Legend of the Five Rings: Coming soon: L5R The Flamethrower!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Legend of the Five Rings: Coming soon: L5R The Flamethrower!

HidaO-Win: Jun 5, 2013; "And I did it, because I was a man who had exhausted reason and thus turned to magicks"

Nobody ever created a really crazy character, mostly characters got named by players. The weirdest stuff were the results of the story team setting up situations where players could make an unsuitable choice like an elephant finding a treasure or a Mantis Kenku Ninja.

# ¿ Oct 11, 2017 12:19

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 12:38

HidaO-Win: Jun 5, 2013; "And I did it, because I was a man who had exhausted reason and thus turned to magicks"

It's the same price point as previous though, just compressed a bit. The advantage is deck construction options for the Dynasty side now actually exist and the constructed format will have a lot more actual choice.

The drip feed dynasty packs are a good model for tricking people into spending a small amount of money, but it's actually bad for the metagame as a whole.

Additionally apparently 70% of LCG players never buy the dynasty packs, just the core set and the deluxes, which probably means the model is due for revision.

# ¿ Oct 12, 2017 11:13

HidaO-Win: Jun 5, 2013; "And I did it, because I was a man who had exhausted reason and thus turned to magicks"

Invest all your fate in a single guy against Crab and you dug your own grave.

There are a few minor issues with the game, but it�s the most Eurogame L/CCG I�ve ever played.

Play style currently matters a lot more than deck lists, that will change as the card pool expands. I say play style because there are multiple ways to �correctly� play the same deck.

It�s a difficult game to explain strategy for, but I�m working on figuring some stuff out.

# ¿ Oct 17, 2017 21:31

HidaO-Win: Jun 5, 2013; "And I did it, because I was a man who had exhausted reason and thus turned to magicks"

I'm splashing Dragon into Crab, 3 let go, 3 togashi wanderer, though Mirumoto Fury may force it's way in.

# ¿ Oct 19, 2017 11:33

HidaO-Win: Jun 5, 2013; "And I did it, because I was a man who had exhausted reason and thus turned to magicks"

Captive Audience is great but Dragon have good political and military stats so need Captive Audience less. Favored Mount is pretty nice for Dragon as it�s another good attachment and lends them more tactical flexibility. That or Iuchi Wayfinder for scouting out your opponents province.

# ¿ Oct 23, 2017 10:25

HidaO-Win: Jun 5, 2013; "And I did it, because I was a man who had exhausted reason and thus turned to magicks"

Aramoro posted:

Mark is an excellent player and an all round excellent guy so I respect his decision entirely. Backhand Compliment would have just caused some NPE problems which no one wants. You can complain hes held you back and theres nothing stopping you playing Keeper of Void in casuals just to see how bad it is if you like.

There is a bit of intrigue involved in the pick for Scorpion role, but I�ll say this. Jon Butler advised Mark Armitage to pick Seeker of Void for the Scorpion and Jon is one of the best deck builders I�ve ever met. If you think a murderers row of Pilgrimage, Shameful Display and Secret Cache in your provinces is a bad thing, I�d give it a second round of consideration.

While a keeper role for Scorpion gave them a good obvious dishonour bomb, they�ll probably get good value out of Seeker of Void.

# ¿ Nov 5, 2017 15:12

HidaO-Win: Jun 5, 2013; "And I did it, because I was a man who had exhausted reason and thus turned to magicks"

Phrosphor posted:

I really like the look of Raise the Alarm, I don't think you play it in a holdings style Crab, but if you are running a sacrifice flavor it could be a lot of fun.

What happens rules wise if it flips a unique character you already have in play?

One of my theories on raise the alarm is run only holdings that sacrifice themselves, then charge and rebuild. If they hit a face up guy, get them into play or out of the province with Rebuild or Charge then play Raise the Alarm. It's still random but at least it's free.

On the topic of flipping a unique. It shouldn't bring them into play but there is a current ruling that they do enter play. I expect that ruling to get reversed.

