Legend of the Five Rings
Legend of the Five Rings (Fourth Edition) is an Asian epic fantasy, martial arts system written by Shawn Carman, Robert Hobart, Jim Pinto, and Brian Yoon and published by Alderac Entertainment Group.
By Lawrence “darth_kwan_doh” Grabowski
Legend of the Five Rings (L5R) [Fourth Edition] takes place in a setting heavily influenced by feudal Japan, liberally sprinkled with elements of other Asian cultures. It contains a variety of fantastic elements, including spell-casting, otherworldly creatures, several planes of existence, and, my favorite, kung fu monks with magical tattoos that let them breath fire. Players assume the role of members of the samurai class and take part in a variety of adventures, from ranging out beyond the Kaiu Wall in search of Oni to slay to maneuvering through royal courts full of honey lips hiding dagger tongues.
It continues to use the Roll and Keep system for action resolution. Whenever a roll is called for, a trait and a skill are selected and their values added together. That many d10s are rolled. The player then selects a number of them equal to the trait, discarding the rest. The faces of the selected dice are added together, giving you the total for your roll. It’s flexible because traits do not have specific skills associated with them; they can be mixed and matched as the situation calls. For example, you might roll Intelligence and Athletics to determine the best way to ascend the cliff and then Strength and Athletics to do the actual climbing.
CONTENT
Book of Water, Setting: L5R is set in the land of Rokugan, a country made up of territories controlled by various clans, each possessing their own theme, ranging from the honorable Lion to the mystical Dragon and the duplicitous Scorpion. The clans vie amongst themselves for resources and influence, sending their samurai to die in battle, search for mystical power, or spar with one another in the courts of the empire. They do this in a culture steeped in ritual, which can be as mundane as refusing a gift twice so as not to offend the giver or as mystical as praying to the kami, spirits that infuse the world, to cause an earthquake. Despite the ever present infighting, they will put their differences aside when presented with the greatest threat to not only their empire, but their very souls, the Shadowlands. Situated south of Rokugan beyond the Great Carpenter Wall, the Shadowlands is a twisted, mutating landscape full of horror.
Timeline Neutrality: It bears special note that this edition of L5R strives to be timeline neutral. Since its inception as a CCG, L5R has always had a progressing timeline, which is reflected not only in each edition of the game, but in timeline specific sourcebooks. In this edition the designers have made a special effort to present the setting in a timeline neutral fashion and are planning on releasing material to develop games in specific settings. The new emphasis on timeline neutrality also encourages players to explore the material from older editions and previous eras of the game’s history. Personally, I am a Pre-Coup fanboy.
Book of Earth, Character Creation: Character creation is fairly simple, starting with selecting which Great Clan you come from, which gives you an attribute bonus, a family, which gives you a second attribute bonus, and then your school. Each clan has a bushi (stabby), a shugenja (casty), a courtier (talky) school, and then a special school based on that clan’s theme, and each confers a technique or series of techniques, based on the school’s theme. Then character points are spent on skills, advantages and disadvantages. If you are a shugenja you also get to pick spells. Not much more complicated than that, but the ability to mix skills, advantages, and disadvantages allows for interesting character customization.
Book of Fire, General Mechanics: As mentioned, L5R continues to use the Roll and Keep system. Combat remains unusually lethal, especially compared to something like DnD 4th edition. Rather than having hit points, each character possesses wound ranks that fill up as damage is received, and confer increasingly harsh penalties on actions. In the previous edition, using your actions to attack was almost, if not always, the most efficient use of your turn. This edition attempts to change that by adding a system where actions are classified as Complex, Simple, or Free. Movement and attacking can be Simple or Complex, depending on things like one’s character level. Characters also have a reserve of Void Points, which can be spent to do a variety of things, such as rolling and keeping an extra die on a roll, throughout gameplay.
Book of Air, Advanced Mechanics: The Book of Air presents rules for Monks, Minor Clans, alternatives to the basic schools, and Maho. Monks receive Kiho as they level up, which are similar to spells. They exist in a strange place socially within the setting because they are lower in the social hierarchy than samurai, but it is considered bad manners and bad luck to treat them poorly. The Minor Clans are offshoots of the Great Clans, each with their own theme. Their schools are generally considered weaker than those of the Great Clans, but offer new variety in application of the mechanics as well as social interaction with the setting. Advanced Schools and Paths allow characters to specialize within their basic school, adding another element of flexibility. Unlike in previous editions, paths replace basic school techniques, rather than being supplemental. Maho, essentially evil magic, allows for both PCs and NPCs to trade their soul for power. Due to two of the theme mechanics (Honor, how closely you adhere to the objective morality of the setting, and Glory/Infamy, how famous or infamous you are), some very interesting moral quandaries can be created around Maho use.
