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The following is a very simple summary of the basic mechanics of the system. More detailed rules will be presented in the Book of Energy. These should be enough to get you through most common situations, and also explain a bit of what is on the character sheet. But before we get any further, here is the core rule of the game, the only one that can never be ignored.
The Golden Rule: There will be times when rules slow the game or produce undesirable results. So long as everyone involved in the game, player and GM alike have fun, no rule has been broken.
Interpret as strictly or liberally as desired.
And now, on to the good stuff
In combat, however, a single time standard is used, as it is in most games. This unit is called a round, and lasts approximately 5 seconds. Thus, there are 12 rounds in one minute. This is typically enough time to take one action, although more may be taken at a penalty.
Traits are divided into six categories, fitting the philosophical map of existence. These groups have been named Dimensions due to a correspondence between them and the Multiversal Matrix Theory. Other groupings are possible, and do occur with some regularity outside the traditional scholars (religions, for example, split traits by Divine Domains). The six traditional Dimensions are listed below, followed by their associated traits.
TIME: Stamina and Intuition
SPACE: Coordination and Perception
MATTER: Health and Willpower
ENERGY: Strength and Presence
MIND: Balance and Intelligence
SOUL: No associated Traits
The rating of a Dimension is always equal to the lower of the two traits associated with it.
In addition to the d10's needed for play, you will need 3 six-sided dice (d6's) for character creation. These are also readily available, and almost any household will have them scattered in various games (Monopoly, Yahtzee, etc.)
There are two major issues that must be addressed about rolling the d10's in play. These are the Roll/Keep Mechanic and the concept of Open-Ended Tens.
The Roll/Keep Mechanic and Notation
Throughout this system, you will often see the words "Roll" and "Keep."
Whenever performing an action, you will roll a number of dice, but will
usually keep a smaller number of them. The dice kept are added up
and become your total for the roll, while the dice dropped (those rolled
but not kept) are not included in your total. When you roll a group
of dice, you will typically want to keep the ones that roll high, and use
these as your total (although you may choose to keep any combination of
the rolled dice that you wish).
Ex. Joel is rolling 5 dice, keeping three. Thus, he will roll five dice, and then pick three to be added up to form his total. If he rolls and gets 10,10,9,7,7, he will probably want to keep the two 10's and the 9, giving a total roll of 29 (but see the next section). If, however, he were being forced to take an action that Joel didn't really want to succeed at, he could choose to keep the two 7's and the 9, for a total of 23.
The roll/keep notation is as follows:
1. When a roll is listed as "A"+"B", this implicitly
means roll a number of dice equal to (A+B), keep a number equal to A.
2. AkB means roll (A dice), keeping (B dice).
NOTE: A must always be Greater
Than or Equal to B.
3. a) (AkB)+(CkD) = (A+C)k(B+D) (i.e. 3k2 + 1k1
= 4k3)
b) (AkB)-(CkD) = (A-C)k(B-D)
(i.e. 3k2 - 1k1 = 2k1)
4. a) Roll "x" extra dice is written +(x)k0. (i.e.
3k2, roll 2 extra dice is 3k2 + 2k0 = 5k2)
b) Roll "x" less dice is
written -(x)k0. (i.e. 3k2, roll 1 less die is 3k2 - 1k0 = 2k2)
5. a) Keep "x" extra dice is written +0k(x). (i.e.
3k2, keep 2 extra dice is 3k2 + 0k2 = 3k4, becomes 3k3 by rule 2)
b) Keep "x" less dice is
written -0k(x) (i.e. 3k2, keep 1 less die is 3k2 - 0k1 = 3k1)
Open-Ended Dice
Whenever a ten (or 0, depending on the numbering scheme used) is rolled,
the die open ends. This means that the die is rerolled, and
the new value is added to the ten just rolled. If the new roll is
also a ten, then ten is added to the previous ten (for a total of 20) and
the die is rerolled again. This may be repeated as long as tens are
rolled. Thus, the total possible roll on any single die is infinite,
although values greater than 30 are very improbable.
Ex. Lets look at Joel's roll above; 10,10,9,7,7. We know he will keep the two tens and the 9. But the two tens open end, so we reroll them, getting 5,6. So, in actuality, his kept dice are 16,15,9, for a total roll of 40! If Joel could only keep 1 die, he could still open end the two tens before choosing which die to keep.
NOTE: There is no special rule that requires the Skill Base to be a Trait. At times, other character aspects such as School Rank, rating in a Dimension, or rating in a Passion may be used as Skill Bases. This is perfectly acceptable, and in some cases even encouraged.
Step One: The GM assigns a Target Number to a Task, based on the TN Scale Below
The Target Number Chart
| Difficulty of Task | Target Number |
| Mundane | 7 or Automatic |
| Easy | 14 |
| Average (Default TN) | 21 |
| Hard | 28 |
| Very Hard | 35 |
| Heroic | 42 |
| Never Done Before | 49 |
| Never Done Again | 56 |
Step Two: Roll a number of Dice determined by the combination of your Skill Base and your Skill Rating (see Using Skills above). Add up the total of this roll.
Step Three: Compare the Total generated by the roll with the TN using the table below.
