Messageboard Golem
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The definitive sourcebook for ninja characters in Legend of the Five Rings [features d20 rules also].
Way of the Ninja
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Psion
Adventurer
Way of the Ninja
Way of the Ninja is a supplement for the Legends of the Five Rings setting. The book is dual-statted, featuring statistics for both the d20 version of the setting as dealt with in the Oriental Adventures and Rokugan Campaign Setting books, and the Legend of the Five Rings 2nd edition system. This review deals primarily with those portions of the book written for the d20 system.
A First Look
Way of the Ninja is a 96-page book priced at $24.95. The book has a heavy bond paper that makes it seem more substantial, but in truth, the book has no more pages than the WotC class books which are priced for five dollars less. That being the case, the book is a little costly compared to other d20 system books with similar page counts.
Fortunately, the interior text is dense. Most of the book uses black ink, but blue ink is used for chapter tags, some headers, and for offsetting game text for the L5R classic system.
The interior art is generally very good. All the illustrations have a crisp and evocative style, and the art shows a greater variety and more interesting depictions than many earlier d20 Rokugan books.
A Deeper Look
(Spoiler warning: This section contains some setting secrets in the Rokugan setting.)
The Way of the Ninja discusses the ninja as it exists in the Legends of the Five Rings setting. In Rokugan, the first ninja were originally created by a rather vague edict from the first Hantei emperor. The practices that the ninja use were repellent to those who live by the code of Bushido, so at one time several prominent ninja were executed. This caused many ninja to go deeper underground and scatter. Eventually, ninja started working for a variety of clans, and many clans use ninja-like espionage techniques that would never suffer being called "ninja."
In addition to providing a history and overview of the ninja in Rokugan, the introductory chapter provides a brief but much needed treatise on the topic of playing ninja PCs. Obviously, playing openly identified ninjas in a party beside honorable samurai is very poor role-playing. A few ideas are discussed for making how ninja PCs can be convincingly included in a Rokugan (or other Oriental Adventures) campaign.
The introductory chapter provides a number of new feats appropriate for ninjas such as lightning stealth (defrays penalties to hiding and moving silently from moving quickly)or stab at the face (allows the ninja to stagger an opponent with a critical hit). Also, the idea of dojos and katas are reintroduced for the d20 system; they were first introduced in Way of the Samurai. Dojos are training schools that grant small game bonuses to a character trained in the Dojo. Katas are special maneuvers similar to feats, but they require the expenditure of XP to learn vice XP feat slots.
The remaining chapters cover various clans and organizations that utilize ninja and other ninja-like operatives.
Chapter one covers the scorpion, the clan from which ninja originated in the Rokugan setting. A few dojos are discussed. The hidden moon dojo harness the power of the entity known as Nothing; though the lying darkness is no more in the Rokugan setting, there are some who can still access the power of the Nothing. This is the province of a prestige class called the shosuro tejina. The class is a spellcasting class, and a full spell list and new spells are included.
The second chapter covers the Kolat, an organization in Rokugan which wishes to break the rule of humanity away from the kami. New information is presented for the Kolat that goes beyond prior products.
The Kolat are divided into a number of sects that are functionally equivalent to dojos in game terms. In-game, each sect has a different purpose in striving towards the goal of the Kolat. A new prestige class is presented, the Kolat assassin.
The third chapter covers the Goju. The Goju are ninja that once served an entity call the Lying Darkness. The Lying Darkness was destroyed, but the leadership was subsumed by a corrupt Dragon of Air. A new system is introduced here similar to the taint system for recording shadow corruption, and a new prestige class is introduced, the Goju Stalker. The Goju Stalker is specialized in finding corruptible individuals.
The fourth chapter discusses a number of minor ninja dojos. Less significant than the clans and other powerful organizations like the Kolat, the minor dojo still have carved their niches in Rokugan. Each dojo has a few feats representing their techniques.
The fifth chapter introduces some ninja-like figures and organizations that serve the great clans. This includes the daidoji harriers (which are part of the crane clan but unknown outside of it), the first strike dojo (which serves the crab clan), and the ikoma spymasters (which serve the lion clan). One new prestige class and many new feats are introduced in this chapter.
The sixth chapter covers enemies of the ninja. This includes the leaves of the tree dojo, the open eye dojo, and the magistrates. New prestige classes include the kitsuki investigator and the shadow hunter.
There are two appendices. The first include a number of new equipment items. The second has some role-playing and strategy tips for ninja characters and an update to the Legend of the Five Rings metaplot.
Conclusion
Overall, the book is mechanically sound, and a fairly decent update to the Rokugan setting, and the book emphasizes expostion and details regarding the Rokugan campaign setting over mechanical details. The book is primarily concerned with ninja as they exist in the Rokugan setting; there are some aspects that you may steal for ninja in other settings, but the emphasis on Rokugan is strong, and the benifit for those not wishing to play in Rokugan is smaller.
As far as being a Rokugan book goes, I didn't find the book to be nearly as interesting or engaging as Way of the Samurai, and the book is just as expensive. But those Rokugan fans who wish to focus on ninja in their game or otherwise follow the metaplot should consider buying this book.
-Alan D. Kohler
Way of the Ninja is a supplement for the Legends of the Five Rings setting. The book is dual-statted, featuring statistics for both the d20 version of the setting as dealt with in the Oriental Adventures and Rokugan Campaign Setting books, and the Legend of the Five Rings 2nd edition system. This review deals primarily with those portions of the book written for the d20 system.
