Legend of the Five Rings General: Your Shugenja Are Now Diamonds

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Her card text is literally ganbarimasu. My clan champion can't be this cute.

Oh and also, since we don't have a pastebin or mega resource for the RPG I'll upload a few 4e books to anonfiles and share them, because sharing is caring.

https://www.anonfiles.cc/file/2211f5253c291ce88973d7067041f0fd

>>54536877
I don't know shit about the setting, but I'd love to move from MtG to a less shit method of distribution. Is the card game likely to stand on its own enough to either get me into the setting or just be a fun game?

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>>54537382
The LCG model seems to be working fine for Netrunner, and L5R comes with a built in dedicated fanbase. Basically as long as they don't totally fuck up it should be an enjoyable game and you'll find people to play with.

What do you want to know about the setting? FFG did a brief summary when they started doing their preview stuff, but I have been playing the RPG for fucking forever so can answer deeper lore questions. A lot of stuff is retconned since they're doing a setting reset and minor to moderate alterations, but a lot of the basics seem to still be in place.

Here's the FFG 'welcome to the LCG' thing: https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2017/4/19/legend-of-the-five-rings-the-card-game/

One thing that set old5R apart from other games was tournament results influencing story, which was also kind of something that went off the rails in the end in a bad way, and a regular drip of fiction in the setting which we've already started to get this LCG.

FFG looks to be keeping the tournament wins mattering though but in a more limited form than the old ones which had a million niche prizes and shit which was the root of a lot of the dumbest shit. First story prize tournament is coming up at gen con (And seats for it sold out in seconds). Odds are good it'll be for the vacant seat of the Emerald Champion, the chief servant of the Emperor.

Sorry if that kind of got out of focus there, just kind of excited I guess. What questions do you have, anon?

>>54537510
I honestly don't know enough to have deep lore questions. I know there are clans, and that the RPG is made by the guys that did 7th Sea, and that's about it. I guess I just need to find an overview and read on from there

I'm not sure if it's just my nerves, but I'm wary of this faction turning out to be that good due to all the context sensitive abilities and combo-y things they have going on. But then again dishonor isn't too prevelent yet

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>>54537643
I think you are silly if you didn't expect Phoenix to be pile of random combo jank. But it is quite an appealing pile of combo jank indeed.

Pic related is their best character; calling it now. This card will be an eternal staple in Phoenix.

>>54537716
Granny Asako is here with honor cookies for good flame turkeys

>>54537643
I mean did we expect much else? Its like Dragon Voltron. It isn't a very new person friendly looking faction but seems good if you know what you're doing

>>54537620
Yeah. Its about the samurai of these clans and the political and military intrigue of the setting sometimes with a giant dollop of end of the world threat. The original story arc of the game was about a massive free for all war brewing between the clans all leading to the return of Satan basically. Do you want us here to give highly biased summaries of the clans for you?

For some reason a deck that says fuck shudenja and goes all in on honoring their high glory dudes and protecting them seems appealing, especially combined with crane

>>54537905
Sure, I'm always down for totally biased explanations

>>54538063
One day, the Ki-Rin was frolicking in a field. Her sister the Phoenix had told her to look out for the Scorpion, but the Ki-Rin was so busy playing and looking at all the new things that she only half-listened to her sister's warning. While she was playing, a creature climbed upon a rock to watch. The Ki-Rin saw the creature and said, "I have seen Flower, and I have seen Tree, and I have seen Horse, but I have not seen you. Who are you?" The creature said, "I am Truth." The Ki-Rin smiled. "I am very pleased to meet you, friend Truth. Have you seen the Scorpion? My sister told me to watch for him, but I do not know what he looks like." "Yes, I know Scorpion," said Truth. "Can you tell me what he looks like?" "Yes," said Truth, "In fact, let us go look for him now. If you put me on your back, we will go much faster than if we both walk." "Good idea!" said Ki-Rin. "Climb on my back, friend, and we will be off." Truth climbed on the Ki-Rin's back and together, they went looking for Scorpion.

"So," asked Ki-Rin. "What does Scorpion look like?" "He has two sharp pincers," said Truth. Ki-Rin looked at Truth's two sharp pincers and said, "Ah, I see." "And he has many legs," Ki-Rin looked at Truth's many legs and said "Ah, I see." "And he has a tail that drips deadly poison." Ki-Rin looked at Truth's tail and said, "Why Truth, he looks just like you!" Truth smiled and said, "Yes. Yes he does." Ki-Rin laughed. "Isn't it fortunate I met you before I met him!" The Scorpion nodded. "Yes, it is." And Ki-Rin had nothing more to say.

>>54538304
Once there was a Lion, sleeping in a sunny field. A Scorpion came to him and said, "Lion, you are so large. I suppose you are the largest creature in all the lands." The Lion replied, "Yes, I believe that I am." "And," said the Scorpion, "You must be the bravest and strongest creature as well." "That is what they say," said the Lion. "My only advantage is my poison tail," the Scorpion said. "And I suppose you could smash me underfoot before I could sting you even once." "I could, quite easily," the Lion said, rising and stretching. "In fact, if I stung you, I doubt you would even notice." The Lion looked down at the little Scorpion curiously. "Perhaps. But I believe that I will step on you now, tiny one, and you will never have a chance." "Oh, but great Lion," the Scorpion said, smiling. "I stung you five minutes ago." And the Lion had nothing further to say.

Once there was a Crane and a Scorpion, sitting by the edge of a river. The Crane said, "Isn't it funny how the Fortunes distribute their blessings among the creatures?" The Scorpion eyed the Crane suspiciously, "What do you mean?" The Crane smiled and said, "Look at me. Look at my beautiful wings and feathers. I can fly and I can swim. Look at my perfect neck and my shining eyes. I am the envy of all the creatures in the world." Then the Crane looked down at the Scorpion and said, "Look at you. All you have is your tail." "Ah," said the Scorpion, "but all that means is that you have nothing to gain, and I have nothing to lose. And when you are old and have lost your feathers, you will no longer be able to fly. And when you are fat and half-blind, you will no longer be able to swim. Then, when you are counting everything that you have lost, I will be counting everything I have gained." And the Crane had nothing more to say.

Once, long ago, Scorpion was walking on a sandy beach with his brother, Crab. "Ah Scorpion," said Crab, "you have tricked Lion, and you have tricked Crane, but you shall not best me. For I am safe within my armored house, and not even your poison sting can reach me here." Scorpion eyed Crab's metal plating and nodded wisely. "That is true, my friend. But how sad for you that you are trapped in such an unwieldy prison." "What?" said Crab. "This is not a prison, it is my home." "Of course." smiled Scorpion. "And that is what everyone tells you. But, if it were not a prison, you would be able to take it off. I have heard that you were cursed, condemned to spend the rest of your life, carrying your own prison on your back." Crab said, "I can take it off whenever I want to!" Scorpion nodded sadly and said, "I'll be sure to tell everyone that." Crab stomped in the sand, "I can take off my shell whenever I want!" Scorpion said "Have you ever tried?" Crab stopped and took his house off his back and threw it to the ground. Scorpion smiled as they looked at each other. And Crab had nothing else to say.

One day, Scorpion came to Phoenix in his high mountains and said "I have a gift for you." Phoenix backed away. "Oh, no. I know of you, brother Scorpion. I know all about you. I don't want your gift." "Oh really," said Scorpion. "I will leave it here," he said as he put it on the ground. "And if you don't want it, someone else certainly will." Then, Scorpion walked away. Phoenix looked at the gift and thought, "If I take the gift, and it is a trap, then I have been tricked. But if I leave it and it is not a trap, then I have been tricked. What shall I do?" All day long, Phoenix sat and looked at the gift, pondering it. "What does he have in mind? He tricked Crab with anger and the Lion with pride. He tricked the Ki-Rin with her ignorance and the Crane with flattery. How does this mean to trick me?" Soon, Mother Sun had crossed the sky and Father Moon had made his nightly progress, but Phoenix had not moved a single footstep. He was rooted to the spot, pondering Scorpion's gift. When he looked up the next morning, he saw Scorpion watching him and laughing. And Phoenix had nothing more to say.

One day, Dragon came to Scorpion and said, "I saw how you tricked Ki-Rin." And Scorpion nodded. Dragon continued. "I saw how you tricked Lion." And Scorpion nodded. Dragon continued. "I watched you trick Crane." And Scorpion nodded. Dragon continued. "I was there when you tricked Crab." And Scorpion nodded. Dragon continued. "I knew what you would do to Phoenix." And Scorpion said "And you stood by and did nothing." And Dragon had nothing more to say.

One day, as Scorpion was planning his next trick, the Emperor came up to him

"Ah, little Scorpion" said the Emperor, "You truly are the most clever of all the creatures."

Scorpion smiled proudly at the Emperor's praise. "Indeed, I have so few gifts, but that is my strength! I need only turn the others strength against them for they do not know anything else!"

The Emperor nodded wisely. "Yes, you have shown that you can defeat any Creature you set your mind to." The Emperor smiled at Scorpion.

"I must thank you, little Scorpion. Now all the creatures know you. None of them trust you. They will blame all their misfortune on you"

Scorpion tilted his head in confusion

The Emperor continued. "Even when their misfortune is my doing."

And Scorpion had nothing more to say.

>>54538441
That was a fun read. Guessing you're a scorpion fan?

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>>54538063
>>54538304
Ignoring the other anon's nice storytime which doesn't tell you much without knowing who the clans represent we're going to start with the Crane because that's the order FFG is presenting the clans and I like their clan champion art.

The Crane get a bad rap on /tg/, we've had major Crab partisans here since time immemorial and frankly there's a lot of really shitty Crane stuff from a few RPG editions back that make them easy to hate. I love the Crane and enjoy playing 'make fun of REEEEE Soesbee' too even.

