Weekend in Rokugan

At about this time of the year the good folks of Hero's of Rokugan run a weekend long event called Weekend in Rokugan. It's a chance to get together and do some face to face role playing in the Hero's of Rokugan setting.

This is the 3rd campgain for the Hero's of Rokugan game titled Spirit of Bushido. It takes place during the Spirit Wars and will be an alternate reality for that setting.

If you're intrested in going to WiR


January 14, to January 16th at the Plaza Hotel in Overland Park
7000 W. 108th St., Overland Park, KS, 66211, USA
(913)383-2550

Entry fee is $17 dollars at the door, $15 in advance, with the profit going to Harvesters. Donations to the food bank, either grocery or dry goods (toothpaste, papertowels, anything of the sort) will recieve one exp for your pc, similar to KC Game fair. January is a difficult month for food banks, as they have used up most of their stock in December helping folks have a good Christmas


For more info on HoR try these links

http://heroes-of-rokugan.com/index.php

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Heroes-of-Rokugan/154332847945381?v=info

Making Ninjitsu Deadly

Making Ninjitsu Deadly
By
Muchitsujo

Everyone knows that ninja and ninjutsu can be used to kill people with poisons, in 4th edition that is doubly so with the current ninja school getting bonuses to attack unaware targets, and people who are suffering a conditional effect. Because poisons now mostly deliver conditional effects alongside trait loss the Shosuro assassin is going to do well dropping one unaware target as their abilities stay strong.

However the weapons they wield themselves, blowguns, tsubute and shuriken, have long been regarded as weaker gimped alternatives to bows and knives. I'm going to show you how you can get bang for your buck from your tsubute.

The unaware targets rule of 3rd edition is now gone, seemingly replaced with only an ambush mechanic. This appears to leave ninja in the lurch as they are suddenly up against the full armour TN of all but the most unaware target.
But a cunning enough ninja ought to get an opponent in a situation where they are either 'helpless' aka stunned, or 'blinded' aka have no idea they are about to get ganked.
This is based on the new principles of 4th Edition. In 3rd edition it seemingly had to be printed to exist, in 4th edition your GM should be able to make the difference and interepret the rules to make sense. Here's an example
you are walking through the woods, hunting bandits or a bear, the bandits jump you. Standing ready for combat you damn well deserve your full armour TN.
You are sitting at a sake house, a ninja has scaled the rooftops and come down through to beams to above your private room, you are sitting their quietly talking.
Do you seriously want to tell me the latter example deserves his full armour TN? Frankly thats just redonculous.
The rules actually say (pg 88) "The GM might also rule that a surprised character is easier to hit, depending on whether that seems appropriate to the circumstances"
So our Ninja ought to be able to craft situations where their GM allows then a lowered armour TN.

Now if your Ninja is going to attack armoured and alert targets you deserve the pumelling you get. Ninja do their killing best when their targets are sleeping, drunk or 'otherwise engaged'..

But how you scream! A tsubute does 1k1 damage that doesn't explode!!
Well thats easy, your a ninja, you have to specialise like anyone else to be good at killing.
First the mastery abilities bring the weapons up to par with other ranged options, but they still dont make up for not being able to add your strength to damage. 2k2 isn't much of a damage roll for someone who has gotten a skill rank of 7.
The other must-have to make ninjitsu effective is the advantage great potential. That turns the puny 3-4 raises you can make on damage into 7+
Now what to do with those raises... you might at first say, DAMAGE! and to that I say no.
Use your raises for two things, in priority order, Feinting, and extra attack.
This is where that high skill rank comes in, it'll let you pull the crazy number of raises required to do that. And any decent ninja will have an agility of 4+, which is the trait of choice for throwing things (reference the athletics options here)
try to arrange a comfy hiding space where you can enter centre stance for a round, adding the centre stance benefit to a damage roll will really make a difference.
The last thing of course is that all important void point, spend that on the attack that has the raises for extra attack.

