Introduction
I was and is a huge fan of Legend of the Five Rings (L5R). I have read almost every supplement of the first edition. I bought the third edition a year ago, but haven't gotten around to reading it. I picked it up a few weeks ago and at the same time was made aware of Legend of the Burning Sand and decided I would read that one instead. What follows are my thoughts and opinions of Legend of the Burning Sand (LBS).
Legend of the Burning Sand
First off, the book is the same high quality print as the third edition L5R, with heavy glossy paper. Immediately one notice that the book is organized differently. It starts with a long section of game rules, whereas L5R starts with the setting and culture.
The rules are easy to follow and are very close to the original 1st edition. I never looked at the second d20 edition. They seem highly inductive of a good gaming experience.
The setting is not as unified as that of L5R. There are several nations, and several cultures presented in the book. This is, in my opinion, the first mistake. Even though they have far more information about each culture than the average fantasy setting they are falling way behind the masterpiece L5R.
The setting information and the history of the Jewel (the major city) is not very interesting and it did not fascinate me. When reading L5R I get ideas for stories to tell immediately, not so with LBS. Having said that, they have chosen a very nice way of telling the story. Instead of one huge section containing all the information on the history, as other games do, they have split it up based on faction. As each factions story is told pieces of the larger history gradually falls in place. This makes the history easier to read, even though it is a not very fascinating story.
Conclusion
The system is an abbreviated version of that in L5R and is well suited for any fantasy settings. There are a few factions and their history that could be used more or less as written in other settings. However, the setting as presented is not nearly interesting enough to be used as is.
Compared with other settings, LBS is better than your average fantasy game. However, as it is a spin-off of the great Legends of the five rings, I was disappointed because I expected it to hold the same high standards. So now I'll just take the original third edition L5R book off the shelf again. (I ended up buying a copy of the revised edition... I'll let you know what I think when I'm done with it).
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Legend of the Five Ringes third edition reviced
Introduction
The first edition of Legend of the Five Rings (L5R) was published in 1997. At the time I read it, and it became my absolute favorite game. I have read most of what was published for the first edition. I have been game master in several campaigns of L5R.
The second edition of L5R used d20 and it didn't get any god reviews. I never got around to reading it.
When the third edition (L5R 3E) was published I bought the main book very early, but I never got around to reading it. For those of you that have read some of my reviews this seems to be more the rule than the exception. Anyway I have finally gotten around to reading it, well reading the third edition revised (L5R 3ER) and here is what I think.
Review - The book
It's printed on high quality glossed paper, with easy to read coloring. They have not made the mistake so many does by making the layout so fancy that it gets hard to read. It might just be that I'm a bunch of year older now, but I feel the drawings and illustrations were better in the first edition.
The 3ER is not as well organized as the Legend of the Burning Sands (LBS), and the history section is presented in a much less entertaining way than in LBS. In L5R the history is presented as a very long list of events. The list contains the year and a brief summary of the event. I guess this is god for referencing the history if your already familiar with it, but it's not a very god introduction to the history.
The map of Rokugan is much better than in the first edition. Now it looks like something you might expect a Rokugan map make would draw. There are two different maps, one in the front and one in the back of the book. They present different things. One presents cities, castles and such the other important sites. As almost all maps of this type they are dotted with codes telling you of the important place. In the back of the book there is a long list explaining about each side. I find the organization of this to be very anoying. It is broken up into clan area. This allows you to know which city or major site belongs to which clan, but it makes it more difficult to find. If you know the name and want to find the place, then your in trouble. Because you'll end up scanning through the whole list. There should have been a key list sorted on the name of the place too.
Review - The Setting
The setting of L5R is that of a Samurai world. Though it has always been sort of a merge between Japanese and Chinese culture. It it a very entertaining setting with lots of opportunity for role playing. The best thing about the setting is that the culture and customs are theraly presented. It's not just a page about the culture, there are pages upon pages. This is what makes it an awesome game.
The L5R setting has been expanded ever since the first edition. They have published countless source books and novels gradually bringing the setting forward from the starting year presented in the core book. When I played first edition I got as far as the Scorpion Clan Coup. The events up to this point was in-line with what I expected of the setting.
However, the development between the coup and 1170 are not. I think the events presented in the new editions are way to high-fantasy and high-magic. They are something I would expect from at DnD setting, not from L5R. It became clear to me early that I would have to make an alternate time line before planing my first campaign in L5R 3ER. Most of the stuff about the Naga, Lying Darkness, Fu-Leng awakening and the Spirit War has to go.
