Those familiar with the study of Literature have most likely run into a list of the different kinds of conflict before, but I think it bears repeating here:

• Man vs. Man – This is conflict between two characters of the same kind.  Combat is usually found here, though battles of wits are also part of this.
• Man vs. Nature – This is the central conflict involved in stories about survival against the forces of nature.  Despite being such a primal sort of struggle, I don’t seem to see a lot of GMs use this sort of thing on characters.  I think many fans of Rangers and other survivalist characters would rejoice at seeing more of these challenges.
• Man vs. Self – This is the sort of conflict that I would love to see more of.  Among the others in this list, this has to be the hardest to encourage since it has to come from the Player himself.  This sort of conflict deals with a character struggling with an aspect of themselves.  Tough moral choices, as well as crucial life-changing decisions are the sort of things that this form of conflict deals with.
• Man vs. Society – It takes a special sort of campaign to set up this sort of conflict, as it requires the players to be passionate about overturning the status quo.  Whether they’re rebels fighting against the established order, or a man going up against the apathy of modern society, this sort of game is usually not that common.  That said, this can also be one of the most rewarding once the changes that the player characters are fighting for start manifesting.
• Man vs. Supernatural – Man against something that he cannot comprehend.  Call of Cthulhu practically owns this sort of conflict, but it can also be used for any genre.  Ridley Scott’s Alien, and John Carpenter’s The Thing are both excellent films that use this.  This is a nice conflict to use but GMs have to be extra careful to not make it so bleak as to make resistance pointless.
• Man vs. Destiny – Interestingly this is another good conflict to try one time.  Fighting against destiny resonates deeply in a lot of people, and the idea of being able to change their fate is the sort of thing that could be the seeds of an Epic campaign.  Even now I’m seeing this work in a Supers campaign where the heroes are told by some sort of cosmic space god that they’re destiny is the doom of the world… and now the characters have to make sure that never happens.

GMs who are looking to try something new should consider mixing it up by tossing together two or more of these  forms of conflict in a single session.  It may add complexity, but it also adds further depth and challenge that your players may find more interesting than just another fight against a group of monsters.

I’m sure that these examples are not new to you:

• The Bait-and-Switch GM, who promises one thing and then pulls the rug out from under you, undermining all your assumptions in character creation by running the campaign in a manner completely different from his pitch to get an edge over his players.
• The Absolute Control GM, whose narrative is forged in steel, unyielding and hateful of the efforts of the Characters.  It is an uncaring, stoic campaign whose events unfold merely at the GMs whim, and only when the GM allows it.  The player character’s efforts are merely doodles on the margins of their sacred story.
• The Solipsist Player, who insists on a character with a concept so removed from the campaign that it becomes impossible for them to actually join the rest of the party or participate in the conflict central to the game, forcing the GM to somehow reach out and conform to their concept in an effort to have anything interact with that character at all.
• The Combat Savant Player, who insists on a character so specialized in hurting things as to be incapable of meaningful social interaction for the sake of being a combat monster.  Nevermind that soldiers and combatants are often highly educated in order to be capable to begin with, the only thing that truly matters is their personal survival.

Each and every one of these are prime examples of people who have refused to listen, and refused to compromise.  There is an inherent selfishness in this sort of thinking, as people who exhibit this sort of behavior are putting their enjoyment before others.  Much in the same way that toddlers refuse to share toys, these GMs and Players are unwilling to surrender their ideas towards a collaborative effort such as an RPG.

In many ways, an RPG is like a potluck dinner, where the GM is the host and the players are the guests.  Ultimately everyone brings something to the table, and everyone else gets to enjoy it.  The GM has greater control over the experience, but ultimately even they have to submit themselves to the communal pool of ideas.

So what am I really getting at?  Well, to sum it up simply, I’d like to encourage everyone who has these kind of issues to have an honest-to-goodness conversation.  And by conversation, I’m not talking about just spewing demands in the other person’s face, but the honest-to-goodness kind of communication where each party takes turns speaking and listening and providing feedback.  This isn’t the place for passive-aggressive behavior either.  Be honest about what you expect, and what you plan to do, and see if you can work something out amongst each other.

Ultimately it all falls to trust.  It’s easy to be selfish if you don’t trust the other people in your group.  Open yourself up to the possibility of collaboration and see just how well your next session goes.

But for those who really sit down and try to learn and understand these settings, the rewards are enormous.

This is perhaps the reason why I highly encourage players to read the backstory and setting details of the game that they’re about to play.  Like in many other hobbies and activities, people can derive more enjoyment in an activity by putting more into it.  By taking that extra step of reading up on the details of a setting, the player arms himself with the information he needs to portray his character better.

The benefits of this is apparent even as early as character generation, as knowing a setting allows you a better understanding of what kind of character concepts work for a given game, as well as how certain kinds of characters may think of behave.  A player who has read the Dragonlance novels, for example, will know exactly how a Kender thinks and talks much better than someone who just rolled up the character based on stats alone.

