I've been meaning to write this review for months and months, but I have so much to say about the new edition that I haven't really had enough time to sit down and express it all. Well, no more procrastination! First, there's a big complaint I would like to get out of the way. After less than a month of having the new 4th Edition sourcebook, during which time we kept careful care of it, using it less gently than our older books, the spine cracked. Now pages are falling out. Another member of our group had the same thing happen with his copy. I wouldn't be particularly upset about this, except that the new edition costs $59.95USD, which is ridiculously expensive for a sourcebook. When I spend that much, I expect the book to not only look nice, but to at least hold up until the first supplement for the new edition comes out. Luckily, AEG has opted to also release the 4th Edition core rulebook in digital form, for closer to the price I'd expect to pay for the usual dead tree version. If you're the sort of gamer who totes a laptop with you to game night, or primarily plays with an on-line group, this is probably the best option for you. Don't get me wrong, I love real, physical books - but not when they fall apart. With that out of the way, let's discuss the actual content of the book. For the most part, my group has been really happy with the updated rules system. It's mostly the same as 3rd Edition, keeping the same basic dice mechanics, but fine-tuning things like combat so they are more intuitive, more evenly balanced, and more dynamic and exciting. The new rules are similar enough to the old rules that it doesn't take long to learn them, but different enough that you can see why they merited a new edition instead of an on-line errata. But we've also found some changes that make no sense. It makes sense to tweak the abilities of some classes, as needed for balance or to reflect changes to combat mechanics. But some classes had been changed completely, so that their abilities bore no resemblance to the original class. This caused some trouble for our group, as we decided to upgrade to the new system in the middle of a campaign. We also found that some Advantages and Disadvantages had been omitted entirely from the rules. For that matter, so had some classes. Ronin especially get a short shrift, as AEG has decided to save their classes for a separate book! And while they did nicely include a lot of optional rules from previous editions, for GMs to pick and choose from, they removed our favorite optional rule - the heritage table! Rolling on this table would help flesh out your character's background by highlighting the great (or terrible) deeds of their ancestors, which would in turn give the character additional advantages, disadvantages, gear or skills. This is literally every single person in our gaming group's favorite part of making an L5R character, and what often brings them to life for us. So naturally, we're keeping our 3rd Edition core rulebook just to have those tables. For the most part, this edition is laid out better than past editions, but there are still weird organization choices. Do the classes for Minor Clans and Imperial Families really have to be in an entirely different section? Why is the index missing half of the relevant information that we'd like to reference? Why, when we look up Crafting, does it point us to a minor reference to it, which points us someplace else, sending us on a merry chase around the book? This appears to be an ongoing struggle for AEG, though White Wolf is at least as bad, so maybe I should just stop expecting well-organized sourcebooks with clear and concise indexes. Whatever flaws the book may have, it's beautiful. Every page is in full color, sprinkled with excellent artwork from a wide variety of artists. There are a few images recycled from 3rd Edition, but for the most part it's all new and all gorgeous. Each chapter is also prefaced with a short bit of fiction, which can help players get an idea of the setting and culture. Speaking of setting and culture, each new edition of L5R also advances the meta-story (which tends to be determined by events in the Collectible Card Game that inspired the Role Playing Game). Because there's now so much history in Rokugan, a lot of the older events are told in more truncated form than they were before, which may be problematic for anyone wanting to run a historic game, but for the rest of us, it does leave more room for new content. Perhaps the best chapter of the book is the one on actually running the game. They really get down into the nitty gritty of developing a story, from tone to plot to just how deadly you want it to be. Instead of just giving you the mechanical tools, they draw from literature and film to provide a variety of plot seeds, game themes and more. While most of it is written specifically to apply to the L5R rule set and world, the ideas could easily be applied to any system, and I think they'd be great reading for any novice GM, or just one who is looking to shape up their game style. It certainly gave me lots of food for thought, and I'm not even actively running anything right now. I think that most current L5R players will want to eventually pick up the new edition (though I really don't recommend upgrading mid-campaign like we did), and brand new players will find the rules easy to grasp and the book enjoyable to use. I just can't help being disappointed by the numerous omissions, weird choices, and the staggering price tag. But at least they finally included stats for horses.

[Back to Collector Times]

[Prev.]

[Return to Gaming]

[Disclaimer]

[Next]

Copyright © 2010 By AJ Reardon E-mail AJ at: ErtheFae@aol.com Visit AJ at: www.erthefae.net