I have always enjoyed Legend of the 5 Rings. The 3rd and 5th edition books for the core rules are in my collection, well they were until my pigs got loose and ate them. The 5th edition I quickly replaced but I have not been able to track down a good price on 3rd edition yet. However, there is something about playing a game with a strict set of social rules, established culture, and where the characters are supposed to represent and uphold that order. It is a very different experience than playing in a rough frontier setting.
A few years ago, I ran a game and wrote out the module that I used to introduce my players; One Year in Rokugan. It went well, and my players enjoyed it, but not enough to revisit the setting. One of the primary reasons was that the game required a decent amount of system and lore mastery that they did not want to take the time to learn. They were used to Dungeons and Dragons 5E and its tropes and had a hard time adjusting. Plus, they felt that third edition was getting a bit creaky with age and the mechanics felt a bit... dated.
I still want to go back to Rokugan, and when it is time to pitch the next campaign, I wanted to be ready with a Legend of the 5 Rings pitch. If the move away from D&D 5E was a challenge, this seemed like a good way to bridge the gap. I knew the Legend of the 5 Rings - 5th Edition rules would be a bridge too far for some of the members of my group. This seemed like a good compromise that would make my pitch more likely to be accepted.
With that said, strap on your Daisho, tune up your shamisen, and prepare to face the forces of the Shadowlands!
Things That I Liked
This book does a good job introducing you to the very complex world of Rokugan in a few short sections. I had a better understanding of the different Faiths in Rokugan than I had after reading both the 3rd edition and 5th edition books. I had a better feel for the geography too. Rokugan history and cosmology also clarified things very nicely for me.
Backgrounds in this game are much more relevant in this book compared to traditional D&D 5E thematically and mechanically. They are tailored to the world in and around Rokugan. This includes guidelines to help create some "quick-builds" of classic archetypes in Rokugan. This includes custom feats, ability score preferences, and details on which class and level benefits to take when. I think some example or pre-gen characters would have been helpful here as well.
There is an excellent section on motivations in this book. Each character is expected to have two. This will help with the role-play aspect of the game as they focus on duty, fear, ideals, desire, bond and regret. In the GM section, they also have some ideas about how to tailor your campaign to fit with the desires your characters choose. This is a good way to help the group make interesting characters to will fit with what the GM is looking to explore.
There are a ton of unique techniques, invocations, and background specific feats. These were clearly designed with a tactical battle map in mind. This is a strong contrast to Legend of the 5 Rings - 5th Edition which leans into a narrative approach. Martial characters like Bushi and Duelists earn Focus points to pull off Techniques, while Invocations (spells) use Favor to attract spirits. Magic in Rokugan is not as powerful as in core 5E.
There is also a unique take on magical gear. It is a low-magic setting. However, everything has a spirit and your weapon and armor spirit maybe awakened by triggering events to act like magical weapons. This is a change from the GM handing out a ton of magical gear, a common trait of D&D.
Things I Did Not Like
The Bushido Code is really downplayed in this game. This code and the society around it is very unique and compelling. It is the "secret sauce" that makes the L5R experience unique to other settings. However, I think that flavor is lost in this book let. I know Bushido is kind of verboten and linked to Japanese Nationalism and Fascism, but what they offer around here is the "Code of Akodo" just feels really watered down and uncompelling for the proper role-play in this setting. They also play down the role of ritual suicide to maintain honor, and ask players and GMs to avoid using it as the topic is fraught with cultural and psychological land mines. The game also went out of its way to make it accessible to players who did not want to be part of the Samurai class more than I have seen in other versions of the game.
They allow you to play non-human and non-Rokugani types. This is a pretty big departure from the Rokugan, and human-centric L5R. There is a lot of information in the backgrounds about playing folks from the other nearby kingdoms and non-humans. The book also goes out of its way to tap down on the xenophobia of Rokugan.
The book also goes out-of-it’s-way to be inclusive. In old versions, players could choose disabilities like missing an arm, blind, etc. This book, has a side bar about how such disabilities would have no effect mechanically in the game. In addition, if you have a language you know how to speak it, write it, and sign it. Listen, I know American English pretty well but that does not mean I know ASL (American Sign Language).
