Sample file credits EXPANSION DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT Alexis Dykema with Max Brooke ADDITIONAL DEVELOPMENT Robert Denton III, Lisa Farrell, Josiah “Duke” Harrist, James Mendez Hodes, Ian Houlihan, D. G. Laderoute, Monte Lin, and Amudha Venugopalan EDITING Christine Crabb PROOFREADING Dixie Cochran and Riley Miller RPG MANAGER Sam Gregor-Stewart LEGEND OF THE FIVE RINGS STORY REVIEW Tyler Parrott EXPANSION GRAPHIC DESIGN Sebastián Koziner GRAPHIC DESIGN COORDINATOR Joseph D. Olson with WiL Springer GRAPHIC DESIGN MANAGER Christopher Hosch FRONT COVER ART Haibin Wu BACK COVER ART Nele Diel INTERIOR ART Shelia Amajida, Piotr Arendzikowski, Francesca Baerald, Lukas Banas, Sergio Camarena Bernabeu, Mike Capprotti, Marius Bota, Joshua Cairos, Leanna Crossan, Carlos Palma Cruchaga, John Anthony DiGiovanni, Stanislav Dikolenko, Derek D. Edgell, Polar Engine, Tropa Entertainment, Shen Fei, Tawny Fritzinger, Felipe Gaona, Kevin Goeke, Quintin Gleim, Aurelien H., Jeff Himmelman, Hai Hoang, Lin Hsiang, Amelie Hutt, Wen Juinn, Jason Juta, Romana Kendelic, Daria Khlebnikova, Mu Young Kim, Ruwen Liu, Francisco Martin, Jorge Matar, Joyce Maureira, Francisco Miyara, Tomas Muir, Jake Murray, Chris Ostrowski, Borja Pindado, Eli Ring, Yudong Shen, Jazz Siy, Kathryn Steele, Filip Storch, Gong Studios, Albert Tavira, Alex Tooth, Max Tran, Andreia Ugrai, Jokubas Uogintas, Halil Ural, and Le Vuong ART DIRECTION Jeff Lee Johnson MANAGING ART DIRECTOR Tony Bradt QUALITY ASSURANCE Andrew Janeba and Zach Tewalthomas PRODUCTION MANAGEMENT Justin Anger and Jason Glawe VISUAL CREATIVE DIRECTOR Brian Schomburg SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER John Franz-Wichlacz SENIOR MANAGER OF PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT Chris Gerber EXECUTIVE GAME DESIGNER Corey Konieczka HEAD OF STUDIO Andrew Navaro PLAYTESTERS Benjamin Ainsworth, Jake Ames, Finbarr Goode Begley, Michael Bernabo, Cady Bielecki, Joe Bielecki, Alexander Botts, Trevor Boulter, Kara Centell-Dunk, Lucinda Charles, Steven Charpentier, Tim Cox, Charlotte Dickenson, Emeric Dwyer, Jonathan Ferenczy, Christopher Fishburn, Benjamin Fribley, Brooks Flugaur-Leavitt, Kyle Gennrich, James Gibson, Laura Heilman, Sean Holland, Tim Huckelbery, Jon King, Brian Lewis, Jamie Lewis, Daniel Mossman, Russ Needham, Jeff Neppl, Matt Newman, Tom Nys, Tom Ornsby, Luke Richards, David Robotham, Joshua Spotts, Erik Strijbos, Max Stringer, Nathan Stringer, Nate Sullivan, Kimichi Tran, Kris Weavill, and Joris Van der Vorst In loving memory of Shaun Lee Dykema 11/15/71–11/5/2018 NRDNA FANTASY Fantasy Flight Games 1995 West County Road B2 FLIGHT Roseville, MN 55113 SampleGAMES USA file © 2019 Fantasy Flight Games. Legend of the Five Rings, the L5R logo, and the white FFG logo are trademarks of Fantasy Flight Games. Fantasy Flight Games and the blue FFG logo are registered trademarks of Fantasy Flight Games. ISBN: 978-1-633-443-631 Product Code: L5R10 Printed in China For more information about the world of Rokugan and Legend of the Five Rings, visit us online at www.FantasyFlightGames.com/en/Legend-of-the-Five-Rings-Roleplaying-Game table of Contents 5 IntroduCtion 118 CHAPTER 4 twin blessings village 5 Welcome to the Fringes of Rokugan 119 How to Use This Village 8 CHAPTER 1 123 Geography the life of the rōnin 125 Resources 126 Locations and People 9 Without a Lord 137 Local Legends 14 Rōnin and the Celestial Order 142 Perfect Land Sect 18 Rōnin and Work 22 Rōnin and the Clans 143 CHAPTER 5 26 Rōnin and Peasants hirosaka 28 The Perfect Land Sect 144 How to Use This Town 30 CHAPTER 2 147 Geography Creating a CharaCter 149 Resources and Trade 152 Locations and People 31 A Revised Game of Twenty Questions 166 Local Legends 31 Part I: Core Identity (Region and Upbringing) 46 Part II: Role and School 173 CHAPTER 6 60 Part III: The Past and the Future untold stories 64 Part IV: Strengths and Weaknesses 66 Part V: Personality and Behavior 174 Running Games for Outcasts 66 Part VI: Ancestry and Bonds 174 Games with Rōnin 68 Part VII: Death 181 Designing a Rōnin’s Personal Code 68 New Advantages 185 Additional Titles 71 New Disadvantages 187 Bonds 74 Creating a Gaijin Culture 192 The World Outside of Rokugan 76 Building a School 206 The Three-Act Structure 207 Running Rōnin Campaigns 85 CHAPTER 3 210 Getting Inspired new player options 212 Themes and Tones for Rōnin Games 219 Trinkets and Name Tables 86 Techniques 86 New Kata 227 CHAPTER 7 92 New Shūji non-player CharaCters 96 New Rituals 98 Celestial Implements of the Ivory Kingdoms 228 New NPC Templates 100 Profile of a Celestial Implement 229 New NPCs 105 Introducing Celestial Implements 252 Index into a Campaign 107 Hand to Mouth 110 New