Hello everyone. Sorry for disappearing there. My laptop has run into an issue and I cannot use it at this time
However, my game is going very well thus far. Both players are from the Crane Clan, one a seasoned and older female samurai while the other is a fresh young member of the Crane right out of the Doji school. 
They were invited to visit the Fox Clan where their Daimyo was holding a small feast which included representatives of the other minor clans I am including in my campaign. While there, the ronin families make their offers somewhat openly and in front of everyone. Being from the Crane and acting as a sort of diplomat to the minor clans, my PCs are tasked with rebuilding relations with the clans as the previous diplomat soured the relations between the minor clans and the Crane.
They will be given the task to parse through the ronin and see what they do, if they fit the minor clans and rebuild relations. The relations are rebuildable but it requires some work to do. Of course, other nearby major clans, the Crab and Scorpion, may have something to say about it.
As pointed out to me, I also changed the Ide to Imai. Hopefully it works. 
The samurai was tested in a nonviolent duel and won in one strike. During the duel I threw in a reference to Seven Samurai because why not! Lol. 
But so far, we are all really enjoying the game. It flows really well.

Hello everyone. Sorry for disappearing there. My laptop has run into an issue and I cannot use it at this time
However, my game is going very well thus far. Both players are from the Crane Clan, one a seasoned and older female samurai while the other is a fresh young member of the Crane right out of the Doji school. 
They were invited to visit the Fox Clan where their Daimyo was holding a small feast which included representatives of the other minor clans I am including in my campaign. While there, the ronin families make their offers somewhat openly and in front of everyone. Being from the Crane and acting as a sort of diplomat to the minor clans, my PCs are tasked with rebuilding relations with the clans as the previous diplomat soured the relations between the minor clans and the Crane.
They will be given the task to parse through the ronin and see what they do, if they fit the minor clans and rebuild relations. The relations are rebuildable but it requires some work to do. Of course, other nearby major clans, the Crab and Scorpion, may have something to say about it.
As pointed out to me, I also changed the Ide to Imai. Hopefully it works. 
The samurai was tested in a nonviolent duel and won in one strike. During the duel I threw in a reference to Seven Samurai because why not! Lol. 
But so far, we are all really enjoying the game. It flows really well.

Not a problem - as long as everyone enjoys it!
Presumably the sequel to Four Weddings, A Duel, A Centuries-Long Vendetta, Nineteen Shinobi Assassinations, Two Seppuku And Rather A Lot Of Funerals?
(Rokugani Romantic Comedy Stories are rather involved....)
Fair enough as a start point. Wanting to join an 'established' clan is kind of a default setting for many ronin, especially if they're a group or family and not an individual with no responsibility but to themselves.
Well, there is the Twenty-Goblin-Winter, which is an easy way for ronin to join the Crab - but that does require being part of an incursion into the shadowlands, and there's that whole downside of the insanity and the tentacles and the inevitable horrible death. Fine for a lone Bushi ronin in the abstract, less great for one with a spouse and children...
That's dependent on whether you're talking a bunch of similar-age, not blood related ronin who are travelling and contracting themselves out together (something like The Warriors Of The Boar in the fiction The Fires Of Justice) or an actual family - spouse, siblings, children, etc.
In the latter case they are a family.  But they're not a 'Family' - they don't get  a family 'bloodline name' in the eyes of Rokugani Law and would instead identify themselves by a place-name of origin or a characteristic or something instead of a family name (so 'Jim-Bob no Toshi Ranbo' rather than 'Doji Jim-Bob').
You don't get to be a Family 'officially' unless a named family makes you one.
It seems unusual for multiple minor clans to consider multiple ronin brotherhoods jointly simultaneously, and even more odd for the minor clans to ask a third party to make the decision. Are your players going to be Great Clan Samurai?
Multiple clans competing for the allegiance of a ronin group, or multiple ronin groups trying to join a clan is one thing, but the many-to-many seems odd.
 
Fair enough. Comments about the Ide name aside, then they look like nice concepts.
What region are you after a map of? Look for Francesca Baerald on Deviantart - she's FFG's cartographer artist, and you'll find a lot of jaw-dropping stuff.

