The L5R 4e Resource Guide: Walking the Way & Tomb of Iuchiban

THE L5R 4E RESOURCE GUIDE
The set-up of the new 4e L5R more easily allows the use of materials from earlier editions and eras. That raises the questions: which of these products should an L5R 4e GM bother picking up? Which of them offer new insights into the pre-Clan War period (and beyond)? Which of them offer more universally useful setting material? This series aims to answer those questions. Note that I leave aside any and all mechanical material and questions for purposes of these reviews.

WALKING THE WAY
This is the second most problematic L5R product.

If you know L5R, you might be aware of the first most problematic.

Walking the Way is a compendium of additional spells for Legend of the Five Rings. L5R takes a focused magic approach, with Shugenja generally having a relatively small number of spells but able to make modifications to those spells. This is as opposed to the classic daily pick or large number of learned fixed spells of D&D. Or the prerequisite chain magic of GURPS. It isn’t freeform magic from True20; spells still have names and distinctions. The closest parallel I’ve seen would be Sorcery in Exalted. But that system has a larger percentage of damage dealing magics and fairly fixed spell effects. L5R allows for interesting Shugenja builds, with some overlap and duplication between effects as well as requirements of power and difficulty to cast them.

One of the interesting changes in mechanics between the earlier and present editions has been the downplaying of scroll requirements. In 1e, a Shugenja needed to read from a scroll to cast. In order to avoid a penalty they had to take an Innate Ability advantage with a particular spell. Magic in 1e was messy and some of the big changes in 2e cleaned up problems with that and add more flexibility. WtW comes out before those changes however, roughly in parallel with the Way of the Phoenix book- the other key early sourcebook on magic. Looking at the different editions offers an interesting exercise in game design. Changes have been made to simplify the rules, but at the same time to allow for more interesting builds and mechanics. The use of keywords in 4e gives some new tools for differentiating spells and magical effects. Its also worth considering that this book arrives before the system adds the additional complication of Monk kihos. Like the CCG, L5R has struggled to make those interesting and yet balanced with conventional shugenja magic.

Walking the Way is a 128-page sourcebook. Spells are presented in chapters, divided by elemental type. The end tables have a master list of all spells published so far in the product line. A little over half the spells have illustrations, some with a couple of them. These vary in quality. There’s quite a bit of Ramon Perez art, but some of the other images are weak or cartoony. Tom Baxa’s cover, on the other hand, is evocative and creepy. One of the big problems in the material is the text and page design. Each page looks like a scroll, with greyscale texturing behind it. It doesn’t help anything and makes the pages difficult to read. The actual spell rules are in a more stylized font. As game mechanics, they really need to use cleaner and clearer character set. I haven’t seen the pdf version of the book; I can only hope that the person doing the scanning compensated for the dark pages.

The book contains 52 new spells (12 each for Earth & Water; 9 for Fire; 13 for Air; and 6 for Void). Because each spell is unique and interesting with some power each spell effect description can be fairly lengthy, with a discussion of options. The mechanics of these are beside the point as they’re superseded by the magic and spells presented in later editions. I haven’t cross-checked to see which haven’t appeared later.

More important is the second half of the presentation of each spell. After the effects, there’s an accompanying story hook or adventure seed revolving around the spell. Some of these are quite detailed and clever. Most of them do an excellent job of showing how magic might be used within the world of Rokugan. More importantly they demonstrate how even the smallest elements can be the starting point for interesting and novel stories in campaigns. It makes spells a kind of “NPC” with their own story and legacy and give more weight and a gravitas to the role of a Shugenja. And, of course, they make great bait to dangle before the players- “Look at this cool spell, surely you want this to be your next pick. To do so you only have to…”

BUT here’s the problem with this book which still irritates me. Walking the Way’s clear intended as a player resource- or at least I can’t imagine any PC Shugenja not wanting a copy of it. THE ADVENTURES ARE RIGHT NEXT TO THE SPELLS. The introduction says, “While nominally for the players’ use, this book is primarily intended for the GM’s use…” so, yes, you know players are going to buy it- in fact, you want players to buy copies if you’re a company. “The adventures, of course, are not for players to read, and should be ignored by all who do not wish to incur the wrath of the Game Master.” OK, personal responsibility and all that- but the adventures are on the facing page, in clearer type, often with accompanying illustrations. If only there were some way to divide the book, to separate the adventures from the spells to make it less easy to accidentally read them as a player. But of course it would be impossible to put those adventures at the back of the book. Or would it?

OVERALL
Once again we see the benefit of hindsight. Since 4e GMs aren’t going to be using this book for the mechanical aspects, players never need to see this. Instead it can be raided for the 52 plot ideas, useful for GMs of any era. Win, win. While Walking the Way had problems when it came out, it is a solid resource for plots now…with only legibility as a knock against it.

THE TOMB OF IUCHIBAN
When I first began looking back at these earlier editions, I suggested that there wasn’t that large a body of published adventures. Working through the material, I have retract that statement. Counting First Edition and Second Edition (pre-d20 integration) products, we have 42 books, including the core rules. Fifteen of those are modules or adventure-focused products (GM Packs, The Way of the Shadow). Add to that the two boxed city sets which also offer adventures and campaign backdrops. Strangely once we get to the d20 split edition, 3rd edition and even 4th, those numbers drop off to a handful: a couple of quick-start adventures, the Second City Boxed set, and the history supplements (The Four Winds, The Vacant Throne, The Hidden Emperor) if you’re particularly liberal about what you count.

The Tomb of Iuchiban offers the most ambitious purely-adventure supplement. It literally and figuratively serves at L5R’s Tomb of Horrors. Big modules like these seem like a declaration of status- saying that the game’s large and vital enough to support an GM-only expensive product. That’s especially when the material supplied isn’t really a sandbox (like Parlainth or The Great Maze). See Land of the Free and Death on the Reik as some of the few other examples of boxed adventures from smaller game lines. Tomb of Iuchiban wants to be a cornerstone of the line- the defining campaign.

And it is quite a pretty product. The Tomb comes with several booklets: a 48-page GM Guide; 32-page Tomb Guide; a 32-page illustration supplement; and a smaller size 40-page journal prop. Add to that the double-sided color Tomb map (11” x 17”) and the cardstock tiles for representing rooms on the map. The illustrations are generally good- most supplied by Dornaus. The layout’s decent, with plenty of white space on the pages. The supplement certainly sells what it is doing. It will be difficult to conceal the endgame from the players if you have any of the material out. The cover of the GM's Guide has a particularly egregious “give away” revealing a secret which the book itself goes to great pains to conceal. The box, at least for the copy I own, is an odd form-factor, too small for the products. It bends the books and map.

The Tomb of Iuchiban is ambitious in another regard. It puts the players into conflict with one of the great and powerful foes of Rokugan. Of course, they can’t really destroy him, as he reappears in the CCG, but that’s beside the point. This ought to be an epic adventure, a campaign full of swings back and forth, with blood and thunder, culminating in a massive conflict at the end. It ought to be, but it never quite reaches those heights. I’ve run Tomb of Iuchiban, and enjoyed the sessions I played with it. But I also made many changes and added material to flesh it out. For example I connected it to the scroll presented in “The Hare Clan”. I used the suggested connection of Night of a Thousand Screams as well. The Tomb offers a good adventure, but not a great one. The major problem is that the adventure itself could all too easily be lifted and dropped into a traditional fantasy setting without too much changing. The plot elements don’t really connect to samurai elements. It effectively ends with a classic dungeon crawl. On the other hand, that may be a strength for some groups looking for a more conventional adventure arc.

