L5R 4th Edition - Well... WotC did it first!

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Halloween Jack: Sep 12, 2003; I WILL CUT OFF BOTH OF MY ARMS BEFORE I VOTE FOR ANYONE THAT IS MORE POPULAR THAN BERNIE!!!!!

I'm totally fine with a joke school becoming an actual thing. It's certainly better than all Scorpions being incredibly smug and really only succeeding because of writer fiat, like Wick's Japanese girlfriend (who lives in Canada).

# ? Dec 27, 2015 23:05

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# ? Apr 27, 2024 02:08

Spookyelectric: Jul 5, 2007; Who's there?

You might have appreciated the current Scorpion story, then. The short version is, they piss off the Lion Clan due to an internal miscommunication, play it off as part of a greater plan, and as a result they get embroiled in an extremely inconvenient war while pretending that they totally meant to do it all along. All the while they are internally panicking over how they're going to get themselves out of the mess they made without looking as though they made a mistake.

There was a scene planned where a courtier tells the Scorpion Clan Champion that they've provoked the Lion into war "as you implied" and then asked for the next step of the plan. The Scorpion Champion basically replies "why the gently caress would you do that!?" They basically can't keep track of all their mechanizations and for once the Scorpion "we always win something" strategy falls flat on its face.

It was going somewhere before they sold the brand.

# ? Dec 27, 2015 23:21

Alien Rope Burn: Dec 5, 2004; _{I wanna be a saikyo HERO!}

Hard not to see parallels between the Dark Sword of Bitter Lies school and the original Shosuro Assassin school, which set its students up for failure as a weeding-out process. Or, alternately, as a way for Wick to passive-aggressively discourage ninja characters. Take your pick.

# ? Dec 27, 2015 23:28

Spookyelectric: Jul 5, 2007; Who's there?

Alien Rope Burn posted:

Or, alternately, as a way for Wick to passive-aggressively discourage ninja characters. Take your pick.

Bitter Lies became a school after Wick, so if you're saying the Story Team and RPG designers created the Bitter Lies School lore to passive-aggressively discourage players from playing them, I guess all I can say is you're mistaken.

If you didn't mean it that way, then my apologizes.

Can't say anything about the Shinobi stuff, though. Except maybe to point out that it doesn't seem to discourage ninja characters so much as to encourage less-showy ones. If it's any consolation, all that ninja stuff was basically thrown out the window after 1st Ed.

Spookyelectric fucked around with this message at 23:46 on Dec 27, 2015

# ? Dec 27, 2015 23:35

taichara: May 9, 2013; c:\>erase c:\reality.sys copy a:\gigacity\*.* c:

Spookyelectric posted:

The same problem that happened with the Harriers, actually. It's hard to argue that this tiny elite group of samurai that go against the grain of the clan are an exception to the rules and very uncommon when there is an entire decktheme around it, every printed samurai of the faction is one of these elites, and they're constantly being featured in story.

And then when they finally go away -- which itself was handled rather hamfistedly but there didn't seem to be much other option than to literally scorch the earth they were so ubiquitous -- players bitched and whined and moaned and carried on for years until finally clawing their darlings back into existence again by story prize fiat. (and then the game was sold. ha.)

Goddamn I can't deal with the obsession with the Harriers.

# ? Dec 28, 2015 01:39

Alien Rope Burn: Dec 5, 2004; _{I wanna be a saikyo HERO!}

Spookyelectric posted:

If you didn't mean it that way, then my apologizes.

No, I solely meant the early ninja stuff. I thought I was clear but obviously I was not.

And yeah, a lot of that stuff was dumped in following editions (3rd, mainly?) because throwing shurikens is way more fun than not throwing shurikens.

# ? Dec 28, 2015 01:39

Spookyelectric: Jul 5, 2007; Who's there?

taichara posted:

Goddamn I can't deal with the obsession with the Harriers.

