Umbra Britanniae (Shadows of Britain) Savage Worlds, Weird Wars Rome

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I have been looking to run an Eldritch Horror style game for quite some time. I knew I wanted to merge the Mythos entity Yig with some concepts from R.E. Howard’s Kull, some kind of serpent men and actual historical events. Originally, I thought to use the excellent Solomon Kane RPG from Pinnacle since the Howard connection already exists, instead I decided to go with Weird Wars since there are sourcebooks that cover several time periods rife with conflict and drama. I could, with some research come up with the basics of these settings, but I decided to work with some pre-existing source material so I can focus on writing the story and not the “fiddly bits”™ of coming up with Hindrances, Edges and backgrounds for myself.

I am a big fan of the Atomic Robo comic book series by Brian Clevinger & Scott Wegener (All their comics are available online for free here and also check out the fantastic Atomic Robo RPG by Mike Olson over at Evil Hat). In “The Shadow Beyond Time” series, Robo finds a being much like the betentacled horrors found in H.P. Lovecraft’s work. What impressed me was the idea that this creature existed outside of time. That is to say that it existed in all points in time at once and the linear nature of the fourth dimension did not affect it. So as Robo perceived it, he was fighting this thing on several instances in his life. To the creature it was all part of a single interaction outside of linear time. Neat idea! (Stolen)

The concept of the game centered on the idea that interacting with the Outer Gods, binds the character’s “fate” to the struggle against the cosmic being. Time is irrelevant to these eternal beings and their goals are unfathomable to us mortals. The basic idea here is that there is part of us that is eternal and exists outside of time. Usually, when we die that drop goes back to an infinite ocean to flow back at some point. When this energy or spirit is touched by one of these entities, it acts as a marker that changes its direction of flow towards the hoary maw of the unfathomable black. Caught in an eddy of

To the Great Old Ones, these spirit essences are but flecks of flotsam in a vast ocean of eternity and rarely give them any notice. Unless some of them acting in consort catch the beings attention. Once the eye of the Outer Void is upon you, you will be forever tied to its fate and thus are trapped in a karmic circle that cannot be broken since it exists in all points in time simultaneously.

The characters fall into a situation where they foil some plot or dispatch a creature/minion of one of these beings and therefore become marked by it. They are then tied to the beings plots throughout time. Sort of like an immortal tick on Azathoth’s back. This basically opens up a massive amount of options for storytelling within a framework. Although the characters start in Imperial Rome controlled Britain circa 105 A.D., they can move on to their experiences during WWI, Biblical times, the Hyborian Age or even on the dusty plains of half terraformed Mars. After a nice long campaign, the characters then piece together the larger plot through the generations and maybe even discover a way to end the cycle.

I started with Weird Wars Rome. Tim, one of our players is a Roman history enthusiast and historical miniatures wargame player. My other two players, Mike and Paul share the same hobbies and also love the era, so that was an easy choice for a springboard point. Once I decided on the setting, I had to work on the specific location and the time period.

Because of the mysterious nature of the game and it involving strange and ancient lore, I chose Britain as my location. The Romans in general considered the isle to be a mysterious place filled with strange beasts and Druidic magic. This is great for dark and creepy stories, much like “Worms of the Earth” by R.E. Howard featuring Bran Mak Morn, King of the Picts. If you are interested in reading this great story, you can find it for free on the Project Gutenberg Australia site. I think it’s some of Howard’s best work ever.

During this period, Rome held southern England and Wales, but have not penetrated too far to the north. It takes place seven years before the completion of Hadrian's Wall. This wall to separate the empire from the barbarians is a little mysterious in and of itself.

“Although Hadrian's biographer wrote "(Hadrian) was the first to build a wall 80 miles long to separate the Romans from the barbarians", reasons for the construction of the wall vary, and no recording of an exact explanation survives.”

-Wikipedia (Some random un-vetted person online)

Although we can infer quite a bit as to why the wall was built, we do not have any record to tell us anything specific. Hadrian was well known for his policies focusing on defense and retaining Roman territory versus the expansionism embraced by his predecessor Trajan and the wall did much for managing trade by giving the Romans a sure way to properly tax goods travelling to and from the north and south. Yet, that little bit of uncertainty can open up a lot of narrative possibilities while still retaining a touch of realism that can make a setting more relatable and real.

Another interesting fact about this particular period is that the identity of the Governor of Britannia from 103-115 A.D. is unknown. Since no record of this person(s) exists, that opens up more opportunities to create whatever I want in his place. Being the most powerful representative of Rome in the country, I can do a lot with whomever I put there. His motivations and actions are completely up to me without breaking the historical feel of the game.