Review - The System
The system is returning to the first edition and expanding. It stands as a more complete and throughout system than the first edition, but still keeping the charm of that edition. You roll a number of dices based on skill + trait, and you keep trait number of dices. It's clean, simple and I haven't seen any better system.
Conclusion
This is a very god product, that I'm looking forward to play. It is unfortunate that the history developments are not to my liking. Having said that, I do not think it will require much time to undo the history mess, and make it into some thin I can enjoy. This is a nice product.
The first edition of Legend of the Five Rings (L5R) was published in 1997. At the time I read it, and it became my absolute favorite game. I have read most of what was published for the first edition. I have been game master in several campaigns of L5R.
The second edition of L5R used d20 and it didn't get any god reviews. I never got around to reading it.
When the third edition (L5R 3E) was published I bought the main book very early, but I never got around to reading it. For those of you that have read some of my reviews this seems to be more the rule than the exception. Anyway I have finally gotten around to reading it, well reading the third edition revised (L5R 3ER) and here is what I think.
Review - The book
It's printed on high quality glossed paper, with easy to read coloring. They have not made the mistake so many does by making the layout so fancy that it gets hard to read. It might just be that I'm a bunch of year older now, but I feel the drawings and illustrations were better in the first edition.
The 3ER is not as well organized as the Legend of the Burning Sands (LBS), and the history section is presented in a much less entertaining way than in LBS. In L5R the history is presented as a very long list of events. The list contains the year and a brief summary of the event. I guess this is god for referencing the history if your already familiar with it, but it's not a very god introduction to the history.
The map of Rokugan is much better than in the first edition. Now it looks like something you might expect a Rokugan map make would draw. There are two different maps, one in the front and one in the back of the book. They present different things. One presents cities, castles and such the other important sites. As almost all maps of this type they are dotted with codes telling you of the important place. In the back of the book there is a long list explaining about each side. I find the organization of this to be very anoying. It is broken up into clan area. This allows you to know which city or major site belongs to which clan, but it makes it more difficult to find. If you know the name and want to find the place, then your in trouble. Because you'll end up scanning through the whole list. There should have been a key list sorted on the name of the place too.
Review - The Setting
The setting of L5R is that of a Samurai world. Though it has always been sort of a merge between Japanese and Chinese culture. It it a very entertaining setting with lots of opportunity for role playing. The best thing about the setting is that the culture and customs are theraly presented. It's not just a page about the culture, there are pages upon pages. This is what makes it an awesome game.
The L5R setting has been expanded ever since the first edition. They have published countless source books and novels gradually bringing the setting forward from the starting year presented in the core book. When I played first edition I got as far as the Scorpion Clan Coup. The events up to this point was in-line with what I expected of the setting.
However, the development between the coup and 1170 are not. I think the events presented in the new editions are way to high-fantasy and high-magic. They are something I would expect from at DnD setting, not from L5R. It became clear to me early that I would have to make an alternate time line before planing my first campaign in L5R 3ER. Most of the stuff about the Naga, Lying Darkness, Fu-Leng awakening and the Spirit War has to go.
Review - The System
The system is returning to the first edition and expanding. It stands as a more complete and throughout system than the first edition, but still keeping the charm of that edition. You roll a number of dices based on skill + trait, and you keep trait number of dices. It's clean, simple and I haven't seen any better system.
Conclusion
This is a very god product, that I'm looking forward to play. It is unfortunate that the history developments are not to my liking. Having said that, I do not think it will require much time to undo the history mess, and make it into some thin I can enjoy. This is a nice product.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Changeling: The Lost
Introduction
Over the last five years I have heard a lot of good stuff about Changeling. At first it was all about Changeling: the dreaming. It was supose to be a very interesting game. I have unsuccessfully made a few attempts to get some of my friends to storytell it so I could experience it as a player.
When the new line of White Wolf games was released the hype was that Changeling: the lost was even better than the predecessor. I bought it not long after the release, but have had it on the shelf unread ever since.
Review
I decided on a whim early in April that I would run a game with 4 sessions the first weekend of May. I started reading the core book and was a once fascinated. One of the things I noticed early on was that between the two version they have changed what your are playing. In the dreaming you are playing the Fae creature left being when the Fae abducted a human. In the lost you play the human that has been abducted and escaped.
The book is well written, and immediately gives you many ideas for a game. It is supposed to be a game of beautiful madness. I was unable to make this mood work during the first sessions. Having said that we had a lot of fun.
