Linkdump October
As I catch my breath from the overly long L5R article I posted over the last couple of days. Sidenote: feeling slightly better, certainly less pain or at least more manageable. We'll see how this plays out-- I had planned on going back for another round of tests, but if the Prilosec's finally having an effect, I'll finish out the course of this and then check in.
* Here's a nice article on Japanese Storytelling conventions and ideas- in manga and anime. Sherri's an I were talking about this the other night after we watched Princess Raccoon. That's an unapologetic and strange movie. I've watched some anime recently where I tried to figure out what was subtext and what was text...at least in the case of Shikabane Hime, I hope there's some ironic commentary, if not I feel dirty.
* I've mentioned my love for the Shin Megami Tensai video games. This is an interesting article from the design team behind Persona 4 talking about what they thought went right and wrong with the product. I always like seeing those behind-the-scenes posts.
* Steamcon! and more Steampunk!
* I like the new Modest Mouse EP and there's a bizarre fan-made art project video for my favorite song from it.
* Tempting...
* A bookstore I'd like to visit.
* A link to a linkdump-- a nice collection of articles on role-playing.
* More of Robin Laws' insightful take on narrative and rpgs, the idea of The Win Space.
* Video games and the commodity model of sex.
* The Free RPG Blog is worth following as is gameplaywright.net which I linked to yesterday.
* Autotune Sagan plus.
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Monday, October 19, 2009
RPGs I'm Ambivalent About: L5R 2e (Part Two)
Side Note: I hope everyone's seen this-- and gamplaywright's comments on it pretty much parallel my own.
RPG Items I'm Ambivalent About:
Legend of the Five Rings (Second Edition) Part Two
Part One here.
Secrets of the Clans
This series of sourcebooks parallels the earlier The Way of the Clans series. As with all of the dual system books, they're beautifully done. Nice page layout, great covers, tight text design-- all very nice. That's an improvement over first edition titles in some respects. There's a consistency of presentation that makes the series attractive. Substance-wise, you do have more mechanics. Each book focuses on a particular clan and examines the families and their current status.
Unfortunately, the books fall into the trap of earlier L5R materials: no division of information between player material and GM material. I've harped on this earlier in my look at other L5R series, but it bothers me. One the one hand, the series is titled "Secrets of..." and you'd expect the material to be GM centered. However the introduction in each book and the inclusion of PC oriented material says otherwise. Ironically, the last section in each book is labeled "For GM's Eyes Only..." but each chapter before that one reveals secrets about the NPCs and presents adventure plot hooks. I'm not sure why that kind of information couldn't have been placed in with the last chapter as a GM annex. Clearly these are intended as new splat books, so they have to assume players of that clan will buy them. In any case, as usual, the books in this series have a split personality.
They also do not serve well as splat books. Some detail and background on the specific clan is presented, but it is thin and often a rehash of the material from the earlier Way of the Clans series. New material tends to revolve around the current events and the metaplot. For a broader view of the clan and to get all of the necessary schools and mechanics, players still have to go back to the original Way of the Clans books. Some new material does appear here that I like- especially the idea of the dojos of the clans and of the various vassal families. But generally, unless you're playing in the post-OA L5R 2.5 history, this books aren't worth having. At best they add a few news ideas to the mix, and at worst they're confusing.
Way of the Sourcebook
AEG published six dual system "Way of..." books. These volumes focus on a specific concept and look at it across clans or member groups. Two have the broadest applicability, Way of the Samurai and Way of the Shugenja. The former takes the concepts of dojos, kata and sensei and expands them. Each clan gains some distinctive maneuvers, as well as new paths-- variations on the existing schools. The material is well done, but leans heavy of mechanics and character options. There's some discussion on bushido and swordplay in general, and space spent looking at the clans' individual philosophies. Some of the new optional dojos presented have little in the way of color text, but instead are simply new ability lists. Way of the Shugenja follows a similar format, with new general magic rules and material, but also additional notes on the paths and schools of magic for the various clans. This includes material for Ronin, Maho, Tsuno and others. The dual system presentation means that spells require two full descriptions, again eating up space. The book has a strongly mechanical focus throughout
Way of the Ninja covers as you'd imagine, sweet ninjas, broadly defined in this book as pretty much anyone who's sneaky. There's a nice section covering the history of the ninja in Rokugan, as well as general views and rumors on them. That's followed by general new mechanics (their versions of dojos and such) for players. The largest section of the book examines the ninja of the Scorpion, providing new background, skills and spells for that clan. This complements and expands on the material from The Way of the Scorpion for 1e, but doesn't entirely substitute for it. The book presents the Kolat next, a problematic group for the setting. I generally dislike the background established for this group as it seems to break the setting's conventions. We then get a sections on all kinds of ninjas- a veritable barrel-full of them, including minor clan ninjas, Crane ninjas, Crab ninjas, Lion ninjas...I perhaps exaggerate, but there does seem to be some dilution of the idea of the ninja's happening. Mercifully, some of these ideas can simply be read less as ninjas and more as spies or the like. The book ends with ninja equipment, advice on playing a sweet ninja, and some new rules for adversaries of the ninja, such as bounty hunters.
Thematically close to Way of the Ninja is the Way of the Thief book. Beginning with an overview of law and order in the Empire, this book moves pretty quickly through the Kolat and on to the move useful concept of Smuggling cartels, Pirates, and Bandits. While there's some useful material there for game background and setting, too much of this material ends up devoted to how players make these kinds of characters-- with new schools, abilities, feat, and the like. That's a disappointment. The next sections take two of the more important locations Ryoko Owari and the City of the Rich Frog, detailed in previous L5R material, and updates them for the present timeline. Even with this information, if would be difficult to bring the best parts of the original City of Lies module to bear given the extent of the historical changes. The book ends with some nice material on running magistrate and law enforcement campaigns.
Way of the Open Hand brings more details on Monks in Rokugan. It nicely combines discussion of the philosophies and roles of the monks with new character mechanics. More than other dual system line books it manages to maintain a balance between background material, player information and character mechanics. However to get the full benefit using L5R 2e, players still need a copy of The Way of Shinsei for 1e, given that the kiho rules don't appear in the 2e core rules. There's a little of the same dilution of the core concept as occurs in the ninja book as we're given martial arts schools for every clan, plus ronin, plus the Ratlings, plus gaijin...ugh. Way of the Daimyo, on the other hand, charts new territory for the L5R line. It presents a set of options and ideas for running high-level, high position characters. There some discussion of the concept of glory, how to maintain status and the maintenance of those concepts at the highest level of society. The chapters which follow present five new roles players might move into late in their career: Provincial Governor, Ambassador, Warlord, Master Sensei and Keeper of the Temple. There's a decent combination of character mechanics and campaign ideas in each section.
Odd Books Out
The other three dual stat books published by AEG each went in a different direction. The Complete Exotic Arms Guide is, as you can imagine, a big book of weapons and armor. From common to bizarre, it includes armor, magic items, weapons of non-humans and foreigners, and even siege equipment. Each item has stats and a nice textual description. If your group likes that kind of game chrome, it is a nice sourcebook with one significant flaw. I usually expect these kinds of volumes to have pictures of the items, or at the very least silhouettes and perhaps relative sizes. Instead the book has few illustrations of its miscellany, and even those pictured don't have captions indicating which they are.
A stronger and more useful volume, Fortunes & Winds presents an overview of the Spirit Realms in the Rokugani setting. The game fiction presented here actually serves as both a compelling linked story and nice illustration of the ideas. The book begins with a general discussion of the realms and the history of their interactions with Ningen-do, the real world. It also provides some interesting new character options and rules tied to the Spirit Realm. Each realm has its own chapter, from Jigoku, the Realm of Evil to Yume-Do, the Realm of Dreams. Nearly all of this material is new. While hints about the nature of them had been given in earlier publications, this is the first to present a thorough examination. The book balances mechanics with background, keeping it from becoming simply a planar monster guide.
Strangely among the last dual system books published was The Hidden Emperor. Like Time of the Void before, this book presents a campaign sourcebook to one of the CCG arcs-- the one took place in the span between the L5R 2e starting timeline and the Rokugan d20 starting timeline. In a sense it comes too little, too late to plug the gap between them. A good deal of the material here would have been good to have earlier. GM's starting games in the earlier era may find it useful, especially if they want to move their campaign up a little, but not almost two generations forward.
Metaplot Backpages
L5R 1e and 2e used the Winter Courts as a kind of annual publication to move the history and the metaplot forward. Those happened in pretty major jumps of a couple of years between. The dual system books take another approach. A number have final pages with "News of the Empire", detailing recent events and directing players to check out the L5R website for more information. Each one has a number of evocative and interesting event blurbs, but with little context. Why I later read the L5R CCG Card Cyclopedia, I could start to match up those events with the rpg listings. I was irritated at the time and my questions about the storyline wouldn't actually be answered until the publication of The Four Winds....for Legend of the Five Rings (Third Edition), which like Time of the Void and The Hidden Emperor, actually pulled that storyline together.
Summary
I hope the choice to move L5R to d20 worked for AEG. I like the setting enough that I'm willing to put up with some strangeness. However, with the wide span of metaplot this edition covers, that important historical information doesn't come until later, and events get suggested without decent explanation, makes this a more difficult entry-point for gamers. If one chooses the earlier end of the scale, then 1e materials remain (for the most part) viable. If one chooses the later it means slogging through some dense material and still having to go back to the 1e resources for answers and depth. The dual system books focus so much more heavily on mechanics, character stuff and crunch. There's certainly less of the kind of general background material I prefer as a GM, but your experience and desires may vary. There's some strangeness in the fact AEG put out no adventure modules or location sourcebooks for the material after Rokugan. On the one hand it could be suggested that the nature of a d20 game pushes things that direction- a focus on system definitions, rules and options. On the other hand, it may also be a factor of the game setting have begun to spun its wheels-- and the difficulty of developing exciting new material which helps illuminate the world. Moving the metaplot forward may be an easier task than trying to mine novel ideas out of a good existing setting.
Guide to Buying
*If you want to play L5R as d20, then you should begin with Oriental Adventures and Rokugan. Creatures of Rokugan and Magic of Rokugan both expand the purely d20 material. I'd also suggest the various "Way of..." dual system books, as they provide additional crunch and mechanics.
*If you're playing L5R in the original setting and want to find useful material from this set then I'd suggest Time of the Void and The Hidden Emperor for plot seeds. The Way of the Ratling, Way of the Thief and Fortunes and Winds provide new material not previously covered. The other "Way of..." books have some new material but require slogging through rules and picking and choosing carefully. The Secrets of the Clans series might be useful for ideas on how to expand a particular clan, especially with the concept of vassal families, but so much of the material there is stuck in the historical context.
*If you want to play L5R 2e in the later period, then after the core books, Rokugan's your first choice and probably The Hidden Emperor to help get some background filled in. Most of the other products are useful, with the exception of the The Complete Exotic Arms Guide and The Way of the Shadowlands(the latter being a personal bias).
*If you're looking for general samurai material to bring over into another game, then you're better off going back to the first edition material. Way of the Thief does have some good campaign ideas, and Winter Court: Kyuden Asako has some good stuff. If you want a cheap resource, the the two L5R 2e core books are a good buy since it condenses a good deal of the samurai culture material from the earlier books. Otherwise, go back to the other Winter Court books and GM's Survival Guide. Also potentially useful as a resource for the cosmology would be Fortunes and Winds.
Portability
The second edition, but especially the later dual system material, ends up focused heavily on mechanics. It does mean that if you're planning on converting L5R to another system there's more chrome and more work to do. And you'll end up having to reference the first edition material in any case. If you're just looking for ideas to borrow, see my comment above.
RPG Items I'm Ambivalent About:
Legend of the Five Rings (Second Edition) Part Two
Part One here.
Secrets of the Clans
This series of sourcebooks parallels the earlier The Way of the Clans series. As with all of the dual system books, they're beautifully done. Nice page layout, great covers, tight text design-- all very nice. That's an improvement over first edition titles in some respects. There's a consistency of presentation that makes the series attractive. Substance-wise, you do have more mechanics. Each book focuses on a particular clan and examines the families and their current status.
