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gorgonarcher · 9 months ago

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8th Game - Legend of Five Rings 5e

So, from one game that uses the twenty-questions to another. This one uses twenty questions in a bit different way than 7th Sea, in that it uses the questions to serve as the Steps of character creation.

Legend of Five Rings is a fantasy game inspired by a mixture of East Asian mythology and history, though primarily Japanese. The earlier editions were about what you expected from 90s and 00s RPGs based on Japan. 4th edition in particular had a number of essays included that I remember poorly. I picked up the game in the 1st edition and almost dropped it after 4th until I heard that Fantasy-Flight Games picked it up and given my pleasant surprise with how well their Star Wars game worked along with word from people reading the playtests that they fixed a lot of the problems with appropriation in prior editions.

Also, the is a primarily human setting, but there's a couple of options for playing inhuman characters, including a culture called the Shinomen Naga which one of the supplements released rules for.

Though we only have a single school for them.

Since we are going to be using the Naga, we're going to be using a revised version of the Twenty Questions for dealing with folk outside of the Great Clans of the Rokugan Empire that is the usual focus of the setting.

There are a few supplements that present revisions to the Twenty Questions appropriate to the themes of the supplement.

Part I: Core Identity

The first two questions come in under this section and usually those are:

1: What Clan does your character belong to?

2: What Family does your character belong to?

For the revised version in this supplement we instead of these questions:

1: What region does your character come from? What was your character's upbringing?

2: What is your character's past and how does it affect them?

Question 1: What region does your character come from? What was your character's upbringing?

The region is going to give the character a bonus to a Ring, which are the stats of the game, one Skill, and their starting Glory skill.

There are three regions:

Rural Farmland

Forest

Mountain

The Naga mostly live in a vast forest called Shinomen Mori.

So, Forest is the likely region, but there are some mountains in the area and on the edges, and while most humans wouldn't recognize it as such, they have their own farmlands. The Naga in setting have been asleep for unknown ages, but they've woken up and started re-establishing their realms.

I'm going to say she's from one of the farming areas, either orchards or fish farms around one of the rivers deeper into the forest.

Rural Farmland:

Earth +1

Fitness +1

Glory 34

Now upbringing will get her one of two possible Ring bonuses, bonuses to two skills, and starting wealth and status.

Status modification is a little bit different from what I'm used to in this game. Usually, you get a starting Status flat, but I'm assuming that's because the standard you're dealing with samurai of the Great Clans and in this case we're dealing with people outside of that status group. Gaijin have a default Status of 0 and the book advises you to decide the character's status in their own culture based on the tables in the main book. I'm going with a Status of 19 in Naga culture, which is the high end of where laborers, artisans, and military conscripts sit.

We have a couple of options:

Craftsperson

Farmer

Hunter or Fisher

Temple

I sort of want someone on the periphery of Naga society, more likely to become curious about humans than the core. I'm thinking a farmer, from one of the orchards that used to be deeper in the forest back when the forest was much larger.

Farmer gives her:

A choice of +1 Earth or +1 Water, I think I'm going for Water. Rings are more about personality and the adaptability implied by the Water Ring interests me.

+1 Labor, +1 Fitness

Status Modification +4

Starting Wealth: 2 bu

Everybody starts with 1 in every Ring and 0 in every Skill, so with the bonuses above we have.

Rings

Air 1

Earth 2

Fire 1

Water 2

Void 1

Skills

Fitness 2

Labor 1

Social Stats

Glory 34

Status 4/19

Now on to Question 2.

Question 2: What is your character's past and how does it affect them?

This is an entirely narrative question, which usually don't show up until later in the 20 questions. This is a backstory that will cause problems for the character whenever it comes up. Most of the sample pasts are very much centric on the culture of the Great and Minor Clans of Rokugan, so we'll have to come up with something unique for our Naga farm-girl here.

I'm going to go with a bit of The Fugitive here.

