Heroic samurai

Spell-wielding shugenja

Treacherous ninja

The terrible wastes of the Shadowlands™

Welcome to the Emerald Empire

One of the most popular samurai RPGs has been reborn, with new rules, clarifications, and special guides to help you get started in the incredibly detailed world of Rokugan. Within these pages, you will find everything you need to create your own characters for use in Legend of the Five Rings' Emerald Empire.

The Player's Guide includes:

Easy to get started: The LSR Player's Guide is packed full with detailed descriptions of the Emerald Empire, rules and character creation
guidelines, schools and techniques, complete skill lists, and advantages and disadvantages to help new players and experienced fans interact with Rokugan's culture and society

Step-by-step character generation: Pick a Clan, pick a profession, spend a few points and you are on your way adventuring in the Emerald Empire!

Flexible rules: The L5R RPG uses a simple system to smooth character creation, so that players and Game Masters find it easy to create adventures and heroes!

All new spells and schools: New bushi schools, an entire chapter of new spells, simplified weapons and armour rules, and updated storyline information all packed into one incredibly detailed book.

- From the Player's Guide -

First Impressions: You get a new chance to impress the World every 24 hours. Use it wisely.

A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step, and my collection of Legend of the Five Rings books started with a single purchase. I bought the original rulebook from my local RPG shop, little did I know that in six or seven month’s time I would be a LoT5R’s junkie and I’d own every single book they had released. Do I regret that initial addiction forming purchase? Not even for a second.

I bought the rulebook as I fancied a new game, preferably fantasy (having recently bought Trinity I didn’t really need another Sci-fi) and most of all it had to be a game which no one else I knew owned. So LoT5R’s was the perfect choice. It was fantasy with an eastern twist and most of my friends had never even heard of it let alone purchased a copy.

Purchasing the new Second Edition Player’s Guide was as inevitable as Arnie becoming the Governor of California (well done by the way… on the off chance he’s reading this). As I flicked through the book I realised my money hadn’t been wasted and that the new edition had a lot to offer a current player as well as any newcomers.

The Look: Does this book make me look fat?

I have to say that I was actually slightly disappointed with the cover art of the new edition. The old rulebook had a great picture of a surrounded samurai ‘selling his life dearly’ as he fights off his attackers. The new book however has a very stationary feel to it and doesn’t really inspire any kind of feeling at all from me, which is a real shame as almost all the interior art is great and really captures the feel of Rokugan (the land where the game is set – more on this in a few seconds - depending how fast you read of course).

The Content: So what’s between the sheets?

The real strength of this mighty fine game is the setting.

In this book you’re introduced to the land of Rokugan, which is where the game is set. The best way to describe Rokugan is by comparing it to ancient feudal Japan. It has a very similar feel but with a fantasy twist, almost as if all their old myths and legends had been real… and then some. The society is much like ancient Japan with the very defined classes of emperor, warrior, merchant and peasant. This intricate system of order is all set against a truly great fantasy background. Rokugan is a patchwork of grassland, open plains and forest with a range of mountains and coastline protecting its borders. There are many small villages and towns dotting the countryside and several large cities which act as centres of commerce and culture.

So where is the fun in that? I hear all the brave monster slaying guys and gals among you yell, let’s face it peace doesn’t make great roleplaying. Luckily, for gamers at least, there is a large wall in the south defended by the crab clan (more on the clans in a sec); this wall stretches from the coastline in the east to the mountains in the west. On the other side of this wall lies the Shadowlands. This is a dark corrupt area, which is home to Fu Leng (the main bad guy) and all his evil minions. These range from the common fantasy antagonist ‘goblins’ to the new and varied evil of the ‘oni’. This is basically an all encompassing name for the weird monsters and beasties that inhabit the Shadowlands, some of which are huge muscle bound brutes and others are sneaky innocent looking deviants, but one thing is for sure they are all nasty as hell. Very original and great for throwing something new at an experienced group.

Next up we have the clans, who under the emperor, rule Rokugan. Most characters will either be from or have come from one of the clans so here's a little info on them. First off we have the major clans; the unicorn (outsiders), the crab (crude and tough), the crane (elegant and political), the lion (warlike and honourable), the phoenix (studious and magical), the dragon (mysterious and religious) and the scorpion (sneaky and underhand). There are also some minor clans who have been growing in power recently and are beginning to have more of an effect on the big picture.

So in a very small nutshell that is Rokugan and the Legend of The Five Rings setting, to fully appreciate how it all works you will need to read to book, trust me its well worth it as this is one of the finest settings I’ve ever read and excels in every area.

Second Edition: Being first isn’t always good, take landmines for instance.

Lets get one thing straight - nothing was wrong with the first edition of the game. The system is great and has remained largely un-changed in the new version. In fact to be honest I love this rules system so much that if I ever make my own game I would love to use the ‘roll and keep’ system. The system is simple to learn and easy to teach to new players. It also makes a lot of sense and works really well in combat and skill tests.

The main differences between the first and second editions of this game have been in the setting. The second edition has taken the storyline a few years down the line from the original game and I think Alderac have handled the storyline progression very well. They have been releasing various books and adventures, which gradually changed the storyline and worked characters into the new version and let's them feel like they had helped bring the new setting about.

Another big advantage of this book is the collected info it has from all the old books. They have collected info from all The Way of The Clans books and the GM’s Survival Guide. They have even now included the new faction on the scene, which are worth mentioning as the characters can choose to play one of the with the GM’s consent. These are the Naga, who are an ancient race of snake-like beings that have yet to show their true colours and have remained in the shadows for the most part so far observing the humans and trying to decide whether the two-legs are a good or bad thing.

Final Thoughts: Last words are for fools who haven't said enough… so here goes.

Is the book really any good then? Yes I think it is well worth considering if you want to buy a roleplay game and if you already have the original and liked it then this should be on your list without a doubt. It adds an exciting new chapter to your current LoT5R’s games and lets you characters carry on their adventures in Rokugan. The Clan War storyline can be hard to work round and in some ways I’m not sure it was the right way to go, but I can see it has a purpose and is surely leading to bigger things.

The oriental setting may put some gamers off but trust me this is truly original and you’ll experience roleplaying situations you would never get in other games. The huge range of other books that have already been released for the first edition are still all fully compatible with this new edition and provide you with a mammoth selection of game types to draw from. Do you set you game in the realms of mystery where Rokugani culture can get in the way of investigations and honour can provide moral dilemmas, or do you go all out in the war settings with the characters commanding troops and missions against the enemy. There is even the ‘old skool’ option where your characters can do battle with the monsters of the Shadowlands for honour and personal glory. For a fantasy game you could do far worse than this and not much better.

Reviewed By Jon Simpson - jon@kmant.com