Unfortunately, the books fall into the trap of earlier L5R materials: no division of information between player material and GM material. I've harped on this earlier in my look at other L5R series, but it bothers me. One the one hand, the series is titled "Secrets of..." and you'd expect the material to be GM centered. However the introduction in each book and the inclusion of PC oriented material says otherwise. Ironically, the last section in each book is labeled "For GM's Eyes Only..." but each chapter before that one reveals secrets about the NPCs and presents adventure plot hooks. I'm not sure why that kind of information couldn't have been placed in with the last chapter as a GM annex. Clearly these are intended as new splat books, so they have to assume players of that clan will buy them. In any case, as usual, the books in this series have a split personality.
They also do not serve well as splat books. Some detail and background on the specific clan is presented, but it is thin and often a rehash of the material from the earlier Way of the Clans series. New material tends to revolve around the current events and the metaplot. For a broader view of the clan and to get all of the necessary schools and mechanics, players still have to go back to the original Way of the Clans books. Some new material does appear here that I like- especially the idea of the dojos of the clans and of the various vassal families. But generally, unless you're playing in the post-OA L5R 2.5 history, this books aren't worth having. At best they add a few news ideas to the mix, and at worst they're confusing.
Way of the Sourcebook
AEG published six dual system "Way of..." books. These volumes focus on a specific concept and look at it across clans or member groups. Two have the broadest applicability, Way of the Samurai and Way of the Shugenja. The former takes the concepts of dojos, kata and sensei and expands them. Each clan gains some distinctive maneuvers, as well as new paths-- variations on the existing schools. The material is well done, but leans heavy of mechanics and character options. There's some discussion on bushido and swordplay in general, and space spent looking at the clans' individual philosophies. Some of the new optional dojos presented have little in the way of color text, but instead are simply new ability lists. Way of the Shugenja follows a similar format, with new general magic rules and material, but also additional notes on the paths and schools of magic for the various clans. This includes material for Ronin, Maho, Tsuno and others. The dual system presentation means that spells require two full descriptions, again eating up space. The book has a strongly mechanical focus throughout
Way of the Ninja covers as you'd imagine, sweet ninjas, broadly defined in this book as pretty much anyone who's sneaky. There's a nice section covering the history of the ninja in Rokugan, as well as general views and rumors on them. That's followed by general new mechanics (their versions of dojos and such) for players. The largest section of the book examines the ninja of the Scorpion, providing new background, skills and spells for that clan. This complements and expands on the material from The Way of the Scorpion for 1e, but doesn't entirely substitute for it. The book presents the Kolat next, a problematic group for the setting. I generally dislike the background established for this group as it seems to break the setting's conventions. We then get a sections on all kinds of ninjas- a veritable barrel-full of them, including minor clan ninjas, Crane ninjas, Crab ninjas, Lion ninjas...I perhaps exaggerate, but there does seem to be some dilution of the idea of the ninja's happening. Mercifully, some of these ideas can simply be read less as ninjas and more as spies or the like. The book ends with ninja equipment, advice on playing a sweet ninja, and some new rules for adversaries of the ninja, such as bounty hunters.
Thematically close to Way of the Ninja is the Way of the Thief book. Beginning with an overview of law and order in the Empire, this book moves pretty quickly through the Kolat and on to the move useful concept of Smuggling cartels, Pirates, and Bandits. While there's some useful material there for game background and setting, too much of this material ends up devoted to how players make these kinds of characters-- with new schools, abilities, feat, and the like. That's a disappointment. The next sections take two of the more important locations Ryoko Owari and the City of the Rich Frog, detailed in previous L5R material, and updates them for the present timeline. Even with this information, if would be difficult to bring the best parts of the original City of Lies module to bear given the extent of the historical changes. The book ends with some nice material on running magistrate and law enforcement campaigns.
Way of the Open Hand brings more details on Monks in Rokugan. It nicely combines discussion of the philosophies and roles of the monks with new character mechanics. More than other dual system line books it manages to maintain a balance between background material, player information and character mechanics. However to get the full benefit using L5R 2e, players still need a copy of The Way of Shinsei for 1e, given that the kiho rules don't appear in the 2e core rules. There's a little of the same dilution of the core concept as occurs in the ninja book as we're given martial arts schools for every clan, plus ronin, plus the Ratlings, plus gaijin...ugh. Way of the Daimyo, on the other hand, charts new territory for the L5R line. It presents a set of options and ideas for running high-level, high position characters. There some discussion of the concept of glory, how to maintain status and the maintenance of those concepts at the highest level of society. The chapters which follow present five new roles players might move into late in their career: Provincial Governor, Ambassador, Warlord, Master Sensei and Keeper of the Temple. There's a decent combination of character mechanics and campaign ideas in each section.
Odd Books Out
The other three dual stat books published by AEG each went in a different direction. The Complete Exotic Arms Guide is, as you can imagine, a big book of weapons and armor. From common to bizarre, it includes armor, magic items, weapons of non-humans and foreigners, and even siege equipment. Each item has stats and a nice textual description. If your group likes that kind of game chrome, it is a nice sourcebook with one significant flaw. I usually expect these kinds of volumes to have pictures of the items, or at the very least silhouettes and perhaps relative sizes. Instead the book has few illustrations of its miscellany, and even those pictured don't have captions indicating which they are.
A stronger and more useful volume, Fortunes & Winds presents an overview of the Spirit Realms in the Rokugani setting. The game fiction presented here actually serves as both a compelling linked story and nice illustration of the ideas. The book begins with a general discussion of the realms and the history of their interactions with Ningen-do, the real world. It also provides some interesting new character options and rules tied to the Spirit Realm. Each realm has its own chapter, from Jigoku, the Realm of Evil to Yume-Do, the Realm of Dreams. Nearly all of this material is new. While hints about the nature of them had been given in earlier publications, this is the first to present a thorough examination. The book balances mechanics with background, keeping it from becoming simply a planar monster guide.
Strangely among the last dual system books published was The Hidden Emperor. Like Time of the Void before, this book presents a campaign sourcebook to one of the CCG arcs-- the one took place in the span between the L5R 2e starting timeline and the Rokugan d20 starting timeline. In a sense it comes too little, too late to plug the gap between them. A good deal of the material here would have been good to have earlier. GM's starting games in the earlier era may find it useful, especially if they want to move their campaign up a little, but not almost two generations forward.
Metaplot Backpages
L5R 1e and 2e used the Winter Courts as a kind of annual publication to move the history and the metaplot forward. Those happened in pretty major jumps of a couple of years between. The dual system books take another approach. A number have final pages with "News of the Empire", detailing recent events and directing players to check out the L5R website for more information. Each one has a number of evocative and interesting event blurbs, but with little context. Why I later read the L5R CCG Card Cyclopedia, I could start to match up those events with the rpg listings. I was irritated at the time and my questions about the storyline wouldn't actually be answered until the publication of The Four Winds....for Legend of the Five Rings (Third Edition), which like Time of the Void and The Hidden Emperor, actually pulled that storyline together.
Summary
I hope the choice to move L5R to d20 worked for AEG. I like the setting enough that I'm willing to put up with some strangeness. However, with the wide span of metaplot this edition covers, that important historical information doesn't come until later, and events get suggested without decent explanation, makes this a more difficult entry-point for gamers. If one chooses the earlier end of the scale, then 1e materials remain (for the most part) viable. If one chooses the later it means slogging through some dense material and still having to go back to the 1e resources for answers and depth. The dual system books focus so much more heavily on mechanics, character stuff and crunch. There's certainly less of the kind of general background material I prefer as a GM, but your experience and desires may vary. There's some strangeness in the fact AEG put out no adventure modules or location sourcebooks for the material after Rokugan. On the one hand it could be suggested that the nature of a d20 game pushes things that direction- a focus on system definitions, rules and options. On the other hand, it may also be a factor of the game setting have begun to spun its wheels-- and the difficulty of developing exciting new material which helps illuminate the world. Moving the metaplot forward may be an easier task than trying to mine novel ideas out of a good existing setting.
Guide to Buying
*If you want to play L5R as d20, then you should begin with Oriental Adventures and Rokugan. Creatures of Rokugan and Magic of Rokugan both expand the purely d20 material. I'd also suggest the various "Way of..." dual system books, as they provide additional crunch and mechanics.
*If you're playing L5R in the original setting and want to find useful material from this set then I'd suggest Time of the Void and The Hidden Emperor for plot seeds. The Way of the Ratling, Way of the Thief and Fortunes and Winds provide new material not previously covered. The other "Way of..." books have some new material but require slogging through rules and picking and choosing carefully. The Secrets of the Clans series might be useful for ideas on how to expand a particular clan, especially with the concept of vassal families, but so much of the material there is stuck in the historical context.
*If you want to play L5R 2e in the later period, then after the core books, Rokugan's your first choice and probably The Hidden Emperor to help get some background filled in. Most of the other products are useful, with the exception of the The Complete Exotic Arms Guide and The Way of the Shadowlands(the latter being a personal bias).
*If you're looking for general samurai material to bring over into another game, then you're better off going back to the first edition material. Way of the Thief does have some good campaign ideas, and Winter Court: Kyuden Asako has some good stuff. If you want a cheap resource, the the two L5R 2e core books are a good buy since it condenses a good deal of the samurai culture material from the earlier books. Otherwise, go back to the other Winter Court books and GM's Survival Guide. Also potentially useful as a resource for the cosmology would be Fortunes and Winds.
Portability
The second edition, but especially the later dual system material, ends up focused heavily on mechanics. It does mean that if you're planning on converting L5R to another system there's more chrome and more work to do. And you'll end up having to reference the first edition material in any case. If you're just looking for ideas to borrow, see my comment above.
Sunday, October 18, 2009
RPGs I'm Ambivalent About: L5R 2e (Part One)
More obscure rpg system material today- and my last look at Legend of the Five Rings. A little lengthy this time, so I've split it into two parts. This is an overview of the craziness that is the second edition of that game
RPG Items I'm Ambivalent About: Legend of the Five Rings (Second Edition)
The Yoke of Metaplot
In my overview of Legend of the Five Rings, first edition, I suggested players and gamemasters would likely find that setting/timeline an easier entry than the material for second edition. I think there's a number of reasons for that, including the fact that the material for the later edition ends up split across a couple of formats/systems and it still references the first edition material. But as much as anything it comes from the setting being pulling along by the metaplot of the CCG.
More than most other games with metaplot drives, the changes that end up happening over the course of 2e break things. There's a thirty year jump, only lightly explained events, and drastic changes in the basic structures of the clans. The closest White Wolf, the poster child for out of control metaplot, got to this level of change was essentially blowing up the world. Most of the shifts throughout the game lines felt optional or at least did not dramatically rework the basics. Metaplots have a long and storied tradition-- you could argue that Dragonlance, created an entire class of metaplot. The Mystarra/Known World setting for D&D got hit with a massive metaplot hammer when they tried to bring it up to AD&D. Even one of my favorite game lines, Orpheus from WW is basically one giant extended campaign/metabook sourcebook series. So that's to say I don't have an axe to grind against the idea of that in games, but I find it a problem when it wastes earlier solid material.
In this article I want to provide an overview of the materials published for L5R 2e, with some evaluation about the relative strengths and weaknesses. Mostly I'd like this to be a summary guide for anyone looking at the material and trying to figure out what's what.
The Setting Timeline Connections
In my other piece I mentioned the Scorpion Clan Coup as a major metaplot event. There's an nice overview of the specifics of the event here. Those events move the timeline of the game forward into the Clan Wars and the Day of Thunder story arc. The boxed city setting/module Otosan Uchi actually provides material to run the events of the coup-- a nice way of integrating players into the events of the metaplot. Several of the later published first edition products take these events as given (Winter Court: Kyuden Kakita, Way of Shinsei, Way of the Wolf, and Way of the Minor Clans). The SCC changes the setting pretty dramatically, the elimination of an entire Clan, the beginning of corruption of another, the removal of a family from the Lion Clan, dramatic changes in the Imperial House. I personally prefer the structures existing before this, but at least the material for bridging those changes exists and the time span is relatively narrow. Things follow from the narrative given. Some earlier material becomes more difficult to use, including a few really excellent supplements. However at this point the break remains minor enough to be worked around more easily.