The adventure has basically eight major scenes, followed by the dungeon hack. Dropping the flash bits- tiles and map, this could have been done in a 96 page booklet, depending on how you wanted to handle the journal. You’d have the problem of the visual handouts, however. I think a better solution would have been to offer more material in the actual pre-Tomb set up. As it stands right now, the story’s linear- with player choices often highly restricted. Some more openness, perhaps ideas concerning how players might call in other resources or allies would be good. A related problem comes in the conceptual stage of the adventure. The story relies on the players getting fooled into serving the interests on the bad guy. Fooled repeatedly. Several talents available to different schools allow them to detect Shadowlands taint, but many of the story elements depend on those not working or being fooled. GMs will have to be ready for potential frustration.

The basic story leading up to the Tomb goes as follows. Iuchiban’s lieutenant, Yajinden wants to get into the Tomb to consume his former master’s spirit. He needs four masks to open the Tomb, one of which appeared in the adventure Night of a Thousand Screams. Yajinden in his guise of Meishozo Nisei took charge of the mask there. Now Yajinden calls the group to a village where a Shugenja was murdered and a mask stolen. The group has to find the killer (and the Mask). Of course Yajinden’s already murdered everyone in the village, cast a major illusion, and animated the corpses to fool the PCs and answer questions during their investigations. (Yes, seriously).

The group pursues the thief and recovers the Mask. The thief dies (regardless of PC actions). Nisei and the group travel and the PCs become tainted by the Shadowlands effects of the Masks. Nisei suggests a monastery where they can recover and takes off with the mask. The monastery is a Bloodspeaker trap. Assuming they survive, the group meets Kuni Vesten who has been pursuing Yajinden and reveals secrets to them. The PCs return to the original village and learn that everyone there has been dead for some time. They fight Yajinden’s assistant who escapes. She later returns and murders Kuni Visten because she’s actually a Pennaggolan. The PCs continue chase and, after getting past a secret garrison, arrive at the Tomb. All of this is done in about twenty-eight pages. The remaining page count for the booklet covers fourteen pages on the Bloodspeakers in general, and three additional pages of general NPC backgrounds. This half of the campaign has potential, but ultimately feels like a railroad set up for the set piece. It could have been much stronger.

If I’m a little disappointed at the set-up, the actual Tomb itself is awesome. It comes in two parts- the first a set of fixed outer rooms and the second a variable and moving maze of random rooms within the interior. These rooms offer a mix of horror, combats, and puzzles- many strongly keyed to the L5R setting. The Tomb offers many kinds of challenges, including the appearance of the Rakshasa Adisabah the Cruel who has a connection to the later Second City Boxed Set. The dungeon’s resolution offers many possibilities- especially if the players have worked through Kuni Vesten’s journal. In my game we ended up with one PC dead, one imprisoned in the Tomb, one having to commit seppuku, and three surviving. The Tomb section’s excellent- and the visual guide really helps setting the scene and giving players the information they need to get though some of the puzzles.

OVERALL
Oddly at this time the Tomb of Iuchiban’s one of the few early L5R products not available as a pdf. That’s too bad- a reasonably priced copy would have been useful. Physical copes of the set fetch a high price, making them not worth it except for collectors. Assuming GM’s can find a copy for a reasonable price, they will find the second half more useful than the first. The basic structure of the first half of the adventure/campaign could be expanded on by an ambitious GM, allowing it to be used for a number of different campaigns. Depending on the era, the Tomb could be dropped into many different campaigns. Even if Iuchiban’s out and about in your campaign era, you could adapt this. What’s in the Tomb now? The secret to his power? Some other legendary rival? Recommended with reservations, provided you don’t spend a lot of money on it.

L5R 4e Resource Guides

First Edition Core L5R Rules/Game Master's Pack

The Way of the Dragon/Honor's Veil
The Way of the Unicorn/City of Lies
The Way of the Crab/The Book of the Shadowlands

Code of Bushido/The Way of the Crane
Twilight Honor/The Way of the Scorpion
Night of a Thousand Screams/The Way of the Lion 

Walking the Way/Tomb of Iuchiban

The Way of Shadow/Midnight's Blood 
Way of the Phoenix/Way of the Naga/GM's Pack Revised
Winter Court: Kyuden Seppun/GM's Survival Guide
Unexpected Allies/Legacy of the Forge
Bearers of Jade/Void in the Heavens 
Otosan Uchi
Merchant's Guide to Rokugan/Way of the Minor Clans
Winter Court: Kyuden Kakita/Way of the Wolf

Renaissance RPG: A What the What? Review

What the What? Reviews offer a quick overview of various smaller, OOP, or Obscure RPGs.

PREMISE

A core system for playing historical or semi-historical campaigns in the black-powder period.

WHAT DO THE CHARACTERS DO?
This depends on the campaign frame- however the rules lend themselves to classic piracy games (Pirates and Plunder; Privateers and Pirates), musketeer (Flashing Blades; All for One: Régime Diabolique), or strange magic in the Early Modern era (Mage: The Sorcerers Crusade; The Savage World of Solomon Kane; On Her Majesty's Arcane Service). GM’s can determine the focus and what level of strangeness and/or magic appears. Renaissance includes rules for Alchemy and Witchcraft.

However generally characters will be relatively normal people in this world- mostly lacking strange powers, unique advantages, and superlative abilities which make them more four-color than real. Renaissance games will usually be lower powered and realistic. Considered them talented normals who have an edge through training and skills. Characters will have come out of a profession which defines them, such as Serf, Camp Follower, Highwayman, Scholar, Valet and so on.

As well players will belong to a faction- guild, religious group, brotherhood, nation, gang or the like. This helps define the character, but also has some significant mechanical obligations. This concept means that while PCs might be adventurers, they also have ties and bonds which connect them to communities. These groups offer support but may also have particular strictures and restrictions. Belonging to a faction may generate animosity with others, including among the party.

WHAT’S THE SYSTEM LIKE?
Renaissance is another version of the Basic Role-Playing System, here referred to as D100 Rules. Other versions of that can be found in Call of Cthulhu, Legend, Age of Shadow, and a host of OOP games (Runequest, Stormbringer, Ringworld, etc). Characters have a set of seven characteristics generated through 3d6 or 2d6+6 rolls. A small set of figured characteristics come from these. The main defining abilities features of characters come from skills which are rated as percentages. Characters have access to 21 common skills, and then can also gain others based on professions. Generally players attempt to roll under a skill’s number in order to success with a test. Players pick a social class which defines skill bonuses, advanced skills, starting cash, and the profession picks available to them. Professions add bonuses to the common skills and add additional advanced skills. Basic skills include Gun Combat, Persistence, Perception, Swim and so on and usually have a default rating based on characteristics. Advanced skills are usually narrower or require special training: Artillery, Commerce, Mechanisms for example.

Task resolution is simple, rolling a percentile die below the appropriate skill value. Difficulties and modifiers are applies to the skill value before the roll. Critical successes occur when the player rolls below 10% of their skill value and fumbles occur only on a “00.” Contested skill checks go to the successful party who rolled highest. Combat occurs in rounds lasting five second. Characters have a Combat action, a Reaction (usually a defense), and a Movement Action per round. Action choices can restrict or impact your other actions. Attacks can be negated or reduce by defensive actions- Dodge or Parry. Characters have relatively few hit points, so the rolled damage from an attack can take them out pretty easily. Characters who take more damage from a blow than their Major Wound level suffer ongoing effects of a Serious Wound (or Grave Wound if they go below 0 HP). This effect is randomized with a d10 on table determining location. The system is pretty easy to pick up if you’ve played any form of BRP. It adds a few new bells and sub-systems. It has some crunch to it but doesn’t present an overwhelming set of choices. Renaissance includes an optional set of rules for quick combat.

