Legend of the Five Rings RPG

This Legend of the Five Rings RPG review is part of my “Best Tabletop RPGs of All Time” article. If you want to check out more TTRPGs and see how other top-tier tabletop RPGs are ranked, visit that page.

My Review – 68 / 100

Legend of the Five Rings is another one of the lesser-known TTRPGs on my top tabletop RPGs of all time list, though it’s been around for a long time. If you aren’t regularly involved in gaming conventions, you might not have ever heard of the game before.

Nowadays, the Legend of the Five Rings card game is much more well-known and popular than the tabletop game. But, of course, we’ll be discussing the TTRPG.

Keep in mind while reading this review that though Legend of the Five Ring RPG does “only” have a score of 68/100, that’s in relation to the absolute best TTRPGs of all time – as in, it only has that score when compared to games like Dungeons and Dragons. Likewise, my review of it may seem harsh at times, but again, that’s only in comparison to the absolute best games.

Bottom line is that Legend of the Five Rings RPG is a great tabletop game, and because of its focus on roleplaying a samurai or someone in that era and region, could very well become one of your new favorite games.

Legend of the Five Rings RPG Uniqueness: (7/10)

There are a number of unique elements in the core mechanics of Legend of the Five Rings RPG. Some of these unique elements are quite cool and add to the game. Others are not so good and definitely distract from the game’s story.

First off, I’m not a big fan of rounding dice/ numbers as a core mechanic, which unfortunately, Legend of the Five Rings RPG features. There isn’t necessarily a ton of that kind of thing, but it is present in key scenarios. Not good.

This game also has unique dice symbols on d6 and d12 that represent special circumstances that come up when you roll them. To play the game, you must either memorize these symbols and what they mean, or else reference the rulebook. This is probably no big deal if you play Five Rings a lot, but will slow you down, otherwise.

One thing I do really like is that for skill checks, each resolution is given an element (as in fire, earth, water, wind, etc.) by the game master, which corresponds with what a player’s trying to accomplish. The use of these elements in the core mechanics certainly fits the game’s lore and overall feel.

I also enjoy the unique approach Legend of the Five Rings takes with character advancement. Instead of simply getting more stats when your character levels up, you get to choose what you want to improve, from stats, to skills, to sword techniques, and more. This game does give you a lot of customization options for character development, over time.

Ease of Learning Legend of the Five Rings: (8/10)

When it comes to characters, there are low-number ranks to character attributes, which keeps things simple. Skills are broken down into “elements” (wind, water, earth, etc.) which also fits the game, thematically.

When building a character, you choose a clan (which gives you skills, stats, and “glory”), and a school (which provides your starting techniques). Unfortunately, to grasp the concepts of your character’s clan, school, and overall stats, you need to really do some digging into this game’s character building pages. And by “some” digging, I really mean “quite a bit” of digging.

Making a basic character isn’t super hard in Legend of the Five Rings RPG, but advancing a character is complex since every level up allows you to improve whatever you want.

Legend of the Five Rings RPG Presentation: (6/10)

I like the samurai/ Asian culture vibe present in Legend of the Five Rings RPG. It’s self-described as a “game of samurai drama,” where “characters are torn between their personal desires and their sworn duties, and must often contend with cunning court intrigues, deadly armed conflicts, and dangerous supernatural creatures.” It’s an interesting setup.

When it comes to presentation, the overall book layout is satisfactory. I did find it odd though that there aren’t clearly marked starts to chapters. As in, font, size, and coloring aren’t very unique when compared to the rest of the game’s text. Speaking of the font, I do think the choice for the main body of text for the game adds to the overall style of the book.

One thing I’ll also get into more later is that there’s virtually no art in the PDF rulebook, which of course, does lower the overall presentation score.

Legend of the Five Rings Lore: (10/10)

Everything about the game adds to the game’s lore. There isn’t a single character-building piece that isn’t filled with lore. From choosing your clan, to choosing your school, to choosing your character’s attributes, every part of it is rich with ideas for building entire RPG campaigns.

