I started with l5r as an academic exercise; during my undergrad course on Japanese literature I did my final paper on Rokugan. My thesis was that the reason for l5r's success compared to the myriad of failed samurai games was its use of the clans as cinematic archetypes more in common with American tropes than Japanese or other Asian tropes.

Later in undergrad, my college sci fi club began a yearlong l5r larp. After graduating I picked up the CCG in order to join the gaming community in my city and became very active on the AEG forums. I took part in the first Winter Court online. Later I moved to the east coast and joined City of Stories, which was at the time the longest-running l5r larp AEG was aware of. I joined Heroes of Rokugan for their second campaign and ended up writing three mods for it. After City of Stories ended I joined another l5r larp instead of doing HoR 3, then when that ended joined HoR 4 (had one mod published so far and three more accepted, awaiting publication). Picked up the LCG at Gen Con (okay, my wife picked it up for both of us. I love you hon!).

40 minutes ago, shosuko said:

I also run every game in a pre-coup era, and basically ignore the metaplot. How many other people don't involve the main plot in their games, using a base L5R world instead?

We don't run with the Metaplot exactly...our campaigns generally /use/ the metaplot. So, for example, Clan Wars might be occurring, and if an Ikoma Historian documented what was happening, he might end up with the official story. But that's not necessarily what really happened. So, for example, in our campaign, the Scorpion Clan Thunder was not Bayushi Kachiko, because, frankly, if you're the Scorpion Clan Thunder and everyone knows who you are, what you're doing, and why you're doing it, you're doing something wrong. Kachiko was a revenge-filled Shosuro actress working for the Scorpion Clan Champion (and Thunder), who at the time was a little Scorpion nobody (as far as anyone knew) that occasionally intersected with the Party. The differences keep the party members guessing, but the familiarity makes the whole campaign really epic and exciting in scope.

I started with the CCG in Imperial Edition. At the time I was looking for something as an alternitive to Magic. The only starter that the store had available was Lion Clan and I've identified with the Lion ever since. on the RPG side I stated with 1st and picked up (and played some) every edition that came out.

I'm a little embarrassed by how little experience I have with the setting, compared to how much I love it. In high school, I convinced a few friends to play the CCG with me (I ran Scorpion and Shadowlands decks) but because it was only us, my FLGS wouldn't carry the cards - that store has always been completely dominated by MTG. Therefore I didn't play a whole lot of the CCG. I bought several of the RPG books (I think the third edition core, plus most of the "Secrets of the..." books from 2nd). I also read the WotC novels, which I understand are only extremely loosely canon at best. I'm excited to get in early for this edition - unfortunately, I don't have a group, but I fully intend on reading all the fiction this time around.

Started back in with the card game when it came out back int he day, and moved into the 1st edition RPG. I'd been pretty into Chambara and Jidai-geki as wall as Japanese history for some time and L5R appealed to me because of that. I'd played in a first edition game Call 'Thunders' which dealt with the Seven Thunders during the Clan war era. Around 2nd edition, I started my own setting I call 'Scorpion Victory' where the Scorpion Won and Held during the Clan Coup ( All Hail Shoju III) and have run the setting from there. It's rather more sedate than the actual storyline, which as time went on became bugnuts to a certain degree, and I focused on bringing the new Imperial line to life, and more on intrigue between the clans to a larger degree and life on the lower end to give a more Jidai-Gaki and Chambara feel to the game, which my players have liked, as well as addressing the high fantasy aspects with shugenja and other such. I've had a few major events, but I space those out every few years to make them feel special. I have also added in a lot of Japanese historical information to fill in some of the holes the previous system had. like...an actual economy and how it works (in over view) and more shenanigans for courtiers to engage in. I'm going to be curious where the new edition goes

Started with 1st edition RPG and didn’t come back to it until 4th, although I did briefly look at the d20 D&D version but it never FELT the same.

I have been running a couple of Facebook 4th ed campaigns over the last couple of years (including now running Night of a Thousand Screams with 4th ed emphasis).

Only dabbled in the CCG at various times however.

I was already running a Kara Tur Oriental Adventures campaign when L5R rpg came out and soon changed to that.

