RPG Review: Adventures in Rokugan- Asmodee/Edge Studios

 

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.            

 

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RPG Review: Legend of the 5 Rings: 5th Edition - Edge Studios

 

I am a relative newcomer to Legend of the 5 Rings.  I have been familiar with it as an Intellectual Property for a long, long time but never really spent much time with it.  However, I listened to an actual play of one edition or another on the Happy Jacks Podcast, and was intrigue by what I had heard.  I listened to a few more podcasts and was even more interested.  Then, one day I was at the Half-Price Bookstore and saw a copy of the Third Edition rulebook.  I bought it.  

Since then, I have managed to design a short campaign called "One Year in Rokugan" that was edition and stat block agnostic but based on my 3rd Edition knowledge.  After all, there are 5 editions of the game!  If you are part of my Patreon, you can find this campaign available there for free as a PDF.  I have managed to play through the campaign using 3rd edition rules, and we all had a lot of fun.  It was  a huge difference from our normal D&D 5E games, and I enjoyed introducing the world of Rokugan to my players.  

After that enjoyable campaign, there was an interest in updating from 3rd edition to 5th edition.  I myself was curious about the differences, but had put off buying it.  I all ready had 3rd edition, and figured there was no great need to update to the "newest".  However, as I learned more about the new edition the core mechanics seemed markedly different than the AEG versions of the game I owned.  

Therefore, with some hesitation; I acquired a copy for myself.  Keep in mind Legend of the 5 Rings: 5th edition is NOT the same as Adventures in Rokugan; also by Edge Studios.  Adventures is a skin for using Rokugan in D&D 5E.  Legend of the 5 Rings: 5th Edition using its own system based on the Fantast Flight Games Genesys system.   Genesys is used with games like Edge of Empire.  It will be interesting to see where this game maintains and differs from the L5R I am familiar with.    

So, let us don our Daisho and prepare to serve our Daimyo.....

The core of L5R..... the dinner party! 

Things I Liked

Rokugan is a very cool place, and it offers RPG opportunities that other games do not emphasize in the same way.  I find it very hard to imagine having a "Murder Hobo" campaign in Rokugan.  Can it be done?  Probably someone has, but it seems very rooted in a fantastical feudal Japanese/Asian culture infused world with a strict culture of law, order, and society; that doing "Murder-Hobo" seems challenging and completely missing the point of it all.  There is so much possibility for story-telling and interacting in the world outside of what one normally sees in a D&D 5e game. 

The game does a good job trying to introduce the player to this world.  The background and the mechanics do a better job creating this in game than the 3rd Edition rules.  They also explain the "structure" of society, Bushido, and the Major/Minor clans very quickly and easily in the opening of the book.  It is a good primer for players new to the setting and ideas of Legend of the 5 Rings.  A point of order is that in these rules the Mantis Clan is still a minor clan.  In addition, the Yazuki family is not split between the Crane and Crab clans. 

The Strife System that can then force a player to react emotionally to remove Strife is an innovation that fits nicely into the world of Legend of the 5 Rings.  Various families, clans, and roles can than unmask, gain, or utilize strife in different ways.  This added mechanical factors that before were more "role-playing" elements of previous editions.  This edition really helps create mechanics for Honor, Glory, and emotion versus duty that previous editions had; but struggled to mimic mechanically.  

The game has dispensed with the ability scores that make up a ring.  Instead, the ring and skill score is what matters.  The player gets to choose which Ring they wish to approach any skill check with, and each skill has a potentially different result/advantages/disadvantages when using that ring.  Therefore, the character has to decide which approach they are using Narratively before determining the results of checks.  This is a cool approach that leads to a lot of narrative nuance, but the downside is that there are a lot of interactions the GM may have to keep in mind. There is a helpful table breaking down skill groups and potential approaches on page 144.      

All the Katas, Monk abilities, and magic is grouped together into a single category called techniques.  Certain schools only have access to certain techniques.  However, mechanically almost all techniques work the same.  This is a wise way to streamline a lot of the nuances from the previous editions.  

The "fail state" in the game is not always death.  There are a number of conditions that can be inflicted, including social/psychological ones.    

