I need these cards

I need these cards

Hi!
FFG rebooted the timeline, and the game is set in 1123, but no SCC and many, many changes compared to the timeline we knew. 
For the better, I have to say.
@KakitaKaori compiled all (most of?) the novels to establish current timeline in here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wEhIccleYFIsL_C0zKAV3gk4U7XIcjNXokEsuMBbBZM/edit#gid=0
This is a gold mine.

Your interpretation is correct.

A relevant part however is that while it all happens in the last step (6, Resolve Symbols on Kept Dice), it happens in a specific order. First come Explosions, specifically the exploding bit, not the success bit. You roll additional dice and choose whether to keep them. These dice can also still include strife.
Second comes Strife - before Opportunities and then Success. Which means that in a Duel, if you become Compromised from the Strife you get, the Finishing Blow interrupts before you get to opportunities and success!
Technically it could also mean that if being Compromised affected the TN of whatever you are doing, you would be Compromised by the time you get to checking for success. 
 

I meant for the purposes of the tournament  duels. If you go by the rules on Courts of Stone, such ritualized duels are wearing ceremonial kimonos. Hence my take on lots of damaged clothing.

Hi!
FFG rebooted the timeline, and the game is set in 1123, but no SCC and many, many changes compared to the timeline we knew. 
For the better, I have to say.
@KakitaKaori compiled all (most of?) the novels to establish current timeline in here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wEhIccleYFIsL_C0zKAV3gk4U7XIcjNXokEsuMBbBZM/edit#gid=0
This is a gold mine.

I don't see them as progress as they (in previous edition, at last) finally just wanted to replace the samurai/buke class by their own affiliates.
But yes, they're not feudal, I give you that.

It's still not exactly common knowledge to the average samurai - precisely because it's so heretical, their existence, and the fact that various high-ranking members of families might have been executed for being Kolat members, gets airbrushed out of history over time, in the same way Empress Hantei Yugozoheime was killed by gaijin cannon-fire at the Battle of White Stag died peacefully after NOTHING HAPPENED.
The Emerald Magistrates, by comparison, maintain a library specifically on cults, criminal societies and other assorted dangerous nutjobs. They know the Kolat 'is a thing', and what they're after, but there's no indication they know enough about them to tell you how they're organised, for example. The statement Kage 'sees Kolat everywhere' suggests even the magistrates see them as an ill-defined 'Reds under the Bed' threat.
The Kolat has existed for centuries, after all. Keeping your inner workings secret is quite a feat. Keeping even your existence secret for most of a millennium whilst supposedly manipulating absolutely everything ever and yet still somehow not having 'won' was always a bit stupid.
Okay....this is a case of comparing notes with other bits of the story. Essentially, the sequence of events
Doji Satsume was deeply unimpressed with the two Hantei princes, considering one 'weak' (Hantei Daisetsu, Heir Secondary) and one 'cruel' (Hantei Sotorii, Heir Primary) and frankly didn't think either was shaping up to be a fit heir to Hantei Jodan (the current emperor) This opinion, which is arguably heretical but unfortunately pretty justifiable*, came to the attention of a highly placed Kolat sympathiser ** Said kolat sympathiser thought the same, and was gleefully awaiting the social and economic train-wreck which would result from Hantei Sotorii becoming emperor Said Kolat sympathiser exchanged letters discussing sorta-kinda kolat philosophy with Satsume. In the process, they became aware that Satsume was doing research on 'old legal precedents' and apparently had a plan to 'solve the problem of the princes being unsuitable'. The kolat went 'oh, bugger!' and tried to have him assassinated before he put this plan into motion - using an assassin who'd seen Sotorii brutally kill peasants and who was prepared to go Kamikaze to stop him becoming emperor. They didn't have much time for subtlety because whatever the plan was, it was imperative Satsume died before he could tell anyone about it.... Whilst Satsume was murdered, it happened after he'd already told the Emperor and Bayushi Shoju about his proposed plan, which they put into effect***  
Different cells have different views. At one end some want to replace the kami bloodlines with the people most suited, and allow a meritocracy****, whilst others want to maintain a strictly hereditary feudal structure - just with themselves at the top.
 
