Hi Everyone--

Just signed up for the forums after ordering the core book, the Emerald Empire book, the dice and the GM's kit/screen. I played a bit of L5R 1st edition back in the late 90s-2001 or so and briefly messed around with the 3rd edition D&D Rokugan/Oriental Adventures tie-in, but I drifted away after that, mostly due to lack of players. So I've been playing a variety of other RPGs the past 20 years or so, mostly older versions of D&D or most recently, retroclones like Labyrinth Lord and Astnishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea.

But I always loved the Rokugan setting and being a professor of Asian history, L5R kind of hits the sweet spot for me thematically. Last fall I taught a "Supernatural History of Asia" class which got me thinking about L5R again and when I was traveling in England for an academic conference, I stumbled across the new core book in a game store. I spent about 45 minutes going through it, but then decided to wait and read a few reviews and watch some demos on youtube. After doing that for a couple months, I finally decided to pull the trigger upon hearing about all the cool forthcoming source books and modules. So now I'm all in and I think the more narrative game will be a nice break from the rampant (though fun) plundering our players have been doing in the old school games. Plus, I know a couple people who don't play D&D but might be up for this.

Admittedly I haven't even read the books yet, but in reading about what's coming and watching review videos I'm thinking about trying to put together a campaign revolving around a group of paranormal investigators or ghostbusters, if you will. I think this could easily draw in PCs from multiple clans (Dragon, Crab, Falcon for sure) and would provide a plausible rationale for roaming about. Plus, some of the "spirit troubles" could simply be hoaxes a la Scooby Doo and offer opportunities for courtly intrigue. And there might be a Big Bad behind some of it as well. At least that's what I'm thinking going in. It may change once I actually read the books. But I'm pretty psyched to dive back into Rokugan.

It's been over a month now, got a group together yet? I'm interested in how it's going.

No, because it's the academic year and I'm still reading the books. Will probably not play until mid-May, after the semester ends. Lots of things to learn with this game.

On 3/6/2019 at 3:38 AM, Masakiyo said:

Admittedly I haven't even read the books yet, but in reading about what's coming and watching review videos I'm thinking about trying to put together a campaign revolving around a group of paranormal investigators or ghostbusters, if you will. I think this could easily draw in PCs from multiple clans (Dragon, Crab, Falcon for sure) and would provide a plausible rationale for roaming about.

indeed. It's the sort of things Emerald Magistrates might get called in to investigate.

I can't wait to hear about it. Keep us posted.

Got seriously derailed by life events these past several months so when we did manage to game, we just stuck with our older games since there wasn't time to learn new rules etc. But now I'm getting back into things Rokugani so once I refresh my memory, I'll start putting together this intrepid party of ghost hunters, etc, inspired by, among other things, the Chinese "Vampire Hunters" movie. I've also just relocated to a new city for work for a few months, so I'm posting messages on bulletin boards in the local gaming stores to find a group of players. Ideally I'd like to play a few sessions first before getting behind the GM's screen and running my own.

Good luck. Let us know if you want any sounding boards for plot ideas.

Third time's the charm, I hope. After wrapping up some other gaming campaigns I'm going to once more try and get an L5R group together. Still hoping I can do a paranormal/Shadowlands campaign, but I'm trying to find a group where I can play a bit first before trying to GM. I need a firmer grasp on the mechanics of the system. I may be interested in a PBP around here if someone's getting something going that will be patient with newbies. I haven't played much L5R since 1st edition.

If you have not done so already, I highly recommend the Beginner Game set. It is VERY forgiving and allows new players to the system to ease into the mechanics. And with, as Magnus Grendel calls him ,"Ghost Dad", you may actually have an avenue for launching your paranormal campaign.

In addition to the Falcon, Crab, and Dragon, do not discount the Asako Inquisitors, and the Yogo Wardmaster schools. I will also throw in the Seppun Astrologists as they might also take an interest in paranormal threats to the Royal family.. They have just as much interest as the Kuni would and indeed, the Asako, Yogo, Kuni, and Toritaka often collaborate even when their clans are at each other's throats. They know full well the dangers that transcend the petty squabbling of the clans.

Yeah; ironically the beginner set is the one thing I don't either already own or have on order but the more reviews I've read or seen, it seems like in can be helpful for the mechanics. Frankly, the core rulebook could be better organized and presented more clearly. I have a handle on the basics, I think, but I really need to play a few times to smooth things out. I'm not too concerned with incorporating every little rule, just conveying the flavor as it seems that much of what they suggest rolling for can simply be roleplayed. And that seems to be what most folks on those youtube videos are doing as well.

And thanks for the PC suggestions. I have a sort of X-Files concept in mind where the PCs will work for some secret branch of the imperial bureaucracy because of some prophecy a high ranking courtier staunchly believes in. And it will involve supernatural forces. But still kicking all this around as I dive back into the books and supplements after several months away. The hook you reference above to the beginner set could work too. I downloaded and read all the DLC stuff this weekend. Quite a bit of supernatural material in those, so I'm thinking this general concept could work. Personally I find it a bit more compelling than the court politics stuff, but dabbling in that along the way is fine too.

8 minutes ago, Masakiyo said:

I have a sort of X-Files concept in mind where the PCs will work for some secret branch of the imperial bureaucracy because of some prophecy a high ranking courtier staunchly believes in. And it will involve supernatural forces.

