I've seen some terrific feedback on these forums and was hoping to get a little for the campaign idea I've been mulling over!

The concept is simple, it centers around a Lion Clan hostage to the Crane Clan. They've been a hostage for years, as assurance against further transgression against the Crane in one particular part of their shared border. The Lion is a PC, and another PC is the Crane "minder" who has been assigned to this character to protect, guide, and educate the Lion in the ways of the Crane.

The story I'm thinking of centers around these characters being called the Crane Daimyo's audience as she lies on her deathbed. Her final decree is that the Lion character should be returned to their family, and that a significant holding (Castle, City) be gifted to the Lion to end years of bad blood between the two. With that, the Crane Daimyo dies. The Daimyo's son, and next in line to take the title, chooses death before the dishonor of giving up a holding that so many Crane have fought to keep for generations, and commits seppeku.

From there I'm invisioning chaos. Some members of the court wish to honor their dead Daimyo's final wish, others only desire to kill the Lion and silence rumors of that wish. Plus there is a power vacuum as the obvious heir is now also dead with the next in line being someone who was not prepared, desirous, or capable of being Daimyo.

A third PC is likely a Scorpion agent who has been tasked with weakening the Crane where possible, and sees an obvious opportunity to cause a little havoc while assisting the Lion.

Play-wise, I see lots of discussion with important Crane to gather their assistance/avoid murder, possible subfertuge to escape the Crane, a cross-country chase avoiding Crane assassins while possibly being guarded by Crane soldiers, and then I'm less sure what happens when they do reach Lion lands. Plus a mystery of why the Daimyo did what she did (realization of the value of life over land? senility? spiritual guidance? an old promise?) Maybe it's just four or five sessions, but I'd like to think I could make the Lion side of the border equally interesting and full of intrigue and danger.

Any thoughts on this? Plausible campaign? Serious setting issues (I don't know Rokugan super well, though I'm not new to it)? Sweet details I could drop in here?

Thanks!

I'd suggest that some Lion drama could ensue along following lines:

Some Lion support the Crane Daimyo's "give it to them" decision.

Some Lion (maybe the majority) don't want to be involved with the issue, and will turn away any request for aid.

Then some others may be in the "they don't give, we take it!" mindset, and are preparing for some kind of assault on the holding. This last group could be the specific "other side of the bad blood" who are offended by the Crane's decision.

Maybe the Daimyo meant it as "Well, they're obvi too weak to take it, so we'll give them a little pity party."

Looks workable as a starting point.

On ‎11‎/‎16‎/‎2018 at 6:43 AM, player387247 said:

The concept is simple, it centers around a Lion Clan hostage to the Crane Clan. They've been a hostage for years, as assurance against further transgression against the Crane in one particular part of their shared border.

Fair enough.

On ‎11‎/‎16‎/‎2018 at 6:43 AM, player387247 said:

The story I'm thinking of centers around these characters being called the Crane Daimyo's audience as she lies on her deathbed. Her final decree is that the Lion character should be returned to their family, and that a significant holding (Castle, City) be gifted to the Lion to end years of bad blood between the two.

Probably not a city; just because this is a provincial/vassal family daimyo (assuming you don't want it to be the Crane Clan champion), so she'd only be handing over something that's part of 'her' territory (on the bit of border secured by the hostage treaty) that she won't have to defend surrendering to someone above her in the Clan hierarchy. A village, or bridge, or at most a small town or something like that is probably more like the scale we'd be looking at here.

On ‎11‎/‎16‎/‎2018 at 6:43 AM, player387247 said:

The Daimyo's son, and next in line to take the title, chooses death before the dishonor of giving up a holding that so many Crane have fought to keep for generations, and commits seppeku.

Fair enough; if it was his mother's final order as daimyo, he can't honourably overrule it or ignore it, but he also feels he can't honourably obey it. Seppuku is the 'cannot resolve conflict, exit problem sideways' option.

On ‎11‎/‎16‎/‎2018 at 6:43 AM, player387247 said:

From there I'm invisioning chaos. Some members of the court wish to honor their dead Daimyo's final wish, others only desire to kill the Lion and silence rumors of that wish. Plus there is a power vacuum as the obvious heir is now also dead with the next in line being someone who was not prepared, desirous, or capable of being Daimyo.

If you really want chaos, the next in line should ideally be several someones. if you really want to throw the cat amonst the pigeons (or Lion amongst the Cranes), the same local peace treaty which produced the hostage might well have been secured the other way by a diplomatic marriage (Lion hostaged to the Crane in Crane lands, their same-gender sibling marries the Crane daimyo's child in Lion lands)......supposing that child (who the court's hard-liners probably now think of as a Lion or at least 'tainted' by association) is now the heir?

