6. What does your character long for, and how might this impede their duty?
Texto
In theory, samurai care only about serving their lord, but in practice, samurai possess their own individual desires as well. What is the greatest, most pressing personal goal or belief that your samurai carries within their heart? And what prevents them from finding resolution on this matter?
Write down your character’s personal question, goal, or core desire on your character sheet under “Ninjō.” Ninjō is a challenge that you set before your character, forcing them to confront the ideals of Bushidō and the cost to uphold them as they pursue their desire—thus, it is related to their honor. Another way to look at ninjō is to ask yourself: what goal might tempt the character to disobey their lord or do other dishonorable things? What would be worth such risks to them? See more under Ninjō, on page 38 of
Chapter 1: Playing the Game.
Samurai drama revolves around competing desires. To create quandaries for your samurai that enhance drama and make for enjoyable roleplaying, you should think about how your character’s giri and ninjō might come into conflict. They do not need to be in constant opposition, but there should always be the possibility for friction between the two—and the conflict your character would feel at such times should be interesting to you!
If you can’t imagine a few exciting moments that might arise from your character being forced to choose between the two (or you wouldn’t enjoy roleplaying those moments), modify one or both selections until you can. The GM will be working to bring both up during the course of the campaign, which leads to difficult choices for your character (and thus, interesting choices for you, the player!).
Selecting One’s Ninjō Properly
Ninjō provides characters with the second of their two primary drives within the story. Some classic personal desires from works of samurai fiction include variations on the themes of ambition, art, beauty, belonging, enlightenment, envy, family, glory, greed, love, justice, knowledge, peace, safety, or revenge, or a combination thereof. Things like “to be an honorable samurai” or “to obey my lord” are poor selections for a character’s ninjō. These are simply baseline requirements of being a samurai and, more importantly, they do not provide the character with the clear moments of fallibility that make characters in Legend of the Five Rings interesting to play.
By comparison, similar but slightly more involved ninjō such as “to punish samurai who abuse their power by dishonoring themselves” or “to win my lord’s love” provide enough room for conflict with the general precepts of being a samurai to function well as ninjō because they invoke the character’s personal desire rather than mere societal expectation.
You should be able to answer the following questions in the affirmative when considering your character’s ninjō and giri (duty to one’s lord) together, and if you cannot, you should talk to your GM about selecting a different ninjō:
Is this ninjō something you want to see your character pursue or contend with during the story? This does not mean that your character should always find pursuing their desire pleasant, wise, or even healthy, but you, the player, should be excited by the prospect of getting to watch your character struggle with it.
Is this ninjō likely to arise no matter where the campaign takes your character? A good ninjō tugs at your character’s heart regardless of where they wander, and it should be something that can influence your character’s choices no matter what location they travel to or what obstacles they face.
Is this ninjō something for which your character might sully their honor or defy their lord? A good ninjō means enough to the character that pursuing it is a serious temptation, while ignoring it has serious enough stakes that it would cause the samurai to be unhappy or unmotivated to continue serving their lord.
Texto do livro
Core Rulebook · Chapter 2: Creating a Character › Part III: Honor and Glory › 5. Who is your lord and what isyour character’sduty to them? › Selecting One’s Giri Properly · p. 88 p. 90 p. 91
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In theory, samurai care only about serving their lord, but in practice, samurai possess their own individual desires as well. What is the greatest, most pressing personal goal or belief that your samurai carries within their heart? And what prevents them from finding resolution on this matter?
Write down your character’s personal question, goal, or core desire on your character sheet under “Ninjō.” Ninjō is a challenge that you set before your character, forcing them to confront the ideals of Bushidō and the cost to uphold them as they pursue their desire—thus, it is related to their honor. Another way to look at ninjō is to ask yourself: what goal might tempt the character to disobey their lord or do other dishonorable things? What would be worth such risks to them? See more under Ninjō, on page 38 of
Chapter 1: Playing the Game.
Samurai drama revolves around competing desires. To create quandaries for your samurai that enhance drama and make for enjoyable roleplaying, you should think about how your character’s giri and ninjō might come into conflict. They do not need to be in constant opposition, but there should always be the possibility for friction between the two—and the conflict your character would feel at such times should be interesting to you!
If you can’t imagine a few exciting moments that might arise from your character being forced to choose between the two (or you wouldn’t enjoy roleplaying those moments), modify one or both selections until you can. The GM will be working to bring both up during the course of the campaign, which leads to difficult choices for your character (and thus, interesting choices for you, the player!).
Selecting One’s Ninjō Properly
Ninjō provides characters with the second of their two primary drives within the story. Some classic personal desires from works of samurai fiction include variations on the themes of ambition, art, beauty, belonging, enlightenment, envy, family, glory, greed, love, justice, knowledge, peace, safety, or revenge, or a combination thereof. Things like “to be an honorable samurai” or “to obey my lord” are poor selections for a character’s ninjō. These are simply baseline requirements of being a samurai and, more importantly, they do not provide the character with the clear moments of fallibility that make characters in Legend of the Five Rings interesting to play.
By comparison, similar but slightly more involved ninjō such as “to punish samurai who abuse their power by dishonoring themselves” or “to win my lord’s love” provide enough room for conflict with the general precepts of being a samurai to function well as ninjō because they invoke the character’s personal desire rather than mere societal expectation.
You should be able to answer the following questions in the affirmative when considering your character’s ninjō and giri (duty to one’s lord) together, and if you cannot, you should talk to your GM about selecting a different ninjō:
Is this ninjō something you want to see your character pursue or contend with during the story? This does not mean that your character should always find pursuing their desire pleasant, wise, or even healthy, but you, the player, should be excited by the prospect of getting to watch your character struggle with it.
Is this ninjō likely to arise no matter where the campaign takes your character? A good ninjō tugs at your character’s heart regardless of where they wander, and it should be something that can influence your character’s choices no matter what location they travel to or what obstacles they face.
Is this ninjō something for which your character might sully their honor or defy their lord? A good ninjō means enough to the character that pursuing it is a serious temptation, while ignoring it has serious enough stakes that it would cause the samurai to be unhappy or unmotivated to continue serving their lord.