Legend of the Five Rings

If your RPG career started in the 90s, perhaps you have sampled that marvel called Legend of the Five Rings (L5R), also known as Livre des Cinq Anneaux (L5A) in French-speaking lands. L5R often ranks among the favorite tabletop RPGs of the roleplayers who got to try it, and I am no exception: my first commercial RPG remains a crush, even 25 years later, and despite the fact that the RPG is only a spin-off of the card game that gave birth to it.

L5R asks you to play Samurai at the top of Rokugan's hierarchical pyramid, a pseudo-Japan laced with a smidgen of China, India, and probably other Asian cultures I don't know well, all blended through the outside eye of American authors. Legend of the Five Rings charms because it forms a harmonious blend on every level. It is the game that invented roll&keep, that system which consists of rolling a certain number of dice and keeping only a handful of them. Its narrativist attributes (advantages and disadvantages, social statuses, ...) encouraged good roleplay almost 20 years before Fate broke through. The mechanical and story-driven evolution of the PCs kept their players on the edge of their seats through long sessions. Dense as it was, the setting was caricatural enough that one could grasp its broad strokes quickly.

After four editions with Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG), L5R finally landed in the pockets of Fantasy Flight Games, itself bought out by Asmodée, formerly the French translator of L5R's first edition. What irony! This fifth edition aims to reboot a timeline that had drifted one time too many, carried along by plotlines that were sometimes promising, sometimes dismaying. It also wishes to breathe new life into the game system, in addition to seasoning it with the classic FFG spices (main ingredient: special dice, with symbols to signify successes, but also side effects). Did the FFG folks win their bet, or did their intervention pervert a jewel dear to our roleplaying hearts? My verdict wants to be cautious but positive. As usual, better to consider the glass half full rather than half empty!

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The Product Line

When it comes to editorial work, L5R is exemplary. V4 had already set the bar extremely high, and I am not sure this new edition objectively surpasses it. No matter? One must acknowledge the beauty of the books and illustrations, just as much as the rightness of the text (margins, spacing, line height, font, ...). This display of talent contrasts with my reading time: although a happy owner of all the original-language books of the line upon their release, I had until now never managed to finish a single read-through, save for the scenarios. Naively, I thought the core book had finished me off with its sometimes indigestible slabs of rules (70 pages of special techniques, what a delight!), but I dragged my feet just as much on Emerald Empire, the famous supplement meant to open the doors of the game universe to us. What is going on? I still have trouble explaining it. The text feels passionless to me in these books, despite the laudable attempts to make it less impersonal (via partisan excerpts from historical archives, for example). Perhaps this is, however, a wholly subjective problem.

Be that as it may, the authors are not stingy with free content of excellent quality, and you will find plenty of interesting resources on the game's official page.

The publishing structure turns out to be very stable, but unsurprising: a setting supplement comes out on a subject S, it presents the clan C related to the subject, then the minor clan M closest to it. The supplement is then accompanied by a separately sold scenario, which offers maps (always classy) and tokens (always off-topic). Online, FFG's website generously offers a free bonus scenario tied to the commercially sold one. Sole exception, the Path of the Wave supplement covers no clan (and for good reason, it must already describe three heteroclite strata of the Rokugani population). As of this article, the line already counts some fifteen books published or announced, not counting the free scenarios.

Edgeent used to never publish its PDFs. Consequently, the French edition of L5R v5 remained desperately out of reach for Swiss players, unless of course shelling out some 75 CHF (~60€) to acquire it in print. Since Asmodée transferred the entirety of RPG development to Edge Studio, the company is slowly starting to publish its PDFs on DriveThruRPG. While the Spanish branch immediately did its job, its French counterpart is taking its time. As of this article, we are still waiting for L5R in French on the platform... but it is surely only a matter of time!

EDIT 04.03.2021: the line is now available in French on DriveThruRPG since March 1st. A superficial read of a few chapters leads me to believe that, if not fast, the translation work was done with care (both in terms of text and features, since the PDFs come with an index).