On ‎11‎/‎16‎/‎2018 at 6:43 AM, player387247 said:

A third PC is likely a Scorpion agent who has been tasked with weakening the Crane where possible, and sees an obvious opportunity to cause a little havoc while assisting the Lion.

Because if in doubt have a scorpion to screw everything else up.... Could just as easily be that Imperial family....Otomo, I think? Whose role is to poke the great clans with a stick and stop them getting along nicely with one another.

It's arguably easier to have an Imperial representative as a local ambassador of the imperial court without everyone going 'scorpion! it's all their fault!' and accusing them of everything up to and including murdering the Daimyo, secretly changing the text of her final decree, blackmailing the heir into suicide, littering, and secretly being Fu Leng in a false nose and moustache.

I mean, the Otomo are just as much a bunch of smug manipulative jerks as the Scorpion clan but for some reason they don't get the same level as bad press. They look after the flow of trade to and from Imperial territories, so if there's an Imperial Highway passing through the region, it's perfectly reasonable their might be an Otomo diplomat there to ensure it's respected and issue licenses to trade and that sort of thing.

On ‎11‎/‎16‎/‎2018 at 6:43 AM, player387247 said:

Play-wise, I see lots of discussion with important Crane to gather their assistance/avoid murder, possible subfertuge to escape the Crane, a cross-country chase avoiding assassins Crane assassassins while possibly being guarded by Crane soldiers, and then I'm less sure what happens when they do reach Lion lands.

If they tried to murder the hostage, quite possibly the peace treaty comes unstuck very quickly. Especially if the court comes down on the side of "we never heard the Daimyo's command" as when they hear the story, you can pretty much guarantee that the lion's militants will decide that that makes the town 'theirs' and advocate to move to reclaim it and eject any crane occupants.

A big part of the story's focus there will be how strong the two families are relative to one another, and whether the rest of the clan is likely to be dragged in by any war, and how long this treaty has been in force.

Ultimately, if they get the hostage to safety, and the town is handed over to the lion, the lion will (probably) be happy. If they get the hostage back but don't get the town when they think they should....that's more of an issue.

On ‎11‎/‎16‎/‎2018 at 6:43 AM, player387247 said:

Plus a mystery of why the Daimyo did what she did (realization of the value of life over land? senility? spiritual guidance? an old promise?) Maybe it's just four or five sessions, but I'd like to think I could make the Lion side of the border equally interesting and full of intrigue and danger.

If it's an old promise, I'd like to think she'd have laid the groundwork for it a bit better. An old debt , maybe, especially if called in unexpectedly. A classic in this situation is her receiving a letter or a visitor prior to making the decree.

On ‎11‎/‎16‎/‎2018 at 2:57 PM, Hida Jitenno said:

I'd suggest that some Lion drama could ensue along following lines:

Some Lion support the Crane Daimyo's "give it to them" decision.

Some Lion (maybe the majority) don't want to be involved with the issue, and will turn away any request for aid.

Then some others may be in the "they don't give, we take it!" mindset, and are preparing for some kind of assault on the holding. This last group could be the specific "other side of the bad blood" who are offended by the Crane's decision.

Maybe the Daimyo meant it as "Well, they're obvi too weak to take it, so we'll give them a little pity party."

Sounds interesting. Plus, if using a Crane/Lion marriage as the 'other end' of the treaty bond, you've effectively reversed the situation - you've now got a Crane stuck in Lion lands, with the lion getting riled up....but this Hostage doesn't have the option to run away as they're married - perhaps even to someone they've grown to love, or with children, if the treaty's been around long enough. So you need to defuse a burgeoning war.

If using the 'decision made after receiving letter on deathbed' then the person sending the letter was presumably either from the lion province or previously from there (if, for example, they were someone made ronin after the war - a samurai accepting being unjustly 'disavowed' by their clan as part of the peace treaty so that no-one remaining on either side could be blamed for some particularly nasty atrocity in the fight) - finding them might give the PCs the leverage they need.

I'm not gonna lie, this is a pretty good story all by itself. I can't really see any big problems other than the Crane/Lion conflict being a bit overused and trite.

I wouldn't make it more complicated or expansive, it is a pretty intricate story already. You probably want to work out the relationship between the hostage and the minder very well, because looks like it is gonna be the deciding factor, but other than that, I think you hit all the best points.

