|
Weissritter posted:So basically a grandma forces an enemy champion to contribute nothing to a conflict because she gave them gifts? Etiquette is also a force more powerful than steel. Always bring protective courtiers.
|
#
¿
Oct 17, 2017 10:43
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 18, 2024 14:52 |
|
|
alansmithee posted:
If they bring back the "only naga women can get legs" thing, I'm out.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 20, 2017 02:03
|
|
|
Roland Jones posted:Every school has them except the Kuni Witch Hunters, which is kind of hilarious to me, but yeah, Shuji present an odd problem in that, in theory everyone should be able to participate effectively in court, and thus have them, but simultaneously courtiers are supposed to be better in court scenarios. I mean, Shuji existing for everyone (except Kuni) is probably better than them existing for no one, since courtiers and court-focused people deserve interesting things too, but outside of school abilities the only thing really making courtiers better in court is that they're more likely to invest in court stuff. The major difference is that now courtiers have access to kata as well, which means the reverse is also true. The balance between courtiers and bushi is one of the things I'm most happy with in the beta.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 20, 2017 17:30
|
|
|
Elfgames posted:Not everyone needs to be magic but if some are extraordinary than everyone needs to be, and courtiers don't get as much analysis because they tend to get more of those extraordinary capabilities even if they aren't magic. Also because the game is presented as political intrigue it's much rarer for a courtier to end up unable to contribute to a situation than a bushi. Courtiers are #1 most likely to have their techniques nosold, though, so if they can wean people off the "courtier techs are evil bullshit, you should be ROLEPLAYING it" they will be my heroes forever.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 20, 2017 18:53
|
|
|
SuperKlaus posted:I'm gonna be sure to test it myself. I suppose the idea is the "secret costs" I claim are things that happen to you sometimes anyway, so it's not really more costs. You don't intentionally throw a fight just to Display. Display of Power is fantastic, because it takes a battle you were going to be not opposing, takes the ring benefit from your opponent, and gives it to you. That's potentially a hell of a swing, on something like the Earth ring, for example. A net four card swing, the same as if you'd swung and doubled it with Toturi.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 23, 2017 19:54
|
|
|
Sephyr posted:5e beta. Because they don't yet have Daidoji Bodyguards, which I find really cool. Take a Kakita Bushi, raise earth, and grab the earth shuji that lets you spend opportunities to mark an enemy in court or battle, making everyone that isn't you harder to hit. At that point all you lack is the actual school name, since a real daidoji should be a decent duelist anyway.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 29, 2017 03:45
|
|
|
Lord_Hambrose posted:In the setting, wearing your armor at all is not something that you would do at all unless you are going into battle, a guard, or being in Crab lands (where fucks are not given). Yes, the restrictions on armor have always been based in story concerns. Wearing armor when you're not on active duty is an attack on the clan whose lands you're in, either a literal one, or on their reputation, as you're saying openly you don't trust them to keep their lands safe. In warfare, shugenja who wear armor are likely to be killed as a bushi, rather than captured as the valuable shugenja they are.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 30, 2017 01:24
|
|
|
Dick Burglar posted:I never implied that shugenja should roll up into town draped in full armor and carrying a big gently caress-off weapon. Of course that is not okay. I was asking if, in combat with non-supernatural enemies, there was a reason a Kuni couldn't wear armor and use a weapon to fill in as a bushi. Considering they get access to kata, is there anything that makes them mechanically worse bushi besides their school techniques not giving them bonuses to weapon-based combat? Not only is there no reason for them not to, frankly, the Crab is not going to give a poo poo. Mechanically there is no penalty whatsoever, so long as it's a situation where you'd normally be allowed to wear armor. At best, a shugenja who wears armor is going to get some sideeye, maybe some insults about pretending to be a bushi or not being a real shugenja, but frankly, 1) the crab don't care, and 2) who's going to bother insulting a crab that way? The fact that there's no mechanical penalty, only a potential and nebulous social one is absolutely fine. There's little enough mechanical advantage and it serves as a useful illustration of how social custom binds samurai as much as actual game rules do.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 1, 2017 13:14
|
|
|
unseenlibrarian posted:Yeah, no second day of Thunder means no Agasha defection in the first place, IIRC? It's an even later and less likely deviation, at this point. No Hitomi tattooing random people with mind control tattoos means no Agasha defection. Have we even seen Hitomi on screen?