The final reason for this choice was variety in player character options. The Roman Empire was in one of its zenith points as far as raw territory and cultures. The options for PC’s are amazing for several reasons, including:

• Trajan messing around in the east, gobbling up Dacia or at least, trying to..
• Egypt having been annexed by Rome.
• The silk road being active to the far-east.
• Several large groups of Gallic and German Auxilia being brought in to bring down the almost unending uprisings going on in Britain at the time.
• The domination of Judea and the Middle East.
• Control over most of if not all of North Africa.
  
  
  
  

The players can choose to play just about anything in that time period. All roads lead to Rome!

Before I get a little TLDR on you (too late it’s Plus 10 too long), you may ask, “Hey Jim, why put so much effort into making and researching all these choices? I mean, can’t you just make this up and put it in some nebulous Roman time wherever? Does it really make a difference?” Good question. Let’s go into that.

When all is said and done, this is a horror game. I find that the more you ground the world in a real and palpable way, the more visceral the payoff when the supernatural poop hits the ceiling fan. When players become sufficiently immersed in a setting, narrative and character the intensity of the emotional reaction is greatly increased. This is the real importance of immersion.

One of the main components of horror fiction is to take something that can be considered not only mundane and safe, but somewhat harmless and innocent and put a sinister undertone to it. For example evil dolls. (Before I continue, f**k clowns and evil dolls. Thank you.)

Take something that is as sweet and innocent as a child playing with a doll. Turn that on its ear, film it in black and white, add mood lighting with tons of contrast and play some music in a minor key. Poof! scared off my poo pump. It’s a way of using people’s preconceptions against them by shifting expectations from a safe place to a place of fear and uncertainty.

Same thing holds true here. I create a world that is realistic and grounded in historical fact. I am writing for players have already created a mental picture of how that world works. My players who are the nerdiest history fanboys to geek a dork in spazville have legions of games, books, miniatures and videos about the Roman Empire. It is really easy to play with these preconceptions and use them to solicit an attachment to the game which goes deeper than a work of absolute fiction. This consensus creates a baseline that the players can cling to and I can play with.  I am not trying to say that historical settings are superior to fictional ones. Not at all. I am just saying that it is easier to create these base line realities than conjuring them up from thin air. Collaborative world building is also great fun, but I prefer it when players get some input vs. the GM doing all the world building. That is simply a preference thing.

I really don’t do a lot of mechanical game prep. That is to say I don’t stat out every NPC nor do I use tools to “balance” a combat scenario nor do I ever have anything more than a list of names and skeletal framework for player goals (note: not a plotline, but player character goals. Your characters will never follow a simple plot line). What I do prep is my setting. I make it as complete as I can so that I can make informed and organic choices when reacting to the player’s choices. When you have created a convincing enough reality, you will find that you can live in it and shape it better with simple causality and common sense. This lends an amazing amount of flexibility for you as a storyteller while maintaining the appearance that you are in control.

This ended up being much longer than intended. My apologies. But next time I will go over the player characters and what happened in the prelude scenario.

Helping PC's create characters for an Evil game.

Joker

As a special note I want to preface this article by stating that I am assuming that the GM is confident in running this kind of game. The intent of the article is to give the GM tools that will help him/her guide players in creating characters with non-heroic motivations convincingly.

Ra's Al Ghul

Most commonly, fiction revolves around protagonists who are motivated by a set of characteristics like courage, sacrifice, virtue and integrity. Although some “Evil” characters might share some of these values, their interpretation of said values is often quite skewed and should cause them to react differently than the more traditional protagonists.

There is a common misconception that a protagonist is a good guy. That, by definition isn’t always the case. The protagonist is “the most important character in a novel, play, story, or other literary work” and is not necessarily a Hero or “somebody who commits an act of remarkable bravery or who has shown an admirable quality such as great courage or strength of character”. In an “Evil Campaign” the protagonists are not Heroes, but their dark motivations are at the center of the plot and drive the story.

Since these motivations will inevitably create the tension and conflict in the story, it is imperative that characters are able to follow through on these motivations convincingly or the story itself will lack any and all substance. This sometimes causes a conflict or disconnect with players who are used to “doing the right thing.” To quote Han from Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon,“Very few people can be totally ruthless. It isn't easy; it takes more strength than you might believe.”

