Legend of the Five Rings
Legend of the Five Rings, or L5R, is the premiere interactive Collectible Card Game. Set in the mythical land of Rokugan, inspired by feudal Asia, it puts you in the role of a prominent samurai of one of the nine Great Clans, serving your family and the Emperor in order to bring glory to the Emerald Empire.
Unlike many collectible card games, L5R offers multiple victory conditions that all fit perfectly with the world it is set in. Attaining victory can be done through military supremacy (Military), but also through political clout – be it acting beyond reproach (Honor) or discrediting your opponents (Dishonor) - or spiritual dominance (Enlightenment).
In order to do so, you will need to recruit troops, use timely resources and protect your lands against your opponents. The ultimate recognition will be the blessing of the Emperor as his most trusted vassal.
In Rokugan, battlefields are everywhere. While you can use samurai (warriors), shugenja (priests) and monks to hamper the military goals of the other Clans, you can also achieve greatness by the clever use of courtiers (politicians). After all, alliances and reputations are forged and easily destroyed at the Imperial Court, where the political masterminds of the Empire interact with one another. But beware, for while the Great Clans fight one another, evil roams outside of Rokugan. The Shadowlands and its infernal creatures only seek to rampage through the Empire and against those monstrosities, Honor will be your best weapon.
For over 15 years, players have shaped the Emerald Empire of Rokugan through their achievements (both individual and collective). They have turned simple characters into legends (and even into Emperors), defeated terrible foes and unveiled dreadful conspiracies thanks to their involvement in the game, forever altering the destiny of Rokugan and its characters in the process.
All those events have led to a rich development of a world players have had a great hand into, supported by weekly fictions and a line of Role-Playing books (since 1997) entering its Fourth Edition.
Choose a Clan and let us welcome you to Rokugan, a world where Honor is Stronger than Steel!
Learn more about Emperor Edition, the new base set for Legend of the Five Rings. >
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So this “review” is completely biased. I make no claims otherwise, so read with caution…
17 years ago I was playing games a Gamemasters in Memphis, TN. Star Wars RPG, a little Magic, etc. Then a new game appeared, “Legend of the Five Rings”. I was intrigued by the characters, and the idea that I would be able to represent them in events, and do more than simply win a promo, I could affect the story.
So what began then became an ongoing love of the game, that brought me to make my first trip to Gen Con, travel to Kotei (regional L5R events) and cultivate a group of friends in the game that are still with me to this day. I even started an online community “Save the Ogres” to protect those noble creatures… by convincing nearly all 250+ players to include at least one ogre in their deck at Gen Con 2000, the story team was convinced that the beasts would survive into the future of the game. I had teamed up with Buttonmen to create promotional ogre buttons for all that took part. That level of interaction, something I could do that didn’t even relate to my ability to play the game, is something that I’ve seen hundreds of players do across the years. The game is truly an experience, with a rich world of amazing and engaging characters that are unlike any other game out there.
After several more years, I put my resume in to AEG. Most incredibly, I was hired! After 2 years I was put in charge of L5R, this game I loved so dearly. You want to talk about a dream come true? Easily the 5th best day of my life (Wife and three kids come first of course!). I endeavored with an amazing team to bring the game even more to the masses. We introduced Clan councils that gave all players of a Clan a voice in their future. Honor contests including poster design, creative writing, and more, and most of all charity drives and helping the less fortunate around the world. All these contribute still to the ongoing story of Legend of the Five Rings.
When you play L5R, you are no longer just a single player against everyone else in the world as you are in most games. When you play L5R, you eventually choose one of the nine Clans that most fits you. When you say “I’m a Lion” (or Crane, Dragon, Scorpion, or whoever), you now have a massive network of world-wide Lion Clan players who care deeply about how well you do in the game, will offer rares, and play tips on their fan-forums, as when any Lion wins, all the Lions benefit, both in the story and in the actual cards printed for the game.
And in no other gaming group I’ve known, would I as a player be able to make a simple post on a forum and find a couch to sleep on anywhere in the world!
L5R is a somewhat complex game, which does take a bit of time to learn, but once you’ve gotten a few games under your belt, you’ll see the incredible amount of rich theme coming through. When you have to order your samurai to commit the “Seppuku” action to avoid an honor loss from your slanderous opponent, you’ll realize you’re not just playing another CCG. And when you have to do such a thing in the top rounds at Gen Con, or a storyline event at your store, you’ll realize you’re doing much more than just winning a game, you’re telling a story that can truly become a part of the ongoing epic storyline that is Legend of the Five Rings.
