I think that there is a lot to work with in this book and that a lot of the gripes that many folks seem to have with it are with a.) the direction of D&D 5e itself and b.) the fact that it's "not my L5R." It's NOT L5R. That's the point. If you're familiar with D&D 5e and you want a system you know with Rokugan flavor, Adventures in Rokugan is perfectly serviceable. If you want L5R, then... play that.

This isn't just a Rokugan setting for D&D, though. The classes and other player options are unique to this book, and they do a good job of helping you root your character into the world of Rokugan. Some mechanics are a little clunky and take some getting used to, but for the most part, they succeed in capturing the spirit of the setting while allowing players to build from what they already know. There's also nothing stopping you from using other D&D 5e content if you want to, say, crank the magic up higher by allowing players to play sorcerers or have their Courtier take a few levels in Bard.

That said, there isn't a ton of content to help GMs form campaigns. There's a short adventure at the end of the book, but that's about it. There are sections about adventure themes and sections about the great clans, their lands, and some of the things that could be going on there, but Adventures in Rokugan is kind of sparse when it comes to clear adventure hooks. This might not be a problem if you're a GM who is adept at homebrewing campaigns out of basically nothing, but newer GMs or those who are accustomed to having modules to guide them might struggle with navigating a new setting AND new mechanics AND new classes AND new rules without something more to guide them.

It's also worth noting that early iterations of this book were RIDDLED with errors (particularly in the class sections), and there are still some wonky errors that need to be fixed. This is less of a problem if you purchase it digitally here because the digital copies get updated with errata, but it does mean that you should check periodically to see if a new version is out.

Overall, there's a lot to like about Adventures in Rokugan. Is it crazy high-fantasy D&D? No. Is it samurai drama-filled L5R? Also no. It's kind of its own thing that uses L5R as a guideline for a D&D adventure. If that sounds cool to you, you'll probably find a lot of material in this book worth having and trying out. If not, well, D&D and L5R are right there. Enjoy.

This is probably one of the worst iterations of 5e that I have ever run. If the creators had simply embraced the hack and slash, high adventure nature of 5e as a rule set and created this version of rokugan around that, it would have been a great product. Instead they needlessly clung to the lethal/ low magic version of rokugan that ALREADY HAS A SYSTEM THAT WORKS FOR THAT STYLE OF PLAY. The only classes that are designed well are the bushi, and to a lesser degree, the duelist. Every other class is atrocious, from game play, to power level, to clunky, janky mechanics. This honestly has me questioning if this was even playtested, because in the taken to market form, it's practically unplayable. If you like L5R, but want a more high adventure version, do yourself a favor and just reflavor existing 5e classes. This is absolute and utter basura.

take 5e, upgrade martials, nerf magic and set it in the infamous Rokugan: what more can you ask for from a 5e adaptation?

terrible game, the ritualist class is 100% garbage. the Shinobi is irritating, hell not a fan of several classes. the gm section isn't good overall the game is irritating and I'm upset I paid for a "5e"game this bloated. I thought it'd be easier than the ffg l5r system... it isn't.

i love this book and the campaign.

i just finished running a group through the entire adventure in the book. We had a great time. i would love to give this book a 4 instead of a 5 because of the crazy errors when it was released but they fixed those quickly. Secondly, this 25 dollar book blows the d&d phd,dmg and monster manual out of the water with the size and scale (AND it has that fun mini campaign). They really pushed the envelope with all the crunch they added. i truly beleive the bushi is the most well designed martial character in the history of d&d.

im sad the full canpaign book didnt come out before i finished the mask of the oni...sniff...

5e was never going to be right for Legend of the Five Rings, and sadly Adventures in Rokugan re-affirms this.