The system as a whole includes a significant amount of detail. How much of this a GM will use depends on their campaign. If you want to track the illumination distance of various light sources, record fatigue, consider encumbrance, and check for illness the system has rules. That’s necessary and right for a game trying to emulate this era- but GMs will want to figure out exactly to balance playability, detail, and grittiness.

WHAT’S COOL AND UNCOOL ABOUT IT?
The game has detail, but feels familiar. It adds to the D100/BRP mechanics without overelaborating it. The changes fit with the genre and focus. Many D100 versions have players check on skills they used successfully after a session to see if they increase. Renaissance offers improvement points which players can spend to check on a skill, gaining a 1d4+1 if they roll higher than their skill and 1 point if they roll equal or below. These points can also be used to learn new skills or increase characteristics. Generic systems often run one of two directions- overly complicated in an attempt to model everything or overly general in an attempt to simply contain everything. Renaissance falls nicely in the middle. The period detail, mechanical and otherwise is excellent and integrated well. I especially like the horrific section on diseases and physical ailments. There’s excellent detail on everyday life and smart mechanics for the two magics. Both systems are involved, but feel like they’d be worth playing out and exploring. Alchemy and Witchcraft seem distinct and different in the rules. There are sanity rules and systems for mental healing, with the idea that community support can offer mental armor.

My favorite bit from the game is the concept of Factions and Righteousness. As I mentioned above, characters belong to factions. The GM can use these to model groups and help establish a character backstory with ongoing implications. Communities and group membership were historically hugely important- defining self-identity and how others saw you. A historical game has to include that. So the Scotsman might belong to a clan, the merchant might belong to a guild, the sheriff might belong to a religious order. Each has certain important values and ideals, as well as an expected “Zeal” which is a rating. Renaissance goes one step further with players’ faith being tested and the possibility of debates between party members or with NPCs.

At the same time, mechanizing these aspects feels a little “gamey.” Tracking these points, adding losses based on a legislated morality, and offering the ability for a player to use these as a weapon against a fellow PC may not suit everyone’s tastes. It reminds me of the problem I have with some video game morality systems, which create a fairly black and white code- effectively a numerical rating of good vs. evil. I’m more in favor of systems like that in BioWare’s Dragon Age, where your actions don’t shift on an objective set scale but instead affect how others view you. The system also has some odd mechanical design choices- percentiles for skill use, d20 for fumble tables, d10 for wound tables. Those could be more standardized. The section on ships and naval combat feels all too brief, given the period. I would like to have seen more here, given the prominence of Pirate campaigns set in the period.

WHAT’S THE CORE BOOK AND WHAT ELSE IS THERE?
The core-book Renaissance Deluxe comes in at 171 pages, available as a pdf or in a print version. The book looks good with a simple two-column layout. The pages have a grey-scale watermark; that makes printing a reference copy from the pdf something of a pain in terms of ink. It looks good on screen however. Unlike other games, that layout choice doesn’t affect readability. The interior artwork is simple and generic- appropriate to the period. But the buzzword for the product as a whole is practicality. You could easily run a game with just the rules presented in this book. A bare-bones version of the system can be downloaded for free, the Renaissance SRD. That’s 139 pages, so it is a complete version of the game rules.

Currently Cakebread & Walton have three key secondary products for Renaissance. Clockwork & Chivalry 2e, is a stand-alone product which uses the Renaissance engine. This presents a magical post-apocalyptic take on the English Civil War. For my assessment of the first edition, see here. There are four adventures available for this setting, with two more forthcoming. Clockwork & Cthulhu offers a variation on the same ECW setting, but with Lovecraftian horror. That requires the Renaissance rules to play. Dark Streets is another setting sourcebook requiring the Renaissance rules. That covers a mid-18th Century London with officers in the desperately underprepared police force trying to stamp out forces of the Cthulhu Mythos. Finally, Cakebread & Walton have announced another setting sourcebook, Realms of Gold, which uses Renaissance to present a more high fantasy world with black powder elements.

WHO MIGHT LIKE IT?

• Historically minded gamers, especially those who enjoy the Early Modern Period. 
• Fans of Basic Role-Playing seeking ideas for how to modify and rework the system to their taste.
• Toolbox GMs looking to see how other games deal with niche concepts like communities; ships; alchemy; and witchcraft. 
• Gamers looking for a reasonably crunchy low-powered fantasy game. Those that enjoyed the careerist approach of old WHFRP and wanted something of that grit in a historical game.

OVERALL
This is a solid rules set. I look forward to reading through the campaign supplements Cakebread & Walton have put together. Anyone even moderately interested should at the very least pick up the SRD version of it.

Renaissance Deluxe on RPGNow
The Renaissance SRD
Clockwork & Chivalry on RPGNow
Clockwork & Cthulhu on RPGNow
Dark Streets on RPGNow

    

Changeling the Lost Vegas: Session Four: Seating Order

The video for session four:

This Episode
The group continues their exploration of Sunswept Ranch. They hear a mysterious car drive onto the grounds, but when they look see no vehicle. Eventually they discover the Invisible Bookmobile of Teodoro Candlemass who is immediately subject to the group's tender mercies. After a round of Bad Cop, Worse Cop, and Let-Go-From-The-Force Cop, they get information from Teodoro. He's a street mage (not a Wizard, a point he makes repeatedly) from Las Vegas trying to stay out of the way of sorcerous fascists. He and the group strike a slightly lop-sided pledge. He shows them the location of the Hedge Fruit Garden. They check it out and discover a rich prize hidden away.   

Next Session: The last exploration bits and reporting back in.

Meta-Notes: This session actually caps an awesome weekend of gaming. I ran a full-on dungeon crawl in the Friday night game, wrapping with the return of a legendary villain the group defeated. On Saturday I played two games of Arkham Horror (one win, one loss) and Airlines Europe.  On Sunday I played several games of Netrunner, two games of Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar, and one game of Ginkopolis. Then I ran this on Monday. Plus I wrote four reviews and got some other prep done. Good stuff. 

This session follows from these elements:

• The Neon Hedge: Building Changeling Las Vegas
• Changeling Lost Vegas: Session One
• Changeling Lost Vegas Orientation (Part One)
• Changeling Lost Vegas Orientation (Part Two)
• Changeling Lost Vegas Session Two Video 
• Changeling Lost Vegas Session Three Video

First Wave: Series Two Preludes

Tomorrow sees the first session of the second campaign arc for our G+ Hangout Mutants & Masterminds campaign. I wrote up some teaser bits to cover the couple of months between campaigns.  You can see the campaign wiki here. 

MR. FREEZE

Mr. Freeze looked over his tablet, trying to run through the appointments. There were too many- he’d tried to delegate, but so many things needed his sign off. Requests for appearances from worthy causes, research requests, new budgets for facilities. He quickly shifted several of the emails to another file. These were notes from city officials. Some had come to terms with the presence of First Wave. Others clearly wanted to cover their ass if something went wrong, so they extended the minimal of courtesies. Another set of notes from his lawyers and 20^th Century Fox. They had another draft of the script for the First Wave movie. Things had moved at lightning speed (for Hollywood at least) after they’d discussed and made arrangements to license the rights to First Wave’s story. After a bidding war had come the negotiations and arrangements to get together funding, choose a scriptwriter, and find a director. Not a single scene had been shot yet, but already it was had generated huge buzz across all media.