How you ask, can you feint if they can't see you?
Depends how you set it up, maneuver your target with a thrown rock in the opposite direction or some sort of diversionary tactic so they move into a more exposed position...sure sounds like a feint to me.

but to be sure it may not be every GM's cup of tea.

This will leave your 3 shuriken attacks as follows (based on a rank 3)
lets assume a measly agility of 4 on our rank 3 Shosuro
for attack that's 10k6 +void...and if you are super cunning and your hiding place doesnt require exertion you'll have been in centre stance previous round.
Damage
one at 2k2, plus on average 10 for feint.
two at a 5k2 plus on average the full 15 for feint.

that's again on average 66 damage. If the GM allows the target a void to reduce damage that will still drop an earth 3 target straight to out.. and if you've been dropped to out, and there is a ninja in the shadows who wants you dead, your survival odds are not great.

That cost our shinobi
Great potential Ninjitsu, 5 points
Ninjitsu 7, 30 points
Agility 4, 16 points (but a shinobi with a lower agility is as good as dead)
thats 51 XP, 18 of which must be spent in play.

Killing your target? Priceless.

Now our example has shown you HOW you can be effective...but why bother?

Well if you have ever tried to find a decent place to hide in the dark, and stand upright to shoot a bow with both hands, you'll know that a one handed, easily disposible weapon is a must have. Hankyu do have a better range and damage output, but try firing one from a roofbeam...welcome to TN penalties from your friendly GM.

Also we didn't include blowdarts in our example..because they aren't designed to kill people, they are designed to be innocuous. What it doesn't tell you in the blowdarts section is that Ninja would attach cotton to the feathers of the darts and quickly retrieve their dart, leaving no evidence of the dart *Ahem* except the poison coursing through the targets veins.

As for knives, well unless you are a Cashed up Daidoji Harrier with Koku to burn, do you really want to spend 1 koku of your 5 starting Koku on each crime scene? Or do you intend to try and retrieve every weapon?
Knives are expensive, and have a poorer range that ninjitsu weapons.
Knives are an option, to be sure, but if you have to resort to theft, which may compromise your real missions, its an option a proffessional assassin wouldn't resort to.

A Sneak Peak into Emerald Empire v 2.0

As I mentioned while responding to a comment, I'm readjusting to being back in school. So the blog entries aren't coming as fast as I'd like. Rest assured though I intend to keep things running.

Todays topic of discussion is Emerald Empire. While at Gen Con I did an interview for L5Rchives and discussed some of the schools to look forward to in this highly anticipated book. So today I'm going to go over in brief what I discussed at Gen Con.

Hida Pragmatist - Nothing more to say on it other than, bare fisted bar room brawling Crab action.

Doji Magistrate - A classic is back. In addition to it being back the school was reworked somewhat to mechanically represent the Crane martial art of Mizu Do. I personally liked it. And this goes a long way to help illustrate what was talked about earlier with 4th Edition and how we'll look at new ways to do old things.

Lion's Shadows - This is the 4th Edition update of the Ikoma Spymaster school. The Lion are not one of my favorite clans, but I did enjoy working with this school. I think the name change is also appreciate.

Soshi Magistrate - This is definitely a new one and one that made me the most happiest. The Scorpion have finally gotten their magistrate school. This guy is definitely the bad cop to the Doji Magistrates good cop.

Now I know that wasn't much to go on, but I hope it's enough to whet your whistle. Emerald Empire should have enough new, mixed in with the old and some updates for highly anticipated schools like the Shinjo Bushi.

Creating Spirit Characters: The Quick and Easy

Creating Spirit Characters
The Quick and Easy
by Dace

So before we begin I would like to state that when I sit down to come up with rules I tend to err on the side of what makes for a fun story. So a lot of my suggestions are in fact based on the idea of creating what I feel is a good story.

The Spirit rules found in Enemies of the Empire create a brief and quick way of making a Spirit character for the purpose of NPC building. This doesn't work so well for PC's.

Now allowing a Spirit character into the game does present some intresting problems. Some GM's may find them out right disruptive. Spirits have an alien mind set from the average Rokugani, being compled to respond more based on the nature of the realm they come from and their spirit nature than that of a samurai. Concepts like honor and bushido do not always come to them.