Action Resolution Chart
| Roll is... | Result |
| Less than or equal to TN/7 | Botch (Critical Failure)* |
| Less than the TN | Failure |
| Equal to the TN | Marginal Success* |
| Greater than the TN | Success |
| Greater than the TN + 21 | Critical Success |
Step One: The GM will declare what Skills/Skill Bases each player will use in the roll.
Step Two: The GM decides on the Success Margin to use. This is the number by which one of the contestants must exceed the other's score to win. These are typically in increments of 5, depending on how likely the GM thinks it is for two evenly matched contestants to experience a draw. See the table below:
Success Margin Effects Table (Based on 4k3 roll)
| Success Margin | Likelihood of a Draw |
| 5 | 30% |
| 10 | 35% |
| 15 | 45% |
| 20 | 49% |
Step Three: Compare the results of the rolls as follows:
If one player rolls higher than the other, and beats the other's roll
by at least the Success Margin, that player is the winner.
If neither player met the above condition, neither player wins, and
the contest may continue for another round if desired.
When a player declares a raise, his target number for success increases by seven. A player may only declare a number of raises equal to the Dimension of the Trait that applies to the action he is performing. Thus a character who is raising on an attack who has an Agility of 4, but a Perception of 2 may only raise twice because his Space Dimension is only two.
The effects that raises can have on an action are diverse. On actions such as interrogation, intimidation, or research, raises can allow greater success, shorter time requirements, or more relevant information gathered. On spells, durations or damage can be increased, casting times decreased, or necessary components eliminated. In combat, raises can be used to cause greater damage, hit a specific point on a target, or many other variations.
There are also a few circumstances where a character may be given a free raise on an action. A free raise means that a character gains the benefit of one raise without actually having the target number increased by one step. Circumstances where free raises may be granted include when a character is performing an action he has been doing his whole life, attacking an opponent from behind, or on exceptional attack roles. Free raises do not count against the total number of raises that can be taken on a given action.
Extended Actions
These rules are used to simulate actions that will require several
repeated skill rolls, or a combination of several different skill rolls.
For example, if the GM determines that three seperate skills are applicable
to a situation, he might call for the whole action as an extended action,
with seperate rolls for each skill. In effect, an Extended Action
involves rolling each called roll seperately against its own Traget Number.
Determine how much the roll suceeded or failed by and then sum these up.
This number is compared to an Extended Target Number set by the GM.
When you have acquired enough success to meet this number, you suceed in
you action.
Extended Action Procedure:
Mooky's Roll
Guard's Roll
Tally
42
18
+24-10 for Success Margin = +14
14
15
+0 (within Success Margin, so no effect)
27
28
-1 (current total is +13)
20
9
+12 - 10 = +2 (current total is +15, just enough to suceed)
Combined Actions
These rules are used when multiple people attempt a single task and
try to help each other (with all the benefits and problems this entails...)
Fortuantely, these rules are rather simple. First, the group taking
the action must choose a leader (who is usually the one with the highest
Skill Base for the action). Then, the leader rolls the sum of the
skills in the group (or his Trait, +1 per person helping if it is a Trait
Roll), keeping his Skill Base as usual. The catch is that for each
person over the leader's skill (or Trait in a Trait Roll), one die is subtracted
from the total dice rolled (Law of Diminishing Returns).
Rules Summary:
Dueling Competitions
These rules are designed to be used in place of the Contested Roll
rules presented above. These rules
are only really useful in circumstances where the suspence of the contest
is paramount. They are named "Duelling" Competitions because they
generalize the L5R Iaijutsu Duel mechanic to any suspenseful contest.
The procedure is described below.
Step One: The GM declares what Skills and Traits both contestants will use. There is no Success Margin in Duelling Competitions.
Step Two: The GM determines the base TN for each contestant as the Dimension his opponent is using for his action times seven. The GM does not tell these TN's to the contestants, but keeps them written somewhere for convenience.
Step Three: The two contestants may now "size each other up." Each may make a Simple Intuition + (Skill Opponent is Using) roll vs. TN=14 to learn one of the following: Opponent's Skill, Opponent's Trait, or Opponent's Soul. The player rolling may take Raises to increase the number of items learned (1 extra per Raise, limited by the player's Time Dimension). After this step, either contestant may concede defeat without shame (if such would be important to the character).
Step Four: Assuming the competition continues, the two competitors should choose who will Declare first. This is done, first by Contested Intuition rolls (no Success Margin), then if needed by Contested Soul rolls.
Step Five: The contestant who Declares first has the choice to
either Focus or Strike. If he Focuses, his Tn is increased by 7 (noted
by the GM, as the player still has no idea what he is rolling against),
and control is passed to the opponent.
After the first contestant Focuses, the opponent has the option to
either Focus or Strike. This Focusing may continue for as long as
the Focusing contestant does not focus more times than his associated Dimension.
When one contestant calls a "Strike," his opponent rolls against his
TN. Then, the contestant who called strike rolls against his TN.
Compare the results as follows
Step One: The GM decides that Gen Mai will roll her Intelligence + Theology, and Ronin will roll his Intelligence + Philosophy. It is also decided that Ronin will get a +1 die circumstance bonus for being an Athar dueling with a Priest.
Step Two:
Step Five: