I'm gonna tackle this one point at a time.

1. If you don't want to look at China for cultural diversity because of its size, we can look at Japan. Now I can absolutely go over how the prefectures and rural areas of japan have their own unique cultures, and how in feudal japan those areas were much more culturally diverse than in the days of highways, shipping and bullet trains.  However these real-world examples pale to Rokugan and the fact that the people in it are descendant of actual gods, all of who had their own way of doing things and literally and intentionally created their own unique culture.  The kami all taught their childeren to venerate the Hantei, and crane influence helps shape how court works and the interplay between clans, but the culture of each clan varies greatly.

2.  I have read these books.  I have been playing L5R for 20 years, I know the lore. My takeaway has always been that the clans are vastly different cultures.  I have played in many, many games where all characters are one clan, doing things for said clan.  Scorpion games are CRAZY different than Lion games, which are both CRAZY different to Crane games... mostly because of their different cultures.  These in-game experiences are one of the reasons I LOVE the differences between the clans.  I went to a Japanese culinary school and I have sketched out the different regional cuisines of the different clans, that is how much i have gone into the different cultures of Rokugan.  From delicate Ikasomen (translucent squid sliced thinly so as to resemble somen noodles) of the Phoenix coast, to the bright purple murisaki imo of the Mantis islands.  The differences are FAR more than idiosyncratic.  The Lion's love of battle is not a peculiar affectation that overlays common Rokugani culture, it is who and what a lion is.  Likewise ancestor worship and the connection to the dead is not simply an eccentricity, it is a driving force pushing the Lion to do more, to continue their works or avenge their endings. 

3. I love iaijutsu.  LOVE IT.  I always have and any time I get to play a kakita duelist I just on it.  I love the trope beautiful artistic warrior using an art form to defeat massive brutes.  However, the mechanics of the previous systems have always left me wanting.  Either I am in a skirmish, where most of my techniques do nothing, or I am in a duel where my opponent is just trying to do what I do, but way worse.  The Kakita-Mirumoto rivalry was never supported by these mechanics.  Either we are in a skirmish between the two of us, where my dueling techniques and their kill billions of mooks techniques are functionally useless, and we turn into two marginal bushi swinging at each other; or we are in an iaijutsu duel where their techniques are completely useless, and they cannot even use the style of their progenitor (and so are easily cut down).  There is literally no rivalry possible between styles here.  Having duels in which the crane can use iaijutsu but the opponent is not forced to feels much more right.  You can just take the word iaijutsu out of the argument in favor of iaijutsu duels and they still work.  Duelists are still the lawyers of Rokugan, that the Kakita are still the best lawyers.  Wars can still be halted by duels. 

4. All of the metaplot of the previous editions is gone, so I don't see any reason to place weight on what Yakamo did or did not do in previous editions.  I have always disliked the feeling of the metaplot, a world in which my character has no impact.  That is a personal preference, you can take it or leave it as you like.  The lore of the clans and rokugan is fantastic, but post Scorpion clan coup has always felt like I am an npc in someone else's game.

5. I hope you can see now that my desire to have honor duels be used is based on in game experience and mechanics as well and in-depth knowledge of the different clans.  The very soul of Rokugan is not dependent on the combat style of honor duels.  Honor duels are a thing, they must be a thing in Rokugan.  Kakita bushi MUST be stupid good at those duels, lest the entire clan perish.  Kakita must use iaijutsu, it is their signature style.  These are the important things to the lore.  Allowing the lion to draw their sword during a duel does not change any of these vital things.  Allowing a Dragon to face a challenge to their honor with both swords out as Mirumoto himself faced Kakita does not break the world.  This is not mere iconoclasm, it is a position based on years of playing the game and reading the lore.  

Ok, lets get to it then. 

Yes, I have run duels between all these participants

Kakita Duelist 
Hiruma Skirmisher (with a durable katana)
Matsu Berserker 
Togashi Yamabushi (Togashi monk with a daisho)
Shinjo Dervish

Most of these matches were pretty ridiculous... and when I mean ridiculous, I mean silly.

Kakita v Hiruma:  This was a series of the Hiruma striking as earth with the kakita centering.  The Hiruma just kept swinging and swinging regardless of the Kakita, hoping to get a few hits in before baiting out the finishing blow.  Once the Kakita let go with the finishing blow, the hiruma just parried with the durable katana, activated his School technique (the Hiruma was wearing travelling clothes with an extra +2 resistance from striking as earth), then the regular finishing blow reduction dropped it to 0, which cause his armor to just drop in durability.  After that the kakita couldn't really go back to an Iai stance because her sword was drawn.  Instead the two swung at each other with striking as air/striking as earth until the Kakita's sword was damaged, then destroyed by hitting the Hiruma's traveling clothes.  With no katana, the Kakita was finally struck down.

This was really silly.  The 1st edition Hida duelist was an abomination, as they could defeat any other school once they reached rank 2 (which allowed them to make a roll to completely ignore one hit... like an iaijutsu strike), and this fight was a spiritual successor to that.  