 
* Several stories, starting with Wildcats & Dragons Teeth shows what a spoiled, emotionally stunted turd Sotorii is, whilst Daisetsu's romance with Iuchi Shahai, starting in Heart of the Garden, leads to you getting a feel for his view that 'Bushido's really a bit unnecessarily cruel and harsh, isn't it?'
** "My friend and peer" - don't open the spoiler unless you want to know.
*** See Tiger Stalks His Prey. It doesn't work, because the Emperor has apparently never watched 'Gladiator'. But you can't get Netflix in Otosan Uchi, so I guess that's not  entirely his fault...
**** One thing notable is they quite like the Mantis for this reason, as they're the biggest clan not ruled by a Kami bloodline.

I don't see them as progress as they (in previous edition, at last) finally just wanted to replace the samurai/buke class by their own affiliates.
But yes, they're not feudal, I give you that.

You're right, and this totally justifies the Emerald Magistrates being where they are.
But PCs surrounded by Scorpion NPCs plotting against each others might be something that might lead to severe paranoia. And I like it

More of a question than anything else but... I thought about making cards for techniques (like, fitting all techniques - shuji/kiho/kata/prayers...) into "Magic" cards so my players could have a "deck" for their characters. But maybe someone already did this kind of thing ?
Yeah, I'm kinda lazy

I would wait for a player to ask something like "I'd like to place the blame on someone to avoid dishonor" or "how can we sort this out without shame for Satsume-dono ?" then make them roll Courtesy or Games.
-I'll roll Courtesy! Ok, TN is 2
-I'll roll Games, and I'd like to figure whom I can blame for this story to be forgotten soon enough. Ok, this is deduction or logic, so roll Water or Earth, TN is 2.

I would wait for a player to ask something like "I'd like to place the blame on someone to avoid dishonor" or "how can we sort this out without shame for Satsume-dono ?" then make them roll Courtesy or Games.
-I'll roll Courtesy! Ok, TN is 2
-I'll roll Games, and I'd like to figure whom I can blame for this story to be forgotten soon enough. Ok, this is deduction or logic, so roll Water or Earth, TN is 2.

But people do not choose to speak to kamis. It's a "gift" very few people have. Half of the Empire's shugenja are born within the Isawa family. There is nothing strange for having only a few shugenja (or even just one or two) within a minor clan: if no one can detect the Gift, how would people know and teach you how to develop it ?
For the "old fashion" style, you can describe things like clothings, architecture and expressions that would be out-of-date for a Crane or a Scorpion. A traditionalist Phoenix might like it
Mechanic-wise, you might tell (or not) your PCs that Badger are not fond of people using Fire ring, and that Earth or Water might fit the clan a bit more.
I really like the mechanic for this kind of thing!

Remember that Akodo Toturi was made supreme legal authority of the Empire on the grounds of successfully slicing some paper streamers off a scorpion's armbands. Things really do work that way.
However, if you want a slightly more sensible or defensible idea; assuming one of your PCs wins the Topaz Championship, Sumiko offers that samurai the chance to become an Emerald Magistrate, and the other PCs to become their yoriki. They'd still be junior, and still be sent out either under direct supervision or on cases Sumiko feels they can be trusted on (depending on how they comport themselves in the Emerald Fortress), but that makes a degree more sense than them all becoming magistrates straight out of their Gempukku.

Hi guys,
I thought it would be nice to write this topic over here as I am planning a campaign for my players.

Everyone is welcome to give feedback, ideas or critics.

This topic will include many, many spoilers about the universe, and is something I build according to my very personnal point of view about many things in L5R universe.

We played L5R for a long time, we had many characters on the table, and always played around the SCC period (didn’t like the background after the 2nd day of the Thunders).