Likewise, taking the time to read up on the campaign setting takes an enormous burden off the GM’s shoulders.  While most GMs don’t mind easing new players into a complex setting, showing some initiative by reading up on the setting first helps smooth out the play experience, by reducing the need for the GM to give random information dumps for the sake of players who didn’t bother reading the book.  The end result is seamless play that doesn’t slow down as much to explain something that would have been “obvious” to the characters, but obscure to the players who haven’t read the book.

Finally, players who have read up on the setting can make better decisions.  Sometimes knowing that little tidbit about the setting can be the difference between a clever move, and something that is “obviously” stupid from the point of view of a character living in the setting.  While the GM can (and perhaps, should) take time out to warn players if something is clearly a bad idea from any self-respecting and sane member of society in the setting, it would be much easier if the players knew about it beforehand.

—

A little bit of reading never hurt anyone, and in this case Players have everything to gain by taking some time to read up on the finer points of the setting.  Games with complex settings often turn out to be some of the most interesting and rewarding campaigns, but only if you’re willing to put in the time and effort to make it happen.

The Illustrados are the powers behind the throne, careful power-brokers that sit on boardrooms and shake the hands of politicians in private function rooms. Their influence is that of the Padrino system, agreements based on nepotism and cronyism, making sure that their interests are served without being easily traced back to them. This approach has made them quite the target of the local Seers, who tend to frequent similar circles and practice similar tactics.  Little wonder then that Maestro is a severely paranoid man who has little in the way of scruples when it comes to taking harsh punitive action to those that threaten him and his Cabal.

Maestro

The Moros Willworker called Maestro is a severe and physically imposing eighty-year old man with a perpetually disapproving scowl.  Given to dressing in tailored suits and sporting luxury watches, Maestro is the undisputed patriarch of the Illustrados.  Decades of fighting the other Supernaturals for control of Manila have made Maestro a bitter, spiteful man with a healthy dose of paranoia.  On the other hand, it has also instilled in him the kind of discipline and savvy that has made the Illustrados one of the most feared Cabals in the city.  He takes his role as the padre de familia very seriously, and treats his Cabalmates as his very own children.  Maestro’s Nimbus is a wave of primal terror that young children experience upon being subjected to the scrutiny of a disapproving parent.

Kitsu Tetsumi had discovered that the Tsuno were able to uses sites of murder or violent death in order to create portals to attack, and the team formulated a solution to that.  The plan was simple enough, given that Tetsumi was also one of the Keepers of the Temple.  She and Matsu Hiroto worked together to formulate a ritual that could be added onto the traditional Spring blessing of the various districts to purify the regions and dispel the taint of murder and slaughter.

To hasten the process, they created three mobile altars, each carrying a statue of one of the three patron Fortunes of Two Rivers Town: Bishamon, the Fortune of Strength, Ebisu, the Fortune of Hard Work, and Daikoku, The Fortune of Wealth.  Each of the altars were tended to by the Shugenja in the town, including several guests, including Isawa Kazuki, an Ishiken from the Phoenix, as well as the two investigators sent to study Tetsumi’s ability with the dead: Jade Champion Asahina Sekawa, and Toturi Sezaru, the Wolf, brother of the Emperor.

—

Having managed to formulate the plan against the Tsuno, Akodo Kenji, the Lion’s Shadow brought up a more pressing issue.  With the help of the Crab courtier Yasuki Jiro, he was able to determine the identities of the blacksmiths that were working for Miyata, the rebel that was commissioning gaijin weapons for a rebellion against the Samurai Caste.  In order to safely perform the ritual, they had to make sure that there weren’t any sort of wayward rebels hoping to kill Toturi Sezaru after all.

And so the team shifted gears, Akodo Senji, the tactician putting his knowledge of battle to the test as they got ready to make an arrest.  Yasuki Jiro’s information was troubling.  All of the blacksmith craftsmen that were recruited to craft the components of the rifles were to be gathered together to meet with Miyata himself.  Jiro managed to win the confidence of Kintaro, one of the blacksmiths, and was to be introduced to Miyata as a sympathizer to the cause.  Kenji was to go with him, disguised as a yojimbo.  They were to meet in the next evening in a boat on the river.  The team had their misgivings, but this was their best opportunity as getting the information they needed.

Kenji and Jiro infiltrated the boat, pretending to be smugglers as they were brought onto the ship with Kintaro.  Kenji noticed that the other people on the ship were all trained to fight, and were not the sailors that they were pretending to be.  They were introduced to a nondescript young man, who introduced himself as Miyata, and were then led below decks to discuss matters in further detail.  Hiroto, Senji and Tetsumi were on full alert, hiding and preparing, but despaired when they saw their comrade led deeper into the ship.

Kenji was alone save for Jiro’s assistance, and it was after some talk about thanking the Blacksmiths for their service to the cause, Kenji was growing steadily nervous.  The Blacksmiths were paid, and when they tried to leave the ship, the doors were apparently locked.  The “Miyata” thanked them again, assuring them that the rebellion would go on thanks to their assistance, and instructed someone named “Tsuke” to go and cast a spell.  Kenji and Jiro were caught in an explosion from the hold of the ship, which was carrying gunpowder.  Thankfully, both of them survived (albeit with severe burns) and more importantly, Kenji remembered the name of one of the conspirators.

