The L5R 4e Resource Guide: Winter Court: Kyuden Kakita & Way of the Wolf

THE L5R 4E RESOURCE GUIDE
The set-up of the new 4e L5R more easily allows the use of materials from earlier editions and eras. That raises the questions: which of these products should an L5R 4e GM bother picking up? Which of them offer new insights into the pre-Clan War period (and beyond)? Which of them offer more universally useful setting material? This series aims to answer those questions. Note that I leave aside any and all mechanical material and questions for purposes of these reviews.

WINTER COURT: KYUDEN KAKITA
The second volume of the Winter Court series, this takes place two years after the Scorpion Clan Coup. Where the previous volume had fiction drawn from the past and a generic presentation of the Seppun’s event, this volume is much more specific. It takes place in the middle of many intrigues following the Coup, and the Court season of the Kakita is heavily referenced. There’s some fiction and the first person narrative comes from Doji Ameiko, wife to the Crane Clan Champion. The Court’s overseen by a sick and weakened Emperor, who is slowly being poisoned by his new wife, Bayushi Kachiko. In fact the opening fiction depicts that creepily- the venomous cougar hovering over the teenaged Hantei.

There’s another small oddness in the presentation. The cover art, while striking, seems to depict a Scorpion Shugenja in a contest of magical illusion at the Court. This is despite the book's clear statement that only a handful of Scorpion remain openly alive, none of whom are Shugenja at Court. It is a pretty cover by Cris Dornaus who also did some of the better interior artwork. The rest is merely serviceable. The 128-page volume is broken into four major sections, plus the brief introduction. It dispense with sidebars in favor of a wider two-column text design.

Dawn (12-35) This set sets the “grab bag” tone of these chapters. It opens with a short vignette suggesting the growing tensions between the Clans. Campaigns in Ancient Rokugan: In a precursor to the ideas presented in Imperial Histories, this suggests how games might be run in Rokugan’s past. Natural Disasters: An excellent section presenting the kinds of cataclysms which visit the land- from earthquakes to fires to plagues. Talks about what those involve and how PCs might be called to deal with them or provide assistance in their wake. A good source of some really interesting scenarios. The Miya Family: The Miya appeared in detail in the previous Winter Court volume. This is a more extensive treatment of them. Ronin: A long section on what it means to be a ronin and the various details of their life. There’s some discussion of what their role might be at Court. However this seems a little out of place- moreso because The Way of the Wolf comes out shortly after this volume.

Afternoon (36-53) Life in Rokugan: This offers typical daily timetables for the different classes. Considers the different roles within a class (samurai, Shugenja, courtier). It is a nice resource for giving players a sense of what they actually ‘do’ day-to-day. Apprenticeship and Gempukku: The Way of the Clans books touched on these issues to varying degrees. This considers what kinds of duties young samurai might have to undertake. Art and Culture: Discusses several different concrete forms, with some nice illustrations of armor types.

Night (54-95) Visiting Customs in Rokugan: A good set of guidelines, and details which the GM can easily put to use at the table. Court Intrigue: An odd couple of pages with rumors, sample characters and a truly hideous illustration. Entertainment: Seven pages of the kinds of things people do at Court for fun. Any of these- from Sumai to Fireworks- could be used to add color to a scene. It can also draw players into low-stakes competitions. Ghosts: And we jump from that to a few pages on ghosts. I’d like to see more of this. Some of the ideas have been alluded to in the Way of the Minor Clans and Bearers of Jade. But given the importance of ghost stories in Japanese folklore- and the different way they operate- they need more discussion. Shadowlands Taint in Rokugani Society: Echoes again some of the ideas from Bearers of Jade. This moves beyond the Crab’s treatment of it however. Astrological Events, etc: Several sections, covering seven pages talk about what has happened over the last two years. This includes status at Court and details on the plans of the Hidden Scorpion. The Ikoma Histories: The listing of the first ten Hantei, and notes on the related Imperial families (like the Seppun). A Passage of Time: A five page timeline of major events on history. Great Battles of the Past: Just what it says, done in five pages. Most of these were presented in the various Way of the Clans books, so this feels more than a little repetitious. In fact this kind of detail and history, while interesting, seems like minutiae for minutiae's sake. How about some more relevant material for the GM?

Epilogue (96-127): The more mechanical and stat oriented section of the book. Offers new skills, advantages, and disadvantages (increasing the already overwhelming number of these in the game). The Miya Shisha (Herald) and Emerald Magistrate schools are described. More usefully for 4e gamers looking to run in this era are the ten Courtly NPCs. These are given shorter descriptions than in other sourcebooks. There’s also three pages of Imperial nemuranai. The book wraps up with a brief overview of each of the districts of Otosan Uchi, updating the boxed set to current events. This is interesting, but niche information.

OVERALL
Many topics, short treatments. Several of the subjects dealt with could easily have supported twice the space given to it. In several cases, there’s just enough to get interesting and then it stops. I'm sympathetic to the grab bag approach. If there was an L5R RPG magazine, I can see these articles appearing together and making some sense. But the framework of the Winter Court, while interesting, makes some pieces seem out of place. There's also a point at which I hit saturation on background material which doesn't have all that much bearing for the game. The umpteenth time I have to read through pages of famous battles (many repeated) feels like filler rather than significant. World building and information needs to be purposeful- just because you've made up some detail doesn't mean it is necessarily relevant for GMs or players.

Much of this material has been synthesized and appears in a tighter form in current L5R 4e supplements. There are a few things which have longer treatment (like the disasters) which might be of interest for GMs of different eras. Otherwise it is most useful for GMs planning to run post Scorpion Clan Coup campaigns in the First Core setting.

THE WAY OF THE WOLF
One of the ironies of the Legend of the Five Rings set-up is that it focuses on PCs in service to a daimyo and tied to clan. At the very least the players serve an institution, such as the office of the Emerald Magistrates. Yet the most iconic samurai characters are ronin or masterless. The Seven Samurai, Usagi Yojimbo, Zatoichi, Lone Wolf, Sanjuro, Himura Kenshin and many, many more. Even in films where the protagonists serve a daimyo or abide by the rules, things end up badly for them or the institution is shown to be corrupt: Samurai Rebellion, 47 Ronin, Kagemusha, Taboo, and Sanso the Bailiff for example. Classical Japanese tales don’t necessarily follow this pattern, but most modern depictions have an anti-authoritarian or individual freedom streak to them, from novels to movies to anime to comic books.

But L5R in the core book and some of the earlier supplements tries to disabuse players of these notions. Certainly John Wick’s voice can be heard there. He presents his case even more strongly in Blood & Honor, which effectively says you can play a Ronin if you’re seriously ready to play a despised homeless guy.

My experiences with Ronin in L5R haven’t been good. There are some disadvantages in games I called “GM Chicken” disads. These offer decent points or bonuses, but with significant and damming downsides. When a player takes one of these, the GM’s faced with the choice of enforcing and bringing it up consistently or letting it slide somewhat. The former can mean making the experience awful for the player. Alternately, depending on the disad it can drag the group down seizing the focus or making the other PCs deal with the fallout from it. On the other hand, the latter approach gives the player the advantages without the costs- in this case freedoms from obligations. There’s the potential for even more friction in the group from that. I’m not saying this happens all the time- but I’ve certainly run for players who factor this into their decision-making. It means that the GM has to think especially carefully about them and give them to the right player. The PC who is going take every opportunity to mock the stuck up samurai will wear out his welcome quickly. The player who choose as ronin because they clear don’t get the setting is an equal recipe for disaster.