To be fair, I understand why they were so popular. I still think each of the clans deserve to have a "flavor" of ninja. But yeah, the sheer vitriol surrounding the harrier disbanding was pretty insane.

Alien Rope Burn posted:

No, I solely meant the early ninja stuff. I thought I was clear but obviously I was not.

My bad. I've been trained to be defensive regarding L5R, I think...

# ? Dec 28, 2015 01:51

Halloween Jack: Sep 12, 2003; I WILL CUT OFF BOTH OF MY ARMS BEFORE I VOTE FOR ANYONE THAT IS MORE POPULAR THAN BERNIE!!!!!

There are some things about the dueling system I don't get in 4e, enough that I want to ask about them for general comment here rather than just asking TychoBrahesNose in the relevant OOC thread:

The Official Errata posted:

Center Stance and Duels: In a normal skirmish, a character cannot stay in Center Stance for more than one Round. However, in an iaijutsu duel, the two duelists are assumed to enter the Center Stance at the beginning of Round One (Assessment) and remain in it until the end of Round Three (Strike), regardless of their normal Initiative. Thus, the Center Stance bonus will be available on both Round Two (for the Focus roll) and on Round Three (for either the Strike roll or a damage roll, as the player chooses). Rank 5 Kakita Bushi will also get the bonus on Round One (for the Assessment roll).

An additional note in this regard: If both duelists are still alive and fighting after the Strike phase, the duel becomes a normal skirmish. On the first Round of that skirmish, both duelists will emerge from the Center Stance and assume whatever other Stance they choose (again, if they are Kakita Rank 5 they can choose to remain in Center Stance). They will get the Center Stance bonus on one roll of their choice on Round One of the skirmish.

I found a "guide to dueling" which interprets the word "available" to mean that you can use your Center Stance bonus during the Focus Round or the Strike Round, but that you don't get it both Rounds. Is that correct? (Because the book says that you get a Center Stance on the first Round after the duel ends, my thinking was that you get a Center Stance bonus on Rounds 2, 3, and 4.)

Also, I assume you can spend Void Points during a duel, as normal?

Errata posted:

The Strike: The iaijutsu strike is a �normal� attack roll (albeit with extra Raises if the duelist won the Focus roll by a lot).

So I assume that any Technique that applies to normal attacks can be used on the Strike? (Specific exceptions being abilities that trigger based on Initiative, and abilities that grant multiple attacks, which are specifically excluded.)

# ? Dec 28, 2015 05:23

NinjaDebugger: Apr 22, 2008

Halloween Jack posted:

There are some things about the dueling system I don't get in 4e, enough that I want to ask about them for general comment here rather than just asking TychoBrahesNose in the relevant OOC thread:

I found a "guide to dueling" which interprets the word "available" to mean that you can use your Center Stance bonus during the Focus Round or the Strike Round, but that you don't get it both Rounds. Is that correct? (Because the book says that you get a Center Stance on the first Round after the duel ends, my thinking was that you get a Center Stance bonus on Rounds 2, 3, and 4.)

Also, I assume you can spend Void Points during a duel, as normal?

So I assume that any Technique that applies to normal attacks can be used on the Strike? (Specific exceptions being abilities that trigger based on Initiative, and abilities that grant multiple attacks, which are specifically excluded.)

The "guide to dueling" is pre-errata and is bad, ignore it. You have center stance bonus in focus round and strike round (and assessment if you're Kakita 5). You can spend void points each round as normal (making Shiba Bushi the best oneshot duelists in the game).

You can use any technique that applies to an attack roll that doesn't depend on initiative, specify "in a skirmish", or specify "not in center stance" or otherwise excluded. Akodo Bushi 2, or the second part of Akodo Bushi 1, for example, do not work in a duel, whether it happens during a skirmish or not, as the errata specifies that a duel is never a skirmish (until you get past the strike and it becomes one.)

# ? Dec 28, 2015 05:42

ProfessorCirno: Feb 17, 2011; The strongest! The smartest!
The rightest!