Book of Void, Game Mastering: This chapter contains an introductory adventure, a small bestiary, and a discussion of the designer’s vision of how a L5R game differs from a more conventional role playing game. This section goes into some detail on how to get away from the classic dungeon delving and monster slaying adventures most people are familiar with; there is also a strong emphasis on the idea that samurai dramas can end tragically and sometimes standing up to evil and failing is the best you can hope for. In addition to general ideas about how an L5R campaign can be run, there are several suggestions for how to get parties together and an explanation of the 36 plots. I found the section to be useful and an interesting read. It helps you get your feet wet and then shows you where you can go from there.
OVERALL
I highly recommend Legend of the Five Rings, and not only for the fire-breathing monks, to anyone interested in exploring a less European and less Hack-n-Slash style of gameplay or storytelling. The setting is rich and stimulating while preserving room for player and game master invention, the mechanics are simple and cover a wide range of situations, and you get to kill things with a katana.
RATINGS
Publication Quality: 9 out of 10
The L5R 4th edition core book marks the beginning of a new direction in cover presentation for Legend of the Five Rings. It is grey with minimal detail, in contrast to the third edition books, which were red and usually included a picture, apart from the core book. The art used within the book itself has shifted tones; it is still card art, but when combined with the whitish background it gives the book a much more ethereal feel than the previous edition. I found the fonts and spacing to be unremarkable, except those of the table of contents and index, which I found hard to read. The layout has remained largely the same and will be familiar to anyone who has looked at a previous L5R core book.
It is divided into five chapters each titled after one of the five rings from The Book of Five Rings, each corresponding to a different aspect of the game, setting, general mechanics, characters, advanced mechanics, and game mastering. One thing of particular note is the improvement in editing, especially over the L5R third edition revised book. My one major critique would have to be the character sheet. One of the objectives of fourth edition was to be able to play your character entirely from the character sheet, without consulting the rules. True, there is space to write everything mechanical down, and space for writing down information about NPCs, but the character sheet can run up to 6 pages. At that point I’d rather use a note pad for major stats and note cards for things like spells. Overall, I would say the book is well-made and laid out in a consistent fashion, allowing familiar players to easily transition to fourth edition and allowing new players to learn the game with minimal fuss.
Mechanics: 8 out of 10
The core mechanics, as well as most of the other general mechanics, remain largely, if not entirely, unchanged. One of the most obvious changes is the lack of large static bonuses and free raises, which will probably be lauded by people who remember the Ikoma Spymaster/Voice/Courtier/etc. builds. The only major downside I was able to find to the rules tweaks was that they require an especially fine read by veteran players to find the few important changes that have been made.
Balance has been improved significantly over the previous edition; Mirumoto Bushi, I’m looking at you. Much has been said about Maho and the Spider Clan schools regarding their balance, mostly that they are too powerful. That said though, they are in the Book of Air separated from regular player character mechanics. Additionally, the theme of the edition is “L5R Your Way,” meaning each group should feel free to change things as they see fit as well as use or ignore whatever parts of the book they like. One potential mechanical pitfall that still remains is what to do with social skills. As in previous editions, there is a certain murkiness when it comes to deciding how to arbitrate social rolls. Overall, I would say again that the fourth edition of L5R is an improvement over the third edition; many balance issues have been fixed and a lot of excess bells and whistles have been trimmed out.
Desire to Play: 10 out of 10
L5R Fourth Edition gives people familiar with the brand more of the same gameplay they’ve had for years, but tighter. It gives new players the opportunity to experience a fantasy setting that is a departure from the traditional European medieval, and possibly Renaissance, world that is so common. The theme mechanics force players to make moral decisions that aren’t strictly black and white, which is a staple of Samurai Drama, and have great effect on how players are treated by the world around them. Additionally, the alternate rules allow groups to model the style of their Rokugan on things from their favorite Kurasawa movie to their favorite Anime.
Overall: 9 out of 10
I initially got into Legend of the Five Rings because of the fire-breathing kung fu monks, but it’s much more than running around and lighting things on fire, although there should definitely be some of that. A single campaign in Rokugan can cover so much ground; you might start out chasing bandits, discover they belong to a rival clan, argue in front of the emperor for the legitimacy of the war you want to start, learn that it’s all a conspiracy led by someone high on the food chain being controlled by an evil demon, and end up confronting them deep in the Shadowlands as the fate of the empire hangs in the balance. Legend of the Five Rings provides you with the opportunity to adventure in a world where Honor is a force greater than Steel and the highest achievement is not to doing great things, but being remembered for the great things you have done.
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