Soon after our character awoke, she wandered off into human lands, unfortunately for her, this coincided with the appearance of something else snakish, either a yokai or an actual oni. It was vicious but luckily for her not very powerful. She was able to kill it, which left no body. However, she had no witnesses to this fight, so there's a lot of humans that think she is the monster and investigator that had been hired to tracking the monster is seeking her out.

Part II: Role and School

There are two questions to this section.

Question 3: What is your character's school and what roles does that school fall into?

Now, we already know this as the way they define non-human characters is through their school. Now, as a note, we could also say give her a samurai or other human school because there's numerous canonical examples of humans with supernatural heritage. But we are going to go ahead and use the Naga Seer above anyway, as it is the simplest example.

This gives her two Rings, several skills, some starting techniques, starting Honor, a school trait, starting gear, and a list of which techniques the school has open access to.

So, for this case the Shinomen Naga Seer Tradition gives her:

Earth +1

Water +1

Skills: +1 Courtesy, +1 Fitness, +1 Martial Arts (Melee), +1 Martial Arts (Ranged), +1 Meditation, +1 Performance, +1 Survival

Honor: 55

Available Techniques: Kata, Rituals, Shuji

Kata are martial techniques, Rituals are rituals, Shuji are social techniques.

Starting Kata: Striking as Water or Crescent Moon Style

Starting Shuji: Shallow Waters, Stonewall Tactics, Weight of Duty

I'm choosing Striking as Water for the Kata as it can be used with Ranged attacks.

For the Shuji, I'm taking on the Weight of Duty which lets her recognize what sort of obligations a person has.

And then we also have the following:

Bend Perception (School Ability): When you choose this school, determine what illusion your character has perfected with your GM. Your character can seemlessly switch between their true form and this alternate form within a matter of seconds. When using this school ability, you can still use your true form’s features, such as your tail. Any character witnessing you do so sees something narratively appropriate based on your illusion. A character must make a TN 6 Theology or Survival (Void 5) check to see beyond your illusion. Additionally, you increase the damage dealt by your tail by your school rank.

Starting Outfit: Naga armor (Physical 2, Supernatural 1), yumi, quiver, nagi-nata, traveling pack, personal pearl (sacred).

And now we move on.

Question 4: How does your character stand out within their school?

This is a free choice to add another extra dot to a Ring. We can't add to Earth or Water because the max you can gain in character creation is 3 and we've maxed both of those out. So the different Rings imply the following traits:

Air - Grace, eloquence, empathy

Earth - Thoroughness, patience, calm

Fire - Creativity, passion, drive

Water - Adaptability, friendliness, awareness

Void - Self-awareness, insight, mysticism

So, I'm looking for something that pushes towards curiosity, but curiosity can be applied to Air, Fire, and Void. I think I'm going for Air though for the better Empathy.

This makes her final Rings look like the following:

Air 2

Earth 3

Fire 1

Water 3

Void 1

Part III: Honor and Glory

This has two questions designed to discuss what your character's Giri (Duty) and Ninjo (Desire). These are narrative hooks meant to be in conflict with each other.

Question 5: Who is your lord and what is your character's duty to them?

The Naga character doesn't have quite the same relationship with Duty and Desire that the samurai do. The Seer school are Bushi and Courtier, but I don't think she particularly has the duty of a full Naga warrior. I do think her duty to the Naga in general would fill in for her Giri. She'd be trying not to give too much away to the humans that may not immediately consider them trustworhy. So, while she's traveling among humans, she tries hard not to reveal herself, using her illusion to hide herself as human.

Question 6: What does your character long for, and how might their past impact their ninjo?

This is one of the revised questions. The normal one is as follows:

What does your character long for, and how might this impede their duty?

This is similar, though. I think she's intrigued to see how the world has changed since the Naga went to sleep and is wandering about seeing human culture, unfortunately with people pursuing her, she's had to be extra careful to avoid attention where she can.

Question 7: What is your character known for?

This is another revised question where the original is:

What is your character's relationship with their clan?