The team wasn’t about to let these conspirators get away with their attempt to wipe their trail clean.  The team tried to rescue the surviving blacksmiths, subdued any rebels that tried to kill themselves, and cast the necessary spells to try and scry into the spell used to keep tabs on the inside of the bat.  Matsu Hiroto was surprisingly able to commune with the Water Kami to reverse engineer the scrying spell, getting a face of the shugenja that was working with “Miyata”

The discovery was chilling, as they recognized that the shugenja was none other than Shiba Tsuke, the current Master of Water, who had ascended to the position only due to the execution of Doji Akiko.

Thankfully with quick medical attention, the two samurai were able to recover from the explosion.  Well aware now that one of the Elemental Masters is involved in this, they decided to do the right thing… see if they could bring this information up to the Phoenix Clan before this becomes another major incident and the spark of a war between Clans.

—-

The team went back to the procession first, as they were determined to not leave any loose ends anymore.  The procession happened without any further complications, but Kitsu Tetsumi was called in to speak with Asahina Sekawa and Toturi Sezaru with regards to her ability.  Alongside her adoptive father, Kitsu Juri, she was asked to demonstrate and explain her abilities.

It was during this demonstration that it became apparent that her ability to speak to the dead and convey their wishes was similar to the ancient practice of the Itako shamans from the days of the Dawn of the Empire.  The fact that this was an inborn ability of hers, and one that didn’t rely on the kami at all meant that it was a form of natural “magic.”  It also meant that she couldn’t convey it to anyone else but her own children.

This was a very big reveal, as it meant that when she marries, her children would be the heirs to this unique power, and any Clan that marries her could have access to an ability that could speak with the dead as well.  Sezaru and Sekawa documented their findings, apologizing in advance as this information would have to be entered to the Imperial libraries, and this would mean that the other clans could find out about her sooner or later.

Tetsumi was well aware of that fact, and so was her father.  Whoever her husband would be, should be very qualified indeed if he was to marry her.

—-

With things finally settled in Two Rivers, the team set their sights towards two pressing matters.  Kitsu Tetsumi wanted to begin her training with the Dragon Clan to become a monk, as she was hoping to found a monk school for her own Clan.  Meanwhile, Akodo Kenji, now the Diplomat of the Lion was tasked to bring the bad news to the Phoenix.  Accompanied by Akodo Senji and Matsu Hiroto, Kenji trekked up north, making their way to speak with Shiba Mirabu, the Champion of the Phoenix Clan.

Mirabu listened to their case, and their accusations.  The fact that one of the Council was actually involved in what amounted to treason against the empire was a serious charge, but having three Lion delegates present meant that the Military Clan was certainly not kidding.  With the assistance of Isawa Yuri, the student of Shiba Ningen, the Master of the Void, they were able to set up a meeting with the Elemental Council.

The accusations were made and serious debating in the Elemental Council ensued, with Mirabu serving as a tie-breaker.  Isawa Yuri volunteered the use of the spell to see through lies, and Shiba Tsuke did not allow himself to submit to it, instead asking for the Lions to leave the chambers so that he could address his clansmen.  The Lions were not happy about it, but stepped outside the chamber.

Tsuke gave an impassioned plea, admitting to his working with Miyata in an attempt to find out the extent of the conspiracy, as well as to serve as a double agent.  He reasoned that his attempts to study them would make it easier for the Phoenix to end the rebellion in one fell swoop, and in a manner that could end the rebellion and any other insurgencies like it.  His honor was compromised, yes, but this was for the greater good.

Shiba Ningen refused to listen to this argument, saying that over and over again, the Phoenix have made compromises with evil in order to serve the greater good, and always with tragic results.  The cycle of compromise born from arrogance must end.  And that change must begin with the Elemental Council.  Mirabu sided with him and the rest of the Council came to the decision.

The Lions were allowed inside, to find that the Master of Water was bound and gagged, and presented to them by the Council to stand trial in Lion Lands that justice may be served.  Kenji realized the political repercussions of this, and how such a move could greatly improve the reputation of the Phoenix Clan while fostering closer ties to the Lion.

—

And so the Year 2 Spring arc ends with the conclusion of several ongoing investigations.  The Tsuno are still a problem, but now the Lion and the Phoenix are united to ending the threat of Miyata and his peasant rebellion.  Kitsu Tetsumi’s heritage has been revealed to the Imperial Records, and no doubt she’ll be struggling with a deluge of interested suitors, many of which will be after her for the benefit of their clan.

Next session will be the wrap up for Spring and the beginning of the Summer arc, where war lingers in the air in other places in Rokugan, and the Lion may be forced to pick a side in conflicts that don’t necessarily involve them directly, but could influence their standing in the Empire at large.

The Imperial Histories recount the triumphs of the Emerald Empire and the most noble Emperors who have lead it in shining glory. Maintained by the dutiful Miya and the devoted Ikoma families, the Imperial Histories are a testament to the Emperor’s unfailing leadership and the never wavering loyalty of his servants. All samurai of the empire can look upon them and be assured of the imperial family’s unquestionable judgment and guidance of the Emerald Empire.