For this campaign, I wanted to get the players on high stakes, explore some deep secrets and be confronted to something big. If you think about the Kolat, you might be wrong as I really dislike the Kolat as a very big, untouchable organisation. I like their ideas, but for me they are just a bunch of people with an ideal, keeping low profile and waiting for « their » moment, with each faction trying to overcome the others. So not really the killing machine they are usually depicted as. They might be the origin of some adventures, but I intend to confront the PC to something way more dangerous.

Right now, I’ve read the Topaz Championship, Palace of the Emerald Champion, Dark Tides and Kyotei Castle scenarios. All present a solid base for nice adventures so the players can get into their characters, meet a few NPCs and roll some dices.

Talking about players, here is my table :

-        - A Togashi Monk (I tried to say no, player insisted, let’s see where it goes). Pretty usefull for me to have this character, we’ll see what he’ll become once the campaign really start and he discovers the true nature of his daimyo.

-         - An Asahina shugenja, really peacefull, player printed a list of all kami and fortunes, so we’ll get into religious small-talk and stuff. I might link him to Asahina Yajinden and make a few scenarios around the Bloodswords (would be nice). And add a really grim side to the character.

-          - A Bayushi courtier who enjoy gossips. He serves the Empire, so I really want to know what he’ll do when the SCC comes by. The PCs should be into so much trouble by then that they will surely spare him as they’ll need him. Also, I might want to give him some Shosuro blood to make things a bit more scary. Maybe.

-         - A Moto bushi, who wants to ride across all Rokugan. Its player is no a big fan of courtesy and and all ceremonial, but he’s willing to give it a try.

-         - A Shiba bushi. I still have to find things to do to him but I’m confident.

Right now, we are running the Topaz Championship. They met Satsume’s ghost, get the hint about Hitoshi being the son of someone (but they still don’t know if it’s Satsume or Toshimoko) and they think one of the competitors (an honest Akodo bushi) tries to sabotage their gempukku. Right now I find Hitoshi’s story quite good, but I feel I can launch the campaign with him. How so ? Well. Basically, the players are here to assure he lives because he might be the next Crane Thunder (I insist on might).

I really wonder whar FFG is gonna do with the storyline, but right now I feel I have elements to make a good one.

So here’s the plot : the SCC will occur as Bayushi Shoju is sure it’s the only way to ensure the safety of the Empire (as he knows Fu Leng will return and possess the last Hantei Emperor). But Fu Leng is not the real threat here. The real « bad guy » in my campaign would be the Lying Darkness. The fragment of Nothing that subsists from the early days of the world. The one that helped Shosuro getting back from the Shadowlands and consumed her.

What does it want ? It wants the world (aka the Empire here) to get back no the Great Nothing. For centuries, it has watched the humanity, afraid and curious. Now, it seems the Empire is on the verge of chaos. Fu Leng will return thanks to these feeble humans, and this is the perfect way for the Nothing ro reach the the gate between the mortal realms and Heaven : Otosan Uchi. Once there, it will be able to absorb the Heavens.

Ok, that is an awesome plan, but how can I involve my players ? They are not able to defeat Nothing out of the blue, right ? Of course. They won’t. Even when they reach rank 6, they won’t. Because we’re speaking about deities. But they can fight Nothing’s minions. They can assure Fu Leng is defeated by the Thunder. How so ?

Well, the « second » Thunder are the reincarnation of the souls of the first. If a « thunder » dies, then the soul would reincarnate in another body.

But what if the soul is stuck somewhere ? Right now, as my players will get their gempukku, a few thunder souls are in trouble :
-         -  Shosuro (Bayushi) Kachiko is called day after day by this little voice… Shosuro has been consumed by the Nothing, and her (his ?) offspring is an easy target for the Lying Darkness.

-          - Doji Hotaru is in danger, as her lover will slowly spread the Darkness into her too. Hotaru seems a nice character, lots of trouble, the need to prove herself… so an easy target but potentially a great Thunder. If she was to die, Hitoshi would be a good Thunder too.

