The Emerald Stars
A Legends of the Five Rings Podcast
Players
Clans
of the Emerald Empire
Factions
in the Emerald Empire
House Rules
Other House Rules:
- Standard L5R Wound Levels do not apply, because even experienced L5R players have difficulty tracking them, let alone these goobers. Wounds are instead calculated at Earth * 33 in one large pool. The Crippled threshold (at which point dice do not explode) is 1/3 of a PC’s total health pool.
- The Medicine skill may only be used to heal each character once per scene.
- All Firearms require three Complex Actions to reload, except shotguns, which require two.
- All bows suffer a -5 when firing at a point blank target, or when firing at a prone target. Firearms do not suffer from point blank penalties, though they still suffer the penalty when firing at a prone target.
- Flesh Cutter arrows double the target’s Reduction, while Armor Piercing arrows ignore Reduction.
- Moving out of combat with (or past) an engaged opponent incurs an Attack of Opportunity. No Raises may be taken on this attack.
- Void may be spent to gain +20 Initiative in combat, or to negate all Crippled penalties for one Round.
- Characters may take up to 15 points in Disadvantages at creation, for the equivalent bonuses to starting XP.
- All versions of the Inner Gift Advantage cost 3 points instead of 7, other than Empathy and Sakkaku-do, which cost 5.
- The Wealthy Advantage is worth 1 Koku/Rank rather than 2 Koku/Rank.
- The Strategist Advantage now applies to space combat Battle rolls, and costs 3 Points instead of 4.
- Most Shindoshi schools gain Engineering as a School Skill.
- Shindoshi gain 4 base spells per Insight Rank rather than 3. Isawa Shindoshi gain 5 spells rather than 4.
- Rank 1 skills do not contribute to Insight (though once a skill hits Rank 2, it gives the standard amount).
- Rank 3 in any skill grants an additional 1 bonus Insight, Rank 5 grants an additional 2, Rank 7 grants an additional 3, and Rank 10 grants an additional 5.
- Lore skill rolls may only be made if the PC in question possesses that skill.
- Eating contest rolls are made using either Raw Stamina or Raw Willpower (player’s choice).
- Getting any Lore skill to Rank 5 grants a Free Raise on that skill.
- Getting any Skill to Rank 10 means that skill’s dice explode on both 9’s and 10’s.
- When a player gets both Courtier and Etiquette to 7, they may pick a single Mental or Social advantage of their choice (GM’s discretion) worth up to 5 points.
- Tantos deal 0k2 damage.
- Crippled does not affect damage rolls.
- The Center Stance has been heavily altered. During the Center Stance, you gain your Void x 2 to your Armor TN (meaning a Void 3 would be a +6). In the Round after you assume the Center Stance, you lose this bonus, but you instead gain your Void in Rolled and Kept dice on attack and damage for one attack (meaning a Void 3 would be a +3k3 on both attack and damage).
Season_0
The Emerald Champion had issued a call for the greatest heroes from each of the Great Clans to unite and put an end to the growing threat of the Shadowlands in the northern provinces. A small band of samurai answered this call - a prestigious Crane courtier, a grizzled Lion infantry commander, a mysterious Dragon monk, a compassionate Phoenix shugenja, and a cunning Scorpion shugenja-spy.
Their first task was to investigate the disappearance of a prominent governor's caravan in the Crane lands. After battling bandits and dealing with peasant uprisings, they discovered the governor had been corrupted by a powerful Oni lord. They defeated the Oni and his minions in an epic confrontation at the ruins of an ancient Crab fortress. Word of their victory soon spread and earned them an audience with the Emerald Champion herself.
The Emerald Champion charged them with traveling to the Kaiu Wall and assisting the beleaguered Crab forces there. They fought their way through a gauntlet of bloodspeaker cultists and undead battalions to reach the Wall. After witnessing the relentless tide of Shadowlands forces, they embarked on a quest to locate a fabled nemuranai deep in the Twilight Mountains. This powerful artifact could help turn the tide against the endless hordes of evil.
Their search brought them into conflict with renegade Brotherhood of Shinsei members and rogue Naga guardians determined to keep the nemuranai's secrets hidden. Through courage, sacrifice, and no small amount of political maneuvering, they were able to recover the nemuranai. On their return journey, most of the party fell defending it from the Nine Terrible Fists, elite monstrosities sent by Fu Leng himself. Only the Scorpion shugenja survived to deliver the nemuranai back to the defending forces on the Wall.
The heroic story of the nemuranai heroes was recounted in epic poetry and plays for generations. Their valor and ultimate sacrifice allowed the Wall's defenders to push back the forces of evil, albeit temporarily, and buy the Empire a few more years of peace and prosperity.