The ''Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game'' is a

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

originally written by

John Wick ''John Wick'' is an American action thriller media franchise created by Derek Kolstad and centering around John Wick, a former hitman who is forced back into the criminal underworld he had abandoned. The franchise began with the release of ''J ...

and published by

Alderac Entertainment Group Alderac Entertainment Group, or AEG, is a publisher of role-playing game, board game, and collectible card game products. AEG was formed by Jolly Blackburn in 1993 and is based in the city of Ontario, California. Prior to getting into their cur ...

, under license from

Five Rings Publishing Group The Five Rings Publishing Group (FRPG) was formed as a spin-out of Alderac Entertainment Group and ISOMEDIA. History In 1996, Alderac Entertainment Group (AEG) and ISOMEDIA divested themselves of their joint operating venture, and created Five Rin ...

, in 1997. The game uses the

Legend of the Five Rings Legend of the Five Rings (often abbreviated ''L5R'') is a fictional setting created by John Zinser, Dave Seay, Ryan Dancey, Dave Williams, DJ Trindle, Matt Wilson and John Wick and first published by a joint venture between Alderac Entertai ...

setting, primarily the nation of

Rokugan Legend of the Five Rings (often abbreviated ''L5R'') is a fictional setting created by John Zinser, Dave Seay, Ryan Dancey, Dave Williams, DJ Trindle, Matt Wilson (artist), Matt Wilson and John Wick (role-playing game designer), John Wick and ...

, which is based on

feudal Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a wa ...

Japan with influences from other East Asian cultures. Like most role-playing games, ''Legend of the Five Rings'' is played by one or more players and a

game master A gamemaster (GM; also known as game master, game manager, game moderator, referee, or storyteller) is a person who acts as an organizer, officiant for regarding rules, arbitrator, and moderator for a multiplayer role-playing game. They are ...

, who controls the events that happen during the game as well as the

non-player characters A non-player character (NPC), or non-playable character, is any character in a game that is not controlled by a player. The term originated in traditional tabletop role-playing games where it applies to characters controlled by the gamemaster o ...

(NPCs). ''Legend of the Five Rings'' features many

courtiers A courtier () is a person who attends the royal court of a monarch or other royalty. The earliest historical examples of courtiers were part of the retinues of rulers. Historically the court was the centre of government as well as the official ...

and other

non-combatant Non-combatant is a term of art in the law of war and international humanitarian law to refer to civilians who are not taking a direct part in hostilities; persons, such as combat medics and military chaplains, who are members of the belligerent ...

character types as valid player characters. In September 2015, AEG and

Fantasy Flight Games Fantasy Flight Games (FFG) is a game company based in Roseville, Minnesota, United States, that creates and publishes role-playing, board, card, and dice games. As of 2014, it is a subsidiary of Asmodée Éditions. History Fantasy Flight Publish ...

(FFG) jointly announced that the intellectual property had been sold to FFG. Fantasy Flight Games released a new role-playing game based on the ''Legend of the Five Rings'' setting in October, 2018.

Setting

The

fictional setting Fictional locations are places that exist only in fiction and not in reality, such as the Dark Kingdom, Negaverse or Planet X. Writers may create and describe such places to serve as backdrop for their fictional works. Fictional locations are als ...

of ''Legend of the Five Rings'' is similar to

Japan, though it also includes aspects of other Asian cultures, as well as

magic Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...

and

myth Myth is a folklore genre consisting of Narrative, narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or Origin myth, origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not Objectivity (philosophy), ...

ical beasts. There is no given name for the entire world which the setting describes, so "Rokugan" is used alternately to refer to the specific nation within the setting or to refer to the entire world. Rokugani society is based on a

clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning ...

structure, with seven (and later eight) so-called "Great Clans", as well as a number of minor clans. Great Clans are made up of several family lines, each with their own general purpose within the clan. Minor clans generally only have one family. Each clan also has areas of land bequeathed by the emperor under their control. The emperor retains ownership of all lands, however, and the clans essentially rent the lands by paying annual taxes.