The basic idea of the Crane is the guardians of culture. They or their founder invented a lot of the cultural practices and arts of the Empire and they are huge proponents of the finer things in life. This earns them a reasonably well deserved rep as a bunch of artists and ponces. They also have a strong dueling tradition and a warrior family who invented guerilla warfare, which seems odd next to the artists and courtiers until you realize one thing: The Crane are, culturally, a bunch of dangerous obsessive perfectionists.

They're the artist who climbs a cliff in a hurricane to get the perfect view of the area when the eye of the storm comes by and gives them just a moment of peace to paint. They're the courtiers who train their children by waking them up hours before dawn to do their hair and clothes and then mock spar verbally with their sensei in court rooms carefully constructed to look like those of other clans, including famous locations, with their senseis playing at being those other clans. They're the warrior family who is so good at guerilla warfare because they obsessively keep up to date scale models of fortresses and their local surrounding lands down to the last tree for them to study and memorize. They're the duelist who wades waist deep into a frozen stream to practice their cuts under adverse conditions so that if they have to duel on the clan's behalf they won't slip up be it in a storm or in a court.

The Crane be crazy.

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>>54538583
The Lion are the bellicose children of Akodo, the god who literally wrote the book on bushido. Of course, at the moment the clan has forgotten there's more virtues than the ones which talk about how hard you should kill people for slights against your honor. Not everyone, the Akodo family has always been more on top of things than not, but culturally at this point in the old lore and it looks like it is being kept in the new one, is that the extremely numerous, extremely bellicose Matsu family is culturally ascendant. So they're in short a huge army with a state attached to it full of honor bound people with anger issues.

The Lion are also the most hardcore of ancestor worshippers and the Kitsu family in the LCG is bringing their A game apparently since the Lion get discard pile necromancy tricks.

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>>54538697
Dragon are...special. Not like short bus special, though kind of like that, but in that they're basically a bunch of families each doing their own thing united by two things: Being zen buddhists, and the loyalty to the Togashi monastic order since their founder, the Kami Togashi, basically let these families pursue their own interests without imposing on them.

Because of this you get a clan of duel wielding poet-swordsmen, a shugenja family who is closest to developing the periodic table of elements than anyone else in the setting, a courtier family who trains their children in the Sherlock Holmes methodology (and is also the only group in the empire who really believes in anything but the most blatant of evidence), and a family of monks tattooed with ink mixed with the very blood of their founding god to give them magic powers.

Oh and also Togashi Yokuni is Togashi himself, having lives for a thousand years and periodically changing his identity. So they've got god on their side. And god has not been skipping weight training days.

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>>54538809
The Crab are rad. To the south of Rokugan lies the Shadowlands, a twisted hellscape where demons and undead and twisted, tainted monstrosities live. These things hate Rokugan and want to tear it to the foundations.

The Crab, the children of Hida, were tasked by the first Emperor Hantei of holding back that tide after the First War. They did this in the most logical manner possible: They built an enormous wall along that border (in the old canon it took a few centuries and another major war to get there, in the new it apparently was built at Hida's command in life). The Kaiu family are engineers and builders and have lined the wall with siege weapons and filled the secret passes that are beneath it to let Crab armies and scouts through to the far side with deadly traps making the underside of the Kaiu Wall basically a Dungeons and Dragons dungeon. There's even goblins and monsters in there sometimes, though the traps are meant for them.

They're stoics, less concerned with social niceties than they are pragmatic effectiveness, and some of the best warriors in the Empire. Their courtier family, Crane defectors from days of yore, are shady money grubbing merchants turning their gifts towards funding the massive needs for food and supplies the Crab have to maintain their vigil.

Also their current champion, Hida Kisada, is the largest samurai in Rokugani history and is called the Great Bear. He's pretty rad, and I'm hoping doesn't fuck up as stupidly in this game as he did in the CCG. Which was just so bad, let me tell you.

I'm going to be joining an l5r campaign soon, first time with the setting and system. Playing a shugenja. Any advice on good spells/combinations? Mostly going for support-based and some social skills.

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>>54538934
So now we get to the Phoenix, who are today's thread focus. I like them a lot, probably my second favorite clan, even though in the old lore they basically existed to either fuck up in a way that ruins the Empire or try to do the right thing and get crushed for it.

The Phoenix are the heirs of the Kami Shiba, but led by the Isawa family after Shiba demonstrated humility nobody expected from an actual god by kneeling before Isawa and pledging his family's protection to the other man's...forever. This got Isawa onboard in the First War I mentioned before and effectively saved the world, so good job Shiba.

The Phoenix as a clan are the most religious and mystically devoted figures in the Empire. They have more shugenja, the priests of the elemental kami, than anyone else (mostly Isawa but not all) and theirs are often powerful indeed. They are also devoted pacifists, essentially refusing to use all that mystical power and the skills of the Shiba bushi unless pressed hard. I believe Shouting Matsu described them as basically a big kid everyone bullies because he doesn't fight back until he lashes out and breaks someone's arm, and that is pretty accurate.

The Phoenix are led by the Shiba, but the Shiba champion defers to the will of the Elemental Masters who head the Isawa family. This is a problem because as I noted before, the Phoenix fuck up badly all the time. The Isawa have a kind of baked in arrogance about their abilities and knowledge which leads to a lot of 'Of COURSE this is the right thing!' thinking as they crack open a Black Scroll or dabble in blood magic or something.

Also the new Phoenix Champion is chosen by their ancestral sword that belonged to Shiba after the old one dies, and is haunted by the ghosts of all the past champions who offer them advice. Which is pretty rad. The current champion is just a kid who basically was thrust into this, but is going to do her best.

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>>54539172
So now we are at the Unicorn who we don't know what's going on with them in nu5R yet.

They are a clan with a lot of foreign ways since after the Empire was founded they went on an eight century trek outside of Rokugan to see the world and look for any other existential threats. They came back with horses and cavalry techniques nobody else had, and barbarous ways that horrified the other samurai.

In the absence of knowing what's coming for them, I'll just say they're defined by compassion, a willingness to embrace the new, and a few extremely honorable, very skilled families of warriors. And horses. They fucking love them some horses.

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>>54539268
And finally, the Scorpion clan. The Scorpion were tasked by the first Emperor with providing an enemy within the Empire that the other clans can rally around with their hate and disdain, in order to keep angry eyes focused away from the Imperials and prevent a coup. This plan is perfect and has no flaws. Please ignore how the initiating event of old5R fiction was the Scorpion Clan Coup.

But anyway, they're a conniving political clan who makes use of ninjas, subtle shugenja magic, blackmail and courtiers who aren't afraid to go for the throat when they need to, and a respectable military tradition to keep all eyes on them and protect the Empire from any threats internally they feel they can deal with better than the armies of the Lion or mystic arts of the Phoenix or soft words of the Crane. They are the Emperor's Underhand.

At present they're basking in political power as the Emperor showers them in favor since he is old friends with their champion Bayushi Shoju, and his wife, Bayushi Kachiko is the Imperial Advisor. She's also having a lesbian affair with the Crane's champion 90% likely on Shoju's orders

Also they fucking love masks.

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>>54539159
Each element has good support spells, but if you want a social shugenja the best call is Air focused since you'll be cranking Awareness to increase your main casting ring anyway. Any school that isn't Air inferior is fine though.

I'd suggest keeping it simple for yourself and making an Isawa.

>>54539373
>>54539268
>>54539172
>>54538934
>>54538809
>>54538697
>>54538583
Cool, thanks for the write ups! Sounds like Scorpion, Lion and Crane are probably the ones I'll be most interested in. Love me some masks and ancestor worship necromancy.

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>>54539543
Lion and Crane are sort of mechanically similar from the previews we've seen in that they're very new person friendly and their Champions being mirror images of one another.

Lion have a lot of handy tricks to put a lot of dudes on the table, the Crane have snowballing political and honoring tricks. They aren't like Dragon and Phoenix we've seen so far who seem to be the most fiddly clans, with weird Voltron Dragon builds and Phoenix doing janky ring tricks.

Scorpion are probably last preview, but the few spoilers we've seen of them so far seem like they're a political control deck with dishonor tricks.

In the RPG all these clans have plenty of cool shit though of various skill needed to grok, so less new person concerns if that's what you're in for.

>>54539600
Yeah, I figured Scorpion would be the monoblack of this game. I'll have to read up on the rules and such once I get home.

>>54538304
>"Isn't it fortunate I met you before I met him!" The Scorpion nodded. "Yes, it is." And Ki-Rin had nothing more to say.

And then they went frolicking, right?

>>54539826
So far we've had enough previews to have a general picture of the rules, but we only have some of the clans spoiled and are missing a ton of neutral cards. The game should be coming out after Gen Con, so probably two months or so off.

>>54539417
Too late I've already decided to play a Yogo Wardmaster. Theme wise I really like their backstory and abilities, even though in-game they strike me as under-powered. But I'm fine with that. Every group needs a Scorpion too.

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>tfw your kimono is so great it can distribute honor.

The real height of fashion is here, step off Crane.

>>54539933
>though in-game they strike me as under-powered

They kind of are, yeah. I run a game and one of my players is using a homebrewed buffed version of the school we wrote. Talk to your GM and see if he's okay houseruling it a bit to improve it.

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>>54539933
A fine choice. Be sure to mack on all the ladies. Or men. Whatever.

>>54540015
>Be sure to mack on all the ladies. Or men.

Both.

>>54539977
>Talk to your GM and see if he's okay houseruling it a bit to improve it.

