Preface:
My name is Fabien. I am a traveler. While hiking the Phoenix Mountain Preserve with my four-year-old daughter, we found ourselves somewhere on the World of Rynaga. Here is how we got there: Lost in Rynaga.

Day Two

Caitlyn and I awoke a bit before dawn, and for some time, I hesitated leaving our protectors. Phoenix, our adopted silentwood hawk, was doing better already as we stretched his wounded wing gently. Artor and Silana woke up and Artor made breakfast while Silana worked on her armor. I offered to help and reluctantly she let me. I mended several joints that she had been having trouble with and by the time I was done, she was smiling.

The day was spent walking through Silentwood. I loved every minute of it and even Caitlyn, who usually complained over long walks, was in awe. I carried Phoenix with me.
At about midday we hit a high top and the view was simply magnificent. Far ahead of us, I saw an airship of enormous size and wondered what things looked like from up there.
Artor pointed in the direction we had been headed and said, "Hiroja."

I sighed in relief. It was only the second day but already I felt that we ought to return to our home in Phoenix. I thought that we could find someone who knew Eric, or even acquaintances of his, who could perhaps help us. Solan came to mind, though I recalled his disappearance had not gone unnoticed.

We reached the city this evening.
Hiroja was very lively and we found out they were getting ready to host their brewing festival in two days. I wanted to buy some food for Caitlyn and I, realized I had no money and needed to find work. Perhaps we could make some money at the festival.
Artor and Silana said they were staying the night and that they would pay for a cozy room for Caitlyn and I.

I thanked them profusely and promised them not to betray what I had found out about their mission. I won't mention any details in these pages, for fear of them falling into the wrong hands.

Preface:
My name is Fabien. I am a traveler. While hiking the Phoenix Mountain Preserve with my four-year-old daughter, we found ourselves somewhere on the World of Rynaga. Here is how we got there: Lost in Rynaga.


Day One

I was running, my 4-year-old daughter, Caitlyn in my arms. We heard the vaygr's steps as it left the cave opening and pursued its new prey.  I did not bother waiting to have a look or even attempted to get a furtive look at our pursuer.

The low branches of the pine trees were scratching my face but it did not matter because I had to keep us safe. I had not run this fast in my life before. As I ran, I felt a certain inner strength help me overcome the fear and the hardship of running through such a dense forest. Caitlyn was silent and her hands gripped me tightly.
Caitlyn made a whimpering sound. I was breathing hard from the running and eventually realized that I could not hear the vaygr behind us anymore. I did not dare to stop.

After what seemed like an hour but was probably more like minutes of running, the vaygr leapt from the side and blocked our path.
Something tackled the older vaygr and the huge shape rolled away with it. I heard the ensuing wrestling match. The younger vaygr looked at me. I held the staff I had used to hit it between us, as what I hoped would be a warning. We both heard a loud crack coming from the wrestling shapes off to the side, and the young vaygr decided then it was not worth the danger and turned around. It disappeared quickly, blending with the forest's natural textures and colors.

I turned around just in time to see what could only be a Featherune Bowmaiden riding a Silentwood Igwaza. I quickly filed the information of our location away for later pondering. We looked at each other for a long time, all the while listening to the sounds of vaygr whimpers and growls as well as the occasional deep grunt of the other creature which was wrestling and thrashing with it.

The maiden said nothing to me. She brought her bow up from her lap while she and the igwaza looked at me and my improvised weapon quizzically. Caitlyn ran from her hiding place and grabbed my leg. Somewhere to the side of us, the sounds of thrashing ceased, and a vaygr howl grew more distant. I continued to look at the bowmaiden. She simply said: "Do you live near here?"

I then realized why she was so confused. I was clearly not a threat. I had no real weapon and while she may have considered me a traveler, it was clear that my gear was limited to my good hiking boots, a pair of shorts, a shirt and a small bag for my usual water, snacks and hiking necessities. I was clearly unprepared for a vaygr attack or for long distance travel. Seeing my daughter only added to the impossibility of long distance traveling within Silentwood, therefore, her conclusion to me having setting up a camp or cabin near this area.

