Personally I will like to echo on:

Social mechanics and I will agree that it would be nice having clearer guidelines on what courtier and artisan characters can actually do.

I would like to see iaijutsu folded into the main combat mechanics.

I wouldn’t mind to see talent trees, like Star Wars, to add more flavor to a pc. Although we never saw a problem trying to differentiate to characters from the same school as we have always played multi clan parties.

Must note that we also never had problems with characters who want other weapons as their main. There were at least 4 schools that used other weapons than a katana as their main: Heichi Bushi, Lion Spearman, Tsuruchi Archer and Yoritomo Bushi, plus others that were associated with different weapons, Daidoji with spears, Hida with Heavy Weapons, Moto with scimitar and Shiba with pole arms.

I'll defend the SW system a little, but beware I do know it has many downfalls both minor and major. But for character systems I find it incredibly balanced, Magic (The Force) is extremely expensive and usually means you're not as good as a Muggle at many things. Then between different groups of non force users it's balanced well too. It's quite easy to make a competent character from the start who can do a few things.

Characters of different levels of xp can often work together too. Generally xp brings breadth to a character since hyper focusing is basically unnecessary (depending on GM though).

But it certainly has problems. With the three separate game lines there's ultimately going to be around 90 different classes to choose from at the start, with over 100 species... it's really too much.

Im looking forward to a complete system that's smaller. I want to see clear paths for characters to follow through their advancement, but short paths with the ability to jump around a bit.

I want everyone at the table to be strong in some way, so I can give each player a moment in the spotlight without significant effort.

One thing I know I need to know is what day the beta drops. I need to leave my phone at home that day or I will get NOTHING done.

Big changes i always loved to would be to the setting: i mean throwing down into the bin everything happened after scorpion clan coup (even the "aftermath", ie scorpions banished and akodo disappeared) and reworked down in something more close to the original feeling.

What i really whant for this game is something really tied to the setting. I mean: in the old R&K system, there where "classes" and "levels" and even "prestige classes" but they where completely part of the setting. You could change class but you where'nt allowed because of the clan/family restriction. Shugenja and the "kami magic" was part of Rokugan religion; most of time you could also (mentally) remove the game mechanics and the game would be working similar. Also, Ronin was a real drawback, and monks a real strange thing, different from everything else.

That's the feeling i would like on every L5R game from now on. (and unluckily, the huge amount of specialization and equipment from Star Wars' line of games is not good for this)

Oh and hopefully they make authors, and not the outcome of a card game tournament, decide what happens on the setting (and hopefully don't let everything epic and cool happens to NPC while player are only staring at the events...)

I am sorry I did miss this on my previous post: Story.

I’ll like to see that although the players had a lot of control of the outcome of the story, the main driver for me to to improve my game and to play on tournaments, it also led some players for some off putting story prizes that made the story feel not cohesive.

Hopefully FFG will allow the players to compete for a story prize that will still make an impact their clan but doesn’t derail their story arc.

Here is how I want to see my combat lethality:

Is it lethal, brutal and reminding you that swords are sharp? Yes. Are the 'PCs' really in danger from mooks? No.

3 hours ago, WHW said:

<snip vid for space>

Is it lethal, brutal and reminding you that swords are sharp? Yes. Are the 'PCs' really in danger from mooks? No.

So, a bit like 7th Sea (either edition)

On ‎27‎/‎09‎/‎2017 at 5:45 PM, Kakita Onimaru said:

I've got 2 things I personally want to see changed in this new version of the game.

1. I wan't to see Iaijutsu Dueling incorporated as an aspect of Kenjutsu rather than a complete separate thing.

2. I want money and superior forms of equipment to matter.

Yes, I can already see you typing in your counter arguments. Once the first PDF drop I plan on opening threads for each of these topics to discuss them further.

1. I agree, I think all bushi schools should be able to hold their own in a duel. I do think however that you need to maintain a balance that those who specialise in more ritualistic combat do so at the expense of battlefield capability, otherwise you end up with ubermensch. I.e. a Kakita will always have the edge over a Hida in a duel, a Hida will always have the edge over a Kakita on the battlefield (unless it is an atypical Hida that likes duelling and an atypical Kakita who digs the battlefield).

2. I partly disagree, I think that the thematic prohibitions of Legend of the Five Rings set it apart from other games and enforce the feel of it as an entirely different setting from other traditional fantasy games. Samurai disavowing money immediately removes 'killing and looting' from the game which is actually a pretty big shift in tone. I do however think that items should have better qualities, myth is all about legendary blacksmiths etc and with shukenja kicking around magical items aren't a ridiculous notion. I do feel that these should be epic gifts, quest items etc. never something bought down the local shop with koku you looted from that oni last week.

18 hours ago, WHW said:

Here is how I want to see my combat lethality:

<awesome video clip of Sword of the Stranger>

Is it lethal, brutal and reminding you that swords are sharp? Yes. Are the 'PCs' really in danger from mooks? No.

Would you say you want different rules for players vs npc that simply gimp npc? Or would you want a way in which a significantly skilled character and completely out-master an opponent regardless of weapon stats at the point of significantly out-mastering them? So for instance, a player of significant skill could pick up a stick and defeat an opponent the same as if they used a sword (although with a lot less blood)?

I wouldn't mind having minion rules. I also wouldn't mind characters (and appropriate npcs) having a way to "cheat" damage, for example by spending a limited resource to blunt it away. This way you can have the basic mechanic very lethal (which contributes to "feel"), and make the warriors feel like they are constantly facing death, with only their skill/strain/concentration/destiny points/whatever shielding them from the "close ones". As long as illusion is maintained, it can be perfectly non lethal; what matters is "feel".