Kakita v Matsu:  The Matsu played the manipulate strife game well, drawing the duel out way, way too long.  After what seemed like forever, the Kakita actually gave up the finishing blow, since she had no good way to reduce her strife.  Since the Kakita was in Iai-stance, she could not parry the finishing blow and was taken out.
Kakita vs Togashi:  This was the most boring of all.  Two samurai staring at each other for days as they try to mess with each other's strife. The Togashi took water stance a few times to draw both of his swords in a niten stance.  When the rising strike came, the Togashi parried with the Wakizashi, then swung down hard with the katana in Fire stance.  It was almost enough to get though wounds/fatugue, but since losing them doesn't mean anything, the Kakita started striking as air and won out.

Kakita vs Shinjo:  Speaking of striking as air.  The Dervish stayed true to his name and just came out swinging as air.  no matter what the dervish kept in air stance and striking as air.  The kakita missed the Rising blade against his air stance+striking as air (tn5 is not easy to hit).  But the Shinjo did hit on the return since the Kakita was not striking as air.  Then they started swinging, the Kakita got lucky once, but so did the shinjo, dropping the Kakita.

Hiruma vs Matsu:  The Matsu went first and used striking as water to defeat the Hiruma and his striking as earth  This was like a skirmish without the fun bits.

Hiruma vs Togashi:  The Togashi broke his Katana on the Hiruma.

Hiruma vs Shinjo:  The Shinjo broke his katana on the clothing of the Hiruma.
Matsu vs Togashi:  The Togashi won out because he got the first hit in.  No one missed, it was just a slugfest.
Matsu vs Shinjo:  the Shinjo went first and the Matsu could not hit him thereafter.  The Matsu player did NOT have fun on this one.
Togashi vs Shinjo:  this was a game of a spinning shinjo and an unmoving togashi.  The Togashi played the strife game by centering and declaring air, while the dervish attacked.  but when the finishing blow came, it was just whiffed, and the shinjo would get a strike in.  Then it started again from the top.  it took three iterations of this for the Togashi to finally drop.

Takeaways:  None of these were really any fun.  Even the one that had the feeling of the old RPG (Kakita vs. Matsu) wasn't very fun.  Once the Kakita's Strife was above the Matsu's it was only a matter of time (a LOT of time).  Once the Kakita wasn't threatening everyone with the instakill Rising bade finishing move, duels just became skirmishes with less options.  Breaking katanas are not fun.  Katanas breaking on traveling clothes is even less fun. Auto parrying your finishing blow is not fun.  The devil is really in the details here. There are multiple issues here, and how techniques have been approached as individual discrete actions makes it difficult to approach those issues systemically.  
 
Time it took to run the duels: too long.  Every duel went on too long except for Matsu vs Togashi and the Hiruma duels that were not against the Kakita.

In my ideal L5R campaign duels would be used relatively often as a tool of political intrigue and legal assassination.  

The only thing that is confusing is that I always feel like I am missing something when it comes to duels in this edition.  Mostly because I'm confused at why things seem to work the way they do.  I have gone over duels with a fine toothed comb, since it is the part of L5R I love the most, but I still feel this way.  Like, I may have made some mistakes here, but I'm not sure where they are. 

 


 

Niten means "two heavens", not "two swords", you know.

Agree that having a monetary exchange rate is useful. Disagree that it's a priority, or necessary for the Yasuki.
L5R has never been an economic simulation, and IMO, the Yasuki function work fine dealing in money as abstract - a function of useful goods or relative Clan/family/province capacity. 

DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH HONOR I GAINED FROM QUITE LITERALLY DEFENDING THE MIRUMOTO'S NAME
UGH

I know what insult I'm using for dragon for the rest of time.

STILL BETTER 

Howdy!
I'm a huge supporter of L5R 5E. I think a lot of the changes from 4E are great, and that the ones that aren't great are either (1) getting there or (2) there for people who play differently than I do. I'm enthusiastically running a 22-person court game that my players are really enjoying. I can't wait to buy a copy of the core. (And I can't wait to buy a copy of this week's Dynasty Pack for the LCG.)
I say all of that because I want you to understand that what I'm about to say comes from a place of genuine support and a general, democratic spirit of thoughtful critique.
The name "Mirumoto Two-Swords School" is really bad.
I understand: you aren't calling anything the "[Family] [Role] School anymore." I've loved all the renames so far. Doji Diplomat, Kakita Duelist? Great. Bayushi Manipulator, Isawa Elementalist? Bring it on. Even the Iuchi Meishodo Master sounds right, if a little clunky.
Mirumoto Two-Swords School is way beyond clunky. It hits like a chainsaw on a rusty guard rail: all teeth and shrieking. I'm not even a Dragon fan. I bleed Kakita; I hate the Mirumoto. 
Please change it. Pick a name. You could:
Go with what's there: Mirumoto Niten School. Play with its mystical orientation: Mirumoto Adept School. Play with its wandering-swordsperson aspect: Mirumoto Wanderer School. Emphasize its relationship with the Kakita: Mirumoto Duelist School. Literally anything else. I'm begging you.
Thank you for your time.

