Fortune And Winds

[Messageboard Golem]

Fortunes and Winds opens up new worlds for players already familiar with Legend of the Five Rings - ten worlds to be precise. The Spirit Realms vaguely hinted at in previous supplements are illustrated here in detail.

The Realm of the Hungry Dead, the Realm of Tricksters, even foul Jigoku, home of the demonic oni; all are presented in this volume along with their bizarre inhabitants. How do you get to these realms? What will you find there? Most importantly once you are there, how do you get home again? Fortunes and Winds answers all these questions and more. 112 page soft bound book.

 

[Psion]

Fortunes & Winds

Fortunes & Winds is a sourcebook for the Rokugan setting describing the various spirit realms (i.e., planes) of the Rokugan cosmology. As with many L5R supplements since the publication of d20 Rokugan, Fortunes & Winds is a dual statted book with d20 System and L5R 2nd edition statistics. This review is concerned primarily with the d20 aspects of the book.

A First Look

Fortunes & Winds is a 112 page perfect-bound book priced at $24.95.

The cover of the book has the look of ricepaper bound in blue cloth, similar to prior books in the series. The cover depicts a coiled bright orange dragon, illustrated by Jeremy Jarvis.

The interior of the book is black-and-white. The interior illustrations are by Cris Dornaus. The art is somewhat sparse in the book, and much of what is in there is recycled from other Rokugan books.

The interior text density is very good and the fonts are clear and readable. The book is printed on a heavy bond paper, making it seem thicker than the page count indicates.

A Deeper Look

Fortune & Winds has an introductory chapter and ten numbered chapters. The introductory chapter is actually pretty meaty, containing quite a bit of material. Each of the ten numbered chapters details one of the ten spirit realms.

One of the central mechanics used in Fortune & Winds is control. Control operates very much like taint. In fact, the effects of the taint are a specific instance of control; taint is the control exercised by the sprit realm of Jigoku, the realm of evil. Control accumulates points and ranks like taint does and has effects on characters that reflect the realm. However, the effects of control of other realms is distinct to each realm. The influences of other realms is not so difficult to shed as the taint of Jigoku is, though.

The introductory section mentions that some realms offer bonus spells similar to the way that taint does, but no other part of the book offers any sort of indication that this system is actually used.

The introductory section provides a few new templates (for denizens of various realms), a few new feats, and rules for playing shapeshifters (such as kitsune and tanuki) as player characters. This last bit is very extensive and possibly the most adaptable feature of the book.

All shapeshifters have some common characteristics, and the selection of specific race provides some additional abilities as well as "spirit points." The character can also voluntarily take on a class level modifier to improve gain more spirit points. Spirit points can be used to purchase special abilities. The abilities are somewhat like feats in that some have prerequisites and level requirements, but they can give the shapeshifter supernatural or spell-like abilities.

There is a drawback to playing shapeshifter. The character must select a number of taboos in order to remain in the mortal realm, and every 5 levels they must take on more taboos.

The ten realms covered in the book are:
- Jigoku: The realm of evil. This interface of this realm with the mortal world is well known: the shadowlands.
- Gaki-do: The realm of hungry spirits. Spirits of mortals drawn into this realm are forced into the shape of Gaki, and cannot pass on to other realms until their hunger is sated.
- Sakkaku: The realm of mischief. The home of a number of mischievous spirits, and the realm brings out the same in characters who visit the realm.
- Meido: The realm of waiting. This is the realm where spirits wait to be judged while passing to the afterlife.
- Yomi: The realm of blessed ancestors. This is the realm where spirits of mortals who have lived an honorable life dwell.
- Tengoku: The celestial heavens. This is where powerful beings like fortunes, dragons, and other divine creatures dwell.
- Chikushudo: The realm of animals. Spirits of animals dwell here, and mortal visiting acquire a more bestial aspect.
- Toshigoku: The realm of slaughter. This realm is the destination of spirits soldiers that die in hopeless battle or those who are bloodthirsty and vengeful. Toshigoku is a realm of eternal conflict.
- Yume-do: The realm of dreams. This is where mortals visit when they dream. The equivalent of "alternate universes" exist within Yume-do. Those who tarry too long in Yume-do can become less real, and must slumber longer in the real world.
- Ningen-do: The realm of mortals. This is the basic world of the Rokugan campaign setting. Ningen-do exercises a strong pull on its denizens from other realms; the only way for denizens to permanently escape is by death.

Each chapter contains details on the denizens of various realms (including new creatures and prestige classes), the control of the realms, means of resisting control, effects on magic in the realm, proximity of the realm to other realms, and adventure hooks related to the realms.

Conclusion

This book is probably best for Rokugan completists or those who are interested in planar adventuring in an L5R game. Much of the book is background material on the various realms of the Rokugan cosmology and many be of little use outside that venue. The control mechanic and the shapeshifter player race mechanics have the most promise for use outside of Rokugan, as well as opening up possibilities for a more mythic and fantastical Rokugan game.

