Tell me about L5R the RPG

[ValhallaGH]

I like Ninja. I like RPGs. So I want to know about RPGs about ninja!

Then L5R will work, but the majority of L5R stuff will not be for you.

Most of L5R is for honorable samurai (of any or every clan; even clanless). You can totally have a ninja game, but it will take some work - ninja in the setting are very Secretive. They usually look just like everyone else - the black suits are only for very specific uses. Kind of a secret agents ninja game, emphasis on Secret.
Every clan has ninja, the Scorpion simply have more than everyone else - and are the only ones that think of themselves as ninja; everyone else is just "a Samurai that specializes in unconventional warfare".

System:
Mechanically, L5R is a "Roll / Keep" system with "exploding dice". Roll a bunch of dice (d10s), keep some of them and add them together to get your total (modifiers can alter the roll, the keep, or even the final total). This makes everything kind of swingy - I've seen veteran warriors roll a 4 on an attack, immediately after rolling a 97 on damage (enough to kill almost anything). You're generally consistent, but the extremes are pretty extreme.
Magic gets re-written every edition, though it is all elementally themed. But you generally know spells, roll to cast, and have some sort of hard limitation on the number of spells you can cast. (The two I've seen have been spell points and spells per day.)
Status and Honor are Very Big Deals in the setting, and the sneaky courtier is a deadlier foe than the burly general, since his machinations can force you to commit suicide - except against demons, who ignore the Imperial executioners.


Overall:
It is an enjoyable system attached to an interesting (if often illogical) setting. Worth looking at, and can certainly do what you want it to do, but it's not for everyone.

Best of luck.

 

[Treebore]

If you play a Ninja right no one else at the table will know you are one. If anyone at the table discovers you are Ninja you will surely cleanse the dishonor you have brought upon your clan with your own blood post haste.

 

[Rechan]

Thanks guys. I was hoping for pajama wearing rooftop running, but that sounds alright too. The System doesn't sound very tough or dense.

Since things are fairly grisly and it's all about words, it sounds very Yojimbo.

 

[ValhallaGH]

You're welcome.

You can totally use L5R to run "pajama wearing rooftop running", but you'd have to tweak the setting. Not a heck of a lot, but enough to take some work.

If you're too lazy for that, might I suggest Iron Dynasty: Way of the Ronin - Reality Blurs | DriveThruRPG.com?* Pajama-clad ninja atop roofs is an out-of-the-box campaign concept.


*Warning: May lead to an inexplicable need to Savage all your campaigns.

 

[Rechan]

I'm curious also about the Wu Xing - The Ninja Crusade.

Also been intending to look into Savage Worlds.

 

[wingsandsword]

Deadly as hell. It's very much a game that if you've drawn swords, things have gone to hell and someone in the party may very well die.

This.

L5R the card game was very big with our gaming club in college.

Somebody decided he wanted to run a campaign of it. 8 people made PCs. Mostly samurai, a couple of shugenja. Since everybody knew the setting really well, the PCs had well fleshed out backgrounds, fully realized personalities, and were generally the sort of thought-through characters you'd take into a long-term campaign.

Then the first fight of the campaign happens. This group of 8 PC's is sent to go to the Imperial Court as representatives, and along the trail they encounter a group of bandits. By the end of the first round, two PCs are dead, by the end of the fight more than half the party is dead.

Combat is incredibly deadly. It's probably quite realistic, but definitely not heroic or dramatic. If fights happen, PCs are likely to die. If you want dueling samurai and glorious battles on the battlefield and shadowy ninja action. . .expect the games to be short and bloody.

It worked well as a deep-immersion game set at court where everybody was scheming and politicking against each other, but a lot of us didn't like that campaign style and you don't need rules so much for that sort of game.

The d20 Rokugan that was made circa 2002 building of the D&D 3.0 Oriental Adventures book worked a lot better for our group, since we already knew the system and was much more able to play the high-combat, high-action campaign style we were expecting.

 

[Rechan]

It worked well as a deep-immersion game set at court where everybody was scheming and politicking against each other

It pleases me that a system exists for that sorta thing. Makes me think of the movie Ran.

 

[ValhallaGH]

L5R combat is deadly - but like any game you can optimize for it.
I've seen characters with 63 TN to be Hit, in the same party as the guy with a 12 TN to be Hit, but the latter had Reduction 13 and 80 wounds (which made him obscenely tough). Then there were the Glass Cannons - normal TNs to be Hit (10 to 20) and normal wounds (24) but they always went first, and were on 9k5+6 attack for 8k5+10 damage: they went first, they almost always hit, and they almost always killed what they hit.

Optimized L5R is ridiculous and as deadly as basic L5R; you're just doing it against a higher tier of foes. ... A lot like Legendary ranked Savage Worlds characters. They die just as easily, but they happen to fight more dragons than goblins (though the goblins can skill kill them).

 

[Aramax]

There is an old rpg,which I think is out of print,that did an exellant job of Samuri and Ninjas

Bushido from Fantasy Games Unlimited,a must see for a wanna be shenobi!

 

[enrious]

There is an old rpg,which I think is out of print,that did an exellant job of Samuri and Ninjas

Bushido from Fantasy Games Unlimited,a must see for a wanna be shenobi!

Bushido Fantasy Games Unlimited


There was also Sengoku - [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Sengoku-Revised-Anthony-J-Bryant/dp/1890305502/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_1]Amazon.com: Sengoku, Revised Edition (9781890305505): Anthony J. Bryant, Mark T. Arsenault: Books[/ame]