OK, I have now had enough time to give a fairly detailed review of the new L5R 4th Edition. I will be doing this by section, mostly to organize my own thoughts
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The clans that don't have bushi schools no doubt still have a few bushi* but I can absolutely believe that most don't have school ranks. The clans simply don't have the resources to support a school.
In case of many of the clans with only shugenja (Bat, Dragonfly, Snake) or courtier (Tortoise) schools, they almost always have some ties to other clans that would provide training. One of the books, for example (please don't ask my which one. I don't want to do the research) is very clear that part of the agreement when the Dragonfly were founded was that they couldn't form a bushi school, so as to prevent them from appearing to be a threat. As such, the Dragon agreed to provide training to any aspiring Dragonfly bushi who wanted it, and in turn the Dragonfly would serve as gatekeepers to the Dragon lands. Likewise the Yoritomo often train yojimbo for the Bat.
What would be interesting - and this is something I considered for CoR - would be providing a discount for Minor Clan samurai to purchase Different School for a specific clan. But beyond that, I have no problem with the rules putting minor clans at a disadvantage. After all, that's part of the point of playing a minor clan member.
* How many is a matter of debate as L5R has always been very vague about the size of the minor clans. Some, like the Badger, have only two dozen people at any given time, while others like the Hare are large enough to support two distinct families (though the Ujina are often depicted as being on the two-dozen side).
In case of many of the clans with only shugenja (Bat, Dragonfly, Snake) or courtier (Tortoise) schools, they almost always have some ties to other clans that would provide training. One of the books, for example (please don't ask my which one. I don't want to do the research) is very clear that part of the agreement when the Dragonfly were founded was that they couldn't form a bushi school, so as to prevent them from appearing to be a threat. As such, the Dragon agreed to provide training to any aspiring Dragonfly bushi who wanted it, and in turn the Dragonfly would serve as gatekeepers to the Dragon lands. Likewise the Yoritomo often train yojimbo for the Bat.
What would be interesting - and this is something I considered for CoR - would be providing a discount for Minor Clan samurai to purchase Different School for a specific clan. But beyond that, I have no problem with the rules putting minor clans at a disadvantage. After all, that's part of the point of playing a minor clan member.
* How many is a matter of debate as L5R has always been very vague about the size of the minor clans. Some, like the Badger, have only two dozen people at any given time, while others like the Hare are large enough to support two distinct families (though the Ujina are often depicted as being on the two-dozen side).
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