As far as the ninja go, I rather liked how 4e covered both bases. The Shosuro "Infiltrator" is the one that wears black and throws shurikens and sneaks across the rooftops to stab someone with their lovely ninja-to. The Shosuro Actor is the real infiltrator.

# ? Dec 28, 2015 09:50

Sorus: Nov 6, 2007; caustic overtones

NinjaDebugger posted:

The "guide to dueling" is pre-errata and is bad, ignore it. You have center stance bonus in focus round and strike round (and assessment if you're Kakita 5). You can spend void points each round as normal (making Shiba Bushi the best oneshot duelists in the game).

You can use any technique that applies to an attack roll that doesn't depend on initiative, specify "in a skirmish", or specify "not in center stance" or otherwise excluded. Akodo Bushi 2, or the second part of Akodo Bushi 1, for example, do not work in a duel, whether it happens during a skirmish or not, as the errata specifies that a duel is never a skirmish (until you get past the strike and it becomes one.)

I don't have my book on hand but does means the Bayushi Bushi school can feint?

# ? Dec 31, 2015 06:17

NGDBSS: Dec 30, 2009

ProfessorCirno posted:

As far as the ninja go, I rather liked how 4e covered both bases. The Shosuro "Infiltrator" is the one that wears black and throws shurikens and sneaks across the rooftops to stab someone with their lovely ninja-to. The Shosuro Actor is the real infiltrator.

The funny thing about the ninja-to being lovely is how it's one of the better weapons in the game with some investment. Despite the katana being the socially acceptable weapon reserved exclusively for nobles it's outclassed by a real master of some other trade. It's an interesting juxtaposition, and the game doesn't make more than a token effort to hide it considering that the no-dachi and the scimitar are both on the same page. Off the top of my head:

Heavy weapons obviously will do boatloads of damage (which is why the Crab love them so much).
Anything that natively throws k3 damage does well against k2 damage weapons. Technically the katana can also throw 4k3 + Strength with a VP, but with the scaling on unkept dice you can get comparable results with a k3 weapon by spending the once-per-round VP elsewhere.
Unarmed attacks can natively reach 1k3 on any character, or 1k4/2k4 with the right schools. Do not cross a monk if you don't know their schools, because they might just kick your rear end.
Scorpion ninjas can pull some surprising tricks with Shadow Blades and/or investment in Ninjutsu, to the point that several of their Ninja weapons can pull 3k3 for damage before modifiers. In particular, in such hands the three-section staff does damage comparable to a tetsubo without being so overt about its damage potential.
Flesh Cutter arrows are something of a mixed bag, unfortunately, but generally aren't too bad against non-Crab opponents.

# ? Dec 31, 2015 07:39

ProfessorCirno: Feb 17, 2011; The strongest! The smartest!
The rightest!

The actual (two) super masterful weapons are no-dachi and yumi - the latter because, probably accidentally, bows are just overwhelmingly better then anything else, as you can have a complete monofocus on reflexes. Shoot dudes with arrows from afar and dodge every attack when they get close!

Unarmed it's generally better to go with grappling over pure punch damage because once you got a dude in a grapple, they basically can't do anything. That doesn't mean you don't pump up your unarmed damage, mind you - you can keep them grappled AND do unarmed damage every turn. It might not last long though - being grappled gives you a decent penalty to your Armor TN, meaning Hawkeye or Captain Nodachi up there can finish them off real fast.

Anyways the actual best weapons in the game are Tempest of Air, Fires of Purity, and Jade Strike.

ProfessorCirno fucked around with this message at 11:13 on Dec 31, 2015

# ? Dec 31, 2015 11:11

MonsieurChoc: Oct 12, 2013; Every species can smell its own extinction.

Jade Strike: the way Crab Shugenjas say hello.

# ? Dec 31, 2015 11:30

NinjaDebugger: Apr 22, 2008

Sorus posted:

I don't have my book on hand but does means the Bayushi Bushi school can feint?

