ancestral
Warlord
I've toyed with the idea for a long, long time, and for modding in different games. However I keep returning to Civ IV and, well, now that I've got the Complete Edition I think it's time.
Welcome to the Legend of the Five Rings development thread for Civ IV: BTS!
How to Help
If you have familiarity with Legend of the Five Rings, or simply an interest in East Asian cultures and history, and would like to see this mod released, consider volunteering to help! There will certainly enough work to do. At this point it's still in the design phase, so any input you have would be awesome. Feel free to post reply, or send me a PM directly if you so choose.
There will always be a need for design help, how to implement something, what to include, but there are many parts of the project that I am not as strong in doing, including unit artwork, music and sound. I'll do my best to update this post reflecting what the mod's current needs are.
What is L5R?
Miyamoto Musashi, a real Samurai who wrote The Book of Five Rings.
L5R (Legend of the Five Rings) is a game loosely based on a book, The Book of Five Rings by a famous Samurai, Miyamoto Musashi, written some time around 1645. Much like Sun Tzu's The Art of War it is a treatise on military strategy. I have not read the book, but one of the things he emphasizes is a unique combat style involving both a katana blade and a wakizashi (a short sword).
The world was imagined by the folks over at Alderac Entertainment over a decade ago using this book as inspiration and made it into a collectible card game. They went further and developed a tabletop roleplaying game later. (I smell an opportunity for an MMORPG in the future…
And yes, there are five rings, representing the elements Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and a fifth element, Void, which describes nothing, or perhaps that of being present or staying connected.
It's a story set in a fictional, Japanese-like continent in a feudal society with not only Samurai and Monks, but also magic through Shugenja — powerful priests that channel the elements around them. The continent of Rokugan is separated into Clans (much like states) and the nation as a whole is ruled by the Emperor (just like in feudal Japan). Samurai swear to the code of Bushido and honor means everything, where your actions reflect how you are viewed and whether you bring glory or shame to your family name. And there's an ever present evil called The Shadowlands containing ugly, monstrous Oni that continually threaten and plague the Empire.
The Plan
The plan right now is to make a TC mod and after that a scenario set at a specific time in Rokugan's history.
Buildings
Haven't thought this through all the way, but there are some possible things to add. Tea houses and geisha houses, for example. Will probably defer to various holdings used in the CCG.
Civilizations
Playable sides will be of the various clans.
Events
Expect various events, some pleasant, others not. Again, I'll probably borrow things from the CCG here.
Technologies
Obviously the tech tree will need to be reworked. I plan on keeping most of the Ancient, Classical, and Medieval techs. Expect some techs like Alchemy, Horse Breeding or Siege Warfare. Generally, the tech tree will be expanded, though will stop before the end of the Renaissance. (Sorry, but the denizens of Rokugan don't get to invent Gunpowder or Railroads.)
Units
I have a very incomplete unit list, but expect it to include:
There will certainly be unique units; perhaps as many as two or three per clan. Scorpions might get Deceivers, Lions get Akodo Champions while Unicorns get Battle Maidens, for example. I've got a nice list of possible UU's to do here; it's just a matter of paring it down.
What's Next
At this point I need to finish lists of the techs, units and buildings. After that it's time to write some XML files. I'll be, hopefully, putting up a tech tree sometime this week, open for critique.
We'll see where this goes…
Welcome to the Legend of the Five Rings development thread for Civ IV: BTS!





How to Help
If you have familiarity with Legend of the Five Rings, or simply an interest in East Asian cultures and history, and would like to see this mod released, consider volunteering to help! There will certainly enough work to do. At this point it's still in the design phase, so any input you have would be awesome. Feel free to post reply, or send me a PM directly if you so choose.
There will always be a need for design help, how to implement something, what to include, but there are many parts of the project that I am not as strong in doing, including unit artwork, music and sound. I'll do my best to update this post reflecting what the mod's current needs are.
What is L5R?
Spoiler What is L5R? :

Miyamoto Musashi, a real Samurai who wrote The Book of Five Rings.
L5R (Legend of the Five Rings) is a game loosely based on a book, The Book of Five Rings by a famous Samurai, Miyamoto Musashi, written some time around 1645. Much like Sun Tzu's The Art of War it is a treatise on military strategy. I have not read the book, but one of the things he emphasizes is a unique combat style involving both a katana blade and a wakizashi (a short sword).
The world was imagined by the folks over at Alderac Entertainment over a decade ago using this book as inspiration and made it into a collectible card game. They went further and developed a tabletop roleplaying game later. (I smell an opportunity for an MMORPG in the future…




