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Thank you for participating Ovid! 

Since we had only a handful of participants, we figured we could share some written feedback to hopefully encourage you as you go forward and create more adventures in the future. Mind you, these are all personal opinion and in no way reflect your standing in the competition.

One Hundred Stories

Writing:

This adventure is written in traditional Challenge, Focus, Strike format which lends itself well to a ramp up of tension at the end. In this adventure the players are investigating a mystery brought on by a game of one hundred stories, where there are children from each great clan sharing spooky stories with one another. However, by the time the party is on the scene the children are affected by a curse. It’s up to the party to find out how to fix the situation, and it will lead them to some otherworldly terrors.

Page design:

The textured paper background is a welcome detail, the red text feels familiar to the CFS submissions to Kaze no Shiro. Most importantly, the text is legible and clear, and the information is organized neatly.

Fun:

This adventure creates an opportunity for the GM to include their favorite horror stories into this scenario. Based on the default examples given, this certainly feels like a tour of Rokugan’s greatest horror hits. The GM should expect to have to get creative when creating NPCs for this adventure, since much of what’s mentioned for the default examples are not yet mentioned in 5^th edition L5R.

The fun for the players lies in meeting the children, each with different levels and methods of communication, and putting together what happened based on their information. Then of course, the climax of the ending is a “boss rush” of some of the most famous big bad guys, of course depending on what stories the GM decides to include. This will likely give your players a run for their money, but if they survive it will be a story to remember.

Theme:

 The theme of overcoming fear is seen in the children: the incident was caused in part by fear, and some can hardly speak now because of their terror. The theme is also relevant in the PC’s, either because they are helping the children overcome this fear, or perhaps because the PCs will feel that fear themselves.

Thank you for participating Gman! 

Since we had only a handful of participants, we figured we could share some written feedback to hopefully encourage you as you go forward and create more adventures in the future. Mind you, these are all personal opinion and in no way reflect your standing in the competition.

Castle of Hope

Writing:

 This adventure is an endearing one about a small party of samurai (the PC’s) taking on a terrifying, yet very important task, and only right before this adventure these PCs had just faced their greatest failure in life. Should they prove successful, they would make a name for themselves on this day.

The content itself offers many examples for how the main Roles in L5R can contribute to the success of the mission, (roles being bushi/shinobi, courtier, priest/monk). Although the success of the play session from a fun standpoint may rely on having some initiate players who create characters who care about restoring their name, protecting the innocent, or protecting the Empire at large.

Page design:

The text is legible, the scenes are spaced out by line breaks in the page. It would be nice to see some colored headers, a change in layout, or some imagery to make this adventure stand out.

Fun:

Part of the fun is that the adventure calls it’s shot, saying that the party can and will succeed this day, despite the odds. With that in mind, the players are challenged to come up with a winning strategy and, with help of the dice and a bit of roleplaying, they will reach the satisfying ending of redeeming their PCs and memorializing the position they are defending. If they don’t rise to the challenge and they let fear dictate their retreat, well, they may be surprised at the ending they get.

Theme:

The theme here of overcoming the fear of being overwhelmed, taking a chance despite the odds, is apparent here. With the protagonists taking on the role of underdogs, the message hits home. 

Thank you for participating Cayce! 

Since we had only a handful of participants, we figured we could share some written feedback to hopefully encourage you as you go forward and create more adventures in the future. Mind you, these are all personal opinion and in no way reflect your standing in the competition.

The Chain of Duty

Writing:

Love the imagery of duty being used as a chain to drag someone to hell in that first paragraph. Sounds very dramatic and it will get people hooked! You were able to include great background to the adventure and the antagonist while only having a page to do it with, great job. Also, ohaguro was a new piece of history for some of us, and something neat to consider for hiding something sinister.

Page design:

Enjoyed seeing a black page with white text, it speaks to the darkness of the adventure. Also enjoyed the justified alignment, it makes the piece look like published work. The segment lines between the headers also create a nice break for the eyes while reading along, likely creating a moment for the reader to absorb what they just read. The type used is bold and very clean, which made the small text easy to read. Great job.

Fun:

In this adventure, it feels open for players to choose how they approach the issue. They will be shown increasingly horrible behavior and the declining nature of the antagonist which in hopes will spring them into action to find out exactly what’s going on. Having a list of clues and events without tying them to a specific chronological order makes it easier for the GM to improvise exactly how and when the PCs will come across these pieces of information, which is great. It’s also interesting to see the rules that are included for when a PC decides to die in protest to the antagonist, specifically because the character’s influence will continue throughout the story via ghostly possession. That is both novel and cool.

Theme:

Overcoming of Fear in this adventure comes from choice the yoriki must make, whether their fear of failing their duty will keep them from doing what’s right. But as they push forward, the stakes escalate, and the nature of this fear is compounded by some dangerous forces. Overall, great use of theme.

Thank you for participating Terratina! 

Since we had only a handful of participants, we figured we could share some written feedback to hopefully encourage you as you go forward and create more adventures in the future. Mind you, these are all personal opinion and in no way reflect your standing in the competition.

Mochi Madness

Writing:

Enjoying the folk feeling of the intro, “the trapper had to be punished for his sin”. This adventure is very much L5R, with included nouns and setting description.