At least, the official imperial histories are such.  The truth…much more interesting. The Imperial Histories pulls back the curtain on many tumultuous eras of the Emerald Empire. Revealing not only the glories of the Rokugani, but also their failings and tribulations. Providing a wealth of information for players and GMs alike, this tome serves as a resource for playing in various times of the Empire, or bringing elements of those times to your characters and campaigns.

• 10 eras in great detail, including The Dawn of the Empire, The Gozoku Era, The Clan Wars, The Race for the Throne, and more
• An in-depth look at the Clans and personalities who shaped those eras
• All new schools, spells, ancestors, techniques, and more, some thought lost to the ages
• The 1000 Years of Darkness in great detail, offering you an opportunity to fully explore this apocalyptic alternate history

—-

Now this is definitely one of the most long awaited releases for fans of the L5R rpg.  Imperial Histories discusses some of the greatest turning points in the history of Rokugan, and I’m very sure that there’s a strong and vocal group of fans who want to check out The 1000 Years of Darkness timeline as well.  Personally, I’m excited to pick this up as well since I’m looking at running further L5R games (using other Clans aside from the Lion) in some of these eras.

That said, adding new schools, spells, techniques and other mechanical bits are an instant draw to players as well.

For those interested, you can purchase Imperial Histories in physical format over at the Alderac Online Store for $39.99 or roughly Php 1,800.00

There was much delay on the second session, and most of it is because of real-life reasons.  First, we changed sites.  Since the original site was rather noisy, a player suggested to game on his own house.  While I am very thankful for the change of venue, our exodus did take away some from our game time, so we had less finished during this session.  Second complication was that I was suddenly flooded by so many players.  When originally, we only had four players (which is the best number of players for a DND/PF module-run game) that number suddenly doubled… in one day!  Yup, 8 players, so I answered character creation questions, and was forced to make sudden changes out-of-module, to introduce these new characters, and to make their appearance as logical as possible.

The session seems like a success, but it was taking too long.   This was supposedly a pre-adventure, an introductory “tutorial” game to let the guys get a grasp at their characters before the game’s actual start.  Thus, I’m allowing them to tweak their characters throughout this pre-adventure.  But I was expecting this pre-adventure/tutorial game to only be one-session long.  But now, it’s lasted more than two.  So saying I’m delayed is an understatement of sorts.  I’ve finally decided to finish this introductory adventure next session, by hook or crook.

Something of note was that most of the guys weren’t too happy about being duped by an impersonating villain.  (That, or disappointed that the cute loli character they were eagerly protecting turned out to be a backstabbing villain in disguise)  I know there’s a GM guide/text around that says “duping” characters isn’t a nice practice, but alas, the “duping” was originally in the module, but I may have tweaked it a little too much to be more deceptive and potentially dangerous.  Also, that’s an important lesson about the price to be paid for not purchasing ranks in Sense Motive.    Their highest ranking “Cal Lightman” character was the elf cleric, who had an even +7 to his Sense Motive roll.  This was Blake, however, who was constantly plagued with bad rolls – sense motive rolls included.  The villain had high bluff and disguise ranks, so they never saw it coming.

Another thing of note is Arj’s character, the halfling merchant, who has echoes of Pointyman’s Roscoe (his Gnome character) albeit much, much less helpful to the party — though the guys don’t seem to mind and treats him like a comic relief character, or a sidebar character like Bodahn Feddic from Dragon Age.   Being genuinely hilarious, I was torn between giving him a hero point for roleplaying his character well, but doing so would seem like rewarding inaction during a dangerous situation.  I just ran with my gut and rewarded roleplaying over tactical decisions.  I’m still wondering if I made the right move rewarding him.

There was also a lengthy rules-lawyering discussion about Blindness and Ranged Attacks, and whether Ranged attacks was visually dependent.  One of the players got somewhat irked at the fact that he can’t do anything when blinded.  He was, of course, a ranged attacker.  By text, ranged attacks had a 100% fail rate while blinded, (the operative word being ranged attacks requiring “line of sight” thus, is a visually based check).  But we simply resolved it with a compromise of sorts – instead of a 100% fail rate to all ranged attacks, we made Blindness a less crippling condition for ranged attackers and gave every enemy of a Blind character full concealment. (James Jacobs said in a post that any ability that completely shuts down an entire class’s abilities is of bad design, so I decided to adopt that line of thinking with regard to this decision.)

Whew.  Now, perhaps the biggest challenge I have left is to readjust the modules I have lined up.  Especially since most of these adventures were made for four players only.  And now that I’m running for double that number – Eight Players! – the loots, XP, and much of the module’s mechanical boons, must be rebalanced for the player’s character progression.  I fear for my free time.

