Legend of the Five Rings Legacy: The Out of Character Chat

Started by Pumpkin Seeds, February 13, 2012, 07:16:06 PM

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Pumpkin Seeds

I would like to first welcome everyone to this game that I hope will provide everyone with some good memories and fun times.  My hope is that my idea for the Legend of the Five Rings universe will be pleasing to others and can provide some humorous and entertaining diversion for others.  There will of course be rules, in particular the 4th edition rule set of Legend of the Five Rings, and conflict.  In addition there will be much asked of the players as we are treading on unwritten territory in this moment.  The new book, Imperial Histories, has inspired me to start the game I have always wanted to run.  A game where the players write the time line and not simply the publishers.

The setting of this game will start before the Kami fall to the mortal realm.  During this time the land is not even titled Rokugan, but is instead an unknown territory.  Tribes of people live, fight, and die on this landscape trying to scratch out some happiness.  The little culture that exists originates from trade and from the few tribes strong enough to gain a permanent foothold, such as the Isawa.  Rokugan culture has not been developed by the illustrious Lady Doji and the organized military might of the Empire is not even a twinkle in Akodo’s eye.  Instead this is a place where wayward heroes might walk the world to face dangers still unfound and secure a place for not only themselves but their people.

That being said, each player is responsible for the creation of their character and of a tribe for their character to represent.  Note a character does not have to be from that tribe, but they must possess a vested interest in that tribe’s survival and success.  Whether they were adopted by the people, married into the tribe or simply stuck around long enough to be considered part of the tribe makes little difference to me.  The character must, in some way, be a champion of that tribe.  The player character might be the greatest military mind the tribe has developed, their best scholar, most prized leader or in some way important to the people of that tribe.  The final requirement is that the characters of each player must be able to work together for a mutual goal.  This does not mean the tribes get along or even the characters, but there must be cooperation capable and happening between characters.

Remember when I said there would be a lot of creativity from the players and demands on them, this is what I meant.  Each tribe is the player’s to create and begin to mold.  The notion of mechanics has come up to regulate the tribes, but in these early stages I would like to see the characters focus on designing the different aspects of their tribes.  From the leadership structure to their cultural beliefs and so on.  Items such as attributes, school techniques and such can also be handled later and the ground work laid at this time.  Currently the tribes are in and out of existence so often that a true blood line may be hard to craft.

Character Creation Rules

The setting of this game starts before the Kami fell to the mortal world.  Rokugan is not even the twinkle of an eye yet as tribes of men and women fight for survival.  Across the land the supernatural races still roam and the spirits care nothing for the race of man.  There is chaos with little hope of change in the near future.  So the characters and tribes being constructed here are limited in their variation and ability, but also have a wild amount of creativity that can be applied to their creation.

Characters will be built using the setup of a true ronin from the 4th edition.  85 experience points total will be given over to the process of constructing the samurai.  Advantages and Disadvantages will need to be discussed with me before the character can be approved.   In all honesty I would recommend first building the background of the character, discussing options with me and then allowing the points to settle into place as we discuss options.  Once more I make emphasis that this game will require quite a bit of creativity and discussion.

When developing the character keep in mind their relationship with their tribe and family.  Descendants and relatives will be very important in this game’s future.  This is not a game for the lone hero, but one of samurai lineages that will rise and fall with their great heroes. 

A more in depth tribe sheet will be posted soon for people to flesh them out.  Feel free to discuss ideas amongst yourselves in this thread or with me in private.

Muse

*Settles in with a bucket of popcorn and a diet coke.* 

Let's get this show on the road.  :) 
A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

Wintercat

Its an interesting game concept and though I have no earlier good experience with the system, I am curious so sticking around. I'll try and help out with what I can, but may back away if it seems I'm becoming more of a headache than an asset for this.
I've taken the Oath of The Drake. Remind me of it if you think I act against it.
A&A

Kokaine

Current Craving/Looking For: Romance, Adventure, Action, Humor, and Erotica. (F/Any)

Current Post Rate: Moderate

Current Posts Owed: 1/8

My O/Os

Muse

Ko-chan!  *pounce!* 

Meep, erm...  You're not going to eat me, are you?  ;) 
A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)


Muse

Yamamori Hotaka
Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

Build Points:  +8   -84


Air
3   Reflexes
3   Awareness

Earth
3   Stamina
3   Willpower

Fire
3   Agility
2   Intelligence

Water
2   Strength
2   Willpower

2   Void


2   Athletics
1   Divination
1   Etiquette
2   Hunting
2   Investigation
2   Jiujutsu
1   Meditation
1   Sling
2   Staves
1   Stealth
1   Storytelling


Flaws: 
1   Fascination:  Swords
1   Fascination:  ???
2   Lechery
5   Sworn Enemy (Karmic Nemesis)  (I stole his sword.) 

