The Inside Scoop on Gaming

First I must admit that I have a soft spot for the various GM's guides/handbooks etc. More often than not I have found them useful, not only for the game they are intended for, but also for other games and genres.

So, when I saw the GM's Survival Guide for L5R I was thrilled. I bought the game just a couple of weeks earlier, and enjoyed it immensely. What I lacked though, was more hints about how to roleplay in the world of Rokugan, what to think about when writing adventures and so on. So with the hopes that some of the major gaps would be filled I bought the book.

The book follows the standard conventions with five chapters, or books: the books of Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Void.

The first book deals with Rokugan culture and life. Even though it's not that extensive (16 pages all in all) it's a good summary about Rokugan and it's inhabitants, religion, economics and day to day life of different classes.

After that follows the book of water, which is about character generation. Guidlines about how to make characters of different levels, two-player (GM and one or two players) games and a compilation of skills from the different clanbooks is found here. Here is also a neat idea about how to make a group of characters more complete. Rounding of with another game of 20 questions this chapter is, if not spectacular, a source of some interesting thoughts and ideas.

The book of Fire, the third book, is centered around combat, and presents more info about duels and dueling etiquette, equipment and optional combat rules. A good and solid chapter, where the highlight is the bit about duels and dueling etiquette.

The forth book, the book of Air, contains a mix of subjects. From the etiquette of Rokugan and different styles of roleplaying, to a list of different positions in Rokugan society and special things to think about that differs between western-style stories and eastern-style.

The book of Air finishes of with how to use the CCG with the RPG. It tells how to use the CCG in character generation and how to use the different cards while playing. Good if you play the CCG, rather useless otherwise.

The last book, the book of Void, is more about campaign-designing and the writing of adventures. It contains tips about how to start a campaign, how to organize your adventure, different complications that you can throw in and how to end your campaign. The 36 plots by George Polti is also included, with comments about how to use them in Rokugan.

After all the books, there is an appendix with a lot of tables for encounters, possesions and fast generation of NPC's. Some maps of typical buildings are also included.

Through all the pages there is sidebars with contains interesting and readworthy texts, either examples, stories or just info that didn't fit anywhere else.

All in all it's a good book. Maybe not much better than the other GM's guides that is around, but it serves it's purpose, and it deals with the specifics of Rokugan in a very good manner. It is well written and it's layout follows the standard in the RPG. The downside is that it's a bit on the expensive side, but other than this I can't find any reason not to buy it.

And, yes, it did help to fill the gaps I mentioned in the beginning of my review.

Style: 4 (Classy and well done)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

GM's Survival Guide
Author: Jim PInto Category: game Company/Publisher: Alderac Entertainment Group Line: Legende of the five rings Cost: 23.95 Page count: 160 ISBN: 7 29220 30015 7 Capsule Review by Ulf Andersson on 08/13/99. Genre tags: Fantasy Historical Asian/Far_East	First I must admit that I have a soft spot for the various GM's guides/handbooks etc. More often than not I have found them useful, not only for the game they are intended for, but also for other games and genres. So, when I saw the GM's Survival Guide for L5R I was thrilled. I bought the game just a couple of weeks earlier, and enjoyed it immensely. What I lacked though, was more hints about how to roleplay in the world of Rokugan, what to think about when writing adventures and so on. So with the hopes that some of the major gaps would be filled I bought the book. The book follows the standard conventions with five chapters, or books: the books of Earth, Water, Fire, Air and Void. The first book deals with Rokugan culture and life. Even though it's not that extensive (16 pages all in all) it's a good summary about Rokugan and it's inhabitants, religion, economics and day to day life of different classes. After that follows the book of water, which is about character generation. Guidlines about how to make characters of different levels, two-player (GM and one or two players) games and a compilation of skills from the different clanbooks is found here. Here is also a neat idea about how to make a group of characters more complete. Rounding of with another game of 20 questions this chapter is, if not spectacular, a source of some interesting thoughts and ideas. The book of Fire, the third book, is centered around combat, and presents more info about duels and dueling etiquette, equipment and optional combat rules. A good and solid chapter, where the highlight is the bit about duels and dueling etiquette. The forth book, the book of Air, contains a mix of subjects. From the etiquette of Rokugan and different styles of roleplaying, to a list of different positions in Rokugan society and special things to think about that differs between western-style stories and eastern-style. The book of Air finishes of with how to use the CCG with the RPG. It tells how to use the CCG in character generation and how to use the different cards while playing. Good if you play the CCG, rather useless otherwise. The last book, the book of Void, is more about campaign-designing and the writing of adventures. It contains tips about how to start a campaign, how to organize your adventure, different complications that you can throw in and how to end your campaign. The 36 plots by George Polti is also included, with comments about how to use them in Rokugan. After all the books, there is an appendix with a lot of tables for encounters, possesions and fast generation of NPC's. Some maps of typical buildings are also included. Through all the pages there is sidebars with contains interesting and readworthy texts, either examples, stories or just info that didn't fit anywhere else. All in all it's a good book. Maybe not much better than the other GM's guides that is around, but it serves it's purpose, and it deals with the specifics of Rokugan in a very good manner. It is well written and it's layout follows the standard in the RPG. The downside is that it's a bit on the expensive side, but other than this I can't find any reason not to buy it. And, yes, it did help to fill the gaps I mentioned in the beginning of my review. Style: 4 (Classy and well done) Substance: 4 (Meaty)