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The Legend of the Five Rings collectible card game is a collectible card game created by Alderac Entertainment Group, in 1995. Inspired by the role-playing game Bushido, L5R takes place in the nation of Rokugan from the Legend of the Five Rings setting. Rokugan is a fictional place, based on feudal Japan with influences from other east Asian cultures, where samurai and magical shugenja (wizards) of different clans fight for dominion.

The card game is similar to The Gathering but has its own unique game mechanics and flavor, providing "passive" win conditions like the Enlightenment Victory, as opposed to Magic's singleminded goal of destroying the opponent. Games are often very long, and resolving a single match can take hours. L5R's storyline is also deep, involved, chaotic and determined entirely by the players: the events and winners of tournaments both major and minor (most notably the one played at GenCon Indy) are used to determine what will happen next. On one occasion, the near-victory of the evil Shadowlands Horde in a major tournament threatened the future of the entire game, and spawned an entire expansion set in an "alternate future" where hordes of evil had triumphed over Rokugan.

The game's setting has also inspired two role-playing games (one older, independent game and one in the form of a series of Dungeons & Dragons supplements), a miniature series, and a number of novels.

In 1997, Legend of Five Rings: Battle of Beiden Pass won the Origins Award for Best Card Game of 1996, and in 1998, Legend of the Five Rings: Time of the Void won Best Card Game Expansion or Supplement of 1997.

Game play

Legend of the Five Rings can be played with any number of players, although two to four are most common. Unlike most CCGs, which are geared towards one-on-one duels, L5R was designed with multi-player matches in mind. Each player represents the leader of one of the Factions battling for power. As of November 2005 (Lotus Edition), the currently playable Factions are each of the eight Great Clans, the Shadowlands Horde, and the Ratlings. Each player chooses a Stronghold card to represent their ancestral home, from where they direct their armies. Each Faction has multiple available Strongholds, each with its own strengths, weaknesses, and special abilities. In addition, each player may a choose a Wind, representing which aspect of the Rokugan Imperial Court they support, if any.

The present factions:

Previously legal factions are:

  • L5R:Brotherhood of Shinsei - A group of monks devoted to the philosophy of Shinsei. Many of these monks were former members of the Dragon Clan who left in protest of Mirumoto Hitomi's actions.
  • L5R:Monkey Clan - These people were originally ronin who followed L5R:Akodo Toturi before he became emperor of Rokugan. When L5R:Toturi's Army disbanded, his general Toku founded the Monkey Clan.
  • L5R:Naga - Snake-like creatures who existed in Rokugan before humans. They use the secretive and mysterious "pearl magic." Their purpose was supposedly to destroy the Living Darkness. Since it has been destroyed, the Naga are now asleep.
  • L5R:Ninja - These were not the ordinary shinobi ninja of common usage. In Rokugan's history, Lady sun gave everything a name that was created. Everything then revered Lady sun as the giver of light. Lord moon grew bitter and angry over this, and did not give one thing a name. This darkness became known as the Lying Darkness and the Living Darkness. It existed to unmake everything. It was originally incorporated into a family of the Scorpion Clan named the Goju family - but they were exiled. Led by a shadow creature named Goju Adorai, the Ninja led an assault on the realm of the ancestors, yomi. By destroying all Rokugan's ancestors, they destroyed the past and present at the same time. They lost in a storyline tournament called the Battle of Oblivion's Gate, where due to the players' decks, the Ninja did not succeed in destroying all of yomi, and were finally named - robbing them of their power.
  • L5R:Spirit - Ancestors that fled out of Oblivion's Gate away from the Ninja assault and walked Rokugan for a short time. Emperor Toturi and former emperor L5R:Hantei XVI were among these spirits, and contested one another for the throne.

Each player has two decks that are kept separate during play: One Dynasty deck, consisting of black-backed cards, and one Fate deck, consisting of green-backed cards. In tournament games, each deck must contain at least 40 cards, and this has become a de facto standard in casual games. (There is no upper limit.) No deck may contain more than three of any particular card, and no more than one of any particular Unique card. In addition to a Fate deck and a Dynasty deck, each player must choose one Stronghold card to represent his Faction and ancestral home, and may choose a Wind card, representing his political alignment.

At the beginning of a game, all players start by simultaneously revealing their chosen Stronghold and Wind card, if they have one. In tournaments where sideboard rules apply, players may now utilize that possibility. Then, each player may search his Fate deck for a Sensei and put it into play, if they wish to. Family Honor determines play order: highest goes first. If there is a tie, some random method, such a die roll or coin toss, decides who goes first. Each player shuffles his or her Fate and Dynasty decks, and places them some distance apart on the game surface. (In tournaments, it is customary to allow your opponent to shuffle your decks as well.) Each player places their top four Dynasty cards face down on the table in front of them next to each other, representing their Provinces. Strongholds or other cards can change the number of Provinces you start with, however four is the normal number. Finally, each player draws five Fate cards and places in his or her hand.