Playing a character that is bereft of conscious, sadistic or outright cruel can be very difficult for most players. We have spent our whole lives in polite society, respecting the limitations that make said society function. It can be difficult and downright scary to work outside boundaries that we consider to be simply humane. The problem that I have come across is that of getting the players to wrap themselves around the right motivations thematically, instead of just running around doing bad things for no better reason than they are bad. True Evil has purpose and finding that purpose should be central to these characters. Discovering these motivations can sometimes be difficult without going into more cartoonish caricatures of Evil.

These types of games ask players to tap into their dark side. Personally, I enjoy the challenge of exploring parts of my personality that I generally do not get to express. Playing a “bad guy” can be quite cathartic at times, since the character is not generally bound by the same rules as “civilized” or “good” people. Getting over the fear factor of cutting loose on the dark side can be challenging and rewarding, but may require some guidance.

There are many truly complex characters that can be considered at some times sympathetic, yet amoral. The classic Anti-hero usually fits this bill. Sam Spade from the Maltese Falcon is the quintessential example of this kind of character. Although Anti –heroes are not motivated by morality, they are portrayed as survivors and scoundrels who live by their wits and do whatever it takes to come out on top. These characters lack a focal element or ambition that would cause them to be truly villainous. Anti-heroes cannot be truly labeled villains because their agenda is not necessarily antisocial, just self-serving.

What makes someone bad? It’s a big question that I am certainly not qualified to answer completely, but for the purposes of this article I am going to go with one of the more straight forward and obvious answers. Trauma. Most well developed villains can trace their motivations back to some traumatic event in their lives. This forms the nucleus of their dramatic intent and drives their motivation. Identifying their trauma is the first step towards creating a convincingly evil character.

The second step is visualizing how that trauma has shaped their lives and goals. What conclusions did these sinister forces in the character’s background cause him/her to make? Does the world have to burn? Does he/she have to find a way to make sure that never happens again by exerting total control? Does the villain need to exact revenge at all costs? The source of the trauma can lead you directly towards this reaction or it might take some thought, but it must lead the character to act out in an antisocial way. Adversity can lead someone towards positive or negative ends, but we are creating villains here, not Batman.

Lastly, it is important to keep in mind that a basic element that binds evil characters together is a disregard for how the consequences of their actions affect the large majority of others. For the most part, although passionate, the tendency for some form of emotional detachment is necessary for villainous concepts. This is the basic essence of a sociopath. The attainment of their goals must be achieved at all costs and they cannot be restrained by things like sympathy. After all you can’t make an omelet without breaking a few eggs right? Sometimes they understand that there must be a sacrifice and solemnly accept it. Others have a total disregard for those who are made to suffer. Some particularly disturbed individuals fail to even recognize that what they are doing may be harming another. For a villain, the ends always justify the means.

These games, if incorporated in a broader campaign can also be beneficial for the GM. Looking at things from the flip side can not only challenge a players RP chops, but can expose them to parts of your Metaplot that would otherwise not be visible to characters from another point of view. It can serve to shed light on the other side’s motivations or give them more clarity as to the ultimate goal of whatever person, persons or organizations they usually struggle against. It also provides the GM with the unique opportunity to play the characters that would more traditionally be the protagonists. A myriad of other story opportunities might arise, like tales of redemption or of star crossed romance.

Below, is a list of common evil motivations, along with examples of pop culture characters that fit these archetypes. This is by no extent a comprehensive list, but should serve as a decent springboard to explore the dark side.

Greed

Primary motivation: To acquire as much wealth as possible

Possible Trauma: Growing up poor. Having a life of luxury only to have it stripped from you. Having lived as a servant to the rich, all the while knowing you are smarter or in some way superior to the entitled fools.

Example: Kingpin (Marvel Comics), Beni (The Mummy)

Kingpin – “Crime is on the rise -- and therefore so are our profits.”

Rick: “So what's the scam, Beni? You take them out into the middle of the desert and then you leave 'em to rot?”
Beni: “Unfortunately, no. These Americans are smart. They pay me only half now, half when I get them back to Cairo, so this time I must go all the way.”
Rick: “Them's the breaks, huh?”

Villains who seek wealth for its own sake are in actuality seeking to comfort some sense of inadequacy, seek to acquire the rewards they always deserved due to their superiority and see wealth as a way to proclaim their own superiority. The character is obsessed with acquiring wealth by any means. Whether it be legitimate, like for example Lex Luthor’s corporate empire or more shady means like the Kingpin’s criminal underground. The welfare of the machine that generates the characters vast wealth must be cultivated and protected at all costs. Anyone threatening their wealth or the acquisition thereof must be dealt with decisively and sometimes even violently. This character is beyond simply wanting to be rich; he wants to be the richest and will use anyone or anything to achieve that goal.

