A First Look At Adventures In Rokugan For Dungeons & Dragons

Games A First Look At Adventures In Rokugan For Dungeons & Dragons Rob Wieland Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. I am an author and game designer writing about tabletop RPGs. New! Follow this author to improve your content experience.

Got it! Jul 21, 2022, 09:00am EDT | New! Click on the conversation bubble to join the conversation Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Adventures in Rokugan brings an Asian-inspired fantasy realm to the rules of Fifth Edition. Asmodee North America Most D&D fantasy worlds are inspired by legends and mythology based in Europe. Some of them feature analogues for other cultures or borrow creatures from outside mythologies to battle.

Adventures in Rokugan brings a world built from Asian cultures to the Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition rules set. Influences include China, Japan, Mongolia, Vietnam and India in a world of spells, spirits and steel. Avid gamers will recognize this as the setting of the Legend Of The Five Rings collection of games.

What Is Legend Of The Five Rings? Legend Of The Five Rings began as a collectible card game in 1995. Players played decks as one of the leaders of the Great Clans warring with one another for control of Rokugan. Even as a card game there was a roleplaying element to the game: what happened at tournaments determined how the storyline flowed.

The original RPG was notable for offering courtly intrigues as well as battling creatures and other classic fantasy stories. It was more along the lines of Game of Thrones than Lord of the Rings with character balancing loyalty to each other with their duty to serve their samurai lords . As the card game grew, so did the role-playing game with dozens of new character options, backstory and history.

Fantasy Flight Games acquired Legend Of The Five Rings in 2015. They rebooted the card game and the roleplaying game with a heavier focus on samurai storytelling. Characters defined the central conflict of their characters desires with their duty from the start.

MORE FOR YOU ‘Demon Slayer’ Season 2 Finally Has An Actual 2021 Release Date Netflix’s ‘Squid Game’ Season 2 Not A Sure Thing, Says Director ‘Genshin Impact’ Still Refuses To Increase Anniversary Rewards, Despite Fan Outcry Now, Adventures In Rokugan brings this samurai drama to the world’s most popular roleplaying game. It features two major sections split between game materials and setting info. It can be used to play in Rokugan, of course, but also as inspiration for original settings that want a dose of Eastern fantasy.

Book One: Player Options And Rules The game offers a wide array of class, race and background options. Clan loyalties are set by backgrounds where players choose their family names. These choices also open up clan feats that give characters techniques that add a unique flavor to the game, like being so aware of what’s fashionable in the Emperor’s court that your character can always dress for the occasion.

The original roleplaying game focused on human characters but Adventures of Rokugan offers a wide variety of nonhuman options. These include the tough ratfolk Nezumi and the wise snakefolk Naga, as well as spirits from the various realms that surround Rokugan. Classes dig into archetypes from the game like warrior bushi and deadly duellists.

These classes are a little heavier than the ones in classic Fifth Edition with stances to choose in battle and a point based system for firing off spells and unleashing powerful weapon strikes. Levelling up offers choices as the game progresses that should excite players who don’t get to make many choices for their character beyond third level. Book Two: The World of Rokugan Rokugan remains a vital world for adventure.

The book is lavishly illustrated by painted art featuring detailed characters and locations. It’s easy to be inspired by just flipping through the pictures. This section includes advice for how a game in Rokugan is different than one in another D&D setting.

For example, it includes rules on duelling, a vital part of the drama in the setting. Players can have a classic samurai duel full of subtle glances, stance shifts and sudden fatal strikes in this world. The book includes a concise history of the setting and details of the Great Clans.

There are story suggestions scattered throughout the book that allow tables to set their games in multiple points along the timeline. The book concludes with an adventure that goes into the forbidden Shadowlands that will test any newly forged characters. Adventures In Rokugan will be available August 6 in the United States, Canada, UK, and other English territories for an MSRP of $49.

99. For fans of the original game, it’s a great way to look in on an old favorite. For new fans, it’s a great way to combine a deep setting with a popular rules set.

Rob Wieland Editorial Standards Print Reprints & Permissions.