At the beginning of each turn, a player may choose to flip any of the face-down Dynasty cards in his Provinces; these cards can now be played. They usually consist of L5R's answer to Magic's Lands and Creatures: Holdings and Personalities. Holdings can be bought, and go to your pile of holdings, coming into play bowed (aka tapped in magic terms). Gold is used to deploy Personalities, which are leaders, generals, famous soldiers, celebrities... Personalities. Dynasty cards may also turn out to be Regions, which modify the Province they are flipped from, and Events, one-shot cards that alter the game for all players. At the beginning of the next turn, the player may refill his emptied Provinces with new face-down cards from the Dynasty deck.

However, before the player buys from his provinces, the player may play Fate cards from his hand. Fate cards are quite a bit more varied.

  • Followers attach to a Personality for a Gold cost, turning the Personality from a one-man army to more of a squad. Sometimes they also have Personal Honor costs: they will not follow a Personality who does not have Personal Honor (as specified on the Personality card) above (or below) a certain amount. Followers add combat power and other special abilities, and can be traded between Personalities.
  • Items are the same as Followers, but cannot be killed in battle, do not have Personal Honor costs, and cannot have anything attached to them.
  • Spells, which cost Gold, attach only to Personalities or Followers with the "shugenja" trait. They can be used only once and then must be discarded. A subtype of spells, Kihos (singular: Kiho), can be used by both shugenja and monks.
  • Ancestors are attached like Followers, with similar Honor Requirements, but may not be moved or removed. In addition, each Ancestor can only be used by Personalities of a particular Faction.
  • Actions represent personal abilities or twists of fate: for instance, some Action cards initiate duels between two Personalities. They are used once and then discarded.
  • Finally, the five Elemental Rings that give the game its name represent mastery of one of the five elements: Water, Fire, Earth, Air, and Void. Each Ring requires a particular set of criteria to be fulfilled before it can be played, but cost no Gold. Once in play, each Rings grants a powerful Elemental Benefit, and, should you at any point have all five in play at once, you win an enlightenment victory. There are also five Dark Rings that represent the corrupted side of the rings. These may not be used to win an enlightenment victory, however. Recently, the original five rings were revised to the extent of being almost totally different from their predecessors.

Only some Fate cards have a Gold cost, but all have a Focus value at the bottom center of the card, from 0 to 5. Some Actions or Personality abilities require a Focus value, similar to the Star Wars Customizable Card Game's "Destiny draws." When a Focus value is called for, each player selects one of the Fate cards in his hand and discards it, at which point the two Focus values are compared, and whichever player has the more advantageous number (mostly the higher number, but occasionally the lower) wins that particular challenge. Almost all duels are resolved using Focus values.

During the Open part of the turn (using cards from your fate hand), but still before the end phase(purchasing cards from provinces) the player may declare an attack against an opposing player's province, or more than one. First the attacker assigns Infantry units, then the defender does. Then the attacker assigns cavalry units, and then the defender does the same. After battle resolution, whoever has the most force wins, and kills the other players army. If the attacker wins, and has enough force left to take the province, then the province is destroyed, and can no longer be filled.

Winning

Honor is an important part of Rokugan, and each player has a Family Honor value. Your starting Family Honor is determined by your Faction and your Stronghold. During the course of the game, you can both gain and lose Family Honor by winning battles, playing certain cards and using certain "personalities". Should your Family Honor ever rise to 40 or more, you win the game when you begin your next turn. Conversely, should your Family Honor ever drop to -20 or below, you lose instantly. Decks have been designed around both the theme of winning a "political victory" or "honor victory," and inflicting a "dishonor victory" on one's opponent. The Crane Clan specializes in honor victories, whereas the Scorpion Clan is adept at dishonoring the opponent.

The Shadowlands Horde is exempt from honor victories or losses; having no real concept of honor (and not really being a family, for that matter), they can neither gain nor lose Family Honor, and are always fixed at -19. Instead, they specialize in the "military victory." Provinces can be attacked and destroyed by Personalities (their strength is determined by your Stronghold), and if you ever lose all of them, you lose the game. The Lion and Crab Clans also make good military victory decks. (Beating an opponent using a dishonor strategy is technically a military victory, since both strategies require you to knock down all your opponents, whereas the honor victory comes merely by strengthening one's own position.)

A third way of winning the game is to achieve enlightenment, by having the game's titular Five Elemental Rings in play simultaneously. As previously mentioned, the Five Dark Rings do not grant an Enlightenment victory. While any faction can manage this goal, the Dragon clan is best at it.

Finally, certain cards can allow for other victory conditions to take effect, such as the Event "Bushido", which allows any player to win the moment he successfully plays and resolves seven special Bushido cards in the same turn. Past victory conditions were "The Master of Five", another way to demonstrate mastery of the five Elements in Rokugan, and "Death of Onnotangu" - an event symbolizing the storyline event of Mirumoto Hitomi killing the Lord Onnotangu.