If you enjoy the idea of roleplaying a samurai in a Far East culture, you will love the lore of this game.

Combat in Legend of the Five Rings RPG: (6/10)

When getting ready to write this review, I expected to experience quite a bit of high-drama combat in Legend of the Five Rings RPG. Amazingly, I was disappointed.

Basically, there just isn’t anything in Legend of the Five Rings that wows me when it comes to combat. Instead, combat is very basic – something you might find in just about any other tabletop RPG out there.

There are some basic maneuvers available to players, but really combat is determined by your character’s attributes, skills, and a few techniques. Surprisingly, there’s nothing about combat in the game that deeply engaged me, or made me want to fight other samurai in dramatic duels to the death to maintain my honor.

Five Rings is more of a storytelling game, so it’s ok – in a sense – that combat isn’t a major focus. But let’s get real. This is a game about samurai. I feel jipped that combat isn’t a major focus. Why isn’t there a massive list of sword techniques, combat stances, and cool “stuff” for me to do?

One thing I do like about combat (now that I’ve told you how boring it is), is that battles are very fast and very deadly. I do like the realism. Five Rings also rules for mass combat, which is a plus.

Game “Flow”: (6/10)

Caution: this is one of the worst parts of Legend of the Five Rings RPG. If you find that this section doesn’t bother you it may be a good sign that this game might just be a very good fit for you.

Ok, there are a ton of steps to skill check resolutions (6 in total) in Legend of the Five Rings RPG. Additionally, each step has its own extra intricacy (sometimes a little, sometimes a lot).

Skill checks also come with “strife and composure.” Strife and composure explain how well the samurai maintains their proper decorum while completing difficult tasks, and what happens if they don’t. Finally, there are opportunities for narrative flair, according to the “element” (fire, water, wind, earth) and associated attribute of the task.

Compare everything you just read to something that you might see in Dungeons and Dragons: “roll d20 plus modifiers against a DC (difficulty check), and narrate what happens based on whether or not you succeed.”

See the difference? When it comes to Legend of the Five Rings, I both like the game system and I don’t. The game’s core mechanics definitely allows players to build a story from their character’s actions, but damn is it in-depth. And it’s slow.

Basically, an entire game happens in those 6 steps that happen with every skill check. My problem is that a lot of time gets eaten up over what I would consider to be relatively non-consequential pieces of the story.

Legend of the Five Rings Artwork: (4/10)

So, I have the PDF version of Legend of the Five Rings RPG. There’s no art in the PDF. I do not have the printed version, where I know there is art.

When I’ve looked online for Legend of the Five Rings, there’s amazing art everywhere. That art is just not in the PDF, and I honestly don’t know how much art there is in the actual printed book, aside from the cover.

My guess is that a lot of the great art you can find online either comes from the Five Rings card game, or from fan art.

I’m giving Five Rings some points here because I have to assume that there is some art in the printed version of the game, but I can’t in good conscience list the score among the best since the PDF really fell short in this category. In my opinion, every representation of a game that’s listed among the world’s best, whether printed or published as PDF should give the very best foot forward, possible.

Ease of Purchase: (10/10)

It is very easy to purchase Legend of the Five Rings RPG. The game can be found on both Amazon and the Fantasy Flight Games website.

Price & How Many Books Do You Need to Play: (7/10)

To play the game, all you need is the core rulebook that’s meant for players. If you really want it – as in, if you’re certain you’re going to play an entire RPG campaign using Legend of the Five Rings – the Dungeon Master’s guide to the game isn’t too much extra.

Fame & Availability of Supplemental Material: (4/10)

I know of Legend of the Five Rings from gaming conventions and other hardcore tabletop gamers. However, I’ve only even seen Legend of the Five Rings RPG or the card game version in tabletop gaming stores maybe twice.