Then AEG publishes a second edition of the Legend of the Five Rings rules-- with the the setting now firmly after the Coup. After that, things get more complicated.
A Second Edition, Huzzzah?
AEG opted to break the new core book into two volumes-- a Player's Guide and a Gamemaster's Guide. There are some significant mechanical changes changes in this version, but I want to stay away from a full assessment of those. The core concepts remain the same, but require some massaging. The Player's Book does the right thing and provides a section explaining the changes between the first and second editions of the game. When I see a revised or new edition of a game system, that's what I check for first. I;ll admit that at least of my problems with the newer, revised systems (GURPS 4e, and especially Exalted 2e) is that they lack an explicit section discussing- at least roughly- what has changed. Are we talking minor mechanical tweaks? Will conversion be easy? Have you even provided conversion mechanics? I suspect there's a logic to making a new book absolute and seemingly complete, but that's also a slap in the face of those who have bought the books before. I don't think publishing that material online is enough.
The division of the books is a smart move, and one of the first times that AEG takes steps to separate GM material, including secrets and plots, from player material (outside of modules). I do wonder if there's a financial logic to creating a separate players book versus a unified one. While the books provide a little more depth on the material than the original core book, there's still some absences. Playing a Monk, for example, still requires the Way of Shinsei volume. There's a little more on the Clans individually, but the book still specifically directs players to the Way of the Clans series (which remain with first edition rules and a slightly outdated setting) to get more than a cursory overview. The books draw in general cultural background more fully, but nearly all of that is cut and paste from the earlier publications (GM's Survival Guide, Way of the Clans, Winter Court). I'm of two minds about that. On the one hand, having that together in one place is a good thing. On the other hand, the material is incomplete-- so it doesn't entirely substitute for the earlier publications. The question becomes: if I haven't bought those items, is it worth it for the articles they didn't bother to lift from those? The original Second edition core rule books are friendlier and more accessible to new players-- giving them all they need. But for groups coming up from the first edition, there's little added except some changes in the mechanics.
Other Supplements
After the publication of the second edition, AEG followed up with a few new supplements. Way of the Ratling and Way of the Shadowlands both serve as pseudo-Way of the Clans books for these two groups. The former adds the nezumi non-human race as a playable option. For some GM's the possibility of non-humans PCs will be exciting. I have less problem with them than I do with the Naga as a concept, but I still don't care for mixing that in with other groups. The latter book provides more material on the Shadowlands and the Taint. While some material there comes from earlier books, it is greatly expanded on. It also provides rules for running corrupted characters, either as victims or agents of the Shadowlands. There's a warning about the use of those options in play, but as with many games eventually there comes a book on how to play the bad guys. Both of these supplements are worthwhile for the setting, with significant information and depth, but they cover fringe elements of the setting. More oddly, they use the graphic design of the second edition (cover design, page layout, title font) but they do not mention that they're for the 2nd edition-- that's avoided on the back cover in any of the introductory material. I'm unsure if that's an oversight or a deliberate ploy.
The third Winter Court volume, Kyuden Asako, explicitly mentions on the back cover that it is for the 2e rules. While I like the Winter Court volumes for their treatment of general topics, this volume is by far the weakest (which I talked about here). AEG also published two modules for 2e, Mimura and Bells of the Dead, but the big game changer was the publication of Time of the Void.
Time of the Void
Time of the Void presents a thick campaign framework for running the L5R rpg through the events of the first arc of the CCG. Each section covers one of the expansion sets for the CCG (Forbidden Knowledge, Anvil of Despair, etc). All of the artwork's taken from the cards with mixed results. Some images look odd when blown up and rendered in black and white. The history outlines present the major events and key players in each chapter- some major NPCs get updated stat information. The material includes plot hooks for adventures and heroic opportunities for major battles to help the GM bring their players into the saga. There's also a host of new mechanics given: new schools, new advantages, new magic, the concept of 'katas,' and so on. As a metaplot book, it does a good job. It is however, weaker as a generally useful sourcebook, either within the setting or for us ein other samurai games.
Time of the Void represented a pretty drastic change in the timeline, but was only really the precursor for a more drastic shift-- the publication of Oriental Adventures by WoTC.
Oriental Adventures
To give some background I have to quote from D.J. Trindle's post on the topic, back from the time:
That decision certainly makes sense financially, especially because of the entanglement of AEG and WOTC over the L5R property. Of course AEG wasn't alone in creating d20 conversions in an attempt to cash in on that market and expand their base (Deadlands d20, Aberrant d20, Fading Suns d20 and even AEG's other line 7th Sea became Swashbuckling Adventures). Oriental Adventures served as a resource book for doing Asian fantasy-- with the Legend of the Five Rings background interwoven alongside a number of other concepts, races and ideas from outside the setting. L5R would get center stage full treatment with the publication of the Rokugan guide. That was supported by two purely d20 system/L5R setting supplements- Creatures of Rokugan and Magic of Rokugan.
After Oriental Adventures/Rokugan
So here's where it gets kind of problematic for players who come into this by way of L5R 2e. AEG continued to publish and support the line, but with some pretty drastic changes. The Rokugan book has incredibly high production values. It includes rules for conversion of L5R characters to the d20 system. I'm not a d20 person so I can't speak for the success of that translation or for the mechanics as a whole. However, the background material feels fairly complete. The real trick here is that Rokguan moves the timeline forward twenty years. That gap is filled with the events of the CCG story arc for The Hidden Emperor. Players from the original system needed to buy Rokugan to understand the evolution of the history and the metaplot. That meant buying a fairly hefty product with lots of mechanical material dedicated to a system they might not use.
Despite this, L5R 2e isn't entirely pitched to the wayside. Instead eighteen more books would be published, but with mechanics and stats for both systems: OA/Rokugan and L5R 2e. I have to say while that's a seemingly equitable solution, it isn't one that makes for easy reading. Most of these books have a good deal more mechanical information than earlier ones. Any mechanical section comes with a d20 discussion and explanation, followed by the L5R rules in a different (but only slightly different) color of ink. In some of the books it becomes hard to read without good lighting. More than other sourcebooks, the mechanical and rules discussions get in the way of the ideas. They break the flow. However, if you're really interested in the mechanics of the rules, then the books have the crunch you want-- if you're willing to skip some sections of the system you're not using. It feels like a kind of gamer tax-- paying for non-applicable material. The cost's higher for gamemasters just looking for ideas and general concepts. Those publications fall into three broad categories: The Secrets of the Clans series, The “Way of...” Books and a few general resource books. These dual stat books take as their background the Four Winds arc from the CCG. In fact, various elements presented in some of the books continue to pull that metaplot forward, as I'll come to.
End Part One
Tomorrow, part two of an obscure exercise in analyzing the decisions of a dead rpg line.
RPG Items I'm Ambivalent About: Legend of the Five Rings (Second Edition)
The Yoke of Metaplot
In my overview of Legend of the Five Rings, first edition, I suggested players and gamemasters would likely find that setting/timeline an easier entry than the material for second edition. I think there's a number of reasons for that, including the fact that the material for the later edition ends up split across a couple of formats/systems and it still references the first edition material. But as much as anything it comes from the setting being pulling along by the metaplot of the CCG.
More than most other games with metaplot drives, the changes that end up happening over the course of 2e break things. There's a thirty year jump, only lightly explained events, and drastic changes in the basic structures of the clans. The closest White Wolf, the poster child for out of control metaplot, got to this level of change was essentially blowing up the world. Most of the shifts throughout the game lines felt optional or at least did not dramatically rework the basics. Metaplots have a long and storied tradition-- you could argue that Dragonlance, created an entire class of metaplot. The Mystarra/Known World setting for D&D got hit with a massive metaplot hammer when they tried to bring it up to AD&D. Even one of my favorite game lines, Orpheus from WW is basically one giant extended campaign/metabook sourcebook series. So that's to say I don't have an axe to grind against the idea of that in games, but I find it a problem when it wastes earlier solid material.
In this article I want to provide an overview of the materials published for L5R 2e, with some evaluation about the relative strengths and weaknesses. Mostly I'd like this to be a summary guide for anyone looking at the material and trying to figure out what's what.
The Setting Timeline Connections
In my other piece I mentioned the Scorpion Clan Coup as a major metaplot event. There's an nice overview of the specifics of the event here. Those events move the timeline of the game forward into the Clan Wars and the Day of Thunder story arc. The boxed city setting/module Otosan Uchi actually provides material to run the events of the coup-- a nice way of integrating players into the events of the metaplot. Several of the later published first edition products take these events as given (Winter Court: Kyuden Kakita, Way of Shinsei, Way of the Wolf, and Way of the Minor Clans). The SCC changes the setting pretty dramatically, the elimination of an entire Clan, the beginning of corruption of another, the removal of a family from the Lion Clan, dramatic changes in the Imperial House. I personally prefer the structures existing before this, but at least the material for bridging those changes exists and the time span is relatively narrow. Things follow from the narrative given. Some earlier material becomes more difficult to use, including a few really excellent supplements. However at this point the break remains minor enough to be worked around more easily.
Then AEG publishes a second edition of the Legend of the Five Rings rules-- with the the setting now firmly after the Coup. After that, things get more complicated.
A Second Edition, Huzzzah?
AEG opted to break the new core book into two volumes-- a Player's Guide and a Gamemaster's Guide. There are some significant mechanical changes changes in this version, but I want to stay away from a full assessment of those. The core concepts remain the same, but require some massaging. The Player's Book does the right thing and provides a section explaining the changes between the first and second editions of the game. When I see a revised or new edition of a game system, that's what I check for first. I;ll admit that at least of my problems with the newer, revised systems (GURPS 4e, and especially Exalted 2e) is that they lack an explicit section discussing- at least roughly- what has changed. Are we talking minor mechanical tweaks? Will conversion be easy? Have you even provided conversion mechanics? I suspect there's a logic to making a new book absolute and seemingly complete, but that's also a slap in the face of those who have bought the books before. I don't think publishing that material online is enough.
The division of the books is a smart move, and one of the first times that AEG takes steps to separate GM material, including secrets and plots, from player material (outside of modules). I do wonder if there's a financial logic to creating a separate players book versus a unified one. While the books provide a little more depth on the material than the original core book, there's still some absences. Playing a Monk, for example, still requires the Way of Shinsei volume. There's a little more on the Clans individually, but the book still specifically directs players to the Way of the Clans series (which remain with first edition rules and a slightly outdated setting) to get more than a cursory overview. The books draw in general cultural background more fully, but nearly all of that is cut and paste from the earlier publications (GM's Survival Guide, Way of the Clans, Winter Court). I'm of two minds about that. On the one hand, having that together in one place is a good thing. On the other hand, the material is incomplete-- so it doesn't entirely substitute for the earlier publications. The question becomes: if I haven't bought those items, is it worth it for the articles they didn't bother to lift from those? The original Second edition core rule books are friendlier and more accessible to new players-- giving them all they need. But for groups coming up from the first edition, there's little added except some changes in the mechanics.
Other Supplements
After the publication of the second edition, AEG followed up with a few new supplements. Way of the Ratling and Way of the Shadowlands both serve as pseudo-Way of the Clans books for these two groups. The former adds the nezumi non-human race as a playable option. For some GM's the possibility of non-humans PCs will be exciting. I have less problem with them than I do with the Naga as a concept, but I still don't care for mixing that in with other groups. The latter book provides more material on the Shadowlands and the Taint. While some material there comes from earlier books, it is greatly expanded on. It also provides rules for running corrupted characters, either as victims or agents of the Shadowlands. There's a warning about the use of those options in play, but as with many games eventually there comes a book on how to play the bad guys. Both of these supplements are worthwhile for the setting, with significant information and depth, but they cover fringe elements of the setting. More oddly, they use the graphic design of the second edition (cover design, page layout, title font) but they do not mention that they're for the 2nd edition-- that's avoided on the back cover in any of the introductory material. I'm unsure if that's an oversight or a deliberate ploy.