Other things that a GM must consider is that such characters have no lords. And if things get too sticky for them could merely disappear into the spirit realm they came from. Certain combitnations of spirit powers and schools must also be watched since the powers themselves were never tested against the schools.

With all that in mind let us begin.

The basic spirit character is built by using the base animal and then adding the to it the spirit quality and basic spirit powers based on the spirit itself. Most of these base animal traits can be found either in Enemies of the Empire or the Core Rule book.

Start off using the base stats given as the basic spirit of that character. Example, I'm building a Ryu spirit to interact with some PC's in my game. I anticpate heavy use of the character and therefore will build it as a basic character. We will call him Hiei.

Hiei basic starting stats will be the same as all Ryu (found on page 254 of EotE).

Hiei

Air 4
Awareness 6
Earth 3
Fire 4
Intelligence 5
Water 3
Perception 4

It's intitatve will of course be recalculated based on the school, but I would keep it's Reduction. No matter the form after all it will still have those qualities. Though I would only allow it it's claw damage when Hiei is fighting in dragon form. It's claw damage and armor TN would only apply when in dragon form.

Now the Ryu have a couple of extra abilities. Shapeshifter, Swift, Spirit and Soul of a Dragon. The Shapeshifting ability will be put to good use when it comes time to chose which powers it has. As a GM I would only apply the Soul of a Dragon ability when Hiei is serving in the capacity of the Celestial Heavens. This is one of the reasons why the book notes that such characters can be disruptive

The next step is now to chose which spirit ablities the character will have. Since Hiei intends to interact as a mortal human Humanity is a must. Mimic also makes a good choice for a guy who intends to help guide other characters. Showing up in the guise of someone the characters might trust or just observing them with a new face from time to time. And finally a Panthers Move.

Three minor ablities require three minor penalties. So we'll go with Can't drink alcohol, Must always dress in colors of your natural form and You can't answer questions in a straight forward manner.

Now comes the tricky part, a school. Now for the more powerful creatures I believe in making them True Ronin in point spending. Even if we are choosing a great clan school, say Hiei wants to pretend to be an Asako monk, I do not believe that spirit characters who start out with an initially strong set of abilities should have more points during character generation.

So in general if it has several abilities on it's own, or will pick up many abilities (like the Kitsune) I recommend using the True Ronin CP. If it has only a handful of abilities, around 2, then I say go with the clan ronin. If it only has one ablity (epically one that will be taken up with the Humanity trait) then I would say go the full 45 CP that any starting character gets. Tsuru, Saru and Tanuki spirits spring to mind as spirits deserving of the standard character package.

Now as for schools. Such characters don't get a Family bonus, but they would get the School bonus. Most will have decent traits to start with anyway from their animal. I recommend keeping the same set of basic rings and traits no matter the form. Far less confusing that way.

School selection should be done based on background. A spirit who just walked out of the woods three weeks ago is best suited for Monk and Ronin schools. A spirit who has studied a clan however may be able to pick up or trick someone into teaching them techniques. I would require such characters however to have at least three ranks in Lore (Clan). A spirit that is trying to be an Asako should have some working knowledge of how the Phoenix and Asako work.

And there you have it. The quick and easy of making Spirit PC's.

The Yojimbo

The Yojimbo
By Cooper

In previous editions you could tell a yojimbo apart from another bushi by the presence of a Shiba or Daisoji mon above their sword arm. It was the Techniques of these two schools which protected their charges, but the character itself would end up fighting in more or less the exact same manner as any other bushi. A straightforward enough solution, but one which was neither diverse nor flavorful.

The newly refurbished Guard maneuver of 4E reverses that trend. Now any School can produce a decent yojimbo so long as the player remembers to place their charge's safety ahead of their own. Why? Because the Guard maneuver will allow anyone to protect an ally by surrendering an attack and compromising their own defenses.

