The Sound of Distant Thunder - Part 1 [Learn to Play]

Creating your character

You'll make fairly standard starting L5R 4e characters. I prefer that no two characters be from the same clan, for story reasons. I have two house rules on characters. 1) We will use 1st edition ancestors, when necessary. 2) We will roll on the 1st edition heritage tables. You get one roll for free, and other cost 1 point (up to 3 maximum rolls)

Preparing for the session

You'll need a computer good enough to run FoundryVTT, an internet connection and a mic. It would be good to work out at least what clan you like and what character class you want before session zero. We can hash that out on discord. If you don't know the game, we can help you make characters.

What Robert brings to the table

I run an immersive game, with lots of RP. In non-L5R games I've been known to go a session without rolling dice, but in L5R, those same sessions would be full of rolls...A courtier battles with their words, the same way a bushi fights with their sword. I've been known to do character voices, but accents would be largely inappropriate here. I thrive on character-driven stories, but the driving meta narrative of this campaign will be the major events in Rokugan from 1118 to 1120 (and beyond in future parts).

Homebrew rules

I'll provide specific guidance on characters before the game, a lot of that will be how the clans and families are different in 1118 compared to how they are presented in the 4e core rulebook. Hovering Near Death Unless the character is killed with excessive damage with a called shot to the head or neck when a character exceeds their last wound rank, they don't die immediately. Instead, they fall and begin to bleed out. Do not track the wounds that exceed the last wound threshold, other than to determine if a called shot would have resulted in instant death. The next round, on their turn, they must roll Earth Ring with a TN 5. If they fail, they die. If they succeed, they must roll again next round, with at TN 10. The TN continues to increase by 5 every round until the character dies, stabilizes, or is healed. If they succeed by more than ten three times before dying, they stabilize without aid and will awaken with their Stamina + Insight Rank after a night's rest. Any spell that restores wounds will instantly save a still-living character. A Medicine (Wound Treatment) / Intelligence roll TN 10 can stabilize them, as above. A TN 15 roll to heal them, if they haven't already benefited from one that day, will act as a healing spell. Preparation You can take twice the normal casting time to cast a spell. Doing so gives you a Free Raise. Commune I conduct interactions with spirits as conversations. It isn't a simple carefully worded question and a simple answer. We can still ask multiple questions, like "What happened in this room last night," and "Has anyone been here today besides us?", but within those questions, the length of the conversation and the quality of the information is based on raises for clarity. "How did this man die?" and "Oh, he was killed. What did the killer look like?" are the same question with the answers determined by clarity.

How Robert creates a safe table

We will use the X, N & O cards, and discuss lines and veils.