And that is where the Seppun Astrologist School in Emerald Empire Sourcebook becomes your friend. A master sensei of that dojo could be the source that sends out the characters on the quests. Depending on which clan your PCs are associated, their respective investigative school could be who receives the quest which they then hand down to the PC. "As the Seppun request, so must we obey".

Best wishes on your campaign. As others have said, please keep us updated on how the adventures turn out.

4 hours ago, neilcell said:

And with, as Magnus Grendel calls him ,"Ghost Dad"

I take no responsibility for the Moto Goriate's player. But yes, apologies for that...

2 hours ago, Masakiyo said:

I have a sort of X-Files concept in mind where the PCs will work for some secret branch of the imperial bureaucracy because of some prophecy a high ranking courtier staunchly believes in. And it will involve supernatural forces.

If it's involving prophecies, you can possibly add Togashi monks to that list of families: they're eccentric individualists, but they make a reputation out of being in exactly the right place at the right time for no readily explained reason.

The Scroll or The Blade might be an interesting way to introduce both the prophecy and your choice of Imperial sponsor (subbing for Miya Satoshi).

9 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

I take no responsibility for the Moto Goriate's player. But yes, apologies for that...

If it's involving prophecies, you can possibly add Togashi monks to that list of families: they're eccentric individualists, but they make a reputation out of being in exactly the right place at the right time for no readily explained reason.

The Scroll or The Blade might be an interesting way to introduce both the prophecy and your choice of Imperial sponsor (subbing for Miya Satoshi).

Yeah; currently jotting down ideas for how to incorporate some of the published material into the broad concept I'm working with. In fact, it was reading that adventure that gave me the prophecy idea. I may even use that Hinokami Prophecy as the hook. I really like "The Highwayman" too as a one-off adventure. And I think this framework lends itself well to loosely linked adventures that may or may not connect to the background metaplot. You can do "spirit of the week" or something else pretty easily.

On 3/6/2019 at 4:38 AM, Masakiyo said:

Admittedly I haven't even read the books yet, but in reading about what's coming and watching review videos I'm thinking about trying to put together a campaign revolving around a group of paranormal investigators or ghostbusters, if you will.

Shameless plug, but if you run a paranormal investigations campaign, my home-brewed monster manual might come in handy. Lots of paranormal creatures and Yokai in there.
https://www.ruven-nagel.de/Strange Creatures of Rokugan.pdf

Let us know how it goes.
If you have questions or would like to discuss ideas, feel free to direct message me.

1 hour ago, Harzerkatze said:

Shameless plug, but if you run a paranormal investigations campaign, my home-brewed monster manual might come in handy. Lots of paranormal creatures and Yokai in there.
https://www.ruven-nagel.de/Strange Creatures of Rokugan.pdf

Let us know how it goes.
If you have questions or would like to discuss ideas, feel free to direct message me.

Thanks! Downloaded and will check it out later today. There's tons of good inspirational material out there for such campaigns and it's great to have mechanics/stat blocks for classic yokai and such.

I actually teach a whole university class called "The Supernatural History of Asia," which has become my most popular class with the students. So this fall, in my intro level Asia survey class, students will be reading this collection of folk tales as a primer for the upper level class: https://www.amazon.com/Folk-Legends-Tono-Phantastic-Creatures-ebook/dp/B00YE1F6JQ/ref=sr_1_5?dchild=1&keywords=tales+of+tono&qid=1590423394&s=audible&sr=8-5

I may post other lists of great inspirational material here in the future. Tons of stuff has been translated into English, many with lots of great images.

While most of my current preparation is for our PBP game, I am also still sketching ideas out for my ghost busting/paranormal game. So I plan on rolling up a Mirumoto Daoist Blade, Kuni Purifier, and Toritaka Phantom Hunter as the core PCs, a heroic trio, so to speak, for you fans of classic Hong Kong cinema. Their handler/lord will be a Seppun Astrologer, the Rokugan equivalent of Skinner, for you X-Files fans, albeit much more of a true believer in the supernatural threats facing the empire.

Oh, if there is something clearly wrong with how I describe any of the creatures in my mosnter manual, please let me know.

You sound like the person to know...

I like what I've seen of it. Will spend more time later as I'm going through the main rule books and modules now and jotting down campaign ideas in my custom L5R notebook. I even pre-ordered the two forthcoming products today.

1 minute ago, Masakiyo said:

I like what I've seen of it. Will spend more time later as I'm going through the main rule books and modules now and jotting down campaign ideas in my custom L5R notebook. I even pre-ordered the two forthcoming products today.

I just want to see this notebook, because I am a sucker for custom organization especially game themed.

Okay; all I meant was that it has a pseudo-Japanese woodblock cover with a little ninja in the scene....Nothing special. I just have different notebooks for each RPG campaign.

Here are some of the ideas/adventure hooks I've come up with so far for this paranormal campaign concept. The investigators will be sent on missions by a Seppun Astrologer:

• Ships keep running ashore near a lighthouse at a place called Ro Ryuto, "Old Dragonhead." There was a shrine keeper nearby, but now it's unclear if he is still maintaining the lighthouse
• Someone is murdering members of the barefoot brethren and stealing their messages
• The party is summoned to the Barracks of the Damned to get information from kuni warden and his charges
• Lady Mazoku has finally appeared again and the party is dispatched to the Council of Twilight on a fact finding mission
• Taint seems to following the progressions of a certain traveling bunraku troupe