-          - Hida Atarasi : the Thunder from the Crab fell to Jigoku and became an Akutenshi, a lieutenant of Fu Leng. He is still fighting his father in the Shadowlands (Crab legends are true !) but when the Dark Scrolls will be opened, he will finally be able to kill Hida-kami and launch a terrible attack on the Empire. Worst, the Crab will have to face the son of its founder. Troubles are coming.

On the other hand, many people are likely to help the PC. The most powerfull one would certainly be Togashi « Yokuni ». Not directly helping, but sending the PC where needed. He knows a lot about everything (the Nothing, the Kolat, the Scorpion), but as « our time has come and now should mankind prevail » he will mostly watch over the PC while they try to save the Empire.

So my PC will be « on their own » trying to unmask an enemy without any form for a « quest » no one would truly believe. Yummy !

Right now, they have no clue I’m preparing this, and they (well, some of them) already want to solve Satsume’s death. I plan to run the scenario almost as it is written, except Bayushi Sugai would certainly not « run to be caught » but be a bit more subtle in his approach to ruin the Championship and they might get their hands on the ronin he recruited. But then, who would trust a ronin when an honest samurai said he didn’t do it ? They will have to be convincing ! Or Sugai could become a recurrent sworn enemy. Or we could test the rules for duel. Every option is fine by me !

Also, I don’t like the idea of all PC becoming Emerald magistrates. This is a high-status fonction with a lot of responsabilities and power. So they might get an offer to become yoriki (assistants to a magistrate) for some time, in  order to train for a couple years (and not getting a 3 days-training in some castle). Said Magistrate would send them to work anyway, and is a perfect reason to travel across the Empire on various cases.

To be continued.

Hi guys,
I thought it would be nice to write this topic over here as I am planning a campaign for my players.

Everyone is welcome to give feedback, ideas or critics.

This topic will include many, many spoilers about the universe, and is something I build according to my very personnal point of view about many things in L5R universe.

We played L5R for a long time, we had many characters on the table, and always played around the SCC period (didn’t like the background after the 2nd day of the Thunders).

For this campaign, I wanted to get the players on high stakes, explore some deep secrets and be confronted to something big. If you think about the Kolat, you might be wrong as I really dislike the Kolat as a very big, untouchable organisation. I like their ideas, but for me they are just a bunch of people with an ideal, keeping low profile and waiting for « their » moment, with each faction trying to overcome the others. So not really the killing machine they are usually depicted as. They might be the origin of some adventures, but I intend to confront the PC to something way more dangerous.

Right now, I’ve read the Topaz Championship, Palace of the Emerald Champion, Dark Tides and Kyotei Castle scenarios. All present a solid base for nice adventures so the players can get into their characters, meet a few NPCs and roll some dices.

Talking about players, here is my table :

-        - A Togashi Monk (I tried to say no, player insisted, let’s see where it goes). Pretty usefull for me to have this character, we’ll see what he’ll become once the campaign really start and he discovers the true nature of his daimyo.

-         - An Asahina shugenja, really peacefull, player printed a list of all kami and fortunes, so we’ll get into religious small-talk and stuff. I might link him to Asahina Yajinden and make a few scenarios around the Bloodswords (would be nice). And add a really grim side to the character.

-          - A Bayushi courtier who enjoy gossips. He serves the Empire, so I really want to know what he’ll do when the SCC comes by. The PCs should be into so much trouble by then that they will surely spare him as they’ll need him. Also, I might want to give him some Shosuro blood to make things a bit more scary. Maybe.

-         - A Moto bushi, who wants to ride across all Rokugan. Its player is no a big fan of courtesy and and all ceremonial, but he’s willing to give it a try.

-         - A Shiba bushi. I still have to find things to do to him but I’m confident.

