Should be interesting to see if they are working on a derivative of the original system or if this will be the first Genesys game.

Yes indeed. The article mentions custom dice, but not much else.

I signed up. Curious to see what system will be used, at the least.

If it's not the Gensys system, there goes a lot of my speculation. At Gen Con the Runbound offering was in the Gensys system and so I figured that sometime after releasing Gensys Core they would release "Setting Supplements" that would include Runebound, L5R, Netrunner, etc. But this seems like it will be separate from the Gensys system even if the Star Wars narrative Dice system is employed. Interesting.

It may still be the Genesys system, but packaged as a full RPG rather than a supplement.

It says that it won't be the while system, like Star Wars was, just parts. Perhaps it is Genesys, but they're just testing certain mechanics unique to the setting. I'm not super familiar with the old RPG, but I know there were special mechanics relating to the titular rings and honor and the like that they may want to expound upon, rather than just leave up to the generic system.

I wish they would have given us some details on the system in the article. Skills, techniques, advantages and disadvantages sound pretty similar to R&K character creation. Also seems like they are keeping the ring based stats considering the language in the Elements section. I'd suspect it will be some hybrid between the old system and their house style RPG with custom dice.

I hope/feel it will probably use Genesys as a Core to the system, but have it's own l5r systems to evoke the setting, like I'm sure Star Wars has once we see the stand alone genesys

I hope it's a update of R&K personally. They could make Clan dices sets (Those WOULD sell) and make the transition much easier. but I want to know what this will be like

46 minutes ago, Blackbird888 said:

Yes indeed. The article mentions custom dice, but not much else.

I signed up. Curious to see what system will be used, at the least.

Custom dice mechanics , not custom dice . The way they put it, it sounded like a remix of the Rises (and, my speculation, Explosions) mechanics.

Also, I've got the feeling that the Rings will be used like the Approaches from... FATE Edge, I think? Can't remember right now which RPG is the one I'm trying to reference.

All in all, as long as it doesn't have custom dice, I'm curious! If there is custom dice, then it is a non-starter for me.

I personally hope it's based on Genesys. I admit it's mostly for selfish reasons. I'm already familiar with Star Wars, and their narrative dice, so it will be easier to learn. I never played the old 5 Rings.

3 minutes ago, Mirumoto Saito said:

All in all, as long as it doesn't have custom dice, I'm curious! If there is custom dice, then it is a non-starter for me.

I wager that it will have custom dice. Anything to make more money off of their customer base.

I'd be very surprised if it didn't have custom dice. Pretty much all FFG games are now designed with custom dice. It's sort of the expected status quo from them now.

I've already played a lot of R&K. I'm excited to see a new take on an L5R RPG.

Hopefully it means the end of 4th edition threads that were constantly posted on the lcg forum.

Now we'll see plenty of conversion threads.

I will be very dissapoitment, if FFG will use custom dices based on Star Wars.
This system is more RnG-like than Heartstone.

please be good please be good please be good.

OMK!!!!!!!

Yes!!!!!

Buy the sounds of the end of the article the 6 characteristics from SW/Genesys will be replaced by the traditional 5 rings. I would think they will use the same dice system, with skill ranks and your strength in a ring forming the dice pool.

The reduction from 6 to 5 characteristics would probably be reason enough to have a beta.

But the biggest news for me from that article was "Free PDF" Those two words tell us a lot about the future of FFG RPG's. First off it's Free, they're in this for the long game. They know the final product will be well worth buying and are backing themselves that this beta will win fans. The PDF part is also awesome, all SW betas were printed... this tells us that not only do they have the ability to give us PDF's but they are willing to do it.

Massive and exciting news

I am so excited. Hope that the costom dice will be L5R themes in symbols and not just a Genesys derivate.

I ran Age of Rebellion for a year and a half and that whole experience managed to turn me from thinking the narrative dice system was kind of neat into sort of hating it. It led to a lot of petty arguments at my table and I found it frankly unfun to GM after a time. I love Star Wars more than most people love their families, so I toughed it out for a while but at this point if I run a Star Wars game again I'll probably go back to Saga or WEG's d6. Whereas Roll and Keep has its issues, but I've also been running a game of L5R basically constantly for the better half of a decade now and am more fond of the system than I am any other I've played.

I really, really, really hope it isn't Genesys run (or has rules for both? Except last time we had a split ruleset we had L5R 2e which was garbage), but don't have too much hope. All the nu5R setting lore being in one nice consolidated spot will be useful if I ever want to run a game set outside of the weird canon my gametable has developed over the years as our own divergence from the AEG canon though.

I'm trying not to sound like I'm ******** hard over FFG here, I have really enjoyed what I've seen of the LCG and had a great time over the years with their 40k games which ran on a d100 system. I just am not a fan of the Genesys engine in the experiences I've had.

The text implies a Genesys derivate...

I would say they will steer clear of the mechanics used previously. 4th ed is a polished system that really doesn't need much improvement, they would just be continuing development of that system if they wanted to use those rules.

It stands to reason the FFG want to give L5R their own spin, make something unique to the setting to set it apart from previous editions and give players a reason to buy it. The Narrative style mechanics are generally highly regarded outside hard core d20 circles and they have now got 3 systems (WFRP, SW and Genesys) that used the basic concept. Continuing that family of games on into L5R makes a lot of sense.

Sure they will loose some of the R&K fans but other players who love the SW system are more likely to try L5R, especially if a cheap PDF option exists to test the waters. How many they loose vs gain is probably hard for us to tell but it's the most obvious path for them to attempt.

Sorry to hear AoR got difficult for you guys, every group is different though. I wonder if this system is different enough to fix your hurdles

Basicly: why fix something that isn't broken (R&K 4th ed), make something that appeals to other players.

Yeah, sadface indeed.

The best part of a open beta IMO is that you get to have a say. Jigoku, look at the massive success of D&D 5e b/c of the 2 year open beta and surveys. I feel that this open beta is also a way to test the waters so to speak; to see if there is something their for a new L5R RPG and to see how many people sign up through the mailing list.

Maybe we will see elemental dice, maybe not.

As I said elsewhere, I willing to give this new system a chance but FFG will have to impress the Holy Celestial Order out of me since me and my gaming group love R&K L5R 4E so much. I look forward to see what happens.

*Shuffles in, sets up a deck chair, signals for a drink*

Home again, home again.

Gotta admit, I really hope they keep the essence of the d10 Roll and Keep, with exploding dice and raises.

Out of AEGs versions 1st and 3rd were my favorites, while I found the school techniques in 4th neutered and boring. And 2nd just being a gaming era I rather forget

Also, more versatility with the skill system would be awesome. By the language in the article, seems you'll be able to mix and match rings and skills depending on what you are trying to achieve. For example a Water/Kenjutsu roll for a heavy blow, or an Air/Kenjutsu roll for more finesse attacks.

That sounds awesome to me, because part of what made L5R RPG great was the open ended sandbox character progression.