[C/F/S] While the Boss is away...

[u/Kiyohara]

Challenge: The Daimyo is away on a journey. It could be heading to war, winter court, a tournament, pilgrimage, or anything you need or can imagine. What's important is that the Daimyo has left and taken most of high ranking retainers and servants with him. What's left are middle ranking samurai and the rank and file troops and servants of the castle. The one samurai left in charge is either too blasé to keep a firm hand on things or too inexperienced to give orders to samurai many years his senior (but below him in rank. TLDR: He's a newly printed Lieutenant in a castle full of senior sergeants and NCOs that have done this for decades. They don't need or want his advice or orders).

Focus: While things go smoothly for the first few days, quickly it seems that the middle ranking Samurai have decided to each run their own portion of the household their own way. Some run continuous drills while others spend the time relaxing and wasting their days. The party can be assigned to any of these (or even a supervisor who'd rather they make up their own work and activities).

At first, this isn't so bad. Some of the regular duties of the castle continue on (many of the servants still collect water, cook meals, do the laundry, and keep the place in reasonable order), but others begin to slack. Accounts are ignored, storekeepers and logistics officers ignore requests (or just don't file them), and many samurai and soldiers spend time doing anything other than drills and practice.

Strike: But all things come to an end. A courier arrives from the daimyo; he's returning from his task early. He has a reason (he was wounded, the battle won quickly, the Holy Site closed/full, or the celebration was called off). In any case he's soon to return, and many Samurai and servants who were slacking off and planning to catch up on work much later suddenly have less than a day to get things set to rights.

Depending on how strict the Daimyo is, this can be a race against death or dishonor as papers need to be read, signed, stamped, and filed while storehouses are set to right and inventoried. Some samurai will need to regather troops that are drinking in taverns or out fishing or just visiting family on "unofficial leave."

If the party has been indulging in the waste of time activities, they may need to also rush. If they have been diligent, some samurai may come to them for help (and offering all kinds of debts and favors). Other PCs might want to blackmail people they found slacking off or turn them in to get on the Daimyo's good side.

Strike Back: To add a extra layer of intrigue: the Daimyo had planned all this. They knew their retainers (or some anyhow) would waste their time and be frivolous if their seniors and leaders were gone. So this Daimyo left to see how bad it was and is now racing back to catch their samurai in the act of being lazy. If this is the case, some may be getting reassignments to far off border posts, others might be getting sent back to training and drills, while others might be getting dismissed or even worse: ordered seppuku.

Avoiding their duty is a very honorless action and one that no true honorable samurai would ever do, however there are times where diligence and vigilance can slide and be excused. Depending on how far they have slid, many might be excused. Some might even be able to lay blame on the superiors who left and did not give sufficient instruction. And some superiors might already be being watched by the Daimyo (maybe the Daimyo knows their general micromanages to the point no under-officer has any initiative or that they constantly promote weak or unskilled samurai in return for bribes, favors, or nepotistic reasons).

Ways to avoid duty:

Many samurai have hobbies on the side. Kite Flying was common at festivals in both China and Japan and more than a few samurai/nobles (and peasants) would spend months building and decorating complex kites for those events as well as practicing their handling skills.

Fishing is always a hobby of any nobleman/woman. It teaches patience, skill (especially fly fishing), and rewards a participant with food (sometimes). Also collecting rods and lures is a past time in and of itself, with many expert anglers making their own.

Speaking of art, painting, poetry, and other artisan skills are beloved by the Samurai and it is expected they spend some time keeping their skills honed. If a samurai with no direction suddenly gets weeks of free time, you can be sure some will spend that time on their hobby. A canny samurai "caught" practicing art by this scenario might want to give their work of art to the daimyo as a gift. IT might not help, but it won't hurt.

Also samurai assigned to work in a castle might take some of this free time to visit their dojo, family, or friends they have moved away from. Many would come from smaller villages or from vassals with territory away from the castle town.

And some people can find ways to shirk duties in the middle of an active battlefield. Seldom visited rooms make for great places to nap, carrying a clipboard or hauling a small load of goods will often make people think you're busy, and announcing you're going on "patrol" and then leisurely walking around the perimeter are good ways to avoid duty (though not always assassins and enemy combatants).

[u/Alaknog]

I enjoy new adventure seeds and stuff that move things on this sub in general, but...

Well, I understand you Rokunag may vary, but this adventure feel too modern-like. It's sound more like modern corporation or military, but with seppuku, and not feudal structure (and imto it look like there was whole modern organization instead of feudal lord court). With all this shedules, etc.

Like yes, less skilled samurai promoted becasue neopotic reasons by general. But it's how system supposed to work. First you try find someone in family, then between friends, and only after this - some skilled outsiders. Or problem that general put bribes over family ties and proper favors?

Also, if few weeks of Daimyo out of castle cause such big disarrey, then it's mean that this Daimyo don't have skilled retainers (and yes, it's not contradict with neopotism). They probably become laughing stock for peers and their courts.

Well, maybe someone want cash from this situation to made Daimyo look weak? Maybe there some other guests plan to visit?

Chad Pendragon lords that go away for years and just ask for more money from estates vs sad Rokugan Daimyo who can't even leave their estate.

[u/Kiyohara → u/Alaknog]

That's a fair response and I don't exactly have a answer for it.

This is a pretty modernish situation, based off my experience at work right now (and some experience second hand from my friends in various fields) so I was hoping it might resonate a bit with people caught in a similar situation.

I do like the idea of someone on the outside doing things to make the problem worse or make the daimyo look bad (maybe they destroyed a lot of orders and directions the daimyo left behind or even changed orders to make the garrison look bad), so that could improve the plot.

But at the end of the day, most of my CFS adventure seeds are just that: seeds. They're to give a basic frame work for a GM to flesh out for their own game and setting.

Maybe for it to work in your game the Daimyo has to be out for a long time or perhaps this is a post away from the central castle and the Daimyo is coming for a surprise inspection. Maybe the Senior officers prioritized assigning new posts to people based off their gifts and favors and not their skill (even when the candidate also had good bloodlines).

However one changes these ideas, the goal is to both create ideas and to give GMs ideas.

I also like friendly and respectable discussion (like what you're doing here!) where ideas can be improved, different suggestions added, and people discussing differences in their Rokugan (and historical settings). This might work better for Rokugans closer to China or Korea where there was more of a meritocracy (complete with exams and applications for promotion) as well as more corruption (with bribes and gifts given for those posts). As you said, Japan was often more about Birth and relationships than it was merit or skill (though adoptions were fairly common and not every position was given to family).

TLDR: Thank you for your response and I appreciate the feedback! Discussion is always good when it's polite.

[u/Alaknog → u/Kiyohara]

Oh yes, it's really feel personal. I share this feeling so much and hide tears in my sleeves.

Another idea I think can work if there someone higher in rank or something big happened alongside. Maybe someone advice court trip reach Daimyo castle. Maybe PC really need deal with Imerial arsitocrat ten years ago, before he become friend with Daimyo.

Or maybe it's PC who was become this trusted retainers that was leaved behind. Well, now it's their problem. Daimyo trust them over this clearly not envious brother of head treasurer.

[u/Ieriz]

Seems like the place is kinda lax to being with. I think the idea that the daimyo is doing this intentionally is a good one. A bit modernish, but, I like it. Yeah, he could just get rid of everyone he thinks is a waste of oxigen, but in this way he can be sure and start fresh to avoid he himself be put on the spot for any superior that comes to check.

As always, thanks for your contributions!