That may explain why The Way of the Wolf comes late in the L5R line- and why the book goes to lengths to make the ronin into their own clan- with senses of honor, obligations, and bonds. It follows the traditional structure of the rest of the Way of the Clans volumes. It is a 128-page perfect bound softcover, with classic L5R two column plus sidebar layout. Carl Frank gives a solid cover with iconic figures. The interior art’s not so good, with some pieces looking really rushed. The book has five chapters, plus four appendices. Character three is character mechanics as usual; chapter five offers character templates which could easily be used for NPCs.

There’s a brief prologue fiction which as much as anything sets up the backdrop of this period. Following the Scorpion Clan Coup more ronin operate in Rokugan- some dispossessed and others choosing this path. Chapter one provides eight pages of various viewpoints on the ronin. That’s important and complicated. Ronin in Japanese history shifted in role and position over time- with the late period and the ending of traditional roles clashing with the samurai ethos. There’s a reason so many of the ronin-based sagas take place in this period. Since L5R echoes that source material but doesn’t follow it, they have to make clear those social roles. The chapter also has sidebars reemphasizing the benefits and drawbacks to being a ronin. Chapter two charts a history of the “Wave Men.” More importantly it offers different origins and roles for different ronin. It also establishes different families of ronin, many of which appear in the later 3e and 4e rules. The Yotsu appear, but relevantly we see Toturi’s connection to them. This is a crucial shift in the setting, preparing for the Second Day of Thunder arc. There’s, of course, extensive notes on famous battles of the ronin- color material with less use at the table. Chapter Four presents write ups of famous ronin of the First Core period- most of whom are key iconic characters: Toturi, Dairya, Ginawa, Toku, etc. Some of these characters already appeared elsewhere, especially in the recent Unexpected Allies, so that’s a little odd.

The first appendix has general advice on how to survive as a ronin. It also considers the reaction of each of the great clans to ronin. There’s some additional good material on daily lives for these characters. There’s a brief section considering how GMs should deal with ronin in their games. I think the material in Winter Court: Kyuden Kakita was actually a little more in depth. More discussion and ideas would have been useful. Appendix II has recent history, especially as it pertains to the Wave Men. This is good material for those running in this era. Appendix III has some new spells. Finally Appendix IV offers a really solid discussion of ronin villages and settlements, including a map of one. Unlike all the other Way of the Clans volumes there’s no CCG or Clan War material inserted here.

OVERALL
It is interesting to see how the ideas established here remain intact throughout the various editions of L5R. Third Edition's Fealty and Freedom reworks some of these concepts, but they largely stay the same. Additional Ronin material also appears in Mimura: The Village of Promises. Game Masters can look further afield as well- Bushido, Oriental Adventures, Ronin: Oriental Adventures in Tokugawa Japan, and Sengoku all support a ronin campaign more or less out of the box. Clan and family may be important, but those can be backdrop elements- focusing GMs on more common samurai tropes and themes. L5R on the other hand, seems to come to this more out of needing to update the metaplot. They're heading into one of the few eras were Ronin would be a viable faction. Way of the Wolf positions them within the web of forces operating post Scorpion Clan Coup.

Those connections to institutions and authority make L5R, at least for me, complicated and tense. In my experience players react badly to in-game authority. L5R requires the characters come to terms with that and find a way to interact with it. Ronin, well played, could offer an interesting commentary on it. Way of the Wolf offers some interesting ideas about that. For GMs generally it suggests ways to present NPC ronin groups- perhaps ones which challenge players' sense of identity. For GMs working in the First Core era, it offers important details about the history and sets the table for the Second Day of Thunder.

L5R 4e Resource Guides

First Edition Core L5R Rules/Game Master's Pack

The Way of the Dragon/Honor's Veil
The Way of the Unicorn/City of Lies
The Way of the Crab/The Book of the Shadowlands

Code of Bushido/The Way of the Crane
Twilight Honor/The Way of the Scorpion
Night of a Thousand Screams/The Way of the Lion 

Walking the Way/Tomb of Iuchiban

The Way of Shadow/Midnight's Blood 
Way of the Phoenix/Way of the Naga/GM's Pack Revised
Winter Court: Kyuden Seppun/GM's Survival Guide
Unexpected Allies/Legacy of the Forge
Bearers of Jade/Void in the Heavens 
Otosan Uchi
Merchant's Guide to Rokugan/Way of the Minor Clans
Winter Court: Kyuden Kakita/Way of the Wolf

The L5R 4e Resource Guide: Merchant's Guide to Rokugan & Way of the Minor Clans

THE L5R 4E RESOURCE GUIDE
The set-up of the new 4e L5R more easily allows the use of materials from earlier editions and eras. That raises the questions: which of these products should an L5R 4e GM bother picking up? Which of them offer new insights into the pre-Clan War period (and beyond)? Which of them offer more universally useful setting material? This series aims to answer those questions. Note that I leave aside any and all mechanical material and questions for purposes of these reviews.

THE MERCHANT’S GUIDE TO ROKUGAN
I almost skipped reviewing this volume. It had been years since I looked at it, but I went back and reread it. And I’m undoubtedly beating a dead horse on the issue, but there may be some few reading this who don’t know of this book.

For this, I offer my story.

I was at the Mall, where one of our local game stores had briefly opened a shop. Usually they just had D&D and Warhammer stuff, but I always checked in when we went to the EB Games just a few shops down from it. Imagine my pleasure when I spotted a new L5R book I didn’t own. I grabbed it up. It was something pretty amazing, a book covering many aspects of the setting I really wanted to read about- history, geography, commerce. It even had one of my favorite characters from the L5R CCG on the cover, the Wily Trader Taka! I read the back cover blurb,

“The Merchant's Guide to Rokugan has everything players and GMs need to know about this deeply underestimated class, from the secrets of the Unicorn caravans to the unseen influence of the Yasuki traders. It contains an updated history of the Emerald Empire, details on merchant character creation and campaign running, and the untold stories of the Crane-Yasuki wars, including the tale of Taka himself. So step up to the vendor's stall and peruse the wares you see: a whole new side of Rokugan awaits.”

Holy Cow- here’s my $20.

I get home and check out the first couple of pages- dense, rich economic details- the kind of serious considerations I never expected to see in a sourcebook. I was a little stunned and hoped the rest of the book would cover these ideas a little more accessibly. I set it down for a couple of days until I had time to really read it, notebook in hand.

And I turned to page six.

“This isn’t The Merchant’s Guide to Rokugan, you see. It’s the Kolat book.”

w.t.f.?

