With the release of the L5R Role-Playing Game, players of the CCG have been asking me "How do I convert my favorite Personality into RPG stats' While there's no real mathematical formula for it, turning your favorite Personality into a Character is really quite simple. Here are the guidelines I use when I transport my favorite Personalities into my RPG game.

Don't Get Too Literal

First off, realize that rules from both the CCG and the RPG are meant to be representative. What that means is that if Kachiko gives you a Seduction token in the CCG, she doesn't necessarily give you a -1 Void token in the RPG.

We decided to give Kachiko her "Seduction token" ability to represent her ability to hurt anyone she can get close to. She's such a player in Rokugan's politics, that she can remove anyone from the picture if she really put her mind to it. The -1 Chi token can represent poisoning (both physical and mental poisoning), political maneuvering, evil manipulative advice ("Trust me, Hitomi..."), or anything else the GM can wrap his imagination around.

Likewise, her Experienced version is capable of bowing any Personality with the Shadowlands trait. lhis represents the fact that she's locked in the Imperial Palace, close to Fu Leng. She passes that knowledge on to Akiyoshi or Aramoro to give the outside world news of his plans, thus making any Shadowlands Personality less effective.

Honor

A Personality's Personal Honor is the easiest to translate into the RPG. Personal Honor translates directly into the character's Honor Rank. Just slap five Honor Points on him, and he's set.

Glory

Glory is a little more tricky. The Champions are the easiest. Any Clan Champion is considered a Clan daimyo, thus has an 9 Glory Rank. From there, things can get a little more complicated.

A good guide for finding a character's Glory is Gold Cost In the CCG, gold represents your daimyo's influence in the Empire, and the more expensive a Personality is, the more influence you need to expend to get them on your side.

Force and Chi

A Personality's Force represents his ability to command and - to a lesser extent - his physical strength. A Personality's Chi represents his "inner strength" or willpower. You can use a Personality's Force and Chi as a guide as well.

If a Personality has a high Force, he will certainly have a high Battle Skill, but his physical Traits will also tend to be higher than average. Likewise, if a Personality has a high Chi, his Iaijutsu and Keniutsu Skills will be high, but his mental Traits will tend to be higher than average as well.

Cavalry

As a general rule, assume that any Personality with the Cavalry Trait has the Horsemanship Skill at Rank 4.

Tactician

The same goes for the Tactician Trait These Personalities will certainly have high Battle Skills.

Double Chi

Personalities with Double Chi will certainly be expert duelists, but how do you represent that? A high iaijutsu Skill would be appropriate, but so would a high Void Rank

It's Your Game

A last bit of advice. Remember, this is your game, your campaign. If you want Toshimoko to have an 8 Iaijutsu, go right ahead. Just make certain your characters aren't overshadowed by the NPCs It's no fun playing second fiddle, after all.

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