>>97902272
I've been reading a lot about l5r lately, it seems cool as fuck but I don't think I could ever get either of my groups into the samurai mindset.

>>97902272
I hope the Scopion book gets done.
It would be the end of the game line either war but it sucks a good version ends because EDGE went through a buy out.

I'm the anon who posted his story in what I think was the last thread, I can post it again if there's interest, but honestly I think it's better not, it's not that great and doesn't deserve to become some posting ritual every time there's a thread.

Anyway,
>Is anyone in any campaigns?
To my surprise, yes. After a rather long hiatus we started playing again and are now 3 sessions in. I was planning on running exalted, but I had to wait for some books to arrive and we had some new blood in the group, so in order not to overwhelm the new players and start playing right away L5R was quickly mentioned. 5e is rather good to start because the action flows well and the system is rather simple, so I jumped at the opportunity.

I already had hooks for the future from the end of the previous campaign so it was quite easy to get it all down, I spent most of my "prep" time studying rules to refresh my memory, and now basically run with little to no prep.

I can put together a summary if anyone is interested.

>>97902548
I don’t see a reason not to. I’m doing a solo game myself, and still personally hoping to run a group game in the future with my friends.

>>97902364
Doing the voice is key.

>>97902576
I will start working on it, it's also a chance to rework my session notes. For now the quick summary is:
>first campaign starts at funeral of the lord's firstborn
>stranger from the mainland arrives
>the lord wants his only son left back but he is hostage of the rival family
>rivalry has been going on for a while, imperial court wants it to end
>marriage is proposed and arranged
>future bride is not that happy, wants a duel, wins, but still accepts the marriage to honor her father
>now one of the pcs is technically daimyo but has the two fathers in law still "counselling"

The second campaign
>stranger from the mainland introduces one of his shinobi assistants, saying he's going back to the mainland and leaving her here as a test
>start at the docks, pcs have been called to check on an unidentified crate
>shugenjas explicitly called, so the other new player is involved
>turns out there's something going on with the monks, will explain better
>oni are roaming inside the forest, a kirin must be found

The players wanted more supernatural stuff compared to the diplomacy and intrigue or mortals of the first one, and boy am I gonna give it to them.

>>97902606
Your table is really diving into the deep end of the spookiness, I see. Good luck with that, anon.

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>>97902606
>>97902548
I still fully believe that the guy yelling "/pol/f*g" at everyone is himself a tourist who only knows about D&D and just kept yelling about purity testing to hide that, although that's neither here nor there. Lol

Actually™ related to your post, that sounds super fun. I've done more spooky stuff before. My setting is much less magical, a lot of the time "magic" is a more supernatural thing that happens *to* the players and isn't necessarily a thing that happens *for* the players, if that makes sense.

Probably the most 'supernatural' thing I had my players do: An ally of theirs from the Topaz Championship died, and when they went up to investigate and get her notes on things, they found a mysterious servant with white hair, aided by another servant who was noticed to have hidden ears and tail. They were told there was a party happening recently they could meet to find the thief, who was having a wedding ceremony soon and retrieve the notes their ally had made about the threat they were facing. They were told it was a masked wedding, and were given a bunch of bird masks. Then given a path to walk to get to that manor--they walked right into Chikushudo, where all the animals who were invited wore masks and saw them as invited guests of a very high ranking kitsune. There was also a friendly woman who arrived late and asked to be their servant.

It ended up being a kitsune wedding that they needed to pretend to be animals for. They fought and killed the Penanggalan that killed their friend and was looking to kill the thief, found out that the manor itself was a magical maze of the exact same room (pic related). Afterwards they suddenly woke up in the grass. It rained while sunny, and as they walked the road back they saw two foxes watching them from the roadside, one young and the other with snowy white fur.

>>97902364
Make them watch a samurai movie or two and then run a short scenario, that will help get them into the mood.

>>97903064
>"magic" is a more supernatural thing that happens
That's how we ran the first campaign, more focused on drama, handling diplomatic matters and dealing with humans, but when a second player wanted to be a shugenja I felt the need to shift to another approach. It's a fantasy setting, if all the fantastical elements are subordinate to human magicians doing things it stops being fantastical and it can quickly feel like "naruto but only a couple guys do cool shit", and that's not what I want for the game.
I may find a more balanced result for the future, depending on what the players want to focus on, but for now this gives me the chance to show that there's a living, breathing world of unnatural beings around them, tie up some lines and have potential for a greater variety of topics we can tackle.

>>97903093
Yes that's my thought and also why shugenja are allowed to do "weird" things no one else can get away with like use non-binary pronouns (which a lot of people don't understand but shrug at). Everyone else has to "forrow the rurus" when it comes to your societal position. In my game, Doji Hotaru is currently knocked up despite her obviously preferring Bayushi Kachiko, because she's a woman who needs to get the future heir on the way regardless of her personal feelings.

Having soft magic vs hard magic just feels (to me) more fun and in a sense makes magic that much more impactful. A wizard casting fireball becomes mundane. Your Shugenja ally (who has to ritualistically purify himself regularly and eat vegetarian food) calling upon your ancestors to purify you and you seeing apparitions in the corner of your eye/hearing voices whispering in your ear feels like it would leave more of a statement, especially if magic is otherwise rare.

Magic generally being passed down by lineage and not skill, and the Kami also being these blue-and-orange morality little beings you need to wheedle with to do their magical things, (and they're only listening to you because you kinda look like your ancestor from 100 years ago) makes the presence of magic that *doesn't* require you to be born into something, like maho or gu magic, feel more important and choice driven.

Hello I am gaijin from faraway land where are the fox ladies and naga ladies

>>97902272
I still have no idea how to run it without becoming a Japanese history weeb

>>97903662
Watch 47 ronin