There is now!  Check out https://github.com/dashnine/PaperBlossoms/releases 🙂

Personally, I think one of the most refreshing parts of running L5R as opposed to...  well just about any other RPG...  is the removal of the profit motivation, and while I appreciate the historical research, I think I'm going to stick with "If you're not ronin, get it from your Daimyo.  If they don't give it to you, you obviously don't need it.  If you are ronin, its time to start hustling..."

Personally, I think one of the most refreshing parts of running L5R as opposed to...  well just about any other RPG...  is the removal of the profit motivation, and while I appreciate the historical research, I think I'm going to stick with "If you're not ronin, get it from your Daimyo.  If they don't give it to you, you obviously don't need it.  If you are ronin, its time to start hustling..."

There is no such thing as "enough RPGs"  You are a heretic.

There is no such thing as "enough RPGs"  You are a heretic.

There is no such thing as "enough RPGs"  You are a heretic.

BURN THE... wait... different license.

There is no such thing as "enough RPGs"  You are a heretic.

There is no such thing as "enough RPGs"  You are a heretic.

There is no such thing as "enough RPGs"  You are a heretic.

There is no such thing as "enough RPGs"  You are a heretic.

I, for one, actually do not want the 'a la carte' option, though I understand why you do. I come from a school of thought that believes that constraint can be incredibly useful in creativity - especially since Rokugan is a constrained society. One of ritual and tradition.
That being said, I disagree that having only one method says there is a 'wrong' way to play. Having a specific path of character creation is something plenty of RPGs do, and it is usually meant to reinforce a theme or a mood. It does not mean that there is a 'wrong' way, nor does it mean they think that way. But it does mean that there is a guided and preferred way to play. That's not the same thing as saying 'Your preferred method is wrong,' nor is it saying you cannot hack it or deconstruct it. It's just saying that this method is the best way to get the theme, moods, and character creation that they have envisioned for their game. 

Of course, this is just my opinion, and I am not trying to say your feelings are not valid. Just that your statement presents and absolute when I do not see it as such.

I would very much agree with your position, but I understand your friend's.
Techniques do give you unique things you can do mechanically, but there's no question you can do that sort of thing narratively.
Taking the example of an iaijutsu duel: Can you fight in an iaijutsu duel without iaijutsu cut: rising blade?
Yes. An Iaijutsu duel is a set of 'rules' covering the narrative and mechanical behaviour of a formal duel - often a legal 'trial by combat' or 'policy debate'. The key elements of the duel are that it's a formal setting - meaning potentially ceremonial weapons and armour only, and/or no wargear items - and that the rules mandate that you begin with weapons sheathed. Iaijutsu techniques obviously let you perform an attack with a sheathed weapon. If you don't have an iaijutsu technique, however, any character can use water stance: "During your turn, you may perform 1 additional action that does not require a check."
If I get a higher inititive roll and/or burn more strife, act first, use my free action to draw my blade, use my normal action to strike, and inflict a critical which removes some important extremity from my opponent before he can act, how is that not (narratively) an iaijutsu kill?
Don't get me wrong. I also agree with your other point. When you come up against a veteran Kakita duellist, you're still probably going to lose - but then, thinking purely narratively, you probably should. That's not the same as not being able to try.
 
 
Taking the other example of 'fending off someone with a spear' (presumably iron forest style) - yes, it's a good ability and it's not directly duplicatable via the 'standard' rules (i.e. by someone without that technique) because PINNED is a condition unique to the technique.
It's not invincible because there are two key weaknesses to the effect, neither of which depends on specific techniques: It requires a check to advance on the opponent whilst you are pinned. But any check can be passed - especially in air stance, where the check is only TN2 - and it doesn't require an action to do, just the check as part of a normal move action. The effect of earth stance is "When other characters make Attack action checks and Scheme action checks that target you, they cannot spend * to inflict critical strikes, conditions, or persistent effects on you." Pinned is a condition, therefore you cannot use Iron Forest Style to apply PINNED to an opponent in Earth Stance. It might delay them advancing for a turn, but it expires at the end of their turn and thanks to Earth Stance you can't re-apply it. At which point they can switch to fire stance, advance and stab you a bit with a katana. The narrative effect of Iron Forest Style is 'stop my opponent advancing by attacking them': That isn't especially different from using a critical strike or any of quite a lot of other techniques to apply immobilized, prone or any other 'you can't move' condition. Equally, to duplicate the 'stab you as you close', you could perform a Wait action with the specified event "my opponent advances" and react to them moving close by hitting them, which requires no specific technique  
 