Of course this search for wealth does not have to take such an epic scope. Maybe characters are still actively seeking to build their financial empire. The same rules still apply. Characters motivated by greed will sell out their friends and family, poison their communities and even outright murder people to become rich. Mercenaries, thieves, muggers, burglars and drug dealers commonly have this as a motivation. (Please excuse my over use of Batman villains. I can't help it they are so good.)

Lust for Power

Primary motivation: To make others kneel

Possible Trauma: Raised as an outcast with while harboring a superior intelligence or power. Somehow convinced that they are born to rule by birthright or some other inborn superiority.

Example: Victor VonDoom (Marvel Comics), Khan Noonien Singh (Star Trek)

Zebediah Killgrave: “I should own the world, Doom! The true power belongs to me! You’re just a manipulator! You use electronic trickery to wield forces you’re too weak to control without gimmicks! You don’t deserve to rule!”
Dr. Doom: “No? Leave me!” (The obedient technos comply; the room is quickly emptied.) “I am removing my mask, Kilgrave. Within it is the circuitry that shields me from your power. I am totally vulnerable.”
Zebediah Killgrave: Then release me! I-I said release me! Stand on your head! T-take a flying leap! Impossible! N-not this close! No one has a will that strong! No one.
Dr. Doom: Now Zebediah Kilgrave….. who deserves to rule?

Capt. Kirk: You fled. Why? Were you afraid?
Khan Noonien Singh: I've never been afraid.
Capt. Kirk: But you left at the very time mankind needed courage.
Khan Noonien Singh: [angrily] We offered the world ORDER!

One of the most common “villainous” motivations, the lust for power can take many forms. This motivation is one of the easiest to take towards the cartoonish, because many people mistake the goal for the motivation. Not to be mistaken for the Greed motivated character since wealth is only a means to an end for those who seek only exert their wills on others.

Does the character, much like Dr. Doom seek to take power because he is ultimately confident that he is superior and therefore entitled to the throne? These megalomaniacal motivations have to have some sort of source to be convincing. What qualities does the character have that makes him feel superior? Heritage, advanced intelligence or simple madness can be the root cause of such entitlement, but usually the character has to have some form of powerbase to reasonably achieve this goal. Dr. Doom is the ruler of Latveria, a genius mad scientist and a sorcerer. Khan was the leader of a genetically enhanced group of supermen, bred by misguided scientists to rule. Without something to justify the characters overblown ego, he or she simply looks impotent and foolish.

Often these characters hold on to some misguided sense of altruism. They offer the world order and reason which would accompany their rule. Of course at the cost of personal freedom and liberty, but that’s a small price to pay.

Kink for Chaos

Primary motivation: To disrupt order and/or civilization and prove that order is a joke and chaos is the natural state of the universe.

Trauma: Any event that is so drastic and random as to convince someone that there is absolutely no reason or order to the universe. Betrayal by those who are supposed to enforce order or being the victim of random causality. Events that cause such a deep and overwhelming despair that it causes the character to rationalize it by completely embracing nihilism. Being in a state of total and complete repression to the point where they are ultimately resentful of order.

Example: The Joker (DC Comics), Tyler Durden (Fight Club)

Joker: "Ladies and Gentlemen! You've read about it in the papers! Now witness, before your very eyes, that most rare and tragic of nature's mistakes! I give you: the average man. Physically unremarkable, it instead possesses a deformed set of values. Notice the hideously bloated sense of humanity's importance. Also note the club-footed social conscience and the withered optimism. It's certainly not for the squeamish, is it? Most repulsive of all, are its frail and useless notions of order and sanity. If too much weight is placed upon them... they snap. How does it live, I hear you ask? How does this poor pathetic specimen survive in today's harsh and irrational environment? I'm afraid the sad answer is, "Not very well." Faced with the inescapable fact that human existence is mad, random, and pointless, one in eight of them crack up and go stark slavering buggo! Who can blame them? In a world as psychotic as this... any other response would be crazy!"

Tyler Durden “You are not special. You're not a beautiful and unique snowflake. You're the same decaying organic matter as everything else. We're all part of the same compost heap. We're all singing, all dancing crap of the world.”