"No," I replied. "I am not from here. I am an offworlder."

She quickly put her arrow and bow away, and turned her beast using only her knee. Now turned toward the giant kirzan fighter, which had emerged from the newly formed clearing where the vaygr wrestling had taken place, the bowmaiden said, "Go back to your world, then! You are ill-prepared for a journey here!"

With that, she left us. The Kirzan looked at Caitlyn and I. His face grew sad. He had been smiling due to his overcoming the vaygr with only his hunting knife. He said nothing but turned away from us and began a light jog in the direction of where the bowmaiden had left.

I immediately checked on Caitlyn, who had been so brave. I picked her up and gave her water. She drank and I began walking at a brisk pace to where the hawk had hopped to. The hawk was hiding under large green ferns. I told Caitlyn to call it 'Phoenix' as I picked it up gently with one arm. Caitlyn helped me hold him. He seemed so small now compared to when he had attacked the vaygr. I told Caitlyn we would look after it as I started walking off after the bowmaiden and the kirzan hunter.

After a few minutes, I saw their silhouettes against a thick background of trees. I slowed down just a bit. "Hurry", she called out. I did.

We walked together in silence. I was doing my best to keep up.

The Kirzan are very tall, often over ten feet. His stride was impressive. Caitlyn looked longingly at the Igwaza. She is fascinated with dinosaurs and this igwaza specimen is the closest thing we have ever been to a dinosaur-like creature. I looked at the Bowmaiden. She was not near Featherune which could only mean that she was traveling on some mission. I wondered what she thought when she stopped to let us join them. Was she being compassionate? Did she know something I did not? Was she aware of some imminent danger, perhaps related to her mission?

We made camp silently that night, setting up a nest of pine needles and ferns for the igwaza, and then ourselves. I shared the food the bowmaiden gave me with Caitlyn.

Caitlyn and I talked as we cared for our new pet hawk. The Kirzan approached us and said his name was Artor and told us about how to take care of the hawk. He didn't mention their travels or their mission to us. After all, we could be spies cleverly disguised. If it weren't for Caitlyn, they may have not let me join them because of it. Artor said the Bowmaiden's name was Silana, but not much more.

Caitlyn and I fell asleep feeling a bit blue: we already missed our family, my wife and son, still in Phoenix, who would surely be worried for us.

I went hiking with Caitlyn and we got lost.
We were hiking the Phoenix Mountain Preserve from the north end of the trail. We noticed a hawk circling above one of the lower peaks to the east. The rock of this mountain is darker and rougher than the dirt and rocky hills of the area. In any case we thought it would prove interesting to get closer and find out what it was hunting. We left the trail, but that was not the foolish thing to do. The whole area is so close to civilization that there's basically no way to get lost.

Earlier that week, I had shown Caitlyn this book: http://rynaga.blogspot.com/p/prelude.html and Caitlyn liked pretending to be a fierce Vaygr, a feline beast found in the imaginary world of Rynaga. When I offered to find out what the hawk was hunting, she got excited and began pretending that she was a Vaygr. (A vaygr is a large hunting animal, cat-like in appearance, though it is fierce and has natural camouflage abilities.)
Nothing strange there, she does this a lot. She is very imaginative and pretends to be some monster or creature all the time.

The trail was non-existent and we trudged between sharp-spiked bushes that were low to the ground, climbed a rocky outcrop to the northwest side of the low hilltop. That's when we saw the cave opening. It was a fairly small opening, but it opened to a sort of cave that I had obviously not encountered before.

What happened next is something I can't quite explain. I told Caitlyn to avoid the cave opening, but she was already going off on how the cave was where her vaygr clan lived. Before I knew it, she was running toward it. I caught her right before she reached the opening and when she growled at me, still in her character of the vaygr, we heard a deep and long growl answering her from within the cave.