I have mentioned before in my L5R reviews that “Your Rokugan May Vary.” You may love the Nezumi as a consistent element in the setting, you may want the Yasuki to be a part of the Crane, you may hate the Lion. I respect that, so in that vein please take this statement: I Loathe the Kolat as a Concept in L5R. I’ll state my basic reasons, but then move on. A secret conspiratorial group who has influenced things behind the scenes and evaded detection in a world filled with magic and god-like creatures. A structure outside the all-important hierarchies of family lines, Clans, and duty. Yet another nigh-omni-potent group the players can’t really bring down (in addition to Fu Leng, The Lying Darkness, the Scorpion if adversaries). A group cloaked in material that suggests mind-control, gotcha!, and “fooled you!” plots, all things which players love. If they are as potent, have the resources presented, and operate as suggested in this book, then the players don’t have a chance. Everything feels like a Mary Sue villain group, trying to be the cool Illuminati with sweet Ninjas. They’re fodder for GMs to have weird things happen to the group they can never get a handle on, and then say after the campaign “Here’s what was really happening…”

Your Rokugan May Vary.

The book itself is divided into five large chapters, plus an appendix. At 120 pages, it is about as long as the standard Clan books. Rob Vaux wrote this; I may not like the core concept, but he writes well and clearly. He knows the setting and puts that to good use. Cris Dornaus’ cover is much creepier after you know the secret of the book. The interior art is generally high quality. Page design follows the most common L5R pattern: two columns with sidebar annotations.

Chapter One: History: This covers the origins of the Kolat, and their initial conception as a war of Mortals against the kami. It traces the first key uber-potent artitact Palantir Oni’s Eye which allows them to see everything. We come to understand how they infiltrated the Ki-Rin, used the Yasuki war to increase the power of commerce, undermined the Lion, and established the rule of law.

Chapter Two: Purpose and Organization: The Kolat have been operating in secret for ten centuries, in that time they’ve developed and refined their philosophy, focusing on Control, Secrecy, and Patience. Return control to man means overthrowing the literal and figurative person of the Hantei and his house. The chapter lays out the basics of the pyramid/cell structure for the group.

Chapter Three: Tactics and Enemies: Goes through the tools and procedures the Kolat use to infiltrate and deal with their enemies. That’s a combination of mundane (through commerce), magical, and mythic in the form of Kolat Assassins. Sleeper agents, deep rpogramming, mind control, body doubles- all of the classic New Rokugani order tools. There’s an useful overview of how the Kolat view the different clans and how they approach those. It does suggest some foes the Kolat fears, but at least two of them are adversarial to everyone.

Chapter Four: Your Campaign: Offers ideas for how to integrate the Kolat into a campaign. There’s some solid and specific advice. Gms thinking about working with the Kolat as a foe will find this hugely useful. The chapter makes specific reference to the other major conspiracy-campaign sourcebook of the era, GURPS Illuminati. There’s also advice for running a campaign of the PCs as Kolat.

Chapter Five: Who’s Who: Gives stats and background write ups for the Ten masters leading the Kolat. This is fairly First Core setting specific, but GMs of other eras should be able to file the serial numbers off and replace them with another similar NPC (except perhaps for Akodo Kage…).

The book wraps up with eight character templates, similar to those in the Way of the Clans books. These have a character sheet and a generic background written up. They could easily be adapted as the basis for NPCs.

OVERALL
The other significant treatment of the Kolat pops up in Enemies of the Empire. They get about sixteen pages there. GMs who want to know more about them will find this a useful resource. The Kolat suffer some changes in the eras with follow the First Core, particularly the purge of the Unicorn. However much the basic information here should be adaptable to later periods, if you like this material.

THE WAY OF THE MINOR CLANS
If I’m reading the publication history correctly, this is the first L5R supplement set after the Scorpion Clan Coup. That still puts it before the Second Day of Thunder arc, but does finally bring the L5R into parallel with the Clan War miniatures game. The introductory fiction places it ten months after the Fall of the Scorpion.

Several of the minor clans had been mentioned in previous L5R sourcebooks. The Mantis, in particular, received a proto-version of their school. The Dragonfly appeared in a module as a key element, and the Sparrow and Falcon were prominently mentioned in the Crane and Crab clan books respectively. And, of course the Hare and the Badger, had been used as whipping boys in a couple of story packs. However we’d just had hints and references, but no extensive treatment of these minor clans. In many cases, that meant GMs had plenty of incentive to develop background and rules for them and the others who had been detailed at all (the Fox, the Tortoise, the Centipede). The Way of the Minor Clans illustrates one of the problems of long-running rpg series. Later books have to find untouched areas. They have to fill in that imaginative space, and often that clashes with GMs’ existing interpretations. Gamemasters are left, as I was, having to decide if they wanted to go with the established reading or with those presented here. In some cases WotMC presented interesting ideas and in others I liked my version better. Unfortunately that soured me on this book a little.

I like the idea of the Minor Clans, though in later eras they spring up far too often. I’ve never been fond of the restriction of the Clans to just three techniques in their school. I understand the logical basis for that, but as a gamer, if a PCs decides to go that route I want to give them interesting options. The volume does provide some new resources for PCs who take up this difficult road. Each minor clan gets a single chapter in this 128-page volume, plus there's a discussion of three fallen clans. The interior art is just OK, with some chapters faring worse than others (the Kitsune and Moshi for example). Ree Soesbee compiled the volume from nine contributors. Each entry has background, thoughts of the great Clans on the clan, skills & techniques, ancestors, a key NPC, and in a couple of cases some general setting material (in the text or sidebars).

Mantis aka Yoritomo: The heavy hitters of the Minor Clans, the Mantis have popped up several times in the series so far. Of course this material is set before Yoritomo’s Alliance, the establishment of the Mantis as a great clan, and all of the crazed developments of the later period (the Orochi, in particular). The Mantis section touches on peasant weapons, the high seas, and ships in L5R. Fox aka Kitsune: Interesting ideas on forest magic and the idea of the Fox Wives. Dragonfly aka Tonbo: A few unique spells and discussion of their role as gatekeepers for the Dragon. Sparrow aka Suzume: My favorite of the minor clans. Suggests the idea of minor clans as intermediaries in larger conflicts. Badger aka Ichiro: They end up being nearly destroyed in several times in the years after this. Centipede aka Moshi: Matriarchal Sun Priestess who eventually merge with the Mantis. Offers some insight into alternate religious practices. Falcon aka Toritaka: A forest dwelling clan, later assimilated into the Crab. This chapter has some decent bits on hauntings and the dangers of the Shinomen Forest. One of the better entries. Tortoise: A group rather than a clan, with the Emperor as their de facto daimyo. They have contact with those living outside Rokugan. That offers fodder for some interesting stories. The Wasp aka Tsuruchi: Archers of note, but more importantly bounty hunters within Rokugan.

Of all of these, the Mantis, Falcon, and Tortoise feel the most fleshed out. They add hooks and complexities which would make them fun to see at the table. The book wraps up with a final chapter addressing the fates of three lost clans. The first of these is the Boar Clan. Having committed seppuku en masse, they left behind a haunted land. They’re also tied into the creation of the Anvil of despair and the Shakoki Dogu. The book doesn’t go into detail, but skims the tales. The second is the Hare Clan, previously seen in the adventure “The Hare Clan.” The book assumes that the PCs failed to protect the clan, and now they’ve been destroyed. The lone survivor blames the Kolat. Third is the Snake Clan- previously addressed in Bearers of Jade. Essentially the Clan fell victim to an Oni who spread out his spirit in possession. The Phoenix purged the clan over the course of five nights. They also left behind a dangerous and haunted land.

