Heroes of Rokugan I
- Plans and Storyline Development - A Discussion
- Satsume's Tournament
- Kitsuki Evidence
- A Chance Meeting
- Spiritual Presence
- Legacy of the Dark One
- Winter Court: Kyuden Asahina
- The Face of Fear
- Arrows From the Woods
- Evil Feeds Upon Itself
- A Mantis and His Rat
- The Falling Darkness, Soul of Iuchiban
- The Ties that Bind
- The People's Expense
- Occult Murders, Soul of Iuchiban
- Lies, Lies, Lies
- Drawing Out the Darkness, Soul of Iuchiban
- A Foreign Legacy
- A Magistrate's Duty, Soul of Iuchiban
- Fury of the Elements
- To Do What We Must
- Winter Court: Kanrinrin's Duty, Soul of Iuchiban
- The Fate of a Hantei, Soul of Iuchiban
- Smoke and Mirrors, The Lion and the Crane
- A Hidden Blade, The Lion and the Crane
- Treachery and Deceit
- Winter Court: Shiro Kyotei
- Ancestral Dictate, The Lion and the Crane
- A Heart of Vengeance, The Lion and the Crane
- Soul of Akodo, The Lion and the Crane
- Darkness Beyond Darkness, Shadow's Path
- The Chrysanthemum Festival, The Lion and the Crane
- Kuro's Fire
- Duty on the Wall
- Fist of the Earth, Shadow's Path
- Day and Night
- The Scorpion's Sting
- Flower's Kiss
- In Time of War
- Winter Court: Shiro no Kaiu
- Proposal of Peace
- Way of Deception
- A Walk Through the Mountains, Shadow's Path
- Narrow Ground
- Peasant Defense
- The Price of Loyalty
- Dark Eyes on the Wall
- Tao of the Naga
- The Cost of Duty
- Storm and Forest
- Stain Upon the Soul
- Command of the Kami
- The Jade Championship
- Twisted Forest
- Funeral Pyre
- Time to Pay the Price, Shadow's Path
- Damning Evidence, The Hidden Temple
- Test of Courage
- Winter Court: Kyuden Bayushi
- Corrupted Ground, Shadows of an Iron Citadel
- A Question of Honor, Shadows of an Iron Citadel
- A Last Wish, Shadows of an Iron Citadel
- Blood of Midnight, Shadow's Path
- Fires of Retribution, The Hidden Temple
- Faith in My Clan
- Along the Coast at Midnight
- Unmaker's Shadow, Shadow's Path
- The Dragon's Heart, The Hidden Temple
- Time of the Void
- The Day of Thunder
Heroes of Rokugan II
- Plans and Preparation
- The Topaz Championship
- Treacherous Terrain
- Writ of Justice
- Tears of a Fox's Heart
- Wrath of the Kami, Remorseful Seppuku
- Unrequited Love
- Devoured by the Sea
- Scholarship, Remorseful Seppuku
- Uncertainty
- Unquiet Graves, Remorseful Seppuku
- Way of Death
- The Sapphire Tournament
- Bloom of the White Orchid
- The City of Lies
- The Bon Festival
- Stolen Relics
- Forgotten Shrine, Remorseful Seppuku
- A Say's Sail, Shipping Lanes
- Charge of the Baraunghar
- The House of a Thousand Stories
- Winter Court: Shiro Hanagensai
- In Search of the Future
- Compassion, The Code of Bushido
- Bayushi Lineage: Fathers and Sons
- Unexpected Find
- Legacy of My Ancestors, Shipping Lanes
- Corrupt Officials
- Grave of Heroes, Ominous Portents
- Voice of the Emperor, Ominous Portents
- Imperial Funeral
- Test of Purity, Ominous Portents
- Essence of Yume-do
- Shadows on the Court
- Strength From Weakness, Twenty Goblin Winter
- City of the Lost, Twenty Goblin Winter
- Failure of Courage, Twenty Goblin Winter
- Kharmic Vengeance
- Sleepless Nights
- Honesty, The Code of Bushido
- Journey to the Burning Sands
- The Tortoise and the Hare
- Harsh Lessons
- A Champion's Heart
- Corrupted Region, Shipping Lanes
- Unexpected Betrayal
- Courage, The Code of Bushido
- City of Empty Dreams
- Campaign Fiction: Scenes from the Empire, Summer 1502
- Secluded Village
- Cursed Gift
- Touch of Obsidian
- The Siege of Shiro Usagi
- Campaign Fiction: The Seppuku of Bayushi Tenkai
- Retirement
- Shadows of Beiden
- Into the Darkness
- Heated Discussion, The Code of Bushido
- Campaign Fiction: Scenes from the Empire, Autumn 1502
- Broken Words
- Assigning Blame
- Winter Court: The High House of Light
- Winter Court: Shiro no Shosuro
- Duty and Honor, The Code of Bushido
- The Cherry Blossom Festival
- Campaign Fiction: Scenes from the Empire, Spring 1503
- Undignified Death
- Loyalty, The Code of Bushido
- Marriage Celebration
- Fall Before the Master
- Border Conflict
- Campaign Fiction: A Summer of War, Parts 1-4
- Nemesis of Justice
- Summoned to Justice
- ➔ Essence of Toshigoku
- Doom of the Crab
- The Hidden Heart
- A Long Journey, Shipping Lanes
- Allegiance to the Emperor
- Campaign Fiction: A Summer of War, Part 5 and 6
- Contest of Artistry
- Reverence for Chikushudo
- Masterpiece: Iron Crane Chef
- Mujina Tricks, Remorseful Seppuku
- Spider's Lair
- Words and Deeds
- The Final Interactive: Weekend in Rokugan 2010
- Campaign Fiction: Brother and Sisters
- A Fallen Friend
- Truth and Falsehood
- A Hard Rain Will Fall
- An Arranged Marriage
- Whispers of the Moon
- Fate of the Assassin
- March Unto Death
- Celestial Journey
- Words Cut Like Steel
- To the Last Breath
L5R Homebrew
- A Root Problem: Conflicting Themes
- Power Levels and Power-Creep
- Defense Versus Offense
- Raises
- Narrative Control Mechanics
- Wounds and Death Part 1
- Thugs Versus Characters
- Dueling
- Wounds and Death Part 2
