L5R General: Minor Clan Edition

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Tsuruchi Bounty Hunter, one of the available schools in the 4e RPG.

>A unique dojo, the Tsuruchi Bounty Hunter School (often erroneously referred to as the Tsuruchi Archer School) taught the way of the bow to the exclusion of all else – including the sword, headquartered at the Hunter of Men Dojo in the shadow of Kyuden Ashinagabachi.

>Because of their skills, the Tsuruchi were also well-known for their ability to hunt down fugitive's from the Emperor's Law. Bounties collected from such activities made up a significant share of the Mantis' stores of koku. A Bounty Hunter took on any bounty from any legal authority, to be paid only on completion of their task. They did not question whether or not the people they hunt down deserved to die.

End Wasp Clan art dump. Whew. Best archers in all of Rokugan?

All the 4e schools.

>Taijikku was a blade gifted by the Ox Clan to Isawa Taeruko.

I love the no name Ox Clan samurai holding it. Looks cool.

And the bad ass Boar Clan.

Are all katana made by samurai, or are heimen allowed to be swordsmiths too?

All swords except the Parangu (Which is considered a tool since it's basically a machete) are completely illegal for non-samurai to handle in any way. There might be peasant blacksmiths that can make spears, and peasant fletchers that make arrows, but swords are right out. Even non-sword weapons are iffy for peasants who aren't ashigaru or budoka to handle.

>us-store.warlordgames.com/collections/test-of-honour

Anyone tried this game? Looks like a really cool way to run as L5R fluff.

There's no defined factions for the game. It's literally perfect for L5R.

What are the rules for marriage between clans? Like what if a lion samurai fell in love with a crane courtier (yeah, I know). As unlikely as it is for that to happen, what if it did? What if they had children?

Marriage has nothing to do with love and marriages between clans happen all the time. If they had children out of wedlock the father would almost certainly be required to commit seppuku and the mother would be severely punished in some other way (assuming the father admitted to it). The fate of the child would be up in the air but I would suspect that kid would grow up to be a ronin.

Why is the Lion lying on top of the Dragon?

Why is the Crab groping the Unicorn's thighs?

Who's the bland lady dressed in green in the back?

Where are the Scorpion's hands?

Why do none of them look Asian?

What is the Spider even wearing on her legs?

Is the Phoenix's back okay?

Why does the Crane look like she's suffering from brain damage?

Who's the most AMERICA! of the clans?

Unicorn. They eat red meat and other shenanigans that most of Rokugan finds strange.

> If they had children out of wedlock the father would almost certainly be required to commit seppuku and the mother would be severely punished in some other way (assuming the father admitted to it). The fate of the child would be up in the air but I would suspect that kid would grow up to be a ronin.
This varies extremely heavily depending on the general attitudes of the two clans and the rank of the individuals involved. It's definitely shameful, but the kids could end up counting as their mother's Family, could be adopted into the father's Family, or could be fostered off to a ji-samurai family and promptly forgotten about. They could also end up on the doorstep of a Brotherhood temple and end up being a monk. There's no one clear cut answer.

Marriage is 100% political for samurai. The general rule is that the lower ranking spouse (Which is usually the wife in most interpretations) joins the Family of the higher ranking spouse as a full and complete member of their new Clan. Old ties can't be fully severed, but are supposed to be much less important than their new ties. Their children will all be full members of their parent's Clan, but there could be exchange student provisions in the marriage agreement, since the entire point of inter-clan marriage is to ease tensions and solve disputes.

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Here's an example that happened with one of my old PCs.

My character was a Scorpion Bushi. Through circumstances in the campaign he fostered many good relations with the Crab. His daimyo decided to take advantage of that to negotiate a good treaty with the Crab. He married a Kuni and as part of the marriage contract the first child they had that showed shugenja talent would be trained as a Kuni Shugenja. He ended up having four kids, three daughters and a son. The eldest daughter became a Bayushi Courtier. His middle two children fraternal twins (the son and middle daughter) both became Bayushi Bushi. And his youngest showed shugenja talent and became a Kuni shugenja.

Art dump. Where the fuck everyone at? Start discussing the fluff!!!

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Alright, Veeky Forums, let's have some discussion. I'm planning on running a one-shot game as a party event, and I need some advice. I'd like to run a sort of political free-for-all Winter Court game where everyone involved has the course of the game to complete a secret personal goal, as well as a clan-wide goal that they'll work with the other players in their clan to achieve. Problem is, I'm a little new to the actual fluff of the setting. Which books would be best for me to read to get acquainted with how the Winter Courts tend to go?

Go with 1e and 2e's Winter Court series.

>In 1167 Phyrrus with the assistance of Moto Jochi of the Ujik-hai traveled to the Unicorn Clan from Medinaat al-Salaam to seek out the son of Duqaq. In 1168 they reached the Khol Wall and he was the only one who crossed it. His honor guard led by Gaius was kept in the Wall. Phyrrus met with the Unicorn Clan Champion Moto Chagatai who knew that Duqaq was in fact the Hooded Ronin, and his son was Rosoku. Chagatai did not mention however that Rosoku had been murdered, and when Phyrrus discovered this he immediately traveled home, to the Great Eye of the Desert. His honor guard was left behind at the order of Moto Jin-sahn, to learn the Rokugani war tactics.