A First Look
Way of the Ninja is a 96-page book priced at $24.95. The book has a heavy bond paper that makes it seem more substantial, but in truth, the book has no more pages than the WotC class books which are priced for five dollars less. That being the case, the book is a little costly compared to other d20 system books with similar page counts.
Fortunately, the interior text is dense. Most of the book uses black ink, but blue ink is used for chapter tags, some headers, and for offsetting game text for the L5R classic system.
The interior art is generally very good. All the illustrations have a crisp and evocative style, and the art shows a greater variety and more interesting depictions than many earlier d20 Rokugan books.
A Deeper Look
(Spoiler warning: This section contains some setting secrets in the Rokugan setting.)
The Way of the Ninja discusses the ninja as it exists in the Legends of the Five Rings setting. In Rokugan, the first ninja were originally created by a rather vague edict from the first Hantei emperor. The practices that the ninja use were repellent to those who live by the code of Bushido, so at one time several prominent ninja were executed. This caused many ninja to go deeper underground and scatter. Eventually, ninja started working for a variety of clans, and many clans use ninja-like espionage techniques that would never suffer being called "ninja."
In addition to providing a history and overview of the ninja in Rokugan, the introductory chapter provides a brief but much needed treatise on the topic of playing ninja PCs. Obviously, playing openly identified ninjas in a party beside honorable samurai is very poor role-playing. A few ideas are discussed for making how ninja PCs can be convincingly included in a Rokugan (or other Oriental Adventures) campaign.
The introductory chapter provides a number of new feats appropriate for ninjas such as lightning stealth (defrays penalties to hiding and moving silently from moving quickly)or stab at the face (allows the ninja to stagger an opponent with a critical hit). Also, the idea of dojos and katas are reintroduced for the d20 system; they were first introduced in Way of the Samurai. Dojos are training schools that grant small game bonuses to a character trained in the Dojo. Katas are special maneuvers similar to feats, but they require the expenditure of XP to learn vice XP feat slots.
The remaining chapters cover various clans and organizations that utilize ninja and other ninja-like operatives.
Chapter one covers the scorpion, the clan from which ninja originated in the Rokugan setting. A few dojos are discussed. The hidden moon dojo harness the power of the entity known as Nothing; though the lying darkness is no more in the Rokugan setting, there are some who can still access the power of the Nothing. This is the province of a prestige class called the shosuro tejina. The class is a spellcasting class, and a full spell list and new spells are included.
The second chapter covers the Kolat, an organization in Rokugan which wishes to break the rule of humanity away from the kami. New information is presented for the Kolat that goes beyond prior products.
The Kolat are divided into a number of sects that are functionally equivalent to dojos in game terms. In-game, each sect has a different purpose in striving towards the goal of the Kolat. A new prestige class is presented, the Kolat assassin.
The third chapter covers the Goju. The Goju are ninja that once served an entity call the Lying Darkness. The Lying Darkness was destroyed, but the leadership was subsumed by a corrupt Dragon of Air. A new system is introduced here similar to the taint system for recording shadow corruption, and a new prestige class is introduced, the Goju Stalker. The Goju Stalker is specialized in finding corruptible individuals.
The fourth chapter discusses a number of minor ninja dojos. Less significant than the clans and other powerful organizations like the Kolat, the minor dojo still have carved their niches in Rokugan. Each dojo has a few feats representing their techniques.
The fifth chapter introduces some ninja-like figures and organizations that serve the great clans. This includes the daidoji harriers (which are part of the crane clan but unknown outside of it), the first strike dojo (which serves the crab clan), and the ikoma spymasters (which serve the lion clan). One new prestige class and many new feats are introduced in this chapter.
The sixth chapter covers enemies of the ninja. This includes the leaves of the tree dojo, the open eye dojo, and the magistrates. New prestige classes include the kitsuki investigator and the shadow hunter.
There are two appendices. The first include a number of new equipment items. The second has some role-playing and strategy tips for ninja characters and an update to the Legend of the Five Rings metaplot.
Conclusion
Overall, the book is mechanically sound, and a fairly decent update to the Rokugan setting, and the book emphasizes expostion and details regarding the Rokugan campaign setting over mechanical details. The book is primarily concerned with ninja as they exist in the Rokugan setting; there are some aspects that you may steal for ninja in other settings, but the emphasis on Rokugan is strong, and the benifit for those not wishing to play in Rokugan is smaller.
As far as being a Rokugan book goes, I didn't find the book to be nearly as interesting or engaging as Way of the Samurai, and the book is just as expensive. But those Rokugan fans who wish to focus on ninja in their game or otherwise follow the metaplot should consider buying this book.
-Alan D. Kohler
JacktheRabbit
Explorer
How much of the book is used up on the other gaming system? I get the impression that at $25.95 this book minus the other setting info has to be one of the most expensive books per page out there.
Arnwyn
First Post
I don't understand your review. Pretty much all you do is describe what's in the book, and then give it a "3", noting that it's expensive, and that it's not "nearly as interesting or engaging as Way of the Samurai". Why? Is it the writing style? Is it uninspired feats and prestige classes? Is it a personal bias? [I don't mean to be hostile or anything - just more info would be appreciated.]
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