I've run several duels.
The participants of one of them were Keinosuke and a PC, an Isawa Shugenja. The Isawa was unable to make use of last strike, since he never drew, but intentionally stressed out Keinosuke to force a compromise or other reaction. He placed quite a bet on Keinosuke's honor... and won on that score, even as he lost the duel.
The others have been in mass combat, as clashes.
Ise Zumi vs Goblin. Dead goblin Lots of yoyoing of the TN to hit the goblin. BORING. Isawa vs Goblin. Dead goblin. Boring. Shosuro vs Dark Moto. Dead Shosuro, badly injured Moto. pretty close to boring, except that the Player wanted the character dead. Not a one of them took less than 4 rounds. All of them were boring for at least one of the participants (me) and usually both.
Had two intrigues.
They succeeded in convincing the commander that they just wanted Keinosuke as a witness, resulting in no duel with keinosuke. Was one round long. The scripted on before the battle. Due to issues with not understanding the how, nor why, of the point system in the adventure, just did it as separate Vigilance goals for each. They won each and every topic  in one round, by ganging up using the help rules. Intrigue needs more clarity.
Duel needs a complete rewrite to matter.
The problem is that there's no tension, and no reason not to just bash each other with strikes ... especially now that the forced cracking isn't present, only the finishing blow (which wasn't fatal in any of the three clashes) was triggered.
I'd rather see duels resolved with just a straight roll of Weapon vs Weapon, and move on, or make them into guessing games, where the TN to hit climbs, but so does the glory for 1-hitting and ending the duel.
At no point should the TN to hit drop; that lead to a 7 round duel of +2, -2, +2, -2,... until the +0, which was followed by a strike. then strike, strike, strike. 
I don't mind intrigues, but the one in the adventure doesn't follow the rules format, and when done in the rules format instead of the adventure's is too easy.
 

The update and its change to honor duels to make them iaijutsu only duels again has really made me consider one of the things that has been in the back of my head, which is that samurai ted to feel a bit generic in this beta.

Lets look at honor duels.  Now, I admit, I am dyed-in-the-silk Crane clan; if you cut me, I bleed white and blue.  So duels are an very important part of my play experience, much like how the stats of Shadowland creatures are much more important to people who play Crab clan characters more often.  I must admit that I am quite disappointed by this move to iaijutsu duels from just honor duels.

Beyond mechanical concerns, it is so much cooler to see the slim crane duelist in sky blue hakama and embroidered sarashi with her sword sheathed and ready to strike against the massive crab samurai, heavily armored and swinging his gigantic tetsubo over his head; then it is to see that same crab remove all of his iconic gear and stance to try and mirror the crane duelist.

All of the clans have these iconic differences in how they fight, and with what.  Imagine the same duelist against:

The tattooed Dragon, naked from the waist up, in his Niten stance
The Unicorn dervish, whirling her scimitar as if it were a steel tornado
The golden haired Lion, with her razor-sharp nodachi that has spilled the blood of hundreds on the battlefield.
The sly Scorpion, lazily spinning the weight of her kusari-gama in her left hand.
The brave Phoenix, with his glittering naginata

These are awesome scenes.  They also allow each clan to bring their strengths into an honor duel.  If they are all doing iaijutsu, then they all look like the crane but wearing different colors (until they are cut down by that self same crane).  It feels much cooler to me for honor duels to allow for any weapon and style you want.

Mechanically the other clans don't need iaijutsu, water stance allows them to ready a weapon... and that is a good thing imo.  I like the idea that iaijutsu is a crane thing, just like niten is a dragon thing.  Lion are not interested in iaijutsu because they are to busy winning wars, Crab are not interested because they are too busy manning the wall, etc.  I like where the mechanical changes are going with respect to duels and iaijutsu... I think there is more to be done, but that is not for this forum.  Having all duels be iaijutsu duel feels very much like an artifact of the old lore and system.  I have often felt that all duels were iaijutsu duels because there was a card in the CCG that said so.  Requireing samurai from schools other than the Kakita school study iaijutsu as well as their normal skills feels like a bit of a handy cap to them... I means sure they could if they wanted to, but why?

I think that samurai in this edition tend to feel rather generic already, especially if you have a school ability that you can only use once a scene.  Then you are only special in that one instance, then you go back to being generic.  To be fair, we are used to the crazy powers of the schools, but it feels like a step down in uniqueness as well as power.  Having more powerful, school specific kata will help... and we have no idea what the final list of kata will be, or how many will be exclusive to whatever school.

I want my duelist to cut other characters down while they are using their strongest techniques, not their weakest.

I'm not even weighing in on the topic, I just want this in my list of discussions so I can get back to that list of Western Chinese cuisine. Especially that pamirden.
Maybe I shouldn't read such things before breakfast.

You have put into sharp relief why I think this feels generic.  If all samurai are from a single homogenous country, all doing iaijutsu duels, using the same techniques in those duels... well that feels just very generic to me, even if they wear different colored clothing.  You may PREFER generic.  And if you do... well I really can't change your mind on that.  As to an overarching Rokugani culture... well we already have that without iaijutsu... because we still have honor duels as a thing.  We still have bushido as a thing, as well as Fortunism and the Tao of Shinsei as a thing.  There are many cultural ties that bind everyone together... requiring everyone to use the crane's signature style seems extraneous. 