System

The game system of ''Legend of the Five Rings'' uses 10-sided dice exclusively. Usually, when a die is rolled and the result is 10 (normally marked '0' on the die), the die is said to "explode". In this situation, the player rolls again and the new result is added to the original result. If this second result is a 10, the player rolls a third time, totaling all three results. This process is repeated until the player rolls something other than 10. The second edition and most books made for it were written to work both with this system and with D20 rules as presented in the Oriental Adventures D&D setting; this was discontinued after 3rd edition was published.

Roll & Keep

The mechanic for which the game is most widely known is the "Roll & Keep" system, designed by Dave Williams and

. When dice are rolled, there are two quantities given: a number of dice to be rolled and a number of dice to be "kept". The totals of the kept dice are added together, giving the player the total sum for his or her roll. For example, if a roll called for five dice to be rolled and three kept (said simply "five keep three" or written "5k3"), five dice would be rolled. Out of those five, the player would choose three (generally, but not necessarily, the player would choose the three with the highest values) whose values would be added together for the total value of the roll.

Rings

''Legend of the Five Rings'' uses eight traits: Stamina, Willpower,

Strength Strength may refer to: Physical strength *Physical strength, as in people or animals * Hysterical strength, extreme strength occurring when people are in life-and-death situations *Superhuman strength, great physical strength far above human c ...

Perception Perception () is the organization, identification, and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the presented information or environment. All perception involves signals that go through the nervous system ...

Agility Agility or nimbleness is an ability to change the body's list of human positions, position quickly and requires the integration of isolated movement skills using a combination of balance (ability), balance, coordination (physiology), coordination ...

Intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. More generally, it can b ...

Reflexes In biology, a reflex, or reflex action, is an involuntary, unplanned sequence or action and nearly instantaneous response to a Stimulus (physiology), stimulus. Reflexes are found with varying levels of complexity in organisms with a nervous s ...

, and

Awareness Awareness is the state of being conscious of something. More specifically, it is the ability to directly know and perceive, to feel, or to be cognizant of events. Another definition describes it as a state wherein a subject is aware of some inform ...

. The Traits are grouped into pairs associated with four elemental "Rings" (respectively to above): Earth, Water, Fire and Air. The four Rings represent a limitation in character development, because in order for a character to advance, the level of his Rings must increase, and to increase a character's Rings, both of the Ring's associated Traits must increase. There is a fifth Ring, called

Void Void may refer to: Science, engineering, and technology * Void (astronomy), the spaces between galaxy filaments that contain no galaxies * Void (composites), a pore that remains unoccupied in a composite material * Void, synonym for vacuum, a ...

. This ring, like the other four, is taken from

Miyamoto Musashi , also known as Shinmen Takezō, Miyamoto Bennosuke or, by his Buddhist name, Niten Dōraku, was a Japanese swordsman, philosopher, strategist, writer and rōnin, who became renowned through stories of his unique double-bladed swordsmanship a ...

's ''

The Book of Five Rings is a text on ''kenjutsu'' and the martial arts in general, written by the Japanese swordsman Miyamoto Musashi around 1645. Many translations have been made, and it enjoys an audience considerably broader than other martial artists and people ac ...

''. In the game, Void represents a character's inner strength, and its use allows a character to perform extraordinary actions, or to perform normal actions more efficiently.

