Step 1 is to go find the Disney movie, Treasure Planet. If it isn't on Disney+, then they've completely lost their minds over there.  As you may have guessed, it's a retelling of Treasure Island, but in space.  If you've never seen it, please go do so right now.

If it's stupid and it works, it ain't that stupid.
I briefly had a plan to plug an old mp3 player into an old laptop for our music engine, then realized the sound quality was terrible. Now I just have Rhythmbot and a bunch of saved YouTube links.

Spoilers ahead, I guess.  Nothing you wouldn't learn by the end of episode 1.
   I thought I was done with zombies, but put them in Korea in the 1500's (I'm guessing?), add political plots and really amazing hats, and I am all over it!
   For real, the setup is basically a Shadowlands plot.  The king of the Joseon dynasty in Korea falls ill with smallpox.  He has an adult son, though I didn't catch if he was from the king's deceased wife or a royal consort.  In any case, she's dead, and the king now has a pretty young wife (of the conniving Cho family! Boo, hiss!), heavy with child.
   Apparently, if the king dies before the child is born, the crown prince will become the king.  If he dies after the child is born, that child will be the king, with the queen as regent.  The crown prince will be right out of the line of succession, and probably killed by the Cho, just to be sure.
   Sure enough, the king dies before the child is born (before the show even starts, actually), but the dastardly Cho have a plan. Using the resurrection plant, the king is brought back to life as a flesh-craving monster!
   Chaos, of course, ensues.
   This show is much more zombie-apocalypse than I would go for, but that basic scenario just begs to be played out on a smaller scale.

For that sort of thing, I would use it as the introduction scene of a session, mostly to provide some exposition.  I've run a few games where I'll write a script for an intro scene, and hand them out to the players, asking them to read for certain characters, while I narrate stage directions.  In 50 Fathoms, the primary villains are a trio of sea hags, so I modeled an opening scene off the witches from MacBeth, had they players read, and then launched into the action. It worked pretty well.
In L5R, I would probably open with the characters watching a Kabuki play, queue up some Kabuki music, and have them read a brief scene. The scene would relate to an event that will be important in whatever adventure I have planned.
It's important to make it short.  One page, and done.  If their characters want to talk about the play and ask questions, that's fine, but it's mostly there to set the scene and provide some exposition on the Empire. Heck, if they really enjoy it, make the Kabuki troupe recurring characters. If the PCs earn enough Glory, perhaps they'll be the subject of one of the plays...
Dang. Now I gotta do this.

It's not everyone's style, and a lot will depend on your group, but I almost always have clocks(*) ticking during a game.  I find without clocks the players have almost zero sense of urgency.  I try to have clear consequences for action and/or inaction.  If the players have "analysis paralysis" I might gently nudge them and say "a good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow", or I'll pull that old Raymond Chandler trick of "when in doubt have a man come through a door with a gun in his hand."  I mean, not quite that...the even has to make sense in the plot...but I generally try to have fallback events that move the plot along.
To step back to a more macro viewpoint, it's really about keeping track of the important NPCs and what their clocks/goals are.  The whole point of the game is that the PC's goals are going to conflict with some NPC (**) somewhere, and those NPCs aren't just sitting around waiting for the PCs to act.  Heck, they might not even be aware of the PCs, which is often a lot more amusing.
I try to keep "downtime" to a minimum.  Anything that involves paperwork or tedious role-play goes in this category.  Gear shopping, crafting, healing, remote hacking, scholarly investigation, etc are usually handled either outside of the game (via email or whatever) or in summary form where each PC gets to roll once as I go around the table:  "Ok, PC1 was shopping for gear and...yep, you got the ammo you needed, but it was a bit more expensive (success with threat).  PC2...wow, you didn't manage to find any dirt online about that politician, but you did get a text from an old friend, we can look into that later (utter failure plus Triumph).  PC3..." etc.
Some downtime is fun.  If the players just want to have their PCs blow off some steam in a bar fight, or pulling Force Move pranks on construction workers, that can be a hoot.  But the minute the players start looking at each other like "my giddiness-well just dried up, what do we do now?" I start reminding them that if they don't get the power core to the unfortunate denizens of Arctopia, there will be a lot of meat popsicles to explain to the Rebellion...
Lastly, I try to get a read at the end of each session what the players plan to do next.  There are two main scenarios which I approach differently.
First is at the end of an arc.  I like to make small story arcs, within the larger campaign, that are 2-3 sessions long.  Generally an arc ends with the PCs back home or in some relatively safe place.  At the end of the arc I'll get a sense of the downtime activities they might want to engage in so we can do a quick summary-around-the-table.  Then I ask what plot actions they want to do next.  This is usually a pretty small list, in fact if I've done my job there are usually only 2-4 reasonable things they will want to do, because their PCs goals are at stake, and some new clocks are ticking.  If they pick one of them, half my job is done because I can prep for a single course of action.  But if they can't decide I just flesh out what I can and wing the rest using story cubes and the like.
Second is within an arc, and this is usually the easiest.  At the end of these mid-arc sessions, the players are usually in a tight place (cliffhanger)...captured, lost in the wilderness, pinned down in a firefight, fleeing through the streets of Corellia, or they just made hyperspace but the ship has a crit or two.  This makes it easy to paint the scene, introduce and resolve challenges, etc.
Like I said, not a style for everyone, but maybe it's helpful.
-------------------
* the more clocks the better.  Some are campaign clocks, and the PCs may not be aware of them, at least at first.  Some are story-arc clocks, suitable for goals over 2-3 sessions.  Some are immediate clocks, suitable for encounter goals.
** not all NPCs are sentient, it could just be the volcano that's about to blow...
 