I dislike real world examples to try and show how things should work in Rokugan, because you are dealing with a world that has magic being performed by the descendants of literal gods, but this one works, I think.  I don't know how familiar you are with the cuisine of China, but it is VASTLY different as you travel through different parts.  In the center you have Shaanxi cuisine (or Xi'an named after the central city) With their broad and thick Biangbiang noodles, Paomo, a lamb soup with torn bits of bread soaked into the broth, and crunchy roujimao stuffed with chopped tender pork, chilis, cilantro, and spices.  Then to the West, you have the mostly halal cuisine of the Xinjian province, with skewers of lamb kawaplar resplendent in cumin, Uyghur mutton pilaf called polu, and Pamirden, which is a pie similar to Naan stuffed with meat and vegetables.  In the east you have Jiangsu and Shanghai, with soup-filled xiaolongbao and the cured ham flavored Kou San Si soup.  To homogenize all of them into the umbrella of "Chinese food" and consider them all to eat the same thing causes one to lose all the wonderful and varied cultural differences they have. They have many more differences than just a few different dishes that high levels chefs might make.  The basic fundamentals are different and there is different thought process to the dish.

I bring up the need to showcase cultural differences because Rokugan is a feudal state.  The clans have declared allegiance to the Hantei, but the military power lies within them, not the Emperor.  And these warring clans are very different in culture... which is one of the reasons they can't get along.  THere are Lion who see the Crane as SO different that they want to kill them all.  Now, most GMs won't showcase the different foods that different provinces of Rokugan might have to show cultural differences... most games are going to be based on fighting.  If it would be a shame that for all court games that you have all samurai doing the same thing, with the same techniques, just in different colored kimonos.  This is why it is important to showcase how each clan is different in ways they will likely interact with each other... which includes honor duels.

I feel that the only reason to keep all honor duels as iaijutsu duels is that earlier editions did.  The mechanics for the  new duels are very similar to the opening duel of Kyūzō in "The Seven Samurai", where they study each other, changing stance several times each until one screams and charges allowing Kyūzō to dispatch him with a masterful rising cut from low stance.  So if you like everyone using iaijutsu because that is how it is done in previous editions... well, that just seems more like a dislike of change more than anything else.  If so, I doubt I will change you mind, but I hope you will  consider that a non-homogenous Rokugan is an exciting vibrant place, where a homogenous Rokugan is a much more placid.  

Howdy!
No, I have not run and will not be running an Intrigue.
I'm probably not your target demographic for social combat, because I hate social combat. I think a more lightweight system (in which characters roll only when roleplaying CAN'T solve something) is more interesting. It feels less cold and mechanistic, and it's more fun to play. 
Not yet.
n/a
I like duels. I think they're one of the most fascinating parts of L5R. They're also relatively time-consuming, exclusive (because at most two players are involved), and dangerous. 
My ideal L5R game is a 20+ player online game or LARP. If the game was played weekly, I'd like to see someone dueling every week, either as a practice bout or to resolve a conflict.
In a regular tabletop game, I wouldn't want to see a duel more than once every few sessions.
The rules for dueling aren't organized well in the current version of the corebook. I had to develop a flowchart, because nobody except my crunchiest player (who proofreads legal documents for a living) could figure out what to do when.

There's also a subtle note of how the Kami also used name magic (of a different kind), and that the Emperor naming a family influenced it towards his perceptions. Ditto mortals ascended to Fortunes.
 
Multiple duelling styles. Not all clans draw and strike in the same motion in a duel, and of these, Niten is the most distinct. "Show Me Your Stance" shows this most clearly.

Good point. I think internal family strife may happen too. Without going to full clan civil war, a Daidoji major Daimyo may allow two of his vassals to settle a dispute by an authorized war, and courtier may plead their cause to higher crane leadership to allow two Daidoji families who hate each others guts to pursue blood feud. 
 
Back on the dueling topic, I'd say Iaijutsu should be expected, but maybe not granted. 
If an honor challenge is thrown, nothing should "force" it to be a Iaijutsu duel. Nothing except court maneuvers that would stress out how dishonourable it would be to break from tradition and refuse to fight in the time honoured Iaijutsu stance, sort of bullying the opposing party in using Iaijutsu. And if Iaijutsu is refused, gossip time! Even if victorious, the non Iaijutsu practitioner might get badmouthed and his victory downplayed in court. 
The error would be to think that iaijutsu honor duel is about a skill contest between two honorable warriors. Iaijutsu honor duel is a political tool amongst an arsenal of means to pressure the opponent. And despite the Crane being on top of it, it's a tool also used by other political clans, like phenix and scorpion. 

As I said in the thread @Doji Meshou linked, Rituals do not need to be just Theology Rituals.
Tea Ceremony and Hyakumonogatari Kaidankai(Gathering of 100 Ghost Stories) would work well as Aesthetic and Composition Rituals with appropriate effects.
Crafting special items can also be locked behind certain Rituals. Kakita and Kaiu Blades could easily be locked behind Smithing rituals.
Special military drills can also be Rituals.
Rituals do not only need to be Magic.

Also, frankly, the underlying assumption that some bushi schools create bushi who are by definition less spiritual than others seems false to me. See the Halloween fiction, for example: a Ritual would've fit right in.