Merits: 
3   Daredevil


Clan Yamamori dwells high in the mountains of what may one day be Dragon Clan lands.  A great mountain spring feeds a series of waterfalls.  Racing down the mountains—augmented by run off in the spring—the waterfalls feed small wetlands in three high dales.  It then runs through a mountain forest where it splits into two around a shrine older than time.  Beneath the mountain forest, each river feeds wetlands in two more dales. 
   The people of the mountain forest—the Yamamori—have inhabited these lands since time immemorial.  A peaceful people, they find prosperity growing rice in the wet lands, hunting mountain goats and bounding deer, herding goats, harvesting the eggs of wild birds, and spearing the great salmon with chirt headed spears when they run upstream.  Their rival is the mountain, not the enemy.  Young men and brave women challenge themselves by scaling peaks and dancing over ridges.  Sometimes these are ritual challenges—like the young men’s coming of age rite.  Other’s it is merely for enjoyment.  They hunt with slings—save for the salmon—sometimes carrying clubs gathered in the wood for defense.  The older folk seek wisdom in the woods, and on high peeks.  They share stories of what they’ve learned beginning in this fashion.  “I was walking (in the woods/on the mountain) and a (snake/rock/leaf/flower) told me…” 
   They are a level headed people, long legged and beefy.  Though sometimes emotional, they are not given to panic—especially not over heights.  Some of their most skilled young men and brave women have played so long on the cliff faces that they are as nimble as the mountain goats.  These people have learned—when threatened by bandits or brawling with restless neighbors—to lure their foes into precarious balance. 

Since time out of mind, the Yamamori have known that trolls lived on the far side of the mountains.  Through the blessing of distance, brawls with these mighty beings have been few and far between, but their empire has spread over the generations.  Their blood has mingled with captive maidens since time immemorial, ‘til they are almost human, but still tall and strong, with hints of unnatural resilience that their greatest warriors can train and advance.  They know the secrets of steel.  Though many are their tributaries and vassals, too mine the depths of the earth is the soul right of their citizen warriors. 
For the last three generations, the Yamamori have come into increasing contact and conflict with the Children of Iron.   7 years ago, they came in enough force to demand tribute from the 7 valleys, and have done so regularly since.  The Yamamori fear the day when Iron’s Children will come—not for tribute—but for total conquest. 
A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

Muse

Yamamori Hotaka





Experience:  85/0

Air
3   Reflexes
2   Awareness

Earth
3   Stamina
3   Willpower

Fire
3   Agility
2   Intelligence

Water
2   Strength
2   Willpower

2   Void


2   Athletics
1   Divination
2   Etiquette (Flirtation)
2   Hunting
2   Investigation
2   Jiujutsu
2   Kenjutsu
1   Meditation
1   Sling
1   Staves
2   Stealth
1   Storytelling


Flaws: 
4   Cursed by the Realm: Chikushido
2   Lechery
4   Sworn Enemy: (I stole his sword...  After sleeping with his daughter.) 

Merits: 
4   Benten's Blessing
3   Daredevil
6   Luck II
6   Torigu Blade: 3k3 Katana, Unbreakable; -2 to target's Reduction. 