|
|
#
¿
Dec 1, 2017 19:48
|
|
|
SuperKlaus posted:So I'm noticing that this week nobody seemed to have full pack spoilers before the pack actually came out. There was some house cleaning, or so I'm told.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 7, 2017 17:29
|
|
|
Spookyelectric posted:I think Way of the Unicorn mentions that Shinjo could turn into a Ki-Rin, and Shiba is described once (can't remember where though) as turning into a Phoenix. Also Way of the Dragon says that all the Kami could turn into dragons, probably. Not only could Shinjo turn into a ki-rin, she had kids as one. Foals? Whatever. Her children could also become ki-rin, and I think all but one of them chose to stay as ki-rin rather than humans. It has led to endless jokes about unicorns being close to their horses. Also, even if Akodo didn't actually turn into a Lion, he screamed hard enough to bring down a mountain pass on a shadowlands army.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 26, 2017 21:48
|
|
|
KittyEmpress posted:It somehow got lost, in the lore of old editions, but branch families were a huge thing. Vassal families making up 90% of a main family's actual forces was a real thing in 3e RPG era lore. There were some exceptions (like the Matsu, who were a super huge family all bearing the name matsu, and the Togashi, because the Order is just monks who change their name to Togashi, and thus adopted in) but most samurai were supposed to be (Vassal Family Name Here), not 'Doji' or "Ide" I'm... not sure where you get this idea, to be honest. As far as I remember, vassal families were an invention of of Secrets of the Clans-era L5R, and were largely retconned in via things like the Damasu and Tsume families, or retconned in as descendants of various heroes (like Kaiu Anou). If they had wanted vassal families to be a larger part of the game, they had many years of both the CCG and RPG to do it before then.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 23, 2018 22:39
|
|
|
I am home from gencon, and a friend happened to pass by the FFG booth while they still had beginner boxes, so if you have any questions, feel free to ask.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 6, 2018 19:01
|
|
|
Epi Lepi posted:I have questions about how this game works in practice, but I'm not sure how to ask them. I guess what are your impressions reading through the adventure? How easy does is it to learn how to play based on the challenges in it? Just ask them, basically. The beginner rulebook is pretty well laid out, and really, aside from the bits that are just completely changed like the custom dice and how advantages work, it's mostly just the same stuff L5R's been doing from the start, broken down into well-labeled steps and made explicit. The cooperation rules are significantly better than anything in L5R previously, I think. Outbursts are no longer mandatory, but being compromised (at/above max strife) means you can't keep any dice that have strife on them, even if that takes you down to 0 kept. I'm only now browsing the adventure itself, but it seems like they're doing a decent job of covering a lot of potential approaches to various situations, so that new GMs have some guidance on what's what. In the portions I've read, there seems to be an unfortunate focus on bonus successes rather than opportunities, though there are universal ways to spend opportunities detailed in a sidebar, and "Spotting details" is an especially important one in the context of the adventure, as it lets you suss out which approaches will give you a bonus point from the judge. Some of the competitions seem like they have pretty crazy targets, as well, and actually winning competitions, even ones your character is good at, seems like it will be pretty absurdly difficult, often requiring you to get 4+ successes on things you're rolling at most 2 skill and 3 ring on, plus maybe a void point. Custom made PCs, once the full main book is out (apparently it was supposed to be out at gencon and got stopped by a significant binding error in the first batch?) may have serious trouble hitting their 8 points if their preferred approaches don't line up with the skills they have, since each event judge has a preferred approach that can net an extra point towards your required 8.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 7, 2018 00:48
|
|
|
Lord_Hambrose posted:Well, it won't be my first Lion pc who is forced to commit seppeku because of this adventure. The provided PCs tend to line up their approaches with their skill strengths, judge-wise, so they have a pretty good shot, and even if you don't get the required 8 points before the tournament, there's a last chance that gets you in if you're successful in the finale. Screw it all up, though, and you'll be doing the samurai belly dance in no time, I GUARANTEE IT. Also, there's a pronunciation guide, so maybe I can finally stop hearing people say "Highda" and "Hanty" and "Raiyoo"
|
|
#
¿
Aug 7, 2018 01:08
|
|
|
Lord_Hambrose posted:Can't check right now, but as there are only 4 powers they might just have them all in their school ranks. They are. Nobody gets blanket "Ninjutsu" access.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 1, 2018 00:35
|
|
|
Challenging a single Kuni really isn't as hard as people make it out to be. They are really fantastically good, but evil cheats. Give them a maho-slinger or two to throw down with while the rest of the party has to deal with the giant pile of cultists, zombies, and maybe minor oni that they run with. Kuni will rarely fail to cast, and 1v1 with a maho caster, they'll just win, but finding things for the rest of the party hasn't ever been the hard part. That's been trying to not just instantly wipe the party with one of the many completely broken maho spells. It's a lot like 4e D&D. A single big solo monster is rarely a good idea, even if it's a loving oni lord or something.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 8, 2018 20:59
|
|
|
FrostyPox posted:Ah! I missed that part some how. Thanks! Also there are kata that modify it, including a rank five ranged one that doubles deadly if you knock them out with the shot.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 17, 2018 10:54
|
|
|
MMAgCh posted:Thanks, all! The 4E beastmaster turned out to be in The Great Clans, for the record. The crane falconer path from second city is a more conventional character.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 14, 2018 06:02
|
|
It's probably as good as it's going to get in terms of letting the character have an animal friend, so it looks like we'll be going with it. Now I only need to figure out things for the character to actually do, as concept-wise the usual social business doesn't really seem to be on the table.
