Actual Play - The taint spreads (7/12/2010)

[seannittner]

GM: Travis Lindquist
Players: Sean, Alec, Omar, Steve and Tracy
System: L5R

Things are bad in Rokugan. Rei fought an army of undead (which scared the crap out of her) to deal with the religious strife near otomo lands. Omar’s Scorpion stole the wakazashi of the Asahina Daimyo to blackmail him into allowing the Sohei to be a new order. Shimizu,

Comments

[lyahdan]

Regarding the Scorpion: 1. it's their job to do it in the service of the Empire. The fact that over time this has become more self-serving than that for a lot of Scorpion doesn't change the fact that it's pretty much their charter.

2. They mostly get away with it by not being caught. Or at least not by anyone who can testify against them (either they're lower status/not believable/or highly blackmailable).

3. They're still useful to a lot of people. If you need something accomplished out of the light of day, and have a Scorpion buddy, you may have a deal.

4. They've been banished twice now and been scapegoat a few times more. Pretty much whenever the Empire needs a whipping-clan, the Scorpion are it. So they don't exactly get away scot-free.

[seannittner]

All good points. I think part of my frustrations is that I don't see those canon elements in the game. I never see Scorpion suffer or lament. I just see them be assholes so knowing that bad stuff has happened to them isn't the same as actually experiencing it in game. My personal experiences is that they always have the upper hand, always have another trick up their sleeve and always make out better than whoever they are dealing with in the end.

In short, I could use some Scorpion tragedy... Maybe I should make a Yogo :)

[lyahdan]

Well, they *are* intended to be villains So NPCs tend to get used in that fashion. It's an easy stereotype. Add in Rokugan's general expectation of stoicism, and you won't find a lot of whiny, emo Scorpion around. The Crab get to be all obvious about what they sacrifice to protect the Empire