As I mentioned before, if you do an online search for the game, you mostly find the card game. To find the tabletop game, you have to specifically search for “legend of the five rings RPG.”

At the end of the day, though this game is pretty good, I think it’s becoming so eclipsed by both the card game version and other (better) tabletop RPGs, that it’s on the way out from most player’s gaming tables. That being said, I think you could find some gamers to try out this TTRPG, and have a great time for at least a few sessions.

Legend of the Five Rings RPG is Produced By:

Fantasy Flight Games

30 Years in the Making…Our Tabletop RPG Is Finally Here!

September 4, 2026

Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP5OwjeAVBE Transcription [00:00:00] Welcome back to Eternity TTRPG YouTube, where I go over things going on in the tabletop role-playing community, um, from D&D to Crooked Moon to other games that we see. And this might be, for me, my most exciting one that I've gone over to date. Um, we have some very exciting news. I know if you've watched our channel in the past couple weeks, in the past couple months, um, you've seen videos talking about this card game, Battler, and we even did, um, a bit of an interview style talking about this game and its origin story and why it's so important to us. And the short version of that is my husband has been working on a tabletop role-playing game for 30 years at this point, you know, since he was a boy. And now here we are at the point where we have [00:01:00] something manufactured, published, and ready to sell, and it showed up at our doorstep this week. So we had this 750-pound pallet with 28 boxes of our game show up. Here it is. Sparks of Eternity Emanation. It is here. It is just-- It's better than, you know, we imagined it would be with just... It's just amazing. You know? You always talk about these things happening and these dreams coming true and, like, making a product. And to finally have it is an amazing experience. So, you know, we of course took the time this week to revel in that a little bit and, you know, we took the pictures. We [00:02:00] did the time lapses of everything. We just-- We got to see our dream come true this week. And, you know, this was his dream first, and I got to join in with it. And especially in the past year, um, this game was, you know, an idea from me, and he made it come true with his game. And it's just been a great experience getting to work together on it and play test it and everything. So let's go ahead and get into what is in the box. The guide, of course, you know, the how-to manual, how to play, what everything is, what all the symbols mean. And then of course you have the credits on the back with our artist on there as well as, you know, my husband and I's name, which is pretty incredible getting our name on something. And then you go into the box, and you get to see that there are six dice because it is a six-player game. [00:03:00] It can be up to six players, and you can obviously have more if you have more of the, um, uh, class decks. And then you have your life sparks, the red and the yellow, the red depicting, um, five hit points and the yellow depicting one. So, you know, some characters will start with that five hit points, and some will start with six or seven. And then I've seen hit points get all the way up to twenty-one if the healing ends up going super well. And then jumping into each of the classes that you see in this box, you are going to have the judge, the druid, the oracle, the, um... Oh, gosh You have all these different classes that we decided to put into what is considered the base game. And that is just amazing to see all of this artwork and getting it put together. And then on top of all [00:04:00] that, you have, um, the different effect cards. So your dazed, your blinded, your charmed, um, as well as some additional rules and details and your turn overviews to help you with the, like, getting going and your different turns. So that way you don't have to reference the how-to guide as often, the, um, instruction manual as often. So between my husband and I, because, you know, we've been play testing this for a year at this point, it has been a full calendar year, we have gotten to the point where we can play games in under 10 minutes. Um, however, this does state that it can take up to 30 when you are just learning this game. Um, of course, when you're just learning, you take a little more time with your turns and making sure everybody understands what is going on. Because the goal is to get to play faster [00:05:00] and to dive into this world a little bit quicker, you know? You want to be able to really enjoy this class that you're taking a part of and understand like, hey, this is why the druid is the druid. The druid gets to use these different shapes, the wolf and the griffin, to do more powerful attacks. Whereas the assassin, of course, has different things to help his assassin hit harder and guarantee that it hits and it can't be blocked. Um, so there's just all these little nuances about what you're playing with to see how it goes. So, you know, it's here. We are getting the final touches on everything for shipping, getting the sales page up, um, getting, you know, the different tiers because we are gonna offer a couple different things. Like, yes, we do have the box game, [00:06:00] but we also have a PDF version that has other classes available that you can just print off at home without having to have the box. Um, the other thing is we're looking at putting together a higher tier that is gonna have the box itself, but also a dedicated art book with all of the art that, um, has been used, we intend to use, that our artist has done. And there are a few other things with that tier that you're just gonna have to check out. But with all of that being said, we should be available to ship these within the next week. So we're gonna put that link below and if you don't mind waiting just a little bit longer, you can go ahead and order. However, once we get past this first week, we are gonna be shipping on a more regular schedule and we're excited to see the, uh, demand that these games will have. Of course, we have family and friends that want to see this, but we also want to grow the community with everyone else. So any support that you want to [00:07:00] give is greatly appreciated and it helps us achieve our dreams further and hopefully we can support others on their dreams. Um, so with that, comment, like, subscribe, let us know how we're doing. If you have any questions on the game, please let us know. And if you really would like to, please, uh, hit that button to order now. Thanks so much. Bye.