It was also Freeze’s single biggest headache- with constant queries and approvals. Even with Stark’s legal team, the wrangling took forever and necessitated his presence from time to time. With the lull after the storm, Iron Man had become erratic- vanishing off the grid, taking on new projects, distracting himself with suit improvements, and pushing everything off on to his staff, his assistants, and eventually on to Freeze. Miracle had shown up in Freeze’s house one night, past his vaunted security system, to tell him that he had to go on a journey- and then he’d vanished into a Boom Tube. Nightcrawler helped- but his expertise lay elsewhere, clear not in administration and management.

Freeze looked up and studied his wife’s features. Frozen. Still. Just as he remembered her. How long would it take? Would he be old before they found a solution to the problem? The Penguin’s antidote had worked, but had been only one half of the solution. The other still baffled him and his research team. Richards and LexCorp had been supportive and offered their best men, but the other toxin defied their tests and solutions.

Freeze saw another email in his box, anonymous, somehow slipped past his Spam filter. He looked at the subject line- re: Penguin.

He opened the email

I AM NOT DEAD. BUT YOU WILL WISH I WAS.

INTERLUDE ONE: THE VISITORS

The vector on the stream shimmed- hard and crunch at the corner when the bubble came through. He felt the twist and give as it intersected with something which would be there at some significant point. If he’d been a better pilot he’d have plotted through that and turned up the uncertainty, but listening to the lectures, hell even the sleep-waves, was so nass that it just never stuck with him at all. Direction and orientation vanished in a cloud wave of probability, the only thing keeping him from smashing into something hard at the controls was that he’d become 99% theoretical for a moment.

He spun the dial- always his reaction to any problem- luck would be his mistress. And then suddenly he was real again. He stood up forgetting about the metaphysical inertia he’d picked up. Alternate realities slammed into him. He flew out the hatch which had flown open. Outside the air hit him again- filled with smalls- delicious smells. He tried to parse out what it all was- too many things all at once. His stomach growled. When had he last eaten. He looked back as his vehicle folded back in on itself. Wait, hadn’t he come here with someone else? Who was it—a friend? A hitchhiker? Someone else?

“Grife.” He stood up and dusted himself. “Oh well, let’s find First Wave.”

IRON MAN

Stark gestured and the lights came on in the base. His insomnia, his distraction had brought him here again. He walked around the large main meeting room. The worst of the Cabal’s excesses had been removed- the stolen paintings, the garish displays of wealth, and the deathtrap hatches. Some things had been returned, and others had been donated to raise money for charities. Stark’s team had redone the room to a clean efficiency, complete with secure connections and a remote version of Jarvis. The trophy area, however, remained intact, a morbid reminder of the Cabal’s history and a warning. Tony had thus far kept himself from taking anything there apart- he still had masses of material and devices from the others they’d fought. And the salvage from Atlantis. He’d gone back many times, quietly without telling the others, hunting for Thor’s hammer, but to no avail.

Tony sat at the table. The Furies had been given the night off. Miracle had gone to bat for them, gaining a pardon for their part in stopping Starro. They’d agreed to work for the team, serving as the kind of expert and discrete staff they needed to run the base. So of them were attractive, so that didn’t hurt Stark’s backing of the idea, though he wouldn’t say he completely trusted them. But he’d added protections and redundancies to the base, so he’d know if they did anything off kilter. He could tell that more than a couple of them were in love with Miracle, but he didn’t seem to notice. He’d spoken about someone, Barda wasn’t it, a friend? a family member? a lover?

Tony had distracted himself long enough. He looked across the table and let himself finally think the thought. “Did my grandfather sit here? My father?” Had they aided the headhunting of superbeings? Had they approved it? Had they participated in it?

He’d closed down the weapons development, but the question now haunted him: how much blood did Stark Industries actually have on its hands?

INTERLUDE TWO: A WOMAN WALKS IN TO THE DOCTOR

“You’re going to need to sit still…you have to relax.”

“Re…lax…” Her voice came out guttural, then pitched up to a whine. He still hadn’t gotten used to that. The doctor stepped back reflexively.

His patient reached up to her bandages, touching her face again. She shivered a little, another one of the tremors she’d had since the accident. He gripped her chart a little tighter- a talisman against her.

“You…you have to understand. We’ve done all that we can do. The problem lies in your mutant physiology as much as anything. That interacted with the chemicals in some way- probably saved your life…but you were under for so long and your powers…the accident”

She stared up at him. “No accident. No accident.” Her voice chilled him. “Take the bandages off.”

“I really shouldn’t…you need to recover and prepare yourself.”

“Take the bandages off.” Her voice was absolute. His will was not his own. He raised the scissors and began cutting. Then she struck his hands away, too slow at his task. She ripped and pulled at his initial cut and peeled away the layers.

“Mirror.”

“You need to…”

“MIRROR.”

He handed it to her, backing further away. He’d not been ready for this, the money wasn’t worth it. If he could make it to the door.

Her chalk-white hand shot out and grabbed him by the throat. Her whole body shook…he began to black out… “Please…stop…” he managed to get out. Was she crying…no, laughing…

“They have no idea…all of them…I’m going to teach them a lesson, a wonderful lesson…First Wave and their leader Freeze…” She released the doctor and his lifeless body fell to the floor.

“The joke will be on them.”

NIGHTCRAWLER

Kurt launched himself across the abyss, forty stories to the ground below. He stretched, hit the ledge, and used the momentum to propel himself upwards even as he teleported. The energy stayed with him and as he appeared he used it to grab onto the railing and swing himself around. He rolled soundlessly across the deck and then stood.

“Ta-da” he said to the empty visitor’s area. After hours they closed elevator access to the site. Kurt had found it a few weeks ago and it had become a regular stopping point as he patrolled the city. We patrolled was perhaps too strong a word for it; he toured the city. He still hadn’t gotten used to New York, and to the freedom he had here. In the circus, he had hid when he wasn’t performing; in British Intelligence, secrecy had been the rule. He’d been able to go out from time to time but he had to be discreet. In New York, with First Wave, no such rules restricted him. He could go out in public, he could be in the open, he could meet people.

But beneath the surface, he could sense it still, a tension. They looked at him oddly, they shied away despite the public declarations that he was a true hero. Over the last few weeks he’d heard more anti-mutant sentiment in the media. Superheroes might be more accepted, especially after the Starro incident, but the hate-mongers still searched for a scapegoat. They’d turned their attentions even more fully to mutants- a whisper campaign. Eventually they’d return to fears and hatred directed as superbeings in general, but First Wave’s public victory kept them quiet for the moment. He considered the card he’d been given by the man Forge, and the Brotherhood he’d spoken of. He hadn’t contacted them for many reasons. Not least of which had been the notes he’d found among the few Cabal records- suggesting that mutants had been around for decades, but had been quashed, co-opted, or eliminated by the organization. He wasn’t sure how to talk about that secret, what it might mean for Iron Man, what it might mean for others innocently connected to the organization.

He had tried to contact some of his former friends in the British Service, but some refused to take his calls. He’d agreed to remain quiet after leaving the Agency, but his actions and membership in First Wave had given him a high profile. He’d avoided questions about his past, but the publicity had been overwhelming. He knew of some in the Department who would be getting nervous about that, wondering if Kurt could keep their secrets. Some might even take steps. Who knows what lengths they might go to retrieve or silence Nightcrawler, their Weapon X.