As Alfred said, “Some men just want to watch the world burn. This is perhaps the maddest of all of these motivations. Justice is a lie and trying to find meaning in joy or suffering is fruitless. To someone like this the concept of karma is the most ridiculous of fantasies, because the world is by nature, random, cruel and unfeeling. Nothing is special, unique and immune to the mercilessness of random fate. He/she is a trickster god a force of nature an embodiment of Loki and Coyote remorseless as the cosmos and as implacable as fate. He/she has been entrusted to teach the ultimate lesson and it must be taught to everyone, usually by creating a chaos that makes people question all of society’s false moral and ethical moorings. They actively seek to bring down any person, group, organization or system that tries to impose any form of order on the world other than the order of pure nature.

Minion of Evil

Primary motivation: To do the dark one’s bidding

Trauma: Usually from a background where they are powerless and marginalized. Resentful of a culture that abandoned them. They are lifted from the lowest of stations by a mentor who leads him/her towards a path of evil.

Example: Darth Maul (Star Wars), Harley Quinn (DC Comics)

Darth Sideous: Move against the Jedi first. You will then have no difficulty in taking the Queen back to Naboo to sign the treaty.

Darth Maul: At last we will reveal ourselves to the Jedi. At last we will have revenge.

Darth Sideous: You have been well trained my young apprentice.  They will be no match for you.

Harley Quinn: Well, now you're working for Mr. J, you chowderhead.  You'll do what he says, and take what he gives, and hope it is not - A BULLET!

This character is a henchman.  A well trained and powerful henchman, but a servant nonetheless. They are fanatical zealots who are totally devoted to their master and their cause.  The great thing about this motivation is that the character can be focused and directed easily, but the downside is the character lacks a certain amount of autonomy. 

Vengeance Seeker

Primary motivation: To destroy all who wronged them

Trauma: You love something? Have someone take it away from you and see how you feel about it.  You want payback.

Example: The Hulk (World War Hulk), Atrocitus (DC Comics)

Hulk: "I didn't come for a whisper.  I came to hear you SCREAM!"

Atrocitus: "With blood and rage of crimson red,

Ripped from a corpse so freshly dead,

Together with our hellish hate,

We'll burn you all-- That is your fate!"
This is probably the simplest motivation here and the most sympathetic.  This is a motivation of love gone mad.  In seeking retribution, this character's pain spreads like a plague. Mad thrashes of rage. Unrelenting and blinded to anything but their own hurt these characters, these characters are tragic, but ultimately destructive.

The Destroyer

Primary motivation: To bring forth the destruction of the world

Trauma: This is usually the aftereffect of a disillusioned idealist. Disappointed by a people or society to such a great extent that he/she believes that everything needs to be obliterated so that something better can take its place.

Example: (Ra's Al Ghul), Ozymandias (The Watchmen)

Ra's Al Ghul: "In the new world, all peoples will be united, every race, every faith, every creed will find common purpose... our world is not for everyone. Only those who prove their worth will enter it. The rest will be purged... and if nine hundred and ninety-nine must perish for everyone who lives... so be it!"

Ozymandias: "It doesn't take a genius to see that the world has problems."

There are many many more villainous motivations available. Look at your favorite villains and there is always a story to be told about how they came to be.  The final element I want to leave with you is this. The farther away from your nature a character is, the more imagination it takes to play. Finding the characters motivations will allow you to get into the head of the monster and you may find something about yourself.  You will find what it is that you think is the most heinous kind of person someone can be. 

How to deal with the unexpected

Every once in awhile as a role player I have come across some situations where the GM paints him/herself in a corner by incorrectly predicting how a character will act.  This is not uncommon and has a tendency to derail a campaign. This is especially the case when the player is not simply being obstinate  but has come to the conclusion that his characters motivations would lead him in a direction that the GM has not predicted.

This can be very tricky to deal with for anyone trying to run a game. The GM must be careful to not override the player’s creativity or stand the chance of alienating that person. What if this completely changes the course of the story? What if the GM is not prepared for that eventuality and it ends up stopping the game? What if you end up having to deal with conflicts between your players and ultimately yourself because of this choice?  This is probably one of the greatest challenges any GM will face, but just like most challenges, if handled with a little courage and wisdom everyone can come out the better for it.

There are a few things that a GM can do in prep to avoid these problems.  First of all, try to keep your plot points from becoming too linear. Try not to think in terms of “dominoes” try to think more in terms of “pitch and draw.” What I mean by this is to write your plot points in such a fashion that there are multiple ways of achieving a goal so if you are thrown a card you don’t want, you can pitch it back and draw another.