That's explicitly left to the GM in the errata, it's one of the options called out that might not make much sense. I'd allow it, but then, I made an entire bayushi dueling school that serves as a dishonorable (and not quite as good) mirror to the Kakita, and also allow feinting with bows, and also changed feint to be completely different because the book implementation is kind of dumb.

I tend to run games that function on a much higher power level, though. By the end of my previous campaign, there was at least one PC pushing rank 9, I think. Something to the tune of Hida Bushi 3/Moto White Guard 3/Togashi Ise Zumi 2, and another who was Shinjo Bushi 5/Lion's Pride 3. Oh, and there was a Shiba Bushi 3/Isawa Shugenja 5, I think. Basically what I'm saying is you cannot consider me a normal example of a GM because my answer to "Can I do thing?" is "Is it awesome?" If the answer is yes, I will bend over backward to make that poo poo happen. I can find a way to make pretty much anything 'make sense' in game if I really want to.

# ? Dec 31, 2015 15:06

Yawgmoth: Sep 10, 2003; This post is cursed!

NinjaDebugger posted:

Basically what I'm saying is you cannot consider me a normal example of a GM because my answer to "Can I do thing?" is "Is it awesome?" If the answer is yes, I will bend over backward to make that poo poo happen. I can find a way to make pretty much anything 'make sense' in game if I really want to.

And it's a real goddamned shame that you aren't because this is exactly the kind of mindset I feel any good GM has.

# ? Dec 31, 2015 15:34

RocknRollaAyatollah: Nov 26, 2008; Lipstick Apathy

Fun must be earned but not in a way that involves character growth, only violent, embarrassing death.

# ? Dec 31, 2015 17:10

Halloween Jack: Sep 12, 2003; I WILL CUT OFF BOTH OF MY ARMS BEFORE I VOTE FOR ANYONE THAT IS MORE POPULAR THAN BERNIE!!!!!

NinjaDebugger posted:

That's explicitly left to the GM in the errata, it's one of the options called out that might not make much sense. I'd allow it, but then, I made an entire bayushi dueling school that serves as a dishonorable (and not quite as good) mirror to the Kakita, and also allow feinting with bows, and also changed feint to be completely different because the book implementation is kind of dumb.

Isn't the Feint move just a different way of calculating extra damage? Really doesn't make sense.

# ? Dec 31, 2015 18:19

NGDBSS: Dec 30, 2009

Halloween Jack posted:

Isn't the Feint move just a different way of calculating extra damage? Really doesn't make sense.

Feinting is really good if you know that you'll be able to roll way over your target (such as if they're grappled, prone, or Full Attacking), and also if adding extra rolled dice with Extra Damage won't put you up an extra kept die. It's basically a way of adding damage that's orthogonal to the roll-and-keep system, and thus it's best used when the limitations of the latter start to arise.

# ? Dec 31, 2015 18:49

NinjaDebugger: Apr 22, 2008

NGDBSS posted:

Feinting is really good if you know that you'll be able to roll way over your target (such as if they're grappled, prone, or Full Attacking), and also if adding extra rolled dice with Extra Damage won't put you up an extra kept die. It's basically a way of adding damage that's orthogonal to the roll-and-keep system, and thus it's best used when the limitations of the latter start to arise.

The only time feint is ever worse than raising for damage is if you're barely expecting to hit the TN post-raise. In almost every other circumstance, you are better off feinting. Feinting also slows down the game with an additional calculation that has to be hidden by the GM if they want to keep the enemy's TN hidden. All that combines to make it a low quality part of the game, remarkably so.

Worse, it's one of the few places in the game that you actually care about margin of success, and the others are dueling and casting, one of which is a relatively uncommon subset of combat, the other of which is only caused by magic resistance advantage/ability, and on top of that, it changes combat rolling from "Call what you think you can hit, or more if desperate." to "Feint and swing for the fences."

# ? Jan 1, 2016 15:13

long-ass nips Diane: Dec 13, 2010; Breathe.