L5R isn’t Magic: The Gathering. L5R is L5r; a deep strategic game of tactics and warfare in a living, ever-changing world. Legend of the Five Rings takes place in the fictive realm of Rokugan which is based roughly on feudal Japan with influences from other East Asian cultures. The realm consist of 8 major clans and a handful of smaller ones – all trying to put one of their own kind on the Emperor’s throne since this would greatly benefit that one clan.
Naturally as with pretty much every (card) game, L5R is about defeating your opponent – in one way or another; by taking out their provinces through sheer military force, by becoming more honorable or suppressing the others honor through defamation and shaming them, or by possessing all five Elemental Rings. There exists three types of troops – all recruited from the four Provinces which every player starts with, and these in turn come from one’s deck of Dynasty cards. Thus by taking out your opponent’s Provinces, not only does one come closer to a Military Victory but is also effectively cutting down on reinforcements – in more than one way since the deck of Dynasty cards also holds the means to a player’s income: Holdings.
Troops are recruited to one’s army by paying them with Gold and this is what Holdings are for, with everything from rice fields to huge farms and valuable mines providing the players with a steady income (each Holding can do this once per round). The different troop types are Infantry, Cavalry and Naval and they each have a role to fill in an army when assigned to a battlefield. Regardless of type, each troop comes with two main stats that are used for combat: Chi (mental strength) and Force (physical strength). When initiating a battle, you don’t get to pick which individuals you’d like to attack, but instead selects a Province which will then act as a battlefield between everyone involved in the battle. Once the attacking and defending forces has moved there, however, one may start pinpointing troops by using ranged attack abilities or even challenging individuals to a duel.
Winning a battle will result in gaining Honor for the enemies that was slain (as does recruiting new troops) and if any player managed to gather 40 points of Honor, he or she wins the game at the beginning of the next turn. A victorious attacker may also be able to destroy the defenders province, depending on the surviving army’s strength (Force).
There’s also another deck of cards, Fate, that players may play from their actual hand (contrary to how the Dynasty cards lying in front of each player works) and are allowed to save up to 8 cards of. These cards hold everything from equipment to followers or spells and even political actions – as well as the five Elemental Rings which also grants a person victory should he/she ever manage to put them all in play. Fate cards are “timed events” that can be played during the game’s many different phases (even during the opponent’s turn) – including battle, naturally, to try and change the sway of battle and giving you the upper hand or simply withdrawing your troops without losing anyone.
Legend of the Five Rings is a truly tactical and interesting customizable card game where you don’t need to invest much more than the time for understanding the rules to be able to get your hands on a playable, enjoyable deck of your own. And the world itself so happens to be filled to the brim with lore and histories about each and every clan, for anyone who’d love to get to know the realm of Rokugan a little better.
If you have a knick for Japan, samurais, CCGs in general or is simply looking for a neat, engaging and fun strategy game to play then your search may very well be over.
If you like CCGs and like the idea of asian fantasy where you play samurai fighting for honor and glory of your empire, you’re looking at the right game.
This game is especially interesting because it has 4 victory conditions;
(For reference, Magic the Gathering has 2. Reduce opponent’s life to 0 often fought through the classic ‘get dudes and attack’ but sometimes through direct damage and spells, or force them to run out of cards in their deck)
Military, where you destroy an enemy in the classic ‘get dudes, attack, destroy his stuff’ and take all his provinces. Provinces both represent the amount of territory you possess (like in pretty much any classic strategy game) as well as influence how many personalities, holdings, and events will be available each turn. (personalities are the main ‘dudes’ and holdings let you pay for stuff, where ‘dudes’ is a fill in term for the women, men, and creatures that make up the leaders of your army)
Honor, if you start your turn above 40 honor (tracked similar to ‘life’ in other games, except it has other adverse effects on the game) you and your clan are so honorable nothing matters because even if enemies are breaking down your door, you’ll be forever remembered and respected and that’s what really matters in the life of a samurai. You have to start your turn that way though, so other players could slander you down before 40 honor before you win.
