Assembling a Court in Seven Steps

Assembling a Court in Seven Steps

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Stories that center around social intrigue often have a rotating cast of recurring characters. These characters can serve as obstacles, adversaries, or allies depending on the circumstance—and indeed, any given character is likely to appear in each of these roles at different times. A court-oriented campaign needs a solid group of NPCs with a variety of goals, desires, obligations, and interests. Given the subject of this book, the focus is on courts, but the ideas in this section could really apply to any campaign that focuses on social interactions in a single location, whether the inhabitants are courtiers in Otosan Uchi, monks in a monastery far from the politics of court, or peasants in a quiet village in the countryside.

Making up a large group of NPCs all at once can look like quite a daunting task, especially for a GM who is new to a setting. Ideally, each of the NPCs should be interesting enough that the players want to engage with them, but also distinct enough to understand and remember between game sessions. However, it’s important to keep in mind that just as the GM isn’t solely responsible for fun during each game session, the GM can ask the players to help furnish elements of the setting. This has the added advantage of organically causing the players to know something about the NPCs they are interacting with, which helps them get over that age-old roleplaying hurdle of remembering the NPCs’ names and backgrounds.

This section provides one possible framework for putting together a court. Some GMs likely won’t need it, and others might find specific parts more helpful than others. As with all GM tools, individuals should pick the parts that work best for their group and not worry about any elements that won’t be helpful.

Through this process, the GM first draws up some rough plans (Steps 1–3), then the GM calls upon the players to fill in key details that shape the dynamics between the various people at court (Steps 4–6), and finally the GM puts the finishing touches on the court (Step 7). Each step is labeled as “GM” or “GM and Players.” GM steps can be done by the GM alone, while “Players and GM” steps involve everyone. Assembling a court can almost be a game unto itself, and one good option for a prologue or “session zero” of a court-oriented campaign, is for the GM to come to the table having done Steps 1–3, so that the GM and players can do Steps 4–6 together. Then, the GM can do Step 7 as part of their prep for the first session.

Step 1: Sketch Out the Movers (GM)

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The first step to assembling a court is to sketch out the movers. Movers are the NPCs who, simply put, tend to move the story forward, and engage the PCs to do so as well. The movers don’t need to be the highest status characters at court. Rather, they are the characters whose goals and desires most likely intersect with those of the PCs in ways that create friction, inspiring the PCs to take action to aid or oppose them. The GM should consider the general arc and themes they want for the campaign, and create movers who will enable those aspects of the campaign.

At this point, the GM should aim to create a picture of these people only in broad strokes. A role at court and ninjō (a desire, just as a PC would have) are enough for Step 1—even a name isn’t needed at this stage. Some example movers at this stage could include:

A daimyō who covets the territory of a neighbor

A dispossessed heir seeking revenge against the ones who ruined their fortunes

A skilled yōjimbō who longs to fight again and feels wasted at court

A disfavored courtier who wants to return to their lord’s good graces at any cost

A low-ranking guard who desires to prove themself worthy of the love of a noble

A visiting scholar who wishes to uncover some mystery others would prefer forgotten

A magistrate seeking revenge for their slain comrade

The number of movers can vary based on how complex the court the GM wishes to set up—more movers will make a more complex situation, whereas having fewer movers will make it easier for the PCs to understand the dynamic of the court.

Generally speaking, having three to four movers is a good target point for Step 1, with the assumption that one or two of them will ultimately end up being less focal to the story—either because the next few steps render them less relevant, or because the PCs take less interest in them as the story progresses. Staying flexible is very helpful to this process, as is embracing that some movers might end up being smaller parts of the story, while others might be thrust into the spotlight.

Step 2: Seed the Conflicts (GM)

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Next, the GM should look to set up fundamental friction among the movers. This is the friction that results from deeply conflicted goals and desires, rather than frustrations that stem from mismatches in personality or preferences. It might not have started yet when the story begins—or it might have been building for years—but the friction should not yet have boiled over, as that will be a key part of the story later. Assign each mover a giri (in the same manner as a PC), but instead of simply allowing them to clash with the mover’s own ninjō, make sure that each giri conflicts directly with the ninjō of at least one other mover. Some giri that can help set the stage in this regard include:

Keep the peace in a given region

Make sure that a particular individual is kept safe at all costs

Keep a certain faction from gaining too much glory

Prevent anyone from gaining undue influence over the presiding lord

Uphold the social order and propriety at all costs

Make sure that nobody snoops into the ruling lord’s private affairs

Keep public scandal at court to a minimum at any cost Once each mover has a general position at court, ninjō, and giri, some ideas probably start to naturally surface about who these people are, and how they will interact in the story. The GM should record these ideas to look back at later, but avoid getting too attached to any specifics just yet! Drawing the players into the dynamics of the NPCs in later steps is a key part of getting them invested in not just their characters’ interactions at court, but the ebb and flow of the court itself. Leaving most details intentionally undefined in this step facilitates the players’ engagement with the process and eventual court that is assembled.

Step 3: Create Secondaries (GM)

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Secondaries are NPCs who exist at court, and have desires and duties, but are less likely to directly drive the plot forward, or spur the PCs to action, at least at the outset. Simply put, they are secondary to the movers and the PCs in terms of their impact. Of course, as this process and the story unfolds, they might become movers themselves, especially if the players take a special interest in a particular secondary. But for now, they have a more passive role.