The third Winter Court volume, Kyuden Asako, explicitly mentions on the back cover that it is for the 2e rules. While I like the Winter Court volumes for their treatment of general topics, this volume is by far the weakest (which I talked about here). AEG also published two modules for 2e, Mimura and Bells of the Dead, but the big game changer was the publication of Time of the Void.
Time of the Void
Time of the Void presents a thick campaign framework for running the L5R rpg through the events of the first arc of the CCG. Each section covers one of the expansion sets for the CCG (Forbidden Knowledge, Anvil of Despair, etc). All of the artwork's taken from the cards with mixed results. Some images look odd when blown up and rendered in black and white. The history outlines present the major events and key players in each chapter- some major NPCs get updated stat information. The material includes plot hooks for adventures and heroic opportunities for major battles to help the GM bring their players into the saga. There's also a host of new mechanics given: new schools, new advantages, new magic, the concept of 'katas,' and so on. As a metaplot book, it does a good job. It is however, weaker as a generally useful sourcebook, either within the setting or for us ein other samurai games.
Time of the Void represented a pretty drastic change in the timeline, but was only really the precursor for a more drastic shift-- the publication of Oriental Adventures by WoTC.
Oriental Adventures
To give some background I have to quote from D.J. Trindle's post on the topic, back from the time:
“In December of 2000, Wizards – now itself a division of a larger company, Hasbro – announced that it was looking for someone to buy the L5R IP. Just at that time, AEG released its Second Edition of the L5R RPG. Even though Hasbro had gained ownership of the L5R IP when it bought Wizards, the existing RPG licensing agreement stayed in effect. Speculation abounded: what would happen to AEG’s RPG license should a third party end up with L5R?...It turned out to be a moot point. In May 2001, AEG won the bidding war for L5R. Production immediately began on the Gold Edition basic set of the L5R CCG, and AEG’s L5R RPG continued to release books.
One of the conditions of the IP transaction was that Wizards would be allowed to finish producing the L5R products that it already had in the pipe. One of these was a series of L5R novels; another was the D&D Third Edition version of the immensely popular Oriental Adventures supplement. The original supplement had its own fantasy Asian world of Kara-Tur… but the Third Edition version was set largely in the L5R world of Rokugan. The manuscript was already done, or close to it, when the sale went through, and the book was targeted for an October 2001 release....
AEG knew about Oriental Adventures (OA) and its conversion to the world of L5R during the IP negotiations. The question was, what to do about it? We decided to work with Wizards rather than against them, and brokered a deal. They would produce OA, and we would go on to put out the support books. This was largely a business decision – AEG being, after all, a business – and the reasoning went more or less as follows. Oriental Adventures isn’t going after the tens of thousands of L5R RPG players: it’s going after the millions of Third Edition D&D players. If we produce support material for those fans, we can increase the L5R RPG fanbase by a huge margin, even if only 1% of those D&D fans buy our books.”
That decision certainly makes sense financially, especially because of the entanglement of AEG and WOTC over the L5R property. Of course AEG wasn't alone in creating d20 conversions in an attempt to cash in on that market and expand their base (Deadlands d20, Aberrant d20, Fading Suns d20 and even AEG's other line 7th Sea became Swashbuckling Adventures). Oriental Adventures served as a resource book for doing Asian fantasy-- with the Legend of the Five Rings background interwoven alongside a number of other concepts, races and ideas from outside the setting. L5R would get center stage full treatment with the publication of the Rokugan guide. That was supported by two purely d20 system/L5R setting supplements- Creatures of Rokugan and Magic of Rokugan.
After Oriental Adventures/Rokugan
So here's where it gets kind of problematic for players who come into this by way of L5R 2e. AEG continued to publish and support the line, but with some pretty drastic changes. The Rokugan book has incredibly high production values. It includes rules for conversion of L5R characters to the d20 system. I'm not a d20 person so I can't speak for the success of that translation or for the mechanics as a whole. However, the background material feels fairly complete. The real trick here is that Rokguan moves the timeline forward twenty years. That gap is filled with the events of the CCG story arc for The Hidden Emperor. Players from the original system needed to buy Rokugan to understand the evolution of the history and the metaplot. That meant buying a fairly hefty product with lots of mechanical material dedicated to a system they might not use.
Despite this, L5R 2e isn't entirely pitched to the wayside. Instead eighteen more books would be published, but with mechanics and stats for both systems: OA/Rokugan and L5R 2e. I have to say while that's a seemingly equitable solution, it isn't one that makes for easy reading. Most of these books have a good deal more mechanical information than earlier ones. Any mechanical section comes with a d20 discussion and explanation, followed by the L5R rules in a different (but only slightly different) color of ink. In some of the books it becomes hard to read without good lighting. More than other sourcebooks, the mechanical and rules discussions get in the way of the ideas. They break the flow. However, if you're really interested in the mechanics of the rules, then the books have the crunch you want-- if you're willing to skip some sections of the system you're not using. It feels like a kind of gamer tax-- paying for non-applicable material. The cost's higher for gamemasters just looking for ideas and general concepts. Those publications fall into three broad categories: The Secrets of the Clans series, The “Way of...” Books and a few general resource books. These dual stat books take as their background the Four Winds arc from the CCG. In fact, various elements presented in some of the books continue to pull that metaplot forward, as I'll come to.
End Part One
Tomorrow, part two of an obscure exercise in analyzing the decisions of a dead rpg line.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
RPG Supplements I Like: Walking the Way for L5R
Shorter review today, and probably the second to last of my L5R tangents. I talked some time back about how a magic system in an rpg can shape the narrative atmosphere. Today's item takes the basics of the system and works to make the magic less list and accumulate and more of the setting and atmospheric.
RPG Items I Like: Walking the Way for L5R
Game Chrome Love
I have to admit I'm a sucker for game chrome. I like fiddly bits, crunch and mechanics when I'm reading through various game systems. I love the idea of categories of things, special situational requirements, small variations on powers or abilities-- especially if we have new terminology and cool names for things. However, all of that reverses itself when I'm actually playing or running. I usually start out excited, but rapidly become irritated as those things get in the way. My wife can attest to the process I go through when thinking about a new campaign-- the decisions about game system, the coming up with new structures, looking at rules sets and trying to find neat packages and character bits which can be purchased, elaborate weapons charts, and so on. I start strong in planning and outlining but as the weeks pass I pare things away, turn my attention to play and what won't get in the way. Usually there comes a point when she points out to me that I can do this much more easily and effectively with the simple homebrew system we've been using for years. But what about an extended damage table with hit locations, I'll ask, and she'll shake her head. Mind you sometimes I end up with the core of an existing engine I'll use, but these days I'm adapting old Storyteller rather than the complexities of Rolemaster or HERO System.
Magic Systems
I mention that because one of the things I always look at for game chrome when I pick up systems is how they handle magic, if it exists in the setting. Will it be a simple level and list system like Rolemaster or D&D? Are things purchasable but only through a set course, like GURPS? Is it completely vague, like Mutants and Masterminds? Less vague but still general like True20? What kind of flexibility exists within the system- the freedom of Mage: the Ascension or the greater limits of Mage: The Awakening or even Ars Magica. There's the question of rarity and power as well- are spells a trivial thing or the overwhelming but hard to handle power of Exalted? As well-- what does the magic system say about the game world? Do it fit, is there an ethos conveyed by it? Does it have flavor or is it bland?
All that being said, I rarely play mages but I often have players who play mages in my games. I have to keep a little ahead of them.
Rokugani Magic
Magic in Legend of the Five Rings follows a of middle path. Nearly all Shugenja draw their powers from the kami, the spirits making up the world. This makes them priests as well as spell casters. While the are some other types (the Shadow-Magic of the Shosuro and the Ancestor Powers of the Kitsu) they mostly follow the same structural elements. Spells have a level of difficulty requiring a higher roll to activate. For setting flavor they fall into one of four elemental categories, with those categories having qualitative aspects (so Fire is not only the physical element, but speed as well). Only special shugenja of the Phoenix Clan, the Ishiken, can call on the power of the fifth element, Void which covers fate and connection. Spells are written fairly broadly, with the caster being able to modify them a little on the fly. Most spells have "raises"- aspects in which the effect can be increased at a cost of increased difficulty. In keeping with the setting spells have a material component, with shugenja having to recite from scrolls to cast unless they've fully mastered the spell. Spells are intended to be rare, with a shugenja having a fairly tight list. While pretty conventional, the magic system does a good job of bringing setting flavor to the casters.
The Book Itself
Walking the Way begins with a brief introduction stressing the idea of the rarity and uniqueness of spells. The volume's subtitle "The Lost Spells of Rokugan" implies this will be your usual spell supplement. However, unlike most the volume isn't intended to be a player resource. These spells are intended to be treasures found in quests or rewards for effort on the player's part. All of that's a somewhat unusual choice, in that if taken seriously, it removes a significant chunk of the potentially buying audience.
Being a resource for the gamemaster gives makes Walking the Way much stronger than it might otherwise be. The book presents fifty two new spells, divided among the five elements with Void receiving significantly fewer spells. Each spell has a companion adventure with it-- sometimes requiring the use of the spell, sometimes set off by it, and other times in the hands of adversaries. The adventures range from one to two pages in length, so they're not just sidebar story seeds. The wealth of plot ideas here makes the book worth buying. The book as a whole maintains the atmosphere of mystery that magic really needs.
The actual spell mechanics have been printed on a separate page from the adventures, so GMs can copy those pages if a player receives a particular spell scroll. Other graphic elements, however, undercut that clever design decision. Pages have a heavy, textured grayscale background making them more difficult to read and I imagine this would be even worse in a pdf version. A less than legible "oriental" font is used for the spell mechanics, but the adventures are in a clearer one. There's a nice diversity of spells and adventures here and the last pages of the book contain a fairly complete spell annex, including all the spells from the core books, the Clan books and a couple of other supplements in an easy to reference list.
Summary
I recommend this point for anyone planning on running L5R 1e-- and it would likely be useful if only for the adventures for GMs of later editions. Material here can help differentiate between multiple shugenja in the same group, giving them more room to focus on a particular element.
Portability
The adventures here can definitely be used in other fantastic samurai games, and might be adaptable to other games where spells are not overly common. The spells themselves might be adaptable elsewhere, depending on the magic system of the setting. They have enough flavor to them to make them stand out. If a GM wanted to adapt the setting over to another system I'd recommend taking the time to port these spells over (assuming a system with named spells).
RPG Items I Like: Walking the Way for L5R
Game Chrome Love
I have to admit I'm a sucker for game chrome. I like fiddly bits, crunch and mechanics when I'm reading through various game systems. I love the idea of categories of things, special situational requirements, small variations on powers or abilities-- especially if we have new terminology and cool names for things. However, all of that reverses itself when I'm actually playing or running. I usually start out excited, but rapidly become irritated as those things get in the way. My wife can attest to the process I go through when thinking about a new campaign-- the decisions about game system, the coming up with new structures, looking at rules sets and trying to find neat packages and character bits which can be purchased, elaborate weapons charts, and so on. I start strong in planning and outlining but as the weeks pass I pare things away, turn my attention to play and what won't get in the way. Usually there comes a point when she points out to me that I can do this much more easily and effectively with the simple homebrew system we've been using for years. But what about an extended damage table with hit locations, I'll ask, and she'll shake her head. Mind you sometimes I end up with the core of an existing engine I'll use, but these days I'm adapting old Storyteller rather than the complexities of Rolemaster or HERO System.
Magic Systems
I mention that because one of the things I always look at for game chrome when I pick up systems is how they handle magic, if it exists in the setting. Will it be a simple level and list system like Rolemaster or D&D? Are things purchasable but only through a set course, like GURPS? Is it completely vague, like Mutants and Masterminds? Less vague but still general like True20? What kind of flexibility exists within the system- the freedom of Mage: the Ascension or the greater limits of Mage: The Awakening or even Ars Magica. There's the question of rarity and power as well- are spells a trivial thing or the overwhelming but hard to handle power of Exalted? As well-- what does the magic system say about the game world? Do it fit, is there an ethos conveyed by it? Does it have flavor or is it bland?