With this understanding, I present you with ten rules of being a yojimbo:


Ten: Never Begin A Combat in Full Defense

A character in Full Defense cannot use the Guard Maneuver to protect his charge, he is also probably harder to hit than his ward, and he will pose no immediate threat to his assailants.

If you begin combat in Full Defense, a competent assassin will run right past you and stab your charge through the heart.

It should be noted that while anyone can make an effective yojimbo in this edition, the Shiba and Daidoji do still have a few edges that reflect their expertise. For example, a Rank 1 Shiba actually can use the Guard Maneuver while in Full Defense, allowing them to occasionally get away with breaking Rule #1.


Nine: Always Think About the Safety of Your Charge

Pretty obvious, really. As a yojimbo, your duty is to keep your charge alive, untainted, and if possible, unharmed. Naturally you will do a better job keeping your charge safe if you yourself are healthy and sober. However, if one of the two of you must get hurt, you should be the one standing in the way of the blow. Remember, if your charge dies before you, you have failed.


Eight: Don't Let the Obvious Catch You By Surprise

9 times out of 10 a Kaiu on the Wall is going to need a Yojimbo who can hold an Oni at bay while an emissary to the Crane courts will need one who can hold his own in a duel. By paying attention to the duties, disadvantages and enemies of your ward, you can prepare for trouble before it arrives. You can't prepare for everything, but you should at least have a plan in place for your most common enemies.


Seven: Be A Soft Target

In other words, make sure your Armor TN is lower than that of your charge. While this makes you easier to hit, it also makes you more attractive to attack, and every enemy who goes after you is an enemy who is not going after your charge. Using the Guard Maneuver is a good way to become a Soft Target, so is going into Full Attack.

A bushi who takes the Shiba Yojimbo path or who reaches Rank 5 of the Daidoji Iron Warrior School does not need to worry about making themselves into a soft target because they already posses a technique that allows them to intercept damage meant for their ward.


Six: Don't Be A Hero

You only need to protect one person, not the entire party. If your friend, the Matsu, wants to charge in and make herself and even more attractive target than you, let her. Any enemy who attacks her is an enemy who is neither attacking your ward nor undermining your ability to protect him. If the Matsu survives, be sure to sing her praises and buy her a drink. After all, you want her doing the same thing again in the future.


Five: Know When to Attack

Even for a Yojimbo there comes a time when it makes sense to go on the assault. Here are a few examples of when it is appropriate
When no assailant can reach your charge this Round
When no one else is in a position to attack
When there is only one assailant left
Daidoji Iron Warriors who have reached their 2nd School Rank can attack more often than other yojimbo because their Guard maneuvers last for twice as long.


Four: Stick to Your Ward

If you have any suspicion that there might be another assailant, stay within a Simple Action Move of your charge. Remember, someone can only gain the benefits of a Guard maneuver if they're within 5' of you.


Three: Be Ready to Duel

Since you are already fighting your charge's battles for them, it is not unreasonable for your ward to name you as their champion in a duel. As such a yojimbo should at least be a passable duelist. Enough, at least, to keep the riffraff at bay.


Two: Be Willing to Lose

Sometime the best thing you can do for your charge is lose a duel by bowing out. For one thing, it may be the only time you can safely rebuke your ward for being in the wrong. For another, there is nothing to be gained by injuring yourself against the blade of a superior opponent (or a poisoner). Remember, you can best defend your charge when you are healthy. A canny foe might well arrange for a duel before an assassination attempt just to make sure you are off your game.


One: Die Well

There will come a time when all other rules will fail you and the only way to keep your charge safe is to face insurmountable odds while they run for it. Seize that moment when it comes. In these final moments give your charge every advantage you can. Hand over your initiative, charge the enemy, assume the Full Defense stance, do everything in your power to buy your charge the time to get away and die knowing that you were a good yojimbo.