   Clan Yamamori dwells high in the mountains of what may one day be Dragon Clan lands.  A great mountain spring feeds a series of waterfalls.  Racing down the mountains—augmented by run off in the spring—the waterfalls feed small wetlands in three high dales.  It then runs through a mountain forest where it splits into two around a shrine older than time.  Beneath the mountain forest, each river feeds wetlands in two more dales. 
   The people of the mountain forest—the Yamamori—have inhabited these lands since time immemorial.  A peaceful people, they find prosperity growing rice in the wet lands, hunting mountain goats and bounding deer, herding goats, harvesting the eggs of wild birds, and spearing the great salmon with chirt headed spears when they run upstream.  Their rival is the mountain, not the enemy.  Young men and brave women challenge themselves by scaling peaks and dancing over ridges.  Sometimes these are ritual challenges—like the young men’s coming of age rite.  Other’s it is merely for enjoyment.  They hunt with slings—save for the salmon—sometimes carrying clubs gathered in the wood for defense.  The older folk seek wisdom in the woods, and on high peeks.  They share stories of what they’ve learned beginning in this fashion.  “I was walking (in the woods/on the mountain) and a (snake/rock/leaf/flower) told me…” 
   They are a level headed people, long legged and beefy.  Though sometimes emotional, they are not given to panic—especially not over heights.  Some of their most skilled young men and brave women have played so long on the cliff faces that they are as nimble as the mountain goats.  These people have learned—when threatened by bandits or brawling with restless neighbors—to lure their foes into precarious balance.

   *   *   *

   Since time out of mind, the Yamamori have known that trolls lived on the far side of the mountains.  Through the blessing of distance, brawls with these mighty beings have been few and far between, but their empire has spread over the generations.  Their blood has mingled with captive maidens since time immemorial, ‘til they are almost human, but still tall and strong, with hints of unnatural resilience that their greatest warriors can train and advance.  They know the secrets of steel.  Though many are their tributaries and vassals, too mine the depths of the earth is the soul right of their citizen warriors. 
   For the last three generations, the Yamamori have come into increasing contact and conflict with the Children of Iron.   7 years ago, they came in enough force to demand tribute from the 7 valleys, and have done so regularly since.  The Yamamori fear the day when Iron’s Children will come—not for tribute—but for total conquest. 

   *   *   *

   Hotaka's father herds goats on the hillsides of the second valley.  A motivated child, Hotaka worked hard at the family buisness but the goats loathed him.  He learned more about leaping away from angry head butts than he did about herding and milking.  Even the dogs were distant.  He was offered a chance to work in the rice paddies with his aunts family, but didn't particularly fancy the idea. 
   Instead, he trained with the sling so that he could be a hunter.  At his coming of age, he climbed into the cliffs for three days and two nights with no food--only water.  On the third night he topped a cliff and found his grandfather's ghost waiting for him. 
   He learned that the old man had not expired peacefully meditating in the mountains but rather had wandered far from home--into the lands of a neighboring clan.  There he found a Torigu raid in process and tried to protect a young woman fleeing the battle.  A Torigu warrior had split the blade of his trusty war club and cut him down.
   With his grandfather's rather insitent blessing, he joined the hunter's society.  Before entering into the sacred forest in search of his war club, he prayed to the forest spirits to give him a weapon that could triumph against the Torigu's katana. 
   In a strange way, they answered his prayer, for after many hours of wandering the woods, he came upon--not a heavy oak cudgel--but a slender, curved branch that would easily yeild the shape of one of the Torigru's own blades. 
   That year, the Torigru conquered the clans to the imediate west and began regular raids against the Yamamori.  For months, he interspersed his hunting with spying on the Torigru, studying how they used their blades.  On his niteenth birthday, hree years later, he accepted his grandfather's assurance that he was ready. 
   Sneaking into Torigu teritory, he found a young woman doing laundry at the river.  He wooed her into the evening, stealing only a kiss at sunset. 
   She came back the next day and he wooed her still, enjoying more physical companionship before she returned home.  On the last night, they snuck into her home together and enjoyed each other 'til just before sunrise.  Then her father returned from the mines.  He was nine inches taller than Torigru with fantasticly broad shoulders.  Torigru didn't hesitate, but snagged the man's sword from above his bed and dove past the giant, out the door, and fled into the night. 
A link for all of us who ever had a shouting match with our muse: http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html

How to set this Muse ablaze (O/Os)

When the little angel won't appear no matter how many plum blossoms you swirl:  https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=135346.msg16474321#msg16474321 (Major update 5/10/2023)

Kokaine

Oi... will work on my clan on my day off. >.< Hopefully someone will be around so I can ask annoying questions :P
Current Craving/Looking For: Romance, Adventure, Action, Humor, and Erotica. (F/Any)

Current Post Rate: Moderate

Current Posts Owed: 1/8

My O/Os

selfexiled

I have no idea about the books or games previously associated with this but it sounds very interesting and would love to try it out.
Originality is fast becoming obsolete, to make a trully unique world all your own is the mark of a great writer, artist, thinker.