What ares do you think they could use a boost in the most? I'm not interested in playing an overpowered offensive monster, but I don't want to be a complete burden either. I haven't played yet so mechanically I'm not sure what areas they really struggle in comparatively.

>>54539952

There are already two attachment cards in this game that are just really nice clothes, and another that's a really nice accessory. I love L5R.

>>54540070
We expanded the utility of the wards a bit. It isn't quite Tamori spell bottling powerful, but it lets you get more mileage out of your cool prayer strips. Here, I'll copy the text of ours over to a pastebin.

We definitely went kind of fiddly here since we basically invented subsystem rules for the wards themselves in addition to their technique: https://pastebin.com/da5EQkPL

>>54540183
Thank you friend, I will run this by my GM. I appreciate it!

Out of curiosity, are there any particular ward spells that are generally considered good picks? Or ones that are just flat out useless in nearly in any situation? I don't want to gimp myself by choosing something that sounds cool but actually isn't.

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>Go home, Crab-san. You're drunk.

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>"I heard you were a specialized conflict type build. It would be a shame if something were to happen to your conflict type, especially if this were under my stronghold."

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>>54540147
I honestly hope that eventually you can twink a Crane courtier out with an ungodly stream of fashion accessories. A nice kimono, a fan, a pretty comb for your hair, maybe even make makeup a card.

It's like you're combining dressing up a doll with ruthlessly crushing opponents underfoot.

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I guess I'm playing Phoenix until the Mantis come back. I think I'm going to regret it in the long run, but I love their general gameplay and overall aesthetic. Also sounds like the best way to get used to the game's new mechanics, even if they are very likely to be less effective than the other clans.

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This is dumb. This combo is dumb.

Two characters with covert -- and then two send homes.

>>54541219
>Best way to get used to new mechanics is to play a clan which does weird bullshit that involves niche cases you have to set up

I mean they look like fun too, I'm definitely going to play them a bunch, but I'd have imagined you'd want to do something a bit less niche first.

>>54541238
If you send all of them to one attack you can make it so the opponent has to lose, the province breaks, and they lose an honor since nobody was defending unless of course they have enough covert and glory at once to win.

They all bow after that though, leaving you with nothing to attack or defend with though.

>>54541219
>Shiba Tsukune.png

I should ask an artfriend one day to just sketch a kimono over her.

>>54541329
Correct. That's a stronghold busting squad. It gets even better when you saw what was in his hand -- he had an Assassination and an Admit Defeat, meaning the defender had to have exactly 7 characters in order to keep ANYTHING on their side of the board.

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>>54541450
Phoenix strong!

>>54539268

unicorn a best. i can't wait to see what ffg has in store for them because i want to start playtesting.

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>>54542066
They're a clan that went through a bunch of radical shifts in the old canon, and frankly didn't have a ton of character during the original Clan War arc so I'm curious to see what synthesis FFG is going to arrive at with them for fluff. So far it looks more like playing up the outsider elements without the Moto having to displace the Shinjo on top of the heap, but I kind of want to see what else is going on.

Also I want to see what Altansarnai looks like under that mask. Odds are we're getting a new champion trio and an older, more experienced trio with Hotaru/Tsukune/Toturi vs. Shoju/Yokuni/Kisada, leaving the Unicorn once more as outsiders to a pattern. Is she an experienced veteran leader, is she new at this and managed to broker a peace with the Lion as an early achievement?

Is FFG going to ruse us and change the actual Kami who keeps changing their identity and she's Shinjo all along

>>54541256

Not that anon, but I let people convince me not to play Convergence when I started with Warmachine, and I'm not letting that happen again. (Also, I don't have to choose which clan to buy into with this game.)

>>54542385

I really hope Altansarnai isn't another noob. I think we have enough new, inexperienced champs for now, and it'd be nice to have a new character who starts out already established in the new setting.

>>54542395
Point. I'm splitting my clans with a friend to ameliorate the cost of the boxes so I am needing to make judgment calls on which I don't want to play that much.

There's going to be an inevitable backmarket on cards though, right?

>>54542425

There will be for promos, if my Netrunner experience is anything to go by. For non-promo cards, it's less likely, but clan loyalties might make things a little different for L5R.

>>54539373
Who is the flyest motherfucker in Rokugan for 500, Alex

And if you people don't think it is Bayushi Shoju I need to hear reasons. Kakita Toshimoko is the only other acceptable substitute

Will we have to buy more than one core set/expansion sets to get playsets of cards?

>>54542586

Core set, yes, you'll need three if you want full playsets.

Expansion sets, no, they'll have playsets of everything in the box.

>>54542586
One set is playable, but for competitive play you want decks with more copies of cards you build your deck around so you'll need 3.

>>54538577
All but the last were in the 1e Way of the Scorpion book as children's fables. The last is /tg/ tripe that ignores the canon meeting between Bayushi and Hantei. The point of that meeting was Bayushi was intentionally protecting Hantei by being his Villain.

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I've been out of the loop; how are the kakita and daidoji looking in NuL5R? I've been a fan for a while, especially of the Kakita.

>>54536877
That Naive Student art screams "reaction image" to me.

>>54538583
>we've had major crab partisans
dwarffags. It's a venn diagram that's just a circle.

>>54543611
Yeah once we get full preview on that card I'm clipping it to my L5R folder. There's still I think a handful of Phoenix cards we haven't seen in detail yet and he's one of them.

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>>54543813
I mean there's a lot to like about most clans, but when I first got into the game right around when the 4th edition hit the amount of Crab dick stroking was insane. It wasn't just Crane hate. It eventually died down to more normal levels but still was kind of weird. Did something happen in the CCG around that time that brought them out of the woodwork?

Also RIP in peace, new Crab waifu. You lasted one story.

>>54543611
>tfw you are fucking your ice queen milf sensei but your true love is her young and vibrant yojimbo
We shall never know the pain of samurai.

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>>54543146
There's not much for the Daidoji to feel like a unique deck style just yet. I figure they might be an option for later Crane decks via the monthlies.

The named Kakita duelist character has an ungodly 'send your army home' duel mechanic though which is great. Honor him and slap a fine katana on and he'll be 7 military, and you can get that to 12 via a full bid of 5 in the duel.

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>>54544143
Also we have Duelist Training which has little influence pips meaning it can be splashed into other decks if you lack any native dueling options (The only other one we've seen so far is a Dragon one).

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>tfw no autistic crane waifu to play with action figures with

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>>54543146
In the crane story it's mentioned that Shizuka Toshi (their core-set stronghold) has been attacked by a bunch of pirates lead by someone called 'Yoritomo'. I can't imagine him being an important character though.

Since I haven't seen it posted in this thread yet:-

https://fiveringsdb.com/

You can click on 'view as images' to get a nice visual spoiler.

>>54546271
I really want crane and spider to stay gone

>>54546459
You mean "Mantis and Spider", not "crane and spider" I assume.

Honored Anon-sama would never make such a mistake on an Imperial Tapestry Forum, would he?

>>54546694
>Implying this isn't an Ivindi board for fingerpuppets

>>54539373
>And finally, the Scorpion clan.
What happened to Mantis. There were Mantis, right?

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>>54547221
Mantis were made a GC originally at the end of the Clan War and aren't one of the Great Clans right now. They do seem to still exist (Hotaru fumed to herself about Yoritomo and his pirates in the Crane fic) but aren't a faction anymore. Nor are the Spider for those who know about that late era madness.

I actually like the Mantis a fair bit so this is a bit lame, but since I mostly play the RPG we can keep doing our own thing.

>>54547221
Mantis was a coalition of Minor Clans that united for political power and leveraged it into Great Clan status, but FFG has rolled the timeline back to before that happened.

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I just dug out my old cards since some friends are getting back into Magic and I thought I'd show them what I was doing growing up. I played from Late Jade up to about the Diamond/Lotus transition and have some stuff older than that.

I'm thinking about making some kitchen table level Open format decks out of the stuff that I have. Struggling with a bit of a foggy memory and a disorganized mess of cards. Is there still a scene out there for open? Does anyone have any generalized advice?

I'm definitely making a Phoenix deck since that was my clan of choice, and Mantis I had a lot of. Phoenix I could probably throw together something with Riake/Tomo mobility, some samurai, chasing osano wo, et al with a switch deck maybe. Mantis, their big things were naval and shooty, right? I am probably better equipped for shooty since Naval was a later mechanic. What kind of decks would you build for noobs if you were me? Maybe a straightforward Crane honor runner, a Scorp dishonor deck, and a Dragon Kaede Sensei enlightenment setup to showcase those victory conditions?

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>>54539172

I was a Phoenix in the CCG era, and man, I can't get over how politically dysfunctional the clan is. It's basically run like a bickering academic department if the academics were Shinto priests. It's fun to set people on fire and shit with prayers though. I always liked this suicide bomber guy

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>>54547457
Yeah I love the poor flame turkeys. I'm definitely running them as one of my primary decks with the LCG, they look like a blast.

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>>54547484
Unrelated, but can anyone who has more card game acumen tell me how good the Shiba Yojimbo there is? She seems stat low for the cost, but a 'fuck you it doesn't work' effect sounds really good. See also Kisada. But in her case it is a very specific situational one which may not be worth it, since it can force people to play around her but won't stop them if you aren't fielding nothing but shugenja.

>>54539172
Anyone have this image in a hires version

I noticed that Hiruma Yojimbo reads that it "cannot be declared as an attacker" while Shiba Peacemaker "cannot participate in conflicts as an attacker". Is there actually a difference between these effects? Can you somehow get a character involved in a conflict with declaring them?

>>54547620
>>54547620
I cropped it out of the fiction. There's a decent poster version of all the clan champions done so far, but I can't for the life of me find it since googling Shiba Tsukune just gets old5R art of her. I'd prefer better too, yeah. If anyone has it feel free to share.