All that being said, I rarely play mages but I often have players who play mages in my games. I have to keep a little ahead of them.
Rokugani Magic
Magic in Legend of the Five Rings follows a of middle path. Nearly all Shugenja draw their powers from the kami, the spirits making up the world. This makes them priests as well as spell casters. While the are some other types (the Shadow-Magic of the Shosuro and the Ancestor Powers of the Kitsu) they mostly follow the same structural elements. Spells have a level of difficulty requiring a higher roll to activate. For setting flavor they fall into one of four elemental categories, with those categories having qualitative aspects (so Fire is not only the physical element, but speed as well). Only special shugenja of the Phoenix Clan, the Ishiken, can call on the power of the fifth element, Void which covers fate and connection. Spells are written fairly broadly, with the caster being able to modify them a little on the fly. Most spells have "raises"- aspects in which the effect can be increased at a cost of increased difficulty. In keeping with the setting spells have a material component, with shugenja having to recite from scrolls to cast unless they've fully mastered the spell. Spells are intended to be rare, with a shugenja having a fairly tight list. While pretty conventional, the magic system does a good job of bringing setting flavor to the casters.
The Book Itself
Walking the Way begins with a brief introduction stressing the idea of the rarity and uniqueness of spells. The volume's subtitle "The Lost Spells of Rokugan" implies this will be your usual spell supplement. However, unlike most the volume isn't intended to be a player resource. These spells are intended to be treasures found in quests or rewards for effort on the player's part. All of that's a somewhat unusual choice, in that if taken seriously, it removes a significant chunk of the potentially buying audience.
Being a resource for the gamemaster gives makes Walking the Way much stronger than it might otherwise be. The book presents fifty two new spells, divided among the five elements with Void receiving significantly fewer spells. Each spell has a companion adventure with it-- sometimes requiring the use of the spell, sometimes set off by it, and other times in the hands of adversaries. The adventures range from one to two pages in length, so they're not just sidebar story seeds. The wealth of plot ideas here makes the book worth buying. The book as a whole maintains the atmosphere of mystery that magic really needs.
The actual spell mechanics have been printed on a separate page from the adventures, so GMs can copy those pages if a player receives a particular spell scroll. Other graphic elements, however, undercut that clever design decision. Pages have a heavy, textured grayscale background making them more difficult to read and I imagine this would be even worse in a pdf version. A less than legible "oriental" font is used for the spell mechanics, but the adventures are in a clearer one. There's a nice diversity of spells and adventures here and the last pages of the book contain a fairly complete spell annex, including all the spells from the core books, the Clan books and a couple of other supplements in an easy to reference list.
Summary
I recommend this point for anyone planning on running L5R 1e-- and it would likely be useful if only for the adventures for GMs of later editions. Material here can help differentiate between multiple shugenja in the same group, giving them more room to focus on a particular element.
Portability
The adventures here can definitely be used in other fantastic samurai games, and might be adaptable to other games where spells are not overly common. The spells themselves might be adaptable elsewhere, depending on the magic system of the setting. They have enough flavor to them to make them stand out. If a GM wanted to adapt the setting over to another system I'd recommend taking the time to port these spells over (assuming a system with named spells).
Friday, October 16, 2009
10/16/09
Thousand Word Status Update
This morning I dropped Sherri off at work and came back home. I pulled up to the bridge intersection to the aftermath of a major car crash. One car had been thrown up onto the lawn of a house, a pick-up bent across the southbound lanes and another still sat there in the intersection. Glass, debris, pieces of car everywhere. It had to have happened minutes before I pulled up and maybe minutes after Sherri and I had been in that same intersection- it doesn't take me long to drop her off and get back to the house. Really kind of freaky.
I flashed back to the other car crash (besides my own) stuck in my mind. Years ago I was in Chicago with Art and Matt having just seen a movie (Ran or Last Temptation of Christ, I don't remember which). We came down a hill and saw a car in an intersection completely flipped over. It was still slowly spinning. I think that's what I remember...I mean how much of that have I embellished in my memory now? Some things I have crystal clarity about-- mostly stupid things I did and said years ago that come back to me suddenly and make me groan. I know that those have veracity, an exactness of detail I can't avoid. But things like these seen-at-a-distance stories. I mean I tell a lot of stories and run a lot of games, so how much do I reweave those in my own head.
To quote from an email I sent my players- I've been down with some unexplained pain since last Thursday-- forcing me to two games last weekend, miss Kenny's session, skip a special board game event, and pass on my niece's birthday party. Not that I'm bitter. Anyway, I saw the doctor this week and the first round of tests didn't show anything. He's got me on Prilosec and we'll see if things calm down, if not, there's a bonus round next week of more invasive procedures (yit-yeh...?). So yes-- old guy walking.
Things I've watched or read recently that struck me: I still like Castle on ABC but it becomes clearer each episode that I only watch it for Nathan Fillion. I gave up on Dollhouse after seeing the unaired episode on DVD- an episode which pretty much presented closure to the entire arc. I don't need to see any more. Will tells me Season Two has started out pretty weak. Been following Community on NBC and while I like it, I don't think the show yet knows what it wants to be. Anime-wise I finally watched all of Ergo Proxy. Anime falls into one of two categories for me: OK or WTF? This fell lightly into the latter group. That must be what it is like for my players when I spin an overly complicated story and they just go along for the ride. Read the third volume of Absolute Sandman (before handing it off to my niece for her birthday). There's some amusing undercutting of his own ethos that Gaiman pulls off there--making fun of the poseur nature of things. It is done lightly, not like the kick in the teeth FU of Neon Genesis Evangelion where the writer seems to be taking revenge on the viewers. Read and saw some other things, but nothing that sticks with me right this second.
Trying to hunt down a copy of Castle Falkenstein the rpg. We had a couple of copies before the fire. That's another one of those games I had on my list to run years ago and never go around to doing so. It is interesting that it came at the start of what would eventually be a real fascination with Steampunk. But I don't want to go one too far as I'm writing someone up to accompany that article I did on Cyberpunk rpgs and literary genres.
I love police procedural mysteries, but more and more I can't stand watching them. Netflix has a bunch of them available for on demand viewing (Numbers, Wire in the Blood, CSI, and so on) but there's something off-putting to me about most of them. The British ones appear to have more sophistication and depth, but I think that's kind of an illusion. Mind you I may be a little jaded since I just got done finally catching up on The Wire.
Four campaigns going on-- I had to bump two of them last week. Planning on running the other two this weekend. Libri Vidicos continues on well. I tried a narrative trick with memory loss and flashbacks that has worked pretty well and broke up the usual structure of the game. We had a nice puzzle session last time. I always happy when players are stumped for a little bit and then work out a solution, especially one which taxes their resources. The last Wushu game went pretty well. I still have to do some tweaks on the combat system, possibly turn sequencing, and definitely need to give the warrior archetype some additional options. I also have to write up the last several session reports for the game. Changeling continues to go pretty well, although that was one that got bumped. The Third Continent game works in great part based on really good play and character banter as much as anything, and I'm enjoying that. L5R continues to pull at me and I think I want to sit down to figure out how one would adapt that to HeroQuest 2e- if nothing else I really want to try that system out.
Played a few new boardgames, but nothing that really grabbed me. I'm got a couple of larger “monster” games that I really want to get a chance to play but they'll take some hours on everyone's part. There's a new local BG group so I'm hoping to go to their next meeting. That's in Goshen, so it means a half-hour drive.
End.
This morning I dropped Sherri off at work and came back home. I pulled up to the bridge intersection to the aftermath of a major car crash. One car had been thrown up onto the lawn of a house, a pick-up bent across the southbound lanes and another still sat there in the intersection. Glass, debris, pieces of car everywhere. It had to have happened minutes before I pulled up and maybe minutes after Sherri and I had been in that same intersection- it doesn't take me long to drop her off and get back to the house. Really kind of freaky.
I flashed back to the other car crash (besides my own) stuck in my mind. Years ago I was in Chicago with Art and Matt having just seen a movie (Ran or Last Temptation of Christ, I don't remember which). We came down a hill and saw a car in an intersection completely flipped over. It was still slowly spinning. I think that's what I remember...I mean how much of that have I embellished in my memory now? Some things I have crystal clarity about-- mostly stupid things I did and said years ago that come back to me suddenly and make me groan. I know that those have veracity, an exactness of detail I can't avoid. But things like these seen-at-a-distance stories. I mean I tell a lot of stories and run a lot of games, so how much do I reweave those in my own head.
To quote from an email I sent my players- I've been down with some unexplained pain since last Thursday-- forcing me to two games last weekend, miss Kenny's session, skip a special board game event, and pass on my niece's birthday party. Not that I'm bitter. Anyway, I saw the doctor this week and the first round of tests didn't show anything. He's got me on Prilosec and we'll see if things calm down, if not, there's a bonus round next week of more invasive procedures (yit-yeh...?). So yes-- old guy walking.
Things I've watched or read recently that struck me: I still like Castle on ABC but it becomes clearer each episode that I only watch it for Nathan Fillion. I gave up on Dollhouse after seeing the unaired episode on DVD- an episode which pretty much presented closure to the entire arc. I don't need to see any more. Will tells me Season Two has started out pretty weak. Been following Community on NBC and while I like it, I don't think the show yet knows what it wants to be. Anime-wise I finally watched all of Ergo Proxy. Anime falls into one of two categories for me: OK or WTF? This fell lightly into the latter group. That must be what it is like for my players when I spin an overly complicated story and they just go along for the ride. Read the third volume of Absolute Sandman (before handing it off to my niece for her birthday). There's some amusing undercutting of his own ethos that Gaiman pulls off there--making fun of the poseur nature of things. It is done lightly, not like the kick in the teeth FU of Neon Genesis Evangelion where the writer seems to be taking revenge on the viewers. Read and saw some other things, but nothing that sticks with me right this second.
Trying to hunt down a copy of Castle Falkenstein the rpg. We had a couple of copies before the fire. That's another one of those games I had on my list to run years ago and never go around to doing so. It is interesting that it came at the start of what would eventually be a real fascination with Steampunk. But I don't want to go one too far as I'm writing someone up to accompany that article I did on Cyberpunk rpgs and literary genres.
I love police procedural mysteries, but more and more I can't stand watching them. Netflix has a bunch of them available for on demand viewing (Numbers, Wire in the Blood, CSI, and so on) but there's something off-putting to me about most of them. The British ones appear to have more sophistication and depth, but I think that's kind of an illusion. Mind you I may be a little jaded since I just got done finally catching up on The Wire.
Four campaigns going on-- I had to bump two of them last week. Planning on running the other two this weekend. Libri Vidicos continues on well. I tried a narrative trick with memory loss and flashbacks that has worked pretty well and broke up the usual structure of the game. We had a nice puzzle session last time. I always happy when players are stumped for a little bit and then work out a solution, especially one which taxes their resources. The last Wushu game went pretty well. I still have to do some tweaks on the combat system, possibly turn sequencing, and definitely need to give the warrior archetype some additional options. I also have to write up the last several session reports for the game. Changeling continues to go pretty well, although that was one that got bumped. The Third Continent game works in great part based on really good play and character banter as much as anything, and I'm enjoying that. L5R continues to pull at me and I think I want to sit down to figure out how one would adapt that to HeroQuest 2e- if nothing else I really want to try that system out.
Played a few new boardgames, but nothing that really grabbed me. I'm got a couple of larger “monster” games that I really want to get a chance to play but they'll take some hours on everyone's part. There's a new local BG group so I'm hoping to go to their next meeting. That's in Goshen, so it means a half-hour drive.
End.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
RPG Supplements I Like: Winter Court series for L5R
Things I learned this week: Yes, I will whimper like a child when given an ultrasound. Not from pain, but from ticklishness. I also learned I'm not certain where my shame threshold is any longer.
