https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2018/4/30/legend-of-the-five-rings-beginner-game/

Yay!

The presentation looks amazing but I have very low expectations for the game system itself. We shall see in due time how much was changed from the beta.

I have faith in FFG. I'll be buying the box asap. The cover is beautiful!

It is looking like the RPG will be VERY close to the Beta, though that is based entirely on the promotional images on the product page. Hopefully, a few changes were made to the Strife and the Ninjo Vs Giri systems, but the Strife system appears to still be quite similar.

We shall see.

50 minutes ago, BlindSamurai13 said:

The presentation looks amazing but I have very low expectations for the game system itself. We shall see in due time how much was changed from the beta.

I've never gotten the chance to play L5R in any form, unfortunately, so this will be a good starting point for me since I've got an interested group now. Even if the mechanics are lacking, the timeline reset seems to be welcomed by the community (I hear that the CCG players wrecked the previous one under AEG).

12 minutes ago, JSM3050 said:

Even if the mechanics are lacking, the timeline reset seems to be welcomed by the community (I hear that the CCG players wrecked the previous one under AEG).

Eh. Twenty years is a long time. Resetting the story to where it began was a necessary step for FFG to reboot the game without baggage. Player impact on the storyline was, honestly, fairly minimal. We made a few major decisions every few years, some of which were pretty strange and challenging, but most of them never really saw the light of day.

Question: will the Beginner Game (and other L5R RPG material) be released as PDFs, as the beta was?

Not based on the precedent of the star wars RPGs. There will be a .pdf download of a couple of extra characters and a 'follow-on' adventure, though.

In the past for FFG RPGs, has the core book been released alongside the beginner game, or is there a lag period? I’m not much interested in buying a partial version of the rules as well as the full version.

If I can nitpick (and it’s the internet, so I shall!) while FFG is calling this the 5th edition of the RPG on the product pages and presenting it as a continuation of the old game line, am I the only one who feels this version of the game is not what one would call a new “edition?” It’s a completely new system from the ground-up, not a progression from AEG’s 4th. Did FFG also market their Star Wars RPG as a new “edition” of the West End Games iteration?

1 hour ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Not based on the precedent of the star wars RPGs. There will be a .pdf download of a couple of extra characters and a 'follow-on' adventure, though.

From what I've read on that, FFG are not allowed to publish PDFs of Star Wars material. For some strange reason, the license to publish electronic media of all kinds, including PDFs, is tied up with the video game license.

They are publishing Genesys as PDFs though, which is completely their own product. Since FFG also owns L5R outright now and they don't have to worry about that sort of thing, PDFs are more likely.

29 minutes ago, Manic Modron said:

From what I've read on that, FFG are not allowed to publish PDFs of Star Wars material. For some strange reason, the license to publish electronic media of all kinds, including PDFs, is tied up with the video game license.

They are publishing Genesys as PDFs though, which is completely their own product. Since FFG also owns L5R outright now and they don't have to worry about that sort of thing, PDFs are more likely.

While you are correct about the license, it doesn't stop them from publishing characters.

So no they can't create PDFs to sell, but they can create characters, sheets, etc.

3 hours ago, Suzume Tomonori said:

If I can nitpick (and it’s the internet, so I shall!) while FFG is calling this the 5th edition of the RPG on the product pages and presenting it as a continuation of the old game line, am I the only one who feels this version of the game is not what one would call a new “edition?” It’s a completely new system from the ground-up, not a progression from AEG’s 4th. Did FFG also market their Star Wars RPG as a new “edition” of the West End Games iteration?

Paranoia is up to its 6th edition and most haven't had much more in common with each other than the setting. D&D has had its edition wars and sure, each has used a d20 but there have been some pretty radical departures between some editions. Warhammer 40k is up to 8th edition and it has had a total system reboot a couple times in there.

I feel FFG are considering the setting the core of an edition of the L5R RPG plus they are keeping Roll & Keep as a central mechanic. I dunno, I think you are technically correct which is the best kind of correct however I will allow it. Since this is the internet.

Oh and FFG would have had to consider their SW RPG to be the new edition of the Wizards of the Coast edition which was the new edition of the previous Wizards of the Coast edition which was the new edition of the WEG game...