>>54547643
I don't think so, it might just be wording choice. If there is a difference, FFG does a facebook livestream every friday. Go and ask them

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>>54547643
There is, actually, a way to get a character into a conflict without declaring it -- pic related.

Please note this image is a mockup; the wording is exactly what FFG read out loud on stream, but the art is not right.

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Night, samurai friends. Only two more previews, four more weeks before it is all done and we are at game launch. Are you ready? I'm ready.

As a discussion topic as the night waxes: What clan are you most planning to play of the ones shown so far? I'm a blatant Scorpion partisan but even I can't promise I'll play them much if I hate the style they go with, so right now I'm actually really into Dragon and Phoenix.

Is there anywhere I can see all of the spoiled cards?

>>54548085

>>54546288

So is this a reboot?

I for one look forward to never having to pay attention to Winter Court, old books or tourney results to understand the lore ever again

Based on what we have seen so far, does it look like honor/dishonor are viable win conditions or are crane/scorpion courtiers just going to... Steal your provinces with political maneuvering?

>>54548393
I'm still not sure what honor/dishonor even does mechanically. Can't find a good explanation

>>54548343
>I for one look forward to never having to pay attention to Winter Court, old books or tourney results to understand the lore ever again
FFG will keep tournament story prizes, though. If they didn't I wouldn't even be here because it's what makes L5R cool.

>>54548393
They're not. Dishonor/honor are mostly there to give you an alternate win condition. If your opponent is bidding aggressively he'll enter the zone where dishonor loss is plausible and it'll force him to play more conservatively. Needless to say that'll hurt him pretty bad in terms of boad position etc. So no, winning through honor/dishonor, at least using Core Set cards we've seen so far, is something you'll rarely see (unless Scorpion will have some crazy cards) but the mechanic does matter and makes games even more tense.

>>54546271
I really hope FFG won't bother with Mantis and Spider. Maybe Mantis if they'll introduce minor clans as neutrals with influence costs, and Mantis will have a stronghold that lets you pick up all of them for free.
With 7 factions and 20 new cards per every new dynasty pack it's really fucking packed already. That's 2 cards per faction.

As for Fire Chickens I haven't plyed with them yet but honestly, they feel like the strongest faction to me right now. Will have to test my theory this weekend I guess.

>>54549650
Herp, wouldn't work in those specific cases because they'd have to become defenders.

>>54549158
Honoring a character adds their glory value to their skills and causes their owner to gain honor when that character leaves play, while dishonoring a character subtracts their glory from their skills and causes their owner to lose honor when that character leaves play.

>>54548343
They're keeping story prizes but I suspect going to have less of the little ones. Just big ones with preplanned results for each clan if that clan wins the tournament

>>54539932
FFG will almost certainly be dropping L5R - or a huge preview and review copies - at Gencon, they love shit like that

>>54551707
There's a certain amount of theater to it. The Crane approve.

But anyway the inaugural tournament is happening so I can't imagine the games they bring there to play with might not also be purchased

>>54549505
>>54547249
>>54547270
Can we get a description of Mantis and Spider like we had for the other ones, with the understanding that this is what they were rather than what they're going to be in nuL5R?

Also, credit to >>54538583 for their description, definitely helped knock the "Crane are all political smug poofs" image that was kinda building for me

>>54543124
lol that's a yes then

>>54552017

The Mantis are cousins to the Crab and the children of fire and thunder. They're also a bunch of opportunists and pirates.

They live on a bunch of islands off-shore, and they've been tasked with guarding and patrolling any territory not claimed by another clan - which mostly means the sea. They maintain the largest navy among the clans and have got a flair for trade, mostly due to the fact that the other clans find matters of finance distasteful.

When the great clans go off to fight Satan, the Mantis clan rocks up and offered a deal:- either the great clans accept the Mantis as a great clan, in which case they'll aid in battling Satan, or the Mantis would attack the assembled great clans, die to a man, but also doom Rokugan. This upset everyone except the Crab, but they great clans agreed to the terms.

I have a story about scorpion too.
"Why do we keep scorpion around, anyway?" Said Lion.
"Yeah, he's just a backstabbing teamkilling dickhole" Said Phoenix
"He said my new dress makes me look FAT!" Wailed Crane.
"He sold me an ointment for my feet, and then after I used it told everyone it was dung!" Muttered unicorn.

"Lets Break his legs and kick him out." Said Crab.

And Scorpion had nothing left to say.

>>54552484
The irony being that everyday Scorpion isn't dickthief Scorpion, but helping-others-circumvent-the-strict-requirements-of-Bushido-and-Rokugan Scorpion, and most samurai (who know a Scorpion) know the latter more directly than the former.

>>54553000
Thats fairly insightful,player, and I agree with your premises.
That said, Kender, Malkavs and Scorpions;
if it wasn't another player taking the action, usually the logical thing for the pcs to do is to kill them all on sight.

No prince would resent the pack that killed all the loony-retards in his city. Similarly to scorpions, I would intuit...

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>>54552484
>I have a story about scorpion too
>Proceeds to write obvious butthurt
mfw

>>54553231
But what if you wasted your time and manpower in killing him? Surely the death of another Samurai would be on your head, yes?

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>>54552484
There was once a lotus blossoming atop a large heap. They said it had the most beautiful flower ever that glanced Amaterasu's sight, so the scorpion decided to see it for itself. However, as it tried to climb the heap, its tiny legs were caught by the vine and it fell under the leaves. Trapped in the darkness, it died before it could say anything. From its carcass, a lotus bud sprung.

>>54553231
>usually the logical thing for the pcs to do is to kill them all on sight
There was one short period of history in which that was a viable strategy, and the Scorpion were banished to The Burning Sands.

Otherwise you risked offending the Emperor on multiple levels, or being on the receiving end of Kaiser Soze levels of retribution when the Scorpion strike back. Most likely, both.

>>54553231

There are a lot of reasons the Scorpion don't get unilaterally eliminated.

For one thing, actually proving that any giving Scorpion has done anything wrong is a challenge. "Everyone knows" that Scorpions are villains because that's how it is in basically every play ever, but pointing as a given Scorpion and saying “he did it” on any matter is tough to pull off, not least of all because in a lot of cases, he probably didn’t.

Second, Scorpions are useful. Indispensable, even. A Scorpion wrote the system of laws the Empire uses, and later went on to become the divine patron of law and justice. Scorpion magistrates are very effective, in no small part because the Clan does maintain contacts in the underworld. And everyone knows it.

Speaking of the underworld, the Scorpion fill a lot of niches that would otherwise be filled with worse things. Suppose a Scorpion runs all of the prostitution in a major city. Suppose he’s even greedy and exploitative. An honourable samurai might think removing him is in the city’s best interests, but human nature means you can’t eliminate prostitution entirely, and who will fill the hole you pull that Scorpion out of? Blood sorcerers, using the girls as sacrifices? And when seditionists start stockpiling weapons in the for a peasant uprising, which samurai has their ear in every underworld circle with that Scorpion gone? Certainly not Honourable-san who removed him.

The Scorpion’s deal is necessary villainy. Unlike the kender or malkavians you mention, they aren’t random or arbitrary. They fill unpleasant or even immoral roles that need to be handled for the good of the Empire but which no one else wants involvement with for the good of their own honour. Sure, the trap that they can fall into is to start doing those things for their own sake, but it’s not like every other clan doesn’t have its own trap.

>>54553291
>>54553231

I have a story about a scorpion too. Once there was a group of assistant emerald magistrates, fresh from their Genpuku. Among their number, they counted a Bayushi courtier and a Shosuro who was always causing trouble.

While traveling the magistrates where attacked by bandits. After defeating them the Shosuro offered to scout the woods and his cousin, the Bayushi, offered to go with him.

Later the Bayushi returned.

>>54547882
This lady looks unwell, is she doing bad things or is this just what old magic ladies look like?

So what's the big difference between this and MTG besides lore and distribution model?

>>54553742
Void magic is rare and generally creepy looking, but she's fine. If she was doing blood magic, there would have to be bloodshed.

>>54547402
The most "common" open formats are Obsidian Hand and Big Deck. Modern L5R is also excellent but its only samurai ed on up.

>>54553895
mechanics for both the lcg and cog were wildly different from MTG outside of things tap and you buy dudes.

>>54553895
Biggest difference is probably that you have two decks - but that's like saying the biggest difference between magic and poker is that magic has instants.

>>54554147
>I'll see your two mountains and raise you an island. Show me what you've got!

>Hah! Full house, Thoughtseizes with Scheherezades! Now get over to the other table and deal so I can take your money recursively!

>>54554246
Why do I want to play this?

>>54554300
Because it is rad

>>54552274
The biggest problems with the Mantis are that Yoritomo (mighty is he) is one of the setting's top Sue's, and his Family whitewashed all the Mantis families that were originally other clans, and then co-opted a lot of their roles by arbitrarily getting major Schools for themselves in every aspect except Monk and Ninja (while families that are literally a thousand years older usually only have one or two that are often in the same aspect).
Instead of being Sun Priestesses, the Centipede are reduced to being the other sailing shugenja (after the straight Yoritomo one).
Instead of being badass sniper bounty hunters, the Wasp are the third sailing bushi (after the two Yoritomo ones).
They got too into the green sailor thing, when most of them lived on the mainland and had no tradition of acting like Yoritomo.

>>54552017
I was hoping someone else would cover the Spider, because my summary would be 'bullshit', but I'll try my best to be neutral.

The Spider are the evil clan, they practice evil magic, and evil Bushido and worship the god of evil. Also they tend to be corrupted by evil and live beyond the wall (they're part of the evil the Crab strive to keep out of the empire). They also successfully killed two emperors.