Continuing on with my look at Legend of the Five Rings rpg products...
RPG Items I Like: Winter Court series for L5R
The Winter Court volumes are at once the most useful and scattershot sourcebooks I've ever read. Ever.
They provide a wealth of detail and ideas, history and background, and discussion of the more fringe elements of life in the Legend of the Five Rings setting. However, finding what you want can be a trial. AEG produced three books in the series, each loosely centered around a particular Winter Court. Such Courts provide formal meetings of various Clans during the deep winter calm. They're long trials and conflicts not of war and swordplay, but sincerity and intrigue. The highest of these each winter is that attended by the Emperor himself, which these books illuminate. The material also provides some suggestions for handling other, smaller Clan or local Courts. But beyond that these books collect a variety of general information about life in the Emerald Empire.
Overview
The first volume, Kyuden Seppun, takes place before the Scorpion Clan Coup- the game-changing event of the history. The second and third both take place after that event, with the third volume being one of the few old-style layout products that explicitly mentions being for the 2nd edition of the game. That's not a big problem mechanics-wise, as there's much less of that present in these books compared to general background info. Some of the information is fairly connected with the metaplot, but there's enough other detail here to make them worth it regardless of what timeline you're working in. As a kind of “annual” they have a good balance of history, culture, present events, game ideas and mechanics.
Each book is split into four sections. While the introductions suggest there's an organization to the to those, reading through it's hard to see the unifying theme (well, the fourth section is always character mechanics and like material). Still, that aside, they present a great resource of players and gamemasters. Which again points to a small problem with them. As with the Way of the Clans series- there's little to mark out GM from player information. The writers intersperse NPC secrets, the truth behind setting events, and other details throughout the text. There's a suggestion that the books are meant to be used for a particular Winter Court scenario, but then they give away most of the plots. One could argue that these were intended to be GM sourcebooks, but a good portion of the information presented would be relevant and useful to players. As well, in the first book you get the phrase “your gamemaster may...” throughout- again suggesting the book's intended for players. There's an amusing apology partway through the second Winter Court book, for having revealed some details in the first volume that gave away the plots of modules-- but it ignores the general problem with the structures of the books.
Again, as with other L5R 1e products, the GM should be aware of those pitfalls and make a decision about what players should or shouldn't read- or be prepared for players knowing those details. With a 'dead' system, this becomes easier.
Winter Court One: Kyuden Seppun: I'm not that big a fan of game fiction, but the material used as a framing device works pretty well. It details the competition between two major L5R characters- Doji Hoturi and Bayushi Kachicko- as the duel with intrigue in the Winter Court. Part of of the strength comes from the characters, part from strong writing and some from the illumination on events and interactions the story provides.
Section One, “Dawn,” begins oddly with a tale titled “Hantei and Shinsei” in which the latter character does not appear or is even referenced. Instead we see another version of the origin story of the Empire. Later in the same section we do get a more thourough explanation of the relationship between the two religions of Rokugan, the Tao of Shinsei and the Seven Fortunes, but there's no real connection there. One of the better parts provides some discussion of the difference between nobility and gentry, important for providing some distinctions between samurai in a highly social class-based setting. There's some discussion of other life aspects: political ranks, gifts, bathing, general etiquette, the minor clans, and court behavior, . As will be the habit of these books, the issues treated jump around. The section ends with a nice examination of the structure and life of the Imperial House, including the first real examinations of the three associated royal clans: the Otomo, the Miya and the Seppun. There's history presented here-- some of which gives away significant plot points of the setting. This later material of the section definitely feels more GM-oriented.
Section Two, “Afternoon,” begins with some explanation of how the Winter Courts operate and some ideas for structuring adventures in them. There's more on the Seppun family, followed by another grab-bag of topics: war customs, art & culture, the tea ceremony, the function of mons, fashion, and funerals. As section on seasons and festivals is well done, giving nice ideas for events within a game. There's a section on duels, with sword or otherwise, but a little too brief. It does reinforce the oft-overlooked fact that casual dueling kills. Lethal duels potentially mean throwing away their lord's valuable asset.
Section Three “Night” provides an extensive discussion of love and marriage. That's an important issue- especially getting across the differences in our modern conceptions versus this setting. The idea of retirement from samurai is also covered. The rest of the section deals with more metaplot issues-- recent astrological events, history and battles. That's followed by a general history of Rokugan. Section Four, “Epilogue,” has the most mechanical bent. It presents new schools, advantages and rules for playing a member of the Seppun family. Again, we get a mix of PC and GM info as that's followed immediately by NPC descriptions that give away plots and rumors for the Empire. The last part gives some ideas on new uses for the classic social skills.
Winter Court One: Kyuden Kakita: This volume take place two years after the Scorpion Clan Coup. As I've suggested before causes some pretty big ripples in the setting requiring reworking or abandoning some earlier published material. That being said, there's enough material not tied to the metaplot here to make the book worthwhile. The framing game fiction here is less compelling than that of the previous volume, but doesn't get in the way too much. Interestingly the introduction to the book doesn't try to provide cover for the fact that the chapters are scattershot.
Section One, “Dawn” gives some background to current affairs and then provides some suggestions for ideas set in Rokugan's past. This has real potential, but only gets two pages worth of attention. A lengthier section follows talking about natural disasters in Rokugan, their significance and some ideas on how to use those in a game. The Miya family, talked about in the previous WC book get more attention here and then a significant chunk of material on Ronin in society. Some of that last material parallels pretty closely the material in the Way of the Wolf book.
Section Two “Afternoon” has one of my favorite articles, a look at the daily schedules of a cross-section of the classes. Samurai, shugenja, merchants, eta and others each get a nice timetable of their routines. The section also covers apprenticeships, gempukku, art & culture. Section Three “Night” has material on visiting customs, court intrigue, ghosts, the social stigma of Shadowlands taint and a list of notable Emperors. There's a wonderful section on entertainment and games. This provides great fodder for Winter Courts and other functions- explaining typical competitive games and contests. There's an odd acknowledgment in the section that perhaps they gave away too much in the earlier volume, closely followed by a list of recent metaplot events and a giveaway of what the banished Scorpion are up to.
Section Four “Epilogue” again gives new mechanical material. It presents new skills and advantages with some nicely tied into the Winter Court setting. Rules for playing the Miya family and for the Emerald Magistrate schools come next. Too much information on the significant NPCs follows. The section finishes with an update to the city of Otosan Uchi after the Scorpion Clan Coup, again tied to the metaplot.
Winter Court One: Kyuden Asako: This is one of the few non-dual stat books for Legend of the Five Rings 2e-- with a major change in page design and graphics. This volume is significantly smaller than the previous two. Beyond that, twenty-nine of the eighty pages here are full-page graphics, game fiction, ToC or title pages. That's particularly noticeable how short the volume is. The game fiction is weaker than the previous volumes, making an established significant story NPC look like a dip. The book also uses the Asako family of the Phoenix as a background- one of the families with a backstory that doesn't quite feel right in the context of the setting.
Section One “Dawn,” gives material on the metaplot, a discussion of the Imperial Legions, a new magic form, the Yobanjin outlying barbarians, and biographies on some historical figures. There's an OK section on strongholds in the Empire as well. Section Two “Afternoon” has more metaplot and more on the gempukku ritual for individual clans (though some of that has been covered in the individual Way of the Clans books). The largest part of the section is given over to a discussion of magic and religion, with some new mechanical options for casting.
Section Three “Evening” Begins with a section on omens and astrology. That's complemented by a section on recent astrological events i the empire. The best material here is on court subtlety and intrigue, but it feels thin and undeveloped. Section Four, Epilogue has the usual material of new mechanical options and the secrets of the NPCs.
This volume is by far the weakest of the bunch. I can forgive a shorter book, but the topics here aren't given the kind of attention of the other volumes.
Summary
Winter Court's a great setting/premise for a game. However the books less serve that need than provide information they couldn't find another place for. They feel like annuals-- a random collection of ideas . Ideally, I'd like to see a product provide more ideas and perhaps even a more structured approach to building a courtly campaign arc. That aside, the first two volumes are very strong if you want background material. GMs will have to be wary about how much their players read of the metaplot and secrets stuff here, but that shouldn't be too much of an issue. Definitely worth getting for a GM wanting to run a long term campaign in Rokugan.
Portability
The first two volumes would serve anyone planning on running a samurai game. Most of the material has been loosely adapted for the Rokugani setting and could be adapted again for another like setting. If you're generally thinking about a Court-based game for another setting (say Medieval Fantasy) you won't find as much useful material here as you might hope. For someone adapting the L5R setting to another system, these books seem optional. There's mechanical stuff here, but nothing essential.
Continuing on with my look at Legend of the Five Rings rpg products...
RPG Items I Like: Winter Court series for L5R
The Winter Court volumes are at once the most useful and scattershot sourcebooks I've ever read. Ever.
They provide a wealth of detail and ideas, history and background, and discussion of the more fringe elements of life in the Legend of the Five Rings setting. However, finding what you want can be a trial. AEG produced three books in the series, each loosely centered around a particular Winter Court. Such Courts provide formal meetings of various Clans during the deep winter calm. They're long trials and conflicts not of war and swordplay, but sincerity and intrigue. The highest of these each winter is that attended by the Emperor himself, which these books illuminate. The material also provides some suggestions for handling other, smaller Clan or local Courts. But beyond that these books collect a variety of general information about life in the Emerald Empire.
Overview
The first volume, Kyuden Seppun, takes place before the Scorpion Clan Coup- the game-changing event of the history. The second and third both take place after that event, with the third volume being one of the few old-style layout products that explicitly mentions being for the 2nd edition of the game. That's not a big problem mechanics-wise, as there's much less of that present in these books compared to general background info. Some of the information is fairly connected with the metaplot, but there's enough other detail here to make them worth it regardless of what timeline you're working in. As a kind of “annual” they have a good balance of history, culture, present events, game ideas and mechanics.
Each book is split into four sections. While the introductions suggest there's an organization to the to those, reading through it's hard to see the unifying theme (well, the fourth section is always character mechanics and like material). Still, that aside, they present a great resource of players and gamemasters. Which again points to a small problem with them. As with the Way of the Clans series- there's little to mark out GM from player information. The writers intersperse NPC secrets, the truth behind setting events, and other details throughout the text. There's a suggestion that the books are meant to be used for a particular Winter Court scenario, but then they give away most of the plots. One could argue that these were intended to be GM sourcebooks, but a good portion of the information presented would be relevant and useful to players. As well, in the first book you get the phrase “your gamemaster may...” throughout- again suggesting the book's intended for players. There's an amusing apology partway through the second Winter Court book, for having revealed some details in the first volume that gave away the plots of modules-- but it ignores the general problem with the structures of the books.
Again, as with other L5R 1e products, the GM should be aware of those pitfalls and make a decision about what players should or shouldn't read- or be prepared for players knowing those details. With a 'dead' system, this becomes easier.
Winter Court One: Kyuden Seppun: I'm not that big a fan of game fiction, but the material used as a framing device works pretty well. It details the competition between two major L5R characters- Doji Hoturi and Bayushi Kachicko- as the duel with intrigue in the Winter Court. Part of of the strength comes from the characters, part from strong writing and some from the illumination on events and interactions the story provides.
Section One, “Dawn,” begins oddly with a tale titled “Hantei and Shinsei” in which the latter character does not appear or is even referenced. Instead we see another version of the origin story of the Empire. Later in the same section we do get a more thourough explanation of the relationship between the two religions of Rokugan, the Tao of Shinsei and the Seven Fortunes, but there's no real connection there. One of the better parts provides some discussion of the difference between nobility and gentry, important for providing some distinctions between samurai in a highly social class-based setting. There's some discussion of other life aspects: political ranks, gifts, bathing, general etiquette, the minor clans, and court behavior, . As will be the habit of these books, the issues treated jump around. The section ends with a nice examination of the structure and life of the Imperial House, including the first real examinations of the three associated royal clans: the Otomo, the Miya and the Seppun. There's history presented here-- some of which gives away significant plot points of the setting. This later material of the section definitely feels more GM-oriented.