Playtester Approved Stance Declaration Systems
Compiled by Cooper

What follows is a collection of stance declaration systems that were used by the playtesters throughout the two year process of trying to break 4E. You may notice some models that do not seem to match the final text of the rules, this is not terribly surprising, as game design is an iterative process and the L5R Dev Team has taken the opinions of its playtesters seriously. Even so, I can assure you that each and every one of these methods was used and proved to be a fun and viable way to pick stances in combat.


Simultaneous Declaration – Pre-Initiative

Since the rules do not provide an order for stance declaration, most play-testers came up with approaches that allowed for simultaneous declaration before initiative is known. As this seems to be the closest to the “rule book position,” I will start there.


“He Who Shouts Loudest”

First round declarations get muddy with me, often they end up not getting done until the actual action is take, but in most cases the PCs act first, and some movements is required, so it has little impact on the play.

That's how I do with my non-PT chaps now its released anyway. I can't recall any 'but I was in full-defense' style retractions.
-Muchitsujo
How It Works: Everyone shouts out their stance as soon as the combat begins.
Where It Does Work: High-trust free form play groups that just want the combat to start
Where It Doesn't Work: Highly organized groups, low trust groups, PvP groups
Who It Favors: Nobody (though it can favor the person to speak up last)


“Clockwise Declaration”

Our group stopped, chose our stances, announced them around the table in order, then played.
- NotAEGTodd
How It Works: Before initiative is rolled, the GM goes around the room asking each player what their stance is.
Where It Does Work: Organized high-trust play groups that want to get into the fight quickly
Where It Doesn't Work: Free form groups, low-trust groups, min-maxers, PvP groups
Who It Favors: The person to the right of the GM (addressed by sometimes going counter-clockwise)


“Blind Declaration”

I had each player write down their stance on a bit of paper and pass it to me/put it face down in front of them and THEN roll initiative.

This could be formalized by having 'Stance Cards' like Cooper is making up, or by using CCG cards with differing force (stances being 1-5), or by placing a 6 sided die down and covering it with a cup (stances being 1-5), or with a pack of playing cards. 1-5 are stances, or 10-Ace are stances... Packs of cards are like $1 each.
- Togashi Shinjitsu
How It Works: Before initiative is rolled, each player records what stance they want to assume. Stances are then revealed after the initiative roll.
Where It Does Work: In-person games
Where It Doesn't Work: PbP Games, disorganized games, games with indecisive players, games played without scratch paper or accessories
Who it Favors: Nobody


“The Battle Plan”

One of my favorite GMs would walk out of the room and give us a couple of minutes to plan out our group strategy without him. When he returned we'd either have a consensus of who was doing what, or we'd get caught flat footed and nobody would be prepared.
- Cooper
How It Works: The GM gives the players a fixed amount of time to come to a consensus. Once the time is up the GM gathers the stances from each group involved. If a group has no answer or if there are disputes within the group, they are flat footed and suffer penalties of the GMs choosing (e.g. being stuck in Attack Stance without the ability to make an attack).
Where It Does Work: Groups with a good team dynamic, PbP games
Where It Doesn't Work: One on one PvP, groups that want to start fights quickly
Who it Favors: The PCs if they get along well - the GM if they don't


"GM Discretion"

Related to first round stance declaration, I'm just going to put in a statement that they are declared prior to the Initiative roll in an order determined by the GM. Give them the wiggle room to do it the way they want.
-Shawn Carman
How It Works: Before initiative is rolled the GM asks each player what stance they assume. The GM can have a pattern or not as they see fit.
Where It Does Work: Games where players trust the GM to be fair
Where It Doesn't Work: High tension PvP scenarios, games where the players don't trust the GM to be fair
Who It Favors: Assuming a fair GM, nobody.


Ordered Declaration – Pre-Initiative

There are two common characteristics to all of these methods. First, they require an additional roll or calculation in order to determine who reveals their stance first, and second, all stances are considered in-character knowledge. Because of these two characteristics, combats in a game using ordered pre-initiative stance declarations are likely to get off to a slower start.


