2 hours ago, Tsuruchi Tristan said:

I appreciate how they are constantly coming out with new and interesting ways to play L5R, but when playing a Samurai game I have no interest in playing a Gaijin. I'm a little annoyed that there are so many Minor Clans left untouched and they're instead spending their time creating Gaijin. I may be in the minority here, but I guess I feel they should flesh out the rest of Rokugan before going beyond its borders.

As a lifelong Mantis Player (nearly 15 years now), I actually kind of hate what that Yoritomo are in the RPG. I'm patiently waiting to see what my Tsuruchi and Moshi are up to, but still no info on the Wasp or Centipede. Have yet to play the new RPG because of this. Guess I'll continue to wait.

I also thought there was more to explore within Rokugan (and its very heavy cultural rules) before opening up the game to even more political systems and cultures.

But I am am willing to give it a shot and they might surprise me.
We also do not know the big picture.. Do they want to expand this "world" and create multiple countries and such? new games? who knows.

I'm the other way around. I loved Legend of the Burning Sands stuff in previous Rokugan, so I'm quite happy in getting some gaijin stuff early. I also like how it is lumped together with Ronin to get some Rokugani information.

That said, I am also looking forward to the next book focusing on Rokugan though. Here's hoping for a PHoenix book on magic with Ishiken, Yamabush/alchemists and Shadow magic! And a Centipede clan

23 hours ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

I'm wondering if the silent Crab watchtower has perhaps been taken by Naga. The last time we saw them, they were getting somewhat annoyed by Kaiu Shuichi.

I hope the naga play little role in the forseeable future, I am disappointed by their description in the old L5R. An ages-old separate race of cold-blooded reptilians should feel weird and alien. By contrast, naga culture looks closer to Rokugan culture than e.g. the human Burning Sands cultures do. To me, rhey come across just as humans without legs. About as un-Other as possible.

Which is too bad, I think snake-people hibernating in the Shinomen for centuries is a nice concept. But as they are, they make the shinomen mundane, if it is the regular home of pretty much ordinary cultures instead of a dangerous refuge of untamed nature kami and things that were before mankind lived.

21 hours ago, Harzerkatze said:

Which is too bad, I think snake-people hibernating in the Shinomen for centuries is a nice concept. But as they are, they make the shinomen mundane, if it is the regular home of pretty much ordinary cultures instead of a dangerous refuge of untamed nature kami and things that were before mankind lived.

I don't think that the literature so far contradicts this notion or perception of the Shinomen as untamed and dangerous. That said, I was a bit surprised by the suggestion that the naga would have anything resembling political boundaries. It could be interesting.. maybe? -If a faction stayed awake to watch over or protect their sleeping brethren.

In response to other comments, world building probably protects FFGs IP because it formally delineates what is theirs in the new lore.

Having played this in The Highwayman now twice, once successfully, anyway, I found playing Gaijin/Ronin/Outcasts a very different experience. I could not find any real justification for my character to care about honor, so it became just a matter of picking the most convienient choices to me without worrying about what was socially acceptable. Since 90+% of your character choices are done outside of the scrutiny of anyone who would care about the means by which you get something done, it ended up creating a very different feel for L5R, making it very much like D&D or me.

That sounds like a character thing rather than a systemic one, just as there's plenty of reasons why traditional samurai are actually bad at being honorable, there can be plenty of reasons why those who have less or no need of it to care. As a player you don't actually have a real reason to care about honor (other than maybe the disadvantages), so everything else is the fluff you made up in between.

I expect the sweet spot for these rules (besides perhaps a transitional game for those more used to more familiar RPGs, a softball rather than the hardball I think L5R is known for in some circles) though is actually to contrast with things for " anyone who would care about the means by which you get something done". The Highwayman probably doesn't bother because it's a con scenario and everybody has something else to do, so they can't focus on the minutiae, but the GM should not necessarily let you get away "scot free" with anything any more than you can if you're playing a normal samurai character who also disregards the normal rules (and for which the bad stereotypes exist everywhere). If you're a ronin mercenary, you still have to work with the people paying your bills, and if you were cast out, perhaps you still wish to hold your honor intact. If you're a peasant or gaijin, then maybe you need this samurai people to like you to get your job done.

Do we have an eta on this one yet?

December according to the upcoming page.

I was about to say "Please use burakumin, as the other word is somewhat of a slur"when I realised you meant Estimated Time of Arrival.

15 hours ago, KakitaKaori said:

Having played this in The Highwayman now twice, once successfully, anyway, I found playing Gaijin/Ronin/Outcasts a very different experience. I could not find any real justification for my character to care about honor, so it became just a matter of picking the most convienient choices to me without worrying about what was socially acceptable. Since 90+% of your character choices are done outside of the scrutiny of anyone who would care about the means by which you get something done, it ended up creating a very different feel for L5R, making it very much like D&D or me.

I can agree with that.

Sure, there are always ways to make the choices matters, like in every rpg. But the very fact that your character is lordless and not working for a "corporation" of samurai (a clan) can totally change the vibe.