Character creation

There are primarily two methods of creating characters in role-playing games: to roll dice to randomly generate attributes or to begin with a set number of points and a formula by which attributes can be purchased with these points. ''Legend of the Five Rings'' uses the latter method. Each new character begins with 40 "Character Points" to spend to create the character (except for ronin characters, which begin with 55). These points are spent to raise the level of the character's Traits and Void Ring, to raise the level of the character's skills, and to purchase new skills. In previous versions of the game, characters started with 30 points, or 45 for ronin. These points may also be used to purchase ''Advantages'', which give the character some extra bonus or ability that is designed to help in certain situations (such as "Large", which increases the damage a character can inflict, or "Social Position", which increases that character's standing in the courts of the land). Conversely, if a player so chooses, he can select a number of Disadvantages for his character, which give extra Character Points to spend in other areas, but imposes some penalty on the character during play (such as "Small", which decreases the damage the character can inflict with certain weapons, or "Bad Reputation", which causes a great number of NPCs to dislike the character). As of 5th edition, characters are created using a 20 question system, with each question determining skill, social, and ring stats.

Lethality

The ''Legend of the Five Rings Role-Playing Game'' is renowned for its lethality. Players who charge into combat unaware will often find their characters killed in the first session. Proper role-playing is encouraged to avoid combat when unnecessary, but the characters do have requisite abilities to survive if combat is forced in the early stages.

''Oriental Adventures''

Oriental Adventures ''Oriental Adventures'' (abbreviated OA) is the title shared by two hardback rulebooks published for different versions of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy roleplaying game. Each version of ''Oriental Adventures'' provides rules for ...

'' was published originally in 1985 by

TSR, Inc. TSR, Inc. was an American game publishing company, best known as the original publisher of ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D''). Its earliest incarnation, Tactical Studies Rules, was founded in October 1973 by Gary Gygax and Don Kaye. Gygax had bee ...

as an expansion for ''

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Several different editions of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy role-playing game have been produced since 1974. The current publisher of ''D&D'', Wizards of the Coast, produces new materials only for the most current edition of the ga ...

'' and was set in a land called Kara-Tur. In 2001,

Wizards of the Coast Wizards of the Coast LLC (often referred to as WotC or simply Wizards) is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and List of science fiction themes, science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for ga ...

released a new edition of ''Oriental Adventures'' as an expansion for the third edition of ''

Dungeons & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical Studies Rules ...

''. It was decided to make this new version of ''Oriental Adventures'' a showcase for their recently acquired ''Legend of the Five Rings'' property. An official (but not 100% comprehensive) update of ''Oriental Adventures'' to the v.3.5 rules can be found in ''Dragon Magazine'' #318 (April 2004), pp. 32–48. For the entirety of its Second Edition, with the exception of the ''Player's Guide'', ''Game Master's Guide'', ''Way of the Shadowlands'', ''Winter Court: Kyuden Asako'', and ''Time of the Void'', books published for the Legend of the Five Rings RPG had two different sets of game mechanics: the mechanics from the ''Legend of the Five Rings Second Edition Player's Guide'' and corresponding mechanics for d20 System, such as those presented in ''Oriental Adventures''. Beginning with the Third Edition of the Legend of the Five Rings Role-Playing Game, and because of the lack of availability of the now out of print ''Oriental Adventures'', the d20 System rules have been dropped from current Legend of the Five Rings Role-Playing Game books.

Books

Listed by AEG reference number in parentheses followed by title

First Edition (AEG)

*(3001) Legend of the Five Rings – Roleplaying in the Emerald Empire (first edition core rule book) *(3002) Game Master's Pack: The Hare Clan *(3003) Way of the Dragon (Way of the Clans: Book One) *(3004) City of Lies box set (L-1 City of Lies) *(3005) Way of the Unicorn (Way of the Clans: Book Two) *(3006) Book of the Shadowlands *(3007) Way of the Crab (Way of the Clans: Book Three) *(3008) The Way of the Scorpion (Way of the Clans: Book Five) *(3009) Way of the Crane (Way of the Clans: Book Four) *(3010) Way of the Lion (Way of the Clans: Book Six) *(3011) Walking the Way: The Lost Spells of Rokugan *(3012) Tomb of Iuchiban box set (S-1 Shadowlands Series) *(3013) Way of Shadow *(3014) Way of the Naga (Way of the Clans: Book Eight) *(3015) Game Master's Survival Guide *(3016) Winter Court: Kyuden Seppun *(3017)

The Way of the Phoenix ''The Way of the Phoenix'' is a 1998 role-playing game supplement for ''Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game'' published by Alderac Entertainment Group. Contents ''The Way of the Phoenix'' is a supplement in which new spell rules are includ ...