INTERLUDE THREE: INCARCERATION

…The upgrade and renovation of the facility will draw on funds from the Governor’s office, the Federal Government, and a bond issue from the city of New York. In greater part the project will repair damage to the prison during the Starro Incident and the aftermath. It will also ensure that the Raft has the latest in high-tech security and restraints to deal with super-powered felons. As Mayor ------ noted in his address, “The upgrading of the Raft is not a permanent solution. New York will not become a dumping-ground for dangerous metahuman criminals. But New York has a responsibility to house these persons securely and safely. Until a larger, national solution is developed, we will have to do all that we can to provide peace for the people of our great state and city.” The Mayor’s office had not comment on rumors that the renovated Raft would accept supervillains from neighboring states in exchange for a significant regular payment. Interim Warden Steel refused to issue any statement, leaving his secretary to hand out small neatly typed ‘No Comment’ cards. Housing and containing supervillains has become a nationally debated issue since the Starro incident, with some calling for a massive UltiMax Federal Prison…

MISTER MIRACLE

Miracle stopped to catch what breath he could as Apokolips burned beneath him. The Seven League Furnaces belched heat and cinders. They’d offer some cover for him. Even stopping off to sabotage a MagnaRing Oubliette, he’d managed to put several minutes between himself and his Parademon pursuers. The WizCracker Gang he’d tangled with. And the Burn Hound V-Troopers who’d on his tail since he’d arrived three days ago. Then he heard the sound of someone behind him. He rolled and came up, facing the figure while keeping a scan of the surrounding area.

“Himon!” Miracle nearly shouted at the shabby, white haired figure who lounged lazily on a vent watching him.

“Aye Scott. You’ve improved. You picked me up faster than anyone else I know would have.” Himon approached and embraced his former apprentice. “I had to see you before you left again.”

“I’m…I’m not sure if I’m leaving. I spoke with Barda, tracked her down…”

“And she wouldn’t leave here with you.” Himon said it gently. “Of course she wouldn’t.”

Miracle gripped his cape. “Granny’s gone. But the danger’s worse than ever. Darkseid has plans, for here and the Earth. He sent agents there, more than Godfrey pursuing me with his plots. Mantis was disguised as a superhero, El Diablo, intent on inciting rifts and tensions between humans and superbeings. I tried to make Barda understand…”

Himon reached out and touched Scott’s shoulder. “I’m going to say what you already know. Barda’s like you. That’s why you’re meant for one another. She cares about her comrades, the Furies. She hopes to show them a better future, perhaps bring some of them around to hunger for freedom as you do. But she also wants to protect them. If Granny doesn’t return, the other Lords of Apokolips will battle for what was hers. She has to do this. Just as you have to return to Earth.”

Himon began fumbling with his belt, gathering together some bits and pieces to distract himself as he continued. “She must be free to make her choices. And when she’s done so, if the Source wills it, you two will find one another. I know that to be true. Freedom is choice and life, what we struggle for.”

“Thank you, Himon.” Scott nodded. It was perhaps a truth he felt, but didn’t want to accept.

“Have you been to New Genesis? Seen your father? We’ve heard rumors- that you and your friends conquered a foe that even gave pause to the Dark One.”

“I went…but they would not see me yet. My actions have unbalanced the agreement between the worlds. Orion met me, but he wanted to hear more about the battles than to tell me how my father is. He said that the defeat of Starro, for all the cost and the current tensions, prevented a greater tragedy. I’ve done that, but have I done damage as well…”

“No, no. Scott- your name is spoken in the darkest corners of this world. Your symbol painted on alleyways as a rallying cry. Other heroes have arisen, fighting back against the tyranny of Darkseid. Vykin and Serifan to name a few. We are in a time of changes, and you must be strong.”

Miracle heard the simultaneous ping from his Mother Box and Himon’s. “One minute out.” He said. “I should go.”

Himon grabbed his hand, putting a number of devices in his palm. “I’ve made some things for you. Improvements to your circuits and some other tricks should you wish to discover them.” Scott hugged the old man, and then opened the Boom Tube- he vanished inside.

“Farewell Scott.” Himon spoke softly as he watched Miracle vanish. “Inzaya may be your father, but you will always be my son.”

INTERLUDE FOUR: THE CRYSTAL

The Director stood at the enormous window, light from it silhouetting him. He stared out, hands behind his back. Jenkins remained uncertain if his master actually contemplated the scenery or if this was an affectation designed to intimidate his underlings. Regardless of intent, it gave him chill whenever he was summoned to the office. Jenkins cleared his throat. The director turned and smiled, his great wide and white shark smile.

“You have a report on the crystals?”

Jenkins nodded and handed across the folder. The director insisted on paper versions of reports, with no electronic backups except for the most essential operational details.

“Give me the essential details, your summary.”

“As you indicated, the Magus Gem was a code name assigned by LexCorp. The intent had been to throw people off, but who or why remains uncertain…”

“His colleagues in the Cabal.” The Director interrupted. “But that’s not really important.”

Jenkins gathered his thoughts before continuing. Something about his superior’s voice always disconcerted him. “The Gem was among a number recovered from the craft LexCorp impounded, along with the test subject Na-Mor. There was some connection with Atlantis, with Starro, and such but the how and why aren’t clear. There’s some suggestion that the craft was launched from Atlantis when it fell- and then remained in some kind of stasis until it arrived here. A time or dimensional craft rather than a space-craft.”

“The vessel held a number of crystals, with several “key” crystals, including the Magus Gem. As far as we can tell, they were colored, as opposed to the mass which were translucent. That’s about all we have on that. The lead researcher on the project, Dr. Reed Richards, vanished with the crystals, destroyed the project records, and released Na-Mor. Only three scientists who worked on the project remain alive, and two of them were tangential. The rest perished in the July 4^th attacks.”

The Director nodded. “After which, of course, Franklin Richards takes over as LexCorp CEO. But there’s no connection between the two, correct? None we’ve been able to find.”

Jenkins shook his head. “No, it is a common name. And it seems a little too obvious if there is some tie…”

“Or not…” The Director spoke again. “I hate super-geniuses. They can’t do anything straight-line. I take it the third scientist is Werner, the one who put First Wave into contact with the Magus Gem?”

“Yes. We’ve been unable to locate him. He seems to have vanished during the Starro incident.” Jenkins continued. “We have been able to determine that there were twelve of these significant gems. Some may be on the market. We can try to track them down. The Magus Gem we’re not sure about- it may have been lost in Atlantis or First Wave may still have it.”

The Director finally sat down at his desk. “Contact the Black Knight. He specializes in these kinds of things.”

“But isn’t he compromised by his assisting First Wave?”

“Perhaps, but if there’s one thing I know, it is how obsession drives people. The Knight is a creature of vices. Those will be our tools. And if he fails…” He gave the shark smile again. “I have someone else in place…”

THOR

They brought him in chains before her- wrapped great iron links the span of his forearm to hold him down. They held with magicks as much as substances, but even so he refused to bow when they dragged him there. She stood proud and dangerously, her eyes black and glinting.

“Thor Odinson. You are in my realm now.”

In the distance he heard the sound of hammers, of smiths striking weapons and ringing anvils. Then another sound cut across them.

DOOOOOOOOOM

The sound of something larger, a forge-master bringing down his hammer to shape something terrible and awful. Even Hel herself paused at the clamor of it.

She returned to her prisoner. “The Mortal Realm has reopened. Your defeat of the unspeakable Starro lifted the bans and the barriers. Except the Bifrost remains closed. The Allfather senses war and he hides himself away in Asgard. His son falls to me and he does nothing, sends no petitions, no emissaries. Has he not forgiven you, Thor?” She smiled again, but he kept his gaze steady upon her, not reacting, not flinching.

“Or perhaps he knows what my answer would be. What my demands would be. Still there are ways out for you- there always have to be.”

“Speak your mind straight, Witch.” The first words he spoken since he’d come to this forsaken and darkened palace.

“Bow to me. Swear fealty. Serve me and rule in Hell, as my consort.”

