Unexpected Allies (for Legend of the Five Rings RPG)

Pyramid Review

Unexpected Allies (for Legend of the Five Rings RPG)

Published by AEG

Compiled by Patrick Kapera and Ree Soesbee

$19.95, 128 pages

When I first picked up Unexpected Allies, I thought that it would merely be a collection of NPCs for the Legend of the Five Rings RPG. I was glad to be wrong. Starting off with a short story, "A Dark Path's Beginning," that helps give the GM a feel for the alien soil of Rogukan, the book breaks into methods for crafting villains for the L5R game.

This section not only covers crafting villains and how to portray them, but discusses the role of allies as well. While some of the advice is ingrained into the bones of older GMs, newer ones will find themselves nodding at the hidden nuggets of wisdom contained herein. How some foes may not be evil, but simply different, how honor, glory and loyalty may clash against one another as both friend and foe vie for the same object, and how to craft characters that the players will want to interact with.

For the game specifically, there are several new ancestors that players may take for the characters ranging from Akodo Samune, a brave bushi who protected the Emperor's children when Iuchiban invaded Otosan Uchi, to Otaku Kunami, a samurai-ko with amazing horse prowess.

There are tables for quick generation of quirks and motivations. How about a glutton who is a deep sleeper and is motivated by lust? Sounds like a modern politician to me!

One of the things . . .

This article originally appeared in the second volume of Pyramid. See the current Pyramid website for more information.



Article publication date: August 25, 2000

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