- Schools, Techniques, and Kata Part 1
- Spells and Secrets
- Schools, Techniques, and Kata Part 2
- What's with these Shugenja, anyway? br>
- Unofficial 5th Edition
This one had an interesting history. I’d actually had no intention of bringing back the Tsuno after the events of Grave of Heroes/Voice of the Emperor, since it had essentially been a one-off story to dispose of the Imperial Princes and I considered it closed. However, a player whose character had been in love with one of the Toturi Princes proposed writing a module in which the PCs could go into Toshigoku and retrieve the princes’ swords. I was okay with this idea since it could serve as a deferred postscript to the earlier modules (and afford some emotional satisfaction to players who had suffered the loss of characters in those modules). Also, at that point I was already toying with the idea of following up on a “tour of the Spirit Realms” and this would let me add Toshigoku to the list. Ultimately, after many months the player was not able to get the module written herself, but rather than give up she instead passed the project on to another player who eventually succeeded in submitting a draft to me. After a significant rewrite, it became Essence of Toshigoku.
The introduction of this module also served as a book-end to the Hare War: the PCs visit the ruins of Shiro Usagi to observe the final withdrawal of the Crab occupation troops, the Crab and Hare having agreed to a complete peace treaty at the Cherry Blossom Festival Interactive. As always, I loved working in these sorts of call-backs into the storyline, showing consequences for earlier events and player actions. In this case I also brought back a minor NPC from much earlier in the campaign: Kitsu Mokuna, who had originally appeared in Tears of a Fox’s Heart.
(Since this module, like Ancestral Dictate in HoR1, involved travel into the spirit realms, I needed either a stable portal or a Kitsu, and it seemed only appropriate to use a Kitsu given the history of Toshigoku’s depictions in L5R.)
I believe I’ve mentioned before that I am not actually a fan of the whole concept of Toshigoku, which seems to undermine and subvert many aspects of Rokugan’s world-concept. Still, it was an established part of L5R canon and I was willing to use it if I could come up with a good story for it. In this case, the association between the Tsuno and Toshigoku was such that I couldn’t really set the module anywhere else, while the brutal, dirty, bloody battle at Shiro Usagi seemed like the perfect place for Toshigoku to have extended its malign reach into Ningen-do. Plus, this let me work in a scene with my wife’s dead second PC (Daidoji Eriko), in which the PCs could ‘redeem’ her from the clutch of Toshigoku. (I wanted to do the same storyline for the other PC, but he was a GenCon-only player who never returned.) Some players who had worked dead-at-Shiro-Usagi family members into their personal backgrounds also spontaneously role-played out their own rescue/redemption scenes here, which was cool.
The finale of this module was straightforward, albeit dangerous – a confrontation with the last remnants of the Tsuno pack, with the fate of both a pure-blooded Kitsu sodan-senzo and the lost Toturi swords on the line. Since this was a Mid/High-Rank module (in contrast to the Low/Mid rating of Grave/Voice) but the Tsuno were essentially at the same power-level as before, I was confident that most PCs would prevail fairly readily… and was rather surprised when one of the GenCon premier tables had to bargain with the Tsuno and ignominiously retreat, while another collapsed in total defeat, with everyone Down or Out and their Void exhausted. The latter table seems to have been a victim of a mixture of overconfidence, poor tactics, and very hot GM dice (the GM was, of course, Ken Martin) – in any case, the “saving grace” for them was the presence of Eriko, who could potentially retrieve their unconscious bodies and drag them back to the portal to Ningen-do. The problem, of course, was that Eriko would have to wait until the Tsuno left, and the Tsuno were not going to just waltz off and leave the defeated PCs untouched. I ruled that each PC had a 50% chance of being a “Tsuno-snack” and the die-rolls did, in fact, spare exactly half of the PCs at the table.
At the end of this module it was possible for some PCs to be either voluntarily or involuntarily trapped in Toshigoku along with Kitsu Mokuna (who stays behind to guide Eriko to Meido). I specifically noted that such PCs would be able to return to the campaign at GenCon 2010, when Mokuna would finally return them to Ningen-do. (I drew some inspiration here from an old sub-plot in the RPGA’s Living City campaign in which PCs could get trapped in the mists of Ravenloft but were released a year later, becoming playable characters once more.) By the time I actually reached the end of the campaign, I would expand this “spiritual rescue” to also bring back PCs trapped in other spirit realms.