History YMMV / LegendOfTheFiveRings

* EasilyForiven: As one review of Emperor Edition put it, the Spider becoming an offical clan despite their history of practicing [[BloodMagic Maho]] and Shourido, a blatant rejection of the code of [[Bushido]], as well as their founder [[BigBad Daigotsu]] murdering two of Rokugan's Emperors, is [[http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/771961/the-latest-edition-of-the-best-game-ever-a-totally kind of like Doctor Doom getting invited to join the Fantastic Four after helping chase off Galactus.]]

* EasilyForiven: As one review of Emperor Edition put it, the Spider becoming an offical clan despite their history of practicing [[BloodMagic Maho]] and [[Shourido]], as well as ther founder [[BigBad Daigotsu]] murderingtwo of Rokugan's Emperors, is [[http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/771961/the-latest-edition-of-the-best-game-ever-a-totally kind of like Doctor Doom getting invited to join the Fantastic Four after helping chase off Galactus.]]

* TheyJustDidntCare: More or less WizardsofTheCoast's attitude during the entire period where they had joint rights to the gamer along with AEG. They day that AEG bought exclusive rights back from the was a a day of great rejoicing. Though some critics also say that this is the attitude towards Japanese and Samurai Culture of the post Wick Story Team as the setting has drifted further away from that over time.

* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: When Hida O-Ushi's uncle Tsume scornfully asked her (formerly Unicorn) husband Hida Yasamura whether he would have the resolve to cut O-Ushi down if she were slain and raised as a zombie. Yasamura replied that it would be impossible for him- because if O-Ushi were slain, he would already be dead.
** Of all people, [[MemeticBadass Hida Kisada]] had two: one, when realizing his [[NiceGoingSonGuy son Hida Sukune]], whom he had sacrificed to Fu Leng, had returned as a sacred spirit AND forgiven Kisada. Later, after Kisada's own resurrection, he found a previously unknown heir, a Dragon with less concerned with battle than with law, and showed the boy favor anyway -- proving that even Kisada can change.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome: The Dark Moto school in 4th edition gets a power at rank 2 that lets them summon their demon horse mounts from anywhere. This happens by them rising out of the ground.

* AndTheFandomRejoiced: The 4th edition RPG made a...[[GameplayStorySegregation certain 3rd edition school that was allegedly awesome but was not in gameplay,]] really awesome! Oh, and the [[CaptainErsatz Lion bushi]] in the demo is statistcally [[LegacyCharacter Tsudao!]]

** An often-overlooked one: Hika Kisada's youngest and least favorite child, Hida Sukune, was the only one who opposed the Crab Clan's near-literal DealWithTheDevil. When given as a blood sacrifice to Fu Leng, his soul was damned to the hellish dimension of Jigoku for eternity... [[BeyondTheImpossible only for his soul to overpower Jigoku due to his raw virtue, and leave of its own accord.]]

** And then, of course, at the close of the Second Day Of Thunder. One sentence capped off [[XanatosGambit a thousand years of planning]].

* ThatOneDisadvantage: Momoku. You can't spend Void Points. Imagine if you couldn't spend Willpower in ''TheWorldOfDarkness'' and you have an idea of how utterly this will screw you. Worth ten Character Points (the most of any disadvantage); not even ''remotely'' a fair deal.

* MissedMomentOfAwesome: the [=L5R=] story crew seems ''addicted'' to these. Examples: the deaths of all of the Four Winds save Tsudao, Daigotsu's non-performance in the recent Tournament of Heaven, Matsu Yoshino's cop-out suicide (and all the needless bloodshed leading up to it), Iuchiban's return, the final fate of the Last Wish, Daigotsu Rekai's death from Dream!Uji NOT including a dramatic reunion, The Maw returning only to do absolutely nothing before being killed ... The list goes on and on.
** MASSIVELY averted on the Day of Thunder event. At the tournament, the story writer John Wick arrived with envelopes containing the endings for each clan that would be read if that clan won (including an "Evil Wins" ending for Yogo Junzo's Army) and tore them up one by one as the last player representing each clan was eliminated. At the end of the tournament the last Lion player defeated the last Crane player- and Wick, to everyone's surprise, tore up both the Crane AND Lion endings! Apparently before the final game both players had secretly confided to him that they didn't want to fight each other, they wanted to fight the dark god Fu Leng- [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome so Wick stood up and improvised]] ''[[CrowningMomentOfAwesome on the spot]]'' [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome a new ending where the Lion and Crane champions combine their strength to slay Fu Leng]], the Crane champion [[HeroicSacrifice giving his life in the battle.]]

