L5R - Unity - Bath House (OOC Thread)

[Rain Yupa]

Daidoji Hotaru

Psychofish

Paidi tou Selini

Okay, question time.

If there a certain time period in L5R any of you are huge fans of? Unity is set in 1250 (handwaving all the bad stuff that happened after "20 Festivals". No spider coup, no Kanpeki sitting on the throne. I love Spider, but bleh.) I was humoring having Cartographers Mk2 be at the same time period for the possibility of fusion later...

... but that has both pros and cons. What would be easiest would be to run it after a calamity of some sort (say, immediately after the Destroyer War concluded would probably be best, so around 1174 or shortly thereafter). Everything would be a mess and definite re-mapping would be in order.

There are, of course, other definite opportunities, since Rokugani history is rife with disaster. I want to hear your inputs.  

[Paidi tou Selini]

When was the last Cartographers set?  

[Plainsfox]

1172 after the Destroyer War  

[Psychofish]

Rain Yupa

Daidoji Hotaru

Paidi tou Selini

I'm of two minds on this-

One the one hand I like the idea of the campaigns being able to merge, and thus the cartographers running parallel to, or more likely a year or few before (probably during non-winter) the Unity campaign. Can help bring potential consequences of actions on both sides into things, and if me or Hotaru are potentially joining Unity after Winter court, it's a good way about it, and to give us and the GM a feel for the characters. Besides that I imagine cartography work is probably not entirely rare in Rokugan. Big wars and minor border skirmishes, besides magical events, seem to happen at least a few times a century, and I imagine that given that travel can take some time, winter is stuck-indoors time, and then you have to get everyone updated maps after someone approves and records your updates to accepted maps... I imagine it takes long enough to not just be done right after big disasters.

However, if we're talking big disasters that potentially effected not just borders, but the political and physical landscape, and likely have supernatural leftover effects as well, doing it within a decade after the Destroyer war sounds great- enough for Rokugan to have settled in enough for the map updates to be a big deal, and not to have roving hordes of danger anywhere, but still where everything is in flux, potential mystery. Which definitely makes it the most exciting kind of a time to play this sort of thing- and it still means recent enough that people's grandchildren could show up, or we could see some minor consequences of their actions in Unity- because I like continuity.

So I'm torn- curious on Hotaru's take on this.  

[Glory Sieg]

-2 Honor. Stealth and Temptation  

[Daidoji Hotaru]

Hmm, having the ability to run parallel to Unity would indeed be awesome, however I also would hate to miss out on how great the adventures would be having to remap after something so devastating and landscape altering as the Destroyer War!

That to me seems like a epic we need to write!

So my two cents would be, we go for after the Destroyer War unless Rain can work in a similar reason as to why we are remapping that is captivating and awesome that allows for the parallel storyline with Unity.

Okay, so that doesn't help you guys much.  

[Plainsfox]

Hrrm...how about Clan X and Clan Y are about to go at it again....and instead of letting them beat the crud out of each other, the Miya want to send in Cartographers to attempt to clear up the border dispute....or at least clarify what's being fought over?  

[Rain Yupa]

There's more justification for post-war remapping, rather than me trying to force things after decades of peace.

So post-destroyer war it is.

So it did help! Thank you.  

[Psychofish]

So post destroyer war- and we have a Miya Herald and a Daidoji iron warrior, right? So air ring on a mostly-courtier, and probably some int to follow it up, and then... honestly I'm not sure how you are inclined to build your Daidoji, but it sounds like what we need is someone with perception three, probably shugenja.

...I'm not 100% decided if I'm going shugenja yet, but I was figuring on perception 3 anyhow, so that'll work for me.

Taking suggestions if anyone has ideas they'd like to see. So far ideas I'm bouncing between:

• An energetic Kitsuki with insatiable curiosity for... everything.
  
• An very friendly Iuchi who is great with animals but has some... social issues. But hey- extra horse and great travel spells!
  
• An Agasha (though probably Isawa trained) very, very interested in seeing if there's anything of interesting magical consequence left over from the war.

 

[Rain Yupa]

Psychofish

So post destroyer war- and we have a Miya Herald and a Daidoji iron warrior, right? So air ring on a mostly-courtier, and probably some int to follow it up, and then... honestly I'm not sure how you are inclined to build your Daidoji, but it sounds like what we need is someone with perception three, probably shugenja.

...I'm not 100% decided if I'm going shugenja yet, but I was figuring on perception 3 anyhow, so that'll work for me.

Taking suggestions if anyone has ideas they'd like to see. So far ideas I'm bouncing between:

• An energetic Kitsuki with insatiable curiosity for... everything.
  
• An very friendly Iuchi who is great with animals but has some... social issues. But hey- extra horse and great travel spells!
  
• An Agasha (though probably Isawa trained) very, very interested in seeing if there's anything of interesting magical consequence left over from the war.

IMHO, Shugenja are never 'needed' or 'required'. They are a rare resource and a luxury to have in a game. You can, of course, play one anyways, but know that you'll possibly be put into numerous situations that could be dangerous, and the Daidoji might be protecting the Miya. Would you be capable of fending for yourself?  

[Rain Yupa]

Also, if it helps...

People will be Rank 1, with 10 extra CP to spend (with Paidi as the Miya being required to buy that Status advantage). So 50 CP total.

EDIT: For an imperial, I'll grant a 1 point reduction for the Status advantage, because it really should be there.  

[Daidoji Hotaru]

Awesome! I'll get started on the Daidoji.

Do you use the 'up to 15 points of Advantages and 10 points of Disadvantages' ruling during Character Creation?

And I've never known someone to use the Ancestor's mechanics, but just thought I would double check just in case.  

[Rain Yupa]

Daidoji Hotaru

Awesome! I'll get started on the Daidoji.

Do you use the 'up to 15 points of Advantages and 10 points of Disadvantages' ruling during Character Creation?

And I've never known someone to use the Ancestor's mechanics, but just thought I would double check just in case.

Max 10 points of disadvantages. I don't think there's an enforced limit on advantages, but if you really really want like, 20 or 30 points of advantages... its your funeral.

If you guys want Ancestors or Heritage, you can get them, however you normally acquire them (I just got home and haven't had a chance to look).  

[Rain Yupa]

You guys should discuss how you expect to build your characters. I believe Psycho-san is gripped by indecision and feels forced to "balance" out the traits? Or something like that.  

[Psychofish]

I wanted to build someone with some good perception skills. Because it seems fun, and I imagine it's both useful and extremely relevant. I'm basically compiling a list of what bushi-ish things appeal to me for this campaign and then I'll work out the rest.

Until then if we're talking up characters, I should probably just start another skype room.