Pyramid Review
The Way of the Minor Clans (for the L5R RPG)
Published by AEG
Compiled by Ree Soesbee
128 pages, $19.95
The Way of the Minor Clans is the ninth in the Clan Book series. As opposed to other "single" clan books, it contains information about the twelve minor clans.
There are currently nine more-or-less active Minor Clans in Rokugan. Each one of these occupies about 10 pages and one chapter of the book. The final chapter details the three "lost" clans. Each chapter gives information about the clan's history, what other clans think of it, its techniques, new spells and skills, important NPCs and ancestors, etc. Below is a short description of each chapter.
Introduction
Like all the other Clan Books, this one starts with a short story. This piece is called "Nightmares," and it tells how shugenja Ryosei became the daimyo of the Fox clan. According to the story, it looks like the book is set in the time after the SCC (If you don't know what that is, I won't spoil it for you here). This is a surprise, since the whole earthshaking event (known from the collectable card game) isn't even yet presented in the RPG storyline. According to AEG, however, this will corrected in the very near future. . .
Chapter I: The Mantis
The strongest of the Minor Clans resides in the Islands of Silk and Spice. Mantis has a colorful history, including a failed coup attempt against the Emperor himself. There is also a lot of interesting information about sailing in the seas of Rokugan, including bits about . . .
This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.
Article publication date: April 28, 2000
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