# ¿ Nov 13, 2017 11:34

HidaO-Win: Jun 5, 2013; "And I did it, because I was a man who had exhausted reason and thus turned to magicks"

Spooky, I never heard of the Kami shapeshifting into animals, I know Yokuni could shapeshift into a Dragon and Fu-Leng could go Evil Dragon but I dont recall any other Kami even hinting at it.

The idea of Hida becoming a Giant Crab with probably a weak spot has a certain appeal.

# ¿ Dec 26, 2017 20:08

HidaO-Win: Jun 5, 2013; "And I did it, because I was a man who had exhausted reason and thus turned to magicks"

Wrote the start of an article series about intro level play for Crab here, but it's got some broadly applicable stuff. Might be of some use to a new player.

http://imperialadvisor.com/wp/2017/12/13/crabtactica-thedynastyphase/

# ¿ Jul 3, 2018 09:58

HidaO-Win: Jun 5, 2013; "And I did it, because I was a man who had exhausted reason and thus turned to magicks"

No it was that the majority of European events hadn�t been counted in the first iteration of the article and had to be submitted last week.

# ¿ Aug 8, 2018 19:08

HidaO-Win: Jun 5, 2013; "And I did it, because I was a man who had exhausted reason and thus turned to magicks"

There are a few crackers in the old editions of the game. City of Lies is a classic, though its very much a sandbox investigation where you need to internalize the setting a bit.
You have to get across to the players, while you are kinda the FBI, you are the FBI where very important people in government are going to obstruct you and you just have to work around it.

# ¿ Feb 19, 2019 00:22

HidaO-Win: Jun 5, 2013; "And I did it, because I was a man who had exhausted reason and thus turned to magicks"

SuperKlaus posted:

Young Rumormonger: Scorpion Dynasty 2 cost 2M/2P/1G Courtier. Action ability to move (dis)honoring effect between two characters controlled by the same player at the time the token is created. Restricted List.

Shameless Gossip: Scorpion Dynasty 2 cost 2M/2P/1G Courtier. Action ability to move a (dis)honor token between two characters controlled by the same player when the Gossip is in a conflict. Printed in new expansion pack.

wut

Young Rumormonger got restricted list�d because he is an absolute fountain of rules questions and they were fed up answering them. Shameless Gossip is the �fixed� Rumormonger.

# ¿ Jun 6, 2019 12:58

HidaO-Win: Jun 5, 2013; "And I did it, because I was a man who had exhausted reason and thus turned to magicks"

Also the Crab dont really have a second deck to fall back on, Ive messed with both Broker and Berserker decks and they are substantially less consistent and powerful than the Tower deck.

They've failed to design a new Crab deck or put together enough compelling Crab cards to force a change. Hopefully this cycle changes matters but I'm not overly confident.

# ¿ Jun 25, 2019 19:51

HidaO-Win: Jun 5, 2013; "And I did it, because I was a man who had exhausted reason and thus turned to magicks"

Kikyo, event cancels, Heavy Balista, Peasant Advice, Clouding Miya Satoshi.

# ¿ Aug 27, 2019 19:42

HidaO-Win: Jun 5, 2013; "And I did it, because I was a man who had exhausted reason and thus turned to magicks"

Marios plays a pressure oriented style where the Scorpion cards provide answers to cards that mess with Lion. His cards are there to solve problems and most of the dishonour effects are to power For Shame. He�s looking for high average value from all his cards.

# ¿ Oct 5, 2019 14:55

HidaO-Win: Jun 5, 2013; "And I did it, because I was a man who had exhausted reason and thus turned to magicks"

Hiro Protagonist posted:

Is there a good city that I can slap new players in as Emerald Magistrates so they can do investigation, politicing, and fighting? The new novel made me think City of the Rich Frog, but I'd like a reference map if possible.

