Help for Topaz Champion Adventure

By FelixFenix, in Rules Questions

Can someone provide me some tips for playing a Kakita Duelist in the Topaz Championship Adventure? Can I let the character take place of Kakita Riku in the story? If not how I can justify having two members of the same School in the Adventure?

Probably not. Firstly, the final act involves something that could theoretically horribly dishonour someone. In the scenario, that someone is Riku. If you replace her with a PC, that player will need to be someone who doesn't mind having the scenario mess with them in a way they can do nothing about. Secondly, the Kakita are a specific target of the plot, so your Kakita PC has to make it to the final round. This is in their favour, but could be seen as removing their agency again. Now, this doesn't mean it's not possible, but you need to know your player and how they'll react.

The important thing to remember is that the Topaz Championship is the prestige gempukku for the Kakita Duelist School, so if anyone gets to have 2 entries then it's the Kakita.

Thanks, I’ll think on this and talk with the player. 👍

Im facing the same thing, but thinking of changing the potentially "disgraced" samurai to either a Doji duelist from the Kakita Academy, or even Hitoshi. Still working out the details.

Edited by DHKnecht

I think the solution is pretty simple: change Riku's family name. If a player wants to be a Kakita duelist, make Riku a Doji (or one of the other families). It doesn't really matter which family Riku is from, as long as she's Toshimoko's prized pupil. You could even give the Kakita PC some inside information about Riku, about how she's a natural born duelist and who, because of it, was given the opportunity to study under the famous Kakita Toshimoko despite not being a Kakita. Who knows, maybe the player could use it as a drive for their character: prove to Toshimoko that, no matter how good a Doji is with a sword, a Kakita will always outshine the other Crane families.