Designer Diary 5

[Goju Kaze]

Here's the new Design Diary! It came in a bit earlier than I expected so I haven't bothered Puck to put it on the site yet. At any rate I hope you like what you see; it was written up by one of our newest and most promising freelancers.

L5R Third Edition Design Diary Number Five

By Peter Thomas Ramirez, Freelance Writer

One of the most interesting parts about working on Third Edition, in my humble opinion, was how fluidly the rules and mechanics evolved and adapted as we worked on it. For this project we were blessed not only with some of the most talented writers that have worked on the game, but also with a large body of playtesters to help make certain that the rules would be concise, intuitive, and fun. The end result was a tightly crafted system that combines the best parts of First and Second Edition, a handful of useful things we learned in the dual system days, and a few entirely new and exciting ideas.

Most of that, of course, was during the last few days of playtesting, when Rich Wulf’s laptop mysteriously became jammed with peanut butter and, somehow, Yorkshire terrier hair. Though the writers and editors had several backup copies of the files, it was in the end deemed that collecting these would have been a great deal of trouble, and instead I was called upon to determine how the rules would be adapted for a third iteration of this beloved rules system. My advice was also sought out for various layout, artwork, and printing concerns. These changes were vast and manifold, but I have collected a handful of them here for your enjoyment.

Top Ten New Changes to Third Edition

1)Advantages being purchased after character creation was long an optional rule, but it has traditionally been a popular one. This has been instituted in a new manner. To prevent abuse, Advantages no longer cost double the regular Character Point cost in Experience. Rather, they now cost one hundred dollars per Character Point. This money is to be paid directly to the Game Master, who will of course tithe ten percent to Alderac Entertainment Group.

2) People have long complained about the gender imbalance in the RPG. Simply put many of the player characters tend to be male. To correct this imbalance we will be encouraging the build of female characters by granting all female characters a +1 bonus to all starting Traits. I feel that this rule captures the flavor of the CCG quite well, especially when one looks at such artwork as Matsu Satomi, Shosuro Yasuko, and the perennial favorites, Kachiko and O-Ushi. As one can clearly see these are powerful characters with large, well-rounded rings. The RPG should reflect this!

3) Ratlings, as has already been mentioned previously, were unfortunately removed from the main book due to lack of space. While they are an important part of the ongoing storyline, the Ratlings have always been peripheral to the tales of the Great Clans and samurai. Disagreeing with this decision, I have seen to it that the Nezumi were returned to the main book and took things a step further by also including player characters rules for Naga, Yobanjin, Yodatai, Ningyo, Wyrm Riders, and puffins. To make room for these exciting options, other factions that I saw as less important have been removed. These include the Minor Clans, Ronin, Imperial Families, Bloodspeakers, and the Unicorn Clan.

4) In the interest of promoting Legend of the Five Rings to a wider audience, we are hoping to step away from the distasteful stigma that many hold toward role-playing games. Henceforth, there will be a decreased emphasis on matters of religion and the occult. There will be no more shugenja, henshin, monk, or maho tsukai rules options. Character options such as “Bishamon’s Blessing” or “Benten’s Blessing” have been renamed less offensive titles such as “Religiously Neutral Blessing of Combat Prowess” and “Really Hot.” The Phoenix Clan will henceforth set aside their obsession with magic and instead produce the finest sausage in the Empire. Hopefully this small gesture reduce potential offense and lower the unfortunately high incidence of Legend of the Five Rings players growing up to become murderous devil worshipers.

5) Long time fans of samurai drama are often fascinated with the tradition of seppuku – the Japanese custom of ritual suicide. While this custom has always been a part of Legend of the Five Rings canon, the role-playing game has always considered this an act better left to the imagination rather than described with specific rules. For Third Edition, we’ve determined not to steer away from such a grisly and controversial subject. Over 5000 words of seppuku rules will be included with the main book, including full color diagrams and step-by-step instructions. Enjoy!

