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

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

📖 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).