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Kiso

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Posts posted by Kiso

  1. Posted

    Perhaps linked to this discussion is the following thoughts:

    I own a first edition core book and I think we can all agree, that the first edition is the most rules light edition of l5r. Comparing the 1st with the 5th edition, both games seem to have the samurai drama core gameplay. Meaning that we don't need a more rules heavier edition to play l5r. Would perhaps playing 1st edition encourage the players to come up with more creative ideas to gain any upper hand, because there aren't any kata's, shuiji, ect. to rely on.

    To put in perspective, I have only played 5th edition, so any players of older editions can correct me on this thought process. One thing I do like in 5th edition is the inclusion of strife, which I think helps giving the scenes a more dramatic feeling.

    Tenebrae reacted to this

  2. Posted · Edited by Kiso
    typo

    In the past few days I have seen a couple of video's talking about the illusion of choices that characters have in Pathfinder and D&D.

    Taking20 - I'm Quitting Pathfinder 2e Because of This Issue

    Dungeon Craft - The Illusion of Choice: My Reaction to Taking20 Quitting Pathfinder

    Taking20 - Illusion of Choice - Breaking it Down

    Perhaps a comment in one of the video has summarizes the main issue best:
    if your encounter design is good and your group is putting together a good, compelling adventure then your choices in game will matter and that is ultimately what is important and what you will remember in the long run. Whether you picked a feat that gives you an extra +2 on your attack rolls isn't the sort of thing most players are going to remember and tell stories about in a ttrpg. One of things that's freeing about systems that are light on rules is that it makes you realize what your character does is up to you as a player and is not what your abilities give you permission to do. Deciding to raise your shield and distract the enemy while your rogue flanks around back to get into an ambush position are things you can just do. They don't require game mechanics to let you do them. That is one of the reasons why many groups choose games that don't require you to choose from lists of hundreds of feats and abilities to build out a mechanically optimized character that can perform exactly what you want it to within the constraints of a crunchy system like Pathfinder. This is where we get back to this discussion of the illusion of choice. The illusion is that you don't need tons of rules to do things in game and most of the time it all comes down to a single D20 roll anyway, so why burden yourself with loads of rules baggage if those rules aren't really enhancing your fun anyway? Once again though, if you are the type of player that loves crunchy, granular rules that give you tons of powers to choose from that's fine. Your fun is your fun and there is nothing wrong with that. For many of us though, those choices just amount to unnecessary book keeping and get in the way of what is actually fun about these games.

     

    This has made me wonder, does l5r contain any illusion of choices in the way the mechanics have been build?
    I think the core game of l5r is playing a character in a samurai drama. So combat isn't the only important aspect of the game of course, we also have investigations and courtroom shenanigans. But do you experience in your game (as a player or gm) that you are always are using the same loop in certain kinds of scenes, maybe because that is the most optimal option?

  4. Posted

    2 hours ago, TheHobgoblyn said:

    Nothing I read about them would empathize that they are a particularly poor clan though. They were started by an Emerald Magistrate with active support from the Imperials and have the Imperials and 2 wealthy clans as their patrons who want them to keep the lighthouses lit and provide the first line of defense against foreign ships coming from the north. Although they may not have much in the way of lands that can produce food or support trade to have a thriving economy, it seems like they would receive enough support from the coastal clans that they wouldn't be struggling.

    But I primarily just used the info that was on the L5R wiki, maybe a huge deal was made about them being poor somewhere and it just wasn't included there. I understand that they were never really a major player in the old lore-- but I think that had more to do with the fact that once a minor clan was mentioned somewhere, they tended to have a considerably larger effect on the setting than their size and power would functionally allow for. There were families of only 300 samurai who would have well beyond 1% of the impact of families with 30,000 samurai. And both of the clans that were created in the start of the setting as "extinct clans" were resurrected during the story. And that's aside from the ones that were created with just 1 or 2 guys and within just a couple years were fielding whole armies and had their own special schools with unique techniques and even their own vassal families.

