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Anyone playing the CCG or RPG?

I'm looking to get back into both. The 4th ed. RPG looks very interesting.

It is one of the games I've been interested in but I know of absolutely no one that plays it. Every year when there are big tables for it at GenCon it blows my mind.

I played the ccg for about 10 years and also did design work and playtesting for it. I loved the game but stopped playing back after lotus when they started changing a lot of the core rules and it became something very different and I didn't care for the lack of internal balance brought on by those changes.

Also used to do the rpg a fair amount although that was well before 4th ed. Even though I dislike the current ccg ruleset the setting is pure awesome and the rpgs match up with it very well. I'd give it a thumbs up.

if only i can find some people on the local level to play! i've always loved the lore of the L5R universe, and distinctly remember reading all of the clan war novels as a kid.

i see they changed the CCG to make it more "streamlined" which could be a good thing or a bad thing.

the lion clan and scorpion clan were my two favorites, total polar opposites too.

maybe we could get a play-by-post RPG going on?

I fought at the Day of Thunder.

I’ve played an honorable crab deck since the start of the game. I dropped out sometime around when they changed the card backs. I did pick up one of the new starters a year? ago. I forget the name of the edition, but it was a nice box with a starter, a few boosters, and tokens. Game play seemed mostly the same mechanically, but the power level of the cards took some getting used to. The style was off.

I still have a zillion old cards in the basement, but not enough of the new ones to play at anything resembling a competitive level. And I hardly get up to my FLGS to play 40k, much less on card nights.

4th ed on the RPG? Time flies when you aren’t paying attention. I have a signed 1st. edition Lt. ed. rulebook and most of the books from that era. It was a fun system, but needed some tweaks to make it playable. One of the big problems was lethality. It’s hard to play a heroic campaign when characters can be fairly easily one-shotted. I think we ended up quadrupling hit points and using some of the variant void rules for damage mitigation. Still, the mechanics captured the flavor of the world well, and over all it was well written. I can only hope it’s gotten better over time.

One of the things L5R had was the story. It’s what set it apart from all the other CCGs at the time. And it was a good story to boot. After the Day of Thunder, it seemed that some of the writing was phoned in. Like they has lost some of the drive that kept them going. Understandable. But when I was trying to get back in, I was too far detached from what was going on to get hooked. There was stuff going on in the world, but between all the changes in timeframe, plot, and mechanics, I just didn’t get sucked back in the way I was back in the heyday.

But I am very fond of both the card game and the RPG. Even if I’m not currently playing, the two of them generated many, many hours or enjoyment.

 Nevelon wrote:
I fought at the Day of Thunder.

I’ve played an honorable crab deck since the start of the game. I dropped out sometime around when they changed the card backs. I did pick up one of the new starters a year? ago. I forget the name of the edition, but it was a nice box with a starter, a few boosters, and tokens. Game play seemed mostly the same mechanically, but the power level of the cards took some getting used to. The style was off.

I still have a zillion old cards in the basement, but not enough of the new ones to play at anything resembling a competitive level. And I hardly get up to my FLGS to play 40k, much less on card nights.

4th ed on the RPG? Time flies when you aren’t paying attention. I have a signed 1st. edition Lt. ed. rulebook and most of the books from that era. It was a fun system, but needed some tweaks to make it playable. One of the big problems was lethality. It’s hard to play a heroic campaign when characters can be fairly easily one-shotted. I think we ended up quadrupling hit points and using some of the variant void rules for damage mitigation. Still, the mechanics captured the flavor of the world well, and over all it was well written. I can only hope it’s gotten better over time.

One of the things L5R had was the story. It’s what set it apart from all the other CCGs at the time. And it was a good story to boot. After the Day of Thunder, it seemed that some of the writing was phoned in. Like they has lost some of the drive that kept them going. Understandable. But when I was trying to get back in, I was too far detached from what was going on to get hooked. There was stuff going on in the world, but between all the changes in timeframe, plot, and mechanics, I just didn’t get sucked back in the way I was back in the heyday.

But I am very fond of both the card game and the RPG. Even if I’m not currently playing, the two of them generated many, many hours or enjoyment.

thanks for sharing that, friend. shame you couldn't get sucked back into it. i always believed L5R would make a ridiculously awesome MMORPG if done correctly.

 Storm Shadow wrote:

thanks for sharing that, friend. shame you couldn't get sucked back into it. i always believed L5R would make a ridiculously awesome MMORPG if done correctly.