They tried to infiltrate Rokugan by corrupting ambitious or dishonorable samurai and also hiring bandits to attack villages... then killing all the bandits so the villagers love them. They then took part in a tournament to crown the new emperor. You had to have a godly patron, which they did (the god of evil), but they refused to tell people who it was. They lost and the new empress, upon discovering who their patron was, secretly decreed they be put to the sword.

They still managed to save Rokugan from a foreign god of destruction (you can't corrupt what's been destroyed) and the kill order on them was retracted and they were then made a great clan. Because while their god is evil, at least he isn't foreign. The Empress, formally a member of the dragon clan, singularly failing to display the wisdom for which her clan is famed.

>>54554147
to expand on the 2 decks, one deck is dudes and lands, and the other is spells and equipment.

>>54554871
I'll admit I'm a big Mantis fan-boy, and a part of that is the blessings of the Dragon of Thunder which the Mantis enjoy - the strength and spirit of man and ability to aspire to greatness, exemplified by Yoritomo (who died a man and became a god).

That said, I agree about the Centipede, Wasp and Fox. I'd like to see them maintain their personality and history, even while being part of the Mantis.

>>54555132
>The Empress, formally a member of the dragon clan, singularly failing to display the wisdom for which her clan is famed.

Togashi ruined the "wise Dragon" theme waaaay before Iweko. In fact, Iweko going LULRANDUMB was entirely in-line with how the Dragon was portrayed in Old5R.

>>54555332
My homebrew take on the Mantis is that they make a really interesting inverse parallel to the phoenix, who are in some sense their ancestral rivals.

The Phoenix are ruled by the Isawa-dominated Elemental Council, which the Clan Champion (always a Shiba) serves. The Mantis are also ruled by a council, but their Clan Champion sits on it as the first-among-equals, and the council is formed of all of the other Family daimyo. And instead of passing down through a single Family, the position rotates to the next Family Daimyo in a pre-set order every five years.

On top of that, each Family influences the others, instead of all of them being influenced by the Yoritomo, and the influence comes in areas that makes sense instead of being total. For example, instead of being sailing-focused, the Moshi keep their Sun Priestesses theme, but under Yoritomo influence begin to incorporate a strong sub-theme of Osano-wo worship; clearly he has to be Amaterasu’s favourite grandchild, since Fire and Thunder is his divine portfolio, and fire ultimately comes from the Sun. It also gives Moshi men with the shugenja gift something to do, since it would be a waste to make them Guardians of the Sun, but they can’t very well become Sun Priestesses. The “Yoritomo” Shugenja School becomes something like 70% Moshi attended, and the rest is children of Moshi-Yoritomo marriages or the odd Kitsune who doesn’t want to pursue their own family’s school.

The Yoritomo, in turn, become a lot more pious than previously under Moshi spiritual guidance, and their good influence is often the root of the periodic purging of any pirates that spring up in the clan—except for when they target the Phoenix, since the Yoritomo still remember who gave Osano-Wo’s murderer sanctuary, and the Moshi still remember being cast out of their previous clan to make the tax paperwork easier.

Then the rest of the families have a similar level of mutual influence.

>>54551179
Assuming glory value is that number towards the card center?

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>>54556011
My take on the Mantis is that they are over-ambitious pirates who think way too much about themselves, but can climb pretty high through sheer arrogance-fueled willpower.

Yoritomo's story was "climb high -> fall big" through-and-through. After launching the Mantis to the top of its power, making the Minor Clan Alliance real, and taking the hottest pussy Rokugani money could buy, he managed to lose literally everything on his bid to turn the Mantis into a Great Clan. The Mantis was wrecked, the Minor Clan Alliance laughed into his face and dissolved rather than join him, his hot wife got cursed by Amaterasu and turned into an abomination, and finally he died the most anticlimactic death of all times.

>>54556224
Its the one on the pie. Which is supposed to be a chrysanthemum but whatcha gonna do?

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>>54557858
Okay, neat. One more question. Can you choose whether or not to use actions/reactions like on pic?

>>54558350
Yes, it's not a "Forced Reaction"

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New card from Twitter today

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Ponies are the next clan on the docket.

This chick writes deadly poems.

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>>54558722
>>54558822
Those repeating digits are pure pottery.

>>54558855
plus the unicorn symbol on her chest looks like a 2

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>>54558855

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>>54558919
The rarest of Pepes.

>>54558919
That frog looks so content.

>>54539159
FORCE. OF. WILL. Take it. Use it.

Can someone explain the near obsessive fixation on getting multiplayer in the LCG, it seems everyone always brings up the possibility for it and whether it will happen or not on all non-4chan discussions

>>54559724
Because multiplayer classic L5R was fun as fuck. Most of my most memorable games were from 3-5 player mulitplayer games.

>>54560140
wait, did those happen to include unique add-ons and the like?

>>54542531
Togashi Mitsu. duh.

>>54556224
>>54557858
The one in the center right, yeah.

>>54556011
>>54557635
My own take is that the Mantis aren't Rokugani. Or rather, they are but it's complicated.

I see the Mantis islands as kinda the L5R equivalent of the Ryukyus. The Ryukyu Kingdom in the real world was considered a China tributary rather than Japan, and indeed Japan didn't formally take over the islands until the Meiji Restoration in the 19th century (granted, this was a formality since the Ryukyus were long considered part-only-not of the Satsuma domain) Yoritomo is nominally a minor clan daimyo, but in his own court he styles himself as Gusai King as the Mantis leaders have been doing since the clan's inception, and the local culture is distinctly independent from mainland Rokugan. Tribute is sent to the Emperor of course, but the Mantis keeps its own counsel and in fact has its own contacts with foreign lands, as an entity separate from the Emerald Empire. But since they're far away and "just" a minor Clan it's only Crane and Phoenix courtiers that give Mantis envoys shit when they're at court, actually aware of how dangerous they could be with their riches and naval knowhow.

>>54539159
PATH TO INNER PEACE

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>>54560262
Just the handful of Multiplayer Specific cards, like pic related. Seeing shit like it and the one that lets you switch sides hit the table is fun stuff.

>>54555132
>>54555680
You can't blame Iweko for that. No matter which clan parked an ass on the throne, that was going to be the result. In fact, it was going to happen sooner without the Dragon's RFTT win creating a Spider temporary 'disbanding' storyline. Some other clan would have been given the fiction time & spotlight Spider received as they tried to get their great clan status back, and the Spider would have filled the void they left.

The story would have been neater, but people wanted to "fuck the Spider", not realising that meant "focus on".

>>54561243
I can and do blame Iweko I. Sure, if it hadn't had been her someone else would've got to hold the idiot ball, but she managed to 'win' that honour.

>>54561592
Scorpion were winning for once in their lives, and then tanked themselves in the Race For the Throne when they realized their winning would see the Dragon disbanded due to the weird as fuck reward systems in place.

There really was no good option there.

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So after stumbling across some stuff talking about L5R, I'm interested in getting into the RPG. Could someone be kind enough to tell me which edition is the best to play? Also, which edition has the best lore (assuming it's not the same answer)?

>>54561665
4E is generally considered to be the best in terms of mechanics. As for lore, each edition has its own fans (personally I favor 1E and the pre-Scorpion Coup era)

>>54561665
4th and also 4th. 4e was the best edition and it was a time period agnostic thing rather than being directly shackled to the CCG. So while the assumed 'now' of the game was the present of the plot it had tools and information to play basically any point in Rokugan's history, eventually getting two books full of canonical card game eras in depth, historical periods for the setting old and some new ones, and a bunch of alternate universe.

>>54561644

>They must never know.

>>54561766
>Dragon-senpai must never notice me

>>54561665
4th and it doesn't really matter as long as you don't use 2nd/d20 lore. 4th is the most developed, but most of it is just the same lore as before.

>>54561665
Most people like 4th best. Whatever you do, stay away from the D20 version.

Any lore stuff can be used with 4th Edition (or any other edition for that matter), and there's a lot of good books for that over the game's 20 year history.

What's the best source book for the crane? Specifically looking at customs (birth, death, marriages, gempuku, superstitions etc).

>>54561709
>>54561721
>>54561833
>>54561835
Okay, definitely going for 4th for mechanics and the lore agnosticism sounds good. Two more questions if you would:

1. Are there any books from the previous editions I should go out of my way to pick up for their fluff since previous editions were pretty good?

2. In 4th, are there any OP or underpowered classes or such I should beware? Any recommendations for modding or otherwise handling such?

>>54561947
1e Way of the Crane
2e Secrets of the Crane

>>54561993
City of Lies for 1E is the best city-based supplement I've ever read.

>>54561993
Way of the [Clan] and Secrets of the [Clan] are good for fluff.

Okay, in 4th there's a clearly defined tier system.
Great Clan>Minor Clan>Ronin.
Most everything in the same tier is generally fine together. Some have better Techniques than others, but it's the universal Skills and Stats that really matter.

>>54561993
1. The 1e Way of series for Clan perspectives.
2. The Seppun and Suzume bushi schools are about the worst in the game. Ronin in general are pretty bad as well. The Kenku bushi is pretty ridiculous but it isn't really intended as a PC school. The other thing to watch out for is the hyper specialized schools like the Kuni Witch Hunter, they are very good in their main field but suck ass outside it which can be bad if a player is not expecting that.

Throw ancestors in the trash. They are horribly priced, either too good for their costs or moronically weak for their costs. Kata are nearly as bad, but there are a few lower rank ones that are reasonably good, like the Striking As series.

>>54562056
There's of course some that kind of suck a lot. I'd take the generic ronin school over the Suzume bushi for instance.