My first campaign started five years before the Scorpion clan coup and finished six years after, with a postscript a couple of years later still. As no proper timeline or good maps were released, I have my own take on the chronology and geography that I stick to with my second campaign even though later publications contradict. We played through every edition and every published scenario (plus many many CFS) from 1st to 3rd for the main part of the campaign, with 4th for the postscript. All but one player had several characters over the years, not always due to character death.

Besides the main characters, I ran a lower power game set at the same time but in the limited geography of Mimura.

And now I run 15 years later in the Heroes of Rokugan: Spirit of Bushido timeline because the weirdness of the official metaplot is not something my players and I could agree with. One PC is the daughter of Otomo Yoroshiko and one of his former PCs (unwittingly perpetuating the deceit) and remaining characters from the former campaign turn up as NPCs from time to time .

I like 4th edition though I would tone down shugenja and increase courtier and artisan participation.

Two of my players have run short campaigns set in the 15 year gap, in geographically isolated areas. Interestingly, I have found that L5R is a game I prefer to GM rather than play, rather like Pendragon. With more interesting non-warrior character types, and especially more for them to do, I would enjoy playing more. But it has been a fun 20 years.

My experience is heavily steeped in the L5R RPG. I started out in 2008 by playing in Rob Hobart's Heroes of Rokugan II. Then my friend and GM ran my friends and I through Heroes of Rokugan I. I continued into Heroes of Rokugan III but fell off the boat and lost interest in the ill fated Heroes of Rokugan "3.5" and never really caught the train for Heroes of Rokugan IV, which my friend Chris Ward is currently running as the Head Admin. I found the online RPG chat community of Five Rings Online and played FRO 4, the ill fated FRO 5, and decided to take the helm and ran FRO 6 as its Head GM. I briefly played towards the middle of FRO 7 and then the beginning of FRO 8, but quit after creative differences and drama. I currently am running a small play by post/chat on Discord called Emerald Empire where I'm taking players through the Topaz Championship. I have voiced interest of playtesting this iteration of the RPG after the championship with the chat. So, I've been playing and running the L5R RPG for nearly 10 years now. I owned every 4th Edition book and nearly every 1st and 2nd Edition book. I despise 3rd Edition with a passion.

We started with the d20 rules, and migrated to 4th edition after a few sessions.

My main experience with L5R was with First Edition after playing Bushido and wanting to try a different system in a similar setting as perceived by myself. I have played Third Edition once when being demonstrated at a con and then went on to play a few games of Fourth Edition. I still have my copy of AD&D Oriental Adventures but never played it.

A couple years ago my GM friend decided to run the fourth edition of L5R, since he had been in a game and really enjoyed it. From then on I was hooked, I've run other things but none feel as good as L5R. I've run 1st and 4th, but would love to run more and definitely plan to run the beta. I'm actually 20 weeks in with the current game I'm running (which is on a friend's stream if anyone wants it) and boy can I not get enough.

I got into the CCG when it first came out and played through several editions. My main focus has always been on the RPG however. Definitely a Dragon by bent of philosophy, and a sometime follower of the Crane when it strikes my mood. I still prefer the 1st Edition setting with all the inter-clan struggles and leave the metaplot advancement for other games.

Hi all.

I played the CCG from Imperial to Diamond edition.

I played and ran 1st edition, (3rd edition, the weakest edition) and 4th Edition RPG.

I just picked and chose what I wanted to introduce the players to from the storylines. Some of them were a bit out there it had to be said.

Clan War Storyline was my favourite Storyline and I have a great fondness for most of the characters from that time.

I also liked the reign of Toturi after the death of Toturi, and before the Destroyer war.

The jump forward to the reign of Iweko and the Colonies were good too. Had potential it had.

Oh well, I wonder if we'll be able to convert storyline characters to the new system?

What would Hida Kisada's Stats be or Kakita Toshimoko?

For example.

Have played RPGs since the '80s. Started L5R about 2000 or 2001. Have played 1e, d20, 3e, and 4e. We tried 2e briefly 15+ years ago, was not that great.

About to really show my age; I've been playing RPGs since 1982 or so. I played the L5R CCG from Imperial Edition through Gold/Pearl (Somewhere), though I gave up after that and sold everything.

i ran the first RPG Campaign at the local game store when the RPG first came out (And witnessed a Goblin killing a Mirumoto Bushi with one blow of a sharpened stick...explosion-city!).