For that sort of thing, I would use it as the introduction scene of a session, mostly to provide some exposition.  I've run a few games where I'll write a script for an intro scene, and hand them out to the players, asking them to read for certain characters, while I narrate stage directions.  In 50 Fathoms, the primary villains are a trio of sea hags, so I modeled an opening scene off the witches from MacBeth, had they players read, and then launched into the action. It worked pretty well.
In L5R, I would probably open with the characters watching a Kabuki play, queue up some Kabuki music, and have them read a brief scene. The scene would relate to an event that will be important in whatever adventure I have planned.
It's important to make it short.  One page, and done.  If their characters want to talk about the play and ask questions, that's fine, but it's mostly there to set the scene and provide some exposition on the Empire. Heck, if they really enjoy it, make the Kabuki troupe recurring characters. If the PCs earn enough Glory, perhaps they'll be the subject of one of the plays...
Dang. Now I gotta do this.

I love FFG's games, but I really think they're designed for the designers. I don't think they really remember how to think like players.

I love FFG's games, but I really think they're designed for the designers. I don't think they really remember how to think like players.

I love FFG's games, but I really think they're designed for the designers. I don't think they really remember how to think like players.

I love FFG's games, but I really think they're designed for the designers. I don't think they really remember how to think like players.

I like these! Though "eta" isn't a term to be throwing around. It applies to the real-world burakumin caste, who are still struggling to get out from under centuries-old stigma.  Pretty sure that's an n-word level slur.

Thanks for the replies. Having taken a second, more thorough look at the religion section of Emerald Empire, I do see they've gone a good long way toward a more diverse and multipolar approach to Shintao in this edition (cheers to the writers, if they're reading).
Here are some potential doctrinal or institutional conflicts I've come up with, drawn more or less directly from history, along with story seeds to implement them into your games. Hope someone finds them useful or interesting, 
 
* Does enlightenment happen suddenly, in a flash of insight, or gradually, through persistent effort?
- Until last year, the monk known as Sonkyo was a drunken, lecherous ronin known for his scanadalous escapades. After only a few months as an acolyte monk, he claims to have achieved full enlightenment, and gone on to roundly humiliate the venerable abbot of his monastery in a theological debate. Now the community is divided as to whether this upstart is a spiritual prodigy, or simply a clever rascal with a silver tongue.
 
* Do all beings share the same innate potential for enlightenment?
- The eta quarter of a major city is abuzz. A progressive, some might say "radical" monastery has accepted one of their number as an acolyte, under the principle that all beings have the right and potential to achieve enlightenment. Samurai and even heimin mock these monks, saying they might as well preach to dogs and monkeys. But the impromptu sermons they give on the outskirts of the city are drawing greater and greater numbers of eta, and have begun to take on revolutionary undertones...
- An ex-Kuni who has retired to the monastery has undertaken a grand experiment, or laughable folly, depending on who you ask. He has acquired an infant bakemono, and is rigorously disciplining it in Shinseist pedagogy. Most think him mad- but the creature has learned not just to quote the Tao, but to apply it.
 