“Enemies First”

If players are worried that the GM is "cheating" by always picking the best counter-stances to their choices, he can always declare NPC stances first.
- Cooper
How It Works: Before Initiative is rolled, the GM tells the players what stances each of the enemies has assumed. The GM then uses any of the strategies above for determining the order of PC stance declaration.
Where It Does Work: Games where the GM is willing to give the PCs an edge over NPCs
Where It Doesn't Work: PvP groups
Who It Favors: The PCs


“Tactician Reads the Field”

If you need a good way to pick who declares their stance first, why not use a Battle/Perception or Battle/Awareness roll? Lowest roll declares first.

It would be a good way to make the Battle skill relevant in a Skirmish.
-Cooper
How It Works: Before Phase 1 of a skirmish, everyone makes a Battle (Skirmish) roll using a Trait determined by the play group. Whoever has the lowest roll must declare their stance first.
Where It Does Work: A group that thinks the Battle Skill should play a bigger role in PC combat
Where It Doesn't Work: Any group that wants the combat to start quickly.
Who It Favors: Well rounded characters


“The Best Defense is a Good Offense”

Battle isn't the only skill you can use to determine order of stance declaration. It could really be any Skill/Trait combination that the Players and GM agree is important. Defense, Athletics, and Iaijutsu all seem like they could be valid choices as well.
-Cooper
How It Works: See Above, change the skill.
Where It Does Work: In groups that think the chosen Skill is underpowered
Where It Doesn't Work: Groups that want combat to start quickly, groups that can't agree on what skill should let you react to others' stances.
Who It Favors: Depends on the skill chosen. Defense will favor defensive builds, Iaijutsu will favor duelists, Athletics will favor well rounded builds.


Ordered Declaration – Post Initiative

Once you know the initiative order it becomes a lot easier to know what the “best” stance is. As such, post initiative stance declarations are best for tempering the value of a high initiative.


“Initiative Order”

I would do it in Initiative order for my games!
-Brian Yoon
How It Works: After Initiative is rolled, the fastest character declares his or her stance. Proceed down the list until you have a stance from everyone. Then the fastest character acts.
Where It Does Work: Games that want to decrease the impact of Initiative on the outcome of a skirmish.
Where It Doesn't Work: Games where players want Initiative to play a larger roll in combat, games with sticklers for "RAW"
Who It Favors: No one really. Low initiative characters can see high initiative character's stances before declaring stance. High initiative characters can see low initiative character's stances before declaring actions.


"Defense by Default"

For simplicity's sake, I would suggest that, until a character has a chance to change his stance at the beginning of his turn, all characters are assumed to be in the Defense stance by default. Or, Full Defense by default, but only Defense by default if ambushed.
- Otaku Mike
How It Works: Skip stance declaration and go immediately into the initiative order. Everyone is considered to be in the Defense (or Full Defense) stance until their Turn. When it reaches your turn you may change stance, even though it is still the first round.
Where It Does Work: Games that want to get into the fight fast
Where It Doesn't Work: Games with sticklers for "RAW"
Who It Favors: Those with high Initiative OR high Defenses. "Attack/Damage" builds have the hardest first round, but they're usually stronger in the following rounds, so it balances.


“Reverse Initiative”

As for me, I'm an old White Wolf fan. When it comes to combat I handled as I would if I were playing a WoD game. Players declare their actions and their stances in reversed order.
-Dace
I was always liked of the 2E approach of lowest initiative declares first. And since declarations are now limited to stances rather than full actions, you actually fix the 2E loophole of being unable to attack if someone else in the party kills your target first.
-Cooper
How It Works: After Initiative is rolled, the slowest character declares his or her stance. Proceed up the list until you reach the fastest character. Once everyone has a stance, the fastest character may take his Turn.
Where It Does Work: High Earth-multiplier games, games where combat should be decided by Initiative
Where It Doesn't Work: Games that feel initiative is already too powerful, games with sticklers for "RAW"
Who It Favors: High Initiative characters


“Tactician Reads the Field Perfectly”

How It Works: This is handled exactly like Tactician Reads the Field (described above), only you know the initiative order before you start declaring stances. This gives characters with high Battle Skill a huge advantage over those without.
Where It Does Work: Groups that REALLY think Battle is under valued in 4E
Who It Doesn't Work: Just about everywhere else
Who It Favors: Characters with high Perception or Awareness and characters with high Battle skill.