“NEVER.” He strained at his bonds and the dozen demons leaned back on their chains to hold him in place.

“There is another way. Another route…” Hel spoke icily.

And then she told him of that way. And Thor’s bellows of despair finally rang out, echoing even up to the gates of Valhalla. 

The L5R 4e Resource Guide: Night of a Thousand Screams & The Way of the Lion

THE L5R 4E RESOURCE GUIDE
The set-up of the new 4e L5R more easily allows the use of materials from earlier editions and eras. That raises the questions: which of these products should an L5R 4e GM bother picking up? Which of them offer new insights into the pre-Clan War period (and beyond)? Which of them offer more universally useful setting material? This series aims to answer those questions. Note that I leave aside any and all mechanical material and questions for purposes of these reviews.

NIGHT OF A THOUSAND SCREAMS
There’s debate about how much a game can induce fear in a group. Can it actually create a sense of horror, unease, or terror? Especially given a group of competent and trained bushi. Some later L5R products certainly strive for that, for example the ghost story tropes of Bearers of Jade. Then there’s the legendarily creepy unpublished module Mirror, Mirror. I don’t know where I come down on that- but I do know that I can induce panic in my players. A module Night of Thousand Screams is an expert adventure delivering panic, desperate timelines, frantic pacing, and a headlong rush towards disaster. It is pretty awesome.

I’ve run NoaTS twice. I had a blast both times. The first time I ran it, a couple of the players screwed up big time at the end. Lots of people dead, massive damage done. They caught the bad guy, but the fallout from their actions was pretty intense. The main foolish player in that situation went on to be ordered to kill himself at the end of the campaign. When he turned to one of the other players to serve as his second, she said “No, you honorless dog.” Good times.

The story pack's set-up has the players in Ryoko Owari. This dovetails really well with City of Lies (which makes sense since this is the second in the “L” series of storypacks, "City of Lies"). Magistrate characters there can easily fit into the adventure. It works especially well as an early plot. The story has the players rushing all over the place- making it a great tour of locations and concepts. On the other hand, the story also works if the group simply happens to be in the city. In either case it allows the GM to run from the text itself, or support it with details from CoL.

The adventure begins with an attack by an Oni on Crane Merchants. From there the players will stumble into a complex web of leads, plots, investigations, and combats. The module's structured around twenty scenes- each given a time frame. The whole of the adventure happens in one night. From the moment of the Oni attacks until the resolution at dawn the next morning, the group will be running. The pressure and pacing of this adventure is awesome. It flips between NPC interactions, puzzles, quick conflicts, chases, and fights. At the same time, it gives room for the players to catch their breath, but the respite is brief. It makes questions of healing, spell use, and other resources central in a way they often aren’t.

Authors Zinser, Soesbee, and Dornaus assembled the adventure smartly. Each scene is presented with a set up and then Challenge, Focus, Strike discussions. The GM can easily see what key elements of each scene. The module seems linear, but actually provides the players with room to make choices and work at the problems with different solutions and approaches. There’s plenty of wiggle room built into the adventure, accompanied by a few moments of “and this happens.” Those are thankfully few and far between and rarely take autonomy away from the players or make them look like idiots. There’s boxed text here- still an old-school affectation, but that can be worked around. In many ways, this reminds me strongly of the mystery structures on offer in GUMSHOE. Scenes provide a key and clear Core Clue which points to one or more locations. Those are picked up by players with basic use of skills or choices. Additional clues can be uncovered with rolls and checks. The combat and conflict scenes are equally smartly delivered. Players can strike directly or use the environment to their advantage- success will come from planning and being clever. Finally there are some great NPCs provided as well, making this all-around a great adventure.

Physically the product is 48 pages with solid and useful interior art. There’s a great reuse of the sketch map of Ryoko Owari from City of Lies, coded with the locations of key events in the city. The interior of the cardstock cover has a number of floorplans which will be useful for many GMs. The story does focus on investigation and elements of supernatural horror, which may not work for all campaigns.

NoaTS makes use of the Ryoko Owari backdrop. The flavor informs the atmosphere and in a couple of cases the plot, in terms of places the players have to go. It expands and makes use of the details given in City of Lies. That being said, the plot could be used elsewhere with some work. You’d have to create a couple of analogue locations in the new city (most notably Teardrop Island) and you might have to rework some of the NPC clans and identities. It might not work everywhere (Otosan Uchi or The Second City, for example). But generally a smart GM could probably come up with the necessary changes in an hour or two. In fact, it would make a great introduction to the locations and character of a city, just as this one does for Ryoko Owari. Night of a Thousand Screams works best in the City of Lies, but the story’s strong enough to survive elsewhere.

OVERALL
It really takes going back and rereading some of these adventures to see how well they work. Night of a Thousand Screams is linear, but in the best sense of that. Players will be desperately hurtling forward to save the day, all other concerns aside. Given the strength and the adaptability of this adventure, I recommend it for GMs of all eras.

THE WAY OF THE LION
When AEG first announced the L5R CCG I was a manager at a local game store. I loved samurai games, so I pushed hard on this product for players. We’d between trying to find other CCGs beyond Magic which would grab players attention- and more importantly bring in gamers who didn’t like MtG. We gave L5R a try- I ran events and organized group games, but the complexity of it and the time a basic multiplayer game could take turned some people off. It was, especially in the early days, a game with significant barriers to entry. I ended up with the Phoenix in the draft and tried to get a handle on the game. It never took off but even those who gave up playing identified with a Clan and hunted down cards to assemble a picture of the world. After trying to immerse myself in what I could out of that initial starter set I came to one important conclusion.

I really hated the Lion.

They seemed like obnoxious jerks. They possessed a brutality and callousness without the redeeming excuse of being those who kept the Shadowlands at bay. Every piece of flavor text quoting them dripped with contemptuousness. They also had the Beastmasters, the most sore thumb concept in the early L5R stuff. Ugh. What an unlikable group.

Yet something strange happened over time as I drifted in and out of following the CCG, made up my own miniature skirmish rules for Rokugan, and started picking up the RPG products. I began to see the big picture. When I first prepared to run in Rokugan, I looked closely at the clans, the roles, and the discussions. There the Lion usually ended up as the least liked group, more often villain than hero, and not in a sexy way like the Scorpiom. As underdogs in trhe meta-story, they fascinated me; I looked more closely and saw the cool niches they filled in the structure. They held the center in Rokugan, unloved by many but possessing another vital role, like the Crab. I made it my mission to figure out the Lion and over time they became my favorite clan as a GM. Complex, neither good nor evil, but more often driven by contradictions in their own code. My players still have no great fondness for them, but at least now they’re not the most reviled Clan (that’s reserved for the Crane…).

The Way of the Lion comes late in the product cycle of the “Way of…” series. By this point AEG had established the formula for the books. These have a standard clean layout for a 128-page sourcebook with five main chapters and five appendices. There are a few changes in Book Six however. The material has a slightly different organization, and we don’t have Ramon Perez illustrations for the sample characters. Some of his work appears elsewhere, but the art here is a mixed bag. The cover by Randy Gallegos just looks weird. Some of the pictures inside are done in a kind of charcoal grey which doesn't reproduce well. The writing's generally solid- credited to three authors Patrick Kapera, Ree Soesbee, and John Wick. A half dozen other authors are listed for additional material. That's reflected in the piecemeal feeling in spots. As with the other volumes in the series, Chapter Three covers mechanics- new character options and new schools. Chapter Five has a set of sample character archetypes with background, useful as NPCs.

