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Legend of the
Five Rings (L5R)
Legend of the Five Rings (L5R) is a
set of games set in Rokugan, a land of heroic samurai, mystical
shugenja, and fearsome creatures from the Shadowlands. It started
in 1995 as a collectible card game (CCG) with a new twist: each new
set of cards changed the world, as the cards told the story of the
Clan War that ravaged Rokugan. Although the shape of the two-year
story arc was roughed out during the original all-night design
meeting in February 1995, it left scope for variation so that the
game's players could have an effect on that story.
The game stayed remarkably true to
its initial vision: a high-fantasy samurai epic, exploring the
theme of honor against the backdrop of sweeping battles and
lightning fast iaijutsu duels. The players exceeded our
wildest expectations: we put control of major story threads in their
hands, and they treated them with as much reverence as we could have
given them ourselves. L5R fans are legendary for their honor,
sportsmanship, fair play, and eagerness to help out new players.
In the spring of 1997, a few months
before the legendary Day of Thunder tournament that concluded the
CCG's Clan War storyline, AEG released the first edition of the
Legend of the Five Rings Role-Playing Game (RPG). With two
years of card game story development behind us, we already knew
Rokugan's clans intimately: we'd seen them ally, clash, maneuver for
the favor fo the Emperor, and strike bargains with dark powers. We
decided to set the RPG a few years earlier in the storyline than the
CCG, in a time when the Scorpion had not yet made their play to save
the Empire by destroying the Emperor, when the wisdom of the Akodo
family still guided the Lion Clan, and when the Crab Clan still
faithfully guarded the Kaiu Wall against the constant assaults of
the Shadowlands.
The CCG continued with a new story
arc, The Hidden Emperor which concluded with Hitomi, the Dragon Clan
Champion, defeating the evil moon-god Onnotangu and taking his place
in the heavens, while Hida Yakamo, Daimyo of the Crab Clan ascended
to become the new Sun.
This was followed by Gold Edition
which was set approximately twenty years after the end of The Hidden
Emperor story arc. Emperor Toturi has been slain and the heirs, the
Four Winds, vie for the throne. The Empire is in turmoil and the
Shadowlands have seized this opportunity to extend their reach into
the Emerald Empire! Once again Rokugan is threatened and players
must take control of their Clans (or even the evil Shadowlands!) in
epic battles to decide the future of the Empire.
The latest basic set for the L5R
CCG is entitled Diamond Edition. For five years the Empire of
Rokugan has been at peace. The struggle between the Four Winds is
at an end and a new ruler sits upon the Steel Throne. But the
future is troubled - a conspiracy of powerful daimyo have formed
to control the new Emperor, and deep in Crab lands an ancient
enemy of the Empire has been unleashed.
What will be the
fate of Rokugan? You decide.
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