The Inside Scoop on Gaming

Playtesters: Joshua Kronengold, Naomi Rivkis

This is the fourth of the clan books for Legend of the Five Rings. The Crane Clan is similar in some ways to the Ventrue of Vampire: The Masquerade, with a heavy dose of Toreador thrown in. However, there is one vital difference to keep in mind when playing a noble of Rokungan.

Vampires are potentially immortal, and the elite of vampire society have reached their position by being very cautious not to jeopardize their immortality. Rokungan nobles are far less protective of their lives. Honor is all important, and a life without honor is not worth living. This means that even the most powerful of the Crane Clan will gladly fight a battle she knows to be hopeless rather than seem cowardly or dishonorable.

The Way of the Crane follows the format of the previous clan books. There are five chapters and as many appendices. Vignettes supplement game mechanics, and the art continues to be excellent. It is not simply that the art is of high quality; it also fits the mood of L5R. This ought to go without saying, but given how many rpg products feature art with scantily clad women with no regard to how appropriate such illustrations are to the text, AEG deserves praise for continuing to make sure that the art stays true to the concept of Rokungan.

The Way of the Crane shows what the various clans think of the Crane, and what the Crane think of their rivals and allies. Particular attention is paid to the troubled relationship between the Crane and the Crab. As in the other clan books, the three Crane families featured in L5R are described, along with two new Crane families. The book introduces new backgrounds, skills, and schools.

As in the other clan books, the new material allows players and GMs to create PCs and NPCs who are neither bushi nor shuggenja. There are Doji courtiers, useful for palace intrigue. The author is thoughtful enough to provide a sidebar explaining both the rewards and the challenges of running a campaign with such a PC. Rules are also provided for creating artisan PCs, who have a different range of strengths than we have seen before. The template for a Kakita artisan shows one way of playing a gentle character who has no place on the battlefield, and the ideas for courtiers could be used as well.

Way of the Crane also describes the important nobles of the clan. The appendices describe the lands of the Crane. Here, it would be useful to have a map of Rokungan showing at least the lands of the Crane and giving some indication of which clans are on which borders. One black and white illustration would make the text so much clearer.

The appendices also describe the martial arts used by artisans, magical items, new spells, adventure hooks, and methods of building Crane decks for the L5R CCG decks. A map of Kyuden Doji rounds out the book.

My playtesters pointed out the lack of an index, which made creating new Crane PCs very time consuming. They also suggested that the clan books include the relevant two-page character template from the original rulebook. This would take up no more space than the material on building CCG decks, and would be far more useful to folks buying what a role-playing product. They also expressed some confusion about how appropriate it is for members of the samurai caste to be actors and acrobats.

As in other clan books, there are advantages listed here which should have been listed in the main book. Perhaps future editions will correct this problem. One such advantage is the Multiple Schools Advantage, accompanied by a sidebar explaining precisely why it is so rare. One of my playtesters noted with approval that the NPC who has been trained by three separate skills still has no more than four ranks between them -- that is, two ranks in one school, one in a second, and one in a third. This tallies with his Insight. This makes him less effective in many ways than someone with a rank of four in one school. However, it also raises an interesting question: Is it possible to gain enough Insight to have a school rank of higher than five, or to have more than five ranks to split between two or more schools?

The Way of the Crane is a pleasure to read, but it is clunky to use. Some of the problems with it are problems with the L5R system, and therefore, beyond the scope of this review. However, it does succeed in giving both players and GMs enough background on the Crane clan to create interesting characters and plots.

Style: 5 (Excellent!)
Substance: 4 (Meaty)

The Way of the Crane
Author: Ree Soesbee Category: game Company/Publisher: Alderac Entertainment Group Cost: $14.95 Page count: 128 pgs, perfect bound Playtest Review by Lisa Padol on 09/25/98. Genre tags: Fantasy Asian/Far_East	Playtesters: Joshua Kronengold, Naomi Rivkis This is the fourth of the clan books for Legend of the Five Rings. The Crane Clan is similar in some ways to the Ventrue of Vampire: The Masquerade, with a heavy dose of Toreador thrown in. However, there is one vital difference to keep in mind when playing a noble of Rokungan. Vampires are potentially immortal, and the elite of vampire society have reached their position by being very cautious not to jeopardize their immortality. Rokungan nobles are far less protective of their lives. Honor is all important, and a life without honor is not worth living. This means that even the most powerful of the Crane Clan will gladly fight a battle she knows to be hopeless rather than seem cowardly or dishonorable. The Way of the Crane follows the format of the previous clan books. There are five chapters and as many appendices. Vignettes supplement game mechanics, and the art continues to be excellent. It is not simply that the art is of high quality; it also fits the mood of L5R. This ought to go without saying, but given how many rpg products feature art with scantily clad women with no regard to how appropriate such illustrations are to the text, AEG deserves praise for continuing to make sure that the art stays true to the concept of Rokungan. The Way of the Crane shows what the various clans think of the Crane, and what the Crane think of their rivals and allies. Particular attention is paid to the troubled relationship between the Crane and the Crab. As in the other clan books, the three Crane families featured in L5R are described, along with two new Crane families. The book introduces new backgrounds, skills, and schools. As in the other clan books, the new material allows players and GMs to create PCs and NPCs who are neither bushi nor shuggenja. There are Doji courtiers, useful for palace intrigue. The author is thoughtful enough to provide a sidebar explaining both the rewards and the challenges of running a campaign with such a PC. Rules are also provided for creating artisan PCs, who have a different range of strengths than we have seen before. The template for a Kakita artisan shows one way of playing a gentle character who has no place on the battlefield, and the ideas for courtiers could be used as well. Way of the Crane also describes the important nobles of the clan. The appendices describe the lands of the Crane. Here, it would be useful to have a map of Rokungan showing at least the lands of the Crane and giving some indication of which clans are on which borders. One black and white illustration would make the text so much clearer. The appendices also describe the martial arts used by artisans, magical items, new spells, adventure hooks, and methods of building Crane decks for the L5R CCG decks. A map of Kyuden Doji rounds out the book. My playtesters pointed out the lack of an index, which made creating new Crane PCs very time consuming. They also suggested that the clan books include the relevant two-page character template from the original rulebook. This would take up no more space than the material on building CCG decks, and would be far more useful to folks buying what a role-playing product. They also expressed some confusion about how appropriate it is for members of the samurai caste to be actors and acrobats. As in other clan books, there are advantages listed here which should have been listed in the main book. Perhaps future editions will correct this problem. One such advantage is the Multiple Schools Advantage, accompanied by a sidebar explaining precisely why it is so rare. One of my playtesters noted with approval that the NPC who has been trained by three separate skills still has no more than four ranks between them -- that is, two ranks in one school, one in a second, and one in a third. This tallies with his Insight. This makes him less effective in many ways than someone with a rank of four in one school. However, it also raises an interesting question: Is it possible to gain enough Insight to have a school rank of higher than five, or to have more than five ranks to split between two or more schools? The Way of the Crane is a pleasure to read, but it is clunky to use. Some of the problems with it are problems with the L5R system, and therefore, beyond the scope of this review. However, it does succeed in giving both players and GMs enough background on the Crane clan to create interesting characters and plots. Style: 5 (Excellent!) Substance: 4 (Meaty)