The prologue fiction mixes historical fable with a brief snippet involving the two iconic Lion characters, Matsu Tsuko and Akodo Torturi. Chapter One’s interesting in that the previous books have simply had some brief viewpoints from the other clans. This has that, as well as some of the historical material which usually goes in Chapter Two. There’s also a sidebar analysis of the Lion’s viewpoint of the other Clans. Some of these pieces are excellent. In particular the testimony from Doji Hoturi reshaped my sense of the Lion. They are a clan literally and figuratively haunted by their ancestors. Chapter Two on the history of the Lion skips general discussion and instead focuses on each of the four families of the Clan. Each sub-section contains several tangential topics: gempukku rituals, excerpts from Leadership, legends, and clan roles. Both the Ikoma and the Kitsu get less attention which is too bad as their role needs more definition. In particular the precise nature of the Kitsu Sodan-Senzo magic seems strangely limited and needs more explanation. Chapter Four discusses a dozen important Lion characters from the era. Oddly none of the three Ikoma presented are actually Omoidasu. It isn’t until later supplements that we actually see what a Lion diplomat looks like.

As one can imagine the first and largest of the appendices covers the art of war in Rokugan. There’s general material on the composition armies of the Emerald Empire, with a focus on how the Lion handles it. The sidebars restate the Bushido virtues (hinting at the importance this breakdown will have in the GM’s Survival Guide?). This takes up nine pages and will be useful for any GM wanting to run a military campaign. It is a nice color supplement to the mass battle system. Appendix Two goes through the major wars and battles of the Lion. Weirdly, the Lion don’t come off particular well in these. They rarely win, and most victories involve them as part of a coalition. There’s something of an anti-Lion bias here, making them the scapegoats for Rokugan. Appendix Three does the typical quick overview of the Lion lands. Appendix Four is a tangent for the book, which at first feels out of place. It begins by covering the spiritual world and ghosts. I would be nice to see how that connects the skills of the Kitsu, do they possess talents in that regard? I usually associate that with the Crab or Phoenix. The same appendix has a four new magic items. There’s a real absence of adventure or plot hooks in this volume. I prefer it when these have those as a dedicated section or sidebar. The book wraps with CCG crap, castle floor plans, and a dedicated character sheet.

OVERALL
The Lion are my favorite clan, and so I’m more than a little disappointed at how uneven this book feels. Don’t get me wrong there’s some hugely useful stuff here- the ideas about the nature of the Lion, the discussion of the Akodo and Matsu families, and the warfare essays. That makes it a decent read for L5R GMs and Lion players. But some things are overdone and others glossed too quickly (again the Ikoma and the Kitsu). It is also a book most useful for GMs covering the First Core setting. The trials, tribulations, and traumas the Lion go through after that- the Kitsu corruption; banishing of the Akodo; Toturi’s rise; the shadow Akodo; the Tsuno; and so on mean that the clan has gone through some devastating changes. Like the Unicorn and Dragon, the Lion of this era may feel quite different from those of the present.

L5R 4e Resource Guides

First Edition Core L5R Rules/Game Master's Pack

The Way of the Dragon/Honor's Veil
The Way of the Unicorn/City of Lies
The Way of the Crab/The Book of the Shadowlands

Code of Bushido/The Way of the Crane
Twilight Honor/The Way of the Scorpion
Night of a Thousand Screams/The Way of the Lion 

Walking the Way/Tomb of Iuchiban

The Way of Shadow/Midnight's Blood 
Way of the Phoenix/Way of the Naga/GM's Pack Revised
Winter Court: Kyuden Seppun/GM's Survival Guide
Unexpected Allies/Legacy of the Forge
Bearers of Jade/Void in the Heavens 
Otosan Uchi
Merchant's Guide to Rokugan/Way of the Minor Clans
Winter Court: Kyuden Kakita/Way of the Wolf

The L5R 4e Resource Guide: Twilight Honor & The Way of the Scorpion

THE L5R 4E RESOURCE GUIDE
The set-up of the new 4e L5R more easily allows the use of materials from earlier editions and eras. That raises the questions: which of these products should an L5R 4e GM bother picking up? Which of them offer new insights into the pre-Clan War period (and beyond)? Which of them offer more universally useful setting material? This series aims to answer those questions. Note that I leave aside any and all mechanical material and questions for purposes of these reviews.

TWILIGHT HONOR
At a glance three story tracks for Legend of the Five Rings campaigns present themselves: introductory tournaments; Magistrate/Mystery campaigns; and Shadowlands campaigns. All three of these give an excuse as to why members of different clans might gather and unite. The Courtly game offers another approach, but one bringing together diverse characters at each other's throats. L5R’s background focuses on the strain and tension between clans, suggesting a state of perpetual low-level strife with occasional outbreaks. This question- allowing players to choose any clan while finding an excuse to make a party- lies at the heart of the L5R’s challenge. Most other samurai style games focus on diversity through class choice, rather than clans. As you might expect the first three published L5R adventures-“The Hare Clan,” Honor’s Veil, and Code of Bushido- offer direct or oblique versions of the first two scenario forms.

And then Twilight Honor takes us to the Shadowlands. That means it has to be read in light of The Book of the Shadowlands. Does it manage to present a backdrop as awful and dark as that? Is it possible to write an open and challenging adventure set there while balancing the grimness and the lethality?

The module offers an interesting set-up device, and another way out of the multi-clan paradox. The group is tasked with their mission by Togashi Yokuni, Champion of the Dragon Clan. This works if the players know of Togashi Yokuni’s true nature as one of the kami. On the other hand, it ignores more questions than it answers. The set up works for some group types, but many will require serious finagling. The text takes it as a given that a Clan Champion can simply walk in and commandeer a group of samurai. I call BS on that a little, given how valuable trained samurai are to their lord. There’s some discussion of suggested player responses and logic which feels like handwaving. On the other hand it is the set up for a module, so I shouldn’t give it too hard a time. The material’s presented in a very old school way, with lots of boxed text.

A word on spoilers here. I’m not sure if I’m going to give any away. But I expect my audience for these articles is solely GMs hunting for material. It is a fifteen year-old module, so just be warned for this and any other review in this series I write. Bottom line plot of the adventure: there’s a Hida general who has gone around the bend and is about to invoke a plan which may bring doom upon his clan.

The rest of the module breaks down into five acts:

• Part II: Kyuden Hida: No travel adventure, just arriving at the fortress with Togashi’s symbol in hand. They can meet some of the key characters of the Crab. It does a nice job of setting up life in a Crab holding, though perhaps a little more cartoonishly than I would have preferred. The crux of this plot point is managing to convince Hida Yakamo that the group should be allowed to travel to Shiro Kuni. This is a procedural moment which the players have to pass to move on. The module offers a fudge option as well. 
• Part III: Kuni Castle: The PCs meet the problematic Crab, Hiruma Makasu. There’s a nice section here on time passing and dealing with life in the castle. I like the idea presenting that as a montage. There are some interesting NPCs presented as well. 
• Part IV: Into the Shadowlands: The group eventually goes on a patrol with Makasu into the Shadowlands. Things occur and the first hints that Makasu might be a problem- which is difficult to disentangle from normal Crab procedures. There are fights players cannot win and the eventual return to the castle. There’s the reveal that some of the Crab are unsure about their leader and then more daily incidents. 
• Part V: You Want Us To Go Back?: This begins with some rumors and more information suggesting a problem. The players have a couple of choices- leaving to go get help or staying. The former choice isn’t that interesting and potentially splits the group. The latter choice is clearly how the story’s expected to go. In this case the group has to deal with Makasu mounting a crazy expedition. And they’re pretty much strong-armed into going- even if they say no, the module forces them along. So they all head off to scout fallen Hiruma Castle, which- if you know Rokugan you know isn’t a great idea. The group falls back. 
• Part VI: Defense of a Clan: There’s an oncoming army attacking Makasu’s position at Kuni Castle. Makasu’s sin comes across as simply being excited about the imminent attack. It takes a bit to pick out exactly what’s he’s done wrong beyond being a particularly Crab-y Crab. And then there’s a big battle- with Hida Kisada arriving to join in. The players have some strategic options, but the rest is pretty much battle resolution.

