[ShiningIdeal]

A Poor Omen

Splintering wood broke the still, quiet calm of the night. A lonely waystation on a minor road that trailed down the coast from the Phoenix lands to pass before the Emerald Champion's castle. Over the last century, the road had widened and turned further inward as Otosan Uchi became a place best avoided at wide berth by merchants without heavy guards.

Screams followed the snaps of wood - and soon enough the cries of anguish met. Loud enough to alert sentries in the distance who were quick to notify the proper authorities.

By the time the members of the Daidoji Black Guard arrived, there was little to do but burn the ruins and the bodies before they could grow worse. Daisuke had carefully examined the travelling papers. Guests for the Topaz Championship, behind his mask he hid the sorrow at the death of youth, but it was a luxury not granted as long as pockets of the plague still haunted the lands.

Welcome all - to a war ravaged and plague stricken Rokugan. Decades after the Destroyer and Plague wars, the Emerald Empire still has not recovered - but that is where your generation comes in.

This game will be using the 4th Edition Legend of the Five Rings rules.

The story begins with the Topaz Championship, but will have a small timeskip after that (because playing 15 year old samurai is only really fun for a brief window). There will be a mix of social and combat aspects to the game, but I'd put the court aspects of the game at closer to 70-75% of the games focus so please make sure your characters are not going to be bored every second of the time.

I'm looking for 7-9 interested players, partly to account for dropout, and partly to make the Championship interesting as I don't intend to run more than three or four NPC competitors. Beyond that - my experience is that a large game flows and moves better without the GM having to constantly poke and prod things forward by having more inter-party activity.

And on the matter of posting - what I expect: Ideally a post a day minimum, though we'll say at least five posts a week. What I offer: You'll get at minimum 8-12 posts a week from me, though there will be days in between at times. Most weeks I'll be closer to 20 as long as I'm needed.

Character Creation Rules and some world material specific to the campaign are in the forums.. as you'll note - you'll have a chance to determine the route the world went between the end of the Destroyer War and the present day.


I'll work with people to come up with good concepts that work for the game, so if you have any questions, please let me know.