I read Enemies of the Empire and discovered that all techniques past rank 1 are absolutely shite, especially the rank 4 and 5 techniques.
Like seriously, what the fuck are these, one of the rank 5 is literally a worse version of a rank 1 technique. As things stand, I'd rather buy the Multiple Schools advantage.

Two favorites:

True Love/Imperial Spouse/Kharmic Tie/Enemy/Nemesis = All the same person. The storyline writes itself, really.

Obligation/Dark Secret. Mainly because of the storyline.

This came out of campaign play in which my Matsu Berzerker/Lioness Legionnaire and the party came across a 7 year old girl (tops) in a settlement attacked by Tainted bandits (ie, the GM had just seen the director's cut of "Aliens"). In the fight that developed once the bandits knew we were there, the little girl grabbed a downed Bandit's wakizashi and started shanking people in the back. Note that we ran an "open rolls" table, even for the GM. She killed like 4 bandits with exploding dice (well, dropped them to Out, anyway, though one did outright die), and never got touched. My Matsu declared - given that performance - that she TOTALLY must have been the daughter of a samurai who'd been traveling through the village and was killed by the Bandits, and it was only right to take her back and raise her in the proper Lion tradition.

So I picked up those Disadvantages and ate something like 1.5 ranks of Honor Loss (the little girl was obviously a peasant). Totally worth it. It ended up putting my Matsu in debt to some Scorpion who arranged for forged documents "proving" her birth, and so forth. I was planning to play the girl in a followup campaign after our party TPK'd 5 in-game years later, but the group imploded and I never got the chance.

>point out the most possible honor breaches going on in this image

Whoever the samurai is on the pic, he/she doesn't wear his/her daisho. Thats some 0/10 dishonorable behavior right there, would not reflect on the depth of Bushido together.,

This may be part of some geisha\red light district, so bringing a daisho in may be restricted. In Ryoko Owari, all the geisha houses\houses of pleasure are on an island, and you can't even enter the island without dropping all your weapons off on the dock.

My current BBEG is lightly based on Oda (more the Sengoku Basara one than the real one though). He's an akutenshi, who made allies with the Yodotai and got his hands on a lot of guns and gaijin pepper. His gunmen work in groups, where one group takes fire then the next moves in front to fire theirs while the last group reloads. He's invading through the shadowlands, while the Yodotai invade from the north to keep the empire divided on two fronts.

He told the Yodotai he'll let them keep the northern half of Rokugan as part of their alliance. He's been planning to double cross them and give them nothing since the start though.

It does not make it any less dishonorable.

>It does not make it any less dishonorable

Taking a sword into a geisha house is dishonorable, user.

Absolutely. Taking your katana somewhere implies you expect to need it there-- that's why you leave your sword at the door when you visit your friends, as a show that you trust them. Bringing it into a geisha house implies you think you're going to need to defend yourself from the geishas, or intend them harm, which is both rude and against the tenet of Compassion.

The wakizashi is more of a grey area, since it's a symbol of office, and you can get away with wearing it to a lot more places, but even so, if they ask you to take it off, it would be incredibly rude to refuse.

It isn't, just somewhat inconvenient for the people in the geisha house because .

Of course, if someone really makes a thing out of it, then expect fishy business and a general lack of honor in the area. Otherwise nobody would have a problem with your sword, wouldn't they?

Also, the katana is a samurai's soul. Nobody shall separate the samurai from it under any circumstances in the same way nobody shall separate the samurai from his real soul. Same with the wakizashi. A true samurai always expects to use his daisho anyway, so making a fuss about this is just despicable.

So are there any unofficial L5R games, be they downloadable or browser titles? I remember there was that Facebook game for a while back in the days of Mafia Wars or whatever it was...

user, plenty of samurai don't carry their katana anywhere, let alone to a geisha house. It isn't nearly the big deal you're making it out to be. Courtiers and Shugenja leave theirs on display at home pretty much all the time, for example, and no one bats an eye. A bushi will be more attached to his, but even then it's not uncommon for a bushi to end up with more than one katana, as heirlooms or tokens of office when assigned to a significant position, or any number of other reasons-- and no bushi would ever try to carry all of them, or think that each one was individually his soul.

The only samurai that will ever utterly refuse to part with his sword ever is a crab with a Kaiu Blade, and that level of obstinance is UNUSUAL.

Spotted the Lion

Courtiers, shugenjas, and artisans lack the true samurai's soul, so obviously, they do not carry the symbol of it.

Having multiple daisho sets are good because you can choose how to represent your soul and honor. A good samurai should have a daisho set for every occasion and bond with each set thoroughly.

The Akodo are my kind of people, but each time I run into a Matsu I throw up a little in my mouth.

By the way, I'm a Miya.

>each time I run into a Matsu I throw up a little in my mouth

The Akodo are cowards

The Matsu are true warriors

The ronin Sun Tao was pretty badass, and literally wrote the book on tactics and strategy.

Literally every court has "sword polishers" at the front door where everyone except for guards and high-ranking yojimbo (with explicit permission) leave their swords to be cleaned. The fact that everyone having their swords cleaned also means that nobody is carrying their swords in court, is, of course, merely a coincidence. A very widespread coincidence that happens at literally every court for the entire thousand years of peace and beyond.
Except Kaiu bladed Crabs. The only time one of them ever let his blade out of his possession was when the Emperor himself called the guy into court and the Emerald Champion promised to guard the Kaiu Blade personally.

Who's the chestiest girl in Rokugan?

Kakita Noriko, the artisan who makes chests.

The chestiest girl we actually have art of is probably that one Scorpion bitch.
The chestiest girl ever would be some matronly Crabwife.

Matsu Pamela

CCG artists are out of control

Who, Kachiko? She had the most boner-giving shoulders in the history of the Empire. I liked that that one Unicorn daimyo thought she wasn't hot at all.

Alternatively, just pick any Genzoman girl.

>Not marrying a chesty Crab girl

...

Is that actual ccg art? What the hell is that even?

Some spider clan bitch

Crab waifu's are best waifus

B U S T Y

Kyoso a girl

I do hope, the crane won.

>Crab waifu's are best waifus

Wide hips mean large families, user.

And Crabs have the largest families.

>What the hell is that even?

l5r.wikia.com/wiki/Daigotsu_Hotako

I don't like how small her areola are, given the size of those girls they should be fat and puffy, but hey're apparently well-hidden by a thin strip of leather.

That's just horrible.

It's okay, Scorpion don't know how to finger a woman.

Scorpion? My apologies, I mistook him for a Spider.

I shall commit seppuku posthaste.