So if the Yodotai were such a hostile threat and looking to conquer Rokugan, why was there a group of honor guard stationed in Unicorn Lands, learning from them?

The Yodotai are never openly hostile until they launch their all-out invasion.

It begins with Yodotai mercenaries doing work within the target nation, studying their culture and their military. They take the opportunity to learn the doctrine and the tactics of the target nation so that they can better fight alongside them. At the same time, they also send missives back to their legions containing everything that they have learned. Towards the end of their observation, they start to probe a few specific natives and use blackmail and bribery to convince natives to join their side and destabilize the target nation in preparation for their invasion. When the Yodotai finally arrive, they are entirely aware of the culture of their opponent, their military doctrine, the magic they can bring to bear and the numbers that they can field. In addition to this, natives that they have coerced into assisting them are given the task of sabotaging any defenses and attempts to fight off the invasion.

By the time the Yodotai actually arrive, they just sweep over their new vassal state effortlessly and assert their dominance.

My L5R GM is looking to run the tomb of luchiban for us but only has the GM's guide.
Does anyone happen to have the Illustrated guide and Tomb Guide from the box set they'd be willing to share?

But old Chags was on to their game. He arranged for all the Yodotai mercs to have fatal accidents on the Khol Wall.

Chags was mah boi.

I saw your GM's post on the normiebook L5R group today.

Thinking of running a setting where a group of multi-clan adventurers have to enter the Shadowlands for some reason...possibly for a rescue, or to take out a powerful oni, or to return a black scroll or something.

Was thinking of restricting clan/family selection to Crab, Unicorn, and Scorpion, since they all seem to protect portions of the wall.

Thoughts? Anymore to add?

>L5R General: Minor Clan Edition.

Previous thread

if you like bolt action you'll like test of honor. had a small demo at our FLGS a couple of months back and it was fun enough.

you can fluff it any way you like as theirs on set faction so feel free to do them up as "your guys"

Crane Harriers...so cool. Totally not a ninja.

Just open it up to every clan. A good player can find a reason for his PC to be there.

If only this guy had a mempo on...

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Anyone miss the old rp threads? It was fun hearing about someone getting advice on who to marry and that jazz

The players choose a Shosuro Infiltrator, a Yoritomo Bushi, a Doji Courtier, an Asako Loremaster and a Kitsu Shugenja.

What's an accurate explanation for each of them to be at the Carpenter Wall, and working together?

The only clan to have specific sections of the Wall are the Crab. Which is to say that the Crab own all sections of the wall.

Yup, thought I'd try here since I didn't think she'd be using here as a resource.

The Infiltrator is chasing an Informant that fled to the Wall.
The Courtier is engaged to said Informant.
The Loremaster and Kitsu are both after documents the Informant fled with.
The Informant owes the Yoritomo money.

The group has arrived separately at the Wall to be told that the informant went with a Crab patrol south and that patrol has disappeared. The commander at the section of The Wall refuses to give up the Informant's effects unless his patrol is accounted for. Cue zany Shadowlands Adventures as a mismatched group of samurai try to find their missing man.

Actually the Unicorn have their own extension of known as the Khol Wall.

And Scorpion regularly assist Crab on the wall now, as well as having their own wall around the Second Festering Pit.

So there's that I guess.

Which clan is the closest ally to the Lion? Or are they so big they say fuck it we don't need alliances?

Both of those are late in the timeline, and the Khol wall is considered a separate thing since it doesn't border the shadowlands directly. For the vast majority of the timeline, the only groups besides Crab who are regularly on the wall as actual groups are Daidoji and ronin.

Well, going down the list
The Crab and Lion don't interact much at all, since they're far away and can't responsibly fight each other.
The Crane and Lion are rivals for Imperial attention as the left and right hands of the emperor.
The Scorpion and Lion aren't friends either.
The Unicorn and Lion are at each other's throat constantly, since the Lion fucked the Ki-Rin remnants and took over their lands right up until the Unicorn stormed into it when they came back.
The Dragon and Lion don't interact, but the Lion aren't happy with them due to the Dragonfly situation.
The Phoenix are pacifists and the Lion are top militaristic.
The Lion are the biggest threat to minor clans as a whole.

So no, they don't have much in the way of allies generally.

The Lions are their own closest ally. The only time the other clans like the Lion and when the Lion is easily manipulated or the GM decides the shadow lands are making a big push and all the clans send support to the Crab since the lion has the most armed and ready soldiers and officers to throw into such a meat grinder even if they would be woefully untrained and underprepared for dealing with Oni, lost, and evil magics.

Don't fuck with the Daidoji.

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Depends on the era, as alliances are about as stable as clan borders beyond the traditional clan family provinces.

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thank you Crab-san for pulling me into this setting