D&D Started it, but Where does Table Top RPGs go from here?

August 28, 2026

Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t2a-i3pyRk Transcription [00:00:00] Welcome back to the Eternity TTRPG channel, where I discuss different happenings in the tabletop role-playing universe, as well as talk about the game that my husband and I are actively creating. So one thing I wanna talk about this go around is a bit of the origin story of tabletop, um, as well as where it could be going and what's different about it and all those kind of things, right? So to start this off, when To start this off, I always thought of D&D as just D&D, right? D&D is [00:01:00] the premise of all tabletop role-playing. It's the genre itself. It's what I use to define the genre, is D&D. Because I think it was the first thing, right? It was the first thing where you could sit at a table with this book and go through a campaign and a dungeon and play this way. And then other creators said, "Hey, what if we take this thing that was created, and let's try it this way and go through this dungeon instead and this dungeon instead? And what if we add, you know, other universes now, like Star Wars and Avatar: The Last Airbender, and explore those worlds?" And the way that I look at it is that D&D was a way for people to come together and this singular person to lead you through their imagination, right? And now we come into today's day and age, and everybody has a lot of different ideas and imagination [00:02:00] going on. And with that, you have all of these different tabletop role-playing systems coming out and all these different campaigns coming out. But what are we trying to do, I guess? And how does D&D today translate to all of this? So the way that I'm starting to look at it is that these other systems could have just been, you know, the group of friends in the basement that was like, "Hey, I wanna try it this way." And it caught on and they're like, "Hey, my friend's like this. Let's make this an actual thing." And here comes all of these other role-playing games now. And the thing that we hear so much when I hear people talk about their other tabletop role-playing game is, "Oh, well, it's different than D&D. Oh, it does this that's [00:03:00] better. Oh, this is, you know, an easier system." And, you know, that's great and all, but the second you say tabletop role-playing or you say the words D&D, I just think D&D because D&D is the foundation of this entire genre, and it's going to continue to be, even with all of these different tabletops coming in and trying to change the system and all these different things. So when I realize this and everything, and I start to think about the game that my husband has been working on for 30 years and started in a basement, right, with a group of friends, um, I start to think, well, what makes it different? And the thing is we tend to use different in a way to make it seem better than what's already out there, right? And I don't think that's what [00:04:00] we're trying to do, but it's how it comes across in normal society. So with that being said, right- Just because we're different, it doesn't, you know, make us better. It just gives us other options in life. So the thing that I'm seeing the most when people say things are different is you're just getting a different campaign style. You're just getting a different, you know, way to play the game, perhaps a better entry point into tabletop role-playing. And I think in the end, all that we're trying to do is grow a community, right? You're trying to get to be more than just, you know, those 30, 40, 50-year-olds that were growing up playing it in their basement, and you're trying to get the younger generations to continue it. And I will say Stranger Things did help with that. Thank you, Stranger Things, for, you know, bringing it to light a little bit [00:05:00] more. But this thing with imagination is starting to gain so much popularity because we're starting to see so much more of the world, right? So I feel like I'm on a soapbox with this whole news channel because it is just my thoughts right now with this video. But let's just think about this for a second. We really hit... Actually, let's go back When we were in, you know, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, '80s, '90s, we were using libraries and books, encyclopedias, and it was, you know, kind of difficult to travel the world and have the money to do that, and you didn't always know what you were getting into. And it's like the world itself that we lived in held so much imagination [00:06:00] that we didn't know what to do with it, and we were able to go and do these things and strive for these things and just let it all explode and experience it realistically. Now, you hit the 2000s, the '10s, the '20s, and we had technology hit. We had social media hit. And we had access to these places just expand, and now we have everything that we want in this world in the palm of our hand, you know, in front of our faces. We can see it. We can hear it. The only thing we can't do is tangibly touch it unless we actually go there. But with this greater access and faster time to this greater access, w- I feel like our imagination has gone [00:07:00] down. So now, here's where we come into tabletop role-playing and why this connects, right? So we have this big push for tabletop role-playing, other systems, the original D&D system, because that's all the imagination we really have left. Now, I know that's a big statement, and you can rip me apart for that later. But take a moment and think about that. We have everything we could ever want in the palm of our hands except for this world that we can create and never actually see. And now, this is where imagination is coming back, the tabletop role-playing is coming back, because we've already encountered everything else. So now we have to make up these [00:08:00] stories in our heads to create a boost in our brains to just get something else that our phones and our computers and our technology can't give us And that is a lot to take in and think about So with that happening, I know that was a bit of a long soapbox, but with all that happening, we have these people once again that are trying to share their imagination, but they want to be different than the original D&D. But different isn't bad and options aren't bad. So with that in mind, I challenge you to go try a different RPG than you are used to. Get out of [00:09:00] your comfort zone and just give it a try. Because with the world being in the palm of our hands, we have to be exploring different worlds. We have to try these different things because that is the only way that I think we have left to grow. So I know that is some interesting thoughts and I don't know if I'll ever actually post this video, but if I do, comment, like, subscribe, give me your thoughts below and we'll catch y'all next time.