* CharacterDerailment: From time to time, occasionally due to the story being shaped by the Tournament result. Some of the most notable victims are Shinjo Yokastsu, Hitomi, Daidoji (now Daigotsu) Rekai, Isawa Hochiu, and Iuchiban.
** Occasionally the derailment is justified as one of the effects of succumbing to the Shadowlands Taint (or some other form of corruption, in Hitomi's case). However, Hitomi is a double subversion, as a lot of people actually preferred her being evil and corrupted, and bemoan the sudden redemption AssPull storyline that happened to her.

* LawfulEvil: Applies to a lot of non-Shadowlands samurai characters, but especially to Scorpion Characters. They're evil and ambitious, but they follow orders, and they always claim to be doing this for the best interests of the Empire.

* CanonSue: [[YourMileageMayVary For some]], Iuchiban. For others, Daigotsu. Kaneka was also accused of being this during the Diamond/Lotus Era.

* MissedMomentOfAwesome: YourMileageMayVary, but the [=L5R=] story crew seems ''addicted'' to these. Examples: the deaths of all of the Four Winds save Tsudao, Daigotsu's non-performance in the recent Tournament of Heaven, Matsu Yoshino's cop-out suicide (and all the needless bloodshed leading up to it), Iuchiban's return, the final fate of the Last Wish, Daigotsu Rekai's death from Dream!Uji NOT including a dramatic reunion, The Maw returning only to do absolutely nothing before being killed ... The list goes on and on.

* WallBanger / DethroningMomentOfSuck: The Toturi Dynasty being wiped out less than half a century story-time after it started, combined with the Sun God Yakamo and the Moon Goddess Hitomi (former characters that reached divinity through succesive CMOAs) getting tossed out after reigning the same amount of time, replaced by two Dragons no one cared about. It RUINEDForever the setting's grandeur as well as the sense that anything heroic that's accomplished has lasting impact.

* FetishFuel: Imagine a society where showing your ''neck'' is considered public nudity. Then imagine a Great Clan of beautiful ladies willing to show off a bit more than that, while always wearing masks. Kinky, no?

* UnpleasableFanbase: The game was originally released with six competing factions, ballooned up to 15 or so, and shrunk back down to 9 (not counting the 'bonus' factions not getting regular support). Each of those factions has rabid fans. Whenever one faction triumphs over another in the fiction or is perceived as superior in the CCG, the Story and Design Teams are routinely accused of outrageous bias. And then there are those who accuse the story team of kiss-and-make-up conflicts whenever one faction doesn't give a sound thrashing to another.
** And there are those of us who are still bitter about the writers deciding that our entire faction decided to take a nap for an indefinite period of time.
** We feel your pain. Some of us are bitter that our entire clan died in their sleep, but at least we went out with a bang. The Naga just went to sleep. Hmmm noticing a trend here...

-->"That's right, Lu Feng. [[spoiler:[[OhCrap You are mortal]].]]"

* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: After being framed for an assassination attempt on the Emperor, the Scorpion were declared traitors to the empire, exiled on pain of death, and their children kept as hostages. At a tournament to win a favor from the Emperor, the Scorpion began by brazenly bribing another clan into helping them (using [[DeusExNukina the sword that created the Burning Sands, no less), and winning the tournament with their candidate pretending to be a ronin just long enough to secure the prize. As the Emperor was honor bound to fulfill the wish of the victor, they then openly used this to blackmail the Emperor into restoring their holdings and station, while pointedly not needing to swear fealty in so doing.

** And the third edition of the RPG had pretty terrible proof reading, including an appendix in ''Emerald Empire'' with NPCs with Honor stats sometimes twice as high as the rules allowed and a revision of a rather important rule in the ''Revised'' core rulebook that made the Defense skill unintelligable.