Adapting shows and movies into L5R

[MirumotoOrashu 51]

The other night me and my partner were talking about how characters from the show we were watching would fit into l5r and I started thinking about how one could just run the story of a show as a L5R campaign. 

Have any of you thought about doing the same?

One idea was Silver Fang. Have the characters be ronin from a small unaligned village. One of the characters will be Gin, the son of the former leader who died fighting a Lost Bandit or some Ogre called Akakabuto. After a few years of peace the village is once again under attack and Gin and frinds need to search Rokugan for warriors who will join them in their quest to vanquish Akakabuto once and for all!

Instead of having the characters gather up an entire army, have them just meet with the named characters to persuade them into the joining the party. Or you could have them act as mentors to teach the characters certainknowledge needed to defeat their enemy.

 

What shows or movies would you adapt into a l5r campaign?

[Horvagab 67]

I wouldn't be surprised if some of the Clone Wars episodes could be adapted?

[MirumotoOrashu 51]

What about just doing all of star wars?

 

Instead of a Galactic Republic, you have the Rokugan. Some conspirators make sure there will be a huge conflict and then it turns out the Emperor is the BBEG... then an ex-noble gather a ragtag army to fight him...

Have each part be its own story?

 

Also: the old storyline seems to have had a lot in common with star wars xD

[Alisair Longreach 221]

During the last 20 years several big budget Wuxia movies have been made, go watch them for plots and ideas to steal.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero, House of Flying Daggers, The Wall, Outcast, Last Samurai, 47 Ronin, Forbidden Kingdom.

Look at some movies with Zhang Ziyi, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh.

Kung Fu Panda just for the Kung Fu fighting.

[tenchi2a 442]

15 hours ago, MirumotoOrashu said:

Also: the old storyline seems to have had a lot in common with star wars xD

I would have to say that this is fundamentally untrue.

While in the very general sense the stories are both in the end about good verses evil like all fantasy stories.

How they got there, and the end goals where totally different in old L5R and Star wars

Star wars was about a group of rebels trying to restore a fallen democracy that had been turned into a totalitarian empire.

Nowhere in L5R is this the case, and it can even be said that some of the people that where thought of as acting in their own best interest had the people of Rokugans best interest at heart.

Example:

The Scorpion clan coup was not a grab for power by Shoju, but an attempt to stop a prophecy that would bring and end to the empire.

Akodo did not form the alliance to overthrow the emperor, but to protect the people of Rokugan from the roaming hordes of shadowlands creatures infesting Rokugan.

Even after he learned that the Emperor was Fu-Leng, at no point was his goal to change that government that had ruled Rokugan.

His goal was to destroy Fu-Leng and place an new emperor on the throne.

Edited July 19, 2018 by tenchi2a

[MirumotoOrashu 51]

8 hours ago, tenchi2a said:

I would have to say that this is fundamentally untrue.

While in the very general sense the stories are both in the end about good verses evil like all fantasy stories.

How they got there, and the end goals where totally different in old L5R and Star wars

Star wars was about a group of rebels trying to restore a fallen democracy that had been turned into a totalitarian empire.

Nowhere in L5R is this the case, and it can even be said that some of the people that where thought of as acting in their own best interest had the people of Rokugans best interest at heart.

Example:

The Scorpion clan coup was not a grab for power by Shoju, but an attempt to stop a prophecy that would bring and end to the empire.

Akodo did not form the alliance to overthrow the emperor, but to protect the people of Rokugan from the roaming hordes of shadowlands creatures infesting Rokugan.

Even after he learned that the Emperor was Fu-Leng, at no point was his goal to change that government that had ruled Rokugan.

His goal was to destroy Fu-Leng and place an new emperor on the throne.

I know. I just ment in the most barebones sense with the seven thunders going in to stop an evil emperor. The commonalities are just a few elements that the stories have in common, not that the storys themselves are similar. 

[MirumotoOrashu 51]

13 hours ago, Alisair Longreach said:

During the last 20 years several big budget Wuxia movies have been made, go watch them for plots and ideas to steal.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Hero, House of Flying Daggers, The Wall, Outcast, Last Samurai, 47 Ronin, Forbidden Kingdom.

Look at some movies with Zhang Ziyi, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh.

Kung Fu Panda just for the Kung Fu fighting.

Actually what I was thinking of with this thread was not just taking ideas from the sources, but making as close an adaption as possible. Like my idea for Silver Fang isn't me just taking ideas from it, it is shot for shot the same thing with minimal changes take make it fit into the setting.

Like, what changes would you do to a Kung Fu Panda for it to be a l5r story?

[Alisair Longreach 221]

I would think that the Kung Fu Panda movies could be adapted to Dragon Clan campaign. Just humanise the characters.

[Nitenman 422]

adapt a setting, but do not adapt a movie fully. Trying to stay too close to À movie and it's characters may shift the focus of your RPG away from your players. 

on the other hand, it can work very well for solo session, to  replicate key scenes and mood. We played once a solo session with my best mate, where he was a Crane elite soldier, tracking to assassinate him a prodigy rogue Lion general that had gone AWOL and started it's own tribe of lost far downriver Beyond the wall, almost, in the jungles of Ivory kingdom, adopting their methods... In the heart of darkness if you see which movie I mean...

The horror, the horror...