|
Elfgames posted:i'm pretty sure anyone can train a falcon in 4e and also a falcon in 4e is basically a flying katana Any samurai can, any samurai will, but the Crane get simple attacks with their flying katana.
|
|
#
¿
Dec 15, 2018 11:02
|
|
|
PaybackJack posted:It's interesting because it's kind of like the experienced mechanic in the old game but a bit more broad in terms of who you can overlay, and that they overlay standing makes them an interesting way of behind able to ready a character. It's pretty much a direct derivative of the Experienced 7 mechanic they made for the seven thunders in Dawn of the Empire. No idea if it was specifically made that way or they just came up with it, but it's not something l5r hadn't seen before. Just a different flavor.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 15, 2019 02:57
|
|
|
PaybackJack posted:I ran the Emerald Championship adventure a year or so ago as an introductory mission to a completely new group of players and enjoyed it quite a bit. It gives the players a decent reason to all be unified despite being under different banners and provides a lot of different challenges for the players to overcome. You can do a lot worse than getting hold of old Heroes of Rokugan mods. Many are extremely tied into the main plot, but many are oneshots that are pretty easily adaptable, especially in the original campaign, if you can find it, and there's no shortage of villains from every clan. Well, okay, there's a little bias. Of the three campaigns to complete thus far, 1.5 of the final villains have been Lion.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 19, 2019 03:42
|
|
|
Macdeo Lurjtux posted:China is just kind of not even present, going west you just sort of jump straight into the Not-Gobi Desert, Not- Mongolia and then the ...Not-Middle East? Where you meet the...checks papers... Not-Egyptians and Not-Romans? No, the not-egyptians and not-romans are on the other side of the not-middle east. The not-middle east is the caliphate, currently ruled by an immortal sorcerer queen, unless that's been changed. Also if you take a left turn just after not mongolia you end up in not-india.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 22, 2019 14:39
|
|
|
Robodog posted:I don't think it's even a question of team good prince vs team bad prince. If Shoju is actually set on following the decree laid out by the Emperor and in Toturi's hand, it'd take some weird and kinda forced writing to get a big ol' fight and conflict breaking out. That's... that's not even remotely true. Even if the Scorpion and Lion are together on it, if the Phoenix, Crane, and Unicorn all side with the other prince, probably with the Crab and Dragon on the fence, it's dead simple for the other to claim the edict is a forgery, and just the thought of getting the Scorpion out of power is enough to potentially make that happen. Succession wars have been built on FAR less.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 15, 2019 15:58
|
|
|
Tsilkani posted:This is only because Mantis isn't a great clan yet. Mantis are awful, what are you talking about. Monkey aren't much better.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 18, 2019 17:58
|
|
|
Capfalcon posted:The explanation I got was something like," The shadowlands are supposed to be all about power and victory, right? Well, they kept losing to the Empire, so the reasonable thing to do would be to negotiate a way to join the winning team." The only good thing to come of the Spider is an extremely obvious warning sign that you should 100% not let someone into your game. Spider lovers should go explode.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 20, 2019 14:44
|
|
|
Terratina posted:Barring jamming the setting into a different system, 5e is the best edition even "incomplete". Both can be (and are) true.