It is not all-bad, the fact that the physical book comes with a free PDF is a great plus, and something that larger companies are only just realising people want. The fact that the warriors and duellists are separated into two separate pathways is nice- you can be a great duellist or a great warrior without having to be the other (though I do still have some issues with that, see later). The courtier is a nice, non-combat focused class and the inclusion of the ritualist who uses music to create nvocations is lovely and interesting and certainly fits with the Japanese source materials. The background features are a good roleplaying aid (though they only replicate the "what does your character know" section of 4th Edition's 'clan' selection step. I really liked the world fleshing out, though the fact that the Yobanjin tribes were completely written-out in favour of a strange 'mountain kingdom' and river-valley kingdom was a shame. Strangely, this book ONLY talks about the Asian-inspired nations in the world, so no Merenae or Yodotai etc. The rules for finishing blows in duels allowing you to 'demonstrate superiority' instead of knocking out or killing coudl allow for some lovely RP opportunities (but again, as this is 5e based, there's not much support for it in the rules as-stands).

Now for the negatives... sadly there are so many, some typos and errors, some just weirdnesses or failures. Most of this is chronological as I read the book in order. Firstly, the whole book tries to present this as a new way to play L5R... except you can do everything this book does in the other systems and tell far richer and more interesting stories and it is beautiful but features almost no original artwork, instead stealing it all from the superior 4th edition and Living Card game: Whilst the sensitivty section is definitely always a good thing the fact that the two 'sensitivoty readers' for this appear to be middle-class Americans (one I could find, the other I feel has their name mis-spelled) who 'studied Japanese'- that's not sensitivity reading. You should be using people from the culture you are representing. Also the complete whitewashing of the concept of seppuku (rather than saying- we'd advise you speak to your players about this concept and remember that it's inclusion is to help explore how injust it is) and the fact that the pronunciation guide whilst good for Japanese is dismissive of other cultures (it amounts to saying 'look it up yourself'). Rather than dealing with issues, these rules seek to avoid them, as if they didn't happen. Others have commented on the removal of the word 'honour'- yes, except these rules talk about the concept of bushido (the way of the warrior) in all but name, including the concept of honour (though referenced only as the idea of internal integrity, which is what it is anyway). This book presents but then westernises, instead of bushido it refers to the European concept of chivalry- just as egregious as reducing Japanese culture to just the idea of honour. The changing of Japanese terms continues throughout: Jigoku is reduced to 'hell', oni to demons, shugenja (literally follower of the way) becomes ritualist, yet we have bushi and shinobi... From a setting POV, we find that most 'adventurers' aren't samurai BUT most classes are samurai roles/ideas and also the book makes it clear that it is illegal for non-samurai to be armed outside of wars... In addition, the idea of Rokugan being welcoming to outsiders again deprives groups of the way to explore how this type of insularism has harmed cultures, socieities and peoples again and again for centuries (especially as they've not really dealt with it in any particular way so the holdover from the good versions of L5R are still clearly there). Classes: Bushi has 3 archetypes available, but every piece of text in the class on refers to two, the Armsmaster seems to have been forgotten about Duellist has Focus Points as a class feature, but this entry has been deleted from the rules text, so we assume it is the same as the Bushi, otherwise they have 1st level features they can't use. In additoin, they can choose Int, Wis or Cha as a key ability, but because of built-in abilities (like adding Cha mod to AC), it makes playing the Int or Wis arhcetypes a much tougher choice as you need to focus on 3 stats. In addition the Archetype descriptions say they gain their final ability at 17th level,but it is 18th level. Also, only d8 hit dice, the same as Courtiers and Ritualists. Courtier, a lovely idea but in a game system where it is all about combat with a bit of exploration, they are massively lacklustre. They rely on Inspiration dice but these are d6 (growing to d8, d10 and then d12) which are rolled to generate effects- this can make them very underwhelming if you roll lots of 1s and 2s. The Investigator Archetype and Diplomat allow you to use a d4 Inspiration dice when you have none left, but whilst the Diplomat says you cannot recover a dice by rolling a 1 here, the Investigator doesn't. It isn't clear whether this is intentional or not. Shinobi, no real issues except in the fluff- suggesting everyone knows the Scorpion train the best shinobi... they deny it, so technically nobody knows.... Ritualist, aside from the name, again there isn't much of an issue here EXCEPT it talks about 'wild' talents who are good in fewer areas but there's no way to replicate this sort of approach, the approaches are all samurai really. In addition the Arcane Appraisal invocation is a Fire invocation, but it does Reflections of P'an Ku, which has always been a Water Invocation to learn the history of an object, it really doesn't seem 'Fire'. Pilgrim, it is nice to actually see some reference to the Five Rings, this is about the only place it comes up (aside from the four categories of Invocations) and this class presents some nice ways to play, especially balancing Yin and Yang. The Form of Void seems to be over-powered though; all other Forms move you away from the state (Yin or Yang) that you need to be in to use them, Form of Void requirees you to be in one of the 3 balance states and, as written, lets you choose which direction you shift each round allowing for infinite duration. It also lets you get rid of people's spell slots... a resource that doesn't exist in these rules, seems redundant. Acolyte: No issues here, though they are two VERY specific classes, and could likely just have been a pilgrim archetype. The Void Dragon tattoo also has the wrong rules written for the Weakened condition (as it states you lose your resistances and your resistances become resistances... this should be immunities). The Eye of the Storm Embellishment has no duration, so not sure if the resistance it gievs is permanent or just when you trigger the tattoo, and then not for how long. The Shadow Acolyte archetype is just set out in a confusing way and the 9th level archetype ability is ONLY useful if you choose the 1st level ability to create Shadow Clones; also when you gain Deeping Shadows you get to choose 'the other shadow brand' but there are 3 and you only choose one. Finally, the Void Storm ability is massively underwhelming for a 20th level ability- if you roll a 1 for damage you can roll 1d4 Cold Damage... and then keep rolling so long as you only roll a 1 for damage... so 2 damage at 20th Level for a once/day ability.