* What does enlightenment actually entail for the destiny of the spirit? Do enlightened souls go to spend eternity in Yomi, ascend to Tengoku, or surpass all these realms and become one with the Void?
-  A young Kitsu sodan-senzo has been diligently seeking to make contact with a revered ancestor in Yomi. After many fruitless years, she proclaims that she is unable to reach him because he has transcended Yomi entirely, and that Yomi is merely a superior level in the same world of illusion as Ningen-do. This casts the many ancestors who are easily reachable through sodan-senzo in a less-than-favorable light, and threatens to create a dangerous breach in the Kitsu family order.
 
* Does the phenomenal world have any substance at all , and therefore, do actions taken there have any significance beyond the subjective experience of them?
- A Mirumoto swordsman of great skill and repute has entered a small town, slaughtered the entire burakumin population, and commanded the heimin there to start butchering their own meat. He says that he's done the burakumin a favor by speeding them toward their next life, and the heimin are not defiled by this work so long as they undertake it in a spirit of detachment. The swordsman has been arrested and is standing trial, but as he has only killed burakumin, and his knowledge of Shinseist scripture is impeccable, the magistrate is struggling to impose a meaningful penalty on him. By all appearances, he truly believes his actions to have been compassionate and in accord with the Tao.
 
* Was Shinsei a unique figure in history, or simply one of many enlightened souls who happened to play a visible historic role? How many other beings in existence have equalled or surpassed his spiritual status?
- A radical sect of travelling monks have been raiding monasteries simply to destroy all images of Shinsei. They claim that slavish devotion to his image is inimicable to his teachings, and that "the Shintao that can be named or envisioned is not the true Shintao". They melt idols and distribute the gold among the peasantry, and now have the support of much of the rural populace, giving voice to the frustrations of people who watch their religious teachers adorn statues with precious jewels while they themselves toil and starve.
 
* Can enlightenment, once gained, ever be lost?
- A revered monk, long-known for his holiness and wisdom, has begun travelling the countryside looking for plague-stricken lands. Wherever he goes, he lies with young women, claiming that far from lustfulness this is the bestowal of a transcendent gift. While this has discredited him in the eyes of many, rumors continue to spread that those young women are indeed cured of their pestilence, along with any other who lie with them. 
 
* Is violence ever justifiable, or is all conflict inherently an expression of desire and a source of karma?
- In the Crab lands, a dangerous idea is spreading. Peasant villages, after generations of mere survival, have stopped tilling their fields, but do not rise up in revolt- they simply sit. Torture and execution fail to induce them to labor, and they die with the dignity and resolve of any samurai. The famine has already begun, and the storehouses of the samurai begin to dwindle. Ashigaru levies are being disbanded and sent back to the fields, but some of them, too, have begun to refuse to work- better to die, they say, than to be defiled with the Taint. Samurai who have seen these mere heimin face death and excruciating pain without flinching have begun to question who is truly the superior being. 
 
Thoughts or responses welcome, of course.

Most kata have different TNs to resist, not to activate, and when resisting an attack, you do NOT get to choose your ring.  You have to use the Ring of whatever stance  you're in.  So if you used Water to make your attack last round, any rolls you make before your next turn have to use Water.
That said, there are many times that different rings could be used for the same action, especially if the GM doesn't want to waste time on multiple rolls.  We played yesterday and had to move a boulder in a cave, the GM called for a Fitness check, saying Earth, Fire or Water would all be fine.  Someone could probably argue why one Ring would be better than another in that case, but any of those make thematic sense, and we just wanted to keep things moving.
Of course, the Isawa shugenja really wanted to try to ask the spirit of the boulder to step aside, so the GM said that could only be done with Earth.

Most kata have different TNs to resist, not to activate, and when resisting an attack, you do NOT get to choose your ring.  You have to use the Ring of whatever stance  you're in.  So if you used Water to make your attack last round, any rolls you make before your next turn have to use Water.
That said, there are many times that different rings could be used for the same action, especially if the GM doesn't want to waste time on multiple rolls.  We played yesterday and had to move a boulder in a cave, the GM called for a Fitness check, saying Earth, Fire or Water would all be fine.  Someone could probably argue why one Ring would be better than another in that case, but any of those make thematic sense, and we just wanted to keep things moving.
Of course, the Isawa shugenja really wanted to try to ask the spirit of the boulder to step aside, so the GM said that could only be done with Earth.