(Way of the Clans: Book Seven) *(3018) Unexpected Allies *(3019) Bearers of Jade: The Second Book of the Shadowlands *(3020) Otosan Uchi: The Imperial City box set (O-1 The Imperial City) *(3021) Way of the Minor Clans (Way of the Clans: Book Nine) *(3022) Game Master's Pack (Revised): The Silence Within Sound *(3023) Merchant's Guide to Rokugan *(3024) Winter Court: Kyuden Kakita *(3025) Way of the Wolf (Way of the Clans: Book Ten) *(3028) Way of Shinsei (Way of the Clans: Book Eleven) *(4001) Honor's Veil (I-1 Intrigue Series) *(4002) Night of a Thousand Screams (L-2 City of Lies) *(4003) Code of Bushido (B-1 Bushido Series) *(4004) Twilight Honor (S-2 Shadowlands Series) *(4005) Midnight's Blood (M-1 High Magic Series) *(4006) Legacy of the Forge (B-2 Bushido Series) *(4007) Void in the Heavens (M-2 High Magic Series) *(4008) Lesser of Two Evils (S-3 Shadowlands Series) *(4500) Character Travelogue: Crab *(4501) Character Travelogue: Crane *(4502) Character Travelogue: Dragon *(4503) Character Travelogue: Lion *(4504) Character Travelogue: Phoenix *(4505) Character Travelogue: Ronin *(4506) Character Travelogue: Scorpion *(4507) Character Travelogue: Unicorn

Second Edition (AEG)

*(3101) Legend of the Five Rings – Player's Guide (second edition core rules) *(3102) Legend of the Five Rings – Game Master's Guide (second edition core rules) *(3030) Way of the Shadowlands * *(3030) Winter Court: Kyuden Asako *(both marked 3030, there is no 3031) *(3032) Way of the Ratling *(3033) Time of the Void *(4009) Bells of the Dead *(4010) Mimura: The Village of Promises ( d20 System) (Oriental Adventures) *(3103) Rokugan – Oriental Adventures Campaign Setting ( d20 System) *(3104) Creatures of Rokugan ( d20 System) *(3105) Magic of Rokugan ( d20 System) *(3106) Way of the Samurai ( d20 System) *(3107) Way of the Ninja ( d20 System) *(3108) Way of the Shugenja ( d20 System) *(3109) Fortunes & Winds ( d20 System) *(3026) Secrets of the Lion ( d20 System) *(3027) Secrets of the Scorpion ( d20 System) *(3029) Secrets of the Unicorn ( d20 System) *(3034) Secrets of the Mantis ( d20 System) *(3035) Secrets of the Phoenix ( d20 System) *(3036) Secrets of the Crab ( d20 System) *(3037) Secrets of the Crane ( d20 System) *(3038) Secrets of the Dragon ( d20 System) *(3039) Secrets of the Shadowlands ( d20 System) *(3041) Legend of the Five Rings Live-Action Roleplaying ( d20 System) *(3042) Way of the Open Hand ( d20 System) *(3043) Way of the Daimyo ( d20 System) *(3044) Way of the Thief ( d20 System) *(3046) Complete Exotic Arms Guide ( d20 System) *(3047) The Hidden Emperor ( d20 System)

Non-AEG second edition compatible books

*(WTC 12015) Oriental Adventures ( d20 System) *(PCI 2101) Bloodspeakers ( d20 System)

Third Edition (AEG)