You have put into sharp relief why I think this feels generic.  If all samurai are from a single homogenous country, all doing iaijutsu duels, using the same techniques in those duels... well that feels just very generic to me, even if they wear different colored clothing.  You may PREFER generic.  And if you do... well I really can't change your mind on that.  As to an overarching Rokugani culture... well we already have that without iaijutsu... because we still have honor duels as a thing.  We still have bushido as a thing, as well as Fortunism and the Tao of Shinsei as a thing.  There are many cultural ties that bind everyone together... requiring everyone to use the crane's signature style seems extraneous. 

I dislike real world examples to try and show how things should work in Rokugan, because you are dealing with a world that has magic being performed by the descendants of literal gods, but this one works, I think.  I don't know how familiar you are with the cuisine of China, but it is VASTLY different as you travel through different parts.  In the center you have Shaanxi cuisine (or Xi'an named after the central city) With their broad and thick Biangbiang noodles, Paomo, a lamb soup with torn bits of bread soaked into the broth, and crunchy roujimao stuffed with chopped tender pork, chilis, cilantro, and spices.  Then to the West, you have the mostly halal cuisine of the Xinjian province, with skewers of lamb kawaplar resplendent in cumin, Uyghur mutton pilaf called polu, and Pamirden, which is a pie similar to Naan stuffed with meat and vegetables.  In the east you have Jiangsu and Shanghai, with soup-filled xiaolongbao and the cured ham flavored Kou San Si soup.  To homogenize all of them into the umbrella of "Chinese food" and consider them all to eat the same thing causes one to lose all the wonderful and varied cultural differences they have. They have many more differences than just a few different dishes that high levels chefs might make.  The basic fundamentals are different and there is different thought process to the dish.

I bring up the need to showcase cultural differences because Rokugan is a feudal state.  The clans have declared allegiance to the Hantei, but the military power lies within them, not the Emperor.  And these warring clans are very different in culture... which is one of the reasons they can't get along.  THere are Lion who see the Crane as SO different that they want to kill them all.  Now, most GMs won't showcase the different foods that different provinces of Rokugan might have to show cultural differences... most games are going to be based on fighting.  If it would be a shame that for all court games that you have all samurai doing the same thing, with the same techniques, just in different colored kimonos.  This is why it is important to showcase how each clan is different in ways they will likely interact with each other... which includes honor duels.

I feel that the only reason to keep all honor duels as iaijutsu duels is that earlier editions did.  The mechanics for the  new duels are very similar to the opening duel of Kyūzō in "The Seven Samurai", where they study each other, changing stance several times each until one screams and charges allowing Kyūzō to dispatch him with a masterful rising cut from low stance.  So if you like everyone using iaijutsu because that is how it is done in previous editions... well, that just seems more like a dislike of change more than anything else.  If so, I doubt I will change you mind, but I hope you will  consider that a non-homogenous Rokugan is an exciting vibrant place, where a homogenous Rokugan is a much more placid.  

The update and its change to honor duels to make them iaijutsu only duels again has really made me consider one of the things that has been in the back of my head, which is that samurai ted to feel a bit generic in this beta.

Lets look at honor duels.  Now, I admit, I am dyed-in-the-silk Crane clan; if you cut me, I bleed white and blue.  So duels are an very important part of my play experience, much like how the stats of Shadowland creatures are much more important to people who play Crab clan characters more often.  I must admit that I am quite disappointed by this move to iaijutsu duels from just honor duels.

Beyond mechanical concerns, it is so much cooler to see the slim crane duelist in sky blue hakama and embroidered sarashi with her sword sheathed and ready to strike against the massive crab samurai, heavily armored and swinging his gigantic tetsubo over his head; then it is to see that same crab remove all of his iconic gear and stance to try and mirror the crane duelist.

All of the clans have these iconic differences in how they fight, and with what.  Imagine the same duelist against:

The tattooed Dragon, naked from the waist up, in his Niten stance
The Unicorn dervish, whirling her scimitar as if it were a steel tornado
The golden haired Lion, with her razor-sharp nodachi that has spilled the blood of hundreds on the battlefield.
The sly Scorpion, lazily spinning the weight of her kusari-gama in her left hand.
The brave Phoenix, with his glittering naginata

These are awesome scenes.  They also allow each clan to bring their strengths into an honor duel.  If they are all doing iaijutsu, then they all look like the crane but wearing different colors (until they are cut down by that self same crane).  It feels much cooler to me for honor duels to allow for any weapon and style you want.

Mechanically the other clans don't need iaijutsu, water stance allows them to ready a weapon... and that is a good thing imo.  I like the idea that iaijutsu is a crane thing, just like niten is a dragon thing.  Lion are not interested in iaijutsu because they are to busy winning wars, Crab are not interested because they are too busy manning the wall, etc.  I like where the mechanical changes are going with respect to duels and iaijutsu... I think there is more to be done, but that is not for this forum.  Having all duels be iaijutsu duel feels very much like an artifact of the old lore and system.  I have often felt that all duels were iaijutsu duels because there was a card in the CCG that said so.  Requireing samurai from schools other than the Kakita school study iaijutsu as well as their normal skills feels like a bit of a handy cap to them... I means sure they could if they wanted to, but why?

