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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DrunkonDuty" data-source="post: 6281665" data-attributes="member: 54364">Hey Storminator. Here's my take on it. Note: I'm going to refer to the 3rd Edition, I've only glanced at 4th.I'm going to start with what's bad about L5R. This is so I can finish on a high note.The layout of the main book is craptacular. Seriously, if you want to draw up even a basic samurai you will find yourself flipping back and forth all over the place. Gets worse if you want to create a monk, a shugenja or a use any of the advanced kata rules. It seems the book has been split up such that the rules are all assigned to one of the chapters according to which of the 5 Elements is thematically correct for those rules.* What it looks like actually happened is that additional rules got written, slapped on the end and were called "Book of Fire" or whatever. It reminds me of the old 1E AD&D books: kinda haphazard.In many places the rules are poorly explained and in some cases poorly thought out. You WILL need to go in and re-write/explain certain aspects. For instance when I was running my L5R game last year I eventually found myself going into the combat section and re-writing the rules there. I didn't change much in way of actual intent of the RAW but I did expand on the RAW and created a layout that set everything up so I (and hopefully my players) could look at it and know exactly what was possible in a given situation.There has also been some power creep in the later supplements but, hey, that's normal for an RPG.The good stuff.The feeling of the setting is awesome. The books are lovingly written. Very glossy and very pretty.  You really get a feel for playing a samurai in Rokugan. There's plenty of room to play a variety of campaigns. Be it murder hobos or loyal soldiers on the frontier or scheming courtiers or ninja spies or what ever.Each character class comes with oodles of background info that really immerses them into the campaign setting. Classes are based on Clans. Which Clan you are from (mostly) dictates what classes are open to you. But don't worry, every clan has bushi, shugenja, courtiers and some variation on the sneaky spy-type.Don't want to be in a stuffy old Samurai Clan? Be a Ronin. Ronin have it tough but at least they are their own masters. Of course most Rokugani pity them for that.Classes all have their own unique set of special Techniques. A Technique is a special ability that modifies something like: how a skill is used, or how much damage is done with an attack or that gives some unusual special power (like a Crane Courtier's ability to access great wealth.)Each Clan represents a stereotype. For instance Crane are all elegant, courtly and artistic. They are also arrogant and soft. Lion are all noble warriors; brave, honourable and loyal. They are also loud and obnoxious. Players may create characters that either meet those stereotypes or not.The game mechanics fit the style of the game.I really enjoy the Roll and Keep mechanic. Basically using a skill one rolls X+Y in dice, keeps Y and totals them to achieve a target number; where X represents a Skill and Y represents it's complimentary Stat. e.g.: My bushi is attempting to hit a goblin. She has Kenjutsu Skill 4 and Agility Stat 3. I roll 7 dice and keep the best 3. I then total those 3 and determine what target number I've reached.Raises are fun. Basically a raise is when a player opts to aim for a higher target number (with a higher chance of failure) in return for more spectacular results if successful. You can raise on any skill roll: combat, general skills and Spell Casting.There are in-depth mechanics for social combat. And it really is combat. In the second session of my game last year we had ourselves on the edge of our seats as one of the PCs engaged in a battle of courtly manners with an NPC courtier. At stake was their whole scheme (to get a certain guest to attend a poetry competition) and their personal honour.The Honour system is really good. (And pretty well explained and thought out too.) Honour is not  just a number the players can try to increase. It can be used for re-rolls and such like. And many a samurai's special abilities are based on, or are effected by, their honour.In combat initiative is fluid. This can lead to interesting situations.Combat is also deadly. First strike can easily be last strike. (Or last effective strike anyway.)Being wounded gives penalties to target numbers. There's no being 100% effective on 1 hit point in L5R. If you're on your last legs you will probably have a +20 penalty to target numbers. Combat can go down hill really fast. Hence my "last effective strike" comment above.Mass Combat has a nice, elegant sub-system that is based around giving the players a chance to shine. The actually battle is largely abstracted with PCs each getting a chance to do something cool (or try to avoid combat altogether if they prefer.)Void is a great stat. Basically it's a limited dice pool that can be added to other skill rolls. Overall I really like the game. Yes it has it's flaws but the setting and general feel of it more than make up for them. I hope you get a chance to give it a go, it's worth the game time.Cheers,Glen.*no, that doesn't make any sense to me either.</blockquote>

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