Dark Psion said:
First it depends if the PCs are of the same clan of from different clans.
Very much so. Working out reasons to put characters of various clans together is one reason why the Magistrate Campaign is probably the most common campaign type. Typically, the fewer different clans the easier to work it out.
If they are from different clans, they really need a reason to come together. One choice would be your Shadowlands idea. Different clans all guard the wall, but usually only troublemakers are sent there.
Technically the Crab Clan exclusively guard the wall, the defense of the Empire against the Shadowlands is the duty of their clan. But individuals from other clans do sometimes serve on the wall for various reasons. Either an expidition into the shadowlands or a investigation in their own lands to find shadowland infiltration could work with this.
Another choice would be a "Winter court" type setting. Every winter the Emperor hold court in a different clan's castle. All of the clans must of course send courtiers and samurai.
Each clan also has it's own Winter Court for their own clan business, as well. Though the Emperor's Court is the most important one, of course. Intrigue, plots, mysteries of all types. This would typically be a much less action oriented scenario and involve much more RP, puzzle solving, and investigation.
If they all belong to the same clan, then the adventure can be like most D&D adventures. Just sent by their Yojimbo to investigate a mystery or problem. It is probably easier to have everyone from the same clan to start with, that way they can "discover" the other clans together.
On the AEG website there is a series of L5R fiction called Death of a Hero. It's basically a 'How you can get a group together despite them having different clans and classes.' Rather neat. If the group all have the same Daimyo (Yojimbo is a bodyguard) it makes things much easier. And it can be a good start to anything mentioned above. A group of Crab or Scorpion could be sent to investigate shadowlands incusions. A group of almost any clan could be sent to the Winter Court.
The D20 Rokugan is still in transition from the old L5R game and the Way of the Clans books are still a must read if you are going to really campaign in Rokugan.
The Wat of the clans books are excellent, though you'd need to keep in mind much of the information is out of date for Rokugan. The time period of the books is around 40 years before the current storyline.
Redwing:
The Emerald Empire of Rokugan is ruled by an Emperor. A case of divine right taken further since there are magical things that only work for the Emperor and only he can do.
The eight major clans are mini governments. They control large areas of land and are composed of several families, each with their own role within the clan. Each of the major clans is legally equal qith the others,the only power above them is the Emperor. There are other minor clans, and Imperial Families, each with their own duties. It's a very orderly empire.
Politically, just think Samurai period Japan. Most Kurosawa movies, Shogun (book or miniseries). Bushido is all important. Honor, Duty, Courtesy, etc.
In addition to other things, there are a couple of things a group used to normal DnD might need to get used to.
Shugenja do not have Raise Dead, Ressurection, etc. When you are dead, you are dead. And then you'll be reborn down the line. So even with Raise deadasamurai would not usually come back, since it would be going againstthe celestrial order.
Looting corpses is severly frowned upon. It's simply not done by anyone decent or trustworthy. As per the third book, Magic of Rokugan, most magic items are simply awakened spirits. When the owner is killed, the link with the item is severed and it quits working. Add in that it'sa lower gold setting and you end up with something very different from the usual Dnd 'kill the other side, loot the bodies, ID the magic items, move on'.
