After the end of a war with the Destroyer Horde, the need to update the imperial maps has grown. Between destruction and lost knowledge, they need to get everything on paper again.
Imperial herald Miya Ayame was tasked with the opportunity to aid with the mapmaking process. Upon venturing into Crane Lands for her first assignment, someone attempted to rob her! Oh noes!
Running back to Crane HQ, she acquired several samurai to aid her in her mission. This is where the game started.
Quote:
The premise: Every player submits suggestions for sites they want to see. I write down and shuffle up the suggestions, and each area of the province is a new event. There are more suggestions than areas, so there is no guarantee a suggestion will be seen. It also forces me to GM on the fly.
A farming village! Nothing amiss seems to be going on.
Area 16
Holy Jizo the assassin dude showed up already! It was a rather unskilled but still armed peasant. He was apprehended.
Area 15
Hooligan Man dropped off at the village, tied up. Villagers remain indifferent and totes aren't vicious cannibals.
Area 14
Really really really tall steep hill! Almost a mountain but not quite! But there's a hot spring at the top! And an old crone who's really lonely! And I mean really lonely! wink
Tsuyoshi is promptly made uncomfortable by her advances and bails on the samurai-ko. Truthfully, a storm is coming and they will be trapped up here if they remain, and they don't want to leave Hooligan Man alone for days. Magistrate duty calls.
They have the opportunity for a classic onsen scene and completely drop the ball.
Area 14, continued
A good opportunity for canon plot recap! Not much else happens.
Area 15
There's a spirit there! And Tsuyoshi kicks its a**! bribes it with food and hides until daybreak. He then starts escorting Hooligan Man to the Crane HQ. Hooligan Man is uncomfortable with the idea of being tortured as punishment for his attempt at an Imperial's life. He goads Tsuyoshi into offing him there in exchange for a possible lead that's totally not a lie. Tsuyoshi agrees. Hooligan Man offers a name moments before he expires. Tsuyoshi thinks he sees someone watching him but they are gone before he can investigate.
Area 14
The party reunites! Ayame: "You did WHAT?!"
Area 16
Nothing going on here. Edge of the province and the road turns north!
Area 12
More farmland! But it's maintained by a couple of brothers who turn out to be opium addicts. Tsuyoshi takes their toys away, but only the ones he finds.
Area 8
Sake house with a clever name that none of my players appreciated. Scorpion show up and try to steal the party's rooms by stealing the Imperial via duels! PCs win! They keep lodging and Miya.
Area 4
Ghost bridge! The players let the IMPERIAL COURTIER face against a ghost warrior in yet another duel. Seriously, why did they think that was a good idea?! Ayame gets a participation trophy in the form of final moments of life of the ghost. They earn the right to cross the bridge, but decide not to cross the bridge and go back to the sake house.
Area 8
Night night time!
Area 7
Let's see what on this side of the river before we commit to crossing that bridge again. What's that in the bushes?! OH YE KAMI ITS THE END OF THE RECAP!
Rain Yupa Captain
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Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2018 2:58 pm
I am normally good at math, too...sweatdrop I updated the sheet again. 3 Heavy Weapons, should bring me to 50.
Fair warning,
Player: SCN Name: Hida Gahl Clan: Crab School: Hida Bushi School Rank: 1 Insight: 127 Experience: 51 Glory: 1 Honor: 3.5 Status: 1 Taint: 0 I will
MASTERY ABILITIES Heavy Weapons: Fools gain a -2 Reduction when they allow themselves to get hit by Hida's heavy weapon attack.
ADVANTAGES 3Large: +1k0 damage of large weapons 3Quick Healing: +2 Stamina ranks when healing 2Strength of the Earth: Wound Point penalty reduced by 3
DISADVANTAGES 4Gullible: Deceit rolls gain +1k1 2Unlucky: Once per session; GM clams a reroll, must keep second roll 1Gaijin Name: Social Skills only explode once
TECHNIQUES, SPELLS, KATA, KIHO, SHADOWLANDS POWERS School Rank 1: Way of the Crab; Ignore Penalties to TN for Heavy Armor, except Stealth, +1k0 damage Heavy Weapons
EQUIPMENT/CURRENCY Heavy Armor Sturdy Clothing Daisho Tetsubo Traveling Pack
-Finger of jade -Week's supply of rations -Straw cloak -Wide-brimmed straw hat -Chopsticks -Bottle of sake -Sake cup -Blanket
DESCRIPTION Where his 6 foot 4 inch frame wouldn't get an much of an eye bat from many of the Crab, same with the scars that adorn his face and body. Hida Gahl does little to hide the fact that he is of the Crab. From his 6 foot 4 inch frame and the scars that adorn his skin like makeup on an actor. The most visible of the scars are three parallel lines that span the length from his left ear to his chin.
BACKGROUND
"If you are asking about my life, maybe it would be best to stand on the wall." The giant spoke, half of his face bandaged from the recent battle. He sat along the wall, in a room that housed the other wounded. A bottle of sake in his hand, "But, given you aren't so brave to face the Shadowland filth, I guess I have to tell you... Where to begin,"
Gahl's name was a product of his mother's wish. It was though the hardship that name gave him, the young Gahl became too eager to prove himself in the field of battle. Where one's name, rank, family, etc, means nothing and the only truth is in the battle itself and the result, usually favored the victor. This became apparent to his sensei, who sought to strengthen that eagerness into a edge. To make Gahl like the hurricane, a force of destruction for all who stand before him.