|
|
#
¿
Feb 25, 2020 14:22
|
|
|
Lord_Hambrose posted:Reach rank 6? What the hell kinda campaigns are you guys playing? World spanning epics where my players get to be important people who make real changes to the world and /or universe. My previous campaign, which I'm running a sequel to now, had pc thunders, resulted in entire concepts being permanently killed, and was generally a loving awesome riot. The campaign summary I wrote for the start of the sequel was basically novella length. NinjaDebugger fucked around with this message at 03:10 on Nov 6, 2020 |
|
#
¿
Nov 6, 2020 03:07
|
|
|
Spookyelectric posted:Another thing about R&K is that it claims to offer the player more choice than typical dice pool systems ("Look, you can choose which dice to keep! You have some degree of control over your results!"). That should, in theory, offer more narrative possibilities. But that's not how it works out in practice, because 95% of the time, players are going to keep the highest dice. There are very few instances where players are incentivized to keep anything but the highest dice (and for voluntary failure, which is a thing, one might ask why we're rolling the dice at all). So while theoretically having the option of choosing whatever dice you want might suggest more narrative possibilities, in practice it's still just a binary pass-fail system, with little reason to treat it otherwise. If you want a kind of hybrid between the two, you can look at Double Cross, which is also a fantastic game.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 15, 2021 12:13
|
|
|
Just had the last battle of my second completed campaign ever last night. 25 years of GMing and this is the second time I've brought a campaign to a full and complete end. At the start of the campaign, all the PCs knew was that the Iwane Dynasty was cursed to have only one child of each generation survive. Later, they discovered that it wasn't actually a curse, it was a vendetta, Ikoma Iwane having thoroughly pissed off Isawa Akei, who became Dark Oracle of Air, by thwarting her plans and forcing her to take up the mantle of Dark Oracle early, at which point she swore to hunt his line forever. The previous campaign's PCs should probably not have made him emperor after the second day of thunder. Many things happened along the way, including the Crab wiping out one of their own provinces, the PCs stealing all the free jinn from the burning sands and bringing them into Rokugan, the PCs successfully convincing the empire to preemptively invade the Caliphate since the Caliphate was definitely going to invade on account of stealing all the jinn, and other, less well known adventures. And then eventually, they discovered that one of the players, the one playing the magistrate to whom the rest of the PCs were yoriki, was actually the third legitimate child of Empress Iwane III. They found this out when the Mantis tried to bribe all of them into becoming part of the Mantis when they seceded. They proceeded to find a way out of this conundrum that I absolutely did not expect, used it to lure the Dark Oracle of Air into showing up unprepared at a time and place of their choosing, and ambushed her, eventually killing her by detonating an explosive that killed not just Isawa Akei, but also the concept of the Dark Oracle of Air, forever. It only cost the party two legs, a hand, some permanent nerve damage, and a PC and a horse coming within 1 round of death.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 28, 2021 13:47
|
|
|
Yoshimo posted:Looking for suggestions for a good Giri/Ninjo combo for a Hida Bushi. We're trying to get the player on board with actual roleplaying rather than just turning up to roll to hit things, and they actually suggested out of left field the Giri of "track down their Lord's son who has gone missing." But for the ninjo they went for "To find the best Tetsubo in all of Rokugan" and I feel that's the munchkin side of them trying to come out, like they think there's a Tetsubo +5 out there on a plinth somewhere. Any ideas for something that might conflict/compete with that giri? I'm trying to get everyone into the mindset of picking a ninjo/giri that competes/conflicts/creates drama in some way. Not necessarily just "be the best in all of Rokugan." I mean... "Recover Hida's tetsubo, lost in the shadowlands when he went after his son." is a hell of a character goal,and would conflict unless the kid ran off into the shadowlands.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 31, 2021 12:48
|
|
|
It took about two hours for them to realize they had shot themselves in the dick and get someone on the l5r discord to say that no, they're not switching to 5e d&d, and that the actually good rules will continue to flow.
|
|
#
¿
Sep 15, 2021 12:29
|
|
|
Epi Lepi posted:I don't like the exploding dice mechanic, when my group tried it out players who invested in a stat kept failing checks while those who didn't got lucky and exploded into success. We only did two sessions and it happened constantly, really turned us off. If players invested in something are regularly failing checks you're setting difficulties too high, regardless of edition.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 25, 2022 12:24
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ May 18, 2024 14:52 |
|
|
Capfalcon posted:
Friend had a miserable time playing the actual l5r adventure, apparently the person they had running it was complaining the whole time about not understanding how this dumb system sells so well when there's a perfectly good d20 version right there. The chud playing who was angry there was only one male pregen didn't help, obviously.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 4, 2023 11:08
|
|