For anyone who comes here looking for a way to have a functioning Morality mechanic, using nothing but RAW, it's really pretty easy.
In brief you just have to frame"everything" (the plot) in your game with "the easy way" and "the hard way".
Where"the easy way" is achieved by taking Conflict-worthy actions (initiating combat, lieing, stealing, Coercion, etc.) and using the Force (which is more likely than not to result in Conflict due to light and dark pip balance).
And "the hard way" is achieved by taking Jedi-like actions (not initiating combat, not murdering everyone, not seeking power over every situation through the Force).
And really, in my experience, you only have to use this until you're PCs get to around Force Rating 3, cuz at that point they usually start getting enough Conflict to balance the d10 roll just by using all of their Upgraded Force Powers.
This works. Guaranteed.
I've been doing it this way for over four years now, I pretty much exclusively run Force & Destiny Careers-only games. And this works.
You use Fear too. Liberally, early on.
And you also just pay attention to RP, and ask Players when their Character is experiencing strong emotions if they'll willingly take Conflict, or roll a check to about it. They, in my experience, virtually always say, yes.
Do these simple things and you're gonna have a functioning, RAW Morality mechanic. Where the PCs are actually having to do "good" things to be a Paragon.

I see your point, but I think if they can make the roll, let 'em have it.  Then they get to find out what happens to you when Vader gets pissed and has nothing but Force Powers with which to hit you.

Another thing I'd like to see in a 2e, and this goes along with the revision to a less-hits-but more-meaningful-hits combat, is fewer critical injuries but more meaningful ones. With the current rules, spending the Adv/Triumph to get a Critical Injury on an opponent feels pretty crappy when the d% roll comes up low. It's even worse when it happens over and over again. You shouldn't need to stack multiple levels of Lethal Blows, Vicious, or tons of Advantage to be able to get a nasty critical in a single hit. Also, base modifier for critical hits set by Damage of weapon - all else being equal, rifles should do nastier criticals than pistols.

So no, swapping up the order probably doesn't hurt anything, but it's also probably not required either. The thing to remember when looking at a curriculum chart, those are not the only techniques you can buy. An Isawa can buy any Invocation (they qualify for), they only get full XP credit for their school ranks if they buy from the table, thus this speeds them along their school progression better. They can be as versatile as you like, but the nature of things is to rotate through in order to progress the school. Considering Togashi Monks have the same pattern (only they end on Void, because Kiho) I'm guessing the elemental pattern is intentional. 

If it's stupid and it works, it ain't that stupid.
I briefly had a plan to plug an old mp3 player into an old laptop for our music engine, then realized the sound quality was terrible. Now I just have Rhythmbot and a bunch of saved YouTube links.

If it's stupid and it works, it ain't that stupid.
I briefly had a plan to plug an old mp3 player into an old laptop for our music engine, then realized the sound quality was terrible. Now I just have Rhythmbot and a bunch of saved YouTube links.

I don't  know. "Never use multipliers, especially not for damage" has always struck me as an excellent rule of thumb for game systems. I have never seen this sort of thing work out satisfactory.

"They are completely loyal to the Empire. They cannot be bribed, seduced, or blackmailed into betraying their Emperor" is a good guide for a GM to run your regular run of the mill Stormtrooper, but terribly restrictive worldbuilding when it is also canon that Stormtroopers are regular humans who aren't under any kind of supernatural compulsion to be loyal to anything.
Even Sith lords aren't 100% unredeemably evil when push comes to shove. It's sort of one of the major points of the entire franchise.
 

Man, I never even thought of that!  good work!
 

Man, I never even thought of that!  good work!
 

Google Drawings is great! I set up a series of circles, grouped them as one, which I can then drag to each character on their turn to visualize the range bands.

https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1TaiTvyHXM3QI7Cv-kwqrbzu9oeB_zLfEyzb9o42zNGs/edit?usp=sharing

The colored circle I kept around each character icon - that's range 0. From the colored one to the next is Range 1, next is 2, etc. I used a 5ft square grid plus the range bands as squares measurements from the core book to measure it all.