>>54562103
>The other thing to watch out for is the hyper specialized schools like the Kuni Witch Hunter, they are very good in their main field but suck ass outside it which can be bad if a player is not expecting that.
To add to this, L5R is a game where the GM really needs to have an idea of where the campaign will go before PCs start making characters, since schools are so varied in scope. For example, courtiers will suffer if there's no actual court in which they can do their thing, particularly Crane and Scorpion ones. The political situation must be considered as well, since depending on era it can be hard to justify certain party compositions.

Can anyone sell me on the scorpion? they just seem like dicks

>>54562481
Every Clan are Dicks in different ways. Scorpion are just better at it than everyone else.

>>54562481
The idea of the scorpion is that they're conniving dicks in the name of the greater good but are bound by loyalty: to the Emperor and their clan in a grander sense, to those individuals loyal to them in a more domestic sense.

Their progenitor was chosen to be the Emperor's spymaster, possessing both the great loyalty and ruthlessness to carry out such a task. They have cultivated their reputation as horrid dicks very purposefully, as it gives the clans a target to hate besides the Emperor that rules them all. Scorpions play ruthless puppet-masters to the rest of the clans in the name of the realm's stability and divine mandate.

On a smaller scale their reputation gives them a surprising amount of leeway in their society. Being the group not bound by ideas of honor, they are able to ensure what needs to be done can be done. The party of PCs arrested a villain who the system decides to set free? The Scorpion poisons their drink. A lord must be assassinated in the name of preventing a war from breaking out? A Scorpion blade is the one to keep the peace. The Scorpion walks in the dark where other samurai can't and/or won't, doing what must be done, no matter the cost. They will go out of their way for their friends to aid them in the ways they only can, and the friend views that particular Scorpion as special because Scorpions are never nice to people.

tl;dr they are horrid dicks, but are also essential to have on your side. They maintain a sort of monopoly on said dickery in the name of controlling it and putting it in the service of a greater good. Never fuck with a scorpion or those they care about, you will suffer.

>>54562481
https://www.scribd.com/doc/51546771/Way-of-the-Scorpion

Read at least some of the 1st chapter, it'll give you more insight into the Scorpion mentality than anything else. It won't necessarily make you like them, but it will make you understand them.

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>>54561995
>>54562050
>>54562056
>>54562103
>>54562128
>>54562242
Thanks a bunch elegan/tg/entlemen, I appreciate the information very much. I'll likely lurk this thread until it dies, so if anyone has any more general advice relating to the RPG I'd love to hear it.

Thanks again!

>>54562899
I am actually going to argue against this. Way of the Scorpion had John Wick at the helm and 1E Scorpions were his babies, and the dev favoritism is all over this book. It paints this picture of the Scorpion as the clan that can never do wrong, because they're always right, because they have all bases covered and all their keikakus work flawlessly and no one can ever do anything against them, because any action taken against the Scorpion ultimately benefits them by plot armor before the antagonists ultimately suffer horribly by unseen machinations that never, ever fail.

I prefer the City of Lies version of the Scorpion. They are involved in shady underworld shit, but don't have all the answers. Some of them are outright villains out for their own gain. But most are trying to do the right thing (if in a shady way) and getting by in the world, and you can actually see people outside the clan supporting them not just because of blackmail or coercion. One of my favorite Scorpion NPCs ever is in this book, a skeezy merchant master that is secretly gay but only keeps it a secret because he thinks all Scorpion should keep one and he otherwise is exactly the honest businessman his external persona appears to be.

>>54561592
Ok. You're still an idiot for it.

>>54561644
>tanked themselves
Scorps did their best. Everyone (including you, still) seem to think that getting disbanded was a bad thing. It meant remaining a CCG faction, getting extra story time, extra focus from the story team / involvement in the story, and a full return to great clan status a year later.

That's what fear of the word "disbanded" gave to the Spider.

>>54562481
Open a copy of Way Of The Scorpion, and turn to the Appendices. Treachery 101, or "How to be a sneaky git and not get killed by the other characters".

Surprisingly, it's not how to be an edgelord, shitlord, or anything like that. It's how to prove you're worth keeping around and alive to samurai who want to follow Bushido.

>>54563110
The book mentions relatively early on that it's written from the perspective of a scorpion and not necessarily completely true. I'm not saying there was no favoritism back then, but I think it's worth expecting bias in a book about Scorpions by Scorpions. It's the difference between the philosophical ideal (or straight propaganda consider the authors) and the reality.

>>54563352
>Surprisingly, it's not how to be an edgelord, shitlord, or anything like that. It's how to prove you're worth keeping around and alive to samurai who want to follow Bushido.
As long as the GM is willing to back up your zany schemes. That's one of the problems I have with Way of the Scorpion: it requires the rest of the world to behave like idiots for the Scorpion to get away with all their shit. And while samurai are idiots, it makes no sense that 90% of people in other clans have an oni-sized blind spot for Scorpion machinations (things like the "ninja" deception are simply implausible, and that's before you get into Wick's reasons to screw with the ninja myth like that)

>>54563404
That was a common excuse in '90s splatbooks, but "it's all subjective" doesn't work when you, as a GM, need objective information to work with. The other Way books did have bias built in (I love how every single clan was the key in defeating Iuchiban's hordes and prevent defeat of the Imperial troops) but never to the extent of the Scorpion book. Hell, the Lion clan went as far as including just defeats in its battle history section because "victories are expected for the Lion, only defeats are worth writing about here" (I actually think Way of the Lion was the worst Way book, mostly because it failed at getting you hype for the Lion.)

So is bowing just mtg tapping?

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>>54563571

>>54563410
Having just skimmed the way of the scorpion I agree, if I ever run L5R I am definitely dialing back their competence

>>54563410
>As long as the GM is willing to back up your zany schemes
We have a different concept of 'zany'.

>it requires the rest of the world to behave like idiots for the Scorpion to get away with all their shit
No, it requires the rest of the world to understand Bushido, On, Rokugani culture, etc etc and not auto-correct themselves to thinking like millennials.

>>54563774
Well gee, sorry mister Gen-Xer.

(No, they are zany as hell. Cutting pinkies at night while the target somehow never notices, doing some straight up soap opera switcheroos, and hey let's fucking roofie and knock up this woman for THE CAUSE. And let's not forget how the Scorpion win at fucking dice against the Crab.)

>>54563774
Literally everyone is suspicious of the scorpion, most of their tricks wouldn't work when everyone suspects them

>>54563825
False courtesy in apologising and assuming your target won't win you more than a participation badge.

You're cherry picking parts you feel some dissonance with and making them sound dumber than they are. Nothing wrong with soap opera in samurai drama. Cutting pinkies and rape can be a bit icky, but there's no obligation to use the examples when the main body of the work is creativity guidance, not straightjacketing you to what's been done before.

>>54564486
....Yajinden?

>>54563909
Constant suspicion is tiring and time consuming when it's targeted at someone you still have to work with. Day in, day out, when they're not doing anything you can pin them for, and you're constantly on guard for their "inevitable betrayal" or "cunning ploy"?

Remember how Scorpion tied up the Phoenix.

>>54564475
Goddammit dude this post is so early 2000s I thought I was in a free Invisioboard RP forum.

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>>54564539
YaJACKden

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HAHA TIME FOR GENZOMAN

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>>54564999

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>>54564999
God bless, anon

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>>54565070
THIS IS HOW YOU FINGER A WOMAN, SCORPION SAN will never get old.

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>>54565133

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>>54565168
>PATH TO ZETTAI RYOUIKI

>>54565133
She's just being a good Crane, graciously enlightening the ignorant to the finer nature of an art you know?

>>54565275
Gotta maintain culture and good civilization.

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>>54565248
"Ninja don't exist, and certainly not shitty Hayabusa ripoffs."

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>>54565344
Art is about bringing pleasure and a glimpse of perfection to others, after all. If there exists a Rokugani Kama Sutra, the Crane didn't write it but are secretly the biggest buyers.

The one who wrote it of course was a Shosuro.

>>54565617
That's the rumor the Shosuro planted. The truth is that an unassuming Shiba wrote it. Do you know how boring can it be to hit Isawa hands when they reach for the maho jar? Very.

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>>54565639
The Empire must never know.

>>54565722
Those forests have been enchanted over and over, if you catch my drift.

>>54560613
I actually used the Mantis as a Ryukyu Kingdom anology too.

>>54565769
No actually.

>>54558938
why would one take an action that does not produce any effects again?

>>54565919
I guess there are combos you can make with cards that do have effects that trigger when someone else takes an action.

>>54565919
I guess if you have an ongoing effect or something that keys off actions performed.

>>54565899
They have been seeded thoroughly, if you know what I'm saying.

>>54565919
The way the CCG worked, if you don't take an action and your opponent doesn't take an action, then the current combat is over.

Sometimes you don't want to do something until your opponent tips their hand, but you don't want to use a real action to do it. This only works if they aren't winning, of course.

It was still generally considered a useless card, of course.

So if you had to take the clans by MTG color pie combos for new players (personality-wise probably, not mechanically, given not knowing them all yet), what would you correlate each clan with?

>>54566018
... I need some sleep or an editor.

>>54566028
I don't know MtG at all.

Okay you all seem nice. My friends were in the playtest group and I was able to play a game as Unicorn. Mind you, I've never played L5R before but I'm eager to jump in. Anyways, I can at least talk a little bit of how Unicorn is out of the Core Box.

Movement. Lots of movement tricks. Their Stronghold lets you exhaust it to move a unit with Cavalry keyword to a battle. You also have units where as an action you can move them into a battle. You have event cards that say "if this unit has the Cavalry keyword you can move it to a battle." You have an attachment that grants keyword Cavalry. Yes, they like horses.

