Legend of the Five Rings: Masters of War

Masters of War is the latest in the 3rd Edition line of books for the Legend of the Five Rings RPG.  As avid fans of the setting and the games, my Significant Other and I have been collecting the series for quite some time now, and we figure it’s time to put up a few reviews of the books we’ve been buying so far.

The Legend of the Five Rings RPG enjoys a strange sort of cult status here in the Philippines, with most of it’s players having migrated from the CCG.  Rokugan, the setting of L5R, is a fantasy Asian setting with heavy influence from Japan, but also borrowing some elements from the Chinese and Mongolian myths and cultures.

One of the central elements of the setting is that Rokugani Aristocracy is divided into various Great Clans, extended families which share a common ancestry to one of the gods and or one of the god’s immediate disciples or children.  Lesser Clans exist, most usually by being granted that status by the Emperor, but the status of Great Clan can only usually be gained by having divine right.

Masters of War focuses on the Military Culture, History and Composition of three of these Great Clans, namely: the Crab, the Lion and the Unicorn.  These clans are most well known for their focus on a militaristic lifestyle and culture, each one specializing in Defense, Offense and Mobility respectively.

Victories of all shapes and sizes

Victories are what people aim for.  In many ways, most, if not all endeavors are undertaken with a certain expectation of victory, otherwise, people draft up a new plan of attack.  However, it’s a good exercise to actually think about what defines a victory and how different people approach this “need” in the context of an rpg.

I’ll take a moment to differentiate the term “victory” here from success (at least for the purposes of this discussion).  Victory is being able to achieve your objective, regardless of the circumstances surrounding it.  A success, on the other hand, is achieving an objective with as little negative impact on your side as possible.

There are people that prefer their games to have very solid victories. D&D is often one of these games.  Adventurers enter the dungeon with the promise of fame and wealth, and come out ragged, but successful.  They’re injured sure, and some might be dead, but barring most circumstances, death is a minor setback as the gold from the hoard they gained is enough to bring their dead back and live like kings!

Other games however cleave to a different aesthetic.  Wuxia films rarely have a “happy ending” and yet could still be celebrates as tales of victory.  In a gaming perspective, this is pretty thin ice, and I can count the number of gamers that I know personally who wouldn’t mind a game with the promise of Pyrrhic victories with one hand.  Maybe I’m an odd duck for thinking this way but I actually like the old Wuxia phenomenon of never having any happy endings.

*Warning, impending “let me tell you about my character” moment*

Looking at Shiba Tetsuya, a character I’ve designed for the upcoming L5R game this weekend, (yay!) I’ve noticed that this guy is just primed for a sad ending.  Take note however that sad endings don’t necessarily remove the fact that he was victorious.  Just like Bulwyf in the Thirteenth Warrior, this guy was an old warrior with regrets that hang heavily on his shoulders.  His greatest motivation is the daughter of the woman he fell in love with, but who married his comrade in arms.  Tetsuya sees her as the daughter he could have had, and so strives to protect the girl, and teach her everything that he can determined to see her reach the heights of success.  As her bodyguard, mentor and teacher, he’s setting himself up for the inevitable Obi-Wan Moment.

*End of “let me tell you about my character” moment*

It’s difficult for me to explain how it is that I actually look forward to having a character pass away in a meaningful and significant way.  I guess that the Martyr/Mentor combo just strikes a chord in me, and it’s good to have a character whose passing directly affects a campaign and gains a measure of glory for it.

Character Creation Writer’s Block

It’s not easy being creative all the time, as anyone who works in any creativity-based line of work will tell you.  Sure it’s fun when you’re inspired an on a roll, but there are times when you simply run into a brick wall.

I suffer the same kind of creative block when it comes to writing and coming up with characters.  If you’re ever stuck in this kind of rut, here are a few things to try out:

• Read the source material - I know this sounds pretty obvious but it’s true.  Sometimes going over the fluff of a given setting can open up much more in terms of inspiration than you think.  In fact, I personally consider that an rpg book is good if it can get you thinking of characters even while you’re reading the setting chapters.
• Translate a favorite character – Another quick and dirty means of coming up with a character would be to see if it is possible to translate a favorite character from fiction, TV or the Movies into the setting of the game.  Try not to be too obvious about it, maybe changing a few things, like physical appearance and speech mannerisms just so you don’t come off as too obvious.
• Take three defining traits, mix thoroughly… – and see what comes out.  A Repentant, Aging, Monk, would be an interesting character, and so would a Hedonistic, Disabled, Widower, if handled correctly.  Assuming you don’t go too overboard when it comes to the descriptors.
• The Internet is your friend – Occasionally some of the strangest things might be of service to inspire you to make a character you might find interesting.  For kicks, try out http://www.theyfightcrime.org/ it’s a hoot.  A lot of useless concepts, but once in a while it comes up with something interesting for a modern day game.

Character Classes as an aspect of Personality

To some people, Character Classes are just a label.  A name by which to call a collection of powers, traits and abilities inherent to a character that they wish to play.  While it does serve this particular purpose, there is also something else that I feel a player should also take into consideration when picking a character of a given Class, mainly how their Class reflects their character’s personality.

Return to Rokugan

Feels great to be looking forward to an L5R game again.  It’s been a long time since I’ve ran or played in this setting, but I am a big fan of this RPG.

The effect of Injury

I’m back, with a scraped eye and a lot of blur in my left eye. I’m seing double with my left eye at the moment with images superimposed one on top of the other. It’s freaky, but hopefully if everything heals alright I should be able to read and see things correctly over the course of the next few weeks.

*Crosses Fingers*

So, now that I’m back, what do we have to talk about? Injury and Illness.

Brain on Vacation

Given my sudden increase of work, I’m going to have to apologize since I don’t have an entry for today.

Life and Times of a Philippine Gamer will resume on Tuesday, March 18.  After I get my eye scraped by a doctor to correct the last few anomalies of my Laser Eye Surgery.

UnFun?

We’ve talked a lot about having fun in the context of rpgs and the social dynamics inherent to playing the game.  We’ve discussed character types, campaign assumptions and the effect of genres on various types of fun.  But perhaps it’s time to look at the other side of the coin and contemplate as to what makes a game not fun?

Normally, it wouldn’t really be necessary to ask this question, after all, if a game wasn’t fun, nobody would show up right?  But considering the slightly different social norms here with a gaming group full of asians, the group dynamics are slightly different here, and the concept of “face” still exists.

Superhero Gaming: What’s your default schtick?

In my experience, everyone gravitates to one kind of character or another when they make characters for an RPG.  Some people like big, burly types (Barbarians, Bricks and Bruisers), while others prefer finesse (Assassins, Rogues, Bards), and then there are those that like the special effects (Wizards, Energy Projectors, Jedi Knights.)

Most of the time this choice is made between a balance of personal aesthetics, a pinch of wish-fulfillment, and familiarity, as players will go for something that they’ve always wanted to be, in the context of the heroes they respect.  A person who enjoys playing Ninja Gaiden on the XBox for example, will most likely go for playing a Ninja-type character, with stealth and speed rather than a dumb bruiser, or a frail mage.

Leaner Games

I had an interesting conversation with one of my players last night, which eventually touched on the rather interesting idea of “empty” scenes.  Empty scenes are those encounters in an RPG which do not contribute in any sort of way towards the plot or the development of the characters.  I’m actually a GM that is guilty of having a few empty scenes per session, which is something I’m currently trying to cut down on.