The Creepy Side of Crooked Moon: Silkborn & Threadborn

August 23, 2026

Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-H39bG14JM Transcription [00:00:00] Welcome back to the Eternity TTRPG channel, where I talk about different tabletop role-playing things in the universe, as well as the TTRPG that my husband and I are making and releasing products for. So this time, I want to continue, uh, the Crooked Moon series, talking about the different races, and I'm gonna cover two more. So this go around, I want to talk about two characters that are a bit creepier than what they usually look like or what you expect, right? Um, so the first one I'm gonna go on about is the Silkborn race. So the Silkborn, if you don't like spiders, is immediately creepy. However, um, the lore behind them is what makes me stop and think, "Are they really that creepy?" Okay, so the idea of the Silkborn in Crooked Moon is that they have a whole [00:01:00] underground cave system covered in webs, gemstones everywhere, and they harness their power from these gemstones, which I think is actually a really cool idea, 'cause you get to take this, you know, thing that is, in my opinion, kind of creepy and turn it into something beautiful. I think about, like, g- going on walks and seeing spiderwebs out on my walk, and I'm like, "Wow, the architecture of that is really cool." But imagining it in a cave system, it becomes just another world, right? So with that, I think when you would build a Silkborn race character, you'd really lean into their idea of what's beautiful, what's not, and how would that structure society around them, right? What would they worship? How would their family dynamic be? Because this idea of [00:02:00] this character is that they would just emerge from a cocoon, a web cocoon of sorts, right? And then they emerge, and here is this city built of just webs that is creating these nets going back and forth and these glowing crystals. And then you start to wonder, well, where would their social hierarchy be maybe, right? Is it based on the size of the spider or perhaps the color of the spider? Or if the spider has X number of gemstones or X number of eyes, how do they compare in the world to others? So then we start to wonder about different character concepts that you could go on with these, right? So let's say you have this spider race, the Silkborn, join your D&D party, and they are an architect in their normal underground city, and they come to a human city, and [00:03:00] they're just bored at looking at it, and it feels very sterile, and there's not much natural beauty. Could that be a storyline, right? Or could we talk about maybe the gems and why they're so important to their race, and perhaps the spider is just wanting to collect gemstones, um, to better harness them, right? And then the other perspective you could take is that the spider Silkborn is an alien of some kind, right? So they could be, of course, the we don't know if we want to accept them into our party, but they have this information. Maybe they aren't so evil, so let's try and, you know, use them or accept them and how does that go, right? So the Silkborn is definitely a very interesting idea on a race that I don't think we've seen before and some people could find [00:04:00] very interesting Real quick to interrupt. Eternity TTRPG is releasing a card game battler which emulates combat from the D&D tabletop role-playing genre. Sparks of Eternity: Emanation is fast-paced, easy to learn, and features six classes from your