Hi guys! I just got my hands in this new edition core book and something drew my attention in a bad way unfortunately. On the page where the Yogo Wardmaster school is described, there is this picture that depicts a shugenja doing a sign with her hands, activating a sigil or something like that, like a character taken from the Naruto universe. As a piece of art, there is no doubt it's very good, as L5R art, I find it super cringy and unfitting. I truly hope no one takes offence to this, it is just my opinion.

In old Rokugan, scrolls were `pretty much essential (even if memorizing the prayers they contained was also possible). In the Invocation section of the new core book, the book talks about signs and offerings. Anyhow, how do shugenja invocations work now? Thanks in advance, guys!

Ps: Even if I was kinda chocked over the naruto-like technique that appears in that art, there is many other things that I am LOVING from this new edition!

1 hour ago, shosuro91 said:

Hi guys! I just got my hands in this new edition core book and something drew my attention in a bad way unfortunately. On the page where the Yogo Wardmaster school is described, there is this picture that depicts a shugenja doing a sign with her hands, activating a sigil or something like that, like a character taken from the Naruto universe. As a piece of art, there is no doubt it's very good, as L5R art, I find it super cringy and unfitting. I truly hope no one takes offence to this, it is just my opinion.

In old Rokugan, scrolls were `pretty much essential (even if memorizing the prayers they contained was also possible). In the Invocation section of the new core book, the book talks about signs and offerings. Anyhow, how do shugenja invocations work now? Thanks in advance, guys!

Ps: Even if I was kinda chocked over the naruto-like technique that appears in that art, there is many other things that I am LOVING from this new edition!

Essentially, invocations are:

Prayer + Offering + Request to Kami of choice, followed by instruction "get 'im, Kevin"*.

Offerings aren't vital but make things easier, whilst scrolls and potions essentially allow pre-prepared 'bottled invocations', and Unicorn talisman are...part-cast invocations tied to the name of a specific kami, as I understand it.

Essentially, Dr Strange/Naruto-esque air-drawn magic sigils are possible, but more if you're very gifted and have a strong connection to the kami. The more 'normal' you are - if such a word applies to shujenga - the more you need offerings and scrolls to achieve anything. It's the same way that low level kakita duelists start out as straight-out-of-a-musashi film mundane duellists and end up doing stuff that looks like it escaped from Crouching Tiger or 47 Ronin at rank 6.

The fiction Repentance Does Not Come First features a shujenga duel and is the best thing I can point you at.

* Kami may not actually be called Kevin.

I think of scrolls largely as mnemonic devices, altough I kind of liked one interpretation in which scrolls were compacts between shugenja and spirits. It fits the very formal, legalist mindset you can find in the isnpiration material.

On 10/31/2018 at 9:03 AM, shosuro91 said:

On the page where the Yogo Wardmaster school is described, there is this picture that depicts a shugenja doing a sign with her hands, activating a sigil or something like that, like a character taken from the Naruto universe. As a piece of art, there is no doubt it's very good, as L5R art, I find it super cringy and unfitting. I truly hope no one takes offence to this, it is just my opinion.

I always cringe and find the comments ill informed when these sort of complaints are brought up. ?

Those hand-signs (Kuji kiri) are far older than Naruto and were associated with ninja arts long before Naruto was even conceived. As the Yogo are ninja inspired (as well as the Scorpion as a whole) they are drawing from the same places as Naruto did.

Also FFG is trying to make each of the clans magic traditions more visually distinct even if mechanically the same.

5 minutes ago, Ultimatecalibur said:

Those hand-signs (Kuji kiri) are far older than Naruto and were associated with ninja arts long before Naruto was even conceived. As the Yogo are ninja inspired (as well as the Scorpion as a whole) they are drawing from the same places as Naruto did.

I always cringe and find the comments ill informed when these complaints are brought up.

Bless be the Heavens; it's the Fortune of Wikipedia himself!

I wasn't talking about ninja. I was talking about shugenja. In Rokugan, shugenja don't use kuji-kiri to commune with the kami. Seeing a picture of a shugenja doing a naruto-like jutsu is unfitting and ugly in my personal opinion.

Clearly they do, though.

1 minute ago, shosuro91 said:

Bless be the Heavens; it's the Fortune of Wikipedia himself!

I wasn't talking about ninja. I was talking about shugenja. In Rokugan, shugenja don't use kuji-kiri to commune with the kami. Seeing a picture of a shugenja doing a naruto-like jutsu is unfitting and ugly in my personal opinion.

AEG shugenja didn't, but FFG's shugenja have since Yogo Kikuyo was added in Disciples of the Void back in April.

2 hours ago, shosuro91 said:

I wasn't talking about ninja. I was talking about shugenja. In Rokugan, shugenja don't use kuji-kiri to commune with the kami. Seeing a picture of a shugenja doing a naruto-like jutsu is unfitting and ugly in my personal opinion.

Well, it IS a ninja shugenja. Scorpion Clan, with access to Ninjitsu.

4 hours ago, Suzume Chikahisa said:

I think of scrolls largely as mnemonic devices, although I kind of liked one interpretation in which scrolls were compacts between shugenja and spirits. It fits the very formal, legalist mindset you can find in the inspiration material.

I always thought of spell scrolls as containing all the known conditionals and localised requirements that form the correct prayer for the current situation - which is why spell scrolls are huge, and memorising them takes considerable effort for something that needs seconds to complete.

7 hours ago, BitRunr said:

I always thought of spell scrolls as containing all the known conditionals and localised requirements that form the correct prayer for the current situation - which is why spell scrolls are huge, and memorising them takes considerable effort for something that needs seconds to complete.

I do like that idea, and it also explains why shugenja with the 'spell' memorised and a scroll to hand.