*(3200) Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game Third Edition *(3200) Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game Third Edition Revised *(3201) The Four Winds: The Toturi Dynasty from Gold to Lotus *(3202) Creatures of Rokugan *(3203) Art of the Duel *(3204) Emerald Empire: The Legend of the Five Rings Companion *(3205) Masters of War *(3206) Prayers and Treasures *(3207) Masters of Court *(3208) Legend of the Burning Sands Roleplaying Game *(3209) Masters of Magic *(3210) Fealty and Freedom *(3211) The Vacant Throne

Fourth Edition (AEG)

*(3300) Legend of the Five Rings – 4th Edition (core rules) *(3301) Legacy of Disaster *(3302) Game Master's Screen and Adventure (Descent into Darkness) *(3303) Strongholds of the Empire *(3304) Enemies of the Empire *(3305) Emerald Empire *(3306) The Great Clans *(3307) Imperial Histories *(3308) The Book of Air *(3309) Second City box set *(3310) The Book of Earth *(3311) Imperial Histories 2 *(3312) The Book of Fire *(3313) Naishou Province *(3314) Secrets of the Empire *(3315) The Book of Water *(3316) Sword and Fan *(3317) Book of the Void *(3318) Atlas of Rokugan *Unexpected Allies 2 (pdf and print-on-demand) *The Imperial Archives (pdf and print-on-demand)

Fifth Edition (FFG)

*Beginner Game with ''The Topaz Championship'' (adventure, completed by ''In The Palace of the Emerald Champion'' adventure and 3 more pre-generated characters, pdf) *Core Rulebook * Game Master's Kit with ''Dark Tides'' (adventure, completed by ''The Mantis Clan'' sourcebook, pdf) *Emerald Empire (sourcebook) *Wedding At Kyotei Castle (2018

Gen Con Gen Con is the largest tabletop game convention in North America by both attendance and number of events. It features traditional pen-and-paper, board, and card games, including role-playing games, miniatures wargames, live action role-playing ...

adventure, pdf) *Shadowlands (sourcebook) *Mask of the Oni (adventure, completed by ''The Knotted Tails'' supplemental storyline, pdf) *Courts of Stone (sourcebook) *Winter's Embrace (adventure, completed by ''The Scroll or the Blade'' supplemental adventure, pdf) *Path of Waves (sourcebook) *Sins of Regret (adventure, completed by ''Cresting Waves'' supplemental encounters, pdf) *The Highwayman (2019 Gen Con adventure, pdf) *Celestial Realms (sourcebook) *Wheel of Judgement (adventure, completed by ''Deathly Turns'' supplemental encounters, pdf) *Fields of Victory (sourcebook) *Blood of the Lioness (adventure, completed by "Legacies of War" supplemental content, pdf) *Writ of the Wilds (sourcebook) *Imperfect Land (adventure, pdf only)

Reception

The reviewer from the online second volume of ''

Pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...

'' stated that "I have a great deal of nostalgia for FGU's classic game ''Bushido'', and ''Legend of the Five Rings'' captures much of ''Bushidos Oriental swords & sorcery feel, with, thankfully, ''much'' more comprehensible rules." In 1998, ''Legend of the Five Rings'' won the

Origins Award The Origins Awards are American awards for outstanding work in the game industry. They are presented by the Academy of Adventure Gaming Arts and Design at the Origins Game Fair on an annual basis for the previous year, so (for example) the 1979 aw ...

for ''Best Roleplaying Game of 1997''. ''Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game'' won the 2006 Gold

Ennie Award The ENNIE Awards (previously stylized as ENnie Awards) are awards for role-playing game (RPG) products (including game-related accessories, publications, and art) and their creators. The awards were created in 2001 by Russ Morrissey of EN World ...

for "Best Interior Art".

Reviews

*''Backstab'' #4 *''Backstab'' #12

References

External links

* {{RPG systems Alderac Entertainment Group games ENnies winners Fantasy role-playing games Legend of the Five Rings Martial arts role-playing games Origins Award winners Role-playing game systems Role-playing games introduced in 1997