Backgrounds Whilst family themed, they are unlikely to promote out of family characters as you need the proficiencies from them to make most of the archetypical characters (e.g. you couldn't say make an Isawa trained in the Hida defender... you'd need to pick Hida family too).

Equipment Lacquered armour is heavy so gives no dex bonus, but the armour table says you do

Feats Spiritual Evasion works on 'spells' not invocations, so except against bloodpeakers (no reference to maho etc. here) it is useless, and even then ONLY if the GM rules they are spells Enhanced Demonic Tranformation- presumably is for mazoku not oni as it says

Duels Unarmed or wrestling duels ignore that the Crab love them...

Adventure strange choice for a 3rd level, 3 level adventure in the book...

Setting Underwhelmingly short, less than 1/3 of a 300 page book... for a setting as Rich as Rokugan

Overall This would be pretty good Fantasy Japanese 5e it is TERRIBLE Legend of the Five Rings

An excellent book. It allows the player and GM to experience the rich and fascinating world of this setting as great heroes becoming larger than life legends. It's not the traditional L5R and that's a good thing. That would be unnecessary, since there are already perfect sets of rules for this. This book allows you to see L5R through the eyes of a samurai anime or manga and have a lot of fun that way.

I'm actually excited for this book. I don't really intend on using it for Legends of the 5 Rings, but for additional source material for a 5e Kara-tur setting. Kara-tur hasn't had any good support since AD&D. With a little support in 2nd edition and 3/3.5 almost abandoning it for their L5R books, which were still great if you wanted to used them for a Kara-tur setting. 5e pretty much left Kara-tur or an Oriental Adventures setting to the wind. So, I was happy when I heard this was coming out to help fill that void. I know some L5R fans aren't as happy, but I see it as an additional supplement for D&D. While leaving L5R for the authentic feel of that game, this give you an additional core supplement for anyone that wants to add an Asian setting to their current D&D game no matter which world they are playing in.

They tried real hard, but missed badly.

It has followed the blanding apprach of races getting no fixed stat bonuses, and mostly just special abilities

The classes are not consistent with the FFG (now Edge) L5R ones; clan schools now mostly require multi-classing.

It feels lazily designed, and more a money grab than a real try at porting Rokugan.

They even made artisans part of the spellcasters...

They left out the stalple campaing type: Magistrates.

Playable? probably. Worth playing? IMO

Disclaimer: This Let's Study series is made possible by the generosity of Edge Studio, who provided an advanced review copy of the PDF.

When I heard Adventures in Rokugan was announced by Edge Studio, my knee jerk reaction was to look for something bad about it. Thankfully, curiosity and hope won over, and I forced myself to really go through what Adventures in Rokugan had to offer and what I found surprised me.