Gear and Items 116 New Item Patterns Sample file 26th Day of the Month of Bayushi, 1119, somewhere near the Lion-Unicorn border “Junko! I found fooooood!” Eijiro’s voice echoed “Meiyo Gisei?” A strange spasm stretched across throughout the empty village street—really, a muddy Junko’s face, something resembling a smile. “You did path—gouged out by endless feet, hooves, and cart- say you smelled money. Let us go!” wheels. The tall, lanky man held his katana in one hand, “What? Wait! No, no, no. There are better places idly swiping it like a stick, knocking away a polished to go.” pebble with a clang. In his other, he held a pale daikon “It is a Lion city. Their cities must be clean and rich. and bit into it with an equally loud crunch. They would care about what happened here. Lion peo- “Shut. Up,” Junko hissed. The shorter, stockier ple are noble and honorable.” woman, slightly hunched from bad posture and a life “You’re thinking of the clan families,” Eijiro mut- of labor, carried her spear tucked under her arm, ready tered. “And they are far from just or good. Trust me. for a fight. “Bandits will hear, Eijiro.” We’ll just find trouble there.” Eijiro looked around but saw no signs of life, save the “I want to see a Lion city. Do you think it has those crows. “This dump hasn’t been hit by bandits. Besides, nice kimono you keep talking about?” who would come back to such a no-name village?” “Junko! Listen to me! We cannot go to Meiyo Gisei. “It has a name.” We’re going north, into Unicorn lands. The horse lords “Don’t be silly, Junko. Villages this small never have are always hiring rōnin.” a name.” He tossed the daikon over to her, and she Junko frowned. “It is cold up there. And I do not dropped her spear to catch it. like horses. They smell. And they bite.” “You do not know everything,” she muttered to As usual when they disagreed, they both sat sul- herself. She walked over to an inn, slid the door aside, lenly in silence until they went to sleep. and spied a stew pot, the fire long burned out, the bot- — tom layered with someone’s charred breakfast. “I have The next morning, Eijiro woke to see only his katana never liked daikon. It tastes too muddy.” leaning by the post. He leapt to his feet, grabbed his “Then start that pot. I’ll look for more provisions.” sword, and ran out expecting the thunder of hooves or — the shouts of bandits. Instead, the empty village met The next day, Junko surveyed the land around the him with silence. The mud, however, revealed the foot- village to get their bearings. She found no evidence prints of Junko’s straw sandals, heading south. of bandits, no new hoofprints, no bodies, no signs of When he caught up to her, he found her humming fighting. She also found no indication of the villagers’ tunelessly, head held high. He said, carefully, “You’re in evacuation. It was as if they had simply disappeared. a pleasant mood, Junko.” Eijiro explored the village itself—which didn’t take “You cannot make fun of me. I will get money in much time, admittedly—and found only evidence of a Meiyo Gisei—eat well, and talk to the dōshin about sudden disappearance. A bundle of straw lay off to one the villages,” she said. “All is good under Tengoku side. A yukata was draped over a stool. A nice pair of and earth.” sandals sat side by side, waiting for their owner. He sighed. “We can’t go into Lion lands.” Junko returned to find her companion sitting by the “How much is your head?” empty stew pot placing more of those polished peb- “What? No, Junko, I don’t have a bounty.” bles in clumps and patterns, as if playing a game of Go “Oh. Did you anger someone terribly, then?” with only one color. “You will not find breakfast there,” “Er, yes…” Eijiro thought of his father, his mother, she said. and his aunt. The arguments. Stealing away at night “Not hungry,” he muttered as his stomach growled. with a bundle of koku, his katana, and his now long-lost “I’m just trying to ascertain where we should go next. silk kimono. “Yes, a lot of angry people.” I can’t figure out where we are. If only this village had “Then we can just kill them. That is what we are a name…” good at, after all.” She continued walking, singing, out She stretched, popping her back, and said, “Shira- of tune, that song about winning the smile of a farm- okamura.” er’s daughter. “What?” Eijiro sat up with a start. “Wait. What? “We can go to any other city, just not Meiyo Gisei.” How do you know that?” “If they do not know what happened to Shiraokamura, Junko shrugged. “The white pebbles? They are then they can find out. The Lion people will help.” everywhere here. The two rivers nearby wash the rocks Eijiro stood in the middle of the path, debating with until they shine.” himself.