    If you happen to own a copy of 4e Imperial Archives, then on page 63 you will find some text on the Firefly clan. As mentioned in the text, this clan was first introduced as an example how to create your own clan and later became popular enough to be included in this book as a "non canon" minor clan. Together with other minor clans such as the Shark, Bee, Salamander, Tanuki and Raven clan. But you are right, nothing really mentions that this clan is very poor, though there is room to interpreted this from the text. I guess I remembered the text from the fan magazine for 3e, Musha Shugyo 02 when I wrote that comment.

     

    In the 5e core book, the Moth clan is mentioned and in the adventure Mask of the Oni (actually it is the additional DLC The Knotted Tails, free on the FFG website) that we learn a few small details of this clan. Maybe another clan that you can add to the roster.

  5. Posted

    1 hour ago, TheHobgoblyn said:

    Hotaru Family
    Ring Increases: +1 Fire or +1 Void
    Skill Increases: +1 Command, +1 Tactics
    Glory: 35       Starting Wealth: 4 Koku

    Interesting choice. I would have given them Ring Increase +1 Water rather than Void. Because they don't have anything spiritual, so why did you give them +1 Void?

    You gave them +1 Command and +1 Tactics because they need to fight the Yobanjin on the sea with their fleets? But isn't this clan to poor to pay for more than a couple of ships? Thus bringing me to my next point, maybe lower the amount of koku a Firefly samurai receives to 3 koku? Again they are one of the more poorer clans out there.

    The same holds true for the Sparrow clan, I would have lower their Starting Wealth to 3 koku.

  8. Posted

    On 11/13/2020 at 5:26 PM, TheHobgoblyn said:

    THE Deer CLAN
    The Namiko Family
    Deer Clan Family
    Ring Increases: +1 Water or +1 Void
    Skill Increases: +1 Aesthetics, +1 Theology
    Glory:  34            Starting Wealth:  4 Koku
    The Deer clan magistrate Shika Namiko discovered how the arrangement of objects in rooms and outdoors areas influences the harmony between spirits. By rearranging objects, hostile spirits and mismatched kami may find balances between each other and co-create a harmonize environment. Namiko summarized her discovery in eight principles that are followed today by the Namiko vassal family. Members of this family are often asked to design new living quarters for new married couples. In the past the family has been tasked with restoring the harmony of the area around shrines, important routes and castle gardens. However Namiko's principles are not always in line with current Crane design philosophy.     With the Namiko's principles, think of feng shui. Its something like that, but more Rokugani. Now with this next one, a Sparrow vassal family design, I'm most hesitant to share it with you, because isn't fit perfectly into the main Rokugan lore. But people reading this post, you be the judge if you want to use this design.

    I'm afraid that you have copied a couple of sentences to many. The same goes for your linked document. Just want to let you know.

  10. Posted · Edited by Kiso

    You have sold me on your changes to the Glory and Starting Wealth of the Aika family. Many thanks for the appreciation and I'm curious which family you invented? You're right, your family does seems to blend in really well with the others. 21 pages of families, that is a lot of writing! Thank you very much for doing so much labour.

    I would like to see your take on the minor clans. Especially the Firefly clan seems to have some interest here and there. Perhaps other people are willing to share there minor clan ideas, as I have seen in a document called Court of the Minor Clans floating on the web.

  11. Posted

    It has been awhile since I updated this project. I'm still working on it, but life is keeping me busy. Current my plan for the adventure is to divide the adventure into four parts. We begin with getting to know everyone in act one and that the main problem of the village is a strange marriage ceremony between a peasant a kodama. In act two we discover that the peasant girl who tries to became the local leader, is actually an assassin hired to take control. In act three we learn that the assassins client is a group of maho-tsukai's, trying to free their Kansen protector. Then we finish in act 4 with resolving the marriage crisis, where the PCs decide which candidate will become the next 'marriage partner' of the tree spirit and the becoming village chief.

