Kitsuki Akagi sat in front of his daimyo and tried his best to keep his On, but it was very hard as he was utterly perplexed while reading the mission order in front of him. It came directly from their Clan Champion and the gist of it was to investigate the death of an obscure Phoenix shugenja deep in Scorpion territory and...  nothing else.  No goal, no objective, just investigate.  It was well known that Togashi Yokuni gave a lot of strange missions to his vassals, and this one fit the bill quite perfectly.

"It would be good for you to be out in the world again, instead of being cooped up behind a desk in the magistrate's office." his daimyo said in a tone of finality.

Kitsuki Akagi bowed.  An order by the Clan Champion, no matter how curious, was absolute.  "Hai, Yasu-sama."


The Dragon magistrate frowned as he hurried down the wide street, not because he stood out in his emerald green travelling robe in this predominantly Scorpion enclave, nor because the sun was close to setting and he was still out and about in an unfamiliar place, but because he found out that all the bad things he had read about Ryoko Owari, famed City of Lies, wasn't true.  It was, in fact, far worse.  Already, within an hour of arriving here, his training in the Kitsuki's Method had already allowed him to perceive a couple of extortion attempts, several swindling schemes, and more than half a dozen pickpocket tries.

Clutching his coin purse reflexively, Akagi heaved a sigh of relief as he reached his destination. He didn't understand what was the connection of this place to his mission, but it was specifically stated in the order that he visit the place as soon as he arrived in the City.  The Inn of the Orange Blossoms was a popular eating place in the city, and as he stepped inside he saw that the place was filling with customers for their evening meal.  Aside from the 3-man Crane delegation eating at the corner and the occasional red-robed ronin, there was nothing out of the ordinary of the common folk currently eating here.  The proprietor, a middle-aged man named Hametsu, who wore a greased blue robe bearing the mon of the Unicorn clan approached and after the perfunctory greetings and deposit of weapons, ushered Akagi to a private solo eating room with a sliding shoji door, right beside a similar room where a monk was guided into just a moment ago.

A cheerful young girl of about twelve, the proprietor's daughter, served Akagi his food, the specialty of the house, and some fine sake.  Barely had he been able to savor its taste when all hell broke loose. A loud crash rumbled outside, and his screen door was shattered by the flying body of the young girl, who crashed into his low table with a sickening thud.  Shouts of surprise and screams of fear resounded throughout the establishment, caused by the fearsome emergence and visage of an oni!  The multi-armed oni had brackish green hide, pulsing orbs of flesh on its spine, wickedly curved claws, and a large mouth with razor-sharp teeth. Presently it feasting on the remains of one of the men in the Doji contingent.

The whole place was immediately in disarray.  All the patrons ran panicking towards the exit.  Akagi sidestepped the oni and ran towards the weapons depository to get his wakizashi and tanto.  He barely noticed the monk drag the helpless girl away towards the patio corner to apply first aid.  By the time he was able to procure his weapons and unsheathe them, the oni was already on its second course, another Crane fell to the ground with his innards spilling out.  The last Crane was on the ground, backpedaling and whimpering in terror.  One of ronin had already gotten his katana out and recklessly charged the oni, out of fear or overconfidence, Akagi could not tell.  The monster made short work of him and tore his heart out.

"Hametsu-san!  Call the city guards, quick!"  Akagi nudged and shouted to the proprietor, but it was useless as the innkeeper was near catatonic.  He was the lone armed combatant in between the oni and the common folk.  While every inch of his instincts told him to flee, his mind told him otherwise.  Honor and Duty was at stake.  "Maybe I can stall it a little, before the guards come. Hopefully..."  gulped Akagi.

The monster advanced menacingly towards the last Crane, swiping and connecting with its bloodied claws.  The Crane cried out in pain and was heavily injured, losing the capability to escape.  But the oni suddenly bellowed in surprise, because from behind the monk had sneaked up and punched it in the side.

Akagi blinked, this might be a good chance.  With a short kiai, he dashed forward and slashed his wakizashi down at the oni.  The blade bit, and greenish ichor sprayed out, but the hide was tough, and it seemed even the combined efforts of both the magistrate and the monk managed only to nick it.

The monster thrashed at the newcomers with raking claws.  Fighting was not his strong suit, and Akagi was unable to dodge; he felt the sting of the monster's claws slicing through his arm. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the monk had taken the brunt of the attack, and was more bloodied than he was.

"Move away, monk.  I'll try to hold its attention!" shouted Akagi as he slashed again desperately at the monster.  Once more his blade cut the oni, but it seemed the wounds did not affect it at all.  It retaliated with a flurry of claws and bite; Akagi defended as best as he could, but the attack broke through and raked his torso.  His eyes dimmed with the pain and it took all of his willpower just to not cry out.  Akagi felt his prowess go dull, and knew conclusively that he would not survive one more pass against this monstrosity.  Looking peripherally, he was gratified to see the flutter of the monk's robe leaving through the exit. At least the monk was able to escape, he thought. "Darn I haven't even composed my death poem yet."

Suddenly, shrill whistles filled the air.  Shouts of elation filtered through from outside.  The monster and the magistrate paused at the interruption, realizing that the city guards have arrived.  Plentiful soldiers lined up outside the inn, led by a Scorpion magistrate wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat and fluidly wielding a kusari-gama.  The oni looked at the last Crane twitching in the ground but was still alive.  It snarled loudly in frustration, pulled out three of the orbs on its spine and threw them at the direction of the Dragon magistrate, the monk and the guards.  The sacs exploded upon contact with the ground, and out came three spider-like creatures with sharp fangs. Then, with a mighty jump, it leaped through the hole in the roof whence it came down from and went away.