After, his gempakku, Gahl served his lord on the wall as faithfully as any normal named samurai.
"... Any thing else, you wish to know? My lord wanted to see me, when I was strong enough to stand. And talking to you helped that... or maybe it was the sake."
It was a simple request; take a parcel to the the northern border, and pass them directly to the Sparrow's Daimyo and wait for the Sparrow's response. The parcel should otherwise be protected, and no other words would have to be exchanged. But, with his first steps in the Sparrow's lands, Gahl asked for direction to the Daimyo's castle. And a Monk told him...
Posted: Wed Aug 29, 2018 7:31 pm
You can go ahead and post it in the character sheets thread. As soon as you fill out a background and description, I'll write you in.
Have you put thought into my "bad directions" proposal?
Rain Yupa Captain
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Posted: Thu Aug 30, 2018 4:13 pm
Rain Yupa
You can go ahead and post it in the character sheets thread. As soon as you fill out a background and description, I'll write you in.
Have you put thought into my "bad directions" proposal?
I have, and will run with it.
edit: I know it isn't much, and will try to add to it as I can think of other things. But how is that for a backstory?
edit, Edit: I suck at backstories... retyped it....
Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2018 12:15 pm
SCN_ Grey_fox
I saw you posted your character sheet. Delightful.
I had to tweak your insight (you had 127, I edited to 128 ). I still left that ominous "I will" next to your Taint score, though.
I see you also have a finger of jade in your pack. I will offer you this bit of L5R Canon Lore for you, and you can decide if you want to keep it:
Shadowlands Taint is the "touch of Jigoku" and is kind of an infectious STD (soul-transmitted disease) that horribly mutates you and turns you evil. It is more or less contracted from being wounded by something tainted, or just being in proximity to the Shadowlands. Jade wards it, but the Jade will decay in response (at a rate equivalent to its absorption). At the end of the Destroyer War (literally the year before Cartographers), when a new Lord of Jigoku ascended, a deal was made between him and the fairly new Divine Empress to allow the Spider Clan to become a true and major clan, and in exchange, taint would be forever withheld from involuntary contraction.
Most of the Empire's Jade stores have been all but depleted, and most clans were given a mandate to ship what they had left to the Crab. So I'm sure many Crab are doubtful of the deal made, so it would stand within reason many would still carry Jade with them. But you are probably safe without, unless the whole thing is an elaborate trick and the forces of Jigoku can overcome the will of Tengoku that now lives on in the Divine Empress and her progeny. Your call.
Everything else looks good.
Rain Yupa Captain
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Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2018 12:47 pm
Rain Yupa
SCN_ Grey_fox
I saw you posted your character sheet. Delightful.
I had to tweak your insight (you had 127, I edited to 128 ). I still left that ominous "I will" next to your Taint score, though.
I see you also have a finger of jade in your pack. I will offer you this bit of L5R Canon Lore for you, and you can decide if you want to keep it:
Shadowlands Taint is the "touch of Jigoku" and is kind of an infectious STD (soul-transmitted disease) that horribly mutates you and turns you evil. It is more or less contracted from being wounded by something tainted, or just being in proximity to the Shadowlands. Jade wards it, but the Jade will decay in response (at a rate equivalent to its absorption). At the end of the Destroyer War (literally the year before Cartographers), when a new Lord of Jigoku ascended, a deal was made between him and the fairly new Divine Empress to allow the Spider Clan to become a true and major clan, and in exchange, taint would be forever withheld from involuntary contraction.
Most of the Empire's Jade stores have been all but depleted, and most clans were given a mandate to ship what they had left to the Crab. So I'm sure many Crab are doubtful of the deal made, so it would stand within reason many would still carry Jade with them. But you are probably safe without, unless the whole thing is an elaborate trick and the forces of Jigoku can overcome the will of Tengoku that now lives on in the Divine Empress and her progeny. Your call.
Everything else looks good.
I grabbed it as a safety net against the taint, and a cool little nod of "Hay this guy fights; Tainted people!". Though, Shadowlands treaty just makes more sense to me to keep one on hand.
So, even if it is nothing, but an expensive tidbit... I will keep it.
Posted: Sat Sep 01, 2018 9:57 pm
SCN_ Grey_fox
I grabbed it as a safety net against the taint, and a cool little nod of "Hay this guy fights; Tainted people!". Though, Shadowlands treaty just makes more sense to me to keep one on hand.
So, even if it is nothing, but an expensive tidbit... I will keep it.
You can also spend some of your starting money on other items too, if you aren't satisfied with just those 8 items sweatdrop
Per Rain's suggestion on Gaia Dice Behavior Patterns, rerolling 1s and 10s here.
Lore: History (Cartography) > 1, 1, 10
Lore: Crane > 10, 10
3 extra for double-splosions
Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2018 8:26 pm
SCN_ Grey_fox
I intend to introduce you in the next post.
If you want to give me the same Intelligence/Lore rolls everyone else has given me (History, Crane, Battle) you are entitled to know this information too. TN 20, 20, and 25, respectively.
Rain Yupa Captain
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Psychofish
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Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2018 10:21 pm
I'm curious to see how he works in. If it's mostly "lost on the road" I know I have another card in that pile that I'm sad wasn't his intro.
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