If I have a problem with this volume, it is that mostly we get history, history and more history. That background’s interesting, a decent read. But that doesn't bring much to the table. As a GM, I want to know what these clans look like- what do PCs see when they interact with them. I want ideas for plots and hooks that I could use to introduce these characters into my game. I used to write extensive histories for my players- I loved world building. But at some point I realized how little impact that actually had at the table. Brief notes, combined with figuring out personalities and vibrant details, made for more engaging and memorable gaming.

OVERALL
The volume provides slightly more detail than the quick overview in the 4e core book. There's more background here- but primarily history. The mechanic sections aren't that useful for 4e GMs. While this volume offers some generally useful information, it isn't enough to make it really compelling. There's also the problem that some of the later minor clans (such as the Monkey) don’t appear here. Instead it gives an overview focused on what these groups looked like in the First Core setting. Recommended for GMs of that era, optional for others.

L5R 4e Resource Guides

First Edition Core L5R Rules/Game Master's Pack

The Way of the Dragon/Honor's Veil
The Way of the Unicorn/City of Lies
The Way of the Crab/The Book of the Shadowlands

Code of Bushido/The Way of the Crane
Twilight Honor/The Way of the Scorpion
Night of a Thousand Screams/The Way of the Lion 

Walking the Way/Tomb of Iuchiban

The Way of Shadow/Midnight's Blood 
Way of the Phoenix/Way of the Naga/GM's Pack Revised
Winter Court: Kyuden Seppun/GM's Survival Guide
Unexpected Allies/Legacy of the Forge
Bearers of Jade/Void in the Heavens 
Otosan Uchi
Merchant's Guide to Rokugan/Way of the Minor Clans
Winter Court: Kyuden Kakita/Way of the Wolf

The L5R 4e Resource Guide: Otosan Uchi

THE L5R 4E RESOURCE GUIDE
The set-up of the new 4e L5R more easily allows the use of materials from earlier editions and eras. That raises the questions: which of these products should an L5R 4e GM bother picking up? Which of them offer new insights into the pre-Clan War period (and beyond)? Which of them offer more universally useful setting material? This series aims to answer those questions. Note that I leave aside any and all mechanical material and questions for purposes of these reviews.

OTOSAN UCHI
And here’s where everything changes. I mentioned the metaplot when I looked at Winter Court: Kyuden Seppun. That had been the first L5R supplement to really move the timeline forward or even suggest that there would be movement. In some ways, it was inevitable that they would move the world forward. At this time, the CCG had gone through several arcs and was towards the end of the Hidden Emperor and Spirit Wars episodes. As well the CCG IP was in the hands of Wizards (though they would sell it back to AEG the following year). Clan War, the L5R miniatures game had been rolled out, but wasn’t catching fire as they’d hoped. As well plans for a second edition of the core rules had already been put into place. The events of the First Core setting were decades out of date with the developing saga. However taking the step that 4e did- making the game era agnostic- wasn’t really viable. L5R had built significant history, but not enough to support that. So I understand why they pushed the rpg timeline forward.

And many players wanted this- wanted to see behind the scenes at the various stories and secrets. This and Time of the Void would answer (or at least address) many of those questions. That makes Otosan Uchi an ambitious project with a good deal riding on it. It is a boxed city set, so it has to live up to the amazing standard set by City of Lies. It puts the players in the middle of one of the most complex and significant events in Rokugan's history. And it has to do all that while allowing very different groups and parties entry into the material.

The boxed set contains three perfect bound booklets, plus two maps. The first thing you’ll likely notice on opening the box is that the books don’t fit. I don’t mean they’re tight in there, I mean they are literally jammed in there, bending them. The books are about ¼ to ⅛ of an inch too wide. That’s too bad because the box itself is nice and sturdy.

The two poster-sized maps both show the Imperial Capital of Otosan Uchi. One offers a lovely illustrative take in full color. The other’s more analytical- a top down, old school city rpg map complete with numbers for just about every building in the city. Think City State of the Invincible Overlord or Cities of Hârn. The books themselves are quite nice, with a simple cover pattern and helpful reference material on the back. A massive amount of work has gone into the product. It uses a simple two-column layout, with none of the sidebars of earlier supplements. The authors know just how complex the material is going to be and aim for clarity. The illustrations are generally pretty good and useful for showing significant NPCs and places. There could be more of them, but the product’s already massive.

Book 1: The Imperial Capital: A Location Guide: Otosan Uchi clearly breaks with the approach of City of Lies. That volume offered a loose approach, with an emphasis on story and player facing materials. NPCs were detailed and important locations noted, but the whole of the city was painted broadly to give the GM plenty of room. On the other hand, OU takes an old school approach- with almost 800 locations numbered on the map. Each chapter covers one of the districts or areas of the city- presenting its governor or important figure and a brief summary of what the area’s like. It has cut out maps from the posters. However the size of the numbered maps makes that text unreadable. Each section also has a “stat block” of traits, like population, corruption, political influence. Then locations within the area get very short write ups- averaging a paragraph or two. Not every numbered entry is covered, but there’s definitely a focus on volume over depth. GMs who like lists and completeness with appreciate this.

That’s not, however, my favorite approach. My preference is for a few key locations, well described to use for interesting stories and plots. There’s an almost tactical level sense to this approach, like the players would go door to door. The book has a eight page master index of locations (“OK, we go to #674,” “That’s a tea shop.”). Still the introductory material here offers broader material. These twelve pages include an overview of the city, articles on crime and punishment, and discussion of religion in the city. Overall the 96-page book covers a lot of ground.

Book 2: The Forbidden City: A Walking Tour: This takes a similar approach to the districts of the Ekohikei, the inner city and palace of the Hantei. However, the smaller number of districts to cover (and more interesting features available) mean that everything’s treated with greater depth. There’s some really interesting ideas and characters presented. The fifteen pages of introductory material really help explain life within these walls. Its interesting to imagine the plots and plans carried out here. A GM could easily run a Courtier/Intrigue campaign just using this. It would be a high-level, high-risk game for veteran players.

Book 3: The Scorpion’s Sting: A Game Master’s Guide to the Scorpion Clan Coup: This is an 80-page massively ambitious adventure. It details the death of the Hantei and the Fall of the Scorpion. The scenario takes an interesting approach, breaking the story into three distinct tracks. The Courtier’s Tale assumes characters within the palace itself when the plot unfolds. The Skirmisher’s Tale deals with characters within the greater city, battling the Scorpion’s infiltrators and seeking a way to save the Empire. The Soldier’s Tale deals with event outside the walls- battles, skirmishes, and the death of iconic figures (such as Doji Satsume). The last chapter in the book describes how to run the events using Clan War. The book has a section on how to connect this with previous events and bring the PCs into play. I think that’s important. The players shouldn’t feel that they’ve just stumbled into the middle of this. They should be pursuing some thread that suggests or hints at the larger problem.

The authors paint the picture broadly- suggesting events and scenes, but allowing the players plenty of room to run around. They may even shift from one track to another. GMs could run all three in parallel, with players taking on the roles of different characters. The really excellent timeline on the back cover of this volume helps keep the events straight. It ends with three pages describing the immediate aftermath of the coup’s failure.

