ROKUGAN- Oriental Adventures

[Dr_Sage]

Good evening!

I have been having a few ideas for an oriental campaign and I was wondering if anyone already addapted 4ed to Rokugan or something equivalent.

I am already confident that the tactical and "physical" aspects of the game are not a problem, but Rokugan and Oriental Adventures originaly had so many more skills and features (like Honor, Taint...).

Ideas? Places to look for? Websites?

 

[DracoSuave]

The d20 version of Rokugan was terrible. Go get the Legend of the Five Rings rpg. It's actually designed to handle the world, with a combat system designed around tragic bloody samurai drama and courage.

Honor, Taint, the elements, every system element was designed into the system directly, instead of being baked into the kick-in-the-door design of d20. Spells tied in directly to your 'Ring' stats, which in turn were determined by your attributes. Everything was point buy, and the game's social mechanics were just as important and deadly as the combat ones. The combat system, as well, was designed in consultation with masters of the katana.

A story about this comes from them trying to simulate the speed of katana fighting--they asked their consultant how many katana blows one could score in ten seconds, and the man answered one. They then asked how many in thirty seconds... and the answer was again, one. They asked for ever growing frames of time, and the answer was always 'One.' They finally asked 'Why is the number of blows always one?'

'Because after one blow, you've won.'

The combat is extremely deadly, and the game world doesn't pretend it isn't.

 

[samuraiko]

I have to agree that any version of the non-d20 L5R system is inherently better and more apt to handle the setting appropriately. Having run the setting and played L5R for a number of years you're going to want to get a handle on the themes and concepts of the setting. It's likely the most important part. I would go back through and read whatever fiction you can find to figure out the flavor of the setting. You should be able to find a bunch of it on the AEG website, and on various fan sites. Good luck.

 

[DracoSuave]

*peers from behind his mask, straightening his black silken robe, fastidiously adjusting the red trim and snorts...*

If I were a betting man, and I am not, for betting is base and vulgar, but if I were, I would bet the above was written by an Utaku.

 

[Stormonu]

*Hefts tetsubo over shoulder and spits in a corner*

Bah, listen not to the words of the pretty-faced spawn of Bayushi. The others speak true - the d20 version is crap.

 

[Shin Okada]

Do you want to play in the world of L5R or do you want to run an oriental-tasted campaign (or introduce some oriental-tasted materials) with D&D 4e?

If the former, I guess the suggestions from the others will be right. Play a game which is tailored for L5R.

If the latter, ignore L5R and just play 4e, and re-skin various gaming elements.

I don't know what kind of elements you consider to be "Oriental". But if you have some clear image in your mind, it is very easy to re-skin most of the 4e classes and others with "Oriental" flavor.

 

[DracoSuave]

*Hefts tetsubo over shoulder and spits in a corner*

Bah, listen not to the words of the pretty-faced spawn of Bayushi. The others speak true - the d20 version is crap.

Oh but I have quite extolled the virtues of d10L5R over d20... the former has my brethren as interesting and skilled... and loyal. The latter has us 'multiclassing in rogue' which feels... unclean.

Oh my cousin, child of Hida, we're really the same, you and I. The wall you have erected is no different than our masks, and the duty to the Empire to keep the villainy out from behind the wall is not so alien compared to ours to find the villainy within the empire.

Also, there's this interesting Spider Clan courtier I was talking to that was really trying to sell to me the idea of the children of Fu Leng being allowed in court; are you guys SURE you're doing your jobs?

 

[Dr_Sage]

Fun!

With one thing we all agree: Rokugan can be REALLY different. As you fellows aready started t have fun with.

I have played a very nice campaign, and 3ed rules weren't exactly adequate, but we entered the Rokugan Worlds nevertless.

Admitely my players and I are getting old. Really old. And some of us are lazy to learn new systens - hence my idea of using 4ed.

Draco, I not only see your point, as my old DM had the same issues reggarting letality.

My thing about the "one" Katana attack is: the very concept of attack nowadays is completely different: 20 years ago the DMs described the attacks as very bloody, even if you only lost 5Hp (of, say, 40hp max). My personal idea of attack now is WAY more abstract: for example it could be just a faint, that got my opponent off balance, and he "lost 5 hp". And if he become bloodied by those 5 hp? He just spread his ankle, nothing serious, but has its effects on the fight.

The very same thing applies to flashy spells, and dragon breaths, in my abstract concept: if the dragon tossed his fiery breath at you, and it took like 20% of your HP, the description would not be the same as we used do 20 years ago: you duck for cover in the last second, matrix style if you wish; or maybe you erected a force shield if you were a wizard.. and so on.

Following this logic I am under the impression that the "deadly" aspect of the original game, in terms of flavor, would be kept.

Actually the general description of the ashigaru been cut down in battles, by the dozens, by the samurai fits the minion concepts very well.

Of course, I could be wrong. I really enjoy these insights, as usually I take a loooong time to decide anything regarding RPG.

 

[Dr_Sage]

Do you want to play in the world of L5R or do you want to run an oriental-tasted campaign (or introduce some oriental-tasted materials) with D&D 4e?

If the former, I guess the suggestions from the others will be right. Play a game which is tailored for L5R.

If the latter, ignore L5R and just play 4e, and re-skin various gaming elements.

I don't know what kind of elements you consider to be "Oriental". But if you have some clear image in your mind, it is very easy to re-skin most of the 4e classes and others with "Oriental" flavor.

Forgot to answer: yes, Rokugan, with some adaptations, but still.... classic.

 

[DracoSuave]

With one thing we all agree: Rokugan can be REALLY different. As you fellows aready started t have fun with.

I have played a very nice campaign, and 3ed rules weren't exactly adequate, but we entered the Rokugan Worlds nevertless.

Admitely my players and I are getting old. Really old. And some of us are lady to learn new systens - hence my idea of using 4ed.

Draco, I not only see your point, as my old DM had the same issues reggarting letality.

My thing about the "one" Katana attack is: the very concept of attack nowadays is completely different: 20 years ago the DMs described the attacks as very bloody, even if you only lost 5Hp (of, say, 40hp max). My personal idea of attack now is WAY more abstract: for example it could be just a faint, that got my opponent off balance, and he "lost 5 hp". And if he become bloodied by those 5 hp? He just spread his ankle, nothing serious, but has its effects on the fight.

The very same thing applies to flashy spells, and dragon breaths, in my abstract concept: if the dragon tossed his fiery breath at you, and it took like 20% of your HP, the description would not be the same as we used do 20 years ago: you duck for cover in the last second, matrix style if you wish; or maybe you erected a force shield if you were a wizard.. and so on.

Following this logic I am under the impression that the "deadly" aspect of the original game, in terms of flavor, would be kept.

Actually the general description of the ashigaru been cut down in battles, by the dozens, by the samurai fits the minion concepts very well.

Of course, I could be wrong. I really enjoy these insights, as usually I take a loooong time to decide anything regarding RPG.

No by deadly, I mean, that katana hits you, you're going to roll a new character. It does not sprain your ankle. It does not cause you to sever an arm. It causes you to either die, or be at such a disadvantage that defending yourself becomes a non-issue.

The game was -very- lethal.

The idea was that, facing such a certainty of death, coupled with the knowledge that your soul could be reincarnated, allowed you to approach death with the tragic heroism of a samurai, facing death, not the power fantasy heroism of D&D.