Anyway, that’s it in a nutshell.  Details on the narrative and story (or the absence thereof… but hey, its a dungeon crawl) are written down below, but it’s VERY LONG, so…

To make things simple, I’ll divide the summaries into 2:  Team One and Team Two.  Team One consists of the prior group – The Owlbear barbarian, the necroelf cleric, the nobleman on the run, and the serpent druid.  Team Two consists of the new members, the mercantile team of halfling merchant, gunslinger, and dragon-man.

TEAM ONE: Descending the Dark
- Team One finally entered the underground monastery, trying to find a way to get back against their dark elven adversaries.  Discovering that the spiral staircase down was a very long journey, they descended into the darkness.  None, even their half-elven scout’s eyes, could see the bottom of the stairwell.  But down at the bottom, they found marvelous sights, like an ancient statue depicting the elves prior their self-exile, their eyes made of emerald gemstones, now filled with underground moss, and in it, an elven song of regret is etched in a bastardized version of the elven language.  The song was cryptic, and spoke of The Stars falling and the Sun’s flames raining, of a goddess’s pain and tears, and their people being saved by a Wanderer in the dark when hope was long lost.  Its meaning was lost to those who read it, except for the elven cleric, who coldly calculated that such a construct must fetch a good value in the market, since it’s a valuable archeological find relating to the elves’ pre-exile.

Finally deciding to leave the artifact, they pushed on, into that large door before them – and opened it, seeing a gargantuan dragon statue before them.  Vellara, their child-guide, urged them to touch the inside of the dragon, claiming that what they see as a statue was just a clever illusion.  The Owlbear moves forward, unfearful of any peril, and though suspicious, pushes his hand through the illusion, finding a small latch inside.  He pulls it and the floor immediately crumbles to nothing, the stone door closes shut, and everyone begins to fall, landing on the trap’s waters beneath them, 60 feet below.  The Owlbear, expecting the “trap” held onto the wall, only falling 30 feet, but holding onto a loose stone with his claws.  Many tried to grab onto Vellara, in hopes of saving her from a bad fall, but they were surprised to se her floating above them, “levitating” like a dark elf, and with red eyes like a dark elf, smiling, speaking to her ‘mistress’ that their little interference was dealt with.  She also informed her mistress about the Baroness and her daughter being left unprotected in the city, who “could be the one they sought.”  With that, she teleported away.

Wet and angry, the group struggled to get their bearings.  Nearly everyone, those wearing heavy armor included, managed to stay afloat – except for Thia, who, not knowing how to swim, immediately sunk into the murky water.  And luckily, while drowning down below, saw that they were not alone.  The nobleman immediately rushed to help her, but while down below, both saw a movement in the waters: something huge, and something serpentine.  They immediately sought air and warned everyone that there was something below.  Just at that time, an enormous eel-like creature rose from the depths and bit deep against the defenseless (and drowning) serpent-druid, almost killing her.  The nobleman immediately dragged her with him to safety, and urged the elven cleric to throw a rope above, to the stones 60 feet above them.  Aiming true, the elf managed to snag his grappling hook at the loose stone near the stone door.  And he slowly tried to climb up, away from the waters.  Unfortunately, he discovered that the waters were also filling up rapidly, filling the room with water that could eventually drown them all.  Worse, he discovered that due to his heavy armor, he could not climb fast enough to overtake the rising waters.  With the serpent-druid bleeding and nearly dying, the blood in the murky waters awakened the eel-like creature’s mate, and it also rose from its hole to feed.  The waters rising, and the group being ill-equipped to battle while drowning, they called forth for the Owlbear to help them.  But the Owlbear ignore their pleas, and decide to climb higher, opting to double his speed so he can return back to the doorway. (Yes, the party doesn’t really have good teamwork, nor a good team spirit)  But “luckily” he botched his climb roll, and he fell splashing into the water, forcing him to fight the water creatures once and for all.  Eventually, despite the serpent-druid almost dying twice in a row, they managed to slay the creatures, and with the help of the Owlbear, climbed up the rope into the stone door above.  The waters quickly rising up to meet them, they tried to bash the door open, but it held – so the Owlbear used the full complement of its attacks against it, struggling to break it open.  FInally, the waters rose to engulf everyone under the water – and with a final blow to the stone, it finally broke, pushing them into the dry land on the other side.

Then, knowing that every second counted.  They didn’t spend time to breathe or gather their strength, but instead ran off back up to the surface, where they feared for their charges, and what the dark elves had in plan for them.

TEAM TWO:  They’re Late!

When Team One smuggled the Baroness and her daughter away from the Capital of Cheliax, the second group was assigned to be the distraction for the pursuers.  (To solidify their claim in the story, I made it so that random sights they saw in the past were actually “clues” that they were being followed by their comrades.  Like the mysterious smoke in the first session, turns out to be an an ambush that involved burning a tree.  To this day, I do not understand why they *had* to burn that tree.  But first things first… the new players:

Played by Arjuna, We have an unscrupulous halfling merchant, who uses his Intelligent Baboon servant as a pack animal.  He joined the Red Branch because they travel a lot, and with travel comes a chance to sell, sell, and sell.  He also never gives anything for free to any of his comrade-in-arms.  Unless they provide him an equal offer in return.  So far, he has taken as “mercantile partners” the gunslinger (to provide him guns to sell), and the cleric (who promises to save his life with spells when he’s bleeding in the floor).