Of the material is mechanics related, there is a slant towards the L5R 2e material; many of the creatures that were already defined for d20 Rokugan (in Oriental Adventures, the Rokugan Campaign Setting, or Creatures of Rokugan) are defined here for L5R 2e players. This in combination with the narrow subject matter and expense of the book may make this a less ideal purchase if you don't forsee a use for it in your campaign.

-Alan D. Kohler

 

[Messageboard Golem]

By Joe G Kushner, Staff Editor and Reviewer, d20 Magazine Rack

Fortunes & Winds
Edited by D. J. Trindle
Published by Alderac Entertainmnet Group (AEG)
112 b&w pages, $24.95

Sizing Up the Target
Sometimes the mortal world just doesn't have enough in it to keep a hardy adventurer content. At times like that, when the urge to truly challenge your players is upon you, break out Fortunes & Winds and send them screaming to Toshigoku, the Realm of Slaughter or Jigoku, the Realm of Evil and have them work their way back to Ningen-do, the Realm of Mortals.

First Blood
The book starts off with an introduction to the different spirit realms and provides some basic ground mechanics that can be used in almost any realm. Know how the Shadowlands has taint? Well that's just another form of control, something that almost all the realms have to one degree or another. A few magic items and feats help round out the introduction before the book does a chapter by chapter breakdown of each of the realms.

In terms of game mechanics, there are templates to help represent the denizens of the different realms as well as shadeshifters as player characters. Ever want to play a Kitsune or a Ryu? How about a Tanuki or Koumori? All listed with their spirit points, stat modifications, favored class, bonuses and penalties

Critical Hits
Each chapter, while small, provides the GM with enough information to formulate some ideas and themes of what each realm is like. Take Yomi, the Realm of Blessed Ancestors. Imagine how easy it'd be to have the characters go off and search for an ancestor who knows a forgotten technique or seek out a family member for other hidden knowledge?

The book incorporates the major events like the Battle at Oblivion's Gate and the War of Spirits, not to mention long ago past events like Iuchiban and his Bloodspeakers and the effects of Jigoku on the Shadowlands themselves. This allows the GM not only to see what effect these spirit realms have had on the setting, but can provide some ideas on how to use them in the future. In many ways, this book is the Manual of the Planes for Oriental Adventurers.

Another useful tool is the Kenku Kenjutsu school, perfect for those Ronin who wish to augment their fighting abilities but can't learn any official style. A character who manages to win favor with the Kenku and learn all four ranks will be a devastating opponent able to copy techniques, double damage when using Power Attack and inflict void loss to opponents through powerful hits.

Like most of their line books, the art and layout is top notch. Perhaps the art doesn't always fit the section like the monk with prayer beads summoning up a shady samurai spirit to fight some four-armed monstrosity in the colorless realm of Meido, but its quality work.

For those wanting more information on the Seven Greater Fortunes, Tengoku provides the details. Want to know more about Bishamon, the Fortune of Strength or Jorojin, the Fortune of Longevity? How about the lesser Fortunes like Kaze-no-Kami, the Fortune of the Wind? The same section also provides details on the Elemental Dragons and Blessings and Curses of the Seven Fortunes, which either have to be taken at 1st level
as a feat or achieving through role playing later on.

Another excellent element that's way too short is the section on "That which might have been", alternative version of Rokugan including one where Fu Leng wins the Second Day of Thunder among others. Great for those heroes who just can't do enough on their own world anymore or have run out of challenges.

Critical Misses
Unlike other books in the series, this one isn't 96 pages long but 112 pages and runs for the same price. Now if the discrepancy between the L5R and 7th Seas books has no internal consistency, you know there's a problem somewhere in the system. This isn't a complaint about the price of this book as much as a question to the company that charges the same price for books regardless of size.

The framing technique, that of Tokei, a Shugenja who 'dies' while defending a small village, wandering through these realms one at a time, may not be everyone's cup of tea. While it works well as a framing device, it takes up space and if I want a 10-page short story, I'll pick up an anthology.

The book doesn't do enough with each section. While it's only a 112-page book and it can't do everything it possibly should, the Shadowlands aren't a major player here as its in the mortal realm and only partially influenced by the realm of evil but I'm a long time player of L5R and I have two huge sourcebooks on the Shadowlands alone. How can a few pages of the realm of evil that feed the Shadowlands compare? Some of the
chapters are just too short. I understand that Meido is the neutral realm where souls are judged but at less than four pages, was it worth even including for anything other than the sake of completeness?

Another problem involves the use of the dual stats. See the book uses blue ink for the L5R game stats but the problem is that the blue ink is very dark making it almost the same as the black ink unless you're in very good light. For those who hate the dual stats, they'll really hate this book, as there are pages of game mechanics for the d20 system that are repeated for the L5R system.

Coup de Grace
Perhaps if this book had been done up in a hardcover format with full color maps of the different realms and more examples of how to use it, this would be a critical element to any L5R d20 collection. As it is, it is a useful tool for those GMs who want to go past the standard Rogukan setting and see what the planes themselves have to offer.

To see the graded evaluation of this product and to leave comments that the reviewer will respond to, go to The Critic's Corner at www.d20zines.com.