I think that samurai in this edition tend to feel rather generic already, especially if you have a school ability that you can only use once a scene.  Then you are only special in that one instance, then you go back to being generic.  To be fair, we are used to the crazy powers of the schools, but it feels like a step down in uniqueness as well as power.  Having more powerful, school specific kata will help... and we have no idea what the final list of kata will be, or how many will be exclusive to whatever school.

I want my duelist to cut other characters down while they are using their strongest techniques, not their weakest.

After thinking a little bit about the Approaches-as-Skills idea, I came up with the following list of Skills:
 
Artisan
Martial
High
Social
Common
Air
Calligraphy (Refine)
Unarmed Combat (Feint)
Awareness (Analyze)
Deception (Trick)
Stealth (Con)
Earth
Medicine (Restore)
Defense (Withstand)
Lore (Recall)
Etiquette (Reason)
Craft (Produce)
Fire
Acting (Invent)
Melee Weapons (Overwhelm)
Governorship (Theorize)
Instruction (Incite)
Security (Innovate)
Water
Games (Adapt)
Athletics (Shift)
Investigation (Survey)
Temptation (Charm)
Commerce (Exchange)
Void
Perform (Attune)
Ranged Weapons (Sacrifice)
Meditation (Sense)
Subtlety (Enlighten)
Hunting (Subsist)
 
Forgery
Battle
Culture
Manipulation
Animal Handling
 
Engineering
Horsemanship
Theology
Intimidation
Sailing
So there are five "connected" Skills, each being tied to a specific Approach. Each of these Skills uses the tied Approach as their primary Approach and thus have a specific Ring as "you should use this Ring most of the time". There are also two "extra" Skills in each Skill Group that are not tied to any Approach. For example, you mostly use Earth with Defense to Withstand, Water with Investigation to Survey, Air with Stealth to Con, etc. But Manipulation (the old Courtier Skill) can be used for a lot of things freely. I also renamed the Skills (and two of the Skill Groups) for ease of understanding. 
How does it look?

The update and its change to honor duels to make them iaijutsu only duels again has really made me consider one of the things that has been in the back of my head, which is that samurai ted to feel a bit generic in this beta.

Lets look at honor duels.  Now, I admit, I am dyed-in-the-silk Crane clan; if you cut me, I bleed white and blue.  So duels are an very important part of my play experience, much like how the stats of Shadowland creatures are much more important to people who play Crab clan characters more often.  I must admit that I am quite disappointed by this move to iaijutsu duels from just honor duels.

Beyond mechanical concerns, it is so much cooler to see the slim crane duelist in sky blue hakama and embroidered sarashi with her sword sheathed and ready to strike against the massive crab samurai, heavily armored and swinging his gigantic tetsubo over his head; then it is to see that same crab remove all of his iconic gear and stance to try and mirror the crane duelist.

All of the clans have these iconic differences in how they fight, and with what.  Imagine the same duelist against:

The tattooed Dragon, naked from the waist up, in his Niten stance
The Unicorn dervish, whirling her scimitar as if it were a steel tornado
The golden haired Lion, with her razor-sharp nodachi that has spilled the blood of hundreds on the battlefield.
The sly Scorpion, lazily spinning the weight of her kusari-gama in her left hand.
The brave Phoenix, with his glittering naginata

These are awesome scenes.  They also allow each clan to bring their strengths into an honor duel.  If they are all doing iaijutsu, then they all look like the crane but wearing different colors (until they are cut down by that self same crane).  It feels much cooler to me for honor duels to allow for any weapon and style you want.

Mechanically the other clans don't need iaijutsu, water stance allows them to ready a weapon... and that is a good thing imo.  I like the idea that iaijutsu is a crane thing, just like niten is a dragon thing.  Lion are not interested in iaijutsu because they are to busy winning wars, Crab are not interested because they are too busy manning the wall, etc.  I like where the mechanical changes are going with respect to duels and iaijutsu... I think there is more to be done, but that is not for this forum.  Having all duels be iaijutsu duel feels very much like an artifact of the old lore and system.  I have often felt that all duels were iaijutsu duels because there was a card in the CCG that said so.  Requireing samurai from schools other than the Kakita school study iaijutsu as well as their normal skills feels like a bit of a handy cap to them... I means sure they could if they wanted to, but why?

I think that samurai in this edition tend to feel rather generic already, especially if you have a school ability that you can only use once a scene.  Then you are only special in that one instance, then you go back to being generic.  To be fair, we are used to the crazy powers of the schools, but it feels like a step down in uniqueness as well as power.  Having more powerful, school specific kata will help... and we have no idea what the final list of kata will be, or how many will be exclusive to whatever school.

I want my duelist to cut other characters down while they are using their strongest techniques, not their weakest.

I don't think I quite got my point across.  My point was more that everyone should have theme specific dueling kata. Just schools that are in the lore supposed to be better at dueling should get more or functionally better kata, just like schools that are better in battle or in skirmishes should get more or better kata for those types of fighting.  It should all balance out in the end. 