City of Lies is your only man here

https://l5r.fandom.com/wiki/City_of_Lies_(RPG)

Physical copy if pricey but a pdf version should get you the city map and the campaign outline. It�s a cracking setting and campaign.

# ¿ Dec 3, 2020 16:37

HidaO-Win: Jun 5, 2013; "And I did it, because I was a man who had exhausted reason and thus turned to magicks"

Dyed in the wool L5R first gen fanatic and original 5E D&D hater here. Have some to all of every other edition of L5R including Rokugan d20.

I will not get it.

Basically my decision doesn�t make a difference but the 5E D&Ding of every IP is a bad trend that is going to siphon money away from original RPG content in favour of 5E D&D tie ins.

If 95% of the market is 5E D&D, then every big publisher will pivot that way and other game lines will get increasingly attenuated support just because there is a better margin in a 5E product.

You�ll still get content, but there will be less art, less support, less tools available and the other games become harder to run with less releases. Then eventually glut and collapse again likely.

One product being an effective monopoly is always terrible for the consumer.

# ¿ Jul 24, 2022 13:09

HidaO-Win: Jun 5, 2013; "And I did it, because I was a man who had exhausted reason and thus turned to magicks"

Epi Lepi posted:

Yes but on the other hand, the current Lot5R system is garbage.

I�ve got 4e L5R and it�s perfectly fine.

# ¿ Jul 24, 2022 16:22

HidaO-Win: Jun 5, 2013; "And I did it, because I was a man who had exhausted reason and thus turned to magicks"

In addition to D&Ding it up, they have changed the setting substantially.

They've removed honour as a concept in the setting as honour, ritual suicide and stoicism are harmful archetypes established by Western media that must be avoided. I mean, somebody better go tell Japan that one.

They've replaced L5Rs Bushido with Confucianism.

They've removed some Japanese language terms and instead put in 21st-century Mandarin pronunciations.

They've gone further along FFGs track of changing Rokugan from a melange of Asian Mythology to just being Fantasy Japan. They have then introduced Fantasy China and Fantasy Korea next door.
Rokugan is no longer xenophobic but instead welcomes outsiders.

I thought having a bit of distance from the real world was an advantage in terms of what you could do in the game and as a result what parallels wouldn't get drawn. WFRP is set in a Fantasy Holy Roman Empire, but it has a ton of anachronisms and other stuff tossed in that totally muddies the waters. Rokugan is not Japan was a virtue of L5R, not a vice.

Species are Humans, Naga, Nezumi, Mazoku (demon bureaucrats assisting the Lord of Judgement), Specters, Tengu, Animal Yokai and Unique.

I do think, if the intention of this is to on ramp D&D 5e players to L5R that changing the setting so much is a mistake. If you got this to learn the setting, it�d be a bit like deciding to prepare to run a MCU RPG having never seen the films by reading the Marvel comics of the 90s.

This won�t bring people to play classic L5R, this will just create a camp of people who used a different setting and different ruleset. You won�t even buy setting books for L5R as the info inside them will be �wrong�

# ¿ Aug 7, 2022 11:25

HidaO-Win: Jun 5, 2013; "And I did it, because I was a man who had exhausted reason and thus turned to magicks"

Dick Burglar posted:

Can you expand on these two? Did they replace the seven Bushido virtues with Confucian equivalents? And what Japanese terms did they swap for Mandarin ones?

The Code of Akodo now enumerates four virtues: Loyalty, Courage, Compassion and Sincerity, the commentaries of Kitsuki Emika adds Filial Piety, Responsibility, Justice, Faithful Friendship, Wisdom, and Ritual Propriety.

Not an expert on the second but I'll quote a friend on reading the Lady Sun infidelity origin for Togashi and Fu Leng.

