Adventures

The Ronin’s Sword

Do you have one of those parties that like to loot everything? It does not
matter what it is, the first thing they do is check the body for loot. They have
lists of items collected form everyone they have killed and always try to see if
any of them are special or magical. Well here is an idea to teach them a lesson
about greed. Now I'm not saying its wrong to collect the spoils of war or
anything, its when they do it all the time. Killing the main villain and taking
his sword for your mantel is one thing, collecting every sword, tanto, little
bauble, or comb from all of his guards is a bit much. So how do you teach
them a listen about senseless looting? Well, you can always curse an item but
that's usually only going to make them careful about looting. You need to
cause such a headache that looting just seems like a bad idea.

The Plan
You first need to place the bait somewhere that you know it will be looted.
Here's my idea: you give a ronin a very fine blade that is of such quality
he had to have stole it. You will give the party a reason to cut this man down.
Maybe they were ordered to bring him in for questioning. The ronin will not
give up the blade and if asked he will just say that he cannot talk about it and
it cannot leave his side. Things will get heated and a fight will break out
(worse comes to worse, the ronin will get insulted and start a fight). After the
smoke clears they have a very nice blade. Give it like a +1k+1 to make it
appeal to the power gamers. Give it some mystical feeling like it always has a
light frost on the blade. If the spell users want to talk with the kami in the
blade, simply say they are powerful and will not speak to them. All this should
make just about any of the players want this blade (and if your party is the
looting mad men we are talking about, they probably tossed aside their family
blade four adventures ago).

The Hook
The blade is everything it seems and more. Let them run around with it for
some time. Give it a few neat powers, but make it pick one player out of the
group that it is willing to work for. Best way to work this is to make it
impossible to draw for everyone but that player. He will feel chosen (this
player is either the most greedy of the group or has the lowest willpower and
void). If they have not forsaken their family sword yet in favour of some other
blade, they will find after a week or so that without noticing they left it at
home, at the inn, or on their horse and are wearing the magical one in instead.
The Start of the Nightmare
You know that ronin? Remember him? Well he was not always a ronin. The
blade made him so as the players are about to find out. Have the players show
up in front of someone important. Someone of higher rank will notice the
blade (make them just 1 glory rank higher). He seems to believe that it is his
lost brother's sword. Naturally he wants it back. If he is asked for a description
of his brother, the reply describes someone nothing like the ronin. Whatever
you want to do, the player will give it to the man one way or another, he will
just pull rank if he has to but he will pay for it if he must. Next morning guess
what? That magical blade. Its back again! No one knows how it came back
and later that day the man shows up with magistrates and claims the player
stole it. He even has testimony. After the player is taken in for questioning, let
it simmer for a while. Then have the NPC show up and claim that it is all a
mistake and that the blade is not his brother's at all. He still believes it was
stolen, but due to the misunderstanding he is willing to just let it drop.

Fun with the Blade

You know this is just the start. The curse is that whenever the player is near
someone of higher rank than him (and does not know them personally), it
looks to implant the idea that it belongs to them in some way. Next, if given
away it will return to the player, but it does so by creating a copy of him
(using air kami) to go steal it back. It only does this while he is asleep and the
copy vanishes if he wakes up. Its a simple curse really and should cause all
sorts of problems. How can the player break the curse? With a vow of
poverty. One must take the vow and carry the blade for one year during which
its curse will not be active. If the vow is broken during that year it reactivates
and there is no way to break the curse other than through death. Also during
that year, the blade cannot leave the character's side for more than a day and
they must not speak of the curse to anyone. After that year though, the blade's
curse will be broken and it will lose all powers. The kami of the blade are
bound by greed and once the greed is lost, the bond breaks and frees them.

by
Jason Saice
Aka Soshi Saice *Exp The Saice*

The Wayward Charge

Challenge
The party are given the position of yojimbo / advisors to a young prodigy
from the clans shugenja. She is a beautiful young girl, just turned seventeen,
and she acts every bit the demure young maiden. The party have been
instructed to accompany the girl on her tour of the minor shrines of the clan's
lands.

Focus
As the party and their charge are touring the shrines, it becomes apparent that
the girl is not all that she first appeared to be. She is insolent, enjoys sake and
flirts with any men who catch her eye. At one tea house, filled with ronin and
other unsavoury types, the girl disappears, sending the party into a panic. The
party eventually find the girl in a small guest room, alone with a handsome
young ronin...

Strike
The ronin is the son of a rival shugenja family who is in disguise. The pair are
either truly in love, or are both trying to prise secret knowledge from the
other.