Played by Vicente, We have the blunderbuss-wielding gun-merchant, who gives any customer of his the secret weapon for winning any war, encounter, or rebellion: namely, guns.  Part Clint Eastwood, part Tony Stark, and Part Nicholas Cage Lord of War – he also joined the Red Branch for the mercantile opportunities, particularly in arming desperate people who wants secret weapons for their private causes.

Played by Victor, We have a Loreseeker, who travels with these merchants in hopes to stumble upon a civilization or anything that would forward his research in magic.  He professes that he just woke up one day, and had the utter (psychotic) belief that he was a dragon.  In accepting his strange fate, he allowed himself to be changed to better suit his destiny, and has synched, merged, and fused his own essence to that of a Draconic creature.  Now, convinced that the answers to his questions (be it magic or his bloodline) can be found in the ruins long forgotten, he joined the Red Branch for this purpose.

The secondary team was sent to accompany the first team, with their leader, Red Vayle, getting worried – realizing that the first team he sent were all impulsive by nature.  It was a worry that had a good basis, actually, since the group has been missing from the meeting point for nearly two whole days.  “They’re Late!”   So this small ragtag team of merchants and loreseekers were sent to investigate.  Following their tracks, they eventually stumbled upon the village of Serpent’s Bluff, now filled with the chaos of a small town under siege.   The gunslinger decides to take the direct route (basically walking through the front door) and was greeted by a small cadre of kobold warriors, intent on their bloodthirsty raid.  Practically announcing their presence, the kobolds were deadly prepared for their arrival.  It was a dangerous gambit, and the gunslinger paid dearly for it, getting a dread wound after being struck by a deadly bolt of acid from a kobold’s ballista.  (It’s actually just a Heavy Crossbow, but for the small creatures, too heavy to lift, they placed wheels on it and called it their “Ballista”)  Thankfully, with the scattershot quality of his weapon, he wiped out most of the kobold minions, and went on to duel the Ballista oeprator.  Though challenging, the kobold eventually fell from the combined attacks of the gunslinger and the dragon-man.  The halfling merchant, not willing to rsk his wares, just decided to hide behind his monkey-slave and “wait it out” until his friends finally wins and the kobolds all die out.

Deciding that entering the chaos in the village was too dangerous, the secondary team was about to make a run for it, but found, to their surprise, a floating MAN-LIGHT dancing in the SKIES.  (Back with the First Team, upon hearing the sound of gunfire, they immediately knew that their comrade, the gunslinger has arrived to pick them up.  So the Draconic Sorcerer, ever creative in his use of Dancing Light spells, conjured a Light in the Shape of a Man that Danced.  Everyone knew it was his trademark Dancing MAN-LIGHT, which eventually became the group’s BAT SIGNAL.)  It’s silly, I know.  Following the light, Team B intended to finally meet-up with Team A.  However, the dark elves also saw the dancing lights (and rolling a natural 20) immediately knew that something was amiss.  They immediately sent a small cadre of kobolds and a dark elf taskmaster to deal with the “interruption.”

This AMBUSH, was perhaps one of the more challenging encounters they had.  Particularly also because the player of the Owlbear had fallen asleep (probably due to RL fatigue) and they had to make do without their usual Tank Character.  The Dark Elf Taskmistress, complete with a whip, had an intimidating AC, and used her whip very effectively.  She was also accompanied by 12 kobold warriors, which complicated much of the encounter.  Thankfully, after using the “Kobold Ballista,” lobbing a Grenade, and finally shooting a scattershot in the center of the kobolds’ charge, they wiped out the opposition.  Taking down the dark elf, however, took more time from the PCs, but eventually, she too, finally fell.

As she lay dying, the elf cleric immediately rushed to the dark elf’s side and stabilized her.  She awoke hours later, tied up, and with the Draconic sorcerer preparing his little knife for some “interrogation.”  And that’s how the session ended.

Nothing is perfect. This is a fact that many of us have heard, but few of us ever acknowledge.  The reason I’m talking about this is because of the usual vitriol and flame wars that occur whenever there’s an edition change. Designers put their hearts and souls into every iteration of every game they make, and one should acknowledge that their efforts truly are motivated by the urge to create something better than what they already have.

Likewise, GMs also do better by acknowledging this fact.  By taking a moment to tell yourself, “I can do better,” you motivate yourself to take a critical eye towards your performance, your habits and methods.  You become free to experiment, to try new things and see how they feel and how they impact the game.  It’s important that a GM never stops looking to improve, that they never calcify and become predictable and therefore boring.

This is of course, not to say that all change is good.  Remember to keep an eye out towards the good and the bad, and learn to tell the difference.  Listen to your players, and see what they like and don’t like and always go back to asking yourself the most basic of questions: “Is it fun?”  Ultimately, game design and GMing share the same objective, to facilitate play in such a way that all the participants are having a great time.