It also really depends on the campaign, your character goals, and the other players.

While I also think Rokugan, and L5R, is more fun to me when Bushido and samurai social customs are the center stage, I think you can integrate an outsider or ronin into the mix.

The problem was probably with the adventure (the highwayman) being badly designed as a one shot. I mean, it is a one shot with premades... It needs to be done and written as such, every character goals need to be strong and intertwined.

For a custom campaign, I can see a good GM being able to juggle with an outsider or ronin character in a party.

Now, if the party consist only of lets say, 4 ivory kingdom gaijins... Sure, it can become weird. But probably something can be done by a good GM as a small few sessions campaign.

14 hours ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

I was about to say "Please use burakumin, as the other word is somewhat of a slur"when I realised you meant Estimated Time of Arrival.

So I guess "Hinin" is quite out?

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2019/11/18/a-living-world/

Another preview, this one reminding potential buyers there's still some Rokugan in here, describing some lovely locations and maps which will be in Path of Waves.

Also a relevant quote for the discussion earlier " If you are leading a band of wandering rōnin who come across a village where you are seen as nothing more than bandits or criminals, you may be forced to find a way to prove your honor and earn the right to stay. "

I have noticed and probably a bit late, but in the last preview they showed us Twin Blessings Village. This village is also part of the upcoming adventure, Sins of regret. So I wonder how much details are going to be in the source book about this village and how much we will have in the adventure. My guess is that we can expect the same amount of details for both the Twin Blessings Village and the town of Hirosaka in the Path of Waves as we have seen for Peaceful Hill City (page 66), Lost Monk Road station (page 127) or Mountain Stream Shrine (page 154) in Emerald Empire.

Any signs of life on this one? Its long overdue in terms of the usual schedule, and recent news makes me concerned it might be an "Atlas of Rokugan" type deal, where its just thrown out in small numbers to be done.

Considering that FFG just hired back Katrina Ostrander to be their Creative Director for Story and Setting, I don't think you have much to worry about. The bigger issue is likely that FFG, like everyone else, is still recovering from the Christmas season. My wife and I own a game store and there's LOTS of stuff we're still waiting to make its way through the distribution chain. No doubt Path of Waves is in there somewhere, along with a bunch of other things we're waiting to stock, or restock.

It's still in the queue in the upcoming page. I am also very eager to get my hands on these products. They promise to be very interesting reads.

Originally, Path of Waves was due for December, but a great deal of stuff was delayed during the Christmas season as DGLaderoute pointed out. Last update says it will come out in January, but not narrowed down to a specific release date. I'm pretty sure it's too far along in production for an outright cancellation, it just needs to finish shipping and distribution. Keep an eye on your big brand retailers, they like to break street date because they can get away with it and need to move product off their shelves.

Around January-Febuary is Chinese New Year, so you are never only late by only 2-3 weeks, you end up late by 2-3 months. Because they don't want to take contracts too soon before the month long new year break, and by the time they get back rolling you lose time there also.
I know, I worked in oversea manufacturing for 10 years.

I am not worried whatsoever.

15 hours ago, Avatar111 said:

Around January-Febuary is Chinese New Year, so you are never only late by only 2-3 weeks, you end up late by 2-3 months. Because they don't want to take contracts too soon before the month long new year break, and by the time they get back rolling you lose time there also.
I know, I worked in oversea manufacturing for 10 years.

I am not worried whatsoever.

I played FFG's 40k RPGs. After the delay on the release of some of the Black Crusade sourcebooks (looking at you, Tome of Decay), I'm not going to freak out over a few months.

1 hour ago, Magnus Grendel said:

I played FFG's 40k RPGs. After the delay on the release of some of the Black Crusade sourcebooks (looking at you, Tome of Decay), I'm not going to freak out over a few months.

I for one prefer quality over quantity. I know that isn't how the world goes though. I'd much rather we get a revised corebook than a new sourcebook, for example.

Ok, back in dreamland

Well, Amazon is reporting Feb 28th for Path of Waves and March 31s for Sins of Regret. Of course, this is probably some Amazon math, because y'know, they're the exact end of the month and 3/31 isn't a Friday, but it does probably mean at least not in January - looking like the logjam of product wont start clearing until 1/31 and Path of Waves may not be in there.

Any news about the diptych "Path of Waves"/"Sins of Regret"? I've been waiting for it since it was announced last summer and I'm growing tired to wait. And I'm worried about it, because when it was expected for december, we started to have weekly previews, and then it was delayed until january and the previews stopped. Now I hear that a lot of people have been fired, and no news about those books whatsoever, so I'm worried. For those two books and the whole line.

Still trying to post here. How come none of my posts are approved?

Only 4 more days until the end of January, wonder FFG will pay their shippers express delivery again? Also I hope this won't be the last L5R Book, because I really like this interpretation of the system. 😣

It feels like the whole line is ending, they just keep pushing back the inevitable news