https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/287024/Legend-of-the-Five-Rings-Courts-of-Stone?SRC=FeaturedProduct&motds_id=12286&from_home=1

Once again, shout out to DriveThru and FFG for informing nobody, and yet it's the featured product on the website. Well, time to bust out the card.

Thanks for the heads up! I've been waiting for this! I flipped through it quickly in the store, but I'm eager to really dig in. See if these bonds are as bad as Avatar says.

Wooot!

4 minutes ago, MonCalamariAgainstDrunkDriving said:

Thanks for the heads up! I've been waiting for this! I flipped through it quickly in the store, but I'm eager to really dig in. See if these bonds are as bad as Avatar says.

just remember to bond with a character with high rings and skills!

honestly, they just are garbage as a progression system , totally not doing any service to the narrative, and mostly boring abilities once you start to spam them.

BUT, you can maybe find some interesting stuff to take from it to flesh out relationships in your games; like playing scenes with another character, maybe having a one shot "boost" ability taken from the written abilities that you can refresh over time if your pursue a specific relationship.
They are not totally wasted pages even if you do not use the bonds system as written, as they can serve as inspiration.

Can't wait to hear your opinion on that!

Yoink.

Thoughts:

• The artwork is jawdroppingly pretty as always.
• Bloody heck, Kyuden Doji courtier NPCs are scary. They're a 'generic' rank 9 intrigue opponent, and they're actually justified in that; with Air 4, Social 4 and the ability to basically remove any bonus successes from your checks and 'recover' any wasted momentum from one failed objective onto another mid-scene. I know "do not mess with the crane in court" is a default position for the setting but it's really, really a thing mechanically too.
• The Shiro Kitsuki Investigator's Masquerade has to be a thing covered by an adventure at some point. It's just too cool not to be.
• I find the Ikoma Shadows school interesting. "Will dishonour self for rerolls" is a new thing.
• The demon mempo now actually has rules (including unarmed spiky head-butt attack).