The Inside Scoop on Gaming

OTOSAN UCHI Boxed set, with three books (96, 96, and 80 pages) and two 2' x 3' posters/maps

by Ree Soesbee & Patrick Kapera, featuring a supporting cast of thousands, including: Scott Gearin, "Gembu" Mike, David Molinar, Kevin Wilson, Kevin Boerwinkle, Alex Fox, Eli Basquez, Jim Pinto, and Don Gates

OTOSAN UCHI, the newest supplement for the Legend of the Five Rings RPG, is a big box with a big price. You get three books ("The Imperial Capital," "The Forbidden City," and "The Scorpion's Sting," detailing, in order, the outer regions, inner regions, and fall of the titular Imperial City of Legend of the Five Ring's Rokugan). You get two 2' x 3' posters, one of which is a map for the GM (a bit big for reference at the gaming table, don't you think?), and the other a full-color, if a little monochromatic, picture of Otosan Uchi itself. And you get the box, which is almost an attraction by itself. Perhaps you have been lulled into a false sense of knowledge by previous game boxes you have known, those that tear or wear thin after just a few trips to the gaming session. Not OTOSAN UCHI. This box will probably outlast that independent gaming supplement you bought at the Con last year but just haven't got around to reading yet. This box could bear the weight of your father's old National Geographic collection. The box is made to last. Obviously, OTOSAN UCHI represents a permanent investment. The question is whether it's worth that investment.

The fall of the Scorpion Clan has been the major plot point separating the L5R RPG from the CCG since the beginning. Long-time CCG players know that the whole Clan War storyline, that the CCG tells, begins because Bayushi Shoju, Scorpion Clan Champion, attempts to save the Empire from an ancient prophecy by killing his good friend, the Emperor. However, he doesn't fill in the rest of the Clans why he's doing it, and trouble, as they say, ensues.

The RPG had been set before the Scorpion Clan Coup, until now. OTOSAN UCHI is not only the sourcebook for the Imperial capital of Rokugan, the third book is also the presentation of the Coup storyline in RPG form. However, total Coup material in the box still weighs in at less than a third of the overall material. Obviously, this shows that the box can easily be used without ever even referring to the third book. What do you get in the rest of the box?

The first two books give the usual material you'd expect in a city-specific source box. You have a summary of the history of Otosan Uchi, discussion on Imperial laws and law enforcement, etiquette in the eye of the Son of Heaven, new Advantages, Ancestors, and so on. The major political change introduced is that of the Sentaku Tribunal, the legalistic appointee system set up by the Great Clans to limit access to the Emperor.

However, there's a big difference between the two books, and that's style. "The Imperial Capital" shows us the outer city of Otosan Uchi, where most of the lower ranked people live (and most PCS will probably be based out of). This isn't any normal city sourcebook, either. No, the first book has 795 keyed locations, and that doesn't include the Imperial Palace. It's the Fodor's of game supplements.

Obviously, with 795 locations in 96 pages there's not a lot of information given on each place. Most locations get a one line entry, giving the GM just the basics of the place: "629. Merchant (Yogo Kuroma; paints)". Next come the quick summaries of slightly more interesting places. Most of the locations that get a write up are like these: short, 50-word summaries of some shop or site or person. A few locations of great importance or interest get much longer summaries, such as the temples for the Great Clans. But in-between the basic information about the city, the summaries about the various districts in the city, and the hundreds of locations, the overall image given is that of a bizarre mutation of a dungeon crawl. Instead of gnolls lurking in caves with no given reason, you have puppet makers showing up just long enough to mention their names and then toddling off in an endless parade of innkeepers, blacksmiths, samurai, and assorted others. Aside from the district governors, almost nobody is given any real personality or character hook to catch a tired GM's eye in the first book. This presents the odd effect of having a city so itemized you have no idea what you should use it for. In pinning the butterfly to the mounting board, AEG killed the beauty of the animal.

