Roleplaying in Sanctuary

Our Phoenix lead author, Tariq Ali, has created a supplement for role playing games, so that you can go on adventures in Sanctuary. Here’s what he has to say about the upcoming lore book.

Emerald Legacy is the fan continuation of the L5R LCG. In the process of developing this continuation, we created a lot of lore surrounding Sanctuary and the clans that migrated there. I wanted to engage in this lore outside the LCG, specifically in a roleplaying game format. So I started running modules within both my regular gaming group and at a gaming convention, where players participated in the politics of Sanctuary. Players work for the “Emerald Magistracy”, an unofficial organization of vigilantes, led by Ikoma Yumiko (a Lion samurai who was once an Emerald Magistrate on the mainland). When I GM’ed the adventures, I did so in the “noir magical samurai”—“a fairly cynical look at samurai drama, highlighting the interplay between corruption (mundane and supernatural), spirituality, politics, and violence”. My GMing is also inspired by the STRAIGHT play-style for PARANOIA—players have their own public objective given to them by Ikoma Yumiko but may have their own secrets and hidden agendas.

I eventually compiled my notes into a systems-neutral roleplaying game supplement. This lorebook will contain:

• a letter from Ikoma Yumiko, your superior, setting the tone for the rest of the supplement
• some notes about the rival magistracies of Sanctuary, and NPCs who belong to these magistracies
• two RPG modules set within Sanctuary itself:
• Recovery of the Katanas: The Ceremonial Robes have been stealing katanas from the Phoenix clan. Enter into the Empty City to recover these stolen katanas…and Ichiro, Yumiko’s loyal doshin.
• Sunken Costs: The Lion and Scorpion clans are exchanging hostages in Yakatabune Port, while a mysterious deity haunts the city. Pretend to oversee this hostage exchange – but find out what’s really going on. (This adventure is based on Episode 40 of the The Last Province podcast, an April Fools’ podcast episode about a fictional RPG adventure, responsible for creating the “Otter clan” meme)
• pre-generated “secret sheets” that can be used in any ruleset
• some of the amazing art already being used for Emerald Legacy
• some bonus content regarding Isawa Hifumi, the Phoenix clan’s Expedition Leader 🙂

This roleplaying game supplement is not “canonical” to the Emerald Legacy fictions. This is because the Emerald Legacy fictions (and L5R fictions in general) are generally optimistic, while this lorebook itself is more cynical.

That being said, lorebooks are intended to be useful resources for GMs. If you want to change the tone of the adventures, to fit your table or your GMing style, go right ahead. Sanctuary is not a place, but a state of mind.

We’ll keep you posted when this roleplaying supplement is ready for release, art and all. But if you want early access to the roleplaying supplement, you can download a text-only version of this supplement here. Obviously, things are subject to change. But at least this should give you some ideas of what the final product will look like.

Ikoma Yumiko is counting on you. Don’t disappoint her.

If you’re interested in building off this supplement (such as writing your own adventures and “publishing” them), go ahead! However, I would humbly request that you let me review your content first. By doing this, I could then “endorse” your content, and make it a part of the “Sanctuary RPG verse”. You can email me at
tra38 at nau dot edu.