We both froze. She tensed up and turned around to jump in my arms. I picked her up and turned around only to discover that the bushes had been replaced with tall pine trees, the sun was no longer shining but a powerful glow descended from the sky through the thick layer of clouds. I heard the hawk screech from above. I didn't know what to do or where we were, so I picked Caitlyn and started running.

I was no longer hiking in the familiar Phoenix Mountain Preserve. I was running in one of the many forests of Rynaga, and I was running for my life.

Saturday, I ran another One-Shot Playtest of Explorers of Shanri.

Explorers of Shanri is the game supplement for John Wick's Houses of the Blooded roleplaying game that I am working on.  Instead of telling tragic stories about ven culture's nobility, Explorers of Shanri focuses on the Q'val, or priests, and their relationship with the dreaming ven, which are sort of like Patron Saints.  (For more on Ven culture, please visit http://housesoftheblooded.com)

I have started work on this a while back and my work would mostly include stints of decent article-like writings on this or that aspect of ven culture and its view of the Q'val.  For the most part, I would get inspired, write, think about an aspect of the game I wanted to change, get blocked, move onto other projects, have a good idea, and start writing again.

This Playtest is the 5th playtest, each a one-shot game of 3-5 hours each.

I got to the point where the last bits I've written did not come into play, because they don't pertain to Q'val Tragedy directly (which mostly deals with fraternity among members of the Faith, the sheer abandon of complete Devotion to a single entity, and the betrayal of one's brothers).  John Wick has already done a terrific job capturing the elements needed for building Tragic Stories, and the characterization of the Q'val as new Character options has worked in the last two playtests I ran without changing anything.

At this point, the rules I have created that remain untested pertain to the long term goals of the Q'val: the equivalent of their Season Actions. In Houses of the Blooded, noble ven use Season Actions to control their Domains tightly, always producing much needed Resources to increase the size of their Domain, as well as protect them (the system is quite complex, a game in itself, and an incredible pacing mechanic).  Season Actions also serve the Player Character's improvement (learning new Dueling Maneuvers, or new Aspects and Sorcerous Rituals), and to define any sort of "down time", away from the main Tragic Tale of the campaign.

This brought me to the realization that I need to run a long term campaign.

I knew this time would come, and I am happy to have reached the point where it becomes a necessity.  I just have to somehow make time for it, find willing players and make it happen!

I've been playing Dragon Strike with Caitlyn fairly successfully (depending on her attention span) and we have recycled some of my warhammer figurines as well as other figurines we have either picked up individually at cons or at Imperial Outpost.

She has been playing using a paladin, which doesn't have a character card in the game. I treat the Paladin as a Warrior, except it has two less Hit Points and rolls a D12 instead of a D8 to its Save vs. Magic rolls.

Tuesday I bought a box of D&D Dragon minis (unpainted) and after assembling them yesterday (superglue for the win!) we set up the square grid banner (printed at work about a year ago, hehe) which we have been using for the past several adventures.

I use wet erase markers and it makes things easier and less distracting than the original boards the Dragon Strike comes with.

The party of 5 adventurers have set out to save a person very dear to the party leader, killing monsters and taking treasure along the way.
More rules changes and details about the adventures in subsequent posts. Enjoy!


  

One fine day, I came across John Wick's Legend of the Five Rings. The rest is history and mostly talked about in the early posts of the L5R Friday recap series.

Player Characters:

116degrees is Bayushi Kairi, a city magistrate in Ryoko Owari.
skaldsaga is Kakita Kitaihana, a Dancing Artisan, master of mizu-do.
wunderworks is Otaku Dang, a Unicorn with a good attitude, a troubled childhood and a big secret.
paintscribe is Otomo Amaya, young Emerald Magistrate, assigned after the tragic death of her sister and parents.
Ryan M. is Seppun Yaratsu, 13 y.o. prodigy and Amaya's Yojimbo.

~~~

SESSION 2

Day 17 of the month of the Hare
Bayushi Kairi's wife gives him two names to look into: crab merchants who have a connection with mask makers and other merchants, who will help look for Kairi's ancestral mask.
Kairi also takes the time to look through wares for masks.

Later that morning, the characters get together and Otomo Amaya appoints her new Yoriki and explains their duties. Most of them are quite familiar with their limitations and the potential powerhouses they could become if they abused their power.

Amaya does stress the importance of recovering Bayushi Kairi's mask, believing it may solve other issues such as catching the thief Kaze.

Protecting visiting dignitaries from other clans is also a major priority, and with the Mask Festival only two weeks away, Amaya appoints Kakita Kitaihana to arrange for more rooms being built and confirming the list of guests, as well as increasing the security by appointing more Imperial Guards to the Magistrate Residence during that time.

Otaku Dang will be responsible for making announcements and distributing official notices as well as the point of contact for firemen gangs and other "streetwise" individuals (he is a man of the people!).

Finally, Amaya stresses the issue of Ashidaka Naritoki's death. He was the previous Emerald Magistrate appointed to the city. It is the duty of all Yoriki to spend time investigating: the Emerald Champion will be expecting results when he comes to visit the city during the Festival of Masks.

In the afternoon, Kakita Kitaihana takes Otomo Amaya (and her entourage of servants) shopping for masks. They visit several mask shops and I demonstrate the "teen-royalty" influence that her presence has upon the different establishments she visits.
Amaya asks the merchants and mask-makers if they have seen a mask fitting Bayushi Kairi's ancestral mask. Overhearing the description, (and because Amaya does not mention the mask has been lost) the mask makers anticipate this design as being popular because the Imperial family Emerald Magistrate young beauty is asking about it! Of course, due to the vague descriptions she herself has received, the designs that will show up in the next several days will be different, but the mask makers are influenced nonetheless!

Amaya has a mask ordered for her cat Hotaru from one shop, and one for her from another.

~~~

In the meantime, Bayushi Kairi and Otaku Dang are investigating the murder of the late magistrate. Kairi comes upon Eyebrows (NPC) and offers him a Bu in exchange for any information... Just then, Kairi catches a glimpse of someone wearing a similar mask and follows the man to a seedy little crafting shop close to the dock of the Merchant district. There, they wreck havoc upon the shop and merchants when Kairi finds out an order for 50 such masks has been placed, by a samurai named Shosuro Maru.