    I have finished act 1, so enjoy that read (the linked document above has been updated). When I have finished all four acts, I'll have to do major editing, only after the editing am I happy with calling this project finished.

    If by chance you would have ideas that you would like to contribute, please go ahead. In the meantime, I'll continue working very slowly on this.

  12. Posted

    I have come up with a Deer clan vassal family. I know that you don't own all the book (I'm still missing celestial Realms 😭), in Court of Stone the Deer clan gets a +1 in Air and the (main family) Shika, gets a +1 in Water or Fire. A Shika samurai has 35 Glory and a Starting Wealth of 5 koku.

    THE Deer CLAN
    The Namiko Family
    Deer Clan Family
    Ring Increases: +1 Water or +1 Void
    Skill Increases: +1 Aesthetics, +1 Theology
    Glory:  30            Starting Wealth:  4 Koku
    The Deer clan magistrate Shika Namiko discovered how the arrangement of objects in rooms and outdoors areas influences the harmony between spirits. By rearranging objects, hostile spirits and mismatched kami may find balances between each other and co-create a harmonize environment. Namiko summarized her discovery in eight principles that are followed today by the Namiko vassal family. Members of this family are often asked to design new living quarters for new married couples. In the past the family has been tasked with restoring the harmony of the area around shrines, important routes and castle gardens. However Namiko's principles are not always in line with current Crane design philosophy.

    With the Namiko's principles, think of feng shui. Its something like that, but more Rokugani. Now with this next one, a Sparrow vassal family design, I'm most hesitant to share it with you, because isn't fit perfectly into the main Rokugan lore. But people reading this post, you be the judge if you want to use this design.

    THE Sparrow CLAN
    The Aika Family
    Sparrow Clan Family
    Ring Increases: +1 Air or +1 Void
    Skill Increases: +1 Sentiment, +1 Theology
    Glory:  25            Starting Wealth:  2 Koku
    Within the Sparrow clan there are members that are shape-shifting starlings called Supuryu. Those starlings all belong to the Aika vassal family. Most members posses the ability to communicate with the kami. The story goes that a Suzume samurai named Hiroyuki found a wounded starling and after nurturing the bird back to health, the bird transformed into a beautiful woman. She was named Aika and just as all Supuryu, she was mostly mute except for a few words she was able to pronounce. They started a family and it didn't take long before more Supuryu started settling near the samurai's house, creating a village together. It were those villagers that prevented a famine years later and in honour of their deed they were made into a vassal family.

    TheHobgoblyn reacted to this

  13. Posted

    6 hours ago, TheHobgoblyn said:

    Yeah-- they might be. Have they even been mentioned in anything?

    EE pp. 87:

    Quote

    Weary of [the clans] their infighting, the Emperor declared the City of the Rich Frog an Imperial holding and dispatched an Imperial governor to run it. [...] several generations of ronin have been able to serve the governor and their magistrates. The have claim the family name Kaeru for themselves over the years [...]

    And that is the only mention I known. Maybe the novel Poison River: A Daidoji Shin Mystery will also mention them, as it is placed in the City of the Rich Frog. The novel is of course not canon-canon if you like. For now couldn't find any Kaeru ronin in the excerpt in the novel.

    neilcell reacted to this

  16. Posted · Edited by Kiso

    On 10/16/2020 at 7:50 PM, TheHobgoblyn said:

    Also, if you have created a vassal family for the crab of your own that you would like to add to this project, I would be happy to add it to the list.

    I have created two Crane vassal families while being a GM, so don't mind me while I share those families ☺️ The first up is the Anneda family and you can already find their own school somewhere on this forum. The second is the Munehito family, which is a family that specializes in making kimono's.

