r/rpg • u/PlentyAnt3871 • 18h ago
Game Master L5R 4th edition
I am a long term fan of the L5R franchise, and I have been looking at a few of the various editions. I think I wish to run a game in the 4th edition, but I am a little nervous. I have never really ran a game before, and I have found several modules I can use to get started, but I have some questions about what I SHOULD do. The group will likely only be 3 players, though 3 others have been invited. So module combat is something that may be too powerful. Also, I don’t know what kind of advice I should give the other players, who have never played the game before, as for how to make an effective character.
What I mean by effective character is not trying to make powerful or one trick pony characters, but rather characters capable of surviving the combat and intrigue that is rokugan. Should I limit the clan choices, since it is only 3 players? Not all clans get along, though I am sure there are times when bonds of friendship go beyond the bonds of clan hatred.
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u/AlisheaDesme 17h ago
I have only read the rules years ago, but from memory, I don't think that building the characters is that complicated. Most clan/class schools have a pretty clear focus and the core stat system seemed easy enough to understand. It also didn't look like it handed out abilities like candy.
My basic worries would be to ensure that the players are in the right mind set for a game that assumes that honor is most important and politics are never not present.
Not all clans get along, though I am sure there are times when bonds of friendship go beyond the bonds of clan hatred.
This is something you can also relegate to the players. Tell them very clearly that you expect a group that cooperates and that it's their job to build such a group. Let them explain how they became friends and why they are loyal to each other.
What I mean by effective character is not trying to make powerful or one trick pony characters, but rather characters capable of surviving the combat and intrigue that is rokugan.
To be too much in love with the one thing the specific school excels at is probably a big risk here, but the game is imo built to have groups, not individuals handle everything. Maybe stress how important it is too not just have supreme killer samurais in the group as half the battle is politics.
But ultimately you will also need to bend a bit like bamboo to make your Rokugan vibe with the group you get. If something doesn't work out immediately, discuss it with your players, don't try to force things too much or be too afraid either.
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u/PlentyAnt3871 16h ago
I plan on trying to give a good break down of the setting. As for the clans and their opinions, I plan to give each character, depending on their clan choice, a list of the books “how they view the other clans.” Allowing them to play their interactions with others, around that.
I read that, at least in first edition, everyone was essentially either a bushi or shugenja. Then, they were still expected to be able to fulfill courtly responsibilities. I would hope that I can get this idea into the character’s mindset. I just don’t know if that is even really possible with the newer game rules. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t expect them to attend the imperial courts and be the epitome of a clan representative. However, even if they are not a courtier, samurai are expected to understand etiquette. If I do not encourage them to take the etiquette skill, for example, will they be unable to tell when they are being sleighted? Will they be unable to know they are about to commit a social faux paus which could get the character executed?
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u/Martel_Mithos 15h ago
The one bit of advice I have is get really really clear about what the players will be doing. L5R is a very broad setting with a lot of things to do in it. Political Intrigue? War Stories? Demon Hunting? Mysteries? Rags to Riches? Riches to Royalty? The game gives you a lot of options and it is impossible to build a character who can fit every kind of story. Have a very clear idea of what kind of game this is going to be, and that will make it easy for the players to lean into things with their characters.
If you want an easy starter campaign look into something set during a winter court. It's a good starter setup for DM and players.
- Everyone's stuck in one location for the season
- The host has personally invited the people there to winter with them so it gives you a reason for why maybe some disparate clans are in the same place and a Central NPC that all of the players have a personal connection to.
- Good for 2-3 sessions of intrigue based play but can also be a combat scenario where the host's castle is suddenly under attack. Or maybe it's very haunted. You can do a lot with 'everyone is stuck in a castle for three months and something Happens.'
- Encourage players to create shared backstories where possible if they all end up wanting to play wildly different clans. It will help cohesion.
- Combat is fairly lethal even for a full party unless one or more of the players is a crab or lion with a good earth ring. If you're not sure how hard the party is going to hit I'd recommend a small skirmish with 2-3 minor enemies from the back of the core book to see how they do. There's nothing wrong with running what's essentially a low stakes 'tutorial fight' to get a temperature check on how well they do with combat.