Right now, we are running the Topaz Championship. They met Satsume’s ghost, get the hint about Hitoshi being the son of someone (but they still don’t know if it’s Satsume or Toshimoko) and they think one of the competitors (an honest Akodo bushi) tries to sabotage their gempukku. Right now I find Hitoshi’s story quite good, but I feel I can launch the campaign with him. How so ? Well. Basically, the players are here to assure he lives because he might be the next Crane Thunder (I insist on might).

I really wonder whar FFG is gonna do with the storyline, but right now I feel I have elements to make a good one.

So here’s the plot : the SCC will occur as Bayushi Shoju is sure it’s the only way to ensure the safety of the Empire (as he knows Fu Leng will return and possess the last Hantei Emperor). But Fu Leng is not the real threat here. The real « bad guy » in my campaign would be the Lying Darkness. The fragment of Nothing that subsists from the early days of the world. The one that helped Shosuro getting back from the Shadowlands and consumed her.

What does it want ? It wants the world (aka the Empire here) to get back no the Great Nothing. For centuries, it has watched the humanity, afraid and curious. Now, it seems the Empire is on the verge of chaos. Fu Leng will return thanks to these feeble humans, and this is the perfect way for the Nothing ro reach the the gate between the mortal realms and Heaven : Otosan Uchi. Once there, it will be able to absorb the Heavens.

Ok, that is an awesome plan, but how can I involve my players ? They are not able to defeat Nothing out of the blue, right ? Of course. They won’t. Even when they reach rank 6, they won’t. Because we’re speaking about deities. But they can fight Nothing’s minions. They can assure Fu Leng is defeated by the Thunder. How so ?

Well, the « second » Thunder are the reincarnation of the souls of the first. If a « thunder » dies, then the soul would reincarnate in another body.

But what if the soul is stuck somewhere ? Right now, as my players will get their gempukku, a few thunder souls are in trouble :
-         -  Shosuro (Bayushi) Kachiko is called day after day by this little voice… Shosuro has been consumed by the Nothing, and her (his ?) offspring is an easy target for the Lying Darkness.

-          - Doji Hotaru is in danger, as her lover will slowly spread the Darkness into her too. Hotaru seems a nice character, lots of trouble, the need to prove herself… so an easy target but potentially a great Thunder. If she was to die, Hitoshi would be a good Thunder too.

-          - Hida Atarasi : the Thunder from the Crab fell to Jigoku and became an Akutenshi, a lieutenant of Fu Leng. He is still fighting his father in the Shadowlands (Crab legends are true !) but when the Dark Scrolls will be opened, he will finally be able to kill Hida-kami and launch a terrible attack on the Empire. Worst, the Crab will have to face the son of its founder. Troubles are coming.

On the other hand, many people are likely to help the PC. The most powerfull one would certainly be Togashi « Yokuni ». Not directly helping, but sending the PC where needed. He knows a lot about everything (the Nothing, the Kolat, the Scorpion), but as « our time has come and now should mankind prevail » he will mostly watch over the PC while they try to save the Empire.

So my PC will be « on their own » trying to unmask an enemy without any form for a « quest » no one would truly believe. Yummy !

Right now, they have no clue I’m preparing this, and they (well, some of them) already want to solve Satsume’s death. I plan to run the scenario almost as it is written, except Bayushi Sugai would certainly not « run to be caught » but be a bit more subtle in his approach to ruin the Championship and they might get their hands on the ronin he recruited. But then, who would trust a ronin when an honest samurai said he didn’t do it ? They will have to be convincing ! Or Sugai could become a recurrent sworn enemy. Or we could test the rules for duel. Every option is fine by me !

Also, I don’t like the idea of all PC becoming Emerald magistrates. This is a high-status fonction with a lot of responsabilities and power. So they might get an offer to become yoriki (assistants to a magistrate) for some time, in  order to train for a couple years (and not getting a 3 days-training in some castle). Said Magistrate would send them to work anyway, and is a perfect reason to travel across the Empire on various cases.

To be continued.