Notable other things. They have an event card that costs 2 resources that lets you take up to 6 resources of cavalry units from your discard pile and put them into play.

You also have another event that lets you attack again. You still are limited to 1 Military and 1 Political but you basically keep on the offense.

There is another event that changes the attack from Political to Military. I was playing against Crane. It was hilarious (he did not find it amusing).

There was also a character that said, "draw a card when a unit 'moves' to a battle."

Anyways, they were very fun to play because they let you commit only 1 character to a battle and then forces your opponent into an awkward situation of not knowing how much to defend with since units could join in later. However, this was a bit offset with your units not having as great stats as others (or at least that is what it felt like vs. Crane).

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>>54566102
>Yes, they like horses.

No fucking way

so what does breaking provinces actually do for you? Is it just to force discards and work towards imperial seals or do you need to break them to reach the stronghold?

>>54566815
You do need to break 3 of the 4 to be able to attack the stronghold.

>>54566102
How much did the Political -> Military event cost?

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I have such mixed feelings about this game.

I was hoping it was going to be the game to replace AGOT 2nd, when it, well died.

But I look at all this and it's just kinda... Alright I guess. Beautiful cards, but not much after that really stands out.

Though I am not a fan of the fate mechanic.

>>54567056
AGOT 2nd ed is ded?
Certainly not in my meta. It's the second most popular game after Destiny (which makes me salty as fuck).

>>54567056
>Though I am not a fan of the fate mechanic.
It's legitimately the best part of the game. I've played about a dozen games now using the community's cobbled together rules and man, it sings. It forces you to decide to play for now, or to play for the future. It lets you play out what would be otherwise unwinnable situations -- just by stalling until your opponent's OP shit fates out.

It's great; I recommend giving it a shot. There's a tabletop simulator mod circulating around that people play and while it's still only ~90-95% of the full game it's enough to really get a good taste of it.

>>54567056
>Though I am not a fan of the fate mechanic.
Tha'ts by far the most exciting and interesting mechanic. It keeps the game from snowballing really well. Somebody might have an overwhelming table lead in one turrn only to lose it on the next, when date runs out. Turns are so tense and every single one matters. I fucking love Fate.

>>54565769

By whom? That turbo-nerd Tadaka?

>>54566028
There would be a lot of WUR, a little B, and barely any G outside of the minor clans. And some of them would be on the fringes of their color(s) and need to be explained further anyway.

>>54562481
They basically pretend to be retarded.

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>>54568403
Can't be, he only gets boners for the Shadowlands.

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>>54570233
>They basically pretend to be retarded.

The bonus twist is that this is only what the Scorpion think of themselves. In truth, they are factually retarded.

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>>54567099
It is near me, and everyone I talk to thus far has agreed.

>54567158

I'm not saying it's a bad mechanic. It's just very off putting for a game that has/had such a emphasis on characters to make those unique characters kinda meaningless and temporary.

I love fate for the simple reason that it stops the board from growing out of either player's control. I remember trying to play the original L5R with a friend, and by the time one of us went to battle, we had so much shit lying around that no one was sure what to do.

>>54572763
I'd argue the limited window makes them all the more meaningful. You have to get the most you can out of them when you have the chance. Sort of like the idea of savoring the moment but with trying to crush your foe underfoot at the same time

>>54572959
Are you saying you *don't* normally savour crushing your foes underfoot?

>>54572763
Is the beauty of a flower less meaningful for its short window of beauty?

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>>54572925

>>54572763
I miss the ability to just kill people. I mean, it's still there, it's just a lot rarer.

>>54563597

Yeah, pretty much. Main difference is that bowed characters don't add their skill to a conflict they're in.

How much lore is there on the world outside Rokugan?

>>54578018
Not too much. The world outside by and large makes less sense than Rokugan does with its stolen tidbits from wildly different eras of Japan. You have Age of Sail Europe co-existing alongside the Roman Empire who coexist alongside one of the various iterations of ancient egypt (which they then conquer so I guess that matches well) who coexist alongside an Iraqi caliphate

If one day AEG ran out of ideas and then plot twisted us that the world of Rokugan was assembled out of the broken temporal remnants of the ORIGINAL universe patched together by some mad god I'd have found that completely reasonable.

>>54578307
Don't forget feudal India

>>54578451
>Implying they matter as anything besides raw Destroyer war material

>>54578476
Does anything outside Rokugan matter?

Since FFG owns the IP, Rokugan could potentially exist alongside Terrinoth

>>54578760
That would be stupid but for some reason I kind of like it

>>54578307
So are any particular group of gaijin more threatening than the others? Didn't some have black powder muskets or other weapons?

>>54579886
Some did, and cannons too. Five hundred years back (because L5R is heavy on fantasy stasis) a gaijin fleet attacked Rokugan and even blew up the reigning Emperor with cannon fire, which has meant a general ban on gunpowder weapons in the Empire. Not that it keeps groups like the Agasha or Daidoji families from researching "polvora", and unexplained explosions happen from time to time.

>>54579886
That's a tough question. Gunpowder gaijin are obviously very shooty, but they're also far away across the sea, and have zombie troubles of their own. The Yodotai, the not-Romans, are militarily quite tough and are also near enough that invasion is a real possibility. They also have weird spooky magic that interacts badly with wholesome Rokugani magic.

The people in the Burning Sands are generally on fairly good terms with the Empire, as far as gaijin go at any rate, since the Unicorn spent a lot of time there and maintain trade ties, along with the Moto Family having blood ties to their cousins in the region. And the Ivory Kingdoms, apart from the evil Destroyer cult that plagues their lands, are on fairly good terms with the Mantis and Tortoise.

Then there's the Yobanjin, who have powerful shamans that control devasting dragon-like creatures, but they aren't terribly organised.

>>54578476
Oh, fucking, don't remind me.
I've never played the ccg - in either iteration - and I only really know the lore from the RPGs, but the fucking destroyer war still fucking pisses me off.

>>54580131
what are you playing on?

>>54580232
looks like Tabletop Simulator.

>>54578018
There's an entire RPG & CCG for The Burning Sands.

>>54578476
Despite the apparent genocide and filling a canyon with corpses, there are still enough natives left over to teach samurai in the colonies their ways.

>>54578307
>alongside the Roman Empire
Founded by the Kami after they gave up on Rokugan, if you believe it. If they had managed to get to Rokugan in the CCG arc, they would have steamrolled over Rokugani shugenja.

>>54580590
>Founded by the Kami after they gave up on Rokugan, if you believe it.
Big maybe on that, but Shinsei was definitely involved after he left Rokugan

>>54580718
>Big maybe on that
Not that big. Just a maybe that's pretty strongly leaning towards, "just how much coincidence are you willing to dismiss?"

>>54564999
I really want him to do art for nu5r

>>54578513
Kind of?
A lot of the LotBS stuff suggests that MAYBE the Rokugani don't know as much about the universe as you think they do, and that even their memories and records of their own deities might not quite be as accurate as they have convinced themselves they are.

Rokugan is definitely important, but it might not cosmologically be the center of the universe like they think so.

>>54581735
>A lot of the LotBS stuff suggests that MAYBE the Rokugani don't know as much about the universe as you think they do, and that even their memories and records of their own deities might not quite be as accurate as they have convinced themselves they are.
The early rpg editions also make a big thing out of Rokugan's revisionist history.

... Here's a heretical thought.

What if Yokuni isn't actually Togashi, Shiba isn't actually spending eternity in a sword, and Fu Leng isn't actually Fu Leng. What if it's Togashi's first child (who later produces Hoshi), just a rather intelligent nemuranai, and Fu Leng's offspring with that one samurai chick who fell so hard for him she became the demon bride of Fufu? What if the Kami just fucked off when they realised what absolute shits the faithful Yobanjin were in the dawning empire, leaving their children, servants, etc to pretend they weren't blatantly abandoned by their gods? What if Doji wasn't mistaken when she believed herself to be the last Kami in Rokugan, and threw herself off a cliff?

What's this heretical magic the Unicorns do that worries the Phoenix? Is it just normal magic but they hate Mongol gaijin?

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>>54582757
Moto have Death Priests that worship Mongols gods of deaths.

Probably that

>>54581159
Given that the fate of most of the kami was known I'm inclined to argue it is probably weirder still than them just leaving. Maybe some divine mirroring or maybe they were split into fragments as they rained down

>>54583603
Also revisionist history aside the Kami are also known to be found and reachable in Tengoku. Rokugan may not be the cosmological center of the universe (unless of course it is) but I think the parallels with the founding of the Yodotai are weirder than just the Kami fucking off elsewhere after the First War.

>>54583636
It might be one of those things where the Rokugani SEE it as Tegoku, but because it's not a real physical place it's just sort of how it looks to them.
Like the old "three blind men and an elephant" metaphor; just because they're both right doesn't necessarily mean that either is wrong.

>>54583603
>Given that the fate of most of the kami was known I'm inclined to argue it is probably weirder still than them just leaving
That would be revision at work. Also, they are immortal children of the sun & moon who only had mortality thrust upon them by their presence in Ningen-do. Mortal death isn't an end for them.

>>54583636
>revisionist history aside the Kami are also known to be found and reachable in Tengoku
Time operates weirdly and without notable consistency between realms. If you accidentally travel through a gateway between realms three times there and back, you're just as likely to find the time on either side unchanged, advanced, or reversed compared to your other journeys.

>>54582944
The Shien Ten Yen-Wang have not been introduced to Rokugan at the point in the timeline that nu-L5R is starting. They were not worshipped by the Unicorn until after the Spirit Wars when Chags, Chen, and the Akasha made a deal with them for Geheris' soul.