Other Considerations

“Dramatic Declarations”

Sometimes stances are declared before combat is even close.

GM:"You are walking through a dark alley in a dangerous part of town"
PC:"Yeah? I am SO in defence stance right now!"
Then..
GM:"You hear the rattling sound of a wooden bucket rolling down the street ahead"
PC:"Full defence time. I inch forward ever so slowly, expecting to be attacked at any moment"
-Togashi Shinjitsu
How It Works: If the characters have a legitimate reason to expect violence and preemptively declare that they are assuming a stance, they will begin combat in that stance. If the GM feels the players should get some sort of benefit in exchange for "broadcasting" their stance before Phase 1, they can be allowed to change stance once it reaches their Turn even if it's the first round.
Where It Does Work: Play groups that feel the written rules come second to dramatic narrative
Where It Doesn't Work: Groups with a stickers for "RAW"
Who It Favors: Those interested in telling a good story


“Stealth is Sneaky”

How It Works: If you are hidden from your opponent(s) you do not need to declare a stance until your Turn.
Where It Does Work: Groups that do not feel there is enough of an advantage for ambushes and sneak attacks.
Where It Doesn't Work: Groups that think that -10 initiative is enough of a penalty for being surprised.
Who It Favors: Stealthy and dishonorable characters


A Final Word

A fairly big deal has been made out of the fact that a character built for high Initiative in one system will not have a high initiative in another. This is both true and entirely beside the point. Unless you intend to use the exact same character in two different games, run by two different GMs, using two different initiative systems, it will never come up. If you wish to move a character from one game to another in a casual game environment, your new GM will probably let you re-tool the character. If you are instead using the game within a "persistent world" or "league" environment, it's a safe bet that the governing body of your league will set out guidelines as to which initiative system that league considers most appropriate.

Enemies of the Empire - A quick glance

Enemies of the Empire at a glance
By
Dace

Hello from Gen Con. I'm taking a moment from the morning to talk about Enemies of the Empire, which released today at Gen Con. I haven't had the time to read it and likely won't for several days now. But to give folks something to look forward to ... :)

The book is hardback like the 4th Edition Core book. It comes out to 288 pages. The book keeps the same layout that we saw with 4th Edition Core and looks beautiful. It has 14 Chapters of goodness to boot.

So what will you find inside?

Well

Chapter 1: Bestiary - This chapter gives you new critters to work with.
Chapter 2: The Bloodspeakers - If the Spider isn't your cup of tea. If you were more of a fan of Iuchiban - Then this is the chapter for you.
Chapter 3: The Kolat - For those sneaky bastards who have spent centuries trying to undermine Rokugan.
Chapter 4: The Lost - Non Spider Tainty gTsuoodness.
Chapter 5: The Naga - Snakes in Rokugan. Ok their not snakes, but they are still there in their awesomeness.
Chapter 6: The Nezumi - The Ratlings in all their glory.
Chapter: 7 The Nothing - My favorite if you couldn't tell. Everything you need to knwo about Nothing.
Chapter: 8 Oni - The Crab's worst enemy.
Chapter: 9 Five Ancient Races - Kenku, Ningyo, Trolls, Kitsu & Tsuno, Zokujin
Chapter: 10 Ronin - Wavemen, you know you like them.
Chapter: 11 Shadowlands Beast - Sure they're not oni but they're just as dangerous.
Chapter: 12 Spirits - Kitsune and more.
Chapter: 13 Undead - Zombies ... braaaaiiiinnnnsssss
Chapter: 14 Appendix - Some

Oh and an Index

Also just a note, while some races like the Nezumi and Naga are presented they aren't presented as the "bad guys". You are more than capable of taking them and making them the hero's of your game.

But I've spoiled enough. I need to get back to the Gen Con exerpince.

Happy 15th Aniversy L5R!!!