Hello everyone, Earlier this year I finished my first time GMing of FFG's Star Wars. It was fun and challenging but was not entirely fulfilling mechanics wise. Me and another more veteran player took a look at L5R and fell in love. The book itself is gorgeous and the rules and setting seem to fit much better with FFG's dice mechanics. 
So naturally, I will be running the game so my players can run around being samurai. I have been busy reading the rules when I can and have recently developed a rough outline of a story for the campaign. I am still VERY new to the setting so I hope my idea fits into it. I do not have time to jump into a premade story and learn it in time as a player may leave soon. Hence, just jumping in.
Below is a brief outline of my story as it sits in my head. I do not mind some minor feedback on them. I have more details to share but as I am on my phone, I cannot at the moment. Some of it is very rough and may be rewritten to make more sense:
Eight Decisions for Four Families (working Campaign title)
Four ronin families are vying to join one of the minor clans (Monkey, Sparrow and Hare).
All have earned hard won reputations as being reliable ronin families, often working alongside the major and minor clans.
Protecting villages from bandits, settling disputes between minor clans and their families and even absorbing other ronin and turning them into honorable samurai and members of Rokugan society.
One family has a long, deeply held grudge against 2 of the minor clans. They aim to use their favors with one of the other minor clans to weaken the other 2.
They also see the other 3 ronin families joining the minor clans as problematic because they could not only strengthen those clans but, they could also expose some of the more unsavory aspects of their family due to the harsh life ronin sometimes live.
The players are asked by the minor clans to investigate these families in more detail and provide the clans with their findings. They aim to see if the families will fit each clan's personality.
The 4 ronin families are as follows:
Ide - Known for raising koi fish for ponds located at inns, halfways houses and other establishments throughout Rokugan. 
Symbol- Two koi swimming in a circle.
Okuda - Oversees a number of hillside rice paddy villages and owns a good number of halfways houses and inns along nearby roads. Has done a lot of work punishing bandit groups and protecting travelers.
Symbol - Egret
Yamashina - Has built a strong reputation for having skilled negotiators and diplomats. Works chiefly among Mercantile families, businesses and the minor clans.
Symbol - The Great Purple Emperor Butterfly
Rokkaku - Maintains a series of very secluded temples in the Shinomen Forest were they maintain relationships with spirits (think the anime Mushi-shi). Their members travel far and wide, helping to maintain balance with the spiritual health and well being of Rokugan and its people. Often, their arrival precedes storms and have often been associated with bad omens.
Symbol - Wind and flowing water
 
That is where I am at right now. I still have to fill out more details of the families (main characters) and their relationships with the Monkey, Hare and Sparrow minor clans.
Also struggling to find a decent map too.
All feedback is welcome!

Welcome to Rokugan! While these ronin should definitely be trying to join the Crab Clan (i.e. the best one), I suppose the Monkey and the Hare are pretty alright too. Just ignore my icon - I'm totally unbiased...
Ide is the name of a family in the Unicorn great clan. I'd suggest changing this one.
Otherwise, ronin tend to be called "brotherhoods"/"otokodate" in setting, rather than families - but exceptions definitely exist. The rest sounds great! Have a blast.
Utz!

As long as Karen Traviss isn't involved I think we'll be ok.

I think from memory that the people of the Empire of Lorimor are said to have darker skin tones in general than the citizens of Terrinoth.
Remember though it's your game, the entire human race (and any other species you like) can be darker skinned if you desire.
They deliberately leave the lore open ended and you can make the world anyway you wish besides.
 
 

What are the elements in a good tactical encounter in D&D? I would argue that it has nothing to do with strict measurements and 6-square cones, but rather it has to do with high concepts revolving around 1) players choices and 2) a compelling environment. FFG's game system, while it lacks a strict mechanical measurements in terms of meters and seconds, still has the action economy necessary for tactical feel. Everyone gets an action every turn, everyone has a maneuver to use, everyone has resources they can spend to make stuff happen—especially the strain threshold. 
Focus on the characters, not the players. The characters are the ones in a tactical encounter, not the players.  Get the "combat grid" out of your headspace. A grid really impoverishes this game, because it turns it into a board game for the players to try and play chess with,* rather than a tactical encounter for their characters to try and win.   Keep the movement narrative, and if you use a map with a grid (you can totally use a map), purposefully put the markers or figurines on lines. Make it clear that you aren't beholden to the grid. Instead, use your judgement. "If you suffer 2 strain to move, you can just reach the door here. Otherwise you won't make it in time." Think in terms of motivation. Why is this encounter happening? What are the bad guys in it for? What are the PCs in it for? This should give you an idea of what the enemies are willing to do to accomplish their goals, and will give your players a clear idea of what their goals are, so they can approach them tactically.  What is the setup of the encounter? Is it an ambush? Is it a raid? The situation surrounding the potential battle should inform your tactical options. If every single encounter is just blast 'em and move on, then it can get boring. Rather, make sure your encounters have ready opportunities for victory that doesn't involve a full frontal assault every single time (negotiation/diplomacy is one obvious way, but I'm thinking more along the lines of technicians or tacticians using their skills to achieve a victory by outflanking, disabling, trapping, tricking, etc). If your players are used to just blasting all opponents every encounter, they'll probably need a "talk" from you to let them know you would appreciate them thinking about how to use their other skills in encounters.   Award tactical thinking. If a player comes up with a good idea, hand them a boost die to use in their plan!   
TL;DR: the tactics are in the narrative. If you think in generalities and abstract concepts rather than 5' grids and 6-second rounds, you can absolutely have a very tactical encounter. It just won't feel like a board game. 
*I don't mean to knock D&D. It has a great combat system that's largely built around the idea of absolute ranges and 5' increments. It doesn't have to be clunky. But inserting a grid into FFG's system is clunky. 

