Hello, everyone!

Well, I’m pleased to share with you that in the weeks since our last installment, we finished up layout and final proofreading on the Imperial Histories. It looks like the book has gone to press, or will within the next day or two. Which means, of course, that it might still make it onto shelves before the end of the year, but realistically it will be out sometime in January or (heaven help us) February, if there are any shipping issues. I’ve shown you a lot of different previews over the past few months, so I hope you’re as excited about Imperial Histories as I am. I think it’s really a different kind of product that will dramatically expand the utility of our game, and give you the tools you need to play almost any variation you want. And that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?

Along those lines, I have to admit that I’m a little disappointed with myself. In preparation for writing this installment I went back over some of the previous columns and I really come across as trying to sell the books on more than one occasion. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’d love to sell more books, but the goal of the column is to involve you, or at least whatever subset of you readers are interested, in the design process. Honestly I’ve had some really great correspondence as a result of this column, and the comments here and on our own boards have sparked some tremendous playtest discussions (although, to be fair, our playtesters are pretty freaking amazing), so all in all I think everything is going pretty well. I just want to always remember why we’re having these little chats in the first place. ☺

Let’s see what we have today, shall we?

The Book of Air

With Imperial Histories off to the races already, The Book of Air is front and center as we get it prepped for press as well. It’s already been edited and it’s presently having art selected so it can go directly into layout, but fortunately we have a lovely little post-layout proofreading window that we can make last minute changes to as needed, so there’s still time for YOU, dear reader, to impact the book if you think you have what it takes.

Last time we looked at the Kitsu Spirit Legion, a particular favorite of mine (and I don’t just say that because I created the original mechanic for it last edition!), and I think it’s pretty obvious from the feedback that we got in various places that it wasn’t quite ready just yet. I think next time I’ll let you see what came of those discussions, so you can see what the final product will look a bit more like, but for now, let’s see if you can help sort out another mechanic in a similar manner. Let’s have a look at:

Scorpion Alternate Path: Soshi Deceiver [Shugenja]
Technique Rank: 3
Replaces: Soshi Shugenja 3
Technique: Lost in Darkness – A master of shadow gains many powerful abilities. You may sacrifice a spell slot of any element to gain perfect vision when in absolute darkness. Alternatively, you may spend a spell slot of Air or Void to gain a bonus of +1k1 to the total of any Stealth, Sleight of Hand, or Sincerity (Deceit) Skill Roll. You may not spend more spell slots than your Insight Rank in this manner.

Personally I’ve always been fascinated by the varieties of ninja that show up in the Scorpion Clan. You’ve got your standard ninja, your supernatural ninja, your shugenja-ninja (shugninja?), and then there’s the ninja-hunters… it’s ninjapalooza up in there, I’m telling you. Anyway, with this particular path I was interested in capturing the flavor of the shugenja ninja, the flavor of supernatural that has nothing to do with an external corruptive force, but rather a priest and infiltrator who bends the elements to his will to conceal himself. Or something like that, anyway. What do you think?

Strongholds

If you follow the L5R RPG, you’re probably familiar with the lamented sourcebook Strongholds. We originally envisioned it as a transitional project that would come out before the new edition, but which would be completely compatible with the new edition. Sort of a preview work, you might say. Unfortunately there was something of a calamity with regards to scheduling and printing, and Strongholds was left lying on the floor while the new edition went straight to print. Since then, the layout schedule has never permitted us to get the book up and running, and even after we made the decision to approach it as our first PDF-exclusive sourcebook, we haven’t been able to get it into the line-up. That may be changing in the future, and in hopes that the book will be available sometime in the next few months, I thought I’d share with you some previews of what we’re talking about in that book.

Each chapter of Strongholds was designed to completely describe one single city or stronghold somewhere in Rokugan, with one clan being the emphasis for each chapter (with the exception of the chapter on Toshi Ranbo, the Imperial City, which features both the Crane and Lion clans). Every chapter has all the information a GM will need to use the city as a setting, as well as ample information for players to create characters that come from that city. Every clan gets new mechanics, and of course we have some miscellaneous stuff thrown in as well. All in all, it’s a pretty major grab bag of goodies, and I’m prepared to give you a little sneak peak of the kind of thing we’re looking at right now:

Unicorn Alternate Path: Calm Heart Duelist [Bushi]
The dueling grounds of Dark Edge Village are famous throughout the Empire, and as a result many young duelists travel to the village in hopes of meeting both worthy opponents and sensei looking for new students. The village is home to the only notable traditional dueling dojo within the Unicorn lands, although it is quite modest compared to hose of the Crane or Dragon and is easily overlooked by visitors to the village. Ironically, most who adhere to the tradition come fro the peaceful Ide family. Their purpose in creating a dueling tradition stems from their need to resolve conflicts in which their kinsmen, the representatives of the Unicorn Clan in court, become embroiled. The necessity of being able to skillfully defend the honor of ht Ide and Unicorn as a whole, and to do so without needlessly taking life, has given rise to the dojo of the Calm Heart Duelists.
Technique Rank: 3
Replaces: Any Unicorn Bushi School, Rank 3
Requirements: Iaijutsu 3, Lore: Law 2
Technique: The Calm Heart Conquers – A soul of serenity can overcome even the most stalwart opponent. You gain a bonus of +1k0 to the total of any Iaijutsu Skill Roll when you are not striking to kill your opponent, whether in a duel to first blood or a skirmish. You may make melee attacks as a Simple Action instead of a Complex Action when you are wielding a katana or a wakizashi.

Hey! You remember the Ide Duelist School? The one that caused people to want to kill the Design Team? Well it’s back! But not really. The concept was sound, after all, and made perfect sense for the Ide, but it needed some tweaking and mechanically required an overhaul to ensure that it was useful without being overpowered. What do you think?

The Secret Project

I’m hoping that very soon I can use this column to reveal what’s next for the L5R RPG. We’re working on something right now that I think will be very exciting and that lots of people will be interested in, and I think I’ve found a way to involve the fans like we did in the Imperial Histories. That’s right, another contest to participate in the creation of canon material for the project! If that kind of thing interests you, then keep your radio dial tuned right here for more announcements in the next few weeks.

Later guys!

Shawn