Oh I agree completely. Both on the “shame I didn’t get sucked back in” and the “it would make an awesome MMORPG” points.

Rokugan is an awesome setting. Tons of history, character, flavor and potential. Probably the best high fantasy/mythic asia world out there. I’d love to spend more time there. But my life doesn’t really mesh well with the CCG scene, due to both time and financial pressures, and my RPG group is not the best fit for the samurai lifestyle (we have a number of irreverent/chaotic members who would just be begging to be cut down in an honor duel)

I am a big fan of the setting but have never been able to convince any of my friends to play either the CCG or RPG. I honestly would much rather play the RPG.

 Manchu wrote:
I am a big fan of the setting but have never been able to convince any of my friends to play either the CCG or RPG. I honestly would much rather play the RPG.

the RPG looks gorgeous! i'm currently trying to get my hands on some of the OOP 4e books through my FLGS, so that i will be able to (hopefully) host some awesome role-play sessions. i have so many ideas for possible scenarios, and even plan on painting up some of the old clan war miniatures to represent PC's on the map.

if we could get enough people involved, we should get a play-by-post version of the RPG started here. the character sheets for the RPG are available via PDF file. we could have avatars to represent PC.

lion clan FTW!


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Nevelon wrote:
4th ed on the RPG? Time flies when you aren’t paying attention. I have a signed 1st. edition Lt. ed. rulebook and most of the books from that era. It was a fun system, but needed some tweaks to make it playable. One of the big problems was lethality. It’s hard to play a heroic campaign when characters can be fairly easily one-shotted. I think we ended up quadrupling hit points and using some of the variant void rules for damage mitigation. Still, the mechanics captured the flavor of the world well, and over all it was well written. I can only hope it’s gotten better over time.

from what i've learned, 4th edition is essentially 1st edition with all the necessary tweaks that it needed.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

Which 4E books are OOP?

 Manchu wrote:
Which 4E books are OOP?

I haven't ever had much success in getting the ccg going with anyone except one friend and never done anything outside of celestial edition(?) and I've got the 3rd ed rpg book and even had a short-lived campaign at my flgs that was a major hit amongst the players until I moved and was no longer within walking distance. Sucks not having a car. But doing a play-by-post would be so incredibly awesome and I would love to be a part of it (Phoenix clan/Shiba family ftw)

Wow, those two books actually seem pretty tough to find at a reasonable price. Makes me glad I've been getting everything as it comes out.

Author Larry Correia (Monster Hunter, Grimnoire Chronicles) runs a campaign with a group of his friends who are also writers (though I don't think all of them are published). He GMs it, and they run the characters. And after the sessions, his players all write up lengthy stories about what happened to their character in that session, which he then posts online. He puts them up at his own website (warning - Correia is very conservative and libertarian, and most of his posts on his website are politically-related), and on the official L5R forums.

You might want to take a look at his posts.

We play 2nd edition RPG. I thought I was clever rolling up an Unicorn shugenja with Different School-advantage, and joining to Soshi school...except that post-Coup, Soshi dojo is no more and everyone seems to think my character is second coming of Fu Leng, so good luck joining any other school. Doh!

Never played CCG. I think RPG is rather awesome setting, only caveat is that I gather that most editions are not that well proof-read or play-tested and all had plenty of unbalances and weirdness and require an active GM to work out kinks.
And the system is very lethal, though 2nd edition seems like least lethal.

DragonOfAsh wrote:I haven't ever had much success in getting the ccg going with anyone except one friend and never done anything outside of celestial edition(?) and I've got the 3rd ed rpg book and even had a short-lived campaign at my flgs that was a major hit amongst the players until I moved and was no longer within walking distance. Sucks not having a car. But doing a play-by-post would be so incredibly awesome and I would love to be a part of it (Phoenix clan/Shiba family ftw)

once i get my hands on all the books, i'll be able to use them as a reference point to get something going on the forums here.

Manchu wrote:Wow, those two books actually seem pretty tough to find at a reasonable price. Makes me glad I've been getting everything as it comes out.

tell me about it. currently trying to get them through my FLGS.

Eumerin wrote:Author Larry Correia (Monster Hunter, Grimnoire Chronicles) runs a campaign with a group of his friends who are also writers (though I don't think all of them are published). He GMs it, and they run the characters. And after the sessions, his players all write up lengthy stories about what happened to their character in that session, which he then posts online. He puts them up at his own website (warning - Correia is very conservative and libertarian, and most of his posts on his website are politically-related), and on the official L5R forums.