Is it good? I’ve run it once- with the players beginning as skirmishers and moving into the palace. There are some great scenes there. I regret that my version was truncated; we had a terrible player who made the game awful for everyone else. I ended up rushing through this, to my regret. I think the adventure holds together, just barely, like a car falling to pieces as it heads downhill. And that’s awesome. The story here moved me more than I thought it would. Anyone wanting to run this should read The Scorpion: First Scroll of the Clan War by Stephen D. Sullivan. I disliked the rest of the series, but this one really managed to capture the feel of the event. It puts the Coup in broader context.

OVERALL
Of course one of the ironies of this boxed set is that Otosan Uchi gets destroyed in the later timeline. That means there are several eras in which this material won’t be that useful. Still the concepts and structures could be ported over to a new Imperial Capitol. Or the maps here could be used for players sent to explore the ruins of the city. Obviously a third of this boxed set is devoted to a highly specific event. But the remaining two-thirds offers useful concepts for the GM. Granted some of it is presented thinly, but it is still decent. Useful for GMs of many eras, but how useful will depend on the campaign. GMs running in the First Core setting will find solid hooks and characters. Obviously if you want to run the Scorpion Clan Coup, this is a must-buy. It manages to bring that chaos into focus, offering a unique campaign climax. At the time of this writing, the pdf is listed at $18, which seems a little high. AEG also offers this as a POD product, which might make an interesting option.

One final thought related to 4e. Imperial Histories presents a couple of different alternate Rokugans. If you’re looking for a place to change up events in a dramatic way, the Scorpion Clan Coup offers a nexus point. It’s where I shifted the plot of my version of the setting away from canon. In that way, GMs running the First Core setting who want a major event can twist players expectations and create their own timeline.

L5R 4e Resource Guides

First Edition Core L5R Rules/Game Master's Pack

The Way of the Dragon/Honor's Veil
The Way of the Unicorn/City of Lies
The Way of the Crab/The Book of the Shadowlands

Code of Bushido/The Way of the Crane
Twilight Honor/The Way of the Scorpion
Night of a Thousand Screams/The Way of the Lion 

Walking the Way/Tomb of Iuchiban

The Way of Shadow/Midnight's Blood 
Way of the Phoenix/Way of the Naga/GM's Pack Revised
Winter Court: Kyuden Seppun/GM's Survival Guide
Unexpected Allies/Legacy of the Forge
Bearers of Jade/Void in the Heavens 
Otosan Uchi
Merchant's Guide to Rokugan/Way of the Minor Clans
Winter Court: Kyuden Kakita/Way of the Wolf

The Week That Was Games and Iron Reviewer

OVERPOSTING or TL/DR

So I’m not under much illusion anyone pays enough attention to this blog to notice the posting frequency and such. I expect like most blogs readers check it out when a title catches their eye. That being said, I’ll explain the weirdness of January which saw nearly daily posts. Most of those dedicated to Legend of the Five Rings reviews...

Since the beginning of 2011, I’ve been part of the Iron Reviewer contest over on RPG Geek. Thirty some of us, each writing RPG reviews within a deadline. For the first year, the reviews were due once every two weeks. For the second year, we had to do them weekly. Then when 2013 arrived, it sped up to one review a day. Six of us remained for the dailies. I chose to work my way through the L5R material because I thought I could approach it from a useful angle. Plus there were three dozen items to report on. Early last week, the competition narrowed down to myself and one other survivor. I suggested we increase the pace further, upping it to two per day. He accepted and we managed that for three days. On Thursday evening, he bowed out, leaving me the only survivor of the contest after 25 months.

110 Reviews, 176,500 words, leaving me with an average review length of about 1600 words. 

So anyway, I won that contest- which means I’ll be slowly my pace on writing reviews for a bit. I’ll probably still do one a week. I also want to finish out the L5R pieces, since I only have about a half-dozen to go. In March, I begin another series of History of RPGs lists, beginning with Steampunk/Victoriana. I’ll do Post-Apocalypse after that. I also have some other articles I’ve had on the back burner and a number of other writing projects to get squared away.

Also, here’s how the games I ran last week went:

Changeling the Lost Vegas G+: The group finishes up their exploration of Sunswept Ranch. But first they have to torment their new NPC, Teodoro, more than a little. Following that they finally reach the hidden hollow, only to discover a house made of glass. Andi breaks off from the group, only to be attacked by a massive venomous crystal snake. The group converges and beats the hedge beast into splinters. They discover a second notebook page and another tarot card. Finally they return and report in to Simon Maggots, who agrees to take them on as caretakers of the facility. You can see the video here. As an added bonus, because I forget to deselect, you mostly see me, the GM, in this video. Lesson learned.

Mutants & Masterminds First Wave Series Two G+: had a session with some technical difficulties at the start (my sound card seems to have died). Put together a work around with a second computer. This was the second session, and I'd distributed some news before the game (see here). I gave them a once around where they could look into individual details and set up some investigation. I used that to reveal that Thor had not returned, but in fact was being impersonated by Loki. I think getting that out on the table for the players (but not the characters) will allow for some good role-playing. It already generated some interesting scenes. The group began to investigate one of the new designer drugs on the street- quickly identifying it as magical not conventional. They also met with the new Special Prosecutor for Heightened Crimes, Matt Murdock.

Libri Vidicos Good session. The group returned to school. Beletan had to figure out a caper to keep his romantic interest from failing her music final exams. She's a skilled pianist, but won't perform in front of anyone. One series of hijinks and illusions later and he had her secretly playing for the assessment panel. The others worked with their various NPCs- establish and finalizing links and setting up plots. Sergei has started to have the younger duelists follow in his wake; Lucy has her mechanics group; and Sokka was assigned to take over teaching a basic elements course for a week. Valmont was secretly asked by the Headmaster to bring together a new Student Council, with Valmost as his "inside man." He bribed him with the leftover equipment from the vanished Thiefly Arts instructor. As an added bonus, Lucy finally figured out how Chaining works. Now she has to come up with a way to stop it.

Last Fleet We'd had to bump the last two sessions, which is always a pain to reset from. To avoid the whole "where were we again?" and draw out discussion of plans, I went from the plan the group had decided on at the end of the last session, taking down the Orcish Mercenary Fleet they assumed would be sent to hunt them. So I started out right in the middle of things, with the group hiding in a fog bank observing their enemy's fortress and set of ships. I let them retcon preparations on the fly and come up with a plan. They ended up using some valuable magical resources they'd acquired a half dozen sessions ago to break the bonds holding a piece of skystone and send it hurtling into three of the four docked vessels.

While the rock was moving they came around and attacked from the rear of the fortress as a distraction. The hope was to slow the ship's response time to the oncoming rock of doom. They engaged a group of Elvish Dragon riders, observers from the Dominion of Timbers, hoping to co-opt their dragons, only to discover rider and dragon were bonded- a situation complicated when Chain discovered one of them was his soul-twin- the situation went off the rails and the group took damage and was forced to butcher the Dragon Riders. Some escaped to carry word back to their Emperor. The Orc Mercenaries descended on the PCs and Whet took out a Vampire Captain by distracting her with the potent lure of dragon blood- cutting her head off as she drank. Lira plucked the eye from the head of the Ratman second-in-command of the Mercs, leaving him alive to be a returning enemy. The rock hit, shattering three of the four ships and the PCs and their pirate allies stormed the flagship, the Dreadnaught Vengeance. They just barely dealt with the crew in time, while Marreg fought Cairn Stormwill, leader of the band and cursed Orckiller. Dweena fired a shot that briefly disrupted her magic items, and with a stroke, Marreg cleaved Cairn's head from her shoulders. The ship was in their hands!