The Retainer

Challenge On one of the PCs' missions, their superior assigns one of his
trusted retainers to go with them, watch them and basically make sure they
don't screw up.

Focus All throughout the mission, someone or something tries to actively

prevent the PCs from carrying out their task. Sometimes it even tries to kill
them.

The PCs should run the whole gamut - from the smaller inconveniences
("There's a rockslide blocking the path") to the life-threateners ("Suddenly
there's an arrow buried less than an inch from the side of your head"). Slowly,
they'll come to realize how potentially lethal their situation is. Inevitably, the
retainer becomes their prime suspect.

Strike The PCs' "babysitter" retainer is in the pay of one of their superior's
enemies, and their lord doesn't know this. In fact, he trusts the man implicitly.
The retainer's task is to stop the PCs from completing their mission or, failing
that, prevent them from coming back alive.

The retainer should be made so obvious that he should immediately be

considered a suspect. However, if the PCs accuse him of betrayal before their
lord, they must be prepared to support their accusations or lose face. Should
the PCs kill the retainer, they're going to have to explain the whole mess to
their superior... or lose face AND be charged with cold-blooded murder.
Should the PCs find a way to make sure that the retainer never returns, they
come off clean - their lord will assume that the man was waylaid or
something. But then the enemy lord has something to use against the PCs...

Ultimately, this scenario should look and feel easy to the PCs - find whoever's
trying to stop them and deal with the situation. The true goal of this scenario,
however, is to have the players deal with the repercussions of dealing with the
situation, instead.

Recommendations To create the bodyguard NPC, try choosing a school

whose adherents are likely to give your players some trouble, and then build
the NPC from there. My personal preference would be a Wasp Bounty Hunter,
but there's always room for improvement here.

by
Kitsuki Ikeda

Black Opium

Opium is the drug most often found in Rokugan, but when a twisted Dragon
looked to break into the market, he applied some of his special skills; using
magic and alchemy a new opium hits the market...

What makes this new drug better? First it is cheaper, it is not real Opium but a
substance created from alchemy and magic. The process used to make it
produces a lot of it per cycle. Secondly it gets you high faster and keeps you
high longer. It has all the effects of taking twice as much opium of the proper
type (smoked, eaten, or drank) all the side effects are normal. (ie chance of
overdose etc,). Black opium looks like normal opium but the flowers are a
pitch-black colour and in liquid form it looks like ink.

The Hooks
Hook one - You are the typical good guy. Someone you know dies from an
overdose of black opium and you decide/are ordered to find out what this
black substance found on the body is.

Hook two - You are in the City of Lies working for/as the magistrate but not
working for/with the cartels. You find out about some recent fights on the
docks, it seems some shipments are having problems and workers are turning
up dead.
Hook three - You are in City of Lies working for/with the cartels. You are
asked to find out where this new opium is coming from and bring back
information.

The Plot
Just outside the city of lies an ex-Dragon has made him self a base of
operation with some ronin help. They are all Shugenja and are creating this
new drug, about once a day they can create a shipment of around 200lbs for
each member. Not enough to break the cartels, but they think they can create a
way to make it more efficiently. They are working on a nemuranai statue. This
idol, when placed in a warehouse containing opium, will convert it to black
opium if left there for one week. If they complete the statue, they plan on
trying to get their hands on the real stuff to get a mass market going. What
your players do, and how they deal with this is really a matter of whom they
are working for. Most would want this group destroyed, while the cartels
would love to get their hands on this Black Opium and control it's production
and distribution.

by
Jason Saice
Aka Soshi Saice *Exp The Saice*

The Broken Sword

This CFS should only be used on good roleplayers. It involves a shock and
disgrace like no other a samurai can face, something poor or inexperienced
players might not feel able to play out

Challenge
The most honourable character of the group is asked to attend a festival by his
sensei to give a demonstration of his dojo's most difficult sword kata for the
assembled nobles. The kata goes incredibly smoothly, the character finds a
clarity of mind that he has never experienced before. However, as he stands in
the final stance, his katana suddenly snaps in two, with gasps of surprise from
the crowd.

Focus
The character faces some tough decisions. If he asks permission to commit
seppuku, his daimyo denies him, saying that he has not yet found his destiny.

Strike
Before he performed the kata, his sensei switched his sword for another blade.
His daimyo asked the sensei to arrange this, to test the character to gauge his
suitability for a promotion.

The Deadly Message

Challenge: The PCs lord asks the party to deliver a message to an individual
in a remote location. The PCs have never heard of the individual before.