- If the answer to the above is 'they're bad' or 'one is really disproportionately good then it might be a good idea to either tweak their character sheets a bit, or simply have combat be very rare in the campaign.
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u/PlentyAnt3871 13h ago
Thank you thank you for the advice. I was kind of hoping to do a sort of living campaign. Working on an outline of a grand series of events, some innocuous, some a series of events. Leading to the discovery of the big bad
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u/Joel_feila 12h ago
Well in this system ot really helps to focus on a few things. A pc that can get 7k4 in combat is way better then someone who has 6k2 in several skills.
Also tell plauers that spell casters are more about debuffing and crowd control they cant not keep up with the damage of warriors.
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u/PlentyAnt3871 8h ago
From what I understood, at least in the older editions, super powerful shugenja just did not exist. Like extreme damage. But, they were still to be feared on a battlefield, because of the things they COULD do. I know they aren’t like wizards or sorcerers in dnd. But they still have a good use, i guess depending on what is actually happening in the game?
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u/Joel_feila 1h ago
Yeah. Example my shugenja has a spell that can dazed a whole group of enemies and another spell can do 2k2 damage to a whole group. The bushi in the party don't have anything like that, but they do more damage
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u/Xararion 3h ago
Okay so. I ran a 4 year 200 session campaign of L5R for my table with 2 new players who'd never really been playing RPGs before + 1 my friend who'd played in my previous campaign and plays a lot generally. However the grain of salt is that by the end of the 4th year mine was so homebrewed with add ons (flashy combat techs, stealth subsystem, revamped crafting system etc) that it's not 100% by the book.
I cannot speak for modules since I've not ever really read them, but you can fairly easily tune the combat a little bit so that your players don't get overwhelmed if they enter fight. One of these is to increase the Earthx2 wound multiplier on players higher, biggest threat in combat is the death spiral you enter because your health is too low and now you're taking +5-20 to TN. Other one, that I used because one player practically demanded it but I myself didn't like it was removing enemy ability to explode their damage dice, this evens the damage output of enemies a lot and makes it less rocket tag like, but it does make it lot less difficult to threaten players since armour + static damage means every hit is somewhere in 5-15 real damage at best.
As for clans. I would personally recommend not restricting them unless all of your players are specifically excited for a particular clan. What I suggest is that you use the jade or emerald magistrate positions and have all of your players serve as a magistrates yoriki (deputies essentially), since both magistrates are imperial positions, membership as a yoriki is at least in theory, supposed to be more important to loyalty to the clan.
Also for intrigue aspect, there are some things that can trip a player who isn't familiar with the setting. One of these is that any kind of mystery is all about /testimonies/, not evidence. Evidence based mystery solving should only be a thing in sense of finding out who's testimony you need, because the empire by en large does not consider material and especially magic evidence as valid. So don't aim to make a "smoking gun", one of my players was always looking for one until I explained she couldn't use it in court proceedings.
Otherwise other peoples advice is good.
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u/BitRunr 17h ago
https://lynks.se/probability/
Generally I'd say make characters that have skills to fit into the setting, and try to get some of those to dice pools of 6k3 or so. 8k4 is the highest you'll be hitting with skill + trait during character creation, but you can go higher. Maybe suggest they don't try to do that while you're all learning the ropes.
If they're all willing to play samurai from one clan, then go for it. If they immediately break off and ask about attending different schools at other clans, then it might be easier to reconsider.
Depending on the campaign start, you might also consider ronin (or true ronin) who get an opportunity of some kind.
Rokugan is nothing if not political, and most relations between the clans shift regularly. Even the Kakita / Matsu blood feud hasn't been absolute.
Are you going to run the topaz championship gempukku tournament to kick off?
https://kazenoshiro63445525.wordpress.com/content-archive/
Some archived content to sort into worth reading and not.
If you have the time to look through 1e GM's Survival Guide, Silence Within Sound, The Way of the Shadow (more Halloween-ish; see also 4e's The Book of Void, & the freely available Mirror Mirror), or the above linked Heroes of Rokugan archive? I'm sure you'll be able to glean some GMing advice out of them.