Akagi could scarcely believe this turn of events, but he had not time to thank the Fortunes, for one of the spider creatures came upon him with fury.  Exhausted and weak from his earlier skirmish with oni, the Dragon magistrate seemed to be easy prey for the oni's minion, but at the last second, just as the spider jumped on Akagi to deliver the killing bite, a kusari-gama flew through the air and sliced the spider in half.

The other oni minions were rapidly disposed off by the other guards.  When the last one was killed, the medics came out to help tend the wounded. Akagi noticed that despite the fearsomeness of the oni, only the Crane contingent was targeted, as well as him and the monk who tried to intervene.  The last surviving Crane was babbling incoherently and confusedly about the attack.  The rest of the patrons seemed to be fine with only slight bruises due to the stampede to get out of the establishment.

From underneath the straw hat, the Scorpion magistrate address Akagi directly, "Your courage in facing of the spawn of Jigoku does your clan much credit, Kitsuki-san."

"Your prompt arrival turned the tide and kept the situation from going out of hand, Shosuro-san," Akagi replied.

"Then I must apologize for the rough reception of your visit," bowed the Scorpion magistrate.  "I hope your impression of our city would improve in the future.  On behalf of the Governess and the Scorpion Clan, I welcome you to Ryoko Owari."

Reserve please.  Will update later.  Thanks!

Swashbuckling swordsmen and over-the-top action heroes offer inspiration to many role-playing campaigns. Standard L5R’s realistic style and emphasis on the moral complexities of Rokugani society is not really conducive to this sort of game, however. In the past, AEG published another game, 7th Sea, which portrayed swashbuckling action in a world reminiscent of 17th century Europe. However, one does not have to take inspiration solely from Western stories or Western-style RPGs to create a heroic swashbuckling game. Asian kung-fu and magical swordsmen fi lms, for example, embrace a very similar aesthetic, with heroes who display superhuman skills while protecting the weak and defeating foul enemies.

A cinematic L5R game will typically place a stronger emphasis on action rather than on courtly intrigue or other social challenges. It will also tend to have a much starker and simpler moral compass, depicting a world in which Honor and Bushido represent unquestioned good. Characters of a more dubious moral nature, such as Scorpion or Spider, are unlikely to fi t into a cinematic game very well unless the players and GM are willing to depict them as “noble rogues” or as characters who redeem themselves from a dark past (both very common cinematic archetypes).

Mechanically, a cinematic game emphasizes dramatic over the top action, performed by heroes who shrug off the direst of injuries as a “flesh wound.” Much like with anime-style play, it is strongly recommended that a cinematic-style game use one of the higher level Wound systems (as depicted in the Book of Earth) such as Earth x3 or even Earth x4 for character Wounds.

A good way to simulate the heroics of cinema is to take a page out of 7th Sea and allow the characters the ability to spend a Void Point after they roll as well as before. Thus, a character who barely missed his foe can spend a Void Point to try to get that last little bit needed to strike home. Of course, this means that much as in an anime-style game, a cinematic game will tend to burn through the PCs’ Void Points quickly. 7th Sea used a similar mechanic called “Drama Dice,” and its solution to this problem was for the GM to award additional Drama Dice to the players whenever they did something memorably heroic or cool. This mechanic can be used in L5R as well, although the GM will need to be careful to award such extra Void Points impartially – it is very easy for accusations of favoritism to arise in such cases.

Ryoko Owari is one of the largest cities in the Scorpion lands. It serves as a hub for much of the trading that occurrs in the territory. Merchants from the Crab lands move their goods through the city to peddle their wares in the Scorpion lands and further north. Merchants constantly move in and out of the large city, on the lookout for buyers and sellers.

Ryoko Owari is a rich city, second only to the capital itself. The city is under control of the Scorpion clan, with the Shosuro family occupying the position of eminence; the balance of power is in the hands of the Unicorn clan. Other clans have only a token presence in Ryoko Owari nowadays, though the Crab clan once vied for control of the city.

Ryoko Owari was once a large village situated on the western border of Scorpion territory. The village’s central location in the western provinces made it a natural choice for tax collection and trading, and soon the village became a popular meeting place for merchants of all sorts. The river that neatly bisected the village soon became an attraction for merchants from other clans, who saw the large number of Scorpion traders as a ripe market. Commerce has always been a natural stimulant for growth, and the village soon became a city. As with any Scorpion endeavor, the money and opportunity that the city presented did not go unappreciated for long. Soon, the fertile fields surrounding the city were home to vast crops of opium, harvested, processed, and distributed for medicinal purposes.

During the reign of Hantei XVII, the Crab invaded Scorpion territory and seized the city, holding it for more than a year. For that entire year, the Crab were plagued by the vice and depravity that Ryoko Owari had already become known for. The Crab commander charged with protecting the city found himself fighting corruption among his own forces, and eventually the city was abandoned outright simply because it was too expensive to maintain so far from the Crab lands. The Scorpion reassumed control with considerable fanfare, establishing a holiday in honor of the occasion. Liberation Day remains among the largest celebrations the city holds throughout the year.