As a lot of other posters have mentioned, I felt overall that this fiction would have been much better coming after a few other fictions that set up the characters and situations beforehand. It felt like a lot of stuff got packed into this fiction, and thus there wasn't much time to give things as much development and detail as I might have liked. That being said, I understand why it was done this way; they are trying to introduce us to a clan, that clan's identifying traits, their prominent characters and those characters' personalities, and set up the conflicts and trials ahead, and all in eight pages. It's a lot of stuff to do in a short time, and while I would be willing to read a novel, interested but not yet committed new players (who are the ones FFG is likely aiming for) would probably want something more succinct. On a slightly different note, am I the only one who really likes the Toturi art?

I totally understand the feeling of not wanting the to re-hash things, but I'm personally actually hoping the plot's overarching events (Scorpion Clan Coup, Battle of Beiden Pass, Kisada marches on Otosan Uchi, Second Day of Thunder, etc.) remain mostly the same. I only really got into L5R after the Clan War era, but it always was my favorite era for the stories, so I would look forward to the chance of experiencing them in real time, even if there are a lot of differences in the details this time around. But, we'll have to wait and see. The FFG team might be looking to shake things up and surprise the old player base, and I wouldn't be surprised if they don't want to be seen as just re-hashing things.

Do you mean 'scouting' as in watching an opponent's game with someone else before you actually play against them?

This is my first time getting into an LCG so forgive my ignorance, but are these "demo" deck decklists provided with the core set? Kind of like a "here's some suggested decks if you don't feel like doing deck building and just want to show the game to some people?" Is that sort of thing standard for LCGs?

Am I really getting grief over having different purchashing habits than other people? I apologize if I've offended you guys somehow, but I am honestly surprised at getting hostility about being undecided about how many cores I want.

Didn't say I wanted a playset.

As much as I would like to have all of the information now, like Lord Ide mentioned above, the pacing of information is likely being carefully controlled to keep us in anticipation until the release date. I don't necessarily like it, but I get it. Now, there are a lot of different kinds of people interested in the game. While some are interested in the story and world in equal or greater parts than the game, I'm in the same camp as Joe in that I'm much more interested in the game itself. I'm familiar with most of the lore, and while some of it may change, if it changes on a large scale away from the original premise (unlikely) my interest will shift solely to the game anyway, making fiction weeks "off weeks" for me. I'd much prefer to have card previews split into smaller chunks and done weekly, but FFG has decided their course and I expect them to stick to it. At this point the piece of information that I most want is the card distribution of the core set (so I can figure out how many cores to buy) and I have a feeling that is precisely the piece of information that FFG is the most reticent to reveal.

FFG gave a response on their Facebook saying that for the time being they are pushing everything back a week. They said they wanted each clan to have their chance on the spotlight. Since that would put the last set of previews the week after Gencon (if they continue at the one clan every two weeks pace) I think it's possible they'll change up the schedule at some point, but that's just conjecture.

To be fair, it's probably not a picture of Crab Clan guts.

At any rate, the point I was trying to make is that a FB page usually has an administator and any number of people with priveleges to post and reply under the page name. It might have been Elena who responded, but it might not have (as that information isn't visible to people without page privileges.) Mostly I'm just hoping they don't actually delay the update schedule, because I am hankering for some sweet, sweet L5R information.

I know who Elena is, but I was not aware that she is in charge of the FB account. ("That person" is a quote of another poster who used it to mean "the person who posted the response on FB.")

I honestly don't know who "that person" is.

It's very possible that the person in charge of the FB account isn't a main member of the L5R team or aware of the number of weeks until Gencon (and probably isn't the person who will actually decide how the new schedule rolls out besides) so I am thinking (hoping?) that the FB response is more or less a placeholder response and that they quite possibly aren't actually pushing everything back a week.

I don't see why FFG doesn't just post both a fiction and card previews next week, especially since there aren't enough weeks left before Gencon for any delays...

Kind of like the reverse of the basic Shiba Tsukune; her art was supposed to be for an item (presumably Naginata) but the artist decided to make art fit for a personality card instead.

I interpret "no more than two" to mean that two is still fine.

I know the next L5R Live is supposed to be about the Lion, but I think my question is going to be for them to explain this card, as it seems to have mystified us all.

Actually, and I may be the only one, I also would have been okay with basically the same characters and same story but with new cards and mechanics. I mean take the Lord of the Rings for example. No matter how many Lord of the Rings CCGs or LCGs get released that story doesn't change, though I realize the story and tournament interactions with L5R are a different animal. But that being said, I'm looking forward to the reboot and seeing what kind of stories play out, and really hoping Shiba Tsukune shows up.

The story will probably be less of a "retcon" and more of an alternate dimension/timeline. If you're expecting basically the same story to be told again, I get the feeling you're going to be disappointed.

We'll hold you to that promise.

As a Phoenix player, this was actually the most intersting bit for me. With conflict resolution not killing the defending army the problem of not wanting to defend with spell-equipped shugenja was already solved, but I feel (hope?) not requiring presence for some spells and shugenja abilities will make them more viable and powerful than they have been in the past. The fate mechanic keeps a powerful shugenja or spell (assuming there are attachable, re-usable spells) from dominating the board, too, which I hope will open up more design options.

Rude. No Naga?

Yeah, this thread made me feel old when the word "ship" showed up. Took me a minute to figure out what it meant.

Yup, that was confirmed on the Facebook live stream.

I'm glad it was a help! I have to put my weird work schedule and non-US time zone to good use somehow.