“Imagine a game where the core essence of D&D has been distilled down to a very simple but entirely playable-in-its-right game. Now imagine that the game offered you modular, optional add-ons that allow you to create the character you want to play while letting the Dungeon Master create the game he or she wants to run. Like simple rules for your story-driven game? You’re good to go. Like tactical combats and complex encounters? You can have that too. Like ultra-customized character creation? It’s all there.”

This is the kind of thing that has me intrigued. The ability to pick my level of complexity when it comes to the rules for my D&D campaign is something I’ve been longing for ever since I’ve played 3.5 and even 4e. I think that the modular approach is a good idea, and if anything, it shows a certain amount of trust the designers have for their players. I’m fairly certain that I’ll stick to the lower end of the complexity scale for D&D and having that option is empowering. I don’t have to be intimidated by the sheer volume of rules, and a modular systems allows me to ignore large, well-defined chunks without fear of messing up game balance.

“This new approach comes out of a single idea. At its heart, D&D isn’t about rules. It’s about participating in an exciting fantasy adventure. The rules are just the means to enable that to happen. They’re not an end unto themselves. The reason most of us play is for the story that arises out of our games.”

This quote in particular has me happy because this is how I feel about a lot of my campaigns. Emergent stories are a big thing in my campaign, and I wholeheartedly encourage the development of such, and seeing some form of validation from the designer that this kind of fun is a major design point?  Definitely a big plus in my book. In some ways I’m reminded of how D&D and the older TSR stuff used to be presented.  There was a Basic rulebook that was simple to learn and easy to play, and an Advanced book with all the options that were available tied into the system.

“Second—and this sounds so crazy that you probably won’t believe it right now—we’re designing the game so that not every player has to choose from the same set of options. Again, imagine a game where one player has a simple character sheet that has just a few things noted on it, and the player next to him has all sorts of skills, feats, and special abilities. And yet they can still play the game together and everything remains relatively balanced. Your 1E-loving friend can play in your 3E-style game and not have to deal with all the options he or she doesn’t want or need. Or vice versa. It’s all up to you to decide.”

This is particularly intriguing.  I can sort of see it happening, but I’m still wondering how they’ll retain some measure of balance.  I don’t want to comment on this right now, but I will say that this is a lofty design objective in terms of rules and I’m hoping that they manage to pull it off.

As such the team was busy setting things right. With word that the city would soon become a host to the visit of none other than the Jade Champion, Asahina Sekawa and the brother of the Emperor, Toturi Sezaru, Kitsu Tetsumi found her hands full both in maintaining the temple, aiding the general populace and preparing for the inevitable inquiry towards her bringing Matsu Nimuro back from the dead, however briefly in the War of the Rich Frog.

She’d sent a request for her adpotive father, Kitsu Juri, Daimyo of the Kitsu family and Ikoma Sume, the former Daimyo of the Ikoma family to come visit and perhaps help her out in this rather sensitive diplomatic climate.  It was with great relief that she greeted them when they arrived not long after, well aware that having two imperial officers coming to visit the Lion wasn’t exactly something that could be ignored even if the Lion Clan was still recovering from the war.

—

Akodo Kenji on the other hand was still snooping around to find out which blacksmiths have been involved in the manufacture of Gaijin weapons.  With a bit of auditing skill, Kenji managed to track a small operation by a blacksmith named Kintaro, who was ordering more raw material than he had the output for.

Kenji visited the blacksmith to ask around, but his investigation was presented with a rather interesting setback in the form of Yasuki Jin, a familiar (and perhaps unwelcome) face as Kenji recognized Jin as the courtier that he’d embarassed in Winter Court, and whose yojimbo was killed in a duel against Matsu Broli.

Not wanting to lose a potential investor, Kenji backed off for the time being, and decided to wait for a different opportunity where he could approach the blacksmith without running into the Yasuki.

—

Sadly things were not going to remain stuck in administration hell, however.  A few days had passed, and Kitsu Tetsumi had gone outside the town proper to help with the planting of crops with the peasants with her temple miko when she saw a panicked man running towards them, calling her name.

The peasant told her that there had been murder in the shrine to Bishamon outside the town.  Tetsumi immediately recognized that it was the same shrine that was where the Samurai-ko was defiled and murdered a year ago, and she took off, telling her miko to send word to the town.

She followed the peasant, entering the shrine to see that a Tsuno Soultwister was in the center of a circle of bodies, and a frightened child was cowering in the far end of the Temple.  The Peasant apologized, saying that the Tsuno had threatened to kill his daughter if he didn’t bring Tetsumi to face the Tsuno.

Tetsumi was not about to get into an argument at the moment and used her new Kiho ability to leap all the way to the other side of the temple to secure the girl.  The Soultwister scoffed at that as he cleaved the peasant’s head from his shoulders.

“Your altruism, is touching, though ultimately useless.”  it growled, turning to face Tetsumi.

Tetsumi bade the child to run to the town and not look back, even as the shugenja took off outside the temple, luring the Soultwister to her.  The Soultwister gave a guttural command even as two more Tsuno, Ravagers this time joined the battle.