"It speaks volumes to me that 雲風國 is rendered with tone marks in its romanized form, while 天國 is not. Real "someone on the team took a unit of Intro to Mandarin and is pretty pleased with themselves" material.
To say nothing of the question of why 21st-century Mandarin pronunciations are being used as the basis for these names.
This is the kind of thing that led in the Olden Days to... "to promote pan-Asian vampire unity, we're calling ourselves kuei-jin", which is like announcing that to foster togetherness amongst member states, all of the EU will henceforth pronounce the number 42 as "quarante-zwei". "

Half the spirit realms are no longer named, the other half are. Shugenja is gone, Shinobi is still in. The Fortunes are no longer named, instead of Benten, its the Fortune of the Arts and Romantic Love. The only time Honour is mentioned in the book is in Honour Guard.

# ¿ Aug 7, 2022 21:57

HidaO-Win: Jun 5, 2013; "And I did it, because I was a man who had exhausted reason and thus turned to magicks"

It's basically a different setting to L5R now, which is fine, but you could have just done Oriental Adventures 5E and not messed with L5R.

This however does not get you the hopeful buy in of existing fans.

# ¿ Aug 7, 2022 22:06

HidaO-Win: Jun 5, 2013; "And I did it, because I was a man who had exhausted reason and thus turned to magicks"

One of the things that nags me about the argument that Honour is a negative stereotype in L5R, was that prior editions of the L5R corebooks, lots of thought went into Honour, Glory and later Status.

Honour was your personal morality and values, it was all internal and you could draw upon it occasionally to succeed when you would otherwise fail.
Glory was how famous and acclaimed you were.
Status was how important you were.

Your choices and decisions in play changed those, it made you consider those decisions a bit. We had discussions during games about it and how it would change for some clans.
It was more nuanced than the new critics are portraying is all.

# ¿ Aug 7, 2022 22:23

HidaO-Win: Jun 5, 2013; "And I did it, because I was a man who had exhausted reason and thus turned to magicks"

L5R is about the stories set in Rokugan, and their desperate struggles against a horrifying external threat and the lands internal divisions.

Making other countries with prominent ties to Rokugan commonly encountered dilutes that story and robs the setting of some of its intensity and inevitably will cause a loss of focus in the writing.

L5Rs story never really got better when the expanded outside Rokugan to the devastated Ivory Kingdoms, the meat of the game was Rokugan. Again perfectly serviceable stuff in the new setting, but it could just be Oriental Adventures 5E and not muddy the waters.

# ¿ Aug 8, 2022 01:00

HidaO-Win: Jun 5, 2013; "And I did it, because I was a man who had exhausted reason and thus turned to magicks"

Dawgstar posted:

How was the Second City... book? Box set? I never read it.

It was really heavy, carrying two back from Gencon in my carry on baggage was a struggle.

It was a good boxed set, you could do cool stuff with it, but the less said about the God Beast story arc and the Yodotai invasion the better.

# ¿ Aug 8, 2022 12:22

HidaO-Win: Jun 5, 2013; "And I did it, because I was a man who had exhausted reason and thus turned to magicks"

Blockhouse posted:

So they're rebooting the setting. Again.

We indeed will now have a 4th L5R continuity.

They'll end up crisising at this rate.

# ¿ Aug 2, 2023 23:54

HidaO-Win: Jun 5, 2013; "And I did it, because I was a man who had exhausted reason and thus turned to magicks"

Terratina posted:

So is Clan Wars carrying on from the Battle of Cherry Blossom Snow or is it yet another reboot starting at Clan Wars?

It is apparently a 4th continuity of L5R distinct from the previous three.

# ¿ Aug 4, 2023 10:49

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 12:38

HidaO-Win: Jun 5, 2013; "And I did it, because I was a man who had exhausted reason and thus turned to magicks"

NinjaDebugger posted:

apparently the person they had running it was complaining the whole time about not understanding how this dumb system sells so well when there's a perfectly good d20 version right there.

Choking on my own rage here.

# ¿ Aug 4, 2023 23:08

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Traditional Games > Legend of the Five Rings: Coming soon: L5R The Flamethrower!