This was inspired mostly by grabbing the latest books, as well as finally picking up a few books that have been out there for a while. As well as at least one friend asking about L5R books
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I was looking forward to Art of the Duel more than any other l5r book and I can't describe how upset I was with it. The writing style is boring beyond belief; it's like reading cardboard. Now some of the mechanics are solid (taryu-jiai, Suzume duelist) and creative (The Perfect Stance kata) but the new schools are borderline useless (Doji Rhetorician) or ridiculously broken (Hojatsu's Legacy, Shiba Duelist). Then consider the fact that two clans with no tradition of iaijutsu - the Unicorn and the Crab - get a full five-rank basic school and an advanced school respectively. I could buy a path for each, but there's no way I can envision either clan investing the resources into developing a basic school or an advanced school. Most of the schools reek of fans whining about Kakita.
Masters of Court, on the other hand, is amazing. To a large extent, I believe, because that was the first l5r book they hired Rob Hobart to write (he did most of the Crane stuff).
the only 5 rank basic school that AotD adds for Crab is the Hida Wrestler, not actually an Iaijutsu school. They do have an advanced school, but I found that school to be in keeping with the crab philosophies (if a bit broken). And the Unicorn get a single basic school. And I can definitely see the ide developing a school that could use iaijutsu duels to improve their position, just as I can see the crab creating an advanced school (Granted the crab one would be better off were it Yasuki instead of Hida.). That being said, that unicorn school is the only school of the unicorn that has made me interested in playing one, and much the same for the crab.
I will freely admit that many of the crane paths and schools are utterly useless in basically any game (flower arranging doesn't come up often enough to warrant a path in my book). And yeah the writing style isn't that great, but there is still some useful stuff in there.
AotD makes the mistake of confusing the need for new techniques with justification for a new school. Let's look at the Hida Wrestler, for example. This is quite simply the Hida Bushi with the rank 1 and rank 4 changed to give some Jiujutsu abilities, and the school skills altered. That's not a bad thing, but it hardly warrants a new school write up. In fact, that's the very definition of a new path. Hida Wrestler should have been a rank 1 path that progressed into rank 2 of Hida Bushi. Dedicated wrestlers will probably go to the Crab Sumai advanced school and thus never get the rank 4 technique anyway, so its loss isn't really detrimental
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Finally, creation of these schools "because how else will these clans get an iaijutsu bushi?" ignores two mechanics: one can be an iaijutsu bushi by raising your appropriate traits and iaijutsu skill, and one can always take the Ronin Duelist basic school. Remember, the ronin schools are not actual formal schools but represent individual techniques or courses of study, and are open to any samurai from any clan (this is one of the reasons they get low Honor and Koku - you're rejecting the established teachings of your clan).
Here are top of my head examples of how I'd do it.
New Path: Hida Duelist Path of Entry: Hida Bushi 2 Requirements: Iaijutsu 5, Kenjutsu 3 Path of Egress: Hida Bushi 3 or Ronin Duelist 1 Technique: When you are challenged to an iaijtusu duel, you may force your opponent to substitute his Earth Ring score for his Agility, Reflexes, or Void score (your choice which). Only the score is changed; all techniques and abilities that refer to the original trait or still apply, but use the new number instead. In
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<3 <3 <3 Masters of Court. I don't mind Art of the Duel, but it's not my favorite.
I was sad that they updated the defense skill...I know it was necessary, but it basically ruined how awesomely broken the first technique for the ronin yojimbo school (which I happened to be playing at the time of the update). Ah well.
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Masters of Court, on the other hand, is amazing. To a large extent, I believe, because that was the first l5r book they hired Rob Hobart to write (he did most of the Crane stuff).
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I will freely admit that many of the crane paths and schools are utterly useless in basically any game (flower arranging doesn't come up often enough to warrant a path in my book). And yeah the writing style isn't that great, but there is still some useful stuff in there.
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Here are top of my head examples of how I'd do it.
New Path: Hida Duelist
Path of Entry: Hida Bushi 2
Requirements: Iaijutsu 5, Kenjutsu 3
Path of Egress: Hida Bushi 3 or Ronin Duelist 1
Technique: When you are challenged to an iaijtusu duel, you may force your opponent to substitute his Earth Ring score for his Agility, Reflexes, or Void score (your choice which). Only the score is changed; all techniques and abilities that refer to the original trait or still apply, but use the new number instead. In ( ... )
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I was sad that they updated the defense skill...I know it was necessary, but it basically ruined how awesomely broken the first technique for the ronin yojimbo school (which I happened to be playing at the time of the update). Ah well.
4th Ed. in two months, eh?
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