Edited July 29, 2018 by Nitenman

[Tramp Graphics 2,326]

Personally, I'd be more interested in adapting this game to actual Japan, not some fictional world. 

[narukagami 118]

6 hours ago, Tramp Graphics said:

Personally, I'd be more interested in adapting this game to actual Japan, not some fictional world. 

Nah, there are better ways to do that than using L5R. Genesys would be a much better pick.

[Tramp Graphics 2,326]

16 hours ago, narukagami said:

Nah, there are better ways to do that than using L5R. Genesys would be a much better pick.

Not really. This system would be perfect for creating the ancestor of one of my Cyberpunk characters, 

[GM Hooly 1,668]

Tell me Rokugan doesn’t scream Westeros? I could so see these rules modified to fit a Game of Thrones setting.

[AtoMaki 1,431]

2 hours ago, GM Hooly said:

Tell me Rokugan doesn’t scream Westeros? I could so see these rules modified to fit a Game of Thrones setting.

Well, all you have to do is to rename the Clans, and there you go, samurai!Westeros. 

 

By the way, 13 posts in and nobody has mentioned Avatar: The Last Airbender yet? Shramefur dispray  ! My gaming group did a conversion for 4th edition and we even played a few games, but I have this feeling that 5R5 will be a lot more ATLA compatible. 

[MirumotoOrashu 51]

2 hours ago, GM Hooly said:

Tell me Rokugan doesn’t scream Westeros?

I actually use that as a way to introduce new people to the setting ("game of thrones, but with samurai") 

I can definitely see a storyline about a Daimyos child getting thrown from a building, leading to the uncovering of a great conspiracy. 

Reminds me of this series of drawings http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/131493-Game-of-Thrones-Fan-Art-Puts-Its-Characters-in-Feudal-Japan

[narukagami 118]

6 hours ago, GM Hooly said:

I could so see these rules modified to fit a Game of Thrones setting.

 

4 hours ago, AtoMaki said:

Well, all you have to do is to rename the Clans, and there you go, samurai!Westeros. 

 

By the way, 13 posts in and nobody has mentioned Avatar: The Last Airbender yet? Shramefur dispray  ! My gaming group did a conversion for 4th edition and we even played a few games, but I have this feeling that 5R5 will be a lot more ATLA compatible. 

I think the idea of the thread is adapting other media to L5R campaign stories, not adapting L5R's rules for other uses.

[deraforia 169]

Before they announced the beta I was actually toying with converting Green Ronin's ASoIaF game for Rokugan. Shugenja were really the biggest head scratcher though.

[MirumotoOrashu 51]

11 minutes ago, narukagami said:

 

I think the idea of the thread is adapting other media to L5R campaign stories, not adapting L5R's rules for other uses.

That was my thought, yeah

Edited August 2, 2018 by MirumotoOrashu

[AtoMaki 1,431]

21 minutes ago, narukagami said:

I think the idea of the thread is adapting other media to L5R campaign stories, not adapting L5R's rules for other uses.

 

Well, huh, that opens up a few avenues regarding ATLA, and I'm not talking about the obvious here aka "Phoenix Clan Zuko". But what about an elite cadre of all-female Seppun guards who mainly use war fans and have a powerful ancestor cult for Empress Kiyoshi who founded their organization a few hundred years ago... even the color scheme fits!

 Jokingly called "The Emperor's Fan Girls" in court behind their backs, the Kiyoshi Warriors harbor secrets of their own. Like, y'know, them being a group of kunoichi (female ninja).  

Man, I would play the heck out of an adventure where the party is the Kiyoshi Warriors, joining the Clan Wars after the Scorpion Clan Coup and getting into trouble, just like how the Kyoshi Warriors in ATLA joined the 100 Years War after Zuko attacked their island. 

[Tonbo Karasu 2,606]

You could probably manage a version of the Arthurian Cycle set in Rokugan.

The film The Great Wall screams Crab

[TheWanderingJewels 226]

I am surprised this one hasn't come up. so much material for Shugenja

 

 

[mouthymerc 4,483]

Much like many westerns were adapted from samurai flicks, I am sure the reverse could be done.

[Duciris 1,346]

 

On 7/18/2018 at 6:41 AM, MirumotoOrashu said:

What about just doing all of star wars?

 

Instead of a Galactic Republic, you have the Rokugan. Some conspirators make sure there will be a huge conflict and then it turns out the Emperor is the BBEG... then an ex-noble gather a ragtag army to fight him...

Have each part be its own story?

 

Also: the old storyline seems to have had a lot in common with star wars xD

Star Wars was lifted in large swaths from The Hidden Fortress.

On 8/5/2018 at 9:09 AM, mouthymerc said:

Much like many westerns were adapted from samurai flicks, I am sure the reverse could be done.

Yeah, like Magnificent Seven is Samurai 7.

I like this, 'adapt a movie' idea.  Especially Avatar/Korra.  I've been part of campaigns that had sessions from movies, but the world-building offers a lot that can be adapted or integrated.

[RavenwolfXIII 32]

On 8/6/2018 at 11:59 PM, Duciris said:

Yeah, like Magnificent Seven is Samurai 7.

 

Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa. Samurai 7 is an anime sci-fi version of that. 

[Duciris 1,346]

Just now, RavenwolfXIII said:

Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa. Samurai 7 is an anime sci-fi version of that. 

Thanks!  I never remember which is which (and I am ashamed to say I've only seen the anime ).