This can be achieved simply by not over planning. Instead of designing specific instances that will drive the plot, come up with NPC’s and clues in the environment that the players can discover and interact with.  This gives you several options which the characters can discover organically. When you have a starting point and a goal, it’s far easier to come up with ways for the characters to reach that goal on the fly instead of having a meticulously designed scene that the characters can avoid or disrupt too easily.

“That boy is our last hope.”

“No, there is another.”

-Obi Wan and Yoda. Empire Strikes Back

Sometimes you will need to plan for the unexpected.  The best way to do this with plot points is to design a way for each character to discover information or interact with an NPC that will get you to your goal.  If one character fails to do so, you can move on to the next until you get the desired result. This will take some thought since character motivations are sometimes at odds.

“Having not said anything the first time, it was somehow even more difficult to broach the subject the second time around.” 

-Douglas Adams, So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish

The best thing to do to keep things floating right is to communicate. Having a quick chat with a player whose character has an important role in the plot can save a lot of heartache in the long run. Do not feel like you cannot be in collusion with your players.  This is a cooperative exercise and you will be surprised at how accommodating your players will be if you simply ask them to play along with something. Some might think that is cheating. Just keep in mind that the point here is to tell an interesting story and having the players help you along is never a bad idea.

Here is a good example from a Legend of the Five Rings game I was in a few years back.

The situation:

A samurai is being manipulated by his sensei who just happens to be a member of a secret society bent on destroying the “celestial order.” The GM has basically put this player in a situation where he can

A) Go along with the nefarious plot and loose personal honor but uphold the “face” of his family and clan by keeping some blackmail secret or

B) Stand against his sensei and uphold his personal honor and let the chips fall where they may vis-a-vis the blackmail.

The Conflict:

The player decides that his characters priorities are to his family and clan and cannot force himself to cause any loss in honor to either even at the expense of his own personal honor. This is of course at odds with what the GM believed to be the “Heroic” thing to do, but has to accept that the player has a right to interpret his characters motivations. The GM now has to figure out how to stop the corrupted sensei’s plot and allow his player to retain his characters motivational integrity.

The Resolution:

Amongst the other players are a magistrate (basically a samurai cop) and his personal bodyguard.  They are from another clan. Since one of them is a magistrate and he has some authority, the GM decides to have them find something incriminating act upon it.  So the GM decides to lead them towards the plot and see if they take action.

The other players find things out after a while, but the GM runs into another problem. Since the magistrate is from another clan, this situation is outside his jurisdiction and he could start an all-out war between the two clans if he gets too deeply involved! The magistrate player explains that although concerned about the situation, he cannot see the character risking a war because of it.

The GM then pulls the bodyguard aside and basically deconstructs the situation and asks if there is anything he can think of to fix the situation.  The bodyguard player then confers with the magistrate and after a few minutes come up with the following plan.

Knowing that the blackmailed samurai was being groomed for a very high position within the imperial court, the magistrate had to do something about the situation without causing a war.  The bodyguard also decides that this situation is far more important than their personal honor (a conclusion that the GM originally assumed that the first player would make.)  So the magistrate and bodyguard leave without a trace. They travel to their daimyo’s castle and explain that they must leave their clan and family, renouncing their vows and everything that is held sacred in their culture and religion to become Ronin.  They further explain that they are doing this in order to take actions that are in the best interest of the empire, but cannot be connected to their clan in fear of the repercussions. The GM/diamyo grants them this and excommunicates them from the clan.

The two samurai return with no ties to their former clan, ambush and assassinate the corrupt sensei and promptly commit seppuku.  Case closed.

In this situation we ended up having a fantastic “samurai” ending to the story.  The plot was resolved and everyone ended up in the clear since dying an honorable death is the best thing a samurai can ever achieve.

The GM had to pull out all the stops.  He had to pull characters into a subplot that was malfunctioning and had to basically conspire with characters to get the plot back on track. The conclusion to the story ended up being more spectacular than what the GM had originally anticipated and everyone ended up loving the story overall.

“The price of a Lion Bushi’s honor?

One dark secret.

Ending a Kolat plot in a whirlwind of murder and seppuku?

Priceless.”

-Eli “Yojimbo” Basquez

Our GM never panicked and never gave up on his story.  Sure, things got horribly derailed and there were some arguments in between, but in the end it all working out. Sometimes the GM is the one who has to solve the plot puzzles while the players get to watch.