I finally picked up a copy of Atlas of Rokugan and I'm really happy with it. The cartography is well done, particularly in contrast to Second City, the last real map-heavy set. A lot of the maps in Second City looked like completely standard City Designer maps that were blown up in a really careless way, leaving lots of pixel artifacts, and Atlas doesn't fall in the same trap.

I'm super satisfied with 4e as a complete line now that it's all out. I can't really think of any other books I would want, so I hope that whatever FFG does with it is a completely new take.

# ? Jan 2, 2016 21:12

NinjaDebugger: Apr 22, 2008

Swagger Dagger posted:

I finally picked up a copy of Atlas of Rokugan and I'm really happy with it. The cartography is well done, particularly in contrast to Second City, the last real map-heavy set. A lot of the maps in Second City looked like completely standard City Designer maps that were blown up in a really careless way, leaving lots of pixel artifacts, and Atlas doesn't fall in the same trap.

I'm super satisfied with 4e as a complete line now that it's all out. I can't really think of any other books I would want, so I hope that whatever FFG does with it is a completely new take.

The only thing I am really dissatisfied with on the overall map is that they couldn't find a way to make Toshi Ranbo and Shiro Kyotei make sense. They actually say, in the atlas, that it makes no sense and nobody has ever figured out how the Crane managed to take Shiro Kyotei at all, let alone Toshi Ranbo.

Other than that, the book is basically pure gold, even giving a quick snapshot of each province and any important holdings in it, enough to give you an idea that you can work from no matter where the hell you are in the empire.

# ? Jan 2, 2016 23:37

Sorus: Nov 6, 2007; caustic overtones

NinjaDebugger posted:

The only thing I am really dissatisfied with on the overall map is that they couldn't find a way to make Toshi Ranbo and Shiro Kyotei make sense. They actually say, in the atlas, that it makes no sense and nobody has ever figured out how the Crane managed to take Shiro Kyotei at all, let alone Toshi Ranbo.

Weren't there a few books detailing the Tsume campaign?

# ? Jan 3, 2016 02:13

NinjaDebugger: Apr 22, 2008

Sorus posted:

Weren't there a few books detailing the Tsume campaign?

In the atlas, Shiro Kyotei and Toshi Ranbo are nowhere near Crane lands, and the Crane have to go through Shiro Akodo to get there. Not only would they be absurdly difficult to take in the first place, but holding them would be practically impossible, since the Crane have minimal ability to reinforce the place. Toshi Ranbo's supposed to have been fought over for centuries by the Lion, Phoenix, and Crane, but the Crane are nowhere near it, and if any three clans are feuding over it, it should be the Lion, Phoenix, and Dragon.

NinjaDebugger fucked around with this message at 02:58 on Jan 3, 2016

# ? Jan 3, 2016 02:54

Halloween Jack: Sep 12, 2003; I WILL CUT OFF BOTH OF MY ARMS BEFORE I VOTE FOR ANYONE THAT IS MORE POPULAR THAN BERNIE!!!!!

Pretty much by accident, "Fighting over Toshi Ranbo is loving stupid" became the main controversial political opinion of the character I'm playing right now.

# ? Jan 3, 2016 03:41

Sorus: Nov 6, 2007; caustic overtones

Oh. Well that's pretty stupid.

Blame the Miya?

# ? Jan 4, 2016 08:15

Tunicate: May 15, 2012

Thinking of getting into L5R. The metaplot seems like an absolute mess to deal with, though. Are there any good premade L5R modules for 4e? I guess I could update topaz championship, but...

# ? Mar 23, 2016 07:48

Elfgames: Sep 11, 2011; Fun Shoe

Ignore the metaplot and just use the basic themes?

# ? Mar 23, 2016 10:51

FreshFeesh: Jun 3, 2007; Drum Solo

I always set my games just before the Scorpion Clan Coup for just such a reason. Endless possibilities without the overt metaplot forcing its way in.