4 hours ago, Suzume Tomonori said:

If I can nitpick (and it’s the internet, so I shall!) while FFG is calling this the 5th edition of the RPG on the product pages and presenting it as a continuation of the old game line, am I the only one who feels this version of the game is not what one would call a new “edition?” It’s a completely new system from the ground-up, not a progression from AEG’s 4th. Did FFG also market their Star Wars RPG as a new “edition” of the West End Games iteration?

Honestly? This is a 5th Edition of the previous RPG, which is a design misstep in my opinion. While they have substantively changed certain key aspects of the mechanics (Narrative Dice vs Taking Raises, a la carte Techniques vs hardline School progression, Fatigue and Critical Strikes vs Wounds and Wound Ranks) there are several artifacts of previous editions which truly stand out like sore thumbs in the Beta. Here is hoping that they shores those up properly, else what the RPG really needed is a square-one reset.

2 hours ago, DarkHorse said:

Oh  and FFG would have had to consider their SW RPG   to be the new edition of the Wizards of the Coast editi  on which was the new edition of the prev  ious Wizards of the Coast edition which was t  he new edition of the WEG game...  

You’re right, I had forgotten about those!

10 hours ago, Suzume Tomonori said:

If I can nitpick (and it’s the internet, so I shall!) while FFG is calling this the 5th edition of the RPG on the product pages and presenting it as a continuation of the old game line, am I the only one who feels this version of the game is not what one would call a new “edition?” It’s a completely new system from the ground-up, not a progression from AEG’s 4th. Did FFG also market their Star Wars RPG as a new “edition” of the West End Games iteration?

In many ways you are correct but your perspective is off I feel.

Things like DnD often times drastically change the system from edition to edition. Its why a lot of players adapted the 3.5 instead of jumping from E3 to E4. and now they are on E5 and while many mechanics stayed the same there are a lot of differences.

Its more of the 5th "variation" of the l5r RPG and less "lineage"

I have to say that I'm not a big fan of this direction. I've always loved the setting of L5R, I was never a huge fan of the system. It seems really weird that they just released Genesys, a perfectly serviceable system, but won't be using it for this game. I was actually quite excited about L5R as a Genesys setting. After this announcement, though, I'm no longer excited. This direction is mystifying to me.

Along those same lines, I presumed that at some point we would see Clan War updated to use the Runewars Miniature Game system. Probably not, I guess. It would be nice, though.

I hope it will come with more characters.

Looks like a joke, a shugenja, a tattoed monk, a bushi and a courtier walk into a bar.. and the bartender is a ninja.

Don't know the rest of you but playing with different people I always have only 1 non bushi character in the group

6 minutes ago, Daigotsu Arashi said:

I hope it will come with more characters.

Looks like a joke, a shugenja, a tattoed monk, a bushi and a courtier walk into a bar.. and the bartender is a ninja.

Don't know the rest of you but playing with different people I always have only 1 non bushi character in the group

It a set to teach the new system and showcase the different character to new players, not a full game. The best you can hope is other pregen from the missing clan posted on the website.

I'd guess Scorpion ninja, and a bushi from either Crab or Unicorn. Maybe they'll do 3 characters instead of the usual two just to not leave an odd man out. If that happened maybe a Unicorn Shugenja and a Crab Bushi?

Do they really want $40 bucks for this.

And I don't care if you like or hate the setting, this is a content thing

Why is this $10 more then the SW beginners games ($30) that have more in them by at least 4 dice.

Its not like they are paying royalties like they do with star wars.

49 minutes ago, tenchi2a said:

Do they really want $40 bucks for this.

And I don't care if you like or hate the setting, this is a content thing

Why is this $10 more then the SW beginners games ($30) that have more in them by at least 4 dice.

Its not like they are paying royalties like they do with star wars.

SW is a guaranteed bestseller. L5R is not. SW profits are largely determined by volume. L5R profits will likely largely be determined by margin.

Quite a beautiful box!

I bet it will raise a lot of interest in stores.

Also, that map.

That gorgeous, gorgeous map.