Marriage and Legacy

In my games, once per year during Winter, the players have the opportunity to deal with several subsystems relating to their families and dynasties. As previously discussed, this is the moment samurai get rice from their lands, money from their lords and when they pay their dues to keep living like the nobles they are (or lose it all…)

This is also the moment they can arrange marriages for themselves, their relatives or allies.

Living Standards and Principles of Rokugani Samurai Economy

In my games, I find it useful to differentiate between two “classes” of samurai: the first is the Household Samurai, a landless warrior that lives on the generosity of their lord, receiving a small salary for their service. The second is the Landholding Samurai, those who received the right to own land, have their own servants and lives on the production of their lands. These rules are modified from the Pendragon RPG to delineate the difference between them and establish the Living Standards model of yearly economy for my games. Additionally, I use 1 Ryō = 4 Koku as a new monetary unit, as can be seen below.

Campaign Diaries 00 - Jade Crows Rising

This is the beginning of the campaign diaries for my game, following the exploits of a group of young samurai from the Kusanagi Clan, vassals of the Matsu branch of the Yamagata Province, the Matsudaira Clan. In this post, I’ll just introduce the background of the campaign, being the third in a series of interconnected games our group played over almost 20 years, and the PCs.

Be aware, our Rokugan severely departs from canon. The Clan Wars, Scorpion Clan Coup and Hida Kisada’s rebellion all happened roughly at the same time and ended with Bayushi Shoju on the imperial throne, becoming the first emperor of a new dynasty that rules for the last 30 years.

BACKGROUND

Status and Glory Rework, and a new skill (Lore: Samurai)

I’ve been preparing to post about my “Alternative 20 Questions” for character creation, but before I do that, I need to set some new ground rules that are used in my version of the game. Status has changed only slightly. Glory and Infamy, on the other hand, not only got the most changes, but also became a vehicle for character advancement and greater connection to their Household.

Masayoshi (Justice)

1114, month of the Goat. Night.

Ikemoto Yoshihiro had always been a pragmatic duelist, just as Munenori-sama had taught him. “Any action on the battlefield that brings victory is honorable.”…’ said Kami Akodo himself. A Kami! Who was he to disagree with a god? However, he couldn’t ignore the accusing voices whispering in his mind as he had to pretend to be a mere heimin for weeks, hiding in the shadows like a coward and being defeated by mere ashigaru guarding Yamanobe Mura’s makeshift prison. All because of a katana.

“Tsk. I can't be so careless. Mere ashigaru, what a joke! What would my ancestors say if I were killed in such a pathetic situation…“ - thought Yoshihiro, as he tried to stop the bleeding in his abdomen with his hand. The blow hadn’t been deep, but the movement of fleeing towards the wild areas surrounding the village had taken its toll, increasing the bleeding. The guards who prevented his clandestine action demonstrated coordination and determination such as the samurai had never seen in mere heimin.

Or perhaps… “Perhaps it was my determination that failed me… For acting like a dishonorable Scorpion…” The samurai shook his head, trying to banish these thoughts as if they were flies buzzing in his ears. “No!” - Ikemoto thought - “Munenori-sama, forgive me for my weakness! I will complete this mission, in your name and in the name of the Hirata clan!”

Once again, the samurai gritted his teeth and continued trying to tend to the wound he had received. In the middle of the grass, engulfed by the darkness…

Mass Battle Rules for Small Armies

These rules’ main objective is to give every type of School in a party a role in achieving victory in battle, be it bushi, shugenja, courtier... Battles following these rules are supposed to have a few squadrons of combatants on each side, mostly foot-soldiers with a few samurai acting as officers. They can be used to simulate the entirety of a small battle or a single flank of a larger clash of armies.

These rules assume that one player will play the role of General for their army, while the other players will each function as Officers in charge of specific roles, like Scout, Herald, Champion, etc. What these officers do will be explained in their respective phases of play.

Quick and Easy Court Challenges and NPCs

I like making court sessions not only roleplaying scenes, but fully mechanically engaging challenges. L5R 5e already has a framework for that, but 4e and previous editions never actually gave GMs a good basis, despite priding itself of having Courtier schools and plenty of social advantages and disadvantages. I add several frameworks to help with making these as mechanically engaging as Bushi and combat, but today I’ll talk just about the baseline: NPCs.