Schools that are better in duels will be worse in skirmishes or battles.  Like I could see Kakita samurai having more duel kata, maybe a few good skirmish kata, then battle kata that focus on getting them into duels.  Likewise Mirumoto Samurai might have more good dueling kata, a bunch of good skirmishing kata, but not so much battle kata, because the individuality of these samurai does not lend themselves to battle s much as other samurai.  While Bayushi samurai might have a bunch of good dueling kata, but have equal Scorpion esque shenanigans for skirmishes and battle.  Three schools that are supposedly good in duels, all having in theme reasons for having these kata.

For example I could see a Mirumoto be able to use choose a second stance and be able to spend opportunities as if they were in either stance.  I could see them having a kata that allows them to spend two opportunity to perform a critical strike immediately after a successful provoke action (simulating creating an opening with their wakizashi).  I can see them having a kata that allows them to add the deadliness of the katana and wakizashi together when performing a critical strike (and by extension a finishing blow)

I can see A Bayushi being able to during the staredown in any turn after they used a provoke action to be able to gain two initiative for every one strife bid.  I can see a Bayushi being able to spend 2 opportunities when centering to force the opponent to tell the player what their stance will be in next turn's staredown.  I can see them able to spend opportunities to lower their opponents tn when acting first after a stardown.  I can see then having a kata that inflicts the critical hit one lower on the critical hit table as well as the one rolled.

A Matsu might have some dueling kata too, but far more on the skirmish and battle end.  That shouldn't mean that a Matsu cannot beat a Kakita in a duel, just that the Matsu has an uphill battle ahead of her.  Having a Matsu that is somehow tooled out to beat dedicated duelists would be a very interesting character, and would be the source of much very interesting drama.  This should not be impossible, but quite rare and dificult to pull off... but so would a crane general who marched into Crab lands and wiped the floor with them.  Players should not feel pigeonholed when other players are allowed to shine.

There absolutely should also be good general dueling kata open to anyone... and I think we see a good number of them in this beta.  I would not take away any of these kata, but give more that are themed to those specific schools to echo how they are in the lore. 

The update and its change to honor duels to make them iaijutsu only duels again has really made me consider one of the things that has been in the back of my head, which is that samurai ted to feel a bit generic in this beta.

Lets look at honor duels.  Now, I admit, I am dyed-in-the-silk Crane clan; if you cut me, I bleed white and blue.  So duels are an very important part of my play experience, much like how the stats of Shadowland creatures are much more important to people who play Crab clan characters more often.  I must admit that I am quite disappointed by this move to iaijutsu duels from just honor duels.

Beyond mechanical concerns, it is so much cooler to see the slim crane duelist in sky blue hakama and embroidered sarashi with her sword sheathed and ready to strike against the massive crab samurai, heavily armored and swinging his gigantic tetsubo over his head; then it is to see that same crab remove all of his iconic gear and stance to try and mirror the crane duelist.

All of the clans have these iconic differences in how they fight, and with what.  Imagine the same duelist against:

The tattooed Dragon, naked from the waist up, in his Niten stance
The Unicorn dervish, whirling her scimitar as if it were a steel tornado
The golden haired Lion, with her razor-sharp nodachi that has spilled the blood of hundreds on the battlefield.
The sly Scorpion, lazily spinning the weight of her kusari-gama in her left hand.
The brave Phoenix, with his glittering naginata

These are awesome scenes.  They also allow each clan to bring their strengths into an honor duel.  If they are all doing iaijutsu, then they all look like the crane but wearing different colors (until they are cut down by that self same crane).  It feels much cooler to me for honor duels to allow for any weapon and style you want.

Mechanically the other clans don't need iaijutsu, water stance allows them to ready a weapon... and that is a good thing imo.  I like the idea that iaijutsu is a crane thing, just like niten is a dragon thing.  Lion are not interested in iaijutsu because they are to busy winning wars, Crab are not interested because they are too busy manning the wall, etc.  I like where the mechanical changes are going with respect to duels and iaijutsu... I think there is more to be done, but that is not for this forum.  Having all duels be iaijutsu duel feels very much like an artifact of the old lore and system.  I have often felt that all duels were iaijutsu duels because there was a card in the CCG that said so.  Requireing samurai from schools other than the Kakita school study iaijutsu as well as their normal skills feels like a bit of a handy cap to them... I means sure they could if they wanted to, but why?

I think that samurai in this edition tend to feel rather generic already, especially if you have a school ability that you can only use once a scene.  Then you are only special in that one instance, then you go back to being generic.  To be fair, we are used to the crazy powers of the schools, but it feels like a step down in uniqueness as well as power.  Having more powerful, school specific kata will help... and we have no idea what the final list of kata will be, or how many will be exclusive to whatever school.

I want my duelist to cut other characters down while they are using their strongest techniques, not their weakest.

I don't think I quite got my point across.  My point was more that everyone should have theme specific dueling kata. Just schools that are in the lore supposed to be better at dueling should get more or functionally better kata, just like schools that are better in battle or in skirmishes should get more or better kata for those types of fighting.  It should all balance out in the end. 