Focus: Somewhere in the middle of their trek, the PCs open and read the
message. This can be accomplished in a number of ways, for example:

1. A PC with the Meddler disadvantage, or of Honour 1 or less, or with other

"vested interests", opens the message and reveals the contents to the rest of the
party.
2. At a certain point, the scroll unfurls enough to reveal the first word of the
message ("Kill..."). It'll then be a Willpower TN 40 to resist reading the whole
thing.

Once the scroll is opened, the PCs can read three words in their lord's
handwriting, signed with their lord's chop at the end:

"Kill these messengers."

Strike: The recipient of the message is one of the greatest sensei of all time,
now retired. The lord sent the message with the expectation that the PCs
would browse its contents along the way.

Willingly delivering the message to the recipient, regardless of the known

consequences, indicates the PCs' total trust and devotion to their lord. The
sensei is aware of the test, and if ALL the PCs pass, he accepts them under his
tutelage.

Should the PCs attack the sensei, or indicate in any way their refusal of the
consequences, the sensei should defeat them easily and send them back in
failure and humiliation.

Recommendations: If the PCs are actually so trustworthy as to refuse reading

the message throughout the entire trip, the message turns out to be real. The
recipient turns out to be a dangerous opponent (a maho-tsukai or a kolat
assassin, perhaps, that the lord is affiliated with) whose task is to kill the PCs
because they are being detrimental to a forthcoming plot.
Should less than half the PCs read the message, have them deal with the
dangerous recipient and give the more alert PCs an appropriate initiative
bonus or Awareness check when combat comes.

Should more than half the PCs read the message, have them deal with the
retired sensei and base the consequences on how the PCs act. Any PCs who
trust their lord gain an honor bonus, or may be accepted by the sensei as
students. All others are forced to make amends for their actions.

The sensei can be of any affiliation or profession you choose; his teachings
may give the characters bonus points in certain skills, or perhaps even teach
them a new technique independent of their current schools.

Any characters passing the test return to their lord with the sensei's approval,
earning them glory and honour rewards upon their return.

by
Kitsuki Ikeda

The Violent Husband

This CFS is only to be used seriously. If you don't think your players can
maturely handle the issues involved, please pick another plot hook for your
game.

Challenge
The party are guests at the court of an honourable lord from their clan. During
their stay, they hear cries, sobbing and the sounds of violence during the night.

Focus
One of the party sees the lords wife, in the bath house or garden, their arms
bruised and their face cut. If asked about the marks, they cast their eyes down
and mumble a ropey explanation involving stairs or riding accidents.

Strike
The lord is beating his dutiful wife, but how will the characters react? The
wife is also completely convinced that she is somehow responsible for the
beatings - she even says that she 'deserved' them. This is a difficult situation
for the players - don't use this hook unless you are sure they can handle it.
 The Noble and the Ronin

Challenge
This works well for parties of magistrates. The party come across a rough
looking ronin and a young noble who are locked in a deadly struggle.

Focus
The noble sees the party and calls out for help to 'apprehend the criminal'.

Strike
Before the party arrived, the noble attacked the ronin on sight without
provocation. The ronin is on a Musha-Shugyo and is an honourable and
devout man, the noble is an arrogant spoilt brat.

Thief! Thief!

Challenge
The PCs are honoured guests in the palace of thier lord. Early one morning,
the peace is shattered by a scream, the lord's wife's favourite pet cat has been
stolen. The PCs are asked to investigate, the lord will trust no-one else in this
matter.

Focus
With a bit of investigation, it becomes apparent that this is not the first time
something has gone missing; many minor heirlooms have disappeared, as
have several gifts from other clans. The clues should point towards a shady
servant, but once he is dealt with, the lord's family sword is stolen!

Strike
The thief is actually the elderly kleptomaniac grandmother of the Lord!
Naturally this is a very delicate situation, and will require careful handling. It
might be fun to play the Grandmother like Mulan's Grandmother in the
Disney film 'Mulan'!

The Broken Sword

This CFS should only be used on good roleplayers. It involves a shock and
disgrace like no other a samurai can face, something poor or inexperienced
players might not feel able to play out

Challenge
The most honourable character of the group is asked to attend a festival by his
sensei to give a demonstration of his dojo's most difficult sword kata for the
assembled nobles. The kata goes incredibly smoothly, the character finds a
clarity of mind that he has never experienced before. However, as he stands in
the final stance, his katana suddenly snaps in two, with gasps of surprise from
the crowd.

Focus
The character faces some tough decisions. If he asks permission to commit
seppuku, his daimyo denies him, saying that he has not yet found his destiny.

Strike
Before he performed the kata, his sensei switched his sword for another blade.
His daimyo asked the sensei to arrange this, to test the character to gauge his
suitability for a promotion.