I'm enjoying the game. My current group is a narrative group and not a power roller group which helps as I prefer that style. 
As to the rules you can take/change/leave what you want. 
What I am looking forward too is a big campaign. I am designing one myself but it would be nice to have a large standalong campaign produced by FFG. 

It very much depends when you set your story.
 
"I was honored to be the servant of Doji Satsume, the great Emerald Champion who enforced the law across the Empire. But sadly, my master died some weeks ago."
(Ryu, The Topaz Championship)
 
"That had been…a year and a half ago? So, only a few months before Satsume had stepped down as clan champion, elevating Hotaru in his place. She had never heard him comment on
the quality of her leadership of the Crane since, not even to say if it was very good.
And now he was dead."
(Doji Hotaru, Her Father's Daughter)
 
If you're starting with the beginner box, then the topaz championship is 'some weeks' Doji Satsume's death. It lasts a couple of days, then the journey to the Emerald Fortress takes several days (let's say a week), at which time Hotaru is there. It's not said how soon after his death the intro LCG fictions are, but it can't be that long. Her Father's daughter implies Hotaru's been champion less than a year. We have three known locations for Hotaru in the early fictions: The Palace Of The Emerald Champion (where she's sending Satsume's things on to Toshimoko in Tsuma) Toshi Ranbo (where she kills Akodo Arasou) Otosan Uchi (where she is for Satsume's Funeral as mentioned in Court Games) We also see her on the road, arriving in Otosan Uchi, in Her Father's Daughter. We don't know where she was coming from, but since she was accompanying a Crane Caravan, that implies she was coming from a Crane Holding, which in the north could be Toshi Ranbo or the valley around Kyotei Castle, or else coming to Otosan Uchi from the south. That said, going from Toshi Ranbo to Otosan Uchi takes you past the Emerald Champion's castle. If she doesn't go back-and-forth, a logical route would be starting at Toshi Ranbo, then proceeding to the Emerald Fortress after her father's death, then proceeding on to the capital - which would imply Akodo Arasou's death was prior to her appearance in In the Palace Of The Emerald Champion. It may also have been prior to the Topaz Championship, but I suspect that if it was, it came close enough that a lion samurai at Tsuma wouldn't have heard of it - if you're travelling from Tsuma to the Emerald Fortress, you're travelling towards Toshi Ranbo, so someone there would here the news long before you would. Court Games is probably the best 'timeline' piece we have: It has Kakita Toshimoko visiting the capital to give his condolences to Hotaru 'prior to the funeral'. At that time, Akodo Arasou had been slain "weeks ago" The court session is declared to be the "tenth day of the month of Akodo, in the year 1123 by the Calendar of lsawa"  
So, short version - my assessment, Arasou is probably dead by the time of the Topaz Championship, but there's no credible reason you'd have heard about it until after the championship completes. You would hear about it prior to arriving at the Emerald Fortress, though (which could make meeting Doji Hotaru.....interesting)

We just finished "The Topaz Championship" this past Saturday, and we'll be starting "In the Palace of the Emerald Champion" this weekend. While my wife and I have played 4th edition before, none of us were experienced with FFG's system prior to starting, and the other five players have never played in this setting before.
Everyone used the beginner box characters, and we all had a blast. Things dragged a bit with the tests, but the tension was high. Most of the players did fine, with two even getting enough points to complete their gempukku on the first day. One narrowly finished by the end of the second, and one actually missed it by a single point—which gave me the chance to have Akodo Eiko and Kakita Tashimoko intercede on her behalf after they captured Bayushi Sugai. (Without the help of the previous Topaz Champion, in fact.)
There were some surprises. Isawa Aki ended up winning the championship, blowing Kakita Riku out of the water with three bonus successes. Bayushi Kyo had earlier managed to acquire a small vial of poison, and they slipped it to Sugai before he was led away, allowing him to kill himself in captivity rather than spill Hitoshi's secret.
But the chase through Tsuma went well, they beat down the ronin after getting almost wiped in the earlier sake house brawl, and Sugai trying to get away didn't seem to bother anybody.
As to your question about chronology, the lack of official (or even unofficial) resources to address that question is annoying. However, I've been piecing together a timeline myself, and I'm pretty sure the Topaz Championship either happened shortly before Akodo Arasou is killed at Toshi Ranbo, or it happened concurrently. So word would not have reached Tsuma yet.

