L5R AP Report: the one Sean missed
Sean usually does a pretty good job with the Actual Play reports for our weekly L5R game, but he missed game the week before last because he was fighting crime or in suspended animation or something. So here's the one he missed.
In place of the monthly traveling magistrate format we'd been following, we zoomed in on a few days in Toshi Ranbo between months for Shimizu's divorce proceedings. Citing irreconcilable differences ("I'd like for you to live in grinding poverty" "I'd like to erase your clan"), a hearing was called to decide the fate of the children. The basic rokugani legal precedent is that one parent gets the kids, while the other "dies". It was made clear to us as players that we could fight for some third option, but this was the default assumption.
The original saibankan set to oversee the hearing got called away suddenly, with the chancellor himself stepping in to handle the proceedings. It was immediately clear to all that this was a political power play; the Chancellor was a scorpion, and he was taking advantage of the divorce to embarass the crane clan. Shimizu's wife (Junko I think) was not a party to this political move, just a serendipitous beneficiary.
Wasichi set off to get the original judge, a fox. If he could demonstrate that she was no longer needed at her current assignment, he could bring her back in time to oversee the trial. But she was reassigned a great distance, so only the most skilled horseman, riding through the night, had any hope of bringing her back in time.
The first witnesses were called; Kuni Shinjo, and for Junko... Tsi Zutaka. Shosuro Miyo (omar's new character) attempted without success to delay Zutaka's arrival. Both gave their testimony, with the biased Chancellor giving greater weight to the testimony of Zutaka. Shimizu managed to lure Zutaka into embarrasing himself in court though.
The next witnessess were Shosuro Miyo and a Bayushi, cousin to Bayushi Wada. The Chancellor had only to raise an eyebrow to impart to Miyo that she better not get in the way of his plan. But Miyo stuck to her guns, and gave favorable testimony on behalf of Shimizu.
Meanwhile, Tso-Lao waited in the wings, ready to delay as long as it took for Wasichi to get back. And Shiko prepared to give his own testimony by looking into the validity of Junko's claim that the children were blessed by Benten.
What worked well:
Seeing Wasichi lose his temper was interesting. It's not really a side of the character we've seen before.
We're kind of the bad guys. Shimizu has basically engaged in a prolonged campaign of neglect towards his wife and children. He threw himself at his work to avoid being around them, has no love for the clan he joined, and actively worked for what his wife sees as its destruction. And the cherry on top: he's cheating on her. All this for a marriage that was supposedly blessed by the rokugani cupid. Tso-Lao may be taking this kind of hard next time.
What could be improved:
Game felt a little short. Part of this was that we got a late start, but we also ended on the early side. The divorce was originally supposed to be one session, but it's spilled over into a second one now. Don't get me wrong, it's fun to play through the divorce, but I think next time might run short as well since there's not going to be enough to fill a whole session.
In place of the monthly traveling magistrate format we'd been following, we zoomed in on a few days in Toshi Ranbo between months for Shimizu's divorce proceedings. Citing irreconcilable differences ("I'd like for you to live in grinding poverty" "I'd like to erase your clan"), a hearing was called to decide the fate of the children. The basic rokugani legal precedent is that one parent gets the kids, while the other "dies". It was made clear to us as players that we could fight for some third option, but this was the default assumption.
The original saibankan set to oversee the hearing got called away suddenly, with the chancellor himself stepping in to handle the proceedings. It was immediately clear to all that this was a political power play; the Chancellor was a scorpion, and he was taking advantage of the divorce to embarass the crane clan. Shimizu's wife (Junko I think) was not a party to this political move, just a serendipitous beneficiary.
Wasichi set off to get the original judge, a fox. If he could demonstrate that she was no longer needed at her current assignment, he could bring her back in time to oversee the trial. But she was reassigned a great distance, so only the most skilled horseman, riding through the night, had any hope of bringing her back in time.
The first witnesses were called; Kuni Shinjo, and for Junko... Tsi Zutaka. Shosuro Miyo (omar's new character) attempted without success to delay Zutaka's arrival. Both gave their testimony, with the biased Chancellor giving greater weight to the testimony of Zutaka. Shimizu managed to lure Zutaka into embarrasing himself in court though.
The next witnessess were Shosuro Miyo and a Bayushi, cousin to Bayushi Wada. The Chancellor had only to raise an eyebrow to impart to Miyo that she better not get in the way of his plan. But Miyo stuck to her guns, and gave favorable testimony on behalf of Shimizu.
Meanwhile, Tso-Lao waited in the wings, ready to delay as long as it took for Wasichi to get back. And Shiko prepared to give his own testimony by looking into the validity of Junko's claim that the children were blessed by Benten.
What worked well:
Seeing Wasichi lose his temper was interesting. It's not really a side of the character we've seen before.
We're kind of the bad guys. Shimizu has basically engaged in a prolonged campaign of neglect towards his wife and children. He threw himself at his work to avoid being around them, has no love for the clan he joined, and actively worked for what his wife sees as its destruction. And the cherry on top: he's cheating on her. All this for a marriage that was supposedly blessed by the rokugani cupid. Tso-Lao may be taking this kind of hard next time.
What could be improved:
Game felt a little short. Part of this was that we got a late start, but we also ended on the early side. The divorce was originally supposed to be one session, but it's spilled over into a second one now. Don't get me wrong, it's fun to play through the divorce, but I think next time might run short as well since there's not going to be enough to fill a whole session.