In this case, the question is whether she is known for something positive or negative. And the answer is that she is mostly known for something negative. People believe she's a monster of some sort.

If she'd had a positive reputation, she'd gain +5 Glory. But with a negative reputation, she gains 1 rank in a skill she has 0 in.

The skills are as follows:

I'm going to say she's picked up a rank in Culture from observing humans.

Question 8: What does your character think of Bushido?

Because of how the Rokugan Empire claims almost all the land in the area, it is impossible to get through life without having at least some dealing with the tenets of Bushido. I don't have clear memories of what the Naga philosophies are, precisely, but I am aware that they are significantly different in some ways from those of the Samurai. The two cultures have some mutual enemies in the form of the Shadowlands, nor are they expressly enemies themselves, but there's room for them to be enemies or allies in the future.

If her belief aligned with Bushido, I'd give her +10 Honor. But because I am going with the idea that she only knows a little bit about Bushido and is sticking to her own beliefs, I'd get 1 rank in a skill from a list of skills normally associated as "Low" skills.

That said, Honor is supposed to be about your own belief in yourself and is separate from how other people feel about you, I could say that this would be based on her following along with Naga philosophies.

But I still think that the slightly off-normal for the bonus skill would work better. If she was fully in accord with Naga beliefs she likely wouldn't have wandered out into the human controlled lands.

So that is a choice of a rank in one of the following: Commerce, Labor, Medicine, Seafaring, Skulduggery, or Survival.

And because of how she's been using illusions to pass as human and avoiding attention, Skulduggery feels appropriate.

Part IV: Strengths and Weaknesses

This where we introduce the character's Advantages and Disadvantages. And also at this point we've passed all the sections that were revised for the supplement including Naga.

Question 9: What is your character's greatest accomplishment so far?

This is pretty easy as we've already mentioned it. She defeated a monster shortly after waking up and is now mistaken for it. So I'll want an Advantage that represents that fight. These are Distinctions, which are more about physical, supernatural, or social advantages.

These are easily home-brewed, and it is encouraged to do so, but I want to look through the pre-built stuff to see if there's something that works already.

Sixth Sense seems to work for this. Advantages come with a narrative and a mechanical aspect, Sixth Sense looks like this:

So, basically, it was a creature that depended on ambushes and as she was able to sense it ahead of time, she had an advantage that she used to kill it.

Question 10: What holds your character back the most in life?

This presents a the idea of a Disadvantage, these are similar to Advantages in that they have a narrative and a mechanical aspect to them. This one is the opposite of a Distinction... an Adversity that deals with physical, supernatural, or social limits.

I think what probably holds her back the most is the idea that she's not sure if there are other Naga around or alive. She still feels a duty not to reveal them to the humans, in case there are others, but by the same token she feels so very alone.

However, that sounds more like an Anxiety. So I think I'm going to go back to the Fugitive thing and take Whispers of Cruelty to give mechanics to the rumors she has following her.

Question 11: What activity most makes your character feel at peace?

Ah aha, here is where we get Curiosity. This is where we pick a Passion which, as with all Advantages, has a narrative and a mechanical aspect, and deals entirely with emotional well-being and Curiosity is one of the pre-built versions.

Question 12: What concern, fear, or foible troubles your character the most?

And at this point, we can add in Loneliness which is a prebuilt Anxiety, the mirror to Passions dealing with mental health, from the Emerald Empire supplement. She's already wandered far away from the other Naga, so other Naga do not know where to look to find her through the Unity (a telepathic ability the Naga share with each other) and she's not well trained in projecting her thoughts, so she's already moved well past the range at which she can hear the thoughts of her kin. It's made her increasingly fear that she was the only one to wake up.

Question 13: Who has your character learned the most from during their life?

This would be an elder Naga who taught her much about archery and farming throughout her life. This comes with one Advantage, either a Distinction or a Passion, one Disadvantage, either an Adversity or an Anxiety. And 1 rank in a skill related to the relationship.