Well aware that she was outnumbered, Tetsumi lured them to the forest, using her superior athletics and kiho to keep them at arm’s length.  there was no way she could fight all three at the same time and survive.  Instead, she cast Strike of the Tsunami, knocking the Tsuno back even as she saw Matsu Broli and his wife, Matsu Makoto running over to reinforce her position.

The Tsuno Ravagers found themselves beset by the two samurai, as Tetsumi launched herself straight towards the Soultwister, grabbing him in a headlock and calling on the strength of Bishamon’s Chosen to snap it’s neck.

Broli and Makoto dropped another Ravager, the combined damage of both the Matsu and Mirumoto Bushi Schools making short work of one of the beasts.  Tetsumi took her chances and sprang towards the second Ravager and dispatched it again with horrendous damage from augmented strength rolls.

—

Tetsumi wasn’t the only one with Tsuno problems it turns, out as the Tsuno also manifested inside the Market District of the Two Rivers.  Akodo Senji rallied his magistrates to engage the threat, with Akodo Kenji tagging along.  They found themselves faced with three Tsuno Ravagers, who sighted the Akodo commander in his full armor and moved to engage.

Senji instructed one of his magistrates to fetch Matsu Hiroto, who was in the Two Rivers Temple, training his students to help them in the battle while he held the Tsuno off.  The magistrate ran as Senji and his men prepared to repel the Ravager assault.

The lead Ravager let out a chilling howl, driving his other two companions into frenzy, while forcing the Samurai to struggle against the urge to flee or remain frozen in fear.  Senji managed to overcome his fear, while Kenji was rooted to the spot.

The battle was brutal, as one of the Ravagers felled a Magistrate in one powerful stroke.  Senji, realizing that fighting all three was suicide, tried to risk thinning their numbers with a ploy.  He cried out a challenge to the lead Ravager.  He wasn’t certain if it could understand his words, but he had to try.  Thankfully, while the Ravager didn’t understand Rokugani language, it did sense his intent.

Amusingly both of them had the same thought. Crush the leader, and rout the followers.  The lead Ravager called off his men and moved to engage Senji in a one-on-one melee.

The two fought a vicious battle, Senji receiving a terrible wound from the Ravager’s wicked blade.  Thankfully Senji was able to recover somewhat, spending Void to reduce his wounds taken, and countered with his own strikes that reduced the Tsuno to near uselessness, before finishing the leader off.

It was then that Matsu Hiroto finally arrived, casting Strike of the Tsunami to delay and harm the other two Tsuno and passed on his own Reflexes to the commander.  The Tsuno attacked Senji, who managed to dodge their strikes thanks to his augmented reflexes, and countered again, killing one and maiming the other.

It was at this point that Kenji recovered, as he ran around the battle, in an attempt to get into Kintaro’s store, which had been abandoned in the battle in an attempt to ransack it for clues.  He may not be much of a fighter, but few can say that he wasn’t an opportunist.  Sadly fleeing a battle also meant that he took an honor loss that he couldn’t avoid.

Senji managed to end the fight, killing all three Tsuno with help from his magistrates and Hiroto’s spells, and earning the somewhat mixed blessing of becoming known someone who could dispatch Tsuno in a one-on-one fight alongside Tetsumi.  That kind of reputation could come back and do more harm than good.

—

Kenji’s honor loss was not a complete failure as he found that Kintaro had indeed been manufacturing components for Gaijin weapons, but not complete rifles as he had suspected.  Still it was damning evidence, and Kenji pondered how to best take care of the issue.  He could observe Kintaro longer, looking for a means to locate the rest of Kintaro’s co-conspirators, or he could let Senji round up those that he’d identified in one fell swoop.

In revisiting Kintaro’s shop later on in the week, he ran into Yasuki Jin once more, and the two courtiers ended up in a less lethal battle of wits.  Jin leveraged his position as an investor to try and wrangle something out of Kenji, but Kenji was wily enough to avoid most of the pitfalls, instead offering something far more valuable.  The weapons of the Tsuno were made of a material that dealt more harm to tainted creatures, as well as spirits… a characteristic that could be well prized by the Crab.  Kenji offered some of thise metal, enough to make a few unique weapons for the Crab, in exchange for Jin’s cooperation.

Jin acknowledged the deal, taking on the burden of infiltrating the conspiracy of these manufacturers in exchange for the precious metal.  They may have started off as hating each other, but both courtiers knew when to set aside petty emnity in exchange for greater gains for both their Clans.

—

Overall this session suffered from a little bit of pacing problems as I was shaking off cobwebs.  Combat was a good way to get back in track however, and the presence of the Tsuno was certainly a good way to get the team back into the right mindset.

There’s been a bit of movement as well with regards to the team.  The player of Matsu Broli will be on hiatus at the moment due to conflicting schedules, but I think his character will be relegated to NPC status for now in order to keep up with continuity.

This reduces the number of players I have to 4, which is still pretty good.  Having a smaller number of players means that I’ll be able to focus on more personal plots.  Things are getting pretty hectic, and I think that the Spring Arc will end with the team finally dealing with the threat of someone manufacturing Gaijin weapons.