And yes, the game is designed in a fairly loose, narrative way. The GM is the main choke point to throttle the assorted Bovine-Faeces that players who want to game the system  - rather than play the game - from hitting the game world at large. Cases in point:
I use my best ring: Players should be able to describe their intended action, generally in the form of I [verb] the [object] (I fix the sword, I survey the landscape, etc. etc.) The [object] defines the skill and is generally therefore fixed in a given situation The [verb] defines the approach (and hence the ring to be used). This is a debate between the player and GM but the GM has the final say. The GM should be prepared to discuss and/or offer different approaches Different approaches may suit different player's rings, but they should also vary the TN for the check, and the TN of the check is also at the GM's discretion. If someone is determined to try and use a totally illogical approach for what they want to achieve, then ultimately, they should be allowed to, but the chance of it succeeding (bugger all) should be reflected in the TN, which should be suitably daunting. I harvest opportunities for [effect] The GM defines when a check can be made. As per the TN0 and When To Ask For A Check rules, you only roll dice (and hence only have the potential to roll opportunities) if there is a meaningful and interesting effect of success and failure, and a credible chance of both failing and succeeding. If someone were to want to do something in a skirmish scene 'outside the rules' - then that's what 'use a skill' action is for. If the action makes sense, then define a TN, make the check and go with the results.
Remember that checks should only do 'one thing' - if the check is 'force your opponent back', then that's what it does. It doesn't also knock them prone, or disarm them, or wound them, or prevent you being noticed, or whatever. Achieving more than one thing with a check is precisely what opportunities are for. Equally, note that checks for narrative stuff that's beyond the scope of normal rules is specifically called out to in the game - such as a single TN3 martial arts Melee check to quietly dispatch a guard. This isn't useable in a conflict scene (because if you've bothered making it a conflict scene it's presumably because you're bothered enough about the outcome to do so) but it's a good example of 'yeah, you can do that'.  
 

I think The Grand Falloon was being reserved all things considered. If you don't like the game just state that and move on or don'tsay anything at all. Or bring up some valid criticisms so some conversation can take place. But to just come in to throw insults shows no inclination whatsoever to try or understand the game. Seems pretty close minded to me. 
If someone has some questions about the game I can be civil. If someone just wants to throw insults then yeah, there's the door.

In a way, I think it's similar to how when the Star Wars game first came out, players and GMs had a bit of a learning curve to get used to having more than just the binary "pass/fail" and "roll high" methods that the vast majority of RPGs use.
For the older school L5R players, as you said there's less incentive to just "roll high" in this system as some of those "high rolls" can carry a negative (Strife) with them.
And before those old school L5R players that are belligerent towards the new system say it, I am fully aware that the previous RnK system did allow for keeping lower dice results.  However, I think in all the time I'd played AEG's L5R, I could count the number of times a player choose to keep low-rolling dice on a single hand and still have fingers left over.

I was monkeying around with this in Discord earlier while waiting for my D&D 5e game to start, and I just want to add to the "thank yous" going around.  This is awesome.

I can see the points of "cookie cutter" mechanics, but that's less a problem with the 20 questions and more an issue with the core mechanics themselves.  As AtoMaki noted, a large part of it is the change in how the Rings work in this version as opposed to prior editions, being far more streamlined and compacted vs. AEG's method of splitting each Ring (sans Void) into two separate elements.  Or with Advantages all being variations on either "reroll two dice in certain circumstances" or "remove strife for engaging in this activity."

Use overhead pens, instead.
Staedtler's grey shaft markers are water-soluble for many months. Their black shaft are alcohol soluble on page protector, and erasable for over a season long. (Black shaft needs rubbing alcohol or beer or wine to erase. Hard liquor will work, too.)
Vis-a-vis pens are water-soluble, as well. Disadvantage: if they go through a couple freeze-thaws, they smell like sweaty sneakers.
 

For this, I simply don't allow players to write on the sheet.  I make them use scratch paper.  I've run all of the SW beginner boxes multiple times, and its never been a problem.

...  awesome

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They did the same with the Star Wars boxes. Some people like visuals. 

I tend to equate them with general distance. helps keep things simple

I'm hopefully going to try to create a sheet for folks to record changing stats before Sunday,  so we won't have to write on the folic. 

Actually, in my experience with previous editions of L5R, it was those penalties that slowed combat down and made it tedious, because in round 1 you'd get a bunch of Alpha Strike from characters who knew quite well how deadly the game was, so they'd lay it all on the line in the first attack.  As a result, you'd have several severely wounded combatants, now all suffering massive penalties.  From then on, there would be a consistent *SWING AND A MISS!* theme to the battle, which got old very quickly.