6) For those who still own copies of previous editions, binding issues have been a serious problem. Some print runs of the book have proven to be extremely fragile, with the pages beginning to fall out after years of use. As this is a problem existing fans are already accustomed to, we have decided to save money by not gluing the book together at all. Further plans to randomly sort the pages of future sourcebooks and sell them in pre-sealed packages, including rare ‘chase’ pages that contain important rules are currently in the works.

7) Oftentimes players have reported on the forum that they are confused by the mechanics of Contested Rolls. Specifically how Free Raises and other such mechanics apply in such a roll. Henceforth Contested Rolls will be conducted in the following manner. Each player will collect his pool of dice and hurl it at the other player. The player that strikes his opponent with more dice succeeds at the Contested Roll. A dice that hits the other player in the eye, mouth, or groin “explodes” and may be thrown again. If either player begins to cry, he automatically loses the Contested Roll.

8) Of course one of the most popular facets of Legend of the Five Rings has always been its artwork, but another element of its popularity has been its interactivity. To this end, rather than have artwork in the main book, we will leave blank spaces so that the players may draw their own characters. A small box of crayons will also be included with the first print run of the Player’s Guide as a special reward for those who jump on the 3E wagon first.

9) Legend of the Five Rings has always arguably had an imbalanced Experience Point system. While some characters can reach high Insight and gain new Techniques quickly by distributing Experience evenly, other characters who build high Rings often feel left out in the cold, with nothing but their 14 Wounds on every level and 10k10 damage attacks to grant them solace. With this in mind, the Experience Point system has been abolished in 3E in favor of a new “head eating” system. Player characters must eat the heads of fallen foes to gain their powers and abilities, a concept seen throughout samurai film and fiction that has always been, until now, sadly absent in Rokugan.

10) Skill lists, as has been noted in other design diaries, have been both stripped to their bare essentials and also made deeper and more complex through the introduction of Emphases. In consultation with L5R Line Editor DJ Trindle, it was determined that while this change was good, it was not taken far enough. I will leave you with a fun sneak preview – the entirety of the Third Edition Skill List.

Do

Craft, Lore, Performance, Social, Weapon Skill

Emphases: Acting, Anatomy, Baking, Battle, Birdwatching, Courtier, Defense, Divination, Engineering, Etiquette, Explosives, Haberdashery, Hen-Teasing, Horsemanship, Hunting, Iaijutsu, Investigation, Jiujutsu, Kenjutsu, Know the School, Kyujutsu, Medicine, Meditaiton, Motorcycle Maintenance, Origami, Shadowlands Lore, Sleight of Hand, Stealth, Tea Ceremony, Tropical Fish Handling, others at GM’s Option.

You are able to do things. All kinds of things. When you do things, you will use this skill.

Mastery Abilities

Rank 5: You can do things really good now.

Rank 7: You are even better now. People are really impressed.

Rank 10: Wow. You’re quite good at doing stuff! Congratulations!

[Matsu Yumi]

En tant que MJ, je suis particulierement susceptible de mettre la regle 1 dans mes parties...

Sinon , bon délire des gens d'AEG

[Pénombre]

ma préférée

Character options such as “Bishamon’s Blessing” or “Benten’s Blessing” have been renamed less offensive titles such as “Religiously Neutral Blessing of Combat Prowess” and “Really Hot.” The Phoenix Clan will henceforth set aside their obsession with magic and instead produce the finest sausage in the Empire. Hopefully this small gesture reduce potential offense and lower the unfortunately high incidence of Legend of the Five Rings players growing up to become murderous devil worshipers.

on devrait en toucher un mot à Mireille D.

[Ding On]

LA 7 est sympa aussi.

[Goju Kaze]

Je me disais bien que ces infos précieuses sur la 3ème edition vous étaient indispensables...

[Pénombre]

voui

on va enfin pouvoir se débarrasser des Phénix qui commencent à me courir (et les Agasha, et le Last Wish, et Sezaru, et Kaneka...)

"quoi, des saucisses !! pur porc ? sacrilège !!"