By reverse, Dishonor, if you stoop below -20 honor you are so dishonorable that your presence cannot be tolerated. If you don’t win the game via military right away, you lose. Basically going to be caste out because the empire cannot tolerate such dishonorable scum. One can imagine the emerald legions take out any families that would stoop so low.
The last, and usually considered most difficult to win is by enlightenment. The game’s title, ‘Legend of the 5 Rings’ is represented by elemental rings. Each ring can be discarded for a special effect, but they also have a condition that if met simply enter play and can be used over and over without being discarded. If 5 different rings enter play by their own special condition, you become enlightened. You will ascend to the heavens and achieve more than any of your enemies.
Because there are 4 conditions, it makes switching which victory condition you are aiming to achieve very powerful. If you are honorable warriors, you may start off attacking like any other brutes, but then suddenly after a few honorable actions sit back and try to achieve honor. In reverse, they may come out starting with defensive honor but if they can trick their opponent into over-reaching in an attempt to stop the build up of honor, they will attack in retribution and suddenly become a military threat. More than any other CCG I find it has bluffs and tricks to make your opponent afraid to defend or take a certain action because its counter may or may not be common in the opponents deck.
Most other CCGs tend to operate with blinders on, basically a deck does what it does and it works or it doesn’t depending on what the opponent has. In L5R, even the most straightforward military decks will feel completely different against a defensive honor or dishonor player. Breaking down further based on what types of control and whan needs to be done to offset honor gains and losses.
Also AEG, the creators, seem to try to mitigated the secondary market a little. Releasing direct to player sets or special ‘learn to play’ sets that include rare and powerful cards so that its not as expensive to play as some other CCGs. This could possibly be improved on further, but its interesting none the less.
In L5R (Legend of the Five Rings) you play as one of 10 clans (Crab, Crane, Dragon, Lion, Mantis, Phoenix, Scorpion, Spider, Unicorn, and Shadowlands plus the unique option of “going Ronin” or Unaligned). Set in an Asian environment with an ever-changing storyline, many times altered by victories at tournaments.
Each card offers beautiful, unique and imaginative art work. Deep and full of color, it helps to compel the player to go deeper into the story and fantasy of the game.
Like other TCG/CCGs it offers unique “lore” with each card. As previously mentioned L5R has a living, engaging storyline. Updates come on the website, in each expansions and in the Herald, a newsletter (which looks like a newspaper) sent out to Imperial Assembly members ($30 a year plus special promos). Probably one of the biggest pluses to L5R is the storyline. Knowing that if the Clan you align with kicks some serious tail they will dominate the storyline. Their samurai, shugenja or courtiers will curve and disrupt the story to their will.
Offering several winning conditions makes for an adventure with each game. By dominating the other players people and land you gain a Military victory. Perhaps you have the sheer will to summon the five legendary rings (Fire, Earth, Air, Water and Void) and earn an Enlightenment victory. You can also prove your wealth to the Empire through an Honor victory. Likewise help show the Empire how unworthy your opponent is by forcing them into dishonor.
As with most games like this, there are “broken” cards or “engines”
that come about and drastically affect game play. The L5R team is good about addressing these issues quickly despite their proven track record of leaving game play alone as much as possible.
Issues I have with L5R are the same I have with MTG, Pokemon, Yu-gi-oh, Star Wars, etc). First you encounter “rares” which end up having virtually no value but still fill that all important slot in your booster pack. Second issues, is the need for the “booster” pack filling your home with boxes and boxes of duplicate commons and uncommons with no resale value and hard to recycle.
Overall L5R is a rich, open, fun game with a small but loyal world-wide fan base. I recommend giving it a shot, but understand it will take some time to become an expert and a bit of cash.
I’ve been playing Legend of the Five Rings (L5R) for just about ten years now. In that time I have yet to find a CCG that is as complex and rewarding to play, without the monetary investment that many of the more prominent CGGs (read: Magic) have.
That said, the thing that pulls me in to this game the most is the community of players associated with it. Hopefully without generalizing too much, the more mature playerbase that L5R attracts has always been welcoming and very social. Players go out of their way to help other players with both the game and card accessibility, as well as using the community to provide a lot of support to charities around the world. Very few events held throughout the year lack a charitable aspect to them, ranging from food and clothing drives to fund raising for children’s hospitals.