Adventures in Rokugan was a book built purposefully to serve a particular goal: to offer Rokugan as a new and exciting setting for heroic adventure using the mechanics of the 5e SRD. In doing so, the design team made deliberate choices to lean into what that system does best: heroic combat and adventuring. This is the game you can go for if you're looking for thrilling martial arts heroics and the zero-to-hero story arc that 5e is best known for, paired with a stunningly realized setting that has made L5R a favorite of fans from all over the globe.

What Adventures in Rokugan wasn't meant to do, is to emulate L5R. Courtly intrigue, doomed romances and high-stakes politics are less of the point in this game. Winter Court isn't something you'll see much of in this edition, for example, though there are still little nods here and there to the worth of dressing right and knowing how to do well in proper society.

So let's set those aside and judge it on its own merits.

Clever, tactical combat

As mentioned in the classes section of this Let's Study series, Adventures in Rokugan introduces a ton of clever mechanics for combat, with each of the Classes having a very strong form of niche protection. Add the extra layer of customization from the Backgrounds and every character brings something new to the table.

That said, I can't help but feel that the game really starts at the 3rd Level, as many of the foundational Class Features really come in at that point. A fully-realized setting

Rokugan is a beautiful setting with so much lore and history that has been refined and improved over decades and Adventures in Rokugan delivers that in one easy package. I'm sort of jealous of new DMs who might discover the setting with this book as everything was bundled together so neatly in a way that is easy to consume.

Of course, it helps to have strong cultural notes in the game as well, and the way that Rokugani culture was portrayed reveals that there's a funny disconnect between how the society functions, versus the way that Adventurers go about their business. Adventurers sort of get a free pass, an odd exemption from the way the rest of the world works, but again, that's an assumption that all adventurers in 5e worlds seem to work with.

A missed opportunity to bring social mechanics to 5e

Given all of the innovations and mechanics that were new in the game, I can't shake the disappointment of seeing that Courtiers didn't get as much focus as social characters as they could have. L5R can be a political game, and I have a feeling that Adventures in Rokugan might have had mechanics that dealt with this but were left on the cutting room floor.

The tools were all there: A host of new Conditions could have been introduced, much in the way that they were done in Martial Techniques. Intrigue Dice could have been spent to enact Rhetorical Flourishes that imposed these Conditions on targets with special means by which the Conditions could be resolved or removed.

But somehow, they fell back to tactical square grids and attack bonuses.

As a GM, I know that I could simply jury rig a system that works as above, but the point is that I shouldn't have to.

Final thoughts

As a 5e product, Adventures in Rokguan is a steal. Not only do you get a wealth of new character classes, you also buy into one of the best settings that isn't based on traditional tolkien-esque fantasy. The rules are easy to understand and there's a ton of flavorful lore and stunning artwork to enjoy.

As for L5R fans? It's worth picking up if you're looking for something with a lot more action. Many of the L5R groups I've met pride themselves for having tension-filled campaigns where not a single combat roll was made for entire storylines. Clearly Adventures in Rokugan isn't meant for those campaigns.

In the end, I like having it around because it gives me options. Not every group of players will like the way L5R might be too focused on flowery words and clever politics and tragedy. Sometimes, you just want to go off on a journey and forge a legend of your own.

And that's fine, because now, I've got a game to offer for that kind of play.

This is the Review portion of a full Let's Study series of the book, which you can find over at the links below:

https://philgamer.wordpress.com/2022/08/05/lets-study-adventures-in-rokugan-part-1-introduction-and-expectations/

https://philgamer.wordpress.com/2022/08/08/lets-study-adventures-in-rokugan-part-2-species-of-rokugan/

https://philgamer.wordpress.com/2022/08/09/lets-study-adventures-in-rokugan-part-3a-bushi-duelist-courtier-and-shinobi-classes/

https://philgamer.wordpress.com/2022/08/10/lets-study-adventures-in-rokugan-part-3b-ritualist-pilgrim-and-acolyte-classes/

https://philgamer.wordpress.com/2022/08/11/lets-study-adventures-in-rokugan-part-4-backgrounds/

https://philgamer.wordpress.com/2022/08/12/lets-study-adventures-in-rokugan-part-5-character-motivations/

https://philgamer.wordpress.com/2022/08/15/lets-study-adventures-in-rokugan-part-6-adventuring-history-and-atlas-of-rokugan/

Personally, I think this is the best version of Rokugan yet.

