Beginner? Let's Have Fun and Learn to Roleplay - Samurai Roleplay - Legend of the Five Rings

About the adventure

Whether you are new to RPGs in general or new to Legend of the Five Rings, this is a great opportunity to learn a system that is more about character struggle than dungeon exploration. No experience is necessary, and you don't need to know anything about Legend of the Five Rings or Rokugan. Legend of the Five Rings is a fantasy game of Samurai and their struggles. Their struggles against other clans, their struggles against the lower class, their struggles against evil, and most of all the struggles within themselves as they try to balance duty with passion. If you are familiar with Legend of the Five Rings and you are interested, this campaign is an attempt to fuse the rules system of 5e with the lore, characters, and history of the previous game systems. (I prefer that story, but I want to try out this new system that they revamped.) This story would start in 1121, and run its course through the events of 1123. If everyone has enjoyed the Campaign and we want to continue, it will then move into the Clan Wars and conclude with the 2nd Day of Thunder. (If you don't know what that is, don't google it. You will give yourself the spoilers.) We use Discord for voice chat, as well as general in-between session discussion. And we use Roll20 for our character sheet and any visual (and rarely audio) aids for storytelling. It is rare for us to use battlemaps, and we tend to handle combat through theater of the mind. Though I am not against using a very basic combat map should the situation warrant one. Our group usually plays 2-3 hour sessions every other Saturday at 9pm Eastern US time. On this date, 10/12/23, the game has not started. We have two players already and are looking for up to 3 more players, and will be starting soon with or without them. If we have already started and have not reached our limit, we will be continuing to accept new players.

Additional Details

How to prepare

You do need a mic, but a webcam is only if you want. In our discord server is a channel that teaches the very basics of the setting so that you understand the general concepts when you head into character creation. More advanced concepts, lore, and rules are also available, but I don't mind teaching them during play. During a session, we use Discord for Voice chat and Roll20 for character sheets, dice rolling, and visual aids for the story. Both can be run in your browser. And although you can manage to play on your smartphone, I do recommend using a pc, laptop, or chromebook for better functionality. Often when a player needs to join in on just their phone, someone else needs to make dice rolls for them. Which is something we do not mind accommodating on occasion.

What I provide

I bring the rules for the game, which you are free to look through and learn on your own, or I can teach during game. Roll20 will supply you with character sheets and dice. No artwork for your character is necessary, but if you do include some make sure it is something that doesn't make Youtube mad at me. I do not monetize my videos, but I do archive them so we can look back, or so that a player who had to miss a session can watch it. And I don't want Youtube to yell at me.

Gameplay details

I clicked a lot of content warnings that could come up in theory. There may still be more, but I don't see a point in ticking every single item. On a personal level, I will fade to black any scene turning to torture or sex. And I am open to (expecting, actually) every player to tell me their own lines and veils so that I can either accommodate them, or aware them of my inability to accommodate their needs. --- I am labelling this as combat/tactics level low, but I wish there was a middle ground between low and medium. In the end, I will supply combat/tactics at the level that I feel best matches our player group and story. That said, I do want combat to be dangerous, and we are using alternative rules to make combat a bit more dangerous. This isn't to punish lack of tactics, but to give combat more meaning. I don't like when combats happen constantly because there is no sense of danger in them.

Content warnings

(none)

Safety tools used

Debriefing
Lines and Veils
Open Door

How will character creation work

I will assist in character creation. If players join the group before the game starts, they may even get to join our Session 0 and scheduled character creation sessions. But if you miss that, it doesn't matter. I will assist in character creation as a guide, and your character will be woven into the story, rather than just dropped in from the sky.

Players can expect

• Find a game to join solo or search for a professional game master for you and your friends/coworkers/family.
• Book your session and wait for the Game Master to approve you.
• If you don't have a blast with your first game, your next game is on us.