Inheriting a "niche" monument like L5R is a tall order, caught between uncompromising fans and profitability requirements. The tribulations of the publishing world cast their shadow over this new edition of L5R. FFG wanted to imitate AEG by giving precedence to the card game, or even the novels, well before the RPG. Recently, Asmodée decided to delegate the whole of its roleplaying activities to Edge Studio (a merger of Ubik, a French outfit, and Edgeent, a Spanish company bought by Asmodée just like FFG, which Asmodée recently restructured into a "mere" development studio). A difficult handover with the American authors is currently ensuing, and I remain skeptical about Edge becoming an RPG superpower of the French-speaking world and beyond (the studio also picked up the translation of Call of Cthulhu and of... Dungeons & Dragons). Fingers crossed!

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The Game Universe

Rokugan has thus been reset, to roughly return to its shape from the RPG's first edition (pre-Coup d'État, for those in the know). Two categories of changes are noticeable: on the one hand, this reboot directly includes certain intrigues that were developed over the course of the AEG editions (the very strong Mongolian connotation for the Unicorn Clan, the presence of a brother to Hantei Sotorii, or the existence of Ryoshun are three examples among many). On the other hand, the authors have switched around some properties of the storyline (genre change, swapping some adversaries for others, etc). What emerges is a more coherent storyline, laying rich and potentially surprising foundations for the events to come. As these events echo the AEG timeline without ever being completely identical to it, the storyline will however no doubt bifurcate more sharply as the variations pile up. So far, the changes lean toward more "modesty" and less "fantasy" (reduced influence of the Shadowlands, a less grandiose Coup d'État so far), but everything could change very quickly once the authors decide to shift into higher gear.

In short, we do find the incorrigible Emerald Empire in its most emblematic era, tinged with a bit more respect for the cultures that inspire it. A few examples: they are no longer called Eta, but Burakumin; religious aspects come with warnings; Rokugan's technological evolution is taken into account (ancestral weapons are not katana, but their predecessors). I doubt this will be enough to convince the holdouts who see L5R as a grotesque mishmash of Japan clichés, but the effort deserves applause. If you want a truly respectful samurai game, you can turn to Tenga and its historical drama, or even L'Empire des Cerisiers and its fantasy more seriously rooted in Japanese folklore.

L5R has established itself as an "NPC-driven" game. V1 in particular described at length a bevy of characters in each supplement of the line, exposing their goals, their secrets, and everything needed to play them. Rather than building on this excellent foundation, v5 offers practically no information on Rokugan's strong personalities. We are largely flying blind. Across the scenarios, important characters are sometimes introduced, but interactions with them are often very anecdotal. AEG's old habits follow FFG around, since the PCs' influence is systematically destroyed by the novelists. Let's be honest, the problem already existed with the first edition: we were either offered important historical events the PCs had no grip on, or "little side gigs" where the PCs could shine without impacting Rokugan's balance. I just hoped the reboot's authors would seize the opportunity to put the PCs back at the center of historical events.

In fact, the line would benefit greatly from a supplement exclusively based on the personalities and their interactions, as well as on the possibilities of interaction with the PCs. Maybe in a few years, as part of a grand campaign summarizing the card game's arcs?

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A Rich System... Too Rich... Three Times Too Rich

With AEG's system, L5R insisted on the mastery of one's character: unlike the majority of games where you hope for a good dice result, L5R required players to take risks in order to achieve feats of brilliance. They had to place "Raises", wagers that increased the difficulty of an action before its resolution. This aspect disappears with the FFG system, in favor of another: the mechanical integration of the samurai's emotions. True extensions of the Emperor's will, they are not allowed to let their emotions and personal desires interfere with their duty. FFG gives us a measure of the pressure exerted on the PCs through a "composure" gauge which, once filled, indicates that the samurai is emotionally overwhelmed. From there, three options are available to players: endure until the end of the scene (with significant penalties), try to reduce the pressure (by using special techniques, practicing a relaxing activity, or receiving external support), or explode and accept the social consequences of such an act. I appreciate systems that dare to structure the narrative, rules that create intrigues through their mere application. More than ever, L5R is a worthy representative of the genre!

