A new look at an old thread

I mentioned the samurai refusing to kneel to his daimyo in the apa Alarums and Excursions. Lee Gold had some interesting thoughts:

[quoting Lee]

Well, I make it a practice never to argue with a player about
what a PC would do after one try. I'd give the player some choices:

   a) He's not really a samurai. He's the emperor (or a
demon or a fox) in disguise as a samurai
   b) He's just returned from being a ronin for seven
years -- and he knows if he doesn't kneel he'll be made a
ronin for seven more years
   c) The previous daimyo (who is now a zealous Buddhist
priest) wouldn't let people kneel to him because he was too
humble, and this samurai feels it would be disloyal to his
memory to kneel to the new daimyo
   d) His father only let him come to the daimyo's
court if he swore an oath that he wouldn't kneel to anyone
until some condition was met, and the player gets to name it

Then I'd ask the player to pick one. I think that even
an immature player would like one of those. And I could
fit any of them into a Japanese cultural background.

[end of quote]

I asked if I could post the above here. She said:

[quoting Lee]

Sure. IF you add that the GM should feel free to delete or
add stuff based on hiser visualization of the game culture.

Umm, it may also be worth adding that the usual samurai
"kneeling" was on ONE knee, with the other leg just
partially bent, as I've seen it in historical films/TV.
And that to properly visualize things, remember that the
daimyo isn't sitting on a chair but on a tatami mat,
so that the "kneeling" just brings the samurai down to
his lord's eye level. (It's VERY rude in Japan to
look down on a social superior.)

[end of quote]

While I'd probably go for option d) myself, with c) as a close second, I really like the idea of suggesting to the power gamer that his PC is the emperor in disguise. It's a lovely twist. I don't know how well it would work in practice, of course.

-Lisa