It would seem that Hairy is proposing a game that does not use the L5R system but a very much simplified one (if the full L5R system was used I wouldn't play), ergo I don't think the problems you have highlighted would appear here. Also... Hairy will correct me if I'm wrong... the campaign he's talking about pits a party of Samurai against a large puzzle populated by GM-controlled NPCs so the mis-match of optimized vs non-optimized player characters being at odds with each other shouldn't arise.<br/><br/>What we are discussing here is a possible game based in the Legend of the Five Rings setting but<em>not</em>using the L5R rules. I love the Rokugan universe. I think it's fantastic. For me though the rules are unplayable online because combats and other fairly minor decisions take far too long to resolve.<br/><br/>This discussion can apply to<em>any</em>system game. Many game universes are wonderful - many rules systems are impossible to understand without many months familiarization. By taking an established universe but adding a very very simple set of rules that capture the essence of the workings of that universe we could have a game online that is effectively a freeform game with just the GM (or joint GMs) doing the calculations.