Greetings from Rokugan!

We sat down with Game Director Filip from Palindrome Interactive to get some thoughts on what it’s like working with the Legend of the Five Rings franchise.

Hello Filip!
What’s it like working every day on the Legend of the Five Rings franchise?

I think it's quite an honor and a very interesting task to work with Legend of the Five Rings.
"The Franchise is brimming with lore from the AEG days, when the card game was revolutionary for letting fans decide the path of the story, and the Fantasy Flight Games era when that tradition continued through the LCG as well as the RPG."
What we are working with is the new Clan Wars era, heavily inspired by the original Legend of the Five Rings storyline drawn from the tournaments and player choices. However, this will not be the exact same story from the AEG days, nor is it a direct continuation of the tale told alongside FFG’s LCG.
A prime example of course is Shadowveil, taking beloved characters and setting them on an adventure that we hope will delight existing fans of the franchise but also serve as a vehicle for new people to discover and experience this great universe. As you might imagine, working with this is sometimes daunting, but I am confident and happy to work with Legend of the Five Rings each and every day.

What aspects of the Legend of the Five Rings lore and world-building make it an interesting IP for a creative project like a video game?

I think it's the sheer size of the universe. One could make basically any type of game set in Rokugan focusing on a specific clan or family. That's a very exciting prospect when starting a game project like Shadowveil. Some have asked us about the focus on the Crab Clan, asking whether we might be missing out on many of the other great things in the rest of Rokugan. I think it's a great question, but that is also the point of Shadowveil. It's a perfect stepping stone for new fans to get into the vast universe that Legend of the Five Rings presents. A regular good vs. evil setting is often used as a prologue to set the stakes, before politics is introduced and complex characters are put against each other. Often that leads to great interest in what comes next, and I think everyone here and fans want Legend of the Five Rings video games to continue after Shadowveil.

How does the unique blend of fantasy and samurai culture in Legend of the Five Rings offer opportunities for innovative storytelling and game design?

Well, I think the resurgence of roleplaying games shows that fantasy has a significant staying power. Legend of the Five Rings’s twist of course is that it's not only fantasy but also greatly inspired by feudal Japan and other Asian cultures. This creates an intricate world filled with mysteries and lore and, as I described above, it's so vast that you can go anywhere and find something new. This gives a fantastic toolbox to craft Shadowveil into a unique experience in not only its setting but also in its gameplay. Do we use existing abilities established in the card
game or TTRPG? Or do we try to figure out something new and cool that fits the video game? Those questions are what makes Legend of the Five Rings so fun to work with.

What are some challenges working with the intricate political dynamics and clan relationships in Legend of the Five Rings?

Again the sheer scale of it, and I think that's exactly why we wanted to focus on a couple of characters to be more approachable for both old and new fans. Being able to figure out a part of the world through the eyes of Hida Sukune or Hida O-Ushi helps us focus the lens on their relationship and their struggle to prove themselves to their father. I think this game will establish some of the groundwork for preparing the fans of the franchise for the storm that is approaching with the Clan Wars.

What interesting considerations have you and the team done when crafting a digital Shadowlands-experience?

I think in Shadowveil we have included multiple twists and turns to make this a fully unique experience. There has been thought put into each aspect of how we portray the Shadowlands in the best manner possible. This effort should be visible throughout the game, from the world map
that you use navigate from battle to battle, from the stepped animation style, where we aim to
create a disjointing feeling of corruption, to the increase in Shadowlands Taint as you travel deeper into the Shadowlands and the unique ways to use Cards to give your characters abilities and behaviors to face any of the minions of Fu Leng.

Can you reveal any characters, the fans might know from the Legend of the Five Rings franchise, that will appear in the game?

We hinted at it on the Discord server (discord.gg/ShadowveilL5R); the Kuni daimyō himself, Kuni Yori, will join Shadowveil. What he is up to, you will have to find out later!

If the Crab Clan discovered a way to brew the perfect cup of tea, would they finally relax their vigil on the Kaiu Wall for a tea break?

I think the most likely thing to happen here would be that the majority of families would scoff at the idea while the Yasuki family would sell the tea off to the rest of the empire, securing enough funds to continue to fight the Shadowlands. So basically a normal week for the Crab Clan, haha!

Business as usual for the Crab Clan! In any case, thank you for your time, FIlip!

Do you have any questions, you'd like to ask the development team?
Let us know in a comment!