Schools that are better in duels will be worse in skirmishes or battles.  Like I could see Kakita samurai having more duel kata, maybe a few good skirmish kata, then battle kata that focus on getting them into duels.  Likewise Mirumoto Samurai might have more good dueling kata, a bunch of good skirmishing kata, but not so much battle kata, because the individuality of these samurai does not lend themselves to battle s much as other samurai.  While Bayushi samurai might have a bunch of good dueling kata, but have equal Scorpion esque shenanigans for skirmishes and battle.  Three schools that are supposedly good in duels, all having in theme reasons for having these kata.

For example I could see a Mirumoto be able to use choose a second stance and be able to spend opportunities as if they were in either stance.  I could see them having a kata that allows them to spend two opportunity to perform a critical strike immediately after a successful provoke action (simulating creating an opening with their wakizashi).  I can see them having a kata that allows them to add the deadliness of the katana and wakizashi together when performing a critical strike (and by extension a finishing blow)

I can see A Bayushi being able to during the staredown in any turn after they used a provoke action to be able to gain two initiative for every one strife bid.  I can see a Bayushi being able to spend 2 opportunities when centering to force the opponent to tell the player what their stance will be in next turn's staredown.  I can see them able to spend opportunities to lower their opponents tn when acting first after a stardown.  I can see then having a kata that inflicts the critical hit one lower on the critical hit table as well as the one rolled.

A Matsu might have some dueling kata too, but far more on the skirmish and battle end.  That shouldn't mean that a Matsu cannot beat a Kakita in a duel, just that the Matsu has an uphill battle ahead of her.  Having a Matsu that is somehow tooled out to beat dedicated duelists would be a very interesting character, and would be the source of much very interesting drama.  This should not be impossible, but quite rare and dificult to pull off... but so would a crane general who marched into Crab lands and wiped the floor with them.  Players should not feel pigeonholed when other players are allowed to shine.

There absolutely should also be good general dueling kata open to anyone... and I think we see a good number of them in this beta.  I would not take away any of these kata, but give more that are themed to those specific schools to echo how they are in the lore. 

Yes, I agree that multiple paths to victory is totally awesome, and I think that there is great potential to do exactly as you describe.  I think you and I are of a like mind in a lot of this.

I'm gonna cross post some things that I said in our other discussion from the lore page, Rana.  This is a better forum for where that discussion went went and I can expound a little more.
Imagine kata that Kakita duelist might have...  They could have one that drops their strife to 0 when they assess at the beginning of a duel, which would be increadibly useful in a tense political situation..  Imagine a kata that doubles their composure while in a duel (which might result in an unmasking when the duel ends).  A kata where you can add the opponents strife to your critical strike roll (and by extension a finishing blow).  There could be a kata that allows you to secretly choose two rings that can cause the opponent strife; or a kata that allowed you to manipulate your own, or your opponents, strife levels directly. 

I could see a Mirumoto bushi be able to use choose a second stance and be able to spend opportunities as if they were in either stance.  I could see them having a kata that allows them to spend two opportunity to perform a critical strike immediately after a successful provoke action (simulating creating an opening with their wakizashi).  I can see them having a kata that allows them to add the deadliness of the katana and wakizashi together when performing a critical strike (and by extension a finishing blow)

I can see A Bayushi bushi being able to, during the staredown, in any turn after they used a provoke action, to be able to gain two initiative for every one strife bid.  I can see a Bayushi being able to spend 2 opportunities when centering to force the opponent to tell the player what their stance will be in next turn's staredown.  I can see them able to spend opportunities to lower their opponents tn when acting first after a staredown.  I can see then having a kata that inflicts the critical hit one lower on the critical hit table as well as the one rolled.  

So here you have three schools that in the lore are good at dueling having three different methods of approaching a duel.  A Kakita who manipulates strife waiting for a perfect single finishing blow, A Mirumoto who is going to come out swinging and trying to end the duel fast, and a bayushi who is looking to manipulate initiative and learn their opponents weakness before wounding and hamstringing them into a position where they can no linger fight back.

So who would win between a Dragon and a Crane?  In this scenario it is a probably going to be a question of if the Dragon can get through the Crane's defenses before the Crane can get a finishing blow... but there are other ways you could play it.  In fact the Crane might suspect the dragon is going to go this way, and so pushes hard and fast the first turn.  It is all about options and how you use it.  What if the dragon figures the Crane will sit back, and so pushes even harder the first turn burning strife to get the initiative the first turn, and get all up in the Crane's grill.  Centering only works until the beginning of the next round, so if the dragon can act first, then they can attack the crane without the ridiculous tn that they can build with centering... but building up strife brings the dragon closer to that finishing blow.  It is tense and full of questions and drama.

No, these kata I postulate here are in NO WAY intended to be suggestions or that they are in anyway balanced or even useable.  They are just to show different ways that different schools that are known for dueling could approach the matter.  High rings/skill and good rolls are always going to be important, but every clan and every school approaches it in a slightly different way.  A hida with earth 5 and martial arts 5 is probably going to kick some *** in a duel, regardless of kata.  Their approach will just be much more straight forward than, say, a Bayushi... and this not a bug, it's a feature.  

I would love it if duels end up being more like a chess game than rock, paper, scissors.  Simply making Crane duelists unbeatable makes duels boring, but having them be "ideal warriors for duels to the death" is much more exciting.