Legend of the Five Rings: The Great Clans
The Great Clans is a supplement for the Asian epic fantasy system Legend of the Five Rings written by Shawn Carman, Rob Hobart, Brian Yoon; Kevin Blake, Nancy Sauer, Ryan Reese, Jacob Ross, Max Lemaire, Dave Laderoute, Rusty Priske, Mike Brodu, Daniel Briscoe and published by Alderac Entertainment Group.
By Lawrence “darth_kwan_doh” Grabowski
The Great Clans is a sourcebook expanding on the information about the great clans provided in the Legend of the Five Rings 4th Edition core rulebook. Each chapter, excluding appendix two, is broken into the following sections:
- History of the Clan: Detailing important events throughout the clan’s history, from the Dawn of the Empire until the current era.
- Families of the Clan: Further information on the families of each clan, including history and general sociological information.
- Heroes of the Clan: Biographical information and mechanics for famous members of the clan. While they are intended to be specific individuals, the variety of NPCs allow for easy name changing to create new NPCs for one’s own game.
- Lands of the Clan: Detailing new places of interest in each clan’s territories not previously mentioned in 4th Edition books.
- New Mechanics: This section includes at least one new basic school, an advanced school, an alternate path, new kata, and new ancestors for each clan.
Each chapter also contains clan-specific information or details on areas a given clan excels in. For example, the Crab section goes into detail regarding siege warfare and the Unicorn chapter touches on life outside of Rokugan.
The final chapter, appendix two, reintroduces clan-specific heritage tables. There is one for each of the seven great clans and one for the Spider. They are a little less specific but a lot more Timeline Neutral than the previous ones featured in the Way Of books.
OVERALL
The Great Clans updates players and GMs on the current state of the great clans as well as providing information on previous eras of history. That rather dry sentence fails to convey the true usefulness of this book. L5R has always been strongly backwards compatible mechanically and each edition has detailed a different era of play. The unfortunate side effect of this has been that if you wanted to play in a previous era, it was necessary to acquire sourcebooks from previous editions and update the mechanics. This book goes a long way to eliminating the need to look for old books. While it doesn’t completely replace the old sourcebooks, it provides information on the most relevant NPCs and updates the mechanics of quite a few player favorites: The Kuni Witch-Hunter, The Asako Henshin, The Shosuro Actor, to name a few.
The Great Clans also makes an effort to reconcile the various retcons that have cropped up over the years (like those damn Tamashii). It does this in the fashion used by L5R since 1st edition, by making everything hearsay. The original Way Of books were written from the perspective of the subject clan, presenting, Obi Wan put it “a certain point of view.” The Great Clans does something similar, adopting the tone of a historian, mechanics excepted.
RATINGS
Publication Quality: 9 out of 10
The Great Clans is up to AEG’s 4th Edition high publication standards. The cover has a curious, almost embossed feel, which creates an interesting tactile sensation when it is held. The font is legible, but a tad small, and was obscured by the background art once or twice. One or two typos can also be found throughout the book. However, these complaints are minor. This book shows AEG’s commitment to providing L5R books of superior physical quality.
Mechanics: 9 out of 10
The Great Clans provides mechanics for several iconic L5R schools. In previous editions, some of these schools were somewhat lackluster, (shout out to the Kaiu Engineer). Some might complain that not all the schools are on the same level as previously published schools, see the Hoshi Monks vs. the Togashi Monks. While there might be some truth to this, L5R has always been a game less concerned with balance, see Bayushi bushi vs Akodo bushi.
Value Add: 9 out of 10
This book adds a wealth of background information, adds some new schools, and updates several classic schools. Even if you own all the sourcebooks from previous editions, The Great Clans is a useful addition to your gaming library. And if you don’t own the back catalogue, it gives you access to fluff that can help ease the burden of running a game not set in the current era.
Overall: 9 out of 10
The Great Clans helps unite the various eras of L5R, putting information about the seven great clans through history all in one convenient place. It doesn’t replace owning all the previous sourcebooks, but who would expect it to? It adds new character options and officially updates mechanics, something the old sourcebooks can never do. I have been very impressed with the latest releases from AEG for L5R and hope they continue to produce high-quality work. The only thing I didn’t like was how much of the back-story for important NPCs was repeated in both the History and Heroes chapters.
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