The districts' overviews are nicely summarized, with simple game mechanics rating (on a 1-10 scale) on how they measure on various aspects, such as how rich they are, as well as how popular, corrupt, politically connected, and so on. This does provide a GM with an easy hook to use intracity politics in their Otosan Uchi campaigns, as well as simple mechanics to help ease some game decisions. However, one of the rankings makes little sense. The Corruption ranking shows how basically venal the district government is. As a simple plot guide, if the GM rolls less than or equal to the Corruption rank of the district on a d10, the player's current political escapades will attract some scumbucket politician somewhere along the way. Simple, easy, and useful if you're in a plotbind. Thumbs up. However, the Corruption rules also say that, in general, "NPCs with an Honor Rank higher than the district's Corruption Rank will not be found in there." Say what? Forget the fact that L5R's Honor Ranks only go from 1-5 (and, thus, do not map to a 1-10 scale directly as indicated). This bizarre thing means that in a very uncorrupt district (say, 1), only the most debased and dishonorable NPCs should be found, while in a place of average Corruption (which seems to be 6 or 7), apparently honorable chaps of all colors can be found. Reversing the rule (NPCs of Honor less than the Corruption rating will not be found) doesn't help again; while this does fill the Corruption 1 districts with noble folk, this leaves nobody in the average districts. What was this mechanic supposed to do?

Luckily, things pick up in the second book, which details the elite sector of the Imperial City. There's a guiding fiction to this book, a travelogue between the reader and their guide, an aging Imperial functionary who gives a personal introduction to each portion of the Inner City you meet. This serves notice that the tone of the second book is much different than the first: it is languid and luxurious by comparison. Most entries go on for paragraphs, and important places (such as the Temple to the Kami) are free to be given pages of information about the setting and story ideas.

Now, I'm going to admit my biases: I'm a GM who gets more ideas out of meeting new people and personalities than getting a 50-word summary of a puppet shop. No matter how cleverly portrayed that puppet shop is, there's only 50 words spent on it. The extended profiles and personalities of "The Forbidden City" give a much richer feeling to the places in it and, almost by default, provide more character hooks for GM's to bounce ideas off of and see what sticks and why. While covering hundreds of less sites than "The Imperial Capital," "The Forbidden City" gives you a better feel for the place overall. "The Forbidden City" is quite good, and is the star of the set.

The second book ends with a room by room rundown of the Imperial Palace. This could be quite useful if a campaign is based in the Imperial Court itself, I guess, but I'm betting most L5R campaigns have as many chases in the Imperial Palace as they have Jawas.

Topics	Author	Date	Latest Reply
Would you believe... (1) new	kevin schultz	06-29-2000 05:31	06-29-2000 05:31 new