The L5R 4e Resource Guide: Bearers of Jade & Void in the Heavens

THE L5R 4E RESOURCE GUIDE
The set-up of the new 4e L5R more easily allows the use of materials from earlier editions and eras. That raises the questions: which of these products should an L5R 4e GM bother picking up? Which of them offer new insights into the pre-Clan War period (and beyond)? Which of them offer more universally useful setting material? This series aims to answer those questions. Note that I leave aside any and all mechanical material and questions for purposes of these reviews.

BEARERS OF JADE
I’m a big fan of J-Horror in its modern versions (Kairo, Ringu, Ju-On). I also like the ancestors of those pictures- classical Japanese scary movies set in the samurai period (Onibaba, Kuroneko, Kwaidan, Tokaido Yotsuya Kaidan). They incorporate subtle supernatural elements- the power of hauntings and the presence of spirits and ghosts in everyday life. Consider the testimony of the spirit in the otherwise real world film Rashamon. On the other hand, the scary stuff on display in Legend of the Five Rings so far has tended to be unsubtle. The Shadowlands and Fu Leng are awful and grotesque. They’re part Cthulhu, part Cronenberg, part Zombie-fest. The most quiet and insidious portions of that come from the interactions and corruptions of people who come into contact with that. Bearers of Jade: The Second Book of the Shadowlands doesn’t change that up entirely. But it does add some more creepy and traditional elements to the mix.

The book is a hefty 152 pages softcover. Interestingly this is written by the husband and wife team of Jennifer Brandes and Chris Hepler. Hepler’s only other L5R credit is as a contributor to Winter Court: Kyuden Seppun. I’m always a little surprised when I see key books like these in the hands of freelancers who haven’t worked much on the line before. They take an interesting approach to the text- creating a composite of rules, stories, descriptions, and fragmentary testimonies. The book as a whole feels like a patchwork and that’s deliberate. Just as the original Book of the Shadowlands had an “original author,” this is said to be the journal of the ronin Shugenja, Seikansha.

To that end the pages are design with a light grey-scaled background to make it look like a scroll. It switches between single and double column formatting. While there’s some GM material in the text, the “in world” writing is supplemented by sidebars with GM notes and details. That way the pages can be copied as a handout and the extra material cut away. In days of pdfs, you’ll probably be printing these pages out. The problem with that comes from the page design. The sidebars are white text on a dark grey background. This can make them hard to read and even harder on printer ink. The designers clearly wanted the book to appear dark, but it ends up looking more murky and unfriendly than evocative. The interior artwork doesn’t help much either. While there are a couple of striking pieces, much of the rest is messy and ugly.

After the introduction and a great little snippet taken from a stage play, the book’s broken into six major chapters plus a fairly long appendix. The chapters themselves mix many presentation styles which means most GMs will be able to find something useful and interesting (and then again, there’s the flip side of that…)

Life at the Mouth of Hell: This is one of my favorite chapters in the book. It considers what it must be like living just outside the Shadowlands. What effect does that have on people? What kinds of things make it through or prey on those who man the Carpenter Wall? It presents some interesting ideas on how the Crab live and deal with the fact of the Taint. Beyond that how that Taint can manifest not as a physical malady but as insidious mental illness.

The Tarnished Lands: This offers a few more locations in and around the Shadowlands, adding to the material presented in The Book of the Shadowlands. I especially like the concept of the dangerous resource places the Crab must use, like mines, which lie just at the edge of the corruption. As few of the new places given here are genuinely creepy.

Lost Relics: A large collection of cursed and haunted items, many with connected plot hooks? Where do I sign? Another highly useful source of stories and adventures for the GM. Some of the testimonies connected with the items really establishes an insidious tone. I can imagine GMs creating an entire Warehouse 13 campaign in Rokugan with the players hunting down and disposing of sinister artifacts.

Fu Leng’s Army: More monsters, more Oni. A couple of these are excellent because they are restrained- creatures which can make their way into greater Rokugan to wreak havoc. Some of them have a strong folkloric feel to them. The Shuten Doji makes its appearance here- an infectious oni creature. I’m still not sure what I think of it. Sometimes it seems over-the-top to me and more powerful than any other monster in the setting. And sometimes I just get chills when I think about it.

Workers of Maho: There’s some really interesting considerations of the Bloodspeakers here, especially in the selections from the play “Virtue.” This chapter manage to add some more depth and dimension to these adversaries, again expanding on the concepts from the earlier Shadowlands volume.

Lost Souls: This is a single long piece considering the corruption and fall of a solider within the Fu Leng's realm. I don’t want to say more than that.

Appendices: The Shadowlands Campaign: This is the most mechanical of the chapters. It includes some monster stats & powers as well as suggestions for modifying the mass battle system to handle battles against Shadowlands armies. It also includes the goofy Crab martial art- a concept that has always seemed just an excuse to give every clan a sweet unarmed specialty. There are also some new maho spells.

OVERALL
I like smart book design- especially when that design helps create atmosphere. L5R 4e, Vornheim, and most Pelgrane Press products achieve this. But even at their most indulgent, they still make the material useful and accessible. The design doesn’t get in the reader’s way. Here it does more than a little. The material itself is strong. Despite everything this is an awesome read- like a weird and wild dictionary of horrors. Open it at any page and you’ll find something creepy, cool, or both. Some of it echoes the earlier Shadowlands concepts, but there’s more than enough new ideas and plot hooks to make it worth buying. It is useful for L5R GMs of all eras, supplementing material from the L5R 4e core book and Enemies of the Empire.

VOID IN THE HEAVENS
There’s a certain irony to putting out a module based around the Scorpion Clan, shortly before you publish a module which will essentially blow up the Scorpion Clan in the setting. But that's not the reasons this is hands down my least favorite L5R module. Allow me to explain…

Let’s start with the presentation. This is a 48-page perfect bound module. The cover’s OK and doesn’t give anything away. However, someone decided that the title font ought to be Pepto-Bismol Pink. I’m not a great judge of color- I have to ask my wife what paints to use when we do miniatures. But I do know when something makes my eyes ache. The problems with the illustrations continue on the interior. Ben Peck’s has a couple of good pieces here, but more that don’t work: dark and messy. Even the usually reliable Cris Dornaus turns in rushed looking pieces. A couple of the images are repeated. There’s liberal use of half and full page pictures. Between that and the wider than usual text design, it feels like they're trying to fill out the page count. Honestly this module could have been done with half the space. Then they could have had a second adventure, as they did with Midnight’s Blood and Honor’s Veil. Instead when I read this I have the distinct sense that corners have been cut.

The story itself has an odd set-up. The group must begin with no outstanding enmity towards the Scorpion Clan (a point specified in the text). They begin heading to Kyuden Shosuro for "reasons." On route, they stumble across the incident in question and become involved. There’s some pretty tangled logic here- keeping the Scorpion from killing the players to keep them quiet, and allowing them to become involved in Scorpion affairs. Your Rokugan May Vary. Let’s set that question aside for the moment.

