The Day of Thunder

[Sugri]

I didn't get to interact with a wide range of folks this game, unfortunately, but I had a great time when I did.

Since just bringing in and integrating a gaijin is work and complexity enough Sugri is pretty straight forward in terms of character but if you have questions do ask.

[Otomo Akutou]

Why a gaijin?
Why *this* gaijin?

[Sugri]

Why a gaijin?
Why *this* gaijin?

I was looking for something that would let me explore the various things that Dawn, as a setting, offers that most games don't/can't accommodate. I had originally pondered Nezumi but, at launch, it had seemed like we might get a few of them though that ended up not panning out until Chuchu. Gaijin was the next logical choice since Rokugan hasn't had a chance to go full xenophobe yet.

I didn't want to create a lot of work for Birb so Ivory Kingdoms seemed the best flavor to run with since there are existing 4e schools. I went with a guru since, while I'm far from an expert, I do have some small familiarity and experience with Indian religions (a minor in religious studies on the religious traditions of India and time spent at the local temple). Of course given how much, when I dug into it, L5R canon seemed to just grab random words and concepts without care I might have been better served without that knowledge....

(Don't get me started on how Arun is clearly supposed to be an Arjuna analog but they shoved him into Rama's story instead....)

[Jiyo Sora]

Master Jade! Good to see you...

BEWARE THE DREADED FORM QUESTIONS!

1. Biggest curveball Sugri threw you?
2. Biggest curveball the game threw you?
3. Favorite moment?
4. Biggest missed opportunity?
5. Any secrets Sugri has that never came up?

[Togashi Satsuki]

Enjoyed Sugri. Really wish he and Satsuki had had the opportunity to talk shop more about spiritualism and kiho and all that jazz, but he'll have a standing invitation to the Dragon lands after this. Though totes understand he'll want to head home!

Greatly appreciated the details and depths you were able to provide to the character.

What is the overall impression of the Rokugani Sugri will be taking home?

[Anjing]

Sugri was a great character, I could get a read on his vibe very easily! I felt he we was a really well done ‘wise’ character. Clearly has his head on right and knew a lot, but never in a preachy or infallible way. He then also got to fight Shinsei which was quite the turn!

I’ll echo the question about how he viewed the day of Thunder. How long will he spend in Rokugan? Will he ever go home? Do you see him bringing any traditions back with him?

[Sugri]

Master Jade! Good to see you...

BEWARE THE DREADED FORM QUESTIONS!

1. Biggest curveball Sugri threw you?
2. Biggest curveball the game threw you?
3. Favorite moment?
4. Biggest missed opportunity?
5. Any secrets Sugri has that never came up?

1. Honestly no major curveballs. There was a moment, near the midgame, where he had been making all his night event rolls and things like the forest weren't interacting with him the way they did with others, and I was left wondering if I should start playing him up as beginning to disbelieve and think the Rokugani were just being superstitious. But then the 'catch the needle-finger dream demon' result happened and that wasn't a plausible route any longer.

2. Sakkaku hating me in early D7. Every roll that should have been a sure thing was failing and my entire concept and plan for the day was shot. I was originally going to stay out of the Harbinger fight and console myself by finding the way out... then that went dismally despite all odds.

3. Getting the ok to send Tsubaki's soul onward. It's been funny to go from Master Jade, to Harbinger-to-be, to giving the Harbinger her finale (even if he didn't get to do the actual fighting part)

4. Interacting with people. I was averaging, at best, one non-event thread per IC day. Still better than dropping, which would have been the alternative, but I wish I could have had more scenes with more people.

5. I don't think so. His curse never came up in conversation with anyone but I think showed through enough to not count as a secret.

Enjoyed Sugri. Really wish he and Satsuki had had the opportunity to talk shop more about spiritualism and kiho and all that jazz, but he'll have a standing invitation to the Dragon lands after this. Though totes understand he'll want to head home!

Greatly appreciated the details and depths you were able to provide to the character.

What is the overall impression of the Rokugani Sugri will be taking home?

He does intend to take up the invitation at some point so he'll eventually be visiting the Dragon. He's not in a rush to head home now that 'warn them of impending doom' is off the menu. He's left his responsibilities there in good (better, in his opinion) hands so he can take his time.

As for the Rokugani - quite positive. They're a young empire, and there's chaos and danger that comes with that, but he's seen them be heroic and self-sacrificing in the face of evil and those he talked to were generally polite and shared similar philosophies.

Sugri was a great character, I could get a read on his vibe very easily! I felt he we was a really well done ‘wise’ character. Clearly has his head on right and knew a lot, but never in a preachy or infallible way. He then also got to fight Shinsei which was quite the turn!

I’ll echo the question about how he viewed the day of Thunder. How long will he spend in Rokugan? Will he ever go home? Do you see him bringing any traditions back with him?

Thanks! I tried to keep him balanced. He's had a good number of years under his belt to get wise but isn't of the temperament to be holier than thou about it. If he had shown up in Dawn 1 things might have been a little more antagonistic but, at this point, things are pretty established. Yes the Kami are real and yes they are not the same as the gods of the Ivory Kingdom. So there wasn't any reason to have him trying to argue or debate otherwise and instead he was more interested in trying to figure out how that cosmology works if there are different gods in different lands.

I imagine he spends at least a year or two in Rokugan visiting with the Crab and Dragon as invited. After that he'll likely explore more of the world - see what's north beyond the mountains then circle back home. So he won't be back in the Ivory Kingdoms for some time to come.

Most of the traditions that he encountered to date were cult-adulterated so nothing is immediately in mind to take home with him. But he might pick up some things in the years to come.

[Kaijarisuigyo]

You suggested Sugri had some bad experience with tigers early on. What was that about? Asking for a friend.

[Sugri]

You suggested Sugri had some bad experience with tigers early on. What was that about? Asking for a friend.

Two-fold.

One of his techniques adds +Voidk0 to all Perception based rolls making him a very skilled hunter. His gurukula is fairly isolated which means there are few warriors in the nearby lands. So if a tiger, or any predator, gets a taste for man and begins hunting those not intruding on its territory the villagers would seek out the aid of the gurus in ending the threat. He would only do so in the case of a tiger hunting men within the domains of men though. If they're picking off the odd goat or end up killing a hunter who entered *their* domain then that is not grounds for killing them.

The other is that one of his early incarnations was cursed, in their victory over it, by a Greater Rakshasa and that curse was powerful enough to haunt them through their various incarnations. (Mechanically represented by Cursed by Toshigoku)

So both literal and figurative tiger problems.