So good! Exactly the kind of guidance I was hoping for, thank you.

So a ghost from the Daimyo's past arrives, and after a private audience, the Daimyo seeks to surrender a small town surrounding a strategic bridge along the border, sending their hostage to deliver the news and dissolve the pact that sent them there to begin with. The clan members in attendance resolve not to let the matter become common knowledge until they can agree what is to be done, possibly locking up the Lion hostage in the interim. The Daimyo dies.

The Daimyo's son commits seppeku, leaving their sibling that was traded to the Lion as the next in line. Before that day, the line was more obvious, but since the Daimyo is making an attempt to dissolve the pact that forced the heir into Lion hands, they may well have the rightful claim and everything is thrown into chaos as the next in line desires to keep the Lion and their town, while the Crane General threatens a coup to follow through with the Daimyo's last command.

The PCs include the Lion and Crane minder, as well as those sympathetic to their cause or who have been commanded to be so. I still like the idea of the Scorpion, mainly to give the players another clan option, but also because everyone playing is brand new to the world so nothing is cliche to them and showing a classic Scorpion move seems appropriate. The Otomo is a great option to throw in though!

I'll start seriously working on it once I have characters made and have a sense for what they want to see. I have a "starter" scenario to let them gel into their roles and give me time for a heavier intrigue game.

My thought is that the Daimyo sends away the Lion and Minder to help an elderly magistrate in a remote area deal with a gang of ronin who've been wintering in a nearby village. Really she doesn't want the Lion around while members of the Imperial Family spend the winter at her court. Disreputable ronin who just want a place to spend the winter seem like a totally bizarre conflict though. I'm really not sure how it will play out. Hopefully with blood in the snow. But maybe they just huddle around the fire and glare at eachother for a couple months, I dunno!

34 minutes ago, player387247 said:

The PCs include the Lion and Crane minder, as well as those sympathetic to their cause or who have been commanded to be so. I still like the idea of the Scorpion, mainly to give the players another clan option, but also because everyone playing is brand new to the world so nothing is cliche to them and showing a classic Scorpion move seems appropriate. The Otomo is a great option to throw in though!

Fair enough. If players aren't used to the setting, then showing the clans off in (moderately) bright primary colours helps introduce the settings. The scorpion will need a credible reason to be there other than just screwing up everyone else's lives, though, because his presence can only be at the invitation or at least sufferance of the Daimyo.

36 minutes ago, player387247 said:

My thought is that the Daimyo sends away the Lion and Minder to help an elderly magistrate in a remote area deal with a gang of ronin who've been wintering in a nearby village. Really she doesn't want the Lion around while members of the Imperial Family spend the winter at her court.

Makes sense. Keeping potential points of argument out of sight and out of mind is a good idea. Depending on whether you plan on having the scorpion be a courtier or bushi, this might be a good place to introduce them; If the Ronin are either ex-scorpions or have been kicked off scorpion lands previously and this character has been sent to ensure they're not causing problems elsewhere.

Depends whether you want to show the ronin as unemployed mercenaries, out-and-out bandits or just ex-samurai trying to survive.

39 minutes ago, player387247 said:

Disreputable ronin who just want a place to spend the winter seem like a totally bizarre conflict though. I'm really not sure how it will play out. Hopefully with blood in the snow. But maybe they just huddle around the fire and glare at eachother for a couple months, I dunno!

Depends. The Ronin aren't sworn servants of the Daimyo. This means that their presence is not 'approved' - it's not explicitely 'disapproved' unless the Daimyo choses to do so but any samurai, ronin, or frankly anyone else on her territory should have come to her or her representative, paid respects and asked permission to pass through, or else presented permission from someone above her in the social hierarchy (like an imperial letter of passage).

That said, as long as they're not causing trouble, it's not inherently a problem. The issue is, they almost certainly are. At a basic level, she is obligated to see to the needs of the samurai sworn to serve her and the heimin who work her lands. If these are neither, then the issue isn't sitting by the fire, it's the fact that they're eating the villages' winter stores of food, which if it's a bad winter might lead to starvation - and it won't be the ones with swords and armour doing the starving.

If they're prepared to pay for their food and shelter, it's probably not an issue, but that assumes the Ronin have money - and if they did they'd probably be staying somewhere more salubrious.

