D&D 5E Adventures in Rokugan Arrives August 5th

Adventures in Rokugan is Edge Studios' official 5E version of Legend of the Five Rings, announced last year. Legend of the Five Rings is an East Asian inspired setting which goes all the way back to the 1990s, and was purchased by Fantasy Flight Games in 2018, before being moved over to FFG's sister company, Edge Studios in 2020 (which has taken over all the TTRPG operations from FFG, including Star Wars).

The 5E version includes new classes -- Shinobi, Pilgrim, Courtier, Ritualist, Bushi, Duelist, Acolyte -- and various new shapeshifting animal species.

It's coming out on August 5th and will cost $49.99.

Adventures in Rokugan brings the famous setting of Legend of the Five Rings to the ever-popular ruleset of the 5th Edition SRD. Players can explore this rich setting in a whole new light, and the familiar rules promise to engage an entirely new audience of roleplaying fans. Alongside a new focus on roleplaying activities such as dungeon delving and monster hunting, Adventures in Rokugan promises to provide something for all fans of Rokugan.

 

[TheSword]

So I bought this book this morning on Drive Thru RPG. Really impressed. The book is beautiful, the lore is sufficiently detailed and the crunch is substantial.

I came to Rokugan with the 3e Campaign Book and was an instant convert, quickly devouring the earlier and later editions. I’m not a fanatic though and I recognize that an Asian inspired campaign setting faces several hurdles.

All the stuff I like about Rokugan is still there, the clans, the realms, the races, the intrigue… a courtier class! They just seem to have toned down/removed some of the issues that were raised regarding oriental adventures. I don’t see it as a big issue. If you want to use Bushido instead of The Code of Akodo then roll with it. I don’t really see how it makes any difference to how the game plays.

I’m really glad that the setting has been made more comprehensible. Instead of large numbers of Japanese-like names and titles that were picked for how they sounded rather than accuracy. Now things can be understood, without feeling you need to learn to speak not-Japanese.

They seem to have done a great job. Don’t get dragged into the politics that seems to orbit any Asian based campaign setting.

 

[TheSword]

"-Focus on what D&D 5e is good at. This means character-centric heroic fantasy. That doesn't mean it's all combat crunch, but combat is a major part of D&D and is an expected part of the play cycle, along with exploration, discovery, and what I will term "adventuring.""

One of the writers of the book says this.

What a lord of HORSESH*T! D&D is not only good at combat, but even if it is, they made a whole new suite of classes, spells, races, backgrounds, and sub-systems! They could have made D&D into anything they wanted it too!

I am so tired of developers buying into the meme that D&D can only be about fantasy combat adventure. Its so short-sighted and reeks of an inability to have a true vision for what the game could be. I haven't read the book yet, so I won't say its horrible, but this kind of design philosophy really irks me to no end.

They didn’t say it’s was the only thing. They said it’s was a major part. I think you’re over reacting there a tad.

Read the book. There’s plenty of social elements in the book. Not to mention a working courtier class.

 

[TheSword]

A more mixed asian flavor is kind of horrible, in my opinion. It stinks of Western orientalism, boiling all the cultures into a melting pot, keeping what you like, and just jamming stuff together. This is very disappointing. I know Japan was heavily influenced by China but...this was a great Japan-LotR and now...I need to read the book before I confirm my opinion.

The mixed Asian flavour is minor - it’s more referencing that there are other cultures on the continent outside the empire that might become relevant.

Rokugan was always heavily influenced by China, the geography, the culture… It’s not great if you live in China and the campaign setting looks like China is actually Japanese. Surely you can see why some folks might not like that given the history and the issues.

If the most destructive thing folks can come up with, is the introduction of Ying and Yang then I suspect people need to get some perspective.

 

[Shardstone]

The mixed Asian flavour is minor - it’s more referencing that there are other cultures on the continent outside the empire that might become relevant.

Rokugan was always heavily influenced by China, the geography, the culture… It’s not great if you live in China and the campaign setting looks like China is actually Japanese. Surely you can see why some folks might not like that given the history and the issues.

If the most destructive thing folks can come up with, is the introduction of Ying and Yang then I suspect people need to get some perspective.

You put words in my mouth OD OD OD, so I'm not going to give a full response to this. Instead, I'll just say, the Imperial Court was the only Chinese thing, and in real life, Japan took a lot of inspiration for its own Imperial Court from China. The setting otherwise looked nothing like China at all.

