Legend of the Five Rings

BGG Geek Rating
6.2
based on 1,726 ratings
BGG Average Rating
7.2
community average
BGG Ranking
#2272
all board games
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Players
2-8
Weight
3.29/5.00
Playtime
45 min
Age
12+

⚙️ Game Mechanics

How this game works - core systems and player actions

🎨 Artists

Brian Snoddy Miguel Coimbra Jeff Menges William O'Connor Jim Pavelec Mark Tedin Malcolm McClinton David Horne Charles Urbach Mike Raabe Diana Vick Alayna Lemmer-Danner John Donahue Lisa M. Hunt Susan Van Camp Michael Kaluta Mike Capprotti Randy Liu Ozan Art David Trowbridge Kevin Wasden Ron Spencer Thomas Biondiolillo Anthony Grabski Brandon Leach Quinton Hoover Eric Polak Beth Trott Michael Apice Max Degen Shane Coppage Julie Baroh Matt Busch Edwin David Luke Stelmaszek Glen Osterberger Brent Chumley K. C. Lancaster Steve Argyle Jaime Jones Jeff Himmelman Franz Vohwinkel Aaron Acevedo Mario Wibisono Kevin Daily John Moriarty Kari Christensen Anson Maddocks Paul Herbert Monte Moore Nate Barnes Matthew S. Armstrong Doug Kovacs Dave Kendall Kevin Ward Patrick McEvoy Ed Cox David Fooden Stacy Drum Daniel Gelon Robin Wouters Mark Poole Eric David Anderson Cline Seigenthaler Steve Ellis (I) Sławomir Maniak Britt Martin April Lee Monika Livingstone Tony Moseley Ellym Sirac Mark Hyzer Noah Bradley Pete Garcia Bob E. Hobbs Nicola Leonard Chuck Lukacs Thomas Manning Peter Mohrbacher Jarreau Wimberly Rob Alexander Randy Gallegos Cristina McAllister Audrey Corman Jason Juta Brad Williams Margaret Organ-Kean Andrew Hepworth Stacy Fitz Ben Peck Jason Engle Leonardo Borazio Chris Seaman Edward Fetterman Bryon Wackwitz Sandra Garavito Drew Baker Heather Bruton Michael Phillippi Doug Shuler Steve Ellis (II) Liz Danforth McLean Kendree Michael Williams Eric Lofgren Jonathan Moore Chris Arneson Jesus Barony Manuel Calderon Jose Cua Adam Denton Adam Bray Gonzalo Ordoñez Bonnie Hill Joachim Gmoser Corene Werhane Ancor Hernandez Angga Satriohadi Michael Lavoie (I) Veronica Jones Troy Graham Alberto Tavira Chris Pritchard James Hall Erich Schreiner Bradley McDevitt Bob Stevlic Raymond Gaustadnes Joe Wilson Heather Kreiter Lissanne Lake Theodor Black David Bollt Robin Wood Llyn Hunter Randy Elliott Janine Johnston Ted Galaday Stephanie Pui-Mun Law Jeff Reitz Michael Komarck Carl Frank Matt Wilson (I) Christina Wald Craig Maher

📖 About This Game

A collectible card game, set in a fantasy empire called Rokugan, based loosely upon medieval Japan and Japanese Mythology. The factions available have changed over the editions, but generally include the 7 Great Clans: Crab, Crane, Dragon, Lion, Phoenix, Scorpion, and Unicorn. Each has specific thematic elements, which are consistent across editions and descendant games. The other currently legal factions include the Spider, Mantis, and an unaligned ronin stronghold. The Rokugan setting has been changed over the years by participation in the storyline tournaments for the L5R CCG. Legend of the Five Rings is different from other collectible card games due to the concept of Clan loyalty. The Clans of the game are what you build your deck around, and the communities that have built up around the Crane Clan, Lion Clan, etc are the backbone of the game. When you say "I'm a Crab player" you instantly find yourself with hundreds and thousands of clan-mates who are there to help you become a better player. When one member of the Clan wins, all benefit. L5R was the first CCG to introduce cards that players directly influenced. These are still a core part of the game. The L5R CCG has spun off a number of related games: Clan War, a miniatures game. Diskwars: Legend of the Five Rings, a Rokugan-themed set of the Diskwars tabletop combat game. Unpublished Prototype, an as-yet unpublished wargame set in Rokugan. Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game As of 2006, only the CCG and Clan War have had storyline tournaments. Though the RPG players have been heavily involved in the ongoing plot in recent years. In 2008, L5R held the first "Mega-Game" which incorporated various methods of competition for the Clans and their supporters, not only in CCG form, but in contests (art, writing, poster-design, etc.), community work (charity, fundraising, food-drives), and more. The Dragon Clan ultimately won the first mega-game, and as such earned the privilege of having the next Empress come from their clan. In 2009, L5R released its first graphic novel, Death at Koten, which also included exclusive story-themed cards for the CCG. Also in 2009, L5R released The Imperial Gift the first completely free expansion in CCG history. In 2010 L5R celebrated its 15th Anniversary with many major events, new prizes, more free cards, and a special flashback set that brought back some of the most popular cards in the history of the game. 2010 also saw the largest World Championships event at Gen Con in the past 7 years. 2011 saw the release of War of Honor, an all new tile-based multiplayer format for L5R that comes with 4 pre-constructed decks. In september 2015, AEG and Fantasy Flight Games announced that FFG had bought the L5R brand from AEG and will relaunch the card game as a LCG (non-collectible), with significant rules changes and a new design. The game is to go on hiatus following the release of Evil Portents, the final expansion from AEG, and will be relaunched at Gencon 2017. FFG has also plans to continue the RPG at some point (in what form and with which ruleset is yet unknown).