I've run and/or played maybe 10-12 different campaigns over 25+ years, different eras, different setups and none of what I run is ever Canon, but variants thereof. Currently running a Variant of the Emerald Stars campaign setting (4E) and have a great time doing so.

I've been playing the Heroes of Rokugan Living Campaign since roughly the 3rd year of HoR 3 and some folks in my regular groups will likely be doing Beta-testing here starting very soon.

Been around the block with every edition and own ALL of the Sourcebooks (except a few of the crappy D20 Hybrid books), so yeah...I L5R...8D

23 hours ago, BrambleLamb said:

A couple years ago my GM friend decided to run the fourth edition of L5R, since he had been in a game and really enjoyed it. From then on I was hooked, I've run other things but none feel as good as L5R. I've run 1st and 4th, but would love to run more and definitely plan to run the beta. I'm actually 20 weeks in with the current game I'm running (which is on a friend's stream if anyone wants it) and boy can I not get enough.

I would love to see that if you wouldn't mind. I enjoy seeing how other groups operate.

For L5R specifically, I picked up the CCG during high school around the time of Scorpion Clan Coup and Jade Edition. IIRC the Mantis Jade Starter was my first set of cards. Largely I had been a Lion and Mantis player on and off through out the history. Currently I have none of the cards but am interested in the LCG. The RPG was something I have played with since 1st Edition. I believe I started that sometime before they made it through all of the major clans in the Way of the XXX books. Never played much 2ed. Played some in the d20/OA days though found it a little ill fitting. Really picked up again at 3ed. Enjoyed 4ed as the slickest most tight of the editions, but missed the complexity and options of 3rd. Lions tended to be favorite. Especially the Ikoma Omoidasu/Bards. My collection of books is sporadic due to moves and dialing back periodically, and I've always been poor about buying adventures. My 1st edition pile is a little anemic and miss having some hard to finds I once owned like the original version of the GM screen pack. I mostly only had the dual system books for 2ed and have a decent collection of them. 3rd edition I still have most of, though there a few key ones I missed. 4th edition is complete, it had such gorgeous books I bought them just to see even when I didn't have a group to game with.

For games in general... I picked up M:tG in middle school around Unlimited. Stayed through Homecoming then had a brief retry during high school. Played a number of other early CCGs such as Jyhad/V:tES (which was among my top two with L5R), Netrunner, Rage, Illuminati, ICE LotR, Spellfire, Wyvern, and random what ever others were doing throughout. For RPGS I started with some 1ed AD&D when I was really young but sort of as a the annoying little kid playing with my uncle and his high school buddies. Then by the end of elementary school and into middle school really started into AD&D 2ed, D&D Basic, and Vampire the Masquerade. In high school and my early twenties I played probably dozens of random RPGs. L5R has been one of my long running favorites. Along with 3.x D&D into Pathfinder despite their problems. New systems always intrigue me. For awhile it has felt like the Star Wars narrative system has been taking on L5R for my favorite.

FFG buying the L5R brand excited me. I knew the LCG would be handled well, and look forward to that. I was cautious. about the RPG. As much as a GeneSys supplement would have been fine, my hopes was for a heavily revised version of R&K. I had my own ideas of course, which ended up being radically different from FFG's ideas. The custom dice are no surprise. I happy with what I am seeing, but not certain I will like it better than 3/4th editions of the L5R rpgs.

I started playing the L5R RPG with first edition, started GMing with second edition and picked the CCG up with Gold edition. My first player character was a Crane, my first deck for the CCG was Crane. I have over the years collected basically everything for the L5R RPG (with the exception of a few useless D20 books). And even with all that attechment to the old Roll & Keep system, I am ready to move on and experience L5R in a new card game and a new roleplaying game... but I probably will stick to my Crane though!

I'm coming from having never played the game/setting.

My brother had the D20 setting and we had always looked through it, but never played.

I am actually looking forward to this over all because it will be a good chance to jump in at what feels like a good point.

On 10/3/2017 at 9:46 AM, shosuko said:

I also run every game in a pre-coup era, and basically ignore the metaplot. How many other people don't involve the main plot in their games, using a base L5R world instead?