In this case I'm going to say that she has Keen Sight to represent how she was trained to find both targets and to see developments in the land and crops. Whether the fruit in the orchards was ripe or blighted.

However, she is also very clearly Gaijin in both appearance and culture.

And then I'm giving her 1 rank in Martial Arts (Ranged)

At this points stats look like this:

Air 2

Earth 3

Fire 1

Water 3

Void 1

Skills

Courtesy 1

Culture 1

Fitness 3

Martial Arts (Melee) 1

Martial Arts (Ranged) 2

Meditation 1

Performance 1

Labor 1

Skullduggery 1

Survival 1

Part V: Personality and Behavior

Question 14: What do people notice first upon encountering your character?

Well, if her illusion is not up, then the first thing most people would notice about her is that she's a great big snake person. Without that, however, her garb is archaic and also a bit alien. The last time Rokugani and Naga interacted with each other, when they were fighting the Foul (Shadowlands) together, the empire was not yet officially formed. She dresses very much like a culture that has not been seen in living memory (excluding certain gods still around) because she is someone from a culture that has been asleep for ages.

The most distinctive bit of aesthetic gear that she has is a green and gold body wrap, something like an overlong scarf that folds over one shoulder and then wraps around her waist.

Question 15: How does your character react to stressful situations?

This is basically a tell that happens when she does what the game calls "unmasking" one way to clear Strife or stress. It might not be a part of every such event, but it's basically a quirk or mannerism that pops up as stress threatens to overwhelm them. In this case, I think she tries hum to herself to calm down, and perhaps instinctively coils in on herself, which might create a sign people can hear through her illusion and give her away.

Question 16: What are your character's pre-existing relationships with other clans, families, organizations, and traditions?

She has mostly interacted with the peasants as she travels, and her gaijin appearance tends to set them off. She doesn't have much contact with the samurai of the clans, but she's being tracked by a Crab Clan Inquisitor and is not enjoying that at all. She's probably had a couple encounters with other samurai from Crab Clan or other minor clans, aside from those that would be part of the the group they're part of. Think of this through the lens of the Fugitive (or the A-Team) where she'd help the locals and move on before Javert/Zenigata catches up.

Part VI: Ancestry and Family

Question 17: How would your character's parents describe them?

Naga are raised by the community without direct knowledge of who their parents are. She was found to be a bit more inquisitive than most of her people found appropriate. But they couldn't fault her kindness or the efforts she takes to be helpful.

Question 18: Who was your character named to honor?

This isn't really how names are done with the Naga. And sadly, I can't find an easy place where the game talks about Naga names. They don't all even seem to have names or else go by titles with the definitive article in front. In this case, I'm going to say that she just tells people she's a "traveler" and Time Lord style she gets called "The Traveler".

This question is connected to a mechanical benefit usually one rolled. I'm going to look through a bit through some of the alternate charts. Not finding anything designed for Shinomen Naga specifically, I'm going to go ahead and roll on the basic chart. Getting a 1, that's a Famous Deed associated with one of her ancestors, in this case probably one of the many Naga that raised her, or their overall bloodline. And this comes with an heirloom and rolling a one on that is a weapon. So let's say that her yumi (a sort of bow) has the durable quality and someone from a related clutch managed to kill a powerful oni with a bow.

Question 19: What is your character's personal name?

So, yeah, I apparently folded this question in with question 18. Question 18 was more to do with your character's family past and overall family reputation. And then you choose the name at this question. So, that would be The Traveler.

Part VII: Death

Question 20: How should your character die?

This is a purely narrative question and goes into giving something of the theme of what the character is willing to sacrifice or what fatal flaw will lead them to their final end. In this character's case, it's going to be that she will likely get in over her head helping people and either go down in the effort, or be caught up by her pursuers and unable to convince them she means no harm.

So, the end result of this character is as follows:

The Traveler

Rural Farmland, Orchard Farmer, Shinomen Naga Seer

Rings

Air 2

Earth 3

Fire 1

Water 3

Void 1

Skills

Courtesy 1

Culture 1