It is getting late, so Kairi hires Ample (NPC) to keep the shop closed for a while. Kairi and Dang head back to the Magistrate Residence.

~~~

They regroup and head out to the Ide Palace, where they meet the Unicorn Clan leader, Ide Baranato.

I was browsing the aisles of my local GoodWill after some donatin' and I came across a board game called Dragon Strike. I quickly recalled my early days of gaming with HeroQuest with my friend Laurent.

I quickly decided to peer inside the box and see if all of the content was there. The crappy plastic figurines , the Dragon Master Screen, the character cards were all there and I wasn't about to count all of the treasure cards, which were all neatly separated in little ziploc bags. The only things missing were the VHS and dice, both of which I would not miss.

At $1.99, I knew I simply could not pass this up, no matter how lame the graphics were or how tacky everything sounded. I was 11 again and it would be the awesomest, funnest board game ever!

The other thing I should mention...

Caitlyn loves dragons. And dinosaurs. And pretty much anything powerful and fierce. (When she and I recreate Kung Fu Panda scenes, she always, always wants to be the "Blue Leppa'd", because he is powerful and has the best moves... While I get to stuff my shirt with a pillow and pretend to be the panda...)

When I got home, Caitlyn and I looked through it. And she was not only intrigued by the game's title, but she was really excited by the Dragon figurine that came with the game. After going through all of it, we set everything aside.

About a week later, I had mildly read through the simplistic rules (I obviously wanted to keep things as simple as possible, since Caitlyn is only 3). I asked Caitlyn and Steph to play a round of Dragon Strike with me and to see how everyone liked it. Caitlyn chose the Thief (the only female character) and Steph chose the Elf (probably as a nod to her old crush on Legolas in the LotR movies). Caitlyn got her Sneak Attack cards, Steph got her level 1 and 2 spells and they were on their way.

We played and had a ton of fun, and Caitlyn really focused on everything, understanding the goals of the game quickly: go into a room, fight monsters, get treasure. The turn-taking of games is still a bit difficult for her. As for the dice rolling, she did great, but can't read numbers yet, so we are color coding the winning faces of the three dice we use with the game. Caitlyn really impressed me in what she remembered a few days later, using the right spells for things when she played the Elf.

We try to play it every day. Yesterday, Caitlyn got to play a wizard and used spells left and right, going into the fray with the red dragon as soon as it appeared on the board.

*sigh* That poor girl is gonna be the greatest gamer ever. I need to come up with more scenarios and monsters for the game now. At this rate, I'll be out of 'adventures' in no time.
I'll share the stuff I come up with for Dragon Strike (using store-bought monsters/figurines, simplify the rules and the rolls some more).
To be honest, I can't wait to run a game of it tonight.

I found a bunch of stuff online for it at BoardGameGeek already. This weekend, I am scanning the base maps and redrawing them digitally to better plan more adventures. Eventually, I can design and print more maps for the game, since the game's maps have a lot of distracting features and points of interests with little to do with the 'adventures' that come with the game.

One fine day, I came across John Wick's Legend of the Five Rings. The rest is history and mostly talked about in the early posts of the L5R Friday recap series.

Player Characters:

116degrees is Bayushi Kairi, a city magistrate in Ryoko Owari.
skaldsaga is Kakita Kitaihana, a Dancing Artisan, master of mizu-do.
wunderworks is Otaku Dang, a Unicorn with a good attitude, a troubled childhood and a big secret.
paintscribe is Otomo Amaya, young Emerald Magistrate, assigned after the tragic death of her sister and parents.
Ryan M. is Seppun Yaratsu, 13 y.o. prodigy and Amaya's Yojimbo.

~~~

SESSION 1

Day 15 of the month of the Hare
Day one starts off easily. Otomo Amaya is traveling from the Capital of Rokugan, Otosan Uchi, She meets with Otaku Gan Lang outside of the city so that he may escort her and her Yojimbo, Seppun Yaratsu, back to the city.
Polite introductions, a gift is given to Amaya by her new aide, Otaku Dang: a small collection of unorthodox books, including a copy of Memoirs of an Opium Eater.
Amaya travels with her cat, Hotaru, whom she considers her best friend and confidante. She also travels with a slew of obligatory servants. She is practically royalty and because she is used to that kind of treatment, we skim over their names and importance (though it all comes around later as we establish the setting a bit more).
Yaratsu, the yojimbo, is quiet. He keeps an eye on the dirty gaijin Dang.

Because it is getting too late to make it to the city on time (there are dangerous bandits who prey on travelers at night near Ryoko Owari, most notably, the bandit known as Fade) they stay at a nearby village, staying within the Village Headman's house. The village is called Hisato-Kesu.
Dinner and Sake is had, mostly by the Gaijin, if I recall correctly ;)

Day 16 of the month of the Hare
The group arrive in town and I spend a bit of time introducing the setting and atmosphere of Ryoko Owari. After traveling through the gates they are met by Bayushi Kairi and Kakita Kitaihana, and after pushing their way through busy streets, they find themselves at the temple of Daikoku, where Kairi advises Amaya to make a donation and pay a visit to the head Abbott. The Abbott goes crazy and starts yelling at Amaya, treating her like dirt, really, because she has brought her cat Hotaru inside the temple!
That's right, in Ryoko Owari, rats are seen as a good omen, and cats... well, cats drive away the good omens!
Kairi ushers the group out and makes a sizeable donation (10 koku) to the temple so that the offense is forgiven.

It is late afternoon when the new Emerald Magistrate is settled in. There are two invitations waiting for her. One is from the Shosuro Palace, home of the city Governor. The other, is from the Ide Palace, home of Ide Baranato and the Unicorn clan residents.