Pages 10 & 11 give guidelines on how to run an Asian-inspired game with a focus on reducing harm. It addresses the deeply problematic origins of many stereotypes, and pushes the game towards a more inclusive version of the setting. Rather than rely on the meme-fuel "Honor!" for everything, it uses more nuanced terms like "devotion", "accountability", and "faithful friendship". It removes poorly structured, Japanese-sounding gibberish from places names. It removes the names of real life deities from their fictional religion. It avoids presenting monolithic culture, and relies instead on diverse depictions of stories rooted in humanity. Legend of the Five Rings was written in the 1990's by a white, American audience for a white, American audience. It has been 30 years since then and gaming has changed substantially. It is good for Rokugan to reflect a more inclusive present and be less reliant on lazy, hurtful stereotypes.

Mechanically, this is a very interesting take on the raw D&D 5E engine. You practically do not need the D&D SRD save for a few Spells which monsters and one class (Pilgrim) get access to, to run Adventures in Rokugan. Motivations and their inherent conflicts feels better than Alignment. Its "I hit stuff with weapons" classes (Bushi, Duelist, Shinobi) feel more spicy and engaging than the base 5E classes, and its "I do magic" classes (Ritualist, Adept, Pilgrim) present a very different style of fantasy than D&D's Vancian (Spell slots and the Adventuring Day) magic. I feel that the Courtier does get the short end of the stick, mechanically, but they operate in the squishiest part of the game mechanics, being primarily social interaction based. I would have liked to see a solid "social combat" minigame to improve the Courtier's mechanical relevance.

My one complaint regarding Adventures in Rokugan is that the included adventure, A Grim Inheritance, may not be the best introduction into the world of Rokugan, as it sends the player characters into an area of the game which is strongly horror themed. For a game of "chivalrous adventure in a land of heroism and steel", it immediately sends them out of said land on a narrative that does not deal deeply with the themes laid out in the rest of the book. It may serve better to introduce D&D players to the game, as it is essentially just a dungeon crawl.

All in all, if you are someone looking to play a "Cheeseburger Samurai" (a term coined by the director of Ghost of Tsushima to describe an American-made samurai story, in the vein of how a spaghetti Western is an Italian-made cowboy story), Adventures in Rokugan is probably one of the best games on the market for your dollar. I hope they soon release the "Festival of One Million Blossoms" adventure from GenCon 2022, which serves as a better introductory module to the setting and a good contrast to the horror-themed one included in the book.

This book is very good u.u

It's a good merge of D&D5 and 5 rings: there are the aspects of Rokugan more involved in heroic adventures, the kind of adventures best outlined by D&D5, and there is a good work of adaptation on the rules with very well-crafted classes.

Species are very good, being a chance to put a specific theme in play and not a generic collection of traits.

Classes have a built-in flow that help keeping an increasing depth on fiction with the progress of combat: adventurers can't usually "go nova" on the first round of combat and be bored on subsequent turns (if any), but have mechanics that increase efficacy over time, giving a growing framework for fiction to grow in.

BG/motivations/inspiration are good (I wrote something similar myself, I can be biased but it's a structure I like :D).

I must try duels, it's a simple mechanic and it seems quite effective, but I didn't have the chance.

Overall a very good product, made with a kind love for Rokugan and 5e. Money well spent :D

The book plays around with some great ideas, including giving martial characters techniques that do more than just "I attack," and reining in casters. It also jettisons the entire metaplot from the Clan War forward; the book is set right before the Emperor disappears. Much like Eberron, it's giving you the tools to create your Rokugan, not play through a pre-established story. Add in creative race / class options, a dueling system that actually makes you feel like your character is in danger, and a complete rework of the D&D magic system, and this book has a lot to recommend it.

However, the mechanics aren't nearly as simplified as I would prefer for a 5th edition game, and draw a LOT of inspiration from 4th edition. You're tracking various resource pools for martial characters, and the whole thing feels fiddly. This is definitely not the way to introduce new players to the game, but advanced players (or players who like 4th edition) might really enjoy it.