Oh, this is definitely me, too. I was introduced to the RPG sometime during 2nd Edition, in 2003 or so, and while our GM had CCG cards to wave at us to represent various NPCs, CCGs weren't really on my radar. So I loved the base setting but didn't get a sense of the whole metaplot thing existing until I bought the 3rd Edition book for myself a few years later--and found the timeline at the front of the book was all cluttered up with half a dozen competing Dark Lords, moons and suns falling out of the sky, etc. Too much to want to work with. I think I explained my choice of an earlier time period to my first group of players by telling them that I didn't want them to have to know the plural of "apocalypse" just to write a character background. I've usually set campaigns sometime in the window between the return of the Unicorn and the Scorpion Coup.

For the last few years I've mostly lacked a local playgroup for L5R but have got by with some of the various large play-by-post games that happen now and then--including, early on, the second AEG Winter Court--so although I was never involved with the CCG I've become a bit more well-versed in the metaplot somewhat in spite of myself. But I'm not at all sorry to have a setting reset (including the bit where they seem to be retconning the more gender-egalitarian version of Rokugan that had gradually evolved by 4E back on to the 1E time period--because I actually liked some of the early metaplot, but much prefer the later arcs' atmosphere in that one respect). Fingers crossed for the new-flavor RPG; I'll probably get time to look through it this weekend...

On 10/2/2017 at 0:56 PM, Nitenman said:

Just curious about your L5R background. Are you a newcomer brought via fantasy flight, did you or do you now play the card game, which edition did you started with.

I picked up 2E in a bargain bin about 2002. $5 each for the two cores.

Loved it. Ran the **** out of it, 2 campaigns, picking up Way of the Clans books left and right.

Bought a copy of 1e, as well.

Was put off by the D20 phase.

Ran 3E shortly after it came out. One campaign with wrong players - no fun with them, but the system sings.

Ran several more 3E campaigns.

Never got into 4th.

Coming back with 5th - tho' I just ended a 3E game 9 months ago with a Scorpion bushi managing to kill Amaterasu (and yes, she had 10 in all rings)...

I'm a big fan of the setting lore.

I'm not a player of the CCG nor the LCG, but have used Clan War as an adjunct to the RPG in both 2E and 3E. Never played CW for the sake of CW, only for resolving key battles that players wanted resolved at a higher scale.

Started with 4e about... 5 years ago? And played several campaigns- almost half my characters died. My Shugenja went home when everyone else died. Good times.

Then picked up the card game after it was announced to be dying (for cheap)

Mantis was my favorite at first, but Scorpion has taken their place as I learned more about all the clans.

L5R has been my favourite RPG since 1st. Played/GMed every edition, strictly speaking, though very little 2nd or d20. Every edition has its strong points and weaknesses, but purely on the basis of being my intro 1st will always be a little bit more special than the others. When playing I enjoy pretty much any character type, but I prefer bushi (often minor clan or ronin) or courtiers (Scorpion, possibly Crab) over shugenja. When GMing I tend to focus on the clans more than on the Shadowlands or one of the down-with-the-Empire organisations (the Gozoku work though). No favourite era, I like to pick one that makes things interesting for the characters the players have chosen: if there are Lions, but no Akodo, then the post-Coup years are good (can't have Scorpions of course); if there are several Crane and Crab the buildup to the Yasuki is a fun backdrop; if I do decide to break out something like the Gozoku or Daigotsu then I want things to play out in the right era too, I'm not going to rework them to insert them in the adventure a few centuries early or late. We're currently playing 4th and there is not a great deal of interest in playtesting FFG's beta version of the new edition, but I am going through my notes from an old 1st ed adventure to maybe run as a playtest on the side and we'll certainly give the new edition a try when it's released.

Matt Colville just made a video, that I had to share here:

I bought the CCG on release (as was and still am big into MTG) and played that until the end of the Clan War. Enjoying the setting I also bought into the RPG's first edition quite extensively and played a lot in the era prior to the Scorpion Coup in Ryoko Owari mostly, but also ran Tomb of Iuchiban. Again with the end of the Clan War and the card game growing lacklustre for me I moved on from the RPG as I didn't like the future direction of the game. Seeing the reboot and a return to the era I fell in love with, I thought I'd give both the card game and beta RPG a go... so far liking what I see of both.

+ lots of other RPG stuff from the D&D Basic to present day that nothing to do with L5R