Cards and deck construction

As with most collectible card games, decks are usually constructed beforehand, and tend to be geared towards a particular purpose or goal, with cards chosen that are believed to most optimally attain that goal through a given strategy. In Legend of the Five Rings, each deck is actually divided into two decks - a Fate deck and a Dynasty deck - and although these are kept separate for all purposes in-game, both decks are kept as a cohesive unit and are always designed and used together.

Depending on the strategy one chooses to employ, the focus on different kinds of cards is going to vary. A player going mainly for an honor victory is likely not to include many aggressive combat cards, preferring to focus on cards that improve his honor gain and defensive cards, to prevent enemies from destroying him before he can reach his goal. Similarly, military decks would include many Personalities and Followers, and must make sure to have a large base of Gold-producing cards to be able to afford them.

Product information

Legend of the Five Rings is produced and marketed by the Alderac Entertainment Group.

The game is published in base sets (also called editions), expansion sets and promotional sets.

Base Sets

A base set is a set of about 500 cards. New base sets are published every two or three years. Each base set consists of a different group of cards, though many cards appear in multiple sets. Most of the cards in base sets are reprints of old cards.

These cards are available in the following ways.

  • Individual boosters, each containing 15 cards
  • A box of boosters, containing a large number of boosters, along with a special promotional card.
  • Starters, one for each faction. Each starter contains two Stronghold cards for the corresponding faction, a number of other cards useful for that faction, and a number of random cards. Some cards (also known as "Fixed cards") can only be found in starters, and never appear in boosters.
  • A box of starters, along with a special promotional card.

The current base set is Lotus Edition, which recently replaced Diamond Edition.

The publication of a new base set represents three things:

  • The rules of the game are revised and changed as deemed necessary.
  • A new story arc begins. The story of the previous set has reached a conlcusion, and new protagonists and antagonists are introduced. A great number of (fictional) years may pass between sets, and the main characters in the story may be the heirs of those in the previous set. The rulebook for each base set contains a short story that will set the scene for the coming arc.
  • Many old cards are made illegal for normal tournament play. Only those with a special symbol, called a bug, are allowed. For example, if the current base set is Lotus Edition, only Lotus Bugged cards are allowed in play. Even friendly games are usually expected to be played with Lotus Legal decks. Old cards without the diamond bug, but which have since been reprinted with the diamond bug, are also legal, although they are played according to their most recent printing (the wording of the cards may have changed, possibly drastically, in response to revised rules).

Expansion Sets

Expansion sets contain fewer cards than base sets (about 150), but these cards are all entirely new to the game. Each expansion set represents a new section of the plot in the story arc, often being named after a certain event that has happened in the storyline (eg, "Fall of Otosan Uchi"). As such, a story is published with the expansion, and the cards will often represent characters and events that correspond to it.

Expansion sets are published about every four months. Cards from expansion sets can be obtained in the following ways.

  • Individual boosters of 11 random cards
  • Boxes of boosters
  • Starters. Unlike starters for base sets, expansions feature only three factions at a time, and so only three distinct starters are available. Again, unlike base set starters, expansion starters only contain one stronghold.

Booster packs of the following expansion sets contain only Diamond Legal cards:

  • Fall of Otosan Uchi
  • Heaven and Earth
  • Winds of Change
  • Reign of Blood
  • The Hidden City
  • Wrath of the Emperor

Booster packs of the following expansion sets contain cards that are both Diamond and Lotus Legal cards (i.e. they have both Diamond and Lotus bugs)

  • Web of Lies
  • Enemy of my Enemy
  • Code of Bushido

Starters from Fall of Otosan Uchi, Heaven and Earth, and Winds of Change contain some cards that are not Diamond Legal.

Promotional Sets

Promotional sets are published irregularly, but there will usually be one main promotional set per expansion.

Some promotional sets, eg 1000 Years of Darkness (the main promotional set for Gold Edition), can only be bought as a unit, which contains copies of every card in that set. There is no randomness involved in collecting such sets, but they can be difficult or expensive to obtain, because they are only made available to fan club members.

The main promotional set for Diamond/Lotus Edition, Dawn of the Empire, has been released in the middle of 2005. It was only available through AEG's online store, and is now no longer being released.

Another type of promotional set is a training set. For example, Training Grounds (Diamond Edition) was published in 2004, which featured two preconstructed decks for use in learning the game. This set was highly sought after even by experienced gamers, however, because it contained several cards which were otherwise expensive or difficult to get. Almost all cards in training sets have been published elsewhere, but a few new promotional cards are also included.

Some promotional cards are also published as prize support for tournaments, and can only be obtained by attending these tournaments. Also note that cards from every type of set can usually be bought individually in stores. The prices of individual cards vary greatly depending on rarity and utility (supply and demand). Many players trade cards in order to obtain those they need.

See also

External links

Collectible card games | Legend of the Five Rings | Origins Award winners

Legenda Pięciu Kręgów | Legend of the Five Rings

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Legend of the Five Rings (collectible card game)".

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