Another radical change lies in the "characteristics". Characters are still defined by the Godai elements (air-earth-water-fire-void), but these are no longer sub-divided into two characteristics, one physical and the other mental. The elements now form "approaches" that must be justified when resolving an action: choosing air amounts to opting for a subtle, indirect approach, while fire characterizes passion and creative flair. To frame the use of approaches, the game relies on many devices:

• An approach can be imposed for certain types of check (e.g. memory = earth);
• The opportunities available are limited by the chosen approach (earth lets you reassure a companion, fire lets you exacerbate an opponent's conflict, etc);
• Mechanical bonuses are granted for using an approach in combat (e.g. air raises the threshold for being hit, or void makes the character immune to strife);
• Techniques and distinctions are often limited to a particular approach (a healing incantation requires a water approach, Benten's Blessing calls for an air approach, etc);
• The difficulty threshold can be radically adjusted depending on how relevant the approaches are to the problem.

This evolution of the system has spilled a lot of ink, and I have the feeling our group has not fully adopted it yet. Too often, the devices mentioned above seem arbitrary, even limiting (e.g. Benten's Blessing is used to seduce, yet the water approach is generally favored for that purpose). Nor have we gotten into the habit of narrating how a character favors one approach over another when resolving a problem, but I have good hope we will get there one day.

The basic action resolution mechanic has evolved. Previous editions of L5R had you roll a certain number of dice and keep only a subset. You then added up their values to try to beat a difficulty threshold. Quite logically, you only kept the highest dice, unless you found some interest in failing or downgrading your success. Today, adding up dice results is out: a consequence of using proprietary dice, you count symbols instead, in the hope of racking up enough "successes" to pull off an action. Excess successes improve the quality of the success, while "opportunities" trigger side effects or yield alternative benefits, even if the main action fails. Finally, the "strife" symbol (rendered as "conflit" in the French edition?) represents the stress suffered by the character at the moment of the action: they are generally found side by side with another symbol, as a price to pay to benefit from a positive effect. The more you accumulate, the more your character risks being emotionally compromised. L5R FFG-style thus offers a true "risk-reward" system, where players will sometimes prefer to reduce their successes, or even fail a check, rather than accumulate stress and see their characters compromised at the wrong moment.

Beyond the basic mechanic, you get an absolutely staggering wealth of gameplay options: more than 60 schools, a good hundred pages of techniques, a list of advantages and disadvantages enough to lose your head over, and just as many skills and subtleties to master. The whole thing has been standardized, with schools now boasting only two special techniques (one at first rank, which improves with levels, and the other at maximum level) and a curriculum favoring certain experience expenditures. Watching your character evolve in L5R thus remains a true pleasure, far from being as constraining as what the D20 system offers, while remaining richer than practically the entire modern RPG market.

It took us a few sessions to get used to the system: even if merely reading it should dissuade you, playing L5R v5 as a one-shot "just to see" is not recommended. To make a long story short, one could say that this very promising system is one of the rare ones I recommend pruning with a good lumberjack's saw, in order to preserve its fluidity and balance. It's as if, by trying too hard to structure everything, the authors tripped over their own carpet: you are offered an Iaijutsu technique that inflicts critical damage on a compromised opponent, but right next to it, anyone is given the ability to attack directly (read: "out of turn, as an interruption") a compromised character and deal double critical damage. You are given a healing incantation, but spending opportunities on the water stance in combat lets you recover your "fatigue" (in L5R v5 jargon: "your hit points") just as easily. You are given personality-analysis powers, but air opportunities let pretty much anyone achieve the same result. On the official forums, seasoned players complain a lot about the system's imbalances at high level. And no, this is not obsessive D&D-style balance-mongering, just concerns about a system that sometimes struggles to faithfully render a character's abilities (the Kakita duelists, masters of the blade... turn out to be poor duelists, in the end).

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Glass Half-Empty, Glass Half-Full

All this text, all these words just to come back to my introduction: you probably understand better why I speak of a "half-empty" or "half-full" glass with this new edition of L5R. The system keeps some precious promises at the cost of a clunkiness and frustrating inconsistencies that a dose of patience can make up for. In any case, you will have to live with fairly heavy mechanics: up to you to decide if that floats your boat. The setting keeps its qualities and is slightly modernized, but we are still missing some important information to stage it coherently (or maybe I am becoming too demanding on this front, seeing as I held the same grudge against Coriolis). The books benefit from top-notch editorial quality, but are of a rare heaviness to read. When acquiring FFG's baby, I was initially disappointed, even skeptical. However, the "L5R magic" still fascinates 25 years later. My group seems to buy into our sessions thanks to Rokugan and its political meanders, thanks to L5R and its mechanical richness. At our table, the glass is half full.