The system is the new World of Darkness system. As a player I did not care that much for the system. I disliked that it is much easier to hit some one than it is to avoid being hit, which forces attack to be the "only" form of defense. However, from the other side of the table the system is very nice. It runs much more smoothly than the previous one. It is much easier and quicker to handle the attack/defense of the NPC's as only one roll is involved.
The Changeling setting is as I said very fascinating and easy to make stories in. They system and setting is well thought through, and I discovered no major holes or inconsistencies. Having said that, I wish they could have made the section about gathering glamor better, having a more throughout described system for it. The same goes for gathering and finding thing in the hedge (witch is the part separating our world from the land of the Fae).
Conclusion
Changeling: The Lost is a very well written game, and I would recommend it to anyone.
Over the last five years I have heard a lot of good stuff about Changeling. At first it was all about Changeling: the dreaming. It was supose to be a very interesting game. I have unsuccessfully made a few attempts to get some of my friends to storytell it so I could experience it as a player.
When the new line of White Wolf games was released the hype was that Changeling: the lost was even better than the predecessor. I bought it not long after the release, but have had it on the shelf unread ever since.
Review
I decided on a whim early in April that I would run a game with 4 sessions the first weekend of May. I started reading the core book and was a once fascinated. One of the things I noticed early on was that between the two version they have changed what your are playing. In the dreaming you are playing the Fae creature left being when the Fae abducted a human. In the lost you play the human that has been abducted and escaped.
The book is well written, and immediately gives you many ideas for a game. It is supposed to be a game of beautiful madness. I was unable to make this mood work during the first sessions. Having said that we had a lot of fun.
The system is the new World of Darkness system. As a player I did not care that much for the system. I disliked that it is much easier to hit some one than it is to avoid being hit, which forces attack to be the "only" form of defense. However, from the other side of the table the system is very nice. It runs much more smoothly than the previous one. It is much easier and quicker to handle the attack/defense of the NPC's as only one roll is involved.
The Changeling setting is as I said very fascinating and easy to make stories in. They system and setting is well thought through, and I discovered no major holes or inconsistencies. Having said that, I wish they could have made the section about gathering glamor better, having a more throughout described system for it. The same goes for gathering and finding thing in the hedge (witch is the part separating our world from the land of the Fae).
Conclusion
Changeling: The Lost is a very well written game, and I would recommend it to anyone.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
The delayed embrace
As I'm sure I have mentioned, I'm running a vampire chronicle. In this the character all started out as mortals on the west coast of Norway in 754. I did not let the players them selves chose clan or even when they were going to be embraced. After 19 session the character have progressed from to the year 767 and two out of three have been embraced. The last character is a ghoul.
Having one character that was embraced and the rest as moral worked out very nicely. Especially in the beginning when the vampire tried to hide it's true form. Hiding this information worked nicely for a while. The bigest problem was that I felt the need to communicate secretly with the vampire-player during the first session. Since I do not do that a lot it made the others suspicious. To better allow the player to hid her characters nightly habit we had agreed that she should explain her activities during the day, just make sure that she did not run in to any of the other players, and I would just ignore what she said. So she would go: "I'm out of bed early that morning, I'm going to enjoy the sunny spring day practicing my tailoring skills" and I would interpret it as "I'm going to be sleeping during the day far far away from the rays of the sun." The other players would still believe that she had been out and about that day.
Even after the fact became known it still worked out nicely for a while, but then again the group seemed somewhat artificially glued together. Why would a vampire spend so much time with these mortals, and not try to better her standing among the vampires? In addition I felt it was difficult to give the vampire aspect of the story the proper focus. The beast, the road of enlightenment, the feeding all became secondary things instead of primary things as I think they should. So after some session with one vampire in the group I started encouraging others to get them selves embraced.
The two vampire character and their players still does not know which clan they belong to, since I decided that the Norse vampires (einherjar) have no concept of clan nor generation. It has been a challenge to keep the clans a secret. Especially the clan weakness causes some problems. How do you hide the fact that the Lasombra character no longer cast any reflection or that a ventrue only can feed from certain types of mortals? Some of them where hidden by a change I made to the setting. I changed it so that each vampire has more flaws than is usual. I also made it so that flaws could be inherited from your sire during embrace. Amaranth will very ofthen generate a new flaw for the perpetrator. Some of the flaws that are much more common in my game are cast no reflection, prey exclusion and light sensetive, all of which also hide a clan weaknes. The main intention was not to hide the clan weakenes, but that was a nice side effect. Some of the other clan weakenes I have hidden in other ways, but I can't divulge tham at this time.