>>54582757
It is likely just Meishodo, the amulet based magic the Unicorn developed while outside of Rokugan.

>>54582757
>What's this heretical magic the Unicorns do that worries the Phoenix?
The Phoenix are more concerned over spiritual corruption. The Moto weren't happy with the Phoenix attempt to help.

To be fair, it's not an unreasonable concern on the Phoenix's part. In 1E, Iuchi shugenja were more secretive than others, because Scorpion fuckery had forced them to reveal one of their secret clan spells a long time back and because meishodo specialists were 'cut off' from Rokugan's energies (they had a harder time casting spells from regular spell scrolls, and couldn't use the basic Sense/Commune/Summon spells), so the metaphysical implications were pretty disadvantageous.

>>54587606
>To be fair, it's not an unreasonable concern on the Phoenix's part
It's completely reasonable. The problem is that the Isawa are arrogant assholes even at the best of times, and that's rarely a good look when you're coming to insult the fuck out of someone's ancestors - while telling them you can fix the problem (they're not even convinced exists) better than they could.

>>54587954
This gets more hilarious considering what the Asako are up to at this moment in history.

Anyone here remember Ishigaki's story?

>>54588241
Fuck off attention whore, your time is over.

>>54588328
Found the one fag who kept shitflinging.

>>54588241
I remember it, but don't think it should be brought up here since it just ended.
At least until pdf anon drops the edited story time. No clue how much longer that will be though.

>>54588241
Not really. I'm always hit or miss with /l5r/ stories from this board. I remember lone horse and colt though

>>54588047
The Path of Man was Shiba's gift to them

What kind of music, if any, do you use when playing L5R (card or RP games)?

Currently use random stuff on youtube, and Whispered for the combat against sinister enough foes, but just curious if there's other things my group could be hearing

>>54588241

How could I forget?

Though agreeing with >>54588419
We should wait any further discussion until librari-anon comes back with the finished .pdf

Or if Ishigaki himself comes back with more storytime for his other characters

Meantime, enjoying my monk replacement having out-tricked a trickster spirit

>>54589409
Yoshida Brothers

>>54589409
Osamu kitajima

GM in the OOC channel: "It is omiai time."

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For those of you who were following Crane-san's story in the Stonewall L5R story threads, this is Togashi-san and in the campaign SHIT IS HITTING THE FAN

>>54593950
sounds a lot more fun than what is currently going on

>>54594129
Is right, shit is hitting the fan

Maho-using drug zombies filling Second City
An insanely huge army of Lying Darkness zombies arriving soon at dawn
And most of the high-level shugenjas in the city murdered by Kokujin Kuchika (thanks to Togashi-san's "Dark Fate") while trying to warn the capital

It's rare sight indeed for a monk to pick up their old samurai name again

>>54594129
Did she grow her hair like that specifically to walk around topless in a PG-13 environment?

>>54595464
Drawfag made it for me, and no nipples in TG so yeah.

>>54595464
>>54595518
>>54594129
AND she just died
RIP Togashi-san

THE FEELS

>>54595609
and my replacement followed soon after

TPK imminent

>>54595609
F

>>54595728
F to you too

>>54595728
>>54595609
Did the GM underestimate his encounter or did you go in half cocked by accident?

>>54596043
TPK scenario, which, btw, just finished

Basically, AEG storyline kinda happened with some details differently, one major difference being that Kanpeki leading the Spider invasion into the Colonies instead of the Empire, basically creating his own Kingdom rather than trying to usurp the throne (due to our actions positively influencing the Spider Clan)

And we were the heroes trying to defend Second City from about 20 legions worth of zombies, maho-tsukai, and oni, led by Kanpeki

It was a fight-or-flee scenario, where fighting meant dying and losing, just buying time for the citizens to flee, and we decided to fight, knowing our fate

Except our Daidoji

Who betrayed us

Although might try a double-agent thing

Currently listening to campaign epilogue, and planning for the follow-up campaign, retribution, vengeance, and justice will be had

If I wanted a shugenja to know some jiujutsu for defending themselves is there anything better to represent that other than just buying the ranks?

anyone else feel the crane cards spoiled so far are incredibly overpowered? they lock down everything at a low cost and there's little you can do to answer it at this point.

>>54596393
What clan / family, what's their personality like, any other pertinent details than "shugenja martial artist"?

>>54596752
Possibly an Isawa, given some extra time during studies to pursue an interest and the sensei approved of it as a good way to meditate. I wanted something I could pull out that would take people by surprise both physically and from a character standpoint (this being a person you wouldn't expect it from from appearance). There's that crane martial art, mizu-do, which is sort of the idea but it's kind of out of reach for this character.

How would you make Lu Bu in Legend of the Five Rings RPG?

>>54596642
I don't know about incredibly overpowered, but it makes sense that they'd be doing well in proxied games because they have a straightforward playstyle and one of the most completely spoiled card pools.

>>54597043
Would probably get Executed for Dishonorable acts... ..and maybe putting up a fight and killing 20 before he goes down.

No wait, least 100 to a thousand.

>>54597272

i mean their only real weakness is lion swarm so far. their easy access to bow mechanics makes them a problem for anything that isn't trying to fill the battlefield with trash.

>>54596752
>>54597348
I'm curious, have you actually played the game or is this coming from just first impressions? In gameplay, at least right now, Crane feel a little on the weak side; they're not as bad as the Crab are, but they struggle against Dragon and Lion.

>>54596882
Isawa, eh? What element were you thinking of focusing on? Strength is really the bread and butter of grappling-based Jiujutsu, and a Water Shugenja will typically have it in spades. Visually it's typically pretty surprising, since at high Traits your abilities aren't wholly physical and you don't need big muscles for the water kami to support your efforts, but lore-wise, people with a modicum of philosophy both in and out of character will know that high Water means high Strength.

For a striking-focused Jiujutsu practitioner, Fire shugenja have a lot of Agility, which makes you connect more reliably, and you can take the Hands of Stone advantage to hit harder.

In either case, you'll definitely want to boost at least a little of whichever of Agility or Strength you don't focus on, and a high Void is important-- for any shugenja generally, and so you can take advantage of your good stats to call useful raises on your Jiujutsu rolls.

Whichever you go for, you should also suggest to your GM that they consider the expanded grappling rules in the Book of Earth.

>>54597397

yes i've played several games as them and against them. i already said they struggle against lion, but i'm going to disagree on dragon. it's honestly about even. phoenix and crab stand no chance without a nuts opening.

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>>54597514
I find this interesting. In my experience the Crane vs. Dragon matchup is very heavily slanted towards Dragon, even moreso than Crane's matchup against Lion. And Dragon, in particular, is still the frontrunner for strongest faction, although Lion are nipping at their heels now that Charge and Rout and Court Games have been shown.

Also, new spoiler. Good shit, too.

>>54594220

The GM finally relented and ceased channeling John Wick. I think.

>>54597401
I thinking of making an ishiken-do actually (which is why I picked Isawa so I can actually use the spells) but I haven't really decided what other rings I want to boost and in what order but I like the idea of grapples and throws more than punching. I'll also talk to him about those expanded rules.

>>54597555

yeah it could be the playstyle of my usual opponent. he tends to play too conservatively but it feels like i always have an answer in hand when i'm playing crane.

>>54596882
In theory you could ally yourself with a Brotherhood sensei and learn the technique of Kaze-do at rank 2, but it's virtually unheard of for it to be taught to clan samurai, and its doubtful your Isawa sensei would approve.

>>54597043
Maho Bujin.

>>54597611
>I thinking of making an ishiken-do actually
Ishi is the practitioner. Ishika if you're a student. Ishiken if you're a master.

I'd suggest learning one of the elemental weapon spells instead.

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Okay, so after the current campaign, my GM is thinking about running a campaign that's more fight-centric than the current one. So I'm going over some ideas for what to play, and I thought I'd ask you guys for help.

Right now, I'm thinking I really want to play a character who sort of develops into a sword saint. Not the Lion school kind of sword saint, but the kind that's a genius with a sword, someone who'd probably be remembered long after he's dead, maybe even develop new techniques that become a whole new school of swordsmanship. I'm thinking the kind of style he'd use would be something kind of zen-y, focused on remaining perfectly calm and reading your opponent to the point where you can predict his moves before he even makes them. Problem is, I have -no- idea what kind of school he should start with, since the idea is that he branches out towards his own sort of style later.

I'm almost thinking the kakita would do it, since I imagine reading your opponent would make the style very good at duels, but the sort of zen aspect smells of the Dragon, so a Mirumoto might be appropriate too. But then, there might be some minor clan school I'm not aware of that could easily lead into that, and I'm also thinking him being a ronin would sort of make sense. Any suggestions? And while I'm at it, any advantages that might go hand-in-hand for a character's it's that sort of theme and goal?

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Dunno if it counts for you guys, but I have a couple of links for the old L5R CCG content, specifically "Print and Play" PDFs for Ivory Edition stuff, along with rulebooks for the main game, and for "Matter of Honor"
https://pastebin.com/VQ8jLBdh
It's merely for those who want to know about the game before FFG got it.

>>54599434
Mirumoto Taoist Swordsman gets some neat tricks that might suit you. If you aren't interested in grappling, though, Rank 2 might be a good place to invent your own technique, especially if you want to include something useful for duelling.

>>54599434
>Not the Lion school kind of sword saint, but the kind that's a genius with a sword
So not the kind that's amazing with a sword, but the kind that's amazing with a sword?

If I were to get started with the CCG, is there much better I can do than with the Ivory Edition starter? Where do I go after that? My girlfriend prefers really long games and Wikipedia said some games can last hours. What sort of decks would make a game go on that long?