Uhm ONs/Offs link
https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=134455.msg5990414#msg5990414

Absences:
https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=180093.0

Chris Brady

My O&Os Peruse at your doom.

So I make a A&A thread but do I put it here?  No.  Of course not.

Also, I now come with Kung-Fu Blog action.  Here:  Where I talk about comics and all sorts of gaming

Pumpkin Seeds

Well, you are both welcome to come give the game a try.  I will give whatever assistance I can plot, story and rule wise.

Chris Brady

OK, then.  Can I make Mirumoto, as in the man who pioneered the Dragon two sword technique?
My O&Os Peruse at your doom.

So I make a A&A thread but do I put it here?  No.  Of course not.

Also, I now come with Kung-Fu Blog action.  Here:  Where I talk about comics and all sorts of gaming

Pumpkin Seeds

My preference would be that you played either a close relative, brother or cousin perhaps, simply due to all the stuff surrounding that canon character.  Though if you felt strongly in playing Mirumoto, you can make your version of him using the starting rules I have already outlined.

selfexiled

#14
Ok definetly gonna need some help filling in the blanks but here's what I got for clan and char.

Hiro Setomaro

(closest I can come to the pic I want.)
http://rpgforumsonline.com/forum/album_pic.php?pic_id=2275

Experience 85

Flaws:

Merits:

Clan Kiego are simple people, fishing the coastlines and rivers. They are more interested in family and the safety of the clan than anything else. They are adept with the spear and cast net as they are the tools of their trade. But rock, shale and bone are the materials at their hands, metal is a foreign thing. Such a well fed clan grows quite large as it is they have settled across the delta of a great river encompassing it wholly within the bounds of their village. They have so many mouths that they have built other small fishing camps along the coast each about a day’s walk from the other. It is custom for all boys coming of age to go to sea to hunt a great predator of the waters. They do this with only a canoe and a spear and a knife. Several do not return.  Arguments are settled out on the water balancing in tiny boats with large blunted sticks the first to knock the other in the water wins. Rarely are there deaths in the village from quarrels.
The people are deeply spiritual always afraid to upset the water spirits. Much ceremony goes into placing a new boat in to the water, even newborns are placed into the water with ceremony to show the water spirits that someone or something new is coming and entering their realm. On occasion one of the great behemoths of the ocean (whale) will wash up on shore, the village considers it a great blessing and there is much celebration and ceremony for the spirits that granted them such a bounty. When a fisherman does not return, he is taken by the sea. The family mourns and seeks to appease the spirits for whatever affront the man had done in their eyes.
Hiro would often get asked to assist in these actions as he was talented with both a flute and a harp of sorts. Hiro always carried with him a flute of bone and when he was in the village or was expecting a long sea trip he would bring with him his ‘harp’. Not only was he held in high regard for his talents in ceremonies to the spirits he always had a trail of children following him laughing and giggling.
Originality is fast becoming obsolete, to make a trully unique world all your own is the mark of a great writer, artist, thinker.

Uhm ONs/Offs link
https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=134455.msg5990414#msg5990414

Absences:
https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=180093.0

Chris Brady

Quote from: Pumpkin Seeds on March 26, 2012, 03:43:38 PM
My preference would be that you played either a close relative, brother or cousin perhaps, simply due to all the stuff surrounding that canon character.  Though if you felt strongly in playing Mirumoto, you can make your version of him using the starting rules I have already outlined.

I was thinking that the Canon version of Mirumoto was more allegorical than a real person.  That the 'real' Mirumoto was quite different, but his intent was the same, to create a weapon style that uses both hands.

Also, how long before the Kami is this?  Cuz that means a lot of the society and even the Honor system would be either different or non-existent...
My O&Os Peruse at your doom.

So I make a A&A thread but do I put it here?  No.  Of course not.

Also, I now come with Kung-Fu Blog action.  Here:  Where I talk about comics and all sorts of gaming