OVERALL
There’s a lot of linear material in this module; it is pretty tightly plotted so the PCs can’t really screw it up. The volume of boxed text only makes it feel even more hand-holding for the GM. It has some other structural problems as well. Only once is there an allowance made that the party might not all be warriors and combat Shugenja. Groups with that kind of composition should probably skip this. Overall this is a particularly niche module, heavy on combat and survival, with lots of places where the PCs have their choices restrained and limited.

The bigger flaw of the module is the way it makes the Shadowlands feel like just a bad place with some monsters in it. This isn’t the shiver-inducing world of The Book of the Shadowlands. GMs will be able to add those elements, but the story may become even more lethal. I really want to like this module, but I don’t think it does a great job. The base skeleton of it could work, but it will take some work. I’d recommend other modules over this one, unless you’re running a campaign with a strong focus on the Shadowlands.

THE WAY OF THE SCORPION
It took me some time to realize that I didn’t hate the Scorpion Clan. Instead I’ve hated most of the gamers I’ve met loved the Scorpion Clan. In my experience, their problem lies in a desire to be smarter than everyone else at the table and have the chance to show that off through clever betrayal and duplicity. In the wrong hands, the Scorpion Clan makes problem players worse. Often these are the worst winner and worst losers. I had a Scorpion player absolutely lose it when he was off-handedly called out on an act of duplicity- an unnecessary act, and one he could have easily cleaned up after. Scorpion PCs require ultimately a lack of arrogance, a lack of self-interest and egotism to really work. In the right hands, with restraint and discretion the Scorpion can be really interesting.

That’s a difficult road to travel however, and points to some conceptual problems in early L5R. To make a parallel, I have to tell a story about a character I ran (*groan*). I was at a Detroit Convention playing in the final round of an rpg tournament. The situation was that the group was transporting a princess (played by a PC) to a wedding. We were part of the entourage, which included her defenders and at least one Paladin.

I was given the Drow Ambassador role, openly and obviously. I had to play the lone, obviously-evil character who came from a nation openly disfavoring the marriage. Let us say that this was a problem; I was immediately put under watch and threatened by several other characters. I did my level best by doing nothing- I was super helpful, stuck to the Paladin like glue, and worked hard to be in sight of someone at all moments. And when things went pear-shaped I was immediately slapped in irons. I had a certain satisfaction in being able to claim rightly that I’d had nothing to do with anything, but still I spent most of the session trapped by the role and other players. I imagine being a Scorpion often feels like that.

The weird thing about L5R lies in the split between the classic and story approaches in the material. The modules for example, feel particularly retro- linear, presented with a TSR layout, relying on boxed text. Contrast that with the tensions inherent in the Rokugan's social structure. L5R doesn't present minor animosity which can be glossed over in play (“Yeah, but he’s a good Half-Orc”). It has real rifts, especially when it comes to the Scorpion. John Wick understands that, and he plays that up in his material-especially in The Way of the Scorpion. He understands that if you follow these ideas to their logical conclusion, you don’t end up with your standard adventuring party. In the end Wick’s vision of Rokugan features a competitive party, subtly acting out a long-game of PvP.

The Way of the Scorpion comes in at 120 pages, with some of that filled by an ad pages and two double-sided character sheets. Dave Leri turns in another busy and weird cover. The interior art fares equally well, with many weak images. Ramon Perez and Cris Dornaus supply their usual excellent pieces however. The writing is strong, with John Wick offering an engaging tone that makes the Scorpion work- properly measured and in control. The book has five main chapters plus five appendices- the latter taking up almost half the book. Chapter three has character mechanics; chapter five has sample Scorpion characters.

I’ve glossed over Chapter Five in my previous reviews. The sample characters on offer in these "Way of..." books look like simple archetypes, but they’re actually more. They provide a prefilled character sheet, but more importantly a fully fleshed background. That material usually explores one or two Advantages/Disadvantages. These do an excellent job of presenting what these details actually look like within a character’s history. The attention given these entries pays off. The Ramon Perez illustrations don’t hurt either.

The book's prologue offers a compelling piece of fiction- and an intriguing look behind the scenes at some of the most iconic characters of the First Core setting. There’s an important sidebar in this section, speaking about the nature of “history” in Rokugan and the fluidity of it. There’s a little sting there at those who fixate on setting minutiae...which given my close reading of these books ought to be something of a rebuke to me. But I appreciate the concept- the history players know in this setting (and honestly in most settings) comes to their characters as a story. It has errors of transmission, biases, and hidden agendas. In Rokugan the such history becomes a potent weapon.

Chapter One gives testimonies from others about the Scorpion, as well as folktales exploring the contradictory nature of the clan. Wick presents Chapter Two differently from the other “Way of...” book. It begins with history, as the others do, but then moves into other topics: key battles, views on other clans, an exploration of Baysuhi Tangen’s classic volume Lies. The families of the clan are not addressed separately, except through reference to historical events. What family details appear in the book show up in Chapter Three with the School mechanics, and in the appendix. Chapter Four goes through the background of ten key Scorpion characters of the era.

The first appendix offers ten pages of advice on how to play a Scorpion. All Scorpion players should be required to read this, as well as any GM running for Scorpion PCs. I don’t necessarily agree with all of the advice there; I think a table has to openly negotiate how to handle elements such as secrets and betrayal. But overall the section is amazing and makes this book a crucial resource. Appendix two has ninja, split evenly between discussion of theory and mechanical details. Appendix three has new magic items, mechanics for wards and Shadow Brands, and another poison discussion (more color than mechanics thankfully). There’s a quick overview of the Scorpion lands, including three pages of castle floor plans. There’s also a fun section on gambling in Rokugan and instructions for making a “Fortunes and Winds” dice game.

OVERALL
Once again I have to bang my drum about the great fault of early L5R material: player and GM information are mixed up together. This is particularly bad in this volume. I can understand why some of this is presented openly- appealing to fans of a clan from the CCG to purchase the book looking for stories and information. But sometimes AEG gives away cool ideas and material which would be fun to reveal at the table. That’s particularly true with the Scorpion, who trade in secrets.

That aside, this book should be required reading for GMs who even tangentially deal in with the Scorpion. It provides insight and flavor to this clan and shows why they’re necessary to Rokugan. It goes a long way to making the Scorpion make sense. Recommended to all 4e GMs for any era (at least any in which the Scorpion aren't in exile...).

L5R 4e Resource Guides

First Edition Core L5R Rules/Game Master's Pack

The Way of the Dragon/Honor's Veil
The Way of the Unicorn/City of Lies
The Way of the Crab/The Book of the Shadowlands

Code of Bushido/The Way of the Crane
Twilight Honor/The Way of the Scorpion
Night of a Thousand Screams/The Way of the Lion 

Walking the Way/Tomb of Iuchiban

The Way of Shadow/Midnight's Blood 
Way of the Phoenix/Way of the Naga/GM's Pack Revised
Winter Court: Kyuden Seppun/GM's Survival Guide
Unexpected Allies/Legacy of the Forge
Bearers of Jade/Void in the Heavens 
Otosan Uchi
Merchant's Guide to Rokugan/Way of the Minor Clans
Winter Court: Kyuden Kakita/Way of the Wolf