“City of Remembrance” | L5R fanzine

What is this?

“City of Remembrance” is a zine about Legends of the Five Rings and the creative works it inspired. Over twenty years these games have captured the imagination of many people around the world; however, despite its success depending on the support of people  of different cultures and backgrounds, the voices that are heard from the fandom tend to be very homogeneous.

2018 saw L5R return in a way that makes so many of us, previously excluded and silenced, feel included and vindicated; 2019 is looking even better. With our small collaboration we aim to celebrate the many L5R-inspired creators out there and showcase contributions that offer a glimpse of what Rokugan meant to so many of us - and what we look forward to see in the future.

Organization: “City of Remembrance” will be a stand-alone issue.

Distribution: “City of Remembrance” will be shared freely and digitally. We are aiming for an April release. A pay-what-you-want setup with a suggested price of $2 will be in place; all of the money thus earned will be donated to a charity focused in helping the LGBTQ+ community*.

Contributions: We are looking for collaborators willing to contribute the following works:

  • Graphic Art - (Illustration, Sequential Art, 4komas, etc)
  • Prose (fiction, immersion tools, tabletop roleplaying set-pieces)
  • Game Design (adventure outlines, campaign starters, new rules, character options, etc)

Those interested may submit multiple submission forms in case you want to contribute more than one piece to the fanzine! You may also collaborate with another participant on a piece (for example, one writes a piece of fiction and the other illustrates parts of it). Currently we do not have a limit for the number of submission forms each person can send.

Due to its space as a fan creation, we will not showcase works tied in any form to advertising or sponsorships; this will not be a platform for value aggregation and accumulation of social capital - we will not seek to profit from your work or its advertisement and we denounce any third party that seeks to do so.  

Following that same logic, we will not feature works commissioned from a third party. If you are presenting a piece to this zine, we expect it to be your own creation.

We will be paying special attention to prejudiced language. We will not showcase any content that in any way may be construed as homophobic, racist, body shaming, transphobic, ableist or classist; there will absolutely be no allowances for any fetishization and stereotyping of characters that are very much coded as counterparts to real world cultures and peoples (see “Inclusivity Policy” later in this document.

“City of Remembrance” will avoid NSFW content.

Those participating in the fanzine will Always be properly credited and promoted.

Here is a rough scheme of what the final zine might look like:

(The actual layout will depend on the contributions and the diversity of works shared; this outline gives us an useful placeholder for layout and may serve as inspiration for contributors)

  • Personal fanart associated with experiences and moments that L5R game gave its fans - as well as OCs/PCs;
  • (One) piece of fiction; ideally evocative, inspiring and providing something that can be used at the reader’s table;
  • (two-three) Challenge, Focus, Strike adventure outlines**;
  • (One) campaign starter - a collection of material to help you get the players together, organize a game and help new fans run their first couple of sessions;
  • (Zero-three) new gaming tools, like character stats, items, novel locations and creatures;
  • (One) fluffy list of things to add to you game (ex: 25 peasants to meet on the road, 12 spirit animals, 16 forbidden lovers, 12 things about the Castle of Sorrow)

If you have an idea, concept or work in progress, you can present it to us by using the following form.

Inclusivity Policy:

This collaboration seeks to celebrate the multiplicity and diversity of voices that have enriched L5R. A policy of impulsivity, safety and tolerance will be embraced by the organization and expected from all contributors. While this work will not be exclude anyone, this zine takes an inclusive stance: we appeal first and foremost to those creators whose voices have been underrepresented and suppressed in the L5R fandom -  such as LGBTQ+ creators and Creators of Color.

* While we have several institutions in mind, we still have not made a decision. We will gladly take any suggestion from our contributors and readers.

** Challenge, Focus, Strike is a L5R technique used to write short dramatic scenarios. It divides the dramatic episode the following way: The Challenge, a brief hook to tie players with the drama; Focus, the initiation or escalating event that increases the tension of the scenario; Strike, the decisive but open-ended climax to the dramatic episode.

If you need answers to any questions you might have, feel free to contact us either through email at l5rzine_2019[at]hotmail[dot]com or by sending a private message to @l5rzine2019 on Twitter!

This fanzine is managed by @melonkind, @Evallii and @Delethiel on twitter!

Header art was created by @melonkind on twitter & tumblr.