Without buffing anyone (I want my players to have their grasp on the game mechanic), I planned to change a bit the last part of the scenario, making ronin trying to escape the scene (and get caught) instead of "the bad guy" (my players would fint it way too obvious, as I do) so the PC would then have to prove B.S. is guilty, working as real yoriki.

Oh, forgot this point, 
Remember that the chances of rolling a success or explosive success on 2R1S dice is about 50% per dice (3/6 for ring dice, 7/12 on skill dice), 
So you have a better than 50% chance of rolling 2 successes on 2R1S dice without any other factors, 

YMMV, but here's my take on it, 
I ran about half of the adventure in the LTP box with the pregens, and they did okay, 
The adventure isn't particularly hard, and they get XP part way for improvement, 
My players did fine on the gempuku events (by the end of day one they all had around 2/3 of the points they needed to succeed, even the scorpion, whose rolls sucked until the last event of the day), and didn't have problems anywhere else, 
Playing with full characters would, I suspect, be a walk in the park without at least beefing up some of the opposition, as the pregens are very weak by comparison (they also lack techniques that a full character would have for example, which particularly sucks for the shugenja... ). 
Edit:
For sure, 
FWIW, remember void points, rerolls for distinctions, invocations have a get-around allowing you to accumulate successes until you get what you need,
And finally, teamwork is awesome - make sure your players use it, it can really boost die rolls.
Sure, your courtier may not be able to do much in combat directly against an oni, but the crab bushi can sure make use of an extra skill die (and keeping an extra dice on top), when he's wailing on it, 
And since the crab bushi is pretty much relegated to your backup providing teamwork in court, that seems fair, 
And failing that, often failed die rolls can still grant teamwork benefits to allies, 
I can concur with this, EE is a really good book to have, but it isn't a good guide to current events (and as I'm not following the card game I'm not getting any information from their either, which I suspect is likely to be the best place to pick up the metaplot), 
That said, the current game seems to be designed with "do it your way" in terms of you decide who, what's going on, etc in your game. If you want the Lion clan champion dead in your game because it's convenient for your plot then go for it. 

Way I read it, the TN1 activation only activates the enhancement effect. It's tagged as Support/Attack for other mechanical effects that affect certain types of actions (this combo of tags is particularly mean because it triggers the penalty of both Dazed and Disoriented conditions).
If you roll 3+ successes, you also get to damage one target as an added bonus. This is just physical damage equal to your Fire ring, not enhanced by additional successes. I guess the damage type is different from the punches and kicks you will start doing next turn because it's a tacked on, different effect (I picture an initial shower of flames scorching the target as the monk activates the technique, while subsequent unarmed attacks glow with supernatural fire).

Correct. The check itself is basically throwing out  small burst of fire.
"The monk throws a rapid, reckless strike, and flame streams out, seizing and charring whatever the monk touches."
It's an attack, but it's not a Strike action, and it's not using any specific weapon.
"While this kihō is active, treat the deadliness of your unarmed punch and kick profiles (see page 237) as increased by your Fire Ring"
Since Flame Fist isn't using Punch or Kick statlines (it does a flat Fire Ring damage), the enhancement doesn't apply to the burst 'hit'
No. That is a property of specific attack actions (like Strike). An action only does what it says it does. The actions which do "weapon damage plus bonus successes" will specifically say in their action description that they do. If they don't (like flame fist) then they don't.
All Strike Actions are Attack Actions, not all Attack Actions are Strike Actions - so an attack doesn't, for example, have the "**: inflict a critical strike" unless it specifically says it does.