Section Two, “Afternoon,” begins with some explanation of how the Winter Courts operate and some ideas for structuring adventures in them. There's more on the Seppun family, followed by another grab-bag of topics: war customs, art & culture, the tea ceremony, the function of mons, fashion, and funerals. As section on seasons and festivals is well done, giving nice ideas for events within a game. There's a section on duels, with sword or otherwise, but a little too brief. It does reinforce the oft-overlooked fact that casual dueling kills. Lethal duels potentially mean throwing away their lord's valuable asset.
Section Three “Night” provides an extensive discussion of love and marriage. That's an important issue- especially getting across the differences in our modern conceptions versus this setting. The idea of retirement from samurai is also covered. The rest of the section deals with more metaplot issues-- recent astrological events, history and battles. That's followed by a general history of Rokugan. Section Four, “Epilogue,” has the most mechanical bent. It presents new schools, advantages and rules for playing a member of the Seppun family. Again, we get a mix of PC and GM info as that's followed immediately by NPC descriptions that give away plots and rumors for the Empire. The last part gives some ideas on new uses for the classic social skills.
Winter Court One: Kyuden Kakita: This volume take place two years after the Scorpion Clan Coup. As I've suggested before causes some pretty big ripples in the setting requiring reworking or abandoning some earlier published material. That being said, there's enough material not tied to the metaplot here to make the book worthwhile. The framing game fiction here is less compelling than that of the previous volume, but doesn't get in the way too much. Interestingly the introduction to the book doesn't try to provide cover for the fact that the chapters are scattershot.
Section One, “Dawn” gives some background to current affairs and then provides some suggestions for ideas set in Rokugan's past. This has real potential, but only gets two pages worth of attention. A lengthier section follows talking about natural disasters in Rokugan, their significance and some ideas on how to use those in a game. The Miya family, talked about in the previous WC book get more attention here and then a significant chunk of material on Ronin in society. Some of that last material parallels pretty closely the material in the Way of the Wolf book.
Section Two “Afternoon” has one of my favorite articles, a look at the daily schedules of a cross-section of the classes. Samurai, shugenja, merchants, eta and others each get a nice timetable of their routines. The section also covers apprenticeships, gempukku, art & culture. Section Three “Night” has material on visiting customs, court intrigue, ghosts, the social stigma of Shadowlands taint and a list of notable Emperors. There's a wonderful section on entertainment and games. This provides great fodder for Winter Courts and other functions- explaining typical competitive games and contests. There's an odd acknowledgment in the section that perhaps they gave away too much in the earlier volume, closely followed by a list of recent metaplot events and a giveaway of what the banished Scorpion are up to.
Section Four “Epilogue” again gives new mechanical material. It presents new skills and advantages with some nicely tied into the Winter Court setting. Rules for playing the Miya family and for the Emerald Magistrate schools come next. Too much information on the significant NPCs follows. The section finishes with an update to the city of Otosan Uchi after the Scorpion Clan Coup, again tied to the metaplot.
Winter Court One: Kyuden Asako: This is one of the few non-dual stat books for Legend of the Five Rings 2e-- with a major change in page design and graphics. This volume is significantly smaller than the previous two. Beyond that, twenty-nine of the eighty pages here are full-page graphics, game fiction, ToC or title pages. That's particularly noticeable how short the volume is. The game fiction is weaker than the previous volumes, making an established significant story NPC look like a dip. The book also uses the Asako family of the Phoenix as a background- one of the families with a backstory that doesn't quite feel right in the context of the setting.
Section One “Dawn,” gives material on the metaplot, a discussion of the Imperial Legions, a new magic form, the Yobanjin outlying barbarians, and biographies on some historical figures. There's an OK section on strongholds in the Empire as well. Section Two “Afternoon” has more metaplot and more on the gempukku ritual for individual clans (though some of that has been covered in the individual Way of the Clans books). The largest part of the section is given over to a discussion of magic and religion, with some new mechanical options for casting.
Section Three “Evening” Begins with a section on omens and astrology. That's complemented by a section on recent astrological events i the empire. The best material here is on court subtlety and intrigue, but it feels thin and undeveloped. Section Four, Epilogue has the usual material of new mechanical options and the secrets of the NPCs.
This volume is by far the weakest of the bunch. I can forgive a shorter book, but the topics here aren't given the kind of attention of the other volumes.
Summary
Winter Court's a great setting/premise for a game. However the books less serve that need than provide information they couldn't find another place for. They feel like annuals-- a random collection of ideas . Ideally, I'd like to see a product provide more ideas and perhaps even a more structured approach to building a courtly campaign arc. That aside, the first two volumes are very strong if you want background material. GMs will have to be wary about how much their players read of the metaplot and secrets stuff here, but that shouldn't be too much of an issue. Definitely worth getting for a GM wanting to run a long term campaign in Rokugan.
Portability
The first two volumes would serve anyone planning on running a samurai game. Most of the material has been loosely adapted for the Rokugani setting and could be adapted again for another like setting. If you're generally thinking about a Court-based game for another setting (say Medieval Fantasy) you won't find as much useful material here as you might hope. For someone adapting the L5R setting to another system, these books seem optional. There's mechanical stuff here, but nothing essential.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
RPG Supplements I Like: Way of the Clans series for L5R
RPG Items I Like: Way of the Clans series for L5R
The structure of the Clans really helps Legend of the Five Rings stand out from previous samurai rpgs. They serve as a kind 'race' for characters- with clear cultural ideas and strong relationships between them. The core book for L5R provides the basic run down, enough for a GM to start a game and for players to pickup the idea. The Way of the Clans series, however, expands on those ideas. These are the “splat” books for the setting. Compared to some game lines they look pretty are pretty chunky. With the first edition setting being “dead” gamers have a significant advantage of not having to wait for the next book to come out. With that in mind, I want to do a basic review of the series, as a companion to yesterday's post.
Second Printings
Its worth noting that in many cases, the second printings of these items had changes and corrections. You can check that on the inside credits page. I've seen that up through Book Seven, The Way of the Phoenix. Unfortunately the note that corrections have been made doesn't indicate what changes occurred or how significant they were. First printings can also be identified by a heavier stock for the cover paper which gives way to bowing of the book.
Volume Layout
Each volume generally has an overview of the Clan as a whole-- a mix of history and fiction. Some of this can be quite good, while some of it comes off strangely. It points at one of the recurring problems with the L5R setting material. Sometimes you'll get great and interesting stories and slices of history which can provide real insight into the world and ideas for the GM. But every once in a while you'll get a section where they've taken real Japanese history or a particular figure and slapped a then veneer on it and pasted it into the the game. Is it homage or do they actually expect readers not to catch how much they're lifting (and lifting badly)? Still those cases show up infrequently, but they can throw you out of the moment.
A chapter follows discussing the individual families of the clan, providing needed depth to them and helping to make the Clan feel not quite so monolithic. Discussion of character mechanics-- new schools, skills, advantages and so on follows. Then there's an extensive presentation of the various NPCs of the Clan, complete with stats. Another chapter after that provides Character Templates for several archetypes from the Clan, with decent illustrations usually. Most books include several appendices, touching on issues and ideas unique to the particular clan-- usually at least a geographic overview. A couple of pages usually ends up being wasted on sample L5R CCG decks for that clan as well.
Interesting Features
The Clan books provide a good deal of material, split between two-column text and pretty extensive sidebars. I like the idea of expanding the use of Ancestors as an advantage. These represent spirits from a character's clan who look out for them or cause them problems. They provide strange and non-standard advantages to players and to help to differentiate between the clans and within them. For players using the actual system , they probably be most interested in the various new Schools presented. Even if not using the L5R rules, the discussion of the schools- providing abilities and skills- provides nice detail and fodder for conversion.
Not to talk too much about mechanics, but the L5R system has a strange split in it. Skills, abilities, and advantages have unique point costs. However the Schools have equal weight and cost across the various Clans. Schools serve to in some ways define the sub-class of a character, so a Scorpion Bayushi Samurai and a Hida Crab Samurai gain very different abilities. These also include more fringe Schools, like the Asahina Artisan and the Ikoma Bard. As broadly written as the rules for L5R are, there's the goal of flavor over balance in that system. On the other hand, when you have two different mechanisms for character creation and development, one of which seems to be point and balanced based and the other doesn't really care, it seems a little odd. It does mean that there's less of the issue of power creep through the series. You do have some redundancy as new skills and new advantages end up repeated between the books.
Problems
Right up front I need to say that there's a lot of good stuff in these books-- great playable ideas, new paths, stories hooks, and enough background to give a player a richer sense of their character. As far as typically “splat” books go, the Way of the Clans are good and solid, usually around 144 pages each.
But I also have to say these books absolutely drive me nuts. They follow a design problem that occurs across nearly all of the L5R AEG material: GM and Player material is interspersed throughout the books without any kind of distinction or warning. The books look like they ought to be player resource books, and I imagine anyone playing a particular clan would have bought the appropriate one. However the books tell secrets, reveal plot details, provide hooks for adventures, and basically give everything away in every single section. There is no GM material here, or rather no explicitly marked as such.
I'm not sure I follow the logic of presenting things that way. A player in a normal read through can't help but come across revelations. Is the point that the game has some meta-honor code that the players have to obey? That seems a crappy thing to do. Or is the thought: well, we'll put thins in here, and the GMs will obviously be able to change it. That doesn't make sense either-- then why put those things in? Why not put them in with multiple options or something? Why not have the simple device of a GM's section? That's not a perfect solution, but at least you probably know which players will end up reading that rather than having to assume every player has at least by accident. I suspect that the problem lies in the L5R original materials at least in part being marked as story stuff for the CCG players at the beginning. And perhaps once they'd laid the template out, they really couldn't break it in later versions. I think that's a more charitable answer than it deserves.
However, the advantage today is that the setting is a dead one. That may sound strange, but for GM's going into this fresh, they can likely have a little more control over which material the player gets to read. If you buy the earlier things you need as pdfs, you can print relevant sections or--depending on whether or not the material is a straight scan or a digital master-- put together a players book for your group.
A Quick Overview of the Books
The Way of the Dragon (Book One): Provides some of the first really different bushi options in the form of the ise zumi, monks with tattoo magic. Some nice material on the philosophy of the sword as well. The appendices include the usual stuff (unique Dragon Clan spells, discussion of the lands) but also talk about actual huge and ancient Dragons of Rokugan. There's a section and some mechanics provided for kaze-do, an unarmed martial art.
The Way of the Unicorn (Book Two): Manages to give away a lot of interesting secret stuff in the general section (even more than some of the other books). As a side note, one of the families of the Unicorn was originally called the Otaku (Battle-Maidens, naturally). That would get edited to Utaku in later editions. The appendices here have a lengthy discussion of warfare in Rokugan, especially the use of cavalry which the Unicorn are masters of. There's also some discussion of “gaijin” gear-- equipment from outside the Empire. The idea of gaijin influence and presence gets reduced over time in the setting, which I think is for the best.
The Way of the Crab (Book Three): Arguably the most accessible clan for new players. With this book and The Book of the Shadowlands a GM could easily construct a solid samurai horror game (ala The Haunted Lantern, or Kwaidan). The appendices cover the usual, but provide a significant look at philosophy of the clan and how they relate to others.
The Way of the Crane (Book Four): Provides some more solid options and ideas for players wanting to run a courtier or a diplomat. Some good material on the various arts of Rokugan. The appendices include a section on mizu-do, the other form of unarmed martial arts in the setting.
The Way of the Scorpion (Book Five): The most problematic of the core Clan books. It gives away the game on a number of interesting plot ideas for no apparent reason. The Scorpion are the sweet ninjas and cooler than thou characters of Rokugan. Scorpion characters don't mix well with diverse parties-- bringing a certain amount of trust issues and problematic interactions into the mix. As ambiguously adversarial group they function pretty well. The appendices include material on treachery, poisons, ninjas and a new form of magic.