The options boil down to:

• Kick them out - which probably means a fight and they freeze or starve or both.
  • This probably means a fight, and depending how big the gang is, the Lion, their Crane Yojimbo and Nefarious Moustache-Twirling Scorpion #5,327 from Central Casting may have a nasty fight on their hands.
    • The Magistrate can probably supply some spare hands - Budoka/Ashigaru (basically armed peasant militia) but if they were enough to kick the Ronin out by themselves most likely they'd have done so without sending a request for help up the hierarchy.
  • Which is fine if they're out-and-out ruffians, but a bit more of a heart-string-puller if they're relatively good people
  • Since this is an intro adventure I draw your attention to the peace treaty and local history you want to pass to the players without turning into Exposition Cat.
    • Finding out that the ronin are in part former crane samurai dispossessed/demobilised after armies scaled down in the wake of the peace treaty and the shuffling of holdings that set the lion/crane border where it currently is might be one thought: They are or were honourable enough samurai that the Daimyo's subordinates basically dismissed because they were neither needed nor affordable once the fighting stopped.
• Allow them to stay unchallenged
  • This makes the family look weak - always a bad thing if anyone important gets sight of it - although you can contain the area if you work at it.
  • More immediately - this means the villagers will risk starvation
  • Given the ronin's example, some of the sparkier peasants might well turn bandit to survive, spreading the problem to the rest of the magistrate's district - although a bunch of desperate peasants will be easier to contain than a bunch of well-armed, grizzled ronin.
• Ship food to the village.
  • This is costly to do, especially in winter.
  • It's tolerable if the Ronin can pay
  • It's also tolerable if the clan 'owes' them subsistence - because they've been retained to perform some meaningful service for the magistrate or the Daimyo.
    • This could be a case of some or all - retaining the more respectable ex-crane samurai to give you a 'posse' to run any other less ethical (or at least less attached to the region) ex-scorpion Ronin off your lands, for example.

Liking this. So, if the Mysterious Visitor did something horrible in the most recent fighting that initiated the hostage exchange, what would something like that be? I'm thinking the wintering ronin are part of his original retinue, all of whom were "pardoned" for their crimes, but also cast out from the clan. Taking the blame for something that was not entirely their fault, thus keeping the Daimyo's honor intact. Grumpy and disillusioned ex-Crane ronin sound fantastic. Would a threat of revealing the truth be a good reason to give up the town? Would the debt be enough? I'm not sure how to tie a Scorpion into this initial story, and maybe I don't.

I'm not even looking at families or anything because I want to see what the players want to do. Once they start filling in details for me, I'll start filling out the rest.

Thanks so much!

1 hour ago, player387247 said:

if the Mysterious Visitor did something horrible in the most recent fighting that initiated the hostage exchange, what would something like that be?

Maybe the war starting over someone significant's death, but that the death wasn't caused by the side everyone thought it was caused by?

If Mysterious Visitor is actually responsible for the 'something horrible' and the Daimyo knows it, then they'd have no leverage - unless she'd ordered it.

• If not, that raises the question of why she'd agree to see them.
• If so, that raises the question of why they'd never taken advantage of the chance for blackmail before now.

If Mysterious Visitor wasn't responsible for the 'something horrible' but just chose to publically accept responsibility for it, so that the Daimyo and her Lion counterpart had someone to blame, disavow, and use as leverage to stop a war that was getting out of control, that might be different.

• If they'd accepted being publicly vilified, it explains why they had to arrive incognito, and why the Crane Daimyo (and arguably the Lion Daimyo too) would feel they owed them a debt even if they were one of their Vassals; you can in theory order your sworn samurai to do anything but ordering them to publicly dishonour themselves by confessing to a false charge is very shaky ground.
• It doesn't explain 'why now' - they obviously came because the Daimyo is on her deathbed and her Heirs don't know the truth but why do they now want something that they've never asked for before? This would mean something has changed....maybe they've found out who was actually responsible?
  • That still raises the question of why the village changing hands affects anything.

With regards to the Ronin, you can easily have the group be part local ex-crane and part more thuggish types recently run off nearby scorpion lands. That would explain the presence of a scorpion advisor/assistant if the scorpions accept some level of responsibility.

Alternatively, the Magistrate could be an Emerald Magistrate rather than a clan one. Magistrates often have lower-ranking deputies called Yoriki, who are aides, interviewers, messengers, supervisors of village watchmen and general runarounds.

Since Emerald Magistrates are imperial appointees rather than clan members, they come from all sorts of different clans and imperial families, as do their staff; The Scorpion could easily be a newly-assigned Yoriki to this one, and be sent back once the matter is resolved (however it is resolved) by the Magistrate to brief the Crane Daimyo.