You might want to take a look at his posts.

i'll definitely have to check it out, thanks!

Backfire wrote:We play 2nd edition RPG. I thought I was clever rolling up an Unicorn shugenja with Different School-advantage, and joining to Soshi school...except that post-Coup, Soshi dojo is no more and everyone seems to think my character is second coming of Fu Leng, so good luck joining any other school. Doh!

Never played CCG. I think RPG is rather awesome setting, only caveat is that I gather that most editions are not that well proof-read or play-tested and all had plenty of unbalances and weirdness and require an active GM to work out kinks.
And the system is very lethal, though 2nd edition seems like least lethal.

i haven't looked too much into 2E and 3E as 1E and 4E seem to receive a majority of the praise. i'm debating on a lion or unicorn bushi.

Interested, but know nothing about them. The story looked cool but no drive to learn the rules with nobody around to play.

I had a Dragon and Scorpion for the CCG 10 or so years ago, didn't play the legit RPG, but I've extensively played the Rokugan D&D campaign setting. From what I read comparing the two systems, they are about even as far as plot and playability, but the D20 if for people that play D&D to not learn a whole new system. Also mostly play Scorpion and Dragon.

 Storm Shadow wrote:
tell me about it. currently trying to get them through my FLGS

Let me know if you have any questions about the content of the books in the meantime.

Also, there are some cool upcoming releases:

- Book of Water ... the latest elemental book, out now
- Sword & Fan ... a sourcebook for war and politics, available for pre-order
- Unexpected Allies ... a book of NPCs if the 1E version is anything to go by
- Book of the Void ... the last elemental book

Oh, one item worth noting if purely for amusement values.

Back during first edition, they published a book with a rather dry sounding title relating to economics in Rokugan (something that any good samurai wasn't supposed to worry much about). Opening it up revealed a rather dull introduction... followed by a reveal on the second page that the book was *really* about the Kolat, a rather nasty, vicious, and extremely well-hidden secret society that existed in Rokugan at the time. That first page of dull and tedious stuff was really just a smokescreen to keep any casual Kolat browsers from finding out that the book gave away all of their secrets.

Eumerin wrote:
Oh, one item worth noting if purely for amusement values.

Back during first edition, they published a book with a rather dry sounding title relating to economics in Rokugan (something that any good samurai wasn't supposed to worry much about). Opening it up revealed a rather dull introduction... followed by a reveal on the second page that the book was *really* about the Kolat, a rather nasty, vicious, and extremely well-hidden secret society that existed in Rokugan at the time. That first page of dull and tedious stuff was really just a smokescreen to keep any casual Kolat browsers from finding out that the book gave away all of their secrets.

The Merchant’s Guide to Rokugan? It is but a humble text describing the rice trade and how koku flows around the empire. Penned by the illustrious Yasuki Takka, a Crab of some import. Anything to the contrary you hear are but simple slander, probably spread by his crane rivals.

Next you will be telling us that Ninja are real.

Ko ... ko-what? No, we don't know anything about gaijin things here.

 Manchu wrote:

 Storm Shadow wrote:
tell me about it. currently trying to get them through my FLGS

Let me know if you have any questions about the content of the books in the meantime.

Also, there are some cool upcoming releases:

- Book of Water ... the latest elemental book, out now
- Sword & Fan ... a sourcebook for war and politics, available for pre-order
- Unexpected Allies ... a book of NPCs if the 1E version is anything to go by
- Book of the Void ... the last elemental book

will do, friend. and i'm thoroughly looking forward to those releases.

Great Clans will apparently be offered as a print-on-demand book via DriveThruRPG, so you may want to hold off on your search for that one.

 Manchu wrote:
Great Clans will apparently be offered as a print-on-demand book via DriveThruRPG, so you may want to hold off on your search for that one.

That's excellent news! Any ETA on a release?

Should be pretty soon. I'm guessing by May. Keep an eye out on DriveThruRPG.

I should mention that the PoD product, while not of bad quality, does not match the retail release product. One 4E book, Strongholds, was released as PoD-only, which is why I know. It's a pretty persnickety thing but one you should be aware of as you fill out your collection.

Reprints are finally on the way:

http://www.l5r.com/2014/12/16/l5r-rpg-reprints-inbound