The basic premise is that the Oracle of Fire is about to pass on his mantle. He’s selected an eta to hand it off to. A Shosuro representative comes to ask the Oracle a question. She decides to seduce the Oracle and convince him that he should pass on the mantle to her. She succeeds at the first part, but fails at the second. So now the Oracle’s pissed and wants to burn the Scorpion to the ground. The adventure itself is broken into ten scenes, pretty highly scripted. However, there are numerous opportunities for the PCs to go off-script and get themselves killed.

The characters arrive to find fire engulfing a Village. They see the Oracle but are unsure what his role is. There’s some nice action here with the players having to organize the village to put out the inferno. The PCs can then head on to Kyuden Shosuro (or do a difficult search for the Oracle, which skips them forward a scene). At the castle they see more evidence of the Oracle’s ravages, but Scorpion representatives deflect their questions. Eventually there’s a weird meeting in which the Scorpions ask for the PCs help, after the Clan's made statements implicating themselves in the problem. The module then explains to the GM: “Of course everything the Scorpions tell the party is a lie. It is important at this stage that it should all be very believable.”

Have you ever met a PC who would buy this?

You know what would have been interesting? If the Scorpions were telling the truth, the victims of some conspiracy or outside attack. Then the story could have been about the players trying to overcome their natural inclinations to aid the Scorpion. There could still have been a sting in the tail- you righteously help them, but there’s some unpleasant cost along the line. But at least the GM wouldn’t have to treat the players like idiots and railroad them.

So the PCs head off to the mountain of fire the next day, making their way through environmental obstacles. They reach the Oracle of Fire and have a chance to question him. He is, of course, a little omnipotent and a little mad. That’s a great combination for PCs who just marched through hell. Once they get to the Oracle and properly comport themselves, they can untangle some of the threads. That could be an interesting scene. The book lists typical questions and responses. On the other hand, if the party attacks the Oracle, he kills them instantly. There’s really only solid outcome here- with the group delivering the Oracle’s terms and/or finding the eta girl.

The story continues on, with some oddly transparent machinations on from the Scorpion. They would like to kill the eta and blame the party. There are some decisions to be made and if they cross the Shosuro, the daimyo will have them killed. They have to protect the girl and eventually…let me just cut to the chase here. The Scorpion have a weapon to kill the Oracle and transfer his energy. The players either help with that or stop it. The execution of that feels more than a little goofy- the clearly right choice has a pretty dramatic cost to the group in terms of enemies.

OVERALL
There are other, much better modules for L5R. This one is adaptable, but I think to make compelling would require some serious work and effort. It plays into the worst tropes and stereotypes of the Scorpion- fulfilling all expectations. There’s a strange discounting of the sacred nature of the Oracles by the Scorpion. I understand their practicality, but it doesn’t necessarily ring true, especially as a plan executed at the highest level of the clan.

L5R 4e Resource Guides

First Edition Core L5R Rules/Game Master's Pack

The Way of the Dragon/Honor's Veil
The Way of the Unicorn/City of Lies
The Way of the Crab/The Book of the Shadowlands

Code of Bushido/The Way of the Crane
Twilight Honor/The Way of the Scorpion
Night of a Thousand Screams/The Way of the Lion 

Walking the Way/Tomb of Iuchiban

The Way of Shadow/Midnight's Blood 
Way of the Phoenix/Way of the Naga/GM's Pack Revised
Winter Court: Kyuden Seppun/GM's Survival Guide
Unexpected Allies/Legacy of the Forge
Bearers of Jade/Void in the Heavens 
Otosan Uchi
Merchant's Guide to Rokugan/Way of the Minor Clans
Winter Court: Kyuden Kakita/Way of the Wolf

The L5R 4e Resource Guide: Unexpected Allies & Legacy of the Forge

THE L5R 4E RESOURCE GUIDE
The set-up of the new 4e L5R more easily allows the use of materials from earlier editions and eras. That raises the questions: which of these products should an L5R 4e GM bother picking up? Which of them offer new insights into the pre-Clan War period (and beyond)? Which of them offer more universally useful setting material? This series aims to answer those questions. Note that I leave aside any and all mechanical material and questions for purposes of these reviews.

UNEXPECTED ALLIES
I love NPCs. I’ve said it before, but at least in my campaigns, NPCs are the engine that makes the game run. Not that they take the spotlight or “Mary Sue” the PCs, but that they offer the best method for introducing complications, creating connections, and showing off the world. I remember excitedly picking up Unexpected Allies at Origins, ’99 I think. I read through the whole thing on the car ride home. It is a volume filled with promise, some of which it lives up to, but not all.

Unexpected Allies is primarily an NPC sourcebook and a resource on handling those characters. It is an 128-page perfect-bound book with material from many contributors. L5R veterans Patrick Kapera & Ree Soesbee compiled the volume, with thirty contributors listed. William O’Connor delivers a cool and energetic cover. However only some of the artwork inside lives up to that. Quite a few character illustrations are pretty 'meh' as are some of the incidental pieces. The book has a clean design generally. It has three major parts: game fiction, an overview section on NPCs, and then 40+ NPCs grouped by Clan or affiliation.

In some ways the stories for each NPC serve as a kind of game fiction. They allude to and explain events in the setting. But the book starts with a longer eight-page story finally illuminating the story behind the Ronin Ginawa and his fall. It is a pretty classic tale, and since Ginawa appears in the core book narratives, there’s a connection there.

INTRODUCTION: This material, running from page 14 through 33, has six major sections. It also has five new ancestors described in text boxes.

• Villains, Villains Everywhere: Talks about ways to make villains more ambiguous, or at least understandable within the context of Rokugan and Bushido. Though it doesn’t explicitly address the idea of dramatic tension (ala McKee) arising from the difference between internal and external drives, it asks the GM to consider an NPCs presentation versus their actual self. L5R is a game where the players have to get used to being lied to- something some groups have a problem with. The section also offers advice on distinguishing between Honor, Glory, and Loyalty, often confused concepts. 
• Allies and Enemies: There’s a good discussion on making believable NPCs. That’s often an overlooked virtue. GMs can make striking or interesting NPCs, but they have to have a life beyond that surface. They need to make sense in the context of the setting. How have they survived and prospered? This also offer ideas for making NPC memorable through physical details and quirks. 
• Motives: Following from the first section, this considers how to define an NPC’s motives. Needs shouldn’t be static cut0outs. They have needs and desires, often at odds with the PCs. The question is how to play out and explicate those for the players. 
• Crime and the Emerald Empire: This is an odd section to appear here- I would have expected it in the GM’s Survival Guide or one of the Winter Court books. But the material is welcome- defining various kinds of common crimes. I especially like the list of “Things Which Can Be Forged in Rokugan.” You could get a number of great sessions out of that. This material will be of use to most Magistrate-based games. 
• Creating and Using NPCs: Talks about common set-ups for introducing new characters and examples of different villain archetypes. There are three tables at the end, two of miscellaneous quirks and one for generating motivations.