In the GM section, there is a nice break down of potential obstacles based on whether they are martial, intrigue, investigative, explorative, etc.  This gives GMs solid guide lines for creating obstacles within each pillar.  There is also a good discussion about raising the stakes, duty, and conflict with Bushido for the players to have to navigate.  These are very helpful in helping a GM create the right "feel" for the game.  

Things I Did Not Like

The FFG Genesys system uses proprietary dice, and these dice are not easy to source at the FLGS.  That is a major downside to this game.  There are online dice rollers that you can use instead.... for now.  I really do not like when a game uses proprietary dice for this exact reason, as it is an additional barrier to entry, makes the system seem "hard to learn", and can limit the life expectancy of the product's shelf life.  The game can only be played when you have the right dice, and there will be a time when you can not get them.  Plus, it just smacks of Game as Product design and marketing, which I am adverse to.  All that said, there is a chart that allows you to convert standard d6 and d12 into use..... which makes me question the reason for custom dice even further!     

In addition, this game seems to streamline the Family --> School approach.  It looks like each family also has their own school to go with them.  I like that there are more, varied schools BUT I do not like that they seem so closely aligned with the Family.  There is nothing stopping you from changing up Family and separating it from School but it does not seem like there is much incentive to do so.  That makes me feel like this is a Class/Level system stripped down and hidden in a different wrapping.  I am not a fan of that.  

There is a lot of "If This, Then That" approaches to the game.  In fact, it is one of the central decisions a player needs to make about their character.  How do they approach problems and what Rings do they emphasize in order to handle them.  This is great for Players, but there is a heavy burden on the GM to know what the various approaches lead to, and when to use different skills for different scene types.  The game has a simple Roll and Keep unifying mechanic but the potential outcomes look cumbersome.  I imagine this game would require a very skilled and knowledgeable GM, making decisions on the fly, or lots of consulting the rulebook to know what to use when. 

A petty concern, but in the equipment section there are a lot of unfamiliar weapons to the average reader.  Therefore, pictures of all of them would have been really helpful.  I don't really know the difference between a Dao and a Gao.  

Meh and Other Uncertainties

The game has taken a much more Narrative bend than previous editions.  The focus is on creating and telling the stories of the character's and imitating samurai dramas.  The rules are pretty open that Narrative comes first, and the game has been structured to lean in that direction.  This is a change from previous editions, where the narrative was important but was more "mechanically" driven.  This edition leans the other way and is a change for those coming from previous versions of the game. 

The game has a well-developed section abut Scenes.  Here it lays out the differences between narrative, downtime, and conflict scenes.  It further goes into detail about how to handle Conflict scenes such as combat, intrigues, Duels, and Mass Battle.  This is basically a "How to play the game" section and is the heart of the rules.  It is nice that the intrigue rules cover Social interactions, which is often missing in other games.  The Scene approach gives a lot of structure of "what can be done when" for the game and helps players and GMs focus on what is appropriate and when it is useful. 

The rules cover a wide variety of situations that an RPG group can utilize.  However, the game does not have a strong exploration element built into the rules in the traditional sense.  One could argue that the exploration is more social in this game than in the geographic realm.  The exploration is learning how the society works and how to operate effectively in it.

In addition, the key ideas about how to play the game are not introduced until Chapter 6.  Therefore, it can be challenging to get a good feel for how all the Character Creation stuff goes together to actually play the game.     

The game still uses the 20 Questions model for building a character.  This is a tried and true model, and this book goes into even more detail than the 3rd Edition one does.  However, keep in mind this is still mostly background and gives structure to your character.  It touches somewhat on mechanics, but is mostly for role-playing support.  It helps you know how to role-play your character.  Therefore, it is more art than science.    

Final Thoughts

This is a well-fleshed out world and society to game in, and that in itself can bring its own challenges and a very different experience.  You are not some quasi-legal adventurer out on the fringe of civilization, you are a member of the hierarchy, a noble, and bound by a strict code of conduct to yourself, your clan, and your family.  This game is not about freedom of action, it is about constriction and playing and working within those confines.  That alone makes it a novel RPG experience and one that is not for everyone.

In addition, this is a dense set of rules.  I recommend playing this game with experienced role-players.  This is not a beginner RPG by any stretch.  It is challenging and nuanced, with a relatively high degree of mastery needed to play to its full advantage.  That said, I look forward to giving it a shot with my group at some point in the future.  

 

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