Hello, everyone! Sorry to be absent last month, but GenCon and column week lined up in a convergence of responsibility that I was, sadly, unable to fulfill. I hope you’ll forgive me, and I think those of you who were at GenCon will understand that there was precious little time for reflection while we were there. What a madhouse it was this year! But it was the best convention ever for me, for a large number of reasons, so I find it difficult to lament anything about it other than my inability to write a column.

Before we get into the meat of the discussion this month, there is something that I need to talk to you about. As of GenCon this year, I am no longer the production manager for the L5R RPG. This title was given to someone else at my request. It was a very difficult thing to ask, but I ultimately decided that it was absolutely necessary. I’ve been working on the L5R RPG since 1999, more or less, when I did my first gig in Way of the Minor Clans. It was last year that I put on my big boy pants and started making more decisions, being more involved in the production side of things. I’m sorry to say that I wasn’t really good at it. Or to be fair, I guess, I just had too much else going on and I couldn’t properly devote time to any of them. Between my duties with the CCG, the RPG, and (full disclosure) my own Kickstarter, I wasn’t doing any of them justice. Something had to give, and ultimately that was the RPG.

The good news for all of you is that Rob Hobart has taken over the direction of the RPG now, and the game could not possibly be in better hands. I am being absolutely literal when I say that there is probably no human being on this planet who has done more to promote and develop the L5R RPG than Rob, and I am delighted to take my cues from him from now on. Hopefully with fewer things on my plate, I’ll be able to contribute more to the game than I have these past few months. I know I’m excited about that. And, for those of you who may be wondering, I have no immediate plans to end this column. That may please or dismay you, I don’t know!

But enough of all that, let’s talk about what’s in the pipeline.

Secrets of the Empire

Boy we’ve talked about this one a lot, haven’t we? Honestly I had to go back and see what I’ve spoiled and what I haven’t, it’s been in the works so long. One reason it’s taken as long as it has is because it was sidelined from layout and printing by our Secrets of Naishou ancillary product, which was available at GenCon and should be making its way to you in various retail outlets before long. I hope you enjoy that one! Secrets will be making its full-fledged debut in November.

Last time we talked about Secrets I shared with you the odd-numbered Techniques of the new optional Ronin Bushi School. You may remember that our paradigm for ronin in 4th edition is quite different, but there’s been enough demand for long enough that we figured if we’re really taking our toolkit approach seriously, we need to give the fans the tools they ask for as well as the ones we think they need, right? So that’s where the new Basic School came in. Let me share with you the other two Techniques as they were originally designed (not the final versions), and what the thought process behind them was.

R2: Ronin are accustomed to being the underdogs. When you are outnumbered in a skirmish, you gain a bonus to your Armor TN equal to the amount by which the number of enemies exceeds the number of your allies.

Now, to be fair, the playtesters really had to work on this one to get it into the reasonable, measured shape you’ll see in the final book. However, I think that this prototype version of it gets the feel across pretty well. What I was going for here was that feeling of one man against the world, when a single, downtrodden warrior is set upon by a larger number of his “betters” and still manages to emerge victorious, at least for the moment. I love that in movies and fiction, don’t you? I wanted to see that same kind of thing possible with a character, and this is one of the ways I hoped to accomplish it.

R4: As ronin become truly experienced, they become ever more deadly with many different weapons. Choose one additional melee weapon: you may attack with that weapon as a Simple Action. Once per skirmish, you may spend a Void Point on a damage roll, regardless of what weapon you are using.

If I remember correctly, I was actually pretty stuck on the Rank Four Technique when I finally sent the draft to Rob. I believe he created this particular Technique to fill in a desperate “I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO HERE” notation I had included, and I love it. This makes the idea of the ronin archer who is somehow able to compete with the master archers of the Mantis Clan or the ronin who favors the ono who can hold his own alongside the Crab Clan possible, and those are the kinds of things that I know players love to do.

The Book of Water

Our next release is the Book of Water, about which we have talked very little in the course of this column. As the penultimate book in the Rings series, you probably have a pretty good idea what to expect from this one since you’ve already seen Air, Earth, and the recently-released Fire. (Just a little forewarning, we haven’t decided whether or not that formula will hold true with Book of the Void yet. We may go in a completely different direction!) As the architect of the shugenja systems for 4th edition (something I’m particularly proud of), it often falls to me to do the shugenja mechanics. I don’t mind! In fact, I mind much more when I don’t have the time to do it, but fortunately that wasn’t the case in this instance. So let’s have a look!

Phoenix Path: The Acolytes of Snow [Shugenja]
Technique Rank: 2
Replaces: Isawa Shugenja 2, any other Phoenix Shugenja 2
Requirements: Water Affinity
Technique: Winter’s Deathly Grasp – The Acolytes of Snow recognize that Water, in all its infinite variety, has the potential to mirror the strength of Earth when it is hardened to ice by the will of the kami. You may cast the following Earth spells as Water spells: Armor of Earth, Armor of the Emperor, Be the Mountain, Bonds of Ningen-do, Earth’s Stagnation, Grasp of Earth, Major Binding, Minor Binding, and Wall of Earth. In all cases, the Acolytes refer to these spells by name with “Ice” replacing the word “Earth” in the name.

This idea was based on one of the shugenja groups that the freelancers (I think it was Max in this case) came up with while working on the book. I loved the idea and I love to play with themes, so based on the writer’s notes this is what I came up with. Obviously the playtesters needed to give it some sweet loving but I hope that when you see what finally comes out of it, you’ll agree it works pretty well.

Okay, I need to head out. I have a CCG expansion due tomorrow! I’ll see you folks next month!