# ? Mar 23, 2016 11:27

Gravy Train Robber: Sep 15, 2007; by zen death robot

The metaplot really is more trouble than its worth. They didn't really produce any official modules if I remember right- closest is probably the Second City box set or the campaign settings/adventure seeds in the last chapters of the BOOK OF _______ series. Naishou Province is a short scenario and fully detailed small campaign setting you can drag and drop anywhere you feel like. I haven't played it, and honestly its been so long since I read it that I've completely forgotten.

# ? Mar 23, 2016 11:28

Alien Rope Burn: Dec 5, 2004; _{I wanna be a saikyo HERO!}

If I ran a campaign again, I'd probably set it in the century well before the coup and prior to most of the canon NPCs. That's a "dead" time where there's very little going on. It requires changing some basic assumptions if you want to be "accurate" (and I could detail those if you like) but gives free reign to do as you like. The main issue is just having to figure out your own political landscape, but how much that matters just depends on the scope of the game.

# ? Mar 23, 2016 11:49

ProfessorCirno: Feb 17, 2011; The strongest! The smartest!
The rightest!

...But...Great Clan Mantis... :qq:

# ? Mar 23, 2016 12:53

NinjaDebugger: Apr 22, 2008

Tunicate posted:

Thinking of getting into L5R. The metaplot seems like an absolute mess to deal with, though. Are there any good premade L5R modules for 4e? I guess I could update topaz championship, but...

http://heroes-of-rokugan.net/index.php?page=PriorCampaigns
http://heroes-of-rokugan.com/HoR2/scenarios.html

Two entire campaigns, originally run as an MMORPG. HoR2 was set in 1500ish, with its own set of politics and such divorced from canon changes, while HoR3 starts 5 years after Oblivion's Gate and immediately blows the poo poo out of the canon rails. Quality varies from mod to mod, but overall, it's pretty solid, 3 moreso than 2. Rob Hobart, who ran HoR 1 and 2 (1 is not available, due to copyright issues with WotC owning half the campaign), was hired by AEG to work on 4e, and a number of other campaign regulars freelanced on 3e and 4e. HoR2 also has a writeup in one of the Imperial Histories books that lays everything out for you in summary, so you can prep to run it more easily.

NinjaDebugger fucked around with this message at 14:35 on Mar 23, 2016

# ? Mar 23, 2016 14:06

Kaza42: Oct 3, 2013; Blood and Souls and all that

ProfessorCirno posted:

...But...Great Clan Mantis...

Mantis is indeed The Best Clan, but the Scorpion Coup was just so dumb. But that just means you have to find some other way for the Mantis to have achieved Great Clan Status. I prefer Gusai kidnapping the Emperor and challenging him to a series of games for Great Clan status and losing at every single one while on the run from the other clans. In the end, he's caught but the Emperor allows him to finish their current game (an alcohol-fueled variant of Go), which he finally wins. The Emperor grants his wish to become a Great Clan and then executes him.

I may take this game less seriously than the writers, but I maintain that my version is way more fun :colbert:

# ? Mar 23, 2016 14:30

long-ass nips Diane: Dec 13, 2010; Breathe.

The Imperial Histories books are full of different little setting bits that are self-contained and just fleshed out enough to be good for a campaign, but not so detailed that you feel like you're beholden to a tiny metaplot. I particularly like the Great Famine out of IH1, where you get to deal with peasant rebellions and explore that whole bit of the setting, and the "Eighth Century Crises" from IH2 where you have to deal with The Maw and Iuchiban and a whole bunch of other poo poo.

# ? Mar 23, 2016 14:42

Yawgmoth: Sep 10, 2003; This post is cursed!

Elfgames posted:

Ignore the metaplot and just use the basic themes?

This, always and forever. There's a handful of short scenarios in the Book of [Element] series that are kind of neat but by and large the official NPCs are a load of bland assholes who periodically catch Raid Boss Syndrome and the vast majority of modules out there (that I've read) are the worst piles of garbage railroading you could imagine. City of Lies is by far the worst offender for this but they all seem to expect that the PCs are essentially tourists and the real important events are to be carried out by ~~John Wick's pet characters~~ the NPCs who already have more clout than you ever will.