And yes, there are five rings, representing the elements Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and a fifth element, Void, which describes nothing, or perhaps that of being present or staying connected.
It's a story set in a fictional, Japanese-like continent in a feudal society with not only Samurai and Monks, but also magic through Shugenja — powerful priests that channel the elements around them. The continent of Rokugan is separated into Clans (much like states) and the nation as a whole is ruled by the Emperor (just like in feudal Japan). Samurai swear to the code of Bushido and honor means everything, where your actions reflect how you are viewed and whether you bring glory or shame to your family name. And there's an ever present evil called The Shadowlands containing ugly, monstrous Oni that continually threaten and plague the Empire.
The plan right now is to make a TC mod and after that a scenario set at a specific time in Rokugan's history.
Buildings
Haven't thought this through all the way, but there are some possible things to add. Tea houses and geisha houses, for example. Will probably defer to various holdings used in the CCG.
Civilizations
Playable sides will be of the various clans.
- Crab
- Crane
- Dragon
- Lion
- Mantis
- Phoenix
- Scorpion
- Unicorn
- Minor Clans
- Imperial Families
- Spider?
- Naga?
- Nezumi?
Events
Expect various events, some pleasant, others not. Again, I'll probably borrow things from the CCG here.
Technologies
Obviously the tech tree will need to be reworked. I plan on keeping most of the Ancient, Classical, and Medieval techs. Expect some techs like Alchemy, Horse Breeding or Siege Warfare. Generally, the tech tree will be expanded, though will stop before the end of the Renaissance. (Sorry, but the denizens of Rokugan don't get to invent Gunpowder or Railroads.)
Units
I have a very incomplete unit list, but expect it to include:
- Samurai
- Infantry
- Cavalry
- Monk
- Courtier
- Shugenja
- Ninja
There will certainly be unique units; perhaps as many as two or three per clan. Scorpions might get Deceivers, Lions get Akodo Champions while Unicorns get Battle Maidens, for example. I've got a nice list of possible UU's to do here; it's just a matter of paring it down.
What's Next
At this point I need to finish lists of the techs, units and buildings. After that it's time to write some XML files. I'll be, hopefully, putting up a tech tree sometime this week, open for critique.
Spoiler Update 11-15 :
Sometimes things sit on the back burner for a while. And sometimes you play Civ V and realize how much you actually miss Civ IV!
I've been thinking through this mod some more and trying to capture the flavor and feel of the L5R universe. I've been thinking mostly of cities, improvements, and units.
Cities
The Legend of the Five Rings setting is in a small scale. Rokugan is in one corner of a continent, with 8 major clans each holding approximately 3-5 towns or cities and a handful of villages. It doesn't yield well to quick expansion. To keep things small, I'm thinking of imposing stricter penalties for large clans to keep fast expansion down. This will also force players to really think their building choices and should help with the invariably fewer number of wonders that will be present.
Settlers and workers are the heimin farmers, with the other heimin artisans, merchants, and priests/monks making up the city specialists.
There are 5 schools that players will be able to build in their cities, but, there will be a limit of 2 per city. Players can choose to build bushi, courtier, monk, ninja or shugenja schools; from there they'll be able to train samurai of those schools.]
Wonders
So far, the Kaiu (or Carpenter) Wall is the only one that springs to mind, but I'll have to leaf through my L5R resources because I know there are others.
Other tidbits
The goal right now is to work on each clan one at a time. Starting alphabetically, I'll be detailing the Crab.
The Crab Clan
THE DEFENDERS
The Crab have a brash, rough attitude, as seen by the other clans. Being so close to the Shadowlands it has emboldened their strength and push for victory as the first line of defense to the Rokugan.
Gameplay Considerations
Starting Techs
Landmarks
I've been thinking through this mod some more and trying to capture the flavor and feel of the L5R universe. I've been thinking mostly of cities, improvements, and units.
Cities
The Legend of the Five Rings setting is in a small scale. Rokugan is in one corner of a continent, with 8 major clans each holding approximately 3-5 towns or cities and a handful of villages. It doesn't yield well to quick expansion. To keep things small, I'm thinking of imposing stricter penalties for large clans to keep fast expansion down. This will also force players to really think their building choices and should help with the invariably fewer number of wonders that will be present.
Settlers and workers are the heimin farmers, with the other heimin artisans, merchants, and priests/monks making up the city specialists.
There are 5 schools that players will be able to build in their cities, but, there will be a limit of 2 per city. Players can choose to build bushi, courtier, monk, ninja or shugenja schools; from there they'll be able to train samurai of those schools.]
Wonders
So far, the Kaiu (or Carpenter) Wall is the only one that springs to mind, but I'll have to leaf through my L5R resources because I know there are others.
Other tidbits
- Delete a unit --> Commit Seppuku
- Gold --> Koku
The goal right now is to work on each clan one at a time. Starting alphabetically, I'll be detailing the Crab.
The Crab Clan
THE DEFENDERS
The Crab have a brash, rough attitude, as seen by the other clans. Being so close to the Shadowlands it has emboldened their strength and push for victory as the first line of defense to the Rokugan.
Gameplay Considerations
- Except in the scenario it's not going to be possible or fair to push hordes of oni onto the Crab, especially without an awesome Carpenter Wall to help repel them.
Starting Techs
- Mining
- Wheel
- Fishing
Landmarks
- The Carpenter Wall may play similarly to The Great Wall.
We'll see where this goes…