     

    The Anneda Family
    Kakita Branch Family
    Ring Increases: +1 Air or +1 Earth
    Skill Increases: +1 Medicine, +1 Theology
    Glory: 39      Starting Wealth: 6 Koku
    The family began as guardians of sakura trees at important locations, but the family nowadays more renown for their cherry blossom material craftsmanship and their delicacies such as sakura mochi. A selection of their best members train at the Anneda Falling Blossom School, this school specializes in training guard animals. Some Crane members exchange rumours that an Anneda guard animal wielded a sword and was preforming a famous Kakita kata.

    The Munehito Family
    Doji Branch Family
    Ring Increases: +1 Air or +1 Fire
    Skill Increases: +1 Commerce, +1 Design
    Glory: 39      Starting Wealth: 7 Koku
    If you are looking for the best kimono makers, then the Crane will direct you towards this family. Their kimono's are expansive, but the quality of such a kimono is recognizable by others, which increases the status of the wearer. A set of their best four kimono's for the Winter Court, will cost you the same amount of money as building a new castle. Luckily for poorer samurai's, they also sell (cheaper) kimono's of a lower quality. The only way to enter their one and only shop in the Quiet City     if you are not a Munehito member, is by presenting a written permission by a Crane daimyo or a personal Winter Court invitation.

     

    It would make me happy knowing that someone uses one of the two families, so add them to your list if you like them.

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  17. Posted

    First of all, I think this is a great project and I support it.

    Second, I think you forgot the Moshibaru family. They are a vassal family of the Hida, made from the people that survived the Twenty Goblin Winter.

     

    The Moshibaru Family
    Hida Servant Family
    Ring Increases: +1 Earth or +1 Fire
    Skill Increases: +1 Fitness, +1 Survival
    Glory: 39      Starting Wealth: 3 Koku
    Ronin and other people who have survived the     Twenty Goblin Winter are adopted into the Moshibaru family. The older members of the family teach the new members about Hida's techniques and philosophies. Once those new members have proven their worth and honor, they can be promoted out of the vassal family, or they can choose to remain to help train and develop other new Moshibaru members. Thus, not all Moshibaru are ex-ronin, as some are born Moshibaru and need to proof their worth at their gempukku.

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  18. Posted

    10 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

    You're also the first Topaz Champion of a new emperors reign and therefore will be the one whose actions defines what a Topaz Champion 'is' in this new era. Note that rather than being a great scholar of law, or a hunter of maho-tsukai, or a general, the Topaz Champion's demonstrated skill is exemplary conduct in their gempukku - and that, almost uniquely, this is a ceremony the current Son of Heaven has yet to undergo. Getting yourself earmarked as the Emperor's second/aide/attendant/companion prior to and during his gempukku is not an unrealistic or irrational goal for a Topaz Champion during a regency and the glory/status boost from that would be eye-watering.

    This gives me an idea for a series of adventures. Maybe the Topaz Champion can 'save' the crown prince from the Perfect Land Sect heretics. Especially fun as she is a Phoenix samurai. After that, helping the prince with his gempukku and becoming a 'good' ruler.
     

    4 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

    I definitely think it'd be worth giving your gift in your persona as the 'current holder of the office of topaz champion'. Yes, it's basically a meaningless attaboy for posh students. Yes it has no official duties or powers. But it is a jewelled champion.

    I think you are right. 🤔 Time to have a talk with the player how her character can best handle the situation. Because she wants encourage her clan and the regent/emperor to re-open the Jade office, so this winter court could be her only chance to influence the rulers.

    Talking about winter court, I was thinking that the guests could cast a vote during the day. Mostly for small mundane things, as asking which colour of blue a certain fence in Kyuden Doji is going to be painted or which type of flower bouquet tomorrow will be standing in frond of the castle entrance. Then in between some Rokugan 'shaking' questions can come up. For example asking the guests if a new Emerald Championship should be held next year (Toturi hasn't shown up in my version and Shoju will still be the regent,... for now 😉. Hopefully this makes running Winters Embrace a little bit easier). It is not like the majority really decides the outcome to those questions, but it is a way to gauge for people the public opinion. The right cast a vote would only be certain important people and those with a personal invitation. Only those people with personal invitations are allowed ask questions for voting (with approval of the host) and only once during the current winter court. Would this be anyway realistic to happen during a Rokugani winter court? This setup at least would help my player with her plan for a Jade office, but I'm just curious how realistic this would be for the setting.

     

     

  19. Posted · Edited by Kiso

    1 hour ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

    Excuse me for calling you out on stats.  You forgot that (A or B) is functionally the same as (B or A) so the number you need is (22*21)/2 = 231.    If we also go with the other exclusions, it comes to (18*17)/2 = 153.  Which is still a very impressive number :) .

    You are right, thanks for the correction. So 231 vassal families for every main family.

    1 hour ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

    There's been a reasonable amount of other stuff out since I first wrote that and I would agree with your update to the method.  However, there a couple of skills that I would be hesitant to give as vassal family bonuses for the same reason that they aren't really given as family bonuses - the various Martial Arts skills.  I might also be tempted to exclude the Clan skill from the options too.

    I understand your point (there are 6 martial skills, outside of Martial Arts [xyz], which one do you also exclude). However seeing that FFG seems to make every (what feels to be) OP combination possible (Shugenja + Bushi tag schools for example), so I think FFG would have done the same. As can be seen with the Martial Arts [Melee] bonus you get if you create a ronin with the Ronin Family Upbringing.

    If you have a shugenja player for example, we would like to exclude the extra rank in Theology the might get from a vassal family, because they use this skill to cast invocations. For players with another tags we might need to exclude other skills too. I think it is easier for us to just allow those martial skills, as we already try to exclude the skills the main families is associated the most.

    neilcell reacted to this

  20. Posted

    I like the idea I have seen in the DIY vassal families thread, that if you are playing a vassal family samurai, that you reduce the glory by 5 and the koku by 1. However I wouldn't just replace one skill for another. Looking at question 7 of character creation, I would just increase one skill that is the most related with the history of the vassal family. That would be a quick and easy addition to character creation I think. Here follows my take on the vassals of the Phoenix:

    • 2a:  If you are a member of a vassal family, reduce the Glory by 5, Starting Wealth by 1 koku and increase one of the follow skills:

    Phoenix
    Asako no Chukan +1 Composition or +1 Government
    Asako no Nani +1 Meditation or +1 Theology
    Isawa no Shingon +1 Design or +1 Smithing
    Shiba no Iga +1 Skullduggery or +1 Theology (there is no information on the wiki, other then one member becoming a maho-tsukai, so let us give this family skills that are relevant for a maho-tsukai?)
    Shiba no Koganshi +1 Design or +1 Smithing
    Shiba no Nasu +1 Command or +1 Government
    Shiba no Sesai +1 Fitness or +1 Skullduggery
    Shiba no Sodona +1 Games or +1 Sentiment

    Of course adding a short text describing the vassal families goals within the main family, would go a long way. I tried to not overlap this skill increase with the increase they get from choosing the main family.

    With this setup, the vassal family samurai would be a little be less known and little bit poorer, but because they had to train/work a little bit harder than the main family, they have gain a little bit more inside than main family samurai.

     

    Side note. There are 24 skills, minus the two skills that are increased from the main family, that leaves us with 22 skills. With those 22 skills, there are 22*21-22 = 440 unique combinations possible. So the maximum number of vassal families, which don't overlap in their duties (skills wise at least) for one main family, would be 440.

    Magnus Grendel, neilcell, Myrion and 1 other reacted to this

  21. Posted

    3 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

    Hence why I was asking what the PCs relationship with Shoju is and who - and in what capacity - the personal invitation is from.

    Well I copied your idea of having the Topaz champion being invited to the winter court and she became the Topaz champion, so this links nicely to winters embrace. Shoju will be filling his role as regent during the gift-giving ceremony and as far as she knows, she doesn't know any Scorpions.

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