THE NPCS: This runs from page 35 through the end of the book. Each NPC is presented with a full character sheet page and a facing page with a background write up and an illustration. UA groups these entries by clan, with a few for each of the Great Clans, plus a section for Ronin and a section of miscellaneous NPCs. Unexpected Allies comes out before Way of the Minor Clans and Way of the Wolf so it can’t fully take advantage of the material presented there. In general this structure resembles the NPCs presented in each of the “Way of…” books, except these have specific names and histories. The character sheet portion’s set up a little differently; I’m not sure if it is better or worse. Instead of a discussion of motivations or role-playing, the text portion is pure narrative history. That’s not nearly as useful.

I understand some of the purpose here. They want to present stories, because they’re showcasing the details behind some of the iconic characters from the CCG and background (Sanzo, Naka Kuro, and Dairya for example). They also suggest that this could be a resource for ready-made PCs, but that seems like a more remote use of the book. The entries themselves are uneven- a couple of histories that hit the same beats, some of the stories more interesting (as you’d expect). More importantly, there’s a missed opportunity. Why do we need the full space for the character sheet? Couldn’t that have been done just as easily with a stat block. If they did that, they could then add 2-3 plot hooks for each of the NPCs. Walking the Way did very well with this approach. Here, since this is a GM facing sourcebook, they wouldn’t have the problem of player material next to adventure ideas. Story concepts with each NPC would make this book immensely more useful.

OVERALL
The open nature of this book makes it pretty useful for L5R GMs of any era. The character sheets are the mechanical part of the book, so that’s about 40 pages you can skip. The character background stories could be adapted if you needed a quick concept. But generally I think GMs love making up NPCs- at least most GMs I know. So if you've going to present me with NPCs, I need some value-added. What I want is clear and playable material- hooks and adventure concepts to go with them or at least more depth than just their history. That’s what makes something like the Citybooks great- they take that next step in presenting NPCs.

LEGACY OF THE FORGE
Most Legend of the Five Rings adventures are fairly timeless. They have situations and details which can be moved or adapted to many different eras. Even those which reference iconic heroes (Hida Yakomo, Yoritomo) can easily replaced those since they aren’t crucial to the story. A few larger adventure supplements fall outside that. But most of the smaller “story packs” exist independently. Legacy of the Forge feels like the first deeply connected history and is strongly tied to a previous adventure, "Silence Within the Sound." The death of the Lion Clan champion, Akodo Arasou haunts this adventure, literally and figuratively. Is the adventure strong, and can it be adapted to other eras?

The story turns on the activities of Shikken Tankenka, a key NPC from “Silence Within Sound.” In the time between this adventure and the last, he’s been promoted as an Imperial Agent and has been looking into various issues. That brings up one oddness- you can’t play this story immediately after the previous one. The material assumes a gap of several months at the very least. That will work for some campaigns, but if you have a time-lapse adverse group it may pose a logistical difficulty. Essentially Tankenka has been following the activities of a particular Scorpion instigator. The book nicely details these incidents so they can be worked into the background of the campaign (at least one of them relates to rumors given in Winter Court: Kyuden Seppun).

BTW there’s a moment in the set up of the module that does bug me a little. Speaking of the villain, it says, “…there is indeed a method to her madness. Though her long-term objective is beyond the scope of this adventure (and therefore not detailed here)..” Um. That might be useful and important information for the GM to know. I’m assuming, without referencing the Otosan Uchi boxed set, that it is prologue for the Scorpion Clan Coup. If that’s the case, then tell us that. If it isn’t, at least give us something to work with.

The set-up and story for the adventure’s plot covers eight pages- pretty huge by standards of modules. The conspiracy in question is complicated, with a lot of double-cross, misunderstood details, and so on. It looks good on paper- but it may be overly complicated and confusing for players I practice. They will probably only see fragments of this larger picture- enough to take decisive action. I fear that it might lead to one of my least favorite GM syndromes, the “What Was Really Happening” speech telling the players all of the stuff they missed or couldn’t see. DON’T DO THAT. That’s an important piece of advice for this module and any other game.

The actual story begins with the group receiving a summons from Tankenka (there’s a handout in the book) calling them to Toshi Ranbo. They’re to serve as his assistants in the current negotiations between the Lion and Crane. As an Imperial Regent, Tankenka might actually have the pull to call the PCs in like this. The hook here is reasonable and probably won’t be too much of a problem. It’s also worth noting that, as written, this adventure will kill players.

What follows is an adventure broken into four acts, each with many sub-events and scenes. The module’s 64 page, perfect bound, longer than any of the previous story packs. The layouts crisp and clean; the pages look good. Patrick Kapera’s writing’s clear, despite the complexity of the plot involved. I would have liked a one-page summary or key information sheet. There’s some boxed text, but less so than some of the hand-holding of the first L5R modules. The art’s good, but a few pieces are more evocative than useful. I like my art to double as handouts- so images or scenes or specific NPCs. There’s still a good deal of that here. The floor plans and maps are especially well done.

Act One: Toshi Ranbo: The PCs arrive in the midst of battle and have to make their way inside the walls. There’s a nice mix of direct heroic opportunities in battle and alternatives which avoid conflict. The enter into a chaotic situation. Searching through they encounter ghostly advice. But the situation gets more and more complicated. There’s a lot of the players to do- but much of it involves them simply trying to survive, making it a very reaction sequence. That’s especially true with the ending which has a death which the players essentially cannot prevent.

Act Two: Shiro Sano Ken Hayai: The players begin to investigate what set off this crisis and the nature of the strange supernatural events they have seen. There’s reference to a number of First Core setting characters and events- who actually have a significant connection to the plot. The material here is open-ended- with the players have several directions and lines of inquiry to pursue. Eventually they spring a trap which reveals more about their situation.

Act Three: Across the Plains of Battle: With information in hand, the players seek out a hidden scroll they need to stop the threat. This is a scripted act which leads the group from incident to incident. There are some moral questions (with only one real solution) and, of course, an Oni.

Act Four: Shiro no Yojin: Once again the players arrive just as a battle begins. They have to negotiate their way in and then eventually go to war. The scenario includes notes on running these battles (using the mass battle system of the core book or via Clan War). There’s some cool stuff here and the players can bring a halt to this plot. But, of course, the main bad guy escapes, which seems a little weak.

OVERALL
This module has really interesting ideas for GMs running in the First Core setting. It has some elements drawn specifically from the background of that period. However, I don’t think that presents a huge obstacle to adapting it to another period (or even another set of warring Clans). More problematic is how scripted and involved the plot is. Key sections restrict player autonomy in a way that some groups may not like, especially when it happens multiple times. I enjoyed reading the module, but I’m less interested in running it.

L5R 4e Resource Guides

First Edition Core L5R Rules/Game Master's Pack

The Way of the Dragon/Honor's Veil
The Way of the Unicorn/City of Lies
The Way of the Crab/The Book of the Shadowlands

Code of Bushido/The Way of the Crane
Twilight Honor/The Way of the Scorpion
Night of a Thousand Screams/The Way of the Lion 

Walking the Way/Tomb of Iuchiban

The Way of Shadow/Midnight's Blood 
Way of the Phoenix/Way of the Naga/GM's Pack Revised
Winter Court: Kyuden Seppun/GM's Survival Guide
Unexpected Allies/Legacy of the Forge
Bearers of Jade/Void in the Heavens 
Otosan Uchi
Merchant's Guide to Rokugan/Way of the Minor Clans
Winter Court: Kyuden Kakita/Way of the Wolf