Many of the ways to best represent the Great Clans in Rokugan require a good deal of multi-classing. I know not all of my group are into that. However, most of the Rokugani character types make extensive use of this to get the right "feel" and abilities for the backgrounds. Not a fan of this approach, and it makes an all ready rules heavy game extra clunky as you are layering on special rules with more special rules. Ugh. We really need a Powered By The Apocalypse version of this game with a ton of simple playbooks.
There does not seem to be any mention of the corrupting influence of the Shadowlands. This is a big departure, probably to allow a more hack and slash approach to dealing with the Shadowlands. Plus, the name has since become problematic; the Taint. The sample adventure takes place primarily in the Shadowlands further reinforcing that they want to make the Shadowlands simply a place to go "A-venturing" as opposed to the corrupting and insidious realm of chaos it is in other versions of the game.
The Dueling rules are a bit scattered and do not make a lot of sense to me. Also, it looks like they expect all duels to be to 0 HP, which makes even less sense. Like the Duelist is going to square up against a monster and fight it, while everyone else does something else? Duel rules have always been a bit of a challenge but they do fit a big part of the setting. Here, they are still struggling to make them work in the D&D-5E rules structures. I mean, these rules are just not as lethal or attritional as this system usually is.
Meh and Other Uncertainties
I was happy that I had seen every movie that they recommended watching to get a feel for what this game was trying to capture. I must be the target audience for this game!
This game glosses over the Yasuki moving from the Crane to the Crab. The Mantis are also not a Great Clan at this point either. This aligns closer with 1st edition and 5th edition L5R lore, so they ditch some of the everchanging and living L5R lore. Probably a good idea to help people transition from D&D into L5R. The background used to be tied to the results of big tournaments for the Living Card game so it could get pretty complicated.
As always, they bring awesome artwork for this book. It is really evocative of the setting and makes it jump off the page. Again, its background as an RPG, Wargame, and CCG help greatly in this regard. I am sure some of this stuff comes from these other sources, but much of it was new to me.
The book has an adventure for 3rd level players and above set in the Shadowlands. This game was an adaption of a previous L5R adventure (at least I think it is from some of the blurbs in the book) but it feels very D&D in its lay-out and goals. I am honestly not sure I like it as an introduction to the setting at all as it is very hack and slash focused, go slay the obviously evil dudes, and takes you away from Rokugan civilization and into the Shadowlands. It seems to lean away from what makes Rokugan great in the first place in an attempt to be just another semi-generic D&D "solve all your problems with violence" type module.
Final Thoughts
Wow, this was not what I was expecting at all. It is basically a new game that just uses the d20 D&D core mechanics as a base. About all it keeps the same is the very basics. The backgrounds, fighting styles, and classes are all new and different. It still keeps the combat-oriented RPG approach that D&D has, and downplays some of the societal restrictions and social aspects of traditional L5R. However, it is a mistake to think this is just a re-skin as it goes much, much deeper than that. In a sense, this is L5R 4.5 Edition!
If my players felt the rules and lore mastery for L5R was too much before, I am not sure this book makes that transition any easier. Sure, the basic dice mechanics are the same, but the way the classes, techniques, and backgrounds interact make a completely different experience. It is not like a Bushi is just a re-skin of the fighter class. Shugenja are not just a re-skin of clerics. They are all new and unique classes, abilities, and special rules, with the same learning curve about how to use them in the game. I think Renegade Studios G.I. Joe: The Role-Playing Game might be a closer re-skin to D&D 5E than Adventures in Rokugan and that game uses the Essence 20 system!
I am glad I picked this up because I love Rokugan and the setting around it. However, I am not sure this product is the bridge between D&D 5E and Legend of the 5 Rings that it wants to be. The transition will still be a difficult one. Rokugan is not for newbie GMs and players, and this book touches on exactly why. There is a lot of nuance, lore, and detail to this setting which is partially why I really love it. It delivers an RPG experience unlike many others.
Until next time.
