GM and Player Resources

By TheWanderingJewels, in Legend of the Five Rings: The Roleplaying Game

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The Encyclopedia of Shinto

I use it to check stuff like what kind of staff we could find at hypothetical department of rites , but it has a lot of information that can be cribed for Rokugani state religion, Shinseism/Fortunism relations, etc...

The O-Umajirushi, a XVIIth century heraldry scroll . This is a translation which the author made available as pay what you want, but you can also buy as a physical book. It is also avilable in full on Google Books . An amazing list of Sashimono, Nobori, Ko-Umajirushi and, of course, O-Umajirushi.

Edit: Didn't notice I had been ninjaed on the Encyclopedia. Sneaky Scorpions.

Edited by Suzume Chikahisa
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8 hours ago, TheWanderingJewels said:

A guide to shinto...erm...Fortunism.

http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/shinto.shtml

A guide to Period Clothing for different periods during the reign of the samurai (artists take note)

http://www.iz2.or.jp/english/

Shinto encyclopedia

http://k-amc.kokugakuin.ac.jp/DM/dbTop.do?class_name=col_eos

It's worth noting that Shinseism is surprisingly close to Shugendō.

https://theculturetrip.com/asia/japan/articles/what-is-the-ancient-religion-of-shugendo/
http://www.shugendo.fr/en/intro
http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/shugendou.html

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The Mantis Clan PDF has been updated today, fixing the things reported in the Typos and Corrections thread.

There might be more changes, as I also noticed that two of the page headers had also been changed.

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Kind of makes me wish AEG didn't jump the gun an purge their entire L5R forum the day the deal was finalized...

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Some academic articles that might inspire ideas on how to handle gaijin or Rokugani living outside Rokugan (Hint: Mantis and Tortoise):

http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=36100305

http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=36100202

http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=36100203

http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=36100103

http://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=36100702

http://www.cham.fcsh.unl.pt/ext/bpjs/files/02_Hesselink.pdf

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The Tanki Yoriaku: Hi Ko Ben 'A Single Horsemen: The Art of Armor Wearing' this is a book written in the 1700's on the art of armor wearing for maximum comfort, utility, and some general tactics to consider in rather long and minute detail. While perhaps a bit pedantic to the modern reader, it is actually rather full of those minor details that role players like to get ahold of, and has pretty good information on weapon placement and methods of carriage by the average samurai & ashigaru, as well as detail on care of armor, methods of construction (there were about 52 variations on what is thought of as samurai armor), notes to consider when going into the field. it could be thought of as a field operations manual for the Average bushi.

https://www.pinterest.com/worldantiques/tanki-yoriaku-hi-ko-ben/?lp=true

Edited by TheWanderingJewels
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Caesar, Red Box, and Zvezda all make 1/72 plastic samurai figures - and given that that's 22mm scale, they're significantly smaller than the now-industry-standard 28mm–30mm, but they work great and look great. (I found them at Michigan Toy Soldier Company.)

I prefer smaller scales due to smaller table space needed. Plus, 1/72 is HO scale, opening up a lot of model train terrain elements and people.

Edited by AK_Aramis
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Really, FFG needs to put out a L5R wargame, or perhaps a skirmish game, or even a dungeoncrawler like game (like Descent). Our group would totally get into that, and we would be able to use the minis on our rpg sessions.

At the moment using minis from Malifaux (Ten Thunders factions). You have ninjas, archers, ashigaru (undead ones too), monks, some samurai (undead ones too), ronin/bandits (ten thunder brothers), yorei (ghosts) and a lot of mythical creatures.

Edited by Shosur0
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2 minutes ago, Shosur0 said:

Really, FFG needs to put out a L5R wargame

AEG used to make a wargame for L5R called Clan War, you can still pick them up on ebay for pretty cheap from time to time. I myself have a very sizable collection thanks to various auctions.

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Just now, narukagami said:

AEG used to make a wargame for L5R called Clan War, you can still pick them up on ebay for pretty cheap from time to time. I myself have a very sizable collection thanks to various auctions.

I have a scorpion army from Clan Wars, but the minis... well they have not aged well. Im using more refined stuff. ?

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2 minutes ago, Shosur0 said:

I have a scorpion army from Clan Wars, but the minis... well they have not aged well. Im using more refined stuff. ?

Oh come on, you're saying you don't like every rank and file samurai being left handed and shugenja dressed like Vegas magician acts? ?

Edited by narukagami
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Warlord make a model range for a game called Test of Honour - which has some rather natty terrain available for it, a lot of which comes pre-painted.

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3 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Warlord make a model range for a game called Test of Honour - which has some rather natty terrain available for it, a lot of which comes pre-painted.

I've heard of Test of Honour but never knew they made terrain. That's actually some really nice stuff they have there.

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I personally like Peter Pig's range, but it's 15mm and finding civilian/unarmoured/female miniatures of that size is not easy.

The old Clan Wars stuff... It's very 90s both in miniature design and the ruleset. I still have a small unpainted hill of the original miniatures, that I can't quite force myself to either sell or paint, in my closet.

I would prefer something element based instead of single figures and mass battle oriented, preferebly at a small miniature scale, although I suspect what we are going to see is something Runewars based (which seems to fit my first point even if using larger figures than I prefer).

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Anyone has any good cheat sheet (specifically for using opportunity in combat)?

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Ignore me. Made a mistake.

Edited by JorArns
Temporary stupidity
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Privateer Press started a line for L5R minis . Not sure what the sales model will be like though, aside from the minicrate scheme. Looks like the figs will be really, really nice.

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They ship a single mini per month. They destroy the molds after the production for that month's orders are fulfilled, so no chance to get it later, unless you find them on the secondary market.

To get a mini, you have to subscribe (kind of a paid pre-order) before the 5th of the month to get the mini shipping next month. For example, right now you have to subscribe before Feb 5th to get the mini that will ship in March, which is Hida Tomonatsu.

You can either subscribe month-to-month (basically cherry picking, since I guess you can always cancel/re-subscribe if a mini doesn't interest you), or pay 6 months up-front, which will give you the bonus "VIP" mini of that semester along with the first mini of your 6-months subscription (currently Naga Hunter).

You receive the package at home. The price schemes for month-to-month and 6-months differ depending where you order from, since they include shipping fees.

So far, there are already 2 minis that can't be ordered anymore:

  • Togashi Yokuni, which could be ordered up to Dec 5th and shipped in Jan.
  • Matsu Tsuko, which could be ordered up to Jan 5th and will ship in Feb.

Besides the 4 minis mentioned above, only Daidoji Uji's design was shown.

Here's an unboxing video if you'd like to see what to expect (Togashi Yokuni + VIP Naga Hunter):

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The Japanese History podcast. Covers every, and I mean every , period and topic in Japanese history, including literature and mythology. Good idea fodder.

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Walking the Japanese Castle.

A blog with pictures and descriptions of a few dozen Japanese Castles.

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The Hidden Shrine . Fan made maps and other stuff for L5R.