Kaza42 posted:

I may take this game less seriously than the writers, but I maintain that my version is way more fun

That's not hard; the writers take the plot way too seriously, and worse is that they assume that the PCs will never rise higher than assistant towel boy. Like, if that's your thing then by all means, but if I'm doing fantasy samurai I want to be the guy killing demons to reclaim the ancestral sword and what have you, not rolling to see how pretty my kimono looks and how fancy my tea party is.

I'd love to play in an L5R game where people don't get hung up on the nitpicky details of the metaplot and where the PCs are allowed to be the big drat heroes of the world.

# ? Mar 23, 2016 15:41

Alien Rope Burn: Dec 5, 2004; _{I wanna be a saikyo HERO!}

Yawgmoth posted:

City of Lies is by far the worst offender for this but they all seem to expect that the PCs are essentially tourists and the real important events are to be carried out by ~~John Wick's pet characters~~ the NPCs who already have more clout than you ever will.

I think City of Lies I is pretty mild compared to a lot of the egregious meat-grinder adventures spread across 1e, like Night of a Thousand Screams, Twilight Honor, or Tomb of Iuchiban, all of which seem designed to turn PCs into samurai cutlets.

# ? Mar 23, 2016 16:50

Yawgmoth: Sep 10, 2003; This post is cursed!

Alien Rope Burn posted:

I think City of Lies I is pretty mild compared to a lot of the egregious meat-grinder adventures spread across 1e, like Night of a Thousand Screams, Twilight Honor, or Tomb of Iuchiban, all of which seem designed to turn PCs into samurai cutlets.

Is Night of a Thousand Screams is the one that opens with the PCs fighting an oni with no way to have jade anything short of having read the module beforehand and knowing to buy it during chargen? I remember reading one that had something like that in it.

Also yeah CoL is light on PCs getting murdered but extremely heavy on being investigators who have little if any viable ways to investigate, alongside a lot of "have this happen whenever the PCs can't stop it from happening" BS.

# ? Mar 23, 2016 18:50

SirPhoebos: Dec 10, 2007; WELL THAT JUST HAPPENED!

Swagger Dagger posted:

The Imperial Histories books are full of different little setting bits that are self-contained and just fleshed out enough to be good for a campaign, but not so detailed that you feel like you're beholden to a tiny metaplot. I particularly like the Great Famine out of IH1, where you get to deal with peasant rebellions and explore that whole bit of the setting, and the "Eighth Century Crises" from IH2 where you have to deal with The Maw and Iuchiban and a whole bunch of other poo poo.

I really want to do a heroic Emerald Stars campaign, except I feel like I'd need to come up with a whole bunch of mechanics supporting space combat and such.

Another campaign idea I had was running a Way of the Daimyo court set in the aftermath of the Steel Chrysanthemum.

# ? Mar 23, 2016 20:17

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# ? Apr 27, 2024 02:08

Alien Rope Burn: Dec 5, 2004; _{I wanna be a saikyo HERO!}

Yawgmoth posted:

Is Night of a Thousand Screams is the one that opens with the PCs fighting an oni with no way to have jade anything short of having read the module beforehand and knowing to buy it during chargen? I remember reading one that had something like that in it.

Close- it has unarmed, unarmored PCs facing an oni, though they can just stand back and let it slaughter NPCs (though they'll have minor oni to fight either way). But even that's not the main issue. It's a timed adventure taking place over 12 hours with just fight after fight in a game where magical healing is sparse or otherwise unavailable, and fighting is really deadly. And failure means the destruction of a whole city, so no pressure! The one time I played it, the party was all crippled or dead after the first 3 hours, even with a magical healer. So we just threw in the towel and hit the reset button, and never played it again.

# ? Mar 23, 2016 20:25

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