Conclusion:
It was an interesting aspect of the story to let the characters be embraced at different time. However, next time I will for sure make the characters all enter the supernatural aspect of the setting at aproximately the same time (with in 4 session of each other). By hiding the clans from the players and the characters the normal clan rivalry have been avoided. I'm planing to introduce it to the game when they travel south in to Europe and meet vampires a customed to the clan consept. Still it will be centuries before there are any Tremere around to tell them which clans they are, so untill then they can only guess.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
The Oracle feature
In most of my successful long lasting campaigns I have had what I'm going to call the oracle feature. I believe that this is in part the reason for the campaigns success.
First of all, what do I think of when I say the oracle feature. It could be said to be any power, entity or device that allow the character to ask for advice/guidance for a supposedly all knowing entity. I'll give a few examples:
They function as a sort of emergency escape hatchet form prolonged deliberation or standstills. By that I mean that when the players are at a total loss of ideas for what they are to do they might seek out the oracle feature. Or when they can not decide which choice to make in a certain situation they can seek the oracle feature to help make a decision.
I have heard of games that have fudge-points or other game mechanisms for prompting the game forward*. These are as the oracle feature something that the player initiates. The main difference between fude-points and the oracle feature are that the oracle features also can be represented in the setting as a natural element.
Foot Note:
* I admitt to having used this once in Legend of the Five Rings. After achieving some great victory I awardws one player a Divinity Point that he could use to great effect. A few sessions later he cursed an entire city to insomnia. Well the curse was that those that had anything to do with the opiumtrade would be unable to sleep. Did I mention that the city he cursed was the empires center for opiumtrade? It was awsome. Having said that, the Divinity Point could have been an oracle feature if the player chose to, but he chose to use it to fule his curse instead.
First of all, what do I think of when I say the oracle feature. It could be said to be any power, entity or device that allow the character to ask for advice/guidance for a supposedly all knowing entity. I'll give a few examples:
WOD: The merit foresighted or oracular ability- allow the character to attempt to get a vision of the future.Why do I think this is so beneficial? I should be honest and say that they are a great fun, to play and just as funn to see the players ponder the answer. Well that was why I like them, not what they do for the campaign.
D&D 3.5: The spell commune - allows the character to ask one or more questions, and get an answer, from a deity.
Any setting: A Oracle - a person/entity that the character may seek out and ask questions about the future for a price. This could also be a person that is not all knowing, but know significantly more than tha characters.
They function as a sort of emergency escape hatchet form prolonged deliberation or standstills. By that I mean that when the players are at a total loss of ideas for what they are to do they might seek out the oracle feature. Or when they can not decide which choice to make in a certain situation they can seek the oracle feature to help make a decision.
I have heard of games that have fudge-points or other game mechanisms for prompting the game forward*. These are as the oracle feature something that the player initiates. The main difference between fude-points and the oracle feature are that the oracle features also can be represented in the setting as a natural element.
Foot Note:
* I admitt to having used this once in Legend of the Five Rings. After achieving some great victory I awardws one player a Divinity Point that he could use to great effect. A few sessions later he cursed an entire city to insomnia. Well the curse was that those that had anything to do with the opiumtrade would be unable to sleep. Did I mention that the city he cursed was the empires center for opiumtrade? It was awsome. Having said that, the Divinity Point could have been an oracle feature if the player chose to, but he chose to use it to fule his curse instead.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Motivation: If giving does not work, maybe taking will...
In an earlier post I wrote about how I had problems getting the players to contribute. In particular I wanted them to write a short journal of what happened during each session. So I could use this information as reference in the future.
In different campaigns it has always worked to award the player XP, for doing this. But when I think about it this is campaigns were I was a player and not the storyteller. Maybe it's just me that is easily bribed with XP. After five consecutive sessions with no journal written by the players I decided to try something new. I wrote a short journal my self, which I always do if the players dosn't. I made a comment in a comment field of the wiki that their arch nemesis had been awarded 40xp for the journal entry. I made sure all the players saw the comment. The very next session a player wrote a journal....and gained the customary 2xp. The question is if there is a cause - effect relation or if it was a pure coincident.
40xp is alot, in OWD. Having said that, the storyteller usually is given the privelege of increasing the NPC's stats as he sees fit. The only difference now was that I informed the players that I did.
I hope the effect will last, but that remains to see.
