So, this week should see the release of the Battle for Rokugan boardgame. Usually AEG included some fiction in all their L5R related stuff... I wonder if FFG will continue that trend and, if they do, if the fiction will be based on "current" Rokugan. Has anybody had the chance to get the rulebook?

The rulebook is surprisingly sparse. There is a very brief bit of fluff at the front. No named characters, just a generic description of a battle scene.

Thanks! A little disappointing to hear, though.

I think it's because the game is not set in a particular period of L5R history.

7 minutes ago, Ser Nakata said:

I think it's because the game is not set in a particular period of L5R history.

Also, people who pick up the board game may not be paying any attention to the card game, and people who play the card game may not pick up the board game. So any fiction that appears in the latter needs to stand on its own.

Granted, it could still show an LCG character. But it would be something fairly random, not load-bearing for the ongoing story.

2 hours ago, Kinzen said:

Granted, it could still show an LCG character. But it would be something fairly random, not load-bearing for the ongoing story.

I would have though of something like, let's say, a vignette during the Lion Crane conflict on the Osari Plains... no named characters needed. You only need to know they are two clans fighting for the same territory, nothing "load-bearing" as you put it. Anyways that's what it is...

It was mentioned in the official flyer of Battle for Rokugan (see link) that it is set in the early days of the Emerald Empire. Therefore more than one thousands years before than current storyline set on 1123 IC.

I think it's a big missed opportunity that they made that game so abstract. I'm certainly not all that jazzed about it and I love L5R. Very unusual for FFG who sort of pride themselves as one of the industry leaders in thematic gaming experiences. My group liked the AGOT board game well enough, but if you stripped out the army pieces, the character cards, the cool ASOIAF artwork, but streamlined it and made it shorter and cheaper I'm not sure that's really the direction they were looking for when exploring improvements on that experience.

Who wouldn't be all fired up to get this game if they had some story peppered throughout that tells us about the FFG cannon during that historical period complete with a few character cards of personalities from that period. Even just that would suddenly get me to buy it just to explore that content even if I could never get my group interested enough to play. Just a couple pages of fiction and a pack of cards with some nice character artwork to spice this thing up.

Don't know how well it's going to do but I enjoyed it very much. I don't wish to speak heresy but I'm looking more forward to playing Battle for Rokugan again than I am my next session of L5R LCG.

I was totally going to pass this game up. I seriously bought it on a whim cause I saw it sitting on the shelf at my flgs. It took me a week to pop a single token out just cause I wasn't that enthused.

Now, I'm hoping for a Battle for Rokugan: Clan Wars (expansion) that introduces unique units or characters.

I bought Star Wars Rebellion thinking that it would be the game to top all other games but it takes to long to set-up, play, tear down, and clean up. This took me 5 minutes to explain to my 2 sons while setting up and then we were knee deep into it.

If it lacks depth they can always add it with side boards, additional cards, and campaign modes. FFG is renowned for that sort of thing (Eldritch Horror, etc).