Amaya thinks for a few moments and decides upon the Shosuro Palace tonight, and the Ide Palace the next.
Before leaving for the palace, Bayushi Kairi offers Amaya a new cup and explains the tradition of "Bringing your own cup" to the amused Imperial.

At the Shosuro Palace, the new Magistrate and her Yojimbo are introduced to the top players of the Shosuro clan in the city.

Quickly, the group makes a good impression upon the Governor, and Amaya makes a good impression upon the Governor's son, Shosuro Jocho, playboy extraordinaire and head of the city's Thunder Guard.

After dinner, Kitaihana dances, using 2 fans to symbolize the wings of the Crane and 4 streamers to represent the four serpents of the Otomo mon. Amaya is crane on her mother's side (having the naturally inherited Doji white hair) and a prominent member of the Otomo family, now that her parents and sister are dead...

While they distract each other and discuss the tragic death of the previous Emerald Magistrate, the upcoming Festival of Masks and other mundane things, Otaku Dang makes a point to interrupt Shosuro Jocho. Dang hides his insults behind politeness and opportunity.
This is the first exchange reflecting their tense relationship.

After a long evening at the Shosuro Palace, where the drunkenness of the Emerald Magistrate is tested, and Kitaihana is being overly complimented by the short and stout Shosuro Gobei, the group returns home.

Once the importance of the festival of masks is emphasized, Bayushi Kairi returns home to his wife and son. His wife informs him that his family mask has been stolen. Kairi then informs his wife that she should hire a new servant in the morning, because their servant "teacup" will be joining his ancestors.

John Wick has just released his new roleplaying game Blood & Honor, his long-awaited return to the Samurai genre.

He and I have talked on and off about how well-suited the Houses of the Blooded system would be to running a game set in the Amber Chronicles (by Roger Zelazny... Look it up if you don't know what I'm talking about).

Recently, John was inspired enough to work on a short draft of what an Amber-flavored game might be like. He kept things he liked about the Amber Diceless Role-Playing game, changed things around to make it more familiar to Houses of the Blooded players and invented brand new things for all to enjoy.

The tag line sums it up very nicely: Family doesn't always mean Friend.

In Blood & Shadows, the Blooded are a murderous bunch, an extended family of ven who can travel various worlds using Mirror Magic. And much like the Blooded ven of Houses of the Blooded, they can also use Blood Sorcery.

We playtested the Character Creation Auction (yes, the Auction! Those familiar with Amber Diceless will know what I'm talking about) yesterday and the players went back and forth proposing ideas for Mirror Magic, Sorcery, parentage/lineage systems, etc.

It was fun just doing that and I look forward to playtest the game soon now that we have characters. I don't want to go into too much detail, but the end result should be a fantastic game for those that love Amber Diceless and/or Houses of the Blooded!

I've introduced the main Player Characters and during our first session, I had the opportunity to introduce some of the key Non-Player Characters of the campaign.
But first, prep work and special rules...

Special Rules for this campaign:

We are using the 1st Edition of the L5R system, with rules options from the GM survival guide.
Since everyone in the group also happens to be fans of Houses of the Blooded RPG, and I'm a big fan of Player input in the game, I implemented a few rules that supported my desires for the game.

Primarily, a reward system of Temporary Void Points (TVPs) that can be spent in the same manner as a Void Point. They can also be spent between sessions to state facts, truths, introduce new NPCs, etc... Much like Style Points in Houses of the Blooded.

Secondarily, the 'Wager' system of 'Houses of the Blooded', simulated by the 'Raises' that players make when rolling in L5R.

Finally, I looked at the plot points of the campaign and threw those out. I knew it would be more interesting to keep the campaign fresh for everyone, even the players who had played, read or run the campaign before. I twisted a few of the NPCs as well, goals, personality, secrets... All throughout the campaign, I also let the Players set many truths to achieve a story we are all happy to play with.

More L5R stuff coming soon.