Games - Legend of the Five Rings

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	Games - Legend of the Five Rings

Legend of the Five Rings (often abbreviated "L5R") is a fictional setting created by the Five Rings Publishing Group in 1995, and now under the control of Alderac Entertainment Group. The setting covers in detail the fictional land of Rokugan, and briefly many other lands and nations in the same world. Rokugan is based on feudal Japan with influences from other east Asian cultures. The setting is the basis for the Legend of the Five Rings Collectible Card Game as well as the Legend of the Five Rings Role-Playing Game. Legend of the Five Rings was also the "featured campaign setting" of the Oriental Adventures expansion to the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons, but this book is now out of print.

The deep, evolving story of Legend of the Five Rings is one of the things that set it apart from most game settings. Players of the collectible card game, and to a lesser extent the role-playing game, can influence this story as it progresses by participating in sanctioned tournaments. The winners of major tournaments make pivotal decisions that can influence the storyline for years to come, with winners of minor tournaments influencing the storyline in lesser ways.

The Games

The Legend of the Five Rings Collectible Card Game

The Legend of the Five Rings Collectible Card Game is a collectible card game for two or more players (in tournaments, generally two), each with two decks of at least 40 cards each (formerly at least 30 cards each). The game continues until a player has reached one of several different victory conditions, at which point that player is declared the winner.

The Legend of the Five Rings Role-Playing Game

The Legend of the Five Rings Role-Playing Game is a role-playing game that requires one person to be game master and any number of other people to play different characters. As with all role-playing games, there is no "winner" or "loser", and the players do not generally compete against each other. Instead, the players work together to find a solution to some problem which the game master has presented their characters.

To distinguish this game system from the d20 System mechanics (see below), it is often referred to as the "classic" system or the "Roll & Keep" (or simply "R&K") system.

Oriental Adventures

Oriental Adventures was published originally in 1985 by TSR, Inc. as an expansion for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and was set in a land called Kara-Tur. In 2001, Wizards of the Coast re-released Oriental Adventures as an expansion for the prior year's re-release of Dungeons & Dragons after a decade-long lack of any official support for the Oriental Adventures product line. It was decided to make this new version of Oriental Adventures a showcase for their recently acquired Legend of the Five Rings.

For the entirety of its Second Edition, with the exception of the Player's Guide and Game Master's Guide, books published for the Legend of the Five Rings Role-Playing Game had two different sets of game mechanics: the mechanics from the Legend of the Five Rings Second Edition Player's Guide and corresponding mechanics for d20 System, such as those presented in Oriental Adventures. It has recently been announced that with the upcoming Third Edition of the Legend of the Five Rings Role-Playing Game, and because of the lack of availability of the now out of print Oriental Adventures, the d20 System rules will be dropped from future Legend of the Five Rings Role-Playing Game books.

Clan War

Clan War was a miniature based model strategy game produced by AEG, whose story line is derived from the Legend of the Five Rings setting. This game itself is no longer produced but the loyal fandom has a strong presence in its continued existence.

Rokugan

Legend of the Five Rings is set primarily in the fictional land of Rokugan, based on feudal Japan with influences from other east Asian cultures, where samurai, shugenja, and trained courtiers vie for control of the noble courts. Rokugan itself is home to mostly humans, divided into a society based on clans, with eight Great Clans and various minor ones, all under the rule of Emperor Toturi III. They are regularly threatened by evil plots from within and gaijin threats from without, but the main threat still lies to the southwest of Rokugan: The deadly wastes of the Shadowlands, where demonic hordes roam. See the article on Rokugan for more information on Rokugan, the Great Clans, and other story aspects of Legend of the Five Rings.

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