Tabletop RPG · since 1997 · #59 most discussed

Legend of the Five Rings

Play samurai bound by duty, honor, and clan politics in a fantasy Rokugan, with social intrigue as central as combat.

Its own systemSamuraidice poolbeliefs and drivesfaction playtokenslifepath creationCampaignsNeeds a GM

6.6

Geek rating

From 21 firsthand play reports in 5 r/rpg threads. The threads alone average 7.4.

Player rating— / 10

No visitor ratings yet.

Discussion6.1 / 10

114 r/rpg posts named it, October 2023 to October 2026.

Rules weight

Medium. Hype 2.9 for its age.

Have you played it?

Rate Legend of the Five Rings from 1 to 10. One rating per browser and device; you can change it any time.

Didn't work for usOne of our best

What players say

At the table

The notes cover both 4th and 5th edition, and most firsthand reports are from people who ran or played L5R for a while. Reports lean positive, but several threads were mainly about other games, so detail on actual play is thin in places.

What works

5e's custom dice make you choose which to keep and which to drop, which players say adds a decision to nearly every roll (thread).
Dice pool building plus strife gives a felt sense of agency (thread).
4e's roll-and-keep d10 system and its day-to-day feel of living in Rokugan held one table for four years and over 200 sessions (thread).
Setting and rules are tied together. Clan schools teach techniques, clans act as factions that matter beyond the PCs, and renown makes the world feel cohesive (thread).
Shadowlands taint works as a sanity or corruption track, and 5e's Intrigue system suits scenes where characters can't fight the big evil (thread).

What tables struggle with

Strife fills fast because over half the die faces carry strife symbols, so the 10 Composure limit is easy to hit. Yet the penalties can be cancelled with a simple roleplay action, and the core book gives little guidance on unmasking (thread).
Custom dice are hard or costly to get for in-person play, and 5e takes more cognitive load to learn and read, especially for the GM. The official app and a dice-tracking mat help (thread).
One trad-minded table found 5e's giri and strife overload off-putting. Both editions get clunky as techniques and katas pile up, and subsystems like mass combat and grappling are awkward (thread).
Cosmic-horror play needs stat adjustments, or characters just draw swords on the monster (thread).
Clan and faction conflict can dominate play, which not every player wants (thread).

Who it suits

Traditional-leaning tables, who tend to prefer 4e.
Groups who like narrative dice and soap-opera drama, who tend to prefer 5e.
Tables that want character progression and faction play rooted in the setting.

In players' words

"The entire penalty system is easily negated with a role-play action, which is bizarre." (thread)
"in L5R the special dice are actually interesting because it is an actual choice which dice you keep vs which ones you drop." (thread)
"those 3 campaigns still live rent free in our heads." (thread)

The threads behind it

Each thread is rated for the play it describes, from the firsthand reports in it. Load one here or read it on Reddit.

7.5

Why is L5R 4e vs 5e so divided and which one should I run

The thread compares L5R 4e and 5e, and the people who played them mostly report enjoying them. They disagree on which edition suits them: tables that like traditional play prefer 4e, and fans of narrative dice prefer 5e. Much of the thread is about lore, metaplot and proprietary dice rather than play, and those parts were not rated. 9 firsthand · 25 comments

Open on Reddit

6.5

Is there good rpg about samurai other than Legend of the Five Rings

The thread is mostly about alternative samurai RPGs, with only a handful of firsthand L5R remarks. Those remarks are generally positive, with the OP running 7 campaigns and a GM on a second 5e campaign, but 5e players criticize the strife/stress system for being too easily negated by roleplay and for filling up too fast. 6 firsthand · 51 comments

Open on Reddit

7.5

I'm looking that is L5R meets CoC

The thread is mostly recommendations for other systems (Mythras, BRP, Cthulhu Samurai, Mork Borg), and only a few comments describe actually playing L5R. Those players say the Shadowlands taint and corruption rules make horror leave a mark on characters and are easy to adapt for a cosmic-horror campaign, though the evidence is thin. 3 firsthand · 12 comments

Open on Reddit

8.5

Suggestions for games that bleed the setting into the rules (and vice versa) like Legend of the Five Rings & others

The thread is mostly about other games (Earthdawn, RuneQuest, The One Ring and others) recommended as L5R-like. The only L5R play evidence is the original poster, whose group ran L5R and still loves it as their happiest TTRPG experience, plus one commenter who played it and says factions matter more there than in Earthdawn. 2 firsthand · 28 comments

Open on Reddit

8.0

Games with a similar core mechanic as L5r 5e?

The thread is mostly about which other systems (Genesys, Star Wars, Cortex Prime, Tales of Xadia) resemble L5R 5e's dice, not about play of L5R itself. The only firsthand report is the OP, who has been playing L5R 5e and enjoys the dice pool, strife and dice-choosing mechanic for the agency it gives players. 1 firsthand · 10 comments

Open on Reddit