(Potential minor spoilers for L5R TTRPG modules so if you’re playing a campaign I’d probably skip this post)

The beginning

I have been DMing a L5R campaign and have been absolutely loving it. It started as a one-off adventure with friends after I saw the beginner kit in a game store and we just carried on playing!

The players started with the 4 pre-gen characters from the beginner adventure and grew attached to them so they kept them as characters. One of the characters, Doji Ren, is the driver for this post.

In the pre-gen character notes it mentions that Doji Ren is engaged to a member of the Scorpion Clan (Bayushi Umiko). In the first adventure I had this person be Bayushi Mei Lin’s older sister. It worked well as Mei Lin was a minor rival to the group in the first adventure and this gave Ren the impression that if he did not get on with his future sister-in-law, he wasn’t thrilled about meeting his future wife. This created a fun dynamic for the player where they were looking forward to the possibilities that came with adult life as a samurai, while occasionally being reminded that marriage was approaching and his freedom would be short lived (gain strife).

Ren's change of heart

A couple of adventures later we did The Wedding at Kyotei Castle. This involves a Crane Vassal family member about to go into an arranged marriage he does not want, so Ren immediately sees himself. The day before the wedding the Crane’s ex turns up, the groom is immediately in love with her and is willing to drop everything for her. He won’t actively do anything to change his situation, but he’ll happily stand aside and allow his ex to kill his fiancée. Seeing this, Ren is disgusted and a change has started. Ren does not want to get married, but he also does not want to be like this man either. The party intervene, the ex is killed in combat and the engaged couple finish their wedding - forging an alliance between the Cranes and Phoenix. Ren is now on the fence with his own marriage.

In a later adventure we do The Highwayman and to link this adventure to the party I make a change so that the missing sake delivery is to the Bayushis… it’s the sake for Ren’s wedding. A date has been set and it is approaching. In this adventure I include a scorpion NPC who is investigating the missing shipment. I made her part of the Bayushi family and so this also doubled up as her having the chance to spy on her cousin’s future husband. During the climax of the adventure the main villain ended up getting a severe critical strike on the Scorpion making her mute. A courtier himself, Ren knew how precious one’s voice is in court so this also had an impact on him - firstly of him feeling guilty that he couldn’t stop it from happening but also it impacted his view on the Scorpion clan. This was a Scorpion who joined him to fight a great threat and potentially saved his life so not all Scorpions are bad, so maybe he should give his fiancée a chance too. He is now fully onboard with doing his duty and getting married.

None of this marriage arc was planned out this way, it’s like a single sentence in the initial character booklet which the DM can use to make the character cringe a bit, but it’s been amazing to see this story develop through the players taking in situations and just being really up for role-playing.

Planning a wedding

What this does mean though is that this wedding is almost certainly going to happen now, and I’m keen to do it well. Here’s where I’m at. Ren is currently picking out his wedding outfit (I have 2 rival tailors pitching to him, one backed by his family and another recommended by the current Emerald Champion). The wedding is going to be at Ryoku Owari Toshi, The City of Lies, and I have bought The City of Lies pdf for inspiration of side quests to do while the team are there. I’ve also hinted that Doji Hotaru wants this wedding to go ahead (the players don’t know that this is so she can set up a heist for a team to steal from the Scorpion while distracted by the wedding).

I have a couple of months real time before the wedding will actually happen but I’m a bit stuck on how to run the wedding in a way that makes it an active and enjoyable experience for the players because at the end of the day it’s all about them having fun! My thoughts so far are setting each PC a role and their own challenges to navigate.

• Doji Ren (Crane Courtier and Groom) - Needs to get through the wedding without embarrassing the Cranes or Scorpions and any failed sidequests from the PCs will result in something Ren has to navigate. Aside from this he could have challenges in the ceremony itself such as how dramatic an entrance he makes (does he go loud and upstage the bride or be more subtle and risk being seen as too plain for a crane?), he might also have to make speeches and know the right chants for his blessing.
• Isawa Aki (Phoenix Shugenja and Priest) - One idea I had to get Aki involved in the wedding is make her the person who actually marries them! Perhaps the original priest gets delayed and so she has to step in. Now she needs to keep the spirits under control and make sure the ceremony is run correctly.
• Togashi Yoshi (Dragon Monk and Usher) with Cranes and Scorpions in attendance there’s bound to be arguments so Yoshi may need to step in and be a voice of reason. We could also have logistical issues which he has to help with such as the food delivery not turning up and reuniting the band who have split up on the day of the wedding.
• Akodo Masako (Lion Bushi and Security) as this is a Crane and Scorpion wedding, it would be foolish to think there will be no shenanigans planned to sabotage the wedding. Pranks to humiliate the couple could come from both sides or this could be an opportunity to try and assassinate one of the guests. In the City of Lies source book there is a Ronin bandit leader who is making targeted attacks against the Scorpion Clan, he could make an appearance to disrupt the event.

These are some ideas but this results in a splitting the party kind of setup. I’m also not sure these ideas have enough substance around them to give each PC a solid amount of stage time. I’m also wary of relying on combat for this as I want this to feel different to The Wedding at Kyotei Castle.

Ideas and advice

Hopefully the above gives good context of how things are going into the wedding. Have any of you DMed weddings in L5R before? How would you go about running a wedding between the Cranes and Scorpions and keep all PCs actively involved?

Chapter six of Coiled Fates by yours truly is on the site now.
https://www.legendofthefiverings.com/coiled-fates-chapter-six/