Adventures in Rokugan - My Review

So, I got it! It finally came out, and I got it in print! Adventures in Rokugan arrived in my mailbox about six weeks ago, and I have been reading it and weighing it ever since. Adventures in Rokugan takes the intrigue-rich RPG, L5R (Legend of the Five Rings) and brings it to the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons. Admittedly, my only experience with Rokugan is the 2001 Oriental Adventures supplement for 3rd Edition Dungeons & Dragons by James Wyatt. I have to be honest that I, like the Dead Games Society, was hoping that this game would be a lot like that one. 

Obligatory Gushing

Let's look at the stuff I liked about this book. The art is beautiful and vibrant. Like some of this art is next-level stuff. The landscapes in particular are breathtaking. The artwork is definitely immersive and makes me want to play in this world.

The books seems very true to the lore of the source material but without some of the basic, "here's what's going on", which would've been nice. Again, I don't have experience with the CCG or the Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game from Fantasy Flight Games. I have been watching a lot of lore videos in the last two months. Again, I wish I were more versed in the lore (or that it was more clearly represented in this book), but one only has so much time.   

Adventures in Rokugan is very careful to avoid harmful stereotypes. It may be politically correct to the point of being flavorless, but for now, let's just say that throughout the book, this game is overly careful to avoid anything even resembling a stereotype. In fact, it often takes the time to add disclaimers even where they may not be necessary.  

Critical Discussion Points

For those of us who were looking for the spiritual successor to Third Edition OA, I have to say, we did not get it.

We did in some ways get the, albeit more politically correct, successor to First Edition OA. This book is one big text wall of 10 point type that is at times very impenetrable. It includes a lot of non-5e mechanics that are referenced from the start but not immediately explained. I was legitimately lost and confused when I first started reading this massive textbook of a game. Where the 3rd Edition Oriental adventures felt, looked, and functioned like all the other 3E source books, Adventures in Rokugan lacks some of the clean simplistic straightforward style that its 5e counterparts from Wizards of the Coast, Kobold Press, 2C, MCDM, or Darrington Press have. Who knows, maybe the Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game books from Fantasy Flight Games are more like this.

Yes, I understand that there was a lot wrong with the 3E implementation of "Oriental Adventures", including the name, but from a standpoint of easy-to-grasp lore and simple mechanics it was a lot of fun for a group used to playing D&D. Also, the Rokugan-specific supplements released for it by Wizards were also amazing. They explained the world well enough that total n00bs could jump in and get playing. The new mechanics were explained simply and connected to existing 3e mechanics in a seamless practical way. It also had a distinct flavor and style that sucked the reader in and made us want to experience the world of Rokugan. 

I understand that it is important to avoid stereotypes, but I probably would not have stuck with Aikido for as many years as I did if the training had been totally divorced from tradition and ceremony, only to focus on technique. While I appreciate all of my teachers' attention to practicality in practice over "kihon" or traditional fundamentals, making our training more valuable, I would have been disappointed if we abandoned all tradition. People want to play in Rokugan because they're looking for something that feels different from the Forgotten Realms, not just in mechanics. 

I feel like this book tries to avoid the lovable elephant in the room by not mentioning anything that might sound like it comes from romantic notions Feudal Japan, Imperial China, or Dynastic Korea, and instead just throws in new mechanics to hint at these tropes without any flavor text to to explain it. For example, the feats in Third edition OA make the iaijutsu techniques of draw and cut very clear and cool sounding. I read over the martial techniques, stances, and focus points stuff about five times before I figured out what was representing this element in this version of the game. It took me equally long to figure out that the Shugenja were actually called Ritualists... Why change this?

I have had this book for awhile and I still feel like I am not ready to run this game. I am really hoping that when the Game Master’s Kit comes out that I will be able to get a better handle on this thing. I really would love to run this, but I may need to watch an actual play or two of this or the Fantasy Flight Legend of the Five Rings RPG. Heck, I would love some kind of video introductions to this material from Edge Studios. They have a pretty sweet trailer for the game, but nothing of substance. 

Sidenote: I would like to risk the inevitable cancel culture Twitter ban by going on record as saying that tropes are fun. We like tropes. The reason that they're tropes is because they work. Most people won't admit it, but they bought this book to sit around a table with friends sipping matcha, listening to Gagaku, and pretending to be Samurai or Ninja. I know in my head that cultural appropriation is somehow intrinsically yucky on a number of levels, but in my heart, I still love "The Last Samurai" and "Oriental Adventures". I'm sorry.  

Final Thoughts & Parting Shots

I am going to give this book another try when my life is slower and less hectic. I am also going to get the GM kit. I realize that I could have just dusted off my old Kara Tur adventures and busted out Xanathar's Guide for the Samurai & Ninja subclasses, but I missed this world of Rokugan, and I wanted to give it another go.

I would have to say there is a pretty in-depth overview of the game here:

Even these folks recommend going online for lore or checking out  Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game from Fantasy Flight Games in order to develop your character or improve your understanding of the game. Shouldn't I get that from this book?