Like I said, I'll hold my opinions until I read the book, but after L5R 5th Edition, which did a superb job at respectfully displaying the inherent dramas of a Fantasy Japan, this new book, which removes the scholarly articles relating to Japan in lieu of medicore lore changes has not left a good first impression. I'm sorry, but changing the name of "The Islands of Silk & Spice" to "The Coastal Islands" is incredibly minor but incredibly bad too.

The Bushi class looks amazing though!

 

[TheSword]

You put words in my mouth OD OD OD, so I'm not going to give a full response to this. Instead, I'll just say, the Imperial Court was the only Chinese thing, and in real life, Japan took a lot of inspiration for its own Imperial Court from China. The setting otherwise looked nothing like China at all.

Like I said, I'll hold my opinions until I read the book, but after L5R 5th Edition, which did a superb job at respectfully displaying the inherent dramas of a Fantasy Japan, this new book, which removes the scholarly articles relating to Japan in lieu of medicore lore changes has not left a good first impression. I'm sorry, but changing the name of "The Islands of Silk & Spice" to "The Coastal Islands" is incredibly minor but incredibly bad too.

The Bushi class looks amazing though!

Nothing like China?

A giant wall to keep invaders out? A continental geography with an Eastern sea border? A capital city on the coast with an inner city accessible only to the Imperial Family? Wandering warrior monks? A clan of nomadic horse riders… nothing like China. Come off it.

Rokugan was never just fantasy Japan.

The crunch looks great. I plan on using courtier for all sorts of things… a non magical bard for one.

 

[Shardstone]

Nothing like China?

A giant wall to keep invaders out? A continental geography with an Eastern sea border? A capital city on the coast with an inner city accessible only to the Imperial Family? Wandering warrior monks? A clan of nomadic horse riders… nothing like China. Come off it.

Rokugan was never just fantasy Japan.

The crunch looks great. I plan on using courtier for all sorts of things… a non magical bard for one.

The continental geography is not a good argument, nor is the rest other than the giant wall. I concede that other influence had come into Rokugan, but it was always primarily about how the toxic nature of an impractical honor code created tensions in the court, in the daily lives of the people, and in the supernatural world.

Pretending it was always just Oriental Adventures when, especially after L5R 5E, they've put so much into doing legitimate research and study into feudal Japanese culture to construct a fantasy game that explores it through news lens is really just ignoring reality to blindly make a point.

And "The Coastal Islands" ??? COME ON

 

[Weiley31]

Here's an article about the book from their website. I'm tired and I don't have enough focus to read it, but maybe there's something useful there?

Venturing into Rokugan - Edge Studio

A rich setting in a whole new light

edge-studio.net

So, from what I took from the link and the article explaining it, is that Adventures in Rokugan is more of a "mythic" take on the IP, while the actual L5R is still "there" for those who like it and want to deal with its themes. The theme of AiR is supposed to be more heroic take on Rokugan that is meant to invoke aspects of Asian Mythology.

A pretty interesting way of doing it. I never played L5R and was only familiar with the IP via the Living Card Game. So, they probably figured that trying to keep everything the same would be difficult since L5R is pretty popular amongst its fanbase.
I could see how people may not like it at all. But then again, there was no hope of everybody not being happy with any aspects of AiR at all. That was just too much of a task. Especially if Edge Studios decided to go 5E.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

About the crunch part, are there no-human PC races? I guess the nezumi(ratfolk), the nagas and the kitsunes, tanuki, tengu and company.

 

[Shardstone]

About the crunch part, are there no-human PC races? I guess the nezumi(ratfolk), the nagas and the kitsunes, tanuki, tengu and company.

Yes, there are all of those and three more.

 

[Shardstone]

So, from what I took from the link and the article explaining it, is that Adventures in Rokugan is more of a "mythic" take the IP, while the actual L5R is still "there" for those who like it and want to deal with its themes. The themes of AiR is supposed to be more heroic take on Rokugan that is mean to invoke aspects of Asian Mythology.

A pretty interesting way of doing it. I never played L5R and was only familiar with the IP via the Living Card Game. So, they probably figured that trying to keep everything the same would be difficult since L5R is pretty popular amongst its fanbase.
I could see how people may not like it at all. But then again, there was no hope of everybody not being happy with any aspects of AiR at all. That was just too much of a task. Especially if Edge Studios decided to go 5E.

This isn't a real argument. We can't just say that them using traditional Rokugan would have made more people unhappy. What we can say is, "The Coastal Islands" rename doesn't impress anyone, and that fans were expecting a traditional Rokugan modified with 5E into something fun, enjoyable, and accessable to a new audience.

I hate it when people try to dismiss all criticism by saying "Can't make everyone happy." All it does is ruin the discussion.