Secondaries are created much in the same way as movers (a role at court, a ninjō, and a giri), but their ninjō and giri should be somewhat less pressing and less likely to conflict with the others. It’s good to have three to five secondaries at this stage.

Step 4: Assign Traits (Players and GM)

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At this step, it’s time to bring in the players. The GM should provide a list of the NPCs they have sketched out so far for court, revealing each one’s role (a daimyō, a servant, etc) and giri. The GM shouldn’t reveal each character’s ninjō, or whether that NPC is a mover or a secondary. This lets the GM obscure many details of the plot that the players should discover for themselves later. Roles and giri should be recorded on the Court Sheet (which can be found on www.FantasyFlight- Games.com/legend-of-the-five-rings-roleplaying), or on note cards. Note cards can speed up the process by letting players record choices simultaneously. If the GM wants to use note cards, they should transcribe each NPC’s “role” and “giri” onto a card, then add spaces for writing labeled “advantages,” “disadvantages,” “bonds,” “name,” and “notes.”

Then, the GM should place the sheet on the table, in view of all players. Starting with the player at the GM’s right and proceeding counterclockwise, each player should pick one NPC and then assign the NPC an advantage or disadvantage, writing it in the relevant section for that NPC. The GM can also participate as a player at this stage, or they can focus on helping the players with their choices.

Advantages and disadvantages may be taken from the relevant section of this book or the core rulebook, or, with the GM’s permission, players can assign the NPCs newly invented advantages and disadvantages (see page 310 of the core rulebook for more on NPC disadvantages). After each player records an advantage or disadvantage, they should also record on their character sheet how their PC has some personal connection to this advantage or disadvantage, and give a brief explanation to the GM of how this is the case. The GM is the final arbiter over whether their reasoning— and the advantage or disadvantage—make sense.

Perhaps the PC fought at the battle where the daimyō famously lost an eye, or perhaps a PC has often run into a guard at a local tavern where both often carouse to avoid facing their respective miseries. Sometimes, a suggestion might fit better as a note or detail than a full advantage or disadvantage in its own right— in which case, the GM can suggest shifting it and selecting another one. Everyone should feel free to take some time to float story ideas as play proceeds—it might inform later decisions, or help to draw out creative ideas about past incidents or future turns in the story!

Then, repeat the process until all NPCs have 1 advantage and 1 disadvantage. Each NPC cannot be given more than 1 advantage or more than 1 disadvantage at this time. Once a given NPC has 1 advantage and 1 disadvantage, it cannot be selected again (if it is on a note card, you can flip it to show it is unavailable). Players are advised to avoid choosing a card they chose in a previous round if possible.

Step 5: Assign Bonds (Players and GM)

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Next, starting from the player’s at the GM’s left and proceeding clockwise, each player chooses two NPCs and a bond from the list on page 136 that those two NPCs share. Record this bond on each character’s card as a rank 1 bond.

Alternately, the player may assign the NPC’s bond to their own PC, or offer the bond to another player’s PC (though that player gets to choose the type of bond between the NPC and their PC, and is under no obligation to accept the offer if they are not interested in the concept).

Repeat this process until each NPC has been assigned at least one bond, and each player who wants their character to have a bond with an NPC has been assigned one. This is also a good time to discuss how these bonds were formed, and to fill in the NPCs’ personal details, which segues nicely into Step 6.

Step 6: Assign Personal Details (Players and GM)

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Up to this point, the NPCs haven’t needed personal names, genders, family members, personality quirks, or other individual details. They might have arisen organically during Step 4 or Step 5, but if any of these details haven’t, consider offering the players the chance to weigh in on them here, especially for PCs who have a bond with one of the NPCs, or if one of the NPCs logically be a given PC’s sworn lord. Players are far less likely to forget the name of an NPC if they came up with it!

Step 7: Retouch and Finalize (GM)

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After Step 6 has been completed, all that remains is assembling profiles and ironing out the final details. During this step, the GM should add 1 advantage or disadvantage the PCs don’t know about to each NPC. This ensures that there are still depths to the NPC for the PCs to discover.

Then, the GM should reflect on the characters who have come out of this process. What are the points of friction within this court? Which characters’ histories overlap, and how? Whose duties are in sufficient alignment that they may have made alliances—and whose secret desires threaten to disrupt those pacts and throw the court into turmoil? The GM should fill in any information missing from the court sheet (see page 144), adding each mover’s current goals and determining which other NPCs or PCs are likely to be seen as an obstacle to those goals.

Finally, the GM should choose an NPC profile for each NPC (or create an NPC profile from whole cloth, if they prefer). Movers should generally be Adversaries while Secondaries may be Adversaries or Minions as needed. If the NPC is based on an existing NPC, such as one of the ones from the core rulebook or this volume, the GM should replace their advantages and disadvantages with the ones chosen during this process and swap their Rings as needed to fit their personality and approach to life. If based on an existing profile, movers should also generally have a conflict rank equal to the starting party rank in the NPC’s sphere of expertise ( or ); the GM can use templates to adjust profiles up to make them a better match for the PCs (see page 311 of the core rulebook). If the NPC grows more skillful during the course of the story, the GM can of course use further templates to adjust their profile or reflect new techniques and tendencies they have developed. Movers should generally remain a challenge for the PCs, though eventually equaling or surpassing early obstacles is a part of many good stories.