The End of Rokugan d20

[Kae'Yoss]

While searching the link for the Rokugan d20 preview ninja pdf (to post in the "best ninja" thread), I read two things: 1. They're going to release a 3rd edition of the Legend of the Five Rings RPG, and 2. They're going to stop doing dual supplements - no more d20 Material for Rokugan.

Which is really a great pity, I loved that stuff.

The last supplement will be "The Hidden Emperor", a "historical" book about the abduction of Tutori I by the living darkness.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Yeah, pretty old news in some circles. I think that the OGL games forum has a thread about this and RPG.net has been talking about 3rd edition L5R for a while now.

 

[Desdichado]

I don't have anything for them except the campaign setting itself. What makes the material so good? Could it not still be used pretty well? Are the "Way of XXX" books very crunch heavy?

 

[Arnwyn]

Yes, the "Way of" books have a fair amount of rules material.

Yes, the new books will likely still be used pretty well for all the geographical and campaign world specific material (if the 1e and 2e L5R books are any indication - I use those fairly easily in my d20 game).

Unfortunate, but I think all the rules material for Rokugan has run dry anyways. Geography and culture is much more important to me now.

 

[Desdichado]

I guess that was kinda my question. The setting book itself is relatively "crunchy" so I doubted that there's too much more needed to run a very comprehensive set of Rokugan campaigns already.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I don't have anything for them except the campaign setting itself. What makes the material so good? Could it not still be used pretty well? Are the "Way of XXX" books very crunch heavy?

The books have a great deal of "flumph" in them, and even the crunch reflects the game world and is tied to the campaign world nicely.

Often, the chapters have an introduction in the form of a short piece of story (and these pieces usually are like a red line through the book, as the protagonist encounters those things the following chapter is all about. The story from the "Secrets of the..." line even are continued through all the books (there's one Secrets book for each of the 8 major clans, plus one for the Shadowlands).

Interesting (but not really relevant, for me at least, as I use d20 only) is the dual nature: Rules usually follow the relevant information directly, instead of being in a different chapter. And those rules are presented both for d20 and L5R2e.

All-in-all, these books are fun to read even without the rules stuff, which has some interesting bits, too.

 

[ivocaliban]

I never really caught up with Rokugan d20. I loved the Legend of the Five Rings material and reading the "Way of..." clan books was a true joy (despite the often poor editing). I even read the Clan Wars seven-novel series (as well as The Four Winds series) and I generally don't even like RPG related fiction. Overall it was magnificent, too. So, I bought OA and Rokugan as well as several of the d20/L5R supplements as they were released, but I didn't even recognize the place. It was decades later and all these characters I'd come to enjoy and understand were dead or gone.

I understand that the Rokugan metaplot was deterimined by the CCG and often I loved every minute of it (despite the fact that I'd never played the game). Still, it seemed like the slate had been wiped clean and the world was an entirely different place all of the sudden. It wasn't the change that bothered me so much as the gap that didn't feel sufficiently filled. The period in Rokugan between 1134 and 1158 is sketchy at best and all my characters from L5R (circa 1120) are either dead or pushing 60 by the time the d20 version picks up. I rather doubt I'll ever catch up at this rate...and I quite frankly stopped trying years ago.

And this makes me sad. :\

 

[Blue Prism]

AEG did not decide to stop supporting D20, rather WoTC decided to stop supporting Oriental Adventures.

The Official L5R site now has a Forum too. Lotsa people are happy to see a 3rd edition and are sadden to see an end to D20. Heck, AEG could have made a better Rokugan D20 if they did not have to follow the OA lead anyway.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

Well, my first contact with rokugan was Oriental Adventures. I got Rokugan d20 and the Clan War series soon after, and I liked all of it. I also love the supplements.

Now, the fact that most of the heroes in the novels aren't alive any more doesn't bother me too much. After all, it's the players' turn now, they are to become the new heroes.

 

[Treebore]

That is why I like Rokugan D20, the crunch and the fluff DO combine together to make a very distinct campaign flavor. No other campaign setting comes even close to doing this, of the ones I own anyway.

A secret about the fluff. Buy the seriously discounted 2e L5R books. The history and clan write-ups are just as valid as anything in the dual stat books, and far more in depth. Especially the Players book and Game master book. I am very glad I bouight them, just for the fluff.