How I Started

by Duncan MacPhail
Player Design Team

It’s all Fred’s fault. You see, one of my best friends – that’s Fred – told me about this new card game he liked. It was called Legend of the Five Rings. I had learned the ropes, and cut my teeth with games like Magic and Jyhad, and I was all for trying another game. Little did I know, what it would all lead to. Fred showed me some of his cards. I thought they were too dark and, frankly, kind of hard to read. But still, there was something endearing about this quirky little game.

I liked the way they printed the Stronghold right on the back of the box. Making the box itself part of the game. It showed that the guys making this game were using all the resources they had to make the game something special. We also discovered that there was a section of new rules inside the wrappers of the Forbidden Knowledge booster packs. Add in the koku proofs of purchase, and this game was full of little Easter eggs to hunt for.

My first game was a five player, all night affair. We were using decks with very little tuning, as we were just getting started, and none of us knew anything of the game’s strategy. We discovered the simplest of tactics, ally with the Unicorn and he’ll crush a Province for you.

This was Emerald Edition, and pretty soon I was using all my free time (and man, did I have plenty of that back then) looking for places I could buy and play L5R. I noticed that the local stores that were playing L5R back then were generally cleaner and had friendlier folks than some of the dives where you found people competing at Magic.

In fact, the way people played was just different. Players would include characters in the their decks just because they were cool; even if they weren’t terribly effective. The game mechanics were brutal, but the people I met didn’t play cutthroat. They played to have fun, sharing an activity together. It didn’t take long for L5R to become my favorite game. The friends I made are still some of my closest friends today.

The folks I was playing with collected because they were excited about the cards and the stories written into the card text. It wasn’t just a hunt for the rarest and most over powered card. Cards like Akodo Toturi, with his beautiful flavor text “One must bow to offer aid to a fallen man,” showed there was a story unfolding in the cards. It was like there was this mystery to be solved, and the best way to solve it was to get more cards.

And once I had all these cards, it only made sense to build decks with them. Pretty soon I had a deck (or more!) built for every faction. It was clear that this game wasn’t always about fair play; when the Toturi’s Army faction came out they were the clear underdogs, so finding a way to win with them was a special thrill.

And then I saw that they were accepting card ideas from players, from me! I could write cards for this game! So I did. I started reading about Asian history, fantasy and culture just so I could get more ideas for cards. Seeing my ideas in print gave me a feeling of participation bigger than just an enjoyment of the game. I felt like I was a part of it, and so it was my game.

So, like I said, it’s all Fred’s fault. Thanks, Fred!