Also, enjoying the lighthearted nature of the adventure. The stakes are low, with no threat of death apparent in this adventure. That’s quite a change from what we usually see with L5R adventures from the community, thank you for that!

What wrath could follow if Shouta fails the intrigue? With the ending being open like this the adventure could lead to a longer campaign if the table wanted to. For instance, if the players win the intrigue and out Shouta, Shouta is still a benevolent being who needs to be appeased. That sounds like a great next session to look forward to.

Page design:

This looks right out the books, a visually appealing layout. Great use of the side margins to give the reader advice on how to best run the adventure, as well as providing NPC specific information. Not to mention, the text is legible and the contrast is good.

Fun:

I like the idea that this adventure begins in media res at the meeting, but that gathering information is achieved through flashbacks. Major Rashamon vibes. This is also a very gamified scenario, a race to obtain the momentum points needed to win. Intrigues are very fun in 5^th Edition, and this seems friendly for new players to participate in.

Theme:

It appears the theme was not opted for by the author, but that’s ok since the theme is just there as a suggestion.

Thank you for participating Ochi! 

Since we had only a handful of participants, we figured we could share some written feedback to hopefully encourage you as you go forward and create more adventures in the future. Mind you, these are all personal opinion and in no way reflect your standing in the competition.

A Darkened Lighthouse

Writing:

• It's not often we see an eldritch threat in L5R so the idea feels novel. It would be interesting seeing how the players would believe a samurai is supposed to deal with a situation like this.
• The writing flows logically. The players are introduced slowly, and the intensity picks up later towards the end. The piece focuses on evoking feelings first, then there’s the mundane threat and creepiness of the cultists, then things get supernatural and frightening.
• It could have been helpful if the mentioned report was given more detail. What the players were told is happening with this village, who is requesting them, who are they working for/what authority do they have in this situation. You'll see why later in this feedback.
• The adventure itself seems to lend itself towards GMs who like to have just a skeleton of an adventure, a seed, where they can feel free to add more if they would like. Rather than having everything fleshed out and rigid.
• This adventure could act as a session 1 to a longer campaign due to its open ending, which is great if the table wants to continue exploring the idea of eldritch horror in L5R.
• It would have been super cool to see some descriptions of these cultists. Physical descriptions, like emblems indicative of who they serve. Description of their personality to aid the GM on how to pilot these cultists through dialogue and their actions. Related, there’s also no description that lends itself to the L5R setting in particular, outside of a few nouns in the first paragraph. This makes it feel less like an adventure made for L5R.

Page design:

• It seems clear when a new scene begins and ends, indicated by each line break. 
• The font is legible at a reasonable font size. 
• It would have been good to have something to make this page stand out, like color, layout, or an image.

Fun:

• The columns in the cave at the end seem like they’re meant to represent a sort of timer to the players. The race against the crumbling caves, running from an impossible threat, and even while being impeded by possessed allies – this all seems tense and like a great conclusion to the adventure.
• The idea of possession is interesting. The fact that it ties to strife makes sense for one succumbing to fear and madness. It makes one’s strife seem as important, if not more important, than their fatigue. This is again quite novel. I think the mechanics may benefit from a bit more consideration though. What is the recommended limit for the GM to set for this accumulation of strife? What does it mean when a PC becomes possessed?
• This adventure heavily depends on the GM to decide how the players will be pushed along. Things happen around the PCs for the most part, rather than to them or in a manner that conflicts with what they care about (to inspect the lighthouse).
• For the epilogue, the possibility of having the PCs disagree on where to report this catastrophe, or even having a final duel or something if a PC is living and possessed can be particularly fun if the Players spend a good amount of time getting the characters to know each other during the adventure. Imagine, if the GM decides to play with the bond rules this could be quite dramatic. 

Theme:

• Overall, the theme “Overcoming of Fear” is relevant. The characters are met each scene with evocations of certain phobia, and yet they must push on to complete their giri. The players are expected to save the innocents at the end despite the possibility of dooming their characters during each round of the conflict. Not to mention, fear in the form of Strife may be what prevents the characters from escaping the cave at all.
• As a side note, the fact that these are samurai investigating a threat like this, and they should abide by the tenets of bushido, feels compelling. This is entirely subtext, as it doesn’t seem like this was necessarily the point the author was going for, but it will be interesting during play if the GM running this adventure is the type to leverage the Honor/Status/Glory system. After all, being a coward comes at a heavy cost in Rokugan.
• If that system is ignored though, honestly, the players could just choose to leave the cave immediately in that final conflict. Nothing changes depending on how many innocents are saved, and the threat takes care of itself by collapsing the cave. It may help to prime the players early on to care about these innocents, or one specific innocent, so that the choice to leave is harder.

New FAQ question:

“Why is it recommended to avoid including specific mechanics from 5e?”

It was originally meant to make sure anyone could vote regardless of their edition knowledge. However, it’s pushing away some applicants so we will remove this rule going forward.

This is a question that horror writers have pondered with when writing samurai fiction, whether that be the stories written for Halloween, supplemental books for the RPG, or movies and anime that touch on this topic. 

Don’t get stuck, allow yourself to put a spin on what inspires you. We’re really excited to see what everyone brings to this contest.

Voting starts in three weeks!

Good luck!

Here’s a link to our last Game Jam so you can check out some great examples: 

https://itch.io/jam/l5rgamejam-0221

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