Otosan Uchi
Author: Ree Soesbee, Patrick Kapera, and a Cast of Thousands Category: game Company/Publisher: AEG Line: Legend of the Five Rings Cost: $34.95 Page count: See Review SKU: AEG 3020 Capsule Review by David R. Henry on 06/06/00. Genre tags: Fantasy Asian/Far East	OTOSAN UCHI Boxed set, with three books (96, 96, and 80 pages) and two 2' x 3' posters/maps by Ree Soesbee & Patrick Kapera, featuring a supporting cast of thousands, including: Scott Gearin, "Gembu" Mike, David Molinar, Kevin Wilson, Kevin Boerwinkle, Alex Fox, Eli Basquez, Jim Pinto, and Don Gates OTOSAN UCHI, the newest supplement for the Legend of the Five Rings RPG, is a big box with a big price. You get three books ("The Imperial Capital," "The Forbidden City," and "The Scorpion's Sting," detailing, in order, the outer regions, inner regions, and fall of the titular Imperial City of Legend of the Five Ring's Rokugan). You get two 2' x 3' posters, one of which is a map for the GM (a bit big for reference at the gaming table, don't you think?), and the other a full-color, if a little monochromatic, picture of Otosan Uchi itself. And you get the box, which is almost an attraction by itself. Perhaps you have been lulled into a false sense of knowledge by previous game boxes you have known, those that tear or wear thin after just a few trips to the gaming session. Not OTOSAN UCHI. This box will probably outlast that independent gaming supplement you bought at the Con last year but just haven't got around to reading yet. This box could bear the weight of your father's old National Geographic collection. The box is made to last. Obviously, OTOSAN UCHI represents a permanent investment. The question is whether it's worth that investment. The fall of the Scorpion Clan has been the major plot point separating the L5R RPG from the CCG since the beginning. Long-time CCG players know that the whole Clan War storyline, that the CCG tells, begins because Bayushi Shoju, Scorpion Clan Champion, attempts to save the Empire from an ancient prophecy by killing his good friend, the Emperor. However, he doesn't fill in the rest of the Clans why he's doing it, and trouble, as they say, ensues. The RPG had been set before the Scorpion Clan Coup, until now. OTOSAN UCHI is not only the sourcebook for the Imperial capital of Rokugan, the third book is also the presentation of the Coup storyline in RPG form. However, total Coup material in the box still weighs in at less than a third of the overall material. Obviously, this shows that the box can easily be used without ever even referring to the third book. What do you get in the rest of the box? The first two books give the usual material you'd expect in a city-specific source box. You have a summary of the history of Otosan Uchi, discussion on Imperial laws and law enforcement, etiquette in the eye of the Son of Heaven, new Advantages, Ancestors, and so on. The major political change introduced is that of the Sentaku Tribunal, the legalistic appointee system set up by the Great Clans to limit access to the Emperor. However, there's a big difference between the two books, and that's style. "The Imperial Capital" shows us the outer city of Otosan Uchi, where most of the lower ranked people live (and most PCS will probably be based out of). This isn't any normal city sourcebook, either. No, the first book has 795 keyed locations, and that doesn't include the Imperial Palace. It's the Fodor's of game supplements. Obviously, with 795 locations in 96 pages there's not a lot of information given on each place. Most locations get a one line entry, giving the GM just the basics of the place: "629. Merchant (Yogo Kuroma; paints)". Next come the quick summaries of slightly more interesting places. Most of the locations that get a write up are like these: short, 50-word summaries of some shop or site or person. A few locations of great importance or interest get much longer summaries, such as the temples for the Great Clans. But in-between the basic information about the city, the summaries about the various districts in the city, and the hundreds of locations, the overall image given is that of a bizarre mutation of a dungeon crawl. Instead of gnolls lurking in caves with no given reason, you have puppet makers showing up just long enough to mention their names and then toddling off in an endless parade of innkeepers, blacksmiths, samurai, and assorted others. Aside from the district governors, almost nobody is given any real personality or character hook to catch a tired GM's eye in the first book. This presents the odd effect of having a city so itemized you have no idea what you should use it for. In pinning the butterfly to the mounting board, AEG killed the beauty of the animal. The districts' overviews are nicely summarized, with simple game mechanics rating (on a 1-10 scale) on how they measure on various aspects, such as how rich they are, as well as how popular, corrupt, politically connected, and so on. This does provide a GM with an easy hook to use intracity politics in their Otosan Uchi campaigns, as well as simple mechanics to help ease some game decisions. However, one of the rankings makes little sense. The Corruption ranking shows how basically venal the district government is. As a simple plot guide, if the GM rolls less than or equal to the Corruption rank of the district on a d10, the player's current political escapades will attract some scumbucket politician somewhere along the way. Simple, easy, and useful if you're in a plotbind. Thumbs up. However, the Corruption rules also say that, in general, "NPCs with an Honor Rank higher than the district's Corruption Rank will not be found in there." Say what? Forget the fact that L5R's Honor Ranks only go from 1-5 (and, thus, do not map to a 1-10 scale directly as indicated). This bizarre thing means that in a very uncorrupt district (say, 1), only the most debased and dishonorable NPCs should be found, while in a place of average Corruption (which seems to be 6 or 7), apparently honorable chaps of all colors can be found. Reversing the rule (NPCs of Honor less than the Corruption rating will not be found) doesn't help again; while this does fill the Corruption 1 districts with noble folk, this leaves nobody in the average districts. What was this mechanic supposed to do? Luckily, things pick up in the second book, which details the elite sector of the Imperial City. There's a guiding fiction to this book, a travelogue between the reader and their guide, an aging Imperial functionary who gives a personal introduction to each portion of the Inner City you meet. This serves notice that the tone of the second book is much different than the first: it is languid and luxurious by comparison. Most entries go on for paragraphs, and important places (such as the Temple to the Kami) are free to be given pages of information about the setting and story ideas. Now, I'm going to admit my biases: I'm a GM who gets more ideas out of meeting new people and personalities than getting a 50-word summary of a puppet shop. No matter how cleverly portrayed that puppet shop is, there's only 50 words spent on it. The extended profiles and personalities of "The Forbidden City" give a much richer feeling to the places in it and, almost by default, provide more character hooks for GM's to bounce ideas off of and see what sticks and why. While covering hundreds of less sites than "The Imperial Capital," "The Forbidden City" gives you a better feel for the place overall. "The Forbidden City" is quite good, and is the star of the set. The second book ends with a room by room rundown of the Imperial Palace. This could be quite useful if a campaign is based in the Imperial Court itself, I guess, but I'm betting most L5R campaigns have as many chases in the Imperial Palace as they have Jawas.