The Way of the Lion (Book Six): The most classic military clan. Some of the material here has that odd real-world lift feeling I mentioned earlier. The appendices include a discussion on general warfare in Rokguan, including ideas on GMing such events, a history of major wars and also a discussion of the Spirit World.
The Way of the Phoenix (Book Seven): The clan best known for their use of magic. Adds discussion of a new form of elemental magic as well as some other usual casting options. The appendices include a discussion of the Tao of Shinsei- one of the two religions of Rokugan, spell-research and the legendary figures of the Oracles.
The Way of the Naga (Book Eight): Skip this book...
...OK, so the Naga are a group of non-humans who have recently reawakened in Rokugan. They stick out like a sore thumb in the midst of everything. This book could be useful for making interesting NPCs or adversaries, but generally I think it doesn't fit with the rest of the setting.
The last three books in the series set themselves after the events of the Scorpion Clan Coup-- however for the most part the material can be used without that consideration.
The Way of the Minor Clans (Book Nine): Minor Clans have small holdings and abridged versions of the Clan Schools given to the major Clans. Part of the original problem with this supplement was that it came so late in the line that GM's had already come up with the backgrounds and cultures of the minor clans who had been referenced before. That's not a problem if you're coming into the the game setting cold. Each of the nine minor clan has its own chapter, usually with a unique school. The appendices present some discussion of the fate of three lost minor clans-- very much intended as a GM resource for stories.
The Way of the Wolf (Book Ten): There's some good material here on the idea of Ronin in Rokugan, well worth reading. On the other hand some things (like “Sun Tao” the great military philosopher's story) feels like another patch of real world specifics into the fantasy setting. I'm not a fan of ronin as a character concept in a party of non-ronin and this book didn't cure me of that. The appendices presents recent history developments, more on life as a "wave-men" and how a ronin village might come to be.
The Way of Shinsei (Book Eleven): The last of the Way of the Clans series, where we finally get monks as a viable character option. Monks integrate into a party better than Naga, Ronin, Ratlings or even Scorpions. The book presents great material, with a number of orders and viewpoints given. It also includes a new form of magic for the Monks, kihos, which are neat but fiddly. The appendices present only an adventure seed and a discussion of the major temples of the Empire.
Summary
As I said in my look at L5R 1e as a whole, the Clan Books (at least the first seven) aren't necessary in the beginning, but you'll likely want to make those the next purchase if you like the setting. They expand one of the most attractive features of the game world and fill in the detail well. A GM could easily purchase one book and build a campaign around a single clan. There's enough diversity within the material to assemble a decent party from that.
Portability
Material here is fairly firmly lodged within its own game world. I doubt much of it would translate well over into another game setting. However if you want to convert L5R to another system, you'll find these extremely useful- with plenty of chrome to bring over.
The structure of the Clans really helps Legend of the Five Rings stand out from previous samurai rpgs. They serve as a kind 'race' for characters- with clear cultural ideas and strong relationships between them. The core book for L5R provides the basic run down, enough for a GM to start a game and for players to pickup the idea. The Way of the Clans series, however, expands on those ideas. These are the “splat” books for the setting. Compared to some game lines they look pretty are pretty chunky. With the first edition setting being “dead” gamers have a significant advantage of not having to wait for the next book to come out. With that in mind, I want to do a basic review of the series, as a companion to yesterday's post.
Second Printings
Its worth noting that in many cases, the second printings of these items had changes and corrections. You can check that on the inside credits page. I've seen that up through Book Seven, The Way of the Phoenix. Unfortunately the note that corrections have been made doesn't indicate what changes occurred or how significant they were. First printings can also be identified by a heavier stock for the cover paper which gives way to bowing of the book.
Volume Layout
Each volume generally has an overview of the Clan as a whole-- a mix of history and fiction. Some of this can be quite good, while some of it comes off strangely. It points at one of the recurring problems with the L5R setting material. Sometimes you'll get great and interesting stories and slices of history which can provide real insight into the world and ideas for the GM. But every once in a while you'll get a section where they've taken real Japanese history or a particular figure and slapped a then veneer on it and pasted it into the the game. Is it homage or do they actually expect readers not to catch how much they're lifting (and lifting badly)? Still those cases show up infrequently, but they can throw you out of the moment.
A chapter follows discussing the individual families of the clan, providing needed depth to them and helping to make the Clan feel not quite so monolithic. Discussion of character mechanics-- new schools, skills, advantages and so on follows. Then there's an extensive presentation of the various NPCs of the Clan, complete with stats. Another chapter after that provides Character Templates for several archetypes from the Clan, with decent illustrations usually. Most books include several appendices, touching on issues and ideas unique to the particular clan-- usually at least a geographic overview. A couple of pages usually ends up being wasted on sample L5R CCG decks for that clan as well.
Interesting Features
The Clan books provide a good deal of material, split between two-column text and pretty extensive sidebars. I like the idea of expanding the use of Ancestors as an advantage. These represent spirits from a character's clan who look out for them or cause them problems. They provide strange and non-standard advantages to players and to help to differentiate between the clans and within them. For players using the actual system , they probably be most interested in the various new Schools presented. Even if not using the L5R rules, the discussion of the schools- providing abilities and skills- provides nice detail and fodder for conversion.
Not to talk too much about mechanics, but the L5R system has a strange split in it. Skills, abilities, and advantages have unique point costs. However the Schools have equal weight and cost across the various Clans. Schools serve to in some ways define the sub-class of a character, so a Scorpion Bayushi Samurai and a Hida Crab Samurai gain very different abilities. These also include more fringe Schools, like the Asahina Artisan and the Ikoma Bard. As broadly written as the rules for L5R are, there's the goal of flavor over balance in that system. On the other hand, when you have two different mechanisms for character creation and development, one of which seems to be point and balanced based and the other doesn't really care, it seems a little odd. It does mean that there's less of the issue of power creep through the series. You do have some redundancy as new skills and new advantages end up repeated between the books.
Problems
Right up front I need to say that there's a lot of good stuff in these books-- great playable ideas, new paths, stories hooks, and enough background to give a player a richer sense of their character. As far as typically “splat” books go, the Way of the Clans are good and solid, usually around 144 pages each.
But I also have to say these books absolutely drive me nuts. They follow a design problem that occurs across nearly all of the L5R AEG material: GM and Player material is interspersed throughout the books without any kind of distinction or warning. The books look like they ought to be player resource books, and I imagine anyone playing a particular clan would have bought the appropriate one. However the books tell secrets, reveal plot details, provide hooks for adventures, and basically give everything away in every single section. There is no GM material here, or rather no explicitly marked as such.
I'm not sure I follow the logic of presenting things that way. A player in a normal read through can't help but come across revelations. Is the point that the game has some meta-honor code that the players have to obey? That seems a crappy thing to do. Or is the thought: well, we'll put thins in here, and the GMs will obviously be able to change it. That doesn't make sense either-- then why put those things in? Why not put them in with multiple options or something? Why not have the simple device of a GM's section? That's not a perfect solution, but at least you probably know which players will end up reading that rather than having to assume every player has at least by accident. I suspect that the problem lies in the L5R original materials at least in part being marked as story stuff for the CCG players at the beginning. And perhaps once they'd laid the template out, they really couldn't break it in later versions. I think that's a more charitable answer than it deserves.
However, the advantage today is that the setting is a dead one. That may sound strange, but for GM's going into this fresh, they can likely have a little more control over which material the player gets to read. If you buy the earlier things you need as pdfs, you can print relevant sections or--depending on whether or not the material is a straight scan or a digital master-- put together a players book for your group.
A Quick Overview of the Books
The Way of the Dragon (Book One): Provides some of the first really different bushi options in the form of the ise zumi, monks with tattoo magic. Some nice material on the philosophy of the sword as well. The appendices include the usual stuff (unique Dragon Clan spells, discussion of the lands) but also talk about actual huge and ancient Dragons of Rokugan. There's a section and some mechanics provided for kaze-do, an unarmed martial art.
The Way of the Unicorn (Book Two): Manages to give away a lot of interesting secret stuff in the general section (even more than some of the other books). As a side note, one of the families of the Unicorn was originally called the Otaku (Battle-Maidens, naturally). That would get edited to Utaku in later editions. The appendices here have a lengthy discussion of warfare in Rokugan, especially the use of cavalry which the Unicorn are masters of. There's also some discussion of “gaijin” gear-- equipment from outside the Empire. The idea of gaijin influence and presence gets reduced over time in the setting, which I think is for the best.
The Way of the Crab (Book Three): Arguably the most accessible clan for new players. With this book and The Book of the Shadowlands a GM could easily construct a solid samurai horror game (ala The Haunted Lantern, or Kwaidan). The appendices cover the usual, but provide a significant look at philosophy of the clan and how they relate to others.
The Way of the Crane (Book Four): Provides some more solid options and ideas for players wanting to run a courtier or a diplomat. Some good material on the various arts of Rokugan. The appendices include a section on mizu-do, the other form of unarmed martial arts in the setting.
The Way of the Scorpion (Book Five): The most problematic of the core Clan books. It gives away the game on a number of interesting plot ideas for no apparent reason. The Scorpion are the sweet ninjas and cooler than thou characters of Rokugan. Scorpion characters don't mix well with diverse parties-- bringing a certain amount of trust issues and problematic interactions into the mix. As ambiguously adversarial group they function pretty well. The appendices include material on treachery, poisons, ninjas and a new form of magic.
The Way of the Lion (Book Six): The most classic military clan. Some of the material here has that odd real-world lift feeling I mentioned earlier. The appendices include a discussion on general warfare in Rokguan, including ideas on GMing such events, a history of major wars and also a discussion of the Spirit World.
The Way of the Phoenix (Book Seven): The clan best known for their use of magic. Adds discussion of a new form of elemental magic as well as some other usual casting options. The appendices include a discussion of the Tao of Shinsei- one of the two religions of Rokugan, spell-research and the legendary figures of the Oracles.
The Way of the Naga (Book Eight): Skip this book...
...OK, so the Naga are a group of non-humans who have recently reawakened in Rokugan. They stick out like a sore thumb in the midst of everything. This book could be useful for making interesting NPCs or adversaries, but generally I think it doesn't fit with the rest of the setting.
The last three books in the series set themselves after the events of the Scorpion Clan Coup-- however for the most part the material can be used without that consideration.
The Way of the Minor Clans (Book Nine): Minor Clans have small holdings and abridged versions of the Clan Schools given to the major Clans. Part of the original problem with this supplement was that it came so late in the line that GM's had already come up with the backgrounds and cultures of the minor clans who had been referenced before. That's not a problem if you're coming into the the game setting cold. Each of the nine minor clan has its own chapter, usually with a unique school. The appendices present some discussion of the fate of three lost minor clans-- very much intended as a GM resource for stories.
The Way of the Wolf (Book Ten): There's some good material here on the idea of Ronin in Rokugan, well worth reading. On the other hand some things (like “Sun Tao” the great military philosopher's story) feels like another patch of real world specifics into the fantasy setting. I'm not a fan of ronin as a character concept in a party of non-ronin and this book didn't cure me of that. The appendices presents recent history developments, more on life as a "wave-men" and how a ronin village might come to be.
The Way of Shinsei (Book Eleven): The last of the Way of the Clans series, where we finally get monks as a viable character option. Monks integrate into a party better than Naga, Ronin, Ratlings or even Scorpions. The book presents great material, with a number of orders and viewpoints given. It also includes a new form of magic for the Monks, kihos, which are neat but fiddly. The appendices present only an adventure seed and a discussion of the major temples of the Empire.
Summary
As I said in my look at L5R 1e as a whole, the Clan Books (at least the first seven) aren't necessary in the beginning, but you'll likely want to make those the next purchase if you like the setting. They expand one of the most attractive features of the game world and fill in the detail well. A GM could easily purchase one book and build a campaign around a single clan. There's enough diversity within the material to assemble a decent party from that.
Portability
Material here is fairly firmly lodged within its own game world. I doubt much of it would translate well over into another game setting. However if you want to convert L5R to another system, you'll find these extremely useful- with plenty of chrome to bring over.
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