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]

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

Yeah, clearly the coastal islands was a 3am in the morning decision. Not the most inspired! That said, you can call them whatever you want in your game.

I think there is a tension between trying to maintain some form of historical accuracy and being accessible and open to people who don’t have that level of knowledge or detail.

I don’t think they are pretending anything. They have made a conscious decision to broaden the appeal. Those who expect fidelity to feudal Japan aren’t going to like this, but perhaps that was an unreasonable standard in the first place.

 

[overgeeked]

I'm still not sure who the target audience is.

The crunch is a level beyond what's in 5E. Every class has resources to track and the devs have called out 4E as an inspiration in that regard. So it's a game for fans of 5E who think it's too light. So Pathfinder fans? The minority of 4E fans playing 5E?

The lore is a mangling of what's come before and a new emphasis on China in that lore and mythology from China straight up replaced lore and mythology from Japan in several new places. Yes, it had a small mix of China in before. So it's a game for fans who liked L5R but somehow wanted less fantasy Japan in their fantasy Japan game?

So it's D&D 5E for people who don't like D&D 5E and L5R for people who don't like L5R.

It really seems like the devs thought that if people wanted fantasy Japan and fantasy samurai the RPG, they'd already be playing L5R. So they're doing something different here. Not so much. People want D&D 5E, that's why you're making a D&D 5E product. But people want the unique thing you do (which is fantasy Japan and fantasy samurai) translated into D&D 5E. Not for you to change 5E and change the unique thing you do. It'll still sell orders of magnitude more than L5R, because that's the world we live in, but it's a damned shame they weren't confident enough in their brand to bring that more fully into D&D 5E.

 

[TheSword]

I'm still not sure who the target audience is.

The crunch is a level beyond what's in 5E. Every class has resources to track and the devs have called out 4E as an inspiration in that regard. So it's a game for fans of 5E who think it's too light. So Pathfinder fans? The minority of 4E fans playing 5E?

The lore is a mangling of what's come before and a new emphasis on China in that lore and mythology from China straight up replaced lore and mythology from Japan in several new places. Yes, it had a small mix of China in before. So it's a game for fans who liked L5R but somehow wanted less fantasy Japan in their fantasy Japan game?

So it's D&D 5E for people who don't like D&D 5E and L5R for people who don't like L5R.

It really seems like the devs thought that if people wanted fantasy Japan and fantasy samurai the RPG, they'd already be playing L5R. So they're doing something different here. Not so much. People want D&D 5E, that's why you're making a D&D 5E product. But people want the unique thing you do (which is fantasy Japan and fantasy samurai) translated into D&D 5E. Not for you to change 5E and change the unique thing you do. It'll still sell orders of magnitude more than L5R, because that's the world we live in, but it's a damned shame they weren't confident enough in their brand to bring that more fully into D&D 5E.

It’s a contemporary version of Rokugan for people who like the 5e system. Why is that complicated.

It has plenty of Samurai, Japanese mythology and culture.

There are no more dice to track than the Battlemaster or Bard.

This sounds like sour grapes because a couple of minor changes have been seized upon by purists.

Rokugan did not require a strict honour code to be Rokugan. Devotion and the Code covers the same ground - just in a way that doesn’t offend people quite so much.

Please point out to me a change that will fundamentally change how the game plays at the table for the worse. Rather than just upsetting the longbeards who want to preserve the setting in amber.

 

[overgeeked]

I think there is a tension between trying to maintain some form of historical accuracy and being accessible and open to people who don’t have that level of knowledge or detail.

You can bridge that gap by writing books that give you that knowledge and detail. If their schtick is faux historically accurate fantasy Japan, they can write and sell books detailing faux historically accurate fantasy Japan. They have done. For a few decades now.

I don’t think they are pretending anything. They have made a conscious decision to broaden the appeal.

You say broaden, I say dilute. They have their one unique thing...that they're backing away from.

Those who expect fidelity to feudal Japan aren’t going to like this, but perhaps that was an unreasonable standard in the first place.

Why is it unreasonable? There are historical RPGs. This one, their bespoke version, was leaning into the tropes of samurai drama fiction, not away from.

 

[overgeeked]

It’s a contemporary version of Rokugan for people who like the 5e system. Why is that complicated.

Because they so drastically change both Rokugan and 5E. That's what makes it complicated.

It has plenty of Samurai, Japanese mythology and culture.

Less than before, but yes.

There are no more dice to track than the Battlemaster or Bard.

Except that not everyone plays a battlemaster or bard...every single class in AiR has similar resources to track. So going from one class and one subclass to literally every single class...yes, that's more.

This sounds like sour grapes because a couple of minor changes have been seized upon by purists.

You mean long-time fans of the setting.

Rokugan did not require a strict honour code to be Rokugan. Devotion and the Code covers the same ground - just in a way that doesn’t offend people quite so much.

Trying for more historical accuracy isn't offensive. Striving for historical accuracy then replacing Japanese culture with Chinese culture is. Confucianism is what replaced bushido. Bushido is Japanese. Confucianism is Chinese.

Please point out to me a change that will fundamentally change how the game plays at the table for the worse. Rather than just upsetting the longbeards who want to preserve the setting in amber.

Ah. Typical insults. That's productive. Tschüss.

 

[MGibster]

When L5R was released in 1996 (or was in 97?), initially I had no interest in it. I can't recall what circumstances led me to picking up the book, but I fell in love. Here was a game I never asked for and didn't want, and it became one of my favorite games of all time. With that in mind, I'm going to have to give this new version a chance. It's not really the same L5R I fell in love with, it's not a game I particularly wanted, but maybe it's a game I can love for what it is instead of hating for what it's not.

 

[This Effin’ GM]

Nice

 

[Weiley31]

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

But it's true. And it's always the same people on here that's never happy.

Note: I didn't say it to ruin the discussion. You view it your way and I can view it my way, so don't let me ruin your cereal.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Well, looks like there's a fair amount of rules that are dependent on the new lore. The person doing the RPG.net WiR is doing a great job, unfortunately almost everything they're revealing is a negative for me and what I want out of AiR.

This is less and less a Rokugan I recognize or want to play in. Imagine that, a property that's been associated with fantasy Japan and samurai for the last 25 years almost randomly deciding to toss the fantasy Japan angle and, at least in part, replace it with fantasy China. It's surreal.

It seems to me that they basically that the L5R setting as a whole was not appropriate for a 5e book (perhaps for social reasons, perhaps not) but were unwilling to give up the temptation of brand recognition. So, they created a new setting in name only.

The thing is, the 2022 reasons why not to port Rokugan over to 5e would also apply to any current exploration of the setting, regardless of rule set. I really don't understand what audience they're expecting to buy this.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Yeah, clearly the coastal islands was a 3am in the morning decision. Not the most inspired! That said, you can call them whatever you want in your game.

I think there is a tension between trying to maintain some form of historical accuracy and being accessible and open to people who don’t have that level of knowledge or detail.

I don’t think they are pretending anything. They have made a conscious decision to broaden the appeal. Those who expect fidelity to feudal Japan aren’t going to like this, but perhaps that was an unreasonable standard in the first place.

Keeping the setting more or less the same as the other Rokugan RPG that they are currently making is an unreasonable standard? No.