FEng Shui for L5R Rokugan

[daddystabz]

Anyone have any experience with the Feng Shui rpg ruleset? I have recently purchased it and have been very happy with it. I am thinking of using it for L5R (Legend of the 5 Rings). What do you all think of this?

 

[daddystabz]

Anyone?

 

[Piratecat]

7am is a bad time to get peoples' opinions; 3/4 of the US is asleep.

I'm a huge fan of Feng Shui. I have some quibbles about the actual rules that I'm happy to discuss if you're interested, but I looove the game.

 

[Piratecat]

Thinking about this during the day...

My biggest complaint with Feng Shui's rules is that your combat expertise also acts as your defense. That means that if you want your villain competent in a fight, they're always very hard for the PCs to hit. I'd keep these two numbers separate if I was making a house rule.

Another complaint about Feng Shui is that it's all style and no real tactics. This doesn't bother me at all, but it does some of my friends.

 

[Crothian]

L5R always struck me as a more serious game then Feng Shui. As long as that is not an issue it could work.

 

[malladin]

I love both these games but would be very hesitant over running L5R with the FS ruleset. FS is built to support high octane action whereas L5R is gritty and dangerous and functions best with rules that supprt this. Check out the typical L5R characters ability to dish out damage as opposed to take it and it gets worse with the specialised blenders, Matsu Berserkers etc. FS could work for a Thunder-esque upper end heroes of Rokugan type game but for a regular one I think you'll get a system/setting conflict.

 

[daddystabz]

Would you be willing to run me on a sample adventure over the net, maybe with OpenRPG or something, Piratecat? I am wanting to sample it to see if I have mastered most of the rules yet. I need to especially go over shots and how they work within the sequence, with the initiative system, etc. That part is a bit confusing to me.

 

[Mokona]

I think Feng Shui would be perfect for a certain kind of Legend of the Five Rings game. Most of the fiction behind the game reads more like Super Action than "you'll die randomly" (at least for the heroes).

My concern...Is there enough rules material after you remove all the Gun-stuff to provide enough variety and choices for the players/NPCs?

 

[Piratecat]

Shots are pretty easy to explain. It's like calling intiative in D&D, except everyone goes every 3 numbers (usually.) When a fight starts the players determine their initiative; have them put a paperclip or something on the number if you number the edge of their character sheet 1-20. Then you start going around the table. To be fair, I usually go clockwise, then counter-clockwise, the clockwise, bouncing back and forth around the table. 18 (look in turn at each player)... 17 (look in turn at each player)... 16. "I go!" says the player who goes first. Then, so long as he's making normal attacks, he goes on 13, 10, 7, 4, and 1. If he does something that has a shot cost of 1, like (iirc) reloading, it slides all those numbers down one.

Sounds confusing, but it goes quickly once you get the rhythm. Put pencil marks on your own chart to note when the bad guys go.

 

[daddystabz]

So if the guy you mentioned did something that usually takes 3 shots to resolve, like most things mentioned in the rules, then he acts on those same numbers, right? But if he does something that will cost him 1 shot then he shifts those numbers down 1, correct? So in the case of doing something that takes 1 shot, he would be at 16, but then he would be able to act again at 15. But if at 15 he does something that takes 3 shots, he would not act again until 12, right?