favorite TTRPGs. Each class deck comes with its own set of unique abilities, which everyone plays at the same time, so there's never any downtime at your table. Each turn, everyone's characters levels up, giving players access to even more options. If you're interested in taking a look, we have our pre-sales page live now, packed with details. No payment info needed. Just let us know if you want an email when the product becomes available. Now, back to your video Switching gears, um, I'm gonna talk about the second race that I found, which is definitely a play on cute and creepy. Um , and that would be the threadborn. [00:05:00] So the threadborn, in what I'm finding, is this doll that is created, and they come to life. So I start to think of the classic Pinocchio, "I'm a real boy," and stuff like that, right? Because all Pinocchio wanted was to be a real boy and be living and, you know, work in the workshop and explore the world and all these different things and whatnot. So with that in mind, with the idea of the threadborn, I start to think of, of course, who created them and what are they gonna be like in this world now that they're created? Right? So this gives you a couple of different ideas for character concepts and where to go. The first one being, um, that, of course, as I mentioned, they're made not born. So what happens when the doll that's made outlives its creator? And [00:06:00] are they going to become super heartbroken and always on the search for this family that they lost? Um, and this could go into a whole thing of like, how long do threadborns actually live, and do they decompose after time? Because, you know, I think everything decomposes eventually, even if we don't expect it to. Um, so there's definitely that side of it, and do they meet younger generations of their creator, right, and make that their family? Um, another idea is that they're very helpful because if you're creating something like a doll, you're creating it for companionship, right? You're creating it to help you feel better about the world around you, that companionship, and with that companionship does come helpfulness. And perhaps the character concept is that they're too helpful. They're too willing to jump in. They're just [00:07:00] gonna go straight into battle without thinking because they know that's the thing that needs done. That's where we have to go. So that's definitely another side of it, the too helpful side. And then the other thing is that to some people, and I start to think of when I was younger, and every birthday up until I was eight, my grandmother got me a certain doll, and the doll was like a part of a set, and it was those porcelain dolls with the eyes that I swear would follow me, right? And I had a shelf of them to display them because that's what my parents wanted. I could not wait to take those things down because when you have those eyes following you in the dark, it's actually pretty creepy. Um, but that's the thing is dolls wouldn't know that they're creepy. They're just happy, smiling, eyes always open, watching you, and it becomes a whole question of this is normal for [00:08:00] them, but how does this translate to normal society? And it sounds like a bit of a nightmare to me, no matter how cute they are. So with that being said, I'm gonna wrap this up here. And what do you think? Would you rather play a spider or play a doll? And what kind of character concept would you go with? As always, like, comment, subscribe, and we will catch y'all next time. Thanks