For those about to Rok(ugan)...

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

I salute you!

Truly I do.

I have been collecting the d20 Rokugan stuff for a while now, and must say that I have really enjoyed reading the books. Great history, great story line. Some good crunch too.

But i'm not sure I'll ever run a game set here, 'cuz quite frankly, I'm not really sure how to craft plausible adventures in this setting to make a good campaign.

For those who know about Rokugan, you know it is definitely not your standard D&D fare. To start with, there are a lot of restrictions for party composition, and a different set of character motivations.

I was thinking that I'm probably not the only one with this problem, so I thought I'd turn to you people for some opinions & suggestions.

Does anybody actually PLAY in Rokugan, or do you just enjoy reading the books, and stealing crunch for your REAL campaigns?

What might help would be some examples: Published adventures showing the setting's flavor used in balance would be invaluable. Why have we not seen any adventures from AEG? They have published like Eight d20 Rokugan books so far, and no adventures? What's up with that?

To be fair, I was not exposed to Rokugan before d20, so there may be a lot of "5 Rings" books with detailed adventure outlines to steal from, but I don't know which books would be appropriate. I'm looking for more detailed help than a few lines of adventure "hooks".

Your suggestions for making Rokugan "playable" would be appreciated!

BFG

 

[shouit]

A roommate in college ran a game of it, but it was 5 Rings not d20. From what I gather, for I was not in it, at least the 5 Rings, was really more roleplaying and he had I believe two different groups that would meet up from time to time. He basically seperated the party with a lot of honor from the party without. He also put them in the same geographical region and this helped out a lot. But I see your point. It is similiar to running WoT as well, how does one run something with a very specific settings and still have it all work out.

But, getting back to the point, the roommate was asked to run that game again, but didn't. It was a real fun game.

 

[haiiro]

Does anybody actually PLAY in Rokugan, or do you just enjoy reading the books, and stealing crunch for your REAL campaigns

The latter, in my case. OA and Rokugan are two of my favorite d20 books -- great setting info, balanced and useful crunchy bits, tons of material, excellent artwork, and a perfect (for me) balance of crunch vs. background -- but I have no intention of playing an OA campaign. Someday, perhaps, but for now I'm content to incorporate what I can use into my games/PCs -- and to enjoy them as reading material.

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

shouit:

I see WoT as much closer to the standard D&D fare, so it doesn't present the same issues for me. Plus, they have already published 2 detailed adventures ( one in the core book, and a supplement) to help GM's capture the flavor well. I have also read ALL the novels so far too...

haiiro:

Yeah, me too - Even if I never run a Rokugan campaign, I'll still be able to utilize some good material.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

I had a friend who ran Rokugan with us for a while. Seemed to work pretty well. I've played in the five rings version a fair amount.

Getting the proper party balance to work is very difficult. We concluded that you pretty much have to have a mixed party to really get everything you can out of Rokugan.

Styles we came up with and played successfully over the years include:

The Special Agency Format:
Emerald Magistrates/Champions often wander around in groups mixed along both clan and class lines.
Jade Inquistitors are much the same.

Tools of a Conspiracy:
This one is fun and basically runs with the party being the tools of a conspiracy among a variety of lords and powers. Lots of great role-playing, since you must trust your masters though you, of course, don't.

Unusual Party Dynamic:
One great lord- in which one of the PCs is something like a courtier and everyone else is organized around him/her
Wave Men- a party of ronin or mostly ronin. Really easy to get mixed classes together, but only for players who can deal with being humble in a hostile world
Products of Confusion- pcs glom together as the result of a great battle, social reform, or some other element of chaos has thrown men of honor together.

Unusual Clan:
Generally works with a minor clan and then many advisors from various other clans. Some clans can get a lot of variety internally: Phoenix, Dragon, Mantis, Scorpion, and Unicorn can all work though some may require a lot of work.

Unusual Purpose:
Generally some sort of religious event throws the PCs into a group. Very interesting because it almost makes you very honorable ronin.

Getting new players acclimated is really the hardest part, though we had it down so this was only true in the first one and half game sessions or so.

 

[Dark Psion]

I spent most of my time waiting on 3e in Rokugan (L5R version). Unfortunatly I haven't had the chance to play the D20 Rokugan, but I have hijacked most of it.

The Samurai becomes a Noble Warrior /Cavalier quite easily.

The Shukenja makes a great Divine sorcerer.

The Courtier is perfect for a PC Aristocrat.

And of course there is psionics. Void effects & Kiho feats all make great psionic effects & feats and I have converted the Combat Katas into Psychic Warrior powers.

I would definitely make Akodo Kaneka a Psychic Samurai.

 

[Daiymo]

I'm currently playing a Roku campaign via PbP that been going strong for about a year and a half. I love the setting, which is weird considering its based on a CCG, and influenced by it. But I love that it is low magic, human dominated, and IMHO really encourages roleplaying- theres alot of social customs, manners of honor, and protocol to follow. And with all the clans, there plenty of a political dynamic going on in addition to monster killing.

IMHO the main difference between Roku and the standard 3e setting is the goals and motivations of the PC's Theyre not out to adventure just to adventure. Theyre usually out and about at the order of their master, or to right some ancient wrong. They usually following the dictates of honor, not after loot.

Dr Strangemonkey really touched on some good points to a campaign:

The Special Agency Format, having PCs act as Imperial / Emerald Yoriki or Magistrates is a good way to get memebrs of possibly opposing clans to work together.

Conspiracy is always a good stand by. Whether its a traitor in your clan or an external enemy of your liege, plenty of possibilities here.

Unusual Clans-I myself play a Unicorn beserker, which is good for a player not too familair with the Rokugan setting. These PCs can get away with a little more on the manners/social customs side of things.

There are still quite a bit of old L5R modules and books out there, and they can be quite useful. My FLGS has almost the whole 2ed L5R discounted and still unpurchased. The City of Lies boxed set is very good, from what I can gather.(Our Dm uses it , so Ive sworn not to look at it. I have heard from other sources that it is quite good.

Anyway, for some more L5R stuff you may check here. http://www.deathseeker.com/
CCG, fiction, and RPG are all discussed here.

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

Thanks everyone - maybe I'll try and find some old L5R modules for samples!

Daiymo : sweet avatar!

 

[Daiymo]

Thanks everyone - maybe I'll try and find some old L5R modules for samples!

Daiymo : sweet avatar!

Aw shucks thanks I looked everywhere for whilst surfing, thought I'd never find a color version of the Kiri Mon.

Big giant goblin heads are always cool too tho

 

[Voneth]

Atlas Games has two Oriental flavored adventures. I think was was aimed at the Rokugan market Lean and Hungry

And the other was aimed more at the martial arts action movie style
Burning Shaolin

Have fun