Melee difficulty is Average(), not Easy (). That should help a little bit. Also, characters can always take the Defensive Stance manoeuvre to add  to all incoming melee combat checks(Melee, Brawl and Lightsaber). This also adds  to their melee combat checks until the end of their next turn, too.
If you want to increase the difficulty of opponent's melee combat checks, look no further than the Side Step talent: for each rank, you may suffer 1 strain to increase the difficulty of all incoming melee combat checks by 1. So if you have 3 ranks you can suffer 3 strain to upgrade the difficulty three times.
The mod system is a bit wonky, yeah. And I'm no expert, but I'm sure there are mods you can get for your melee weapons that make them as nasty as a modded blaster.
At some point the ranged character will run out of room to move and will be stuck in engaged range. That's a great use of threat/despair. Heck, don't forget you can spend 2 threat from an enemies check to take an out-of-turn manoeuvre—use that to get back in melee range!
If you want that, look for weapons or talents that let you immobilize your opponent (I'm sure there are some, I just don't have my books handy so can't quote them to you).
In D&D, you take the disengage action to not get hit with an opportunity attack, and in SWRPG you take the Disengage manoeuvre to, well, disengage from melee combat. There is no equivalent of an opportunity attack in SWRPG because it adds too much dice rolling and doesn't fit with the source material.

I have them work just like walkie-talkies.  If your comlink isn't actually keyed, nobody's going to hear you; and if it is keyed, then you're not going to be able to hear anyone else. 

It depends on your GM. Personally I like to let players make whatever characters they want, and from that I can see what kind of things they want to do in the system. If a player comes out with a pilot character then I know I must include piloting in each session.
Now, it’s important to know that this system works extremely well when the party splits up. It’s actually quite simple to run an encounter where everyone is separated, doing different things. But to do it requires a gm willing to tell a story in such a way. But if it’s possible then it really opens the chance of specialist characters to do their thing without the entire encounter being focused on them.

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2018/8/10/rise-of-the-separatists/
 
Well now, that's interesting....

I can't get my players to do it for all their rolls, but I love when they break down good and bad based on where the dice that rolled the result came from.  For example, if you receive threats from black dice imposed by rain, you slip on the wet ground.  If the threat came from red dice from an opposed check, their opponent shoves them, causing them to slip.  The effect is the same, but the narrative cause changes based on what dice rolled what.

I always show mine, and I try whenever possible to turn it into a player roll. So rather than have a bartender make a Deception check against the PC's Discipline (or Vigilance, which I imported from Genesys) I ask the PC to make a Vigilance check against the bartender's Deception.

I show mine. It's not been a problem for me, but I don't throw softballs and they know it. The results are the results. 

If you really need the sacrifice to happen just make sure the PC's are "out of reach". Have them hear it over com link, see them across a ravine, up on a catwalk, etc. 

If it happens once or twice, oh well. If it becomes a pattern? Let me tell you a story—
Back around 1988/89, the first original Star Trek: The Next Generation novel was released. In Peter David’s Strike Zone, a friend of Wesley Crusher was diagnosed with a terminal illness. Choosing to believe his own press as the boy wonder, Wesley vowed to find a cure. He gave himself a nervous breakdown in the process, and succeeded.
Only to have his friend jump in front of a phaser blast and sacrifice his life to protect another before Wesley could even give him the news.
What I’m suggesting is, let them be the heroes...save the NPCs. Then the NPC faces death when the players can’t do anything about it.

It probably doesn't work so well with disintegrations, sarlaac pits, and the many maladies the void of space offers. Also, situations where the body can't be recovered or reached.

Nope! lol. I feel that the Imperial army should be what is used most of the time and Stormtroopers are basically like SS or something. Stormtroopers are used to police the population, do the real dirty work, and make a show of the Empire's might. I feel the bulk of the military ground forces would look like what we saw in Solo. This would make the Stormtroopers more personally indoctrinated in perpetuating the crimes of the Empire than say the average Imperial Soldier, because the really oppressive work is done by the Stormtrooper corps. Imperial soldiers are basically grunts doing what they think they should for their government, but they are not fanatics to the degree of the armored troops. 

I’d say raspberry appears to be the most effective.

If there's no concrete rules, make it a plot device. It works as long as the plot needs it to work and it works as well or poor as the plot needs it to. Say they are breaking into a building for a heist. Comm Jamming is only part of the situation. The device needs to be on site, possibly in a broadcast/server room and all that. Once setup, it's possible another could deactivate it, so someone might consider staying behind to guard it, though that would slow down the operation with less manpower.

Enfys Nest since they seemed to tangle regularly with Crimson Dawn.
 
Also that pole with thesShockwave Enfys uses at the end to down a bunch of the Crimson guards.
 
Lando's capes.

I didn't  like Last Jedi. I liked this. Best of the new Star Wars movies imo. If you were upset with Last Jedi and waiting to pull the trigger on this one, go see it.

Nope, just one who actually believes in freedom and is willing to create havoc

My son - whose IG bounty hunter droid that just came into control of a sizable mercenary crew has always had a "droids rights" undercurrnt - has already messaged our GM and asked how campaign-breaking it would be for him to start a full-on droid rights revolution.
(He was told that it will actually play quite well as we roll through this final "season" of the campaign.)