Gameplay-wise, the factional aspect to the game (and the factional loyalty it inspires) immediately provides even the newest player a group of allied players who wish them to succeed and excel. Fan run Clan forums provide hubs of insight and advice, and facilitate the sharing of decks and strategies without the stigma that pervades NetDecking in other CCGs.
The two-deck system for deck construction offers a wide variety of options in customizing ones deck, and whether you play for fun or the competitiveness, very rarely are decks described or named after a single good card or subset of actions. The added randomization the two decks provide also increase the replay value of game infinitely.
L5R is one of the few remaining CCGs from the earliest days in the industry to have survived the initial glut of games, and now, the long test of time. The setting is truly unlike any other in gaming right now. The depth of the story is perhaps singularly its biggest achievement that can only be accomplished with such great care that AEG has taken with this license over time. But this depth of story also breeds great fan loyalty and creativity in deck design, costume and card-play.
I have been in and out of L5R since the Shadowlands Expansion way back when. The card frames are nothing short of beautiful. The art is amazing. The story is unparalleled. The strategy is deep and card-play intense. The learning curve is steep, however, and it will take much time to get up to the level of the players in the competitive tournament scene.
The game is somewhat of a higher price point because of the nature of the CCG, but, with some friends in your playgroup to chose the different play-style options of the different clans, you can share the expense of the game, and also the cards.
Having played a number of other games, this one keeps bringing me back in, expansion after expansion, and I hope to see on the market for another 15 years +!!
Check this one out, and get some friends into it as well.
Only rate a 9 instead of 10 due to learning curve and cost.
Pros:
Multiple ways to win
Numerous strategies to play
Complex, yet streamlined rules
Fantastic Art and Story
Game Maker is very customer oriented and friendly
Cons:
Steeper Learning Curve than most CCGs
Legend of the Five Rings is a fantastic game that can engage on numerous levels. Wether you are a story buff and want to know all of the fiction or a hardcore gamer that dives into the strategy of the game, this CCG will offer something for everyone.
Legend of the Five Rings(L5R to avid players) is a fantastic game that is both fun to play, and fun to follow as each and every player has the power to shape the stories and characters of the game.
Set in the land of Rokugan(A place that is heavily inspired by ancient eastern culture), players can choose from nine different clans filled with samurai warriors, magic wielding shugenja, political courtiers, and even mythical beasts and other non-human creatures. There are four different victory conditions available to players and each of the nine clans has a wide range of different themes to choose from and combine, this gives the game a huge replay value and also allows for gamers of any play style to find the “right” deck for them.
Unique to this game is the fact that the players decide and effect the story and characters throughout time! Through tournaments, special events, and the occasional voting, players can bring honor to their clan, glory to their favorite character, and sometimes vengeance to their enemies.
One of the best CCGs out today, the game possesses an incredible gaming experience, but also an innovative, interactive and living story that really brings another layer to the games attractiveness.
In this game, players will select a Clan at the start of the game. The clans reflect the different strategies, characters and abilities that you will generally be able to use during the game. Each player has two decks, a Fate deck which consists of your action cards and the like and your Dynasty deck, which consists of your personality cards and gold-producing locations.
The amount of victory conditions in this game are amazing. You can win through Military, by destroying your opponents four provinces. Enlightenment, a victory condition that consists of getting your five rings out (the game’s namesake). Honor, by scoring an amount of honor. And Dishonor, by making your opponents honor get to a certain amount.
The game is alive in the sense that the designers regularly produce stories for the game, enhancing the flavor of the game and its characters and how the story progresses. Furthermore, different story elements are selected by players by participating in different storyline tournaments held throughout the year.
All-in-all, if you’re looking for a TCG that offers complex strategy, diversity and uniqueness then this is a great game for you. The Asian setting may not be for everyone, but the mechanics of the game are definitely solid enough for veterans and new players alike. As a side note, if you’re not interested in getting involved in a TCG – but like the setting of this game, check out a spin-off game called War For Honor. Its the same setting and largely similar rules for the most part, but is a packaged board game that can be enhanced by simply buying some cards from the TCG if you so choose, but is complete in and of itself.
I played this game from the second expansion and continued on for years. Even though I haven’t played some of the editions, the game has consistently delivered a wonderfully interwoven storyline with great levels of strategy and fun! The dedication people have to their clans is also what makes the game very different from other CCGs. It’s almost like football fans where people will wear their clan colors and even get tattoos of their family mons!