In different campaigns it has always worked to award the player XP, for doing this. But when I think about it this is campaigns were I was a player and not the storyteller. Maybe it's just me that is easily bribed with XP. After five consecutive sessions with no journal written by the players I decided to try something new. I wrote a short journal my self, which I always do if the players dosn't. I made a comment in a comment field of the wiki that their arch nemesis had been awarded 40xp for the journal entry. I made sure all the players saw the comment. The very next session a player wrote a journal....and gained the customary 2xp. The question is if there is a cause - effect relation or if it was a pure coincident.
40xp is alot, in OWD. Having said that, the storyteller usually is given the privelege of increasing the NPC's stats as he sees fit. The only difference now was that I informed the players that I did.
I hope the effect will last, but that remains to see.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Expectations vs Requirements
Have anyone other then me noticed that the "generic" gaming group has many expectations of the storyteller, and very few of the players? I'm a storyteller more often than a player (unfortunately) and have therefore given the topic some thought.
Players expect the storyteller to have made various preparation in advance of the game session. They expect him to be prepared, with at least a story or some interesting scenes. That he has some interesting people for them to meet and interact with. Some groups expect him to have prepared a neat puzzle or a mystery for them to solve. Last but not least they expect that their own actions are taken in to account.
What may the storyteller expect from his players? From experience I would say only that they show up, or at least let people know in advance if the do not. Aside from that players almost seem affronted if more are expected of them. I have on more than one occasion heard players say that they have had no time to think of the game since the last session. How would the game be if the storyteller did the same?
This leads me to requirements. I wonder if it might not be a viable alternative to stop expecting things of players and make them requirements of participation. Is it unfair to tell someone that in order for us to have a fun evening we all have to contribute? We all need to put in some effort in between the sessions.
I have plans for trying this requirement strategy with two campaigns. I'm very interested in seeing if this change who will participate. Will the people that usually go "I have been too busy (during the last two weeks to make room for even 30minutes of preparation) to prepare or even think about the game." not join or will they make room in their schedule? Also, it will be interesting to see if the required effort will produce anything beneficial. Will it lead to the players just doing the motions of preparation with out putting any effort into it?
The idea is that for the first campaign I will require a in character summary of last gamesession to be written before next session is planed. Either of the two players may write it as long as it is written.
For the second campaign I'm going to use a setting I'm creating. The game will take place in historical time in relation to the completed setting. I wish to flesh out certain details about the session by playing in it. The general idea is that we will play three weekends, and in between the weekends the players are required to write a contribution to the setting based on the game sessions. This can either be a historical record as written by a historian in the future (relative to the game time), a private journal for one of the character, a in character letter or some other such thing.
For both of them there will be the requirement to spend some time thinking about the game and your character. Especially formulating some goals for the character, and thinking through how the character should act and respond to various things.
Players expect the storyteller to have made various preparation in advance of the game session. They expect him to be prepared, with at least a story or some interesting scenes. That he has some interesting people for them to meet and interact with. Some groups expect him to have prepared a neat puzzle or a mystery for them to solve. Last but not least they expect that their own actions are taken in to account.
What may the storyteller expect from his players? From experience I would say only that they show up, or at least let people know in advance if the do not. Aside from that players almost seem affronted if more are expected of them. I have on more than one occasion heard players say that they have had no time to think of the game since the last session. How would the game be if the storyteller did the same?
This leads me to requirements. I wonder if it might not be a viable alternative to stop expecting things of players and make them requirements of participation. Is it unfair to tell someone that in order for us to have a fun evening we all have to contribute? We all need to put in some effort in between the sessions.
I have plans for trying this requirement strategy with two campaigns. I'm very interested in seeing if this change who will participate. Will the people that usually go "I have been too busy (during the last two weeks to make room for even 30minutes of preparation) to prepare or even think about the game." not join or will they make room in their schedule? Also, it will be interesting to see if the required effort will produce anything beneficial. Will it lead to the players just doing the motions of preparation with out putting any effort into it?
The idea is that for the first campaign I will require a in character summary of last gamesession to be written before next session is planed. Either of the two players may write it as long as it is written.
For the second campaign I'm going to use a setting I'm creating. The game will take place in historical time in relation to the completed setting. I wish to flesh out certain details about the session by playing in it. The general idea is that we will play three weekends, and in between the weekends the players are required to write a contribution to the setting based on the game sessions. This can either be a historical record as written by a historian in the future (relative to the game time), a private journal for one of the character, a in character letter or some other such thing.
For both of them there will be the requirement to spend some time thinking about the game and your character. Especially formulating some goals for the character, and thinking through how the character should act and respond to various things.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)