But AEG doesn't run the events. Individual TOs run the events. AEG provides prize support in the form of subsidized booster boxes, things like playmats and foils, and the story results. I am not aware of AEG doing anything like, having already collected payment, not sending out the physical prize support (if they did, that would be horrible, but I'm not aware of them doing that). They said in the sale announcement that the events will go ahead as scheduled. They've said that that they will track the results and hand them on to FFG so that FFG can use them if it so chooses. They probably could have had a better turn of phrase, because it felt like the support was ending (and I notice that I even said that in my prior post), but (other than having the forums down so that people couldn't check them for tournament information) I'm not sure what support AEG actually ended.

I'd agree that well-phrased communication has been a weakness of AEG this year. But I don't think that the company not striking precisely the right tone in the sale announcement is something to castigate them over.

And I could have missed something that they've announced, as my main source was the forums and I haven't much looked at them since they were axed for a few days, other than to see which subforms have been put back up.

This was what they said (edit: AEG) in the sale announcement:

" Of course, many questions will almost certainly occur to you as you read this. Foremost among them, you are probably wondering what will happen to our upcoming events, including the Fall Kotei Season and the European Championships. All of these events currently scheduled will go on as planned, as CCG events. We’ll continue collecting the results, and will add those to our list of all currently outstanding tournament and event results. All of this will be provided to FFG, who will do their best to incorporate it into L5R and its setting once they’ve relaunched the Brand."

You are correct on the tournament forums (and also on the Doomtown Reloaded rules forum). I do not think they should have shut down the forums entirely. Or if they shut them down entirely, they should have ASAP partially re-opened the tournament sections.

As for whose embarrassment - I did mean those who posted. Nobody was going to post anything that was going to embarrass AEG. Granted, the ranting posters probably would not feel embarrassed by their posts (because, hello, internet). But they probably should. As an additional practical matter, some volunteer forum mod would then have had to spend a lot of time warning and banning people for being idiots.

I'm not sure how much constructive complaining there is to do at this point. There's some justified complaining about this or that AEG action (although I'm not sure if there are any related to the sale of the brand). Indeed, in our podcast episode reacting to the sale you can hear me voice at least a couple. But I don't see why AEG would be under some sort of obligation to subject itself and its forum mods to abuse just for the sake of allowing customers to make now-moot complaints (however legitimate) about AEG's handling of a product line it has now sold. It's not like we don't have other outlets to make those complaints/observations (I know most of us don't have a podcast to soapbox from, but there are these forums, other fan forums, and the Facebook group).

As for the fall kotei thing, that's a separate issue. I'm not sure what AEG is supposed to do there. They don't have the brand anymore. It seems odd to have the support end so abruptly. But even if they said they were in some way still supporting the Kotei beyond what they are, I am not sure what substantive form that support could take. They can't bind FFG to do anything, so it isn't like they can declare that the results will count. And it does not seem like a viable business decision to spend the next few months pretending that the sale had not happen, just to let Kotei season play out - especially since people (and stores) would then complain that AEG had been trying to hide the announcement to sell as much Evil Portents as possible before pulling the plug. I'm not saying I wouldn't be mad if I was a fall kotei TO, I'm just not sure what else AEG could reasonably have done.

Daramere,

Your stance appears to be that AEG ignoring any feedback (ranting or justified) is reasonable. However, that stance really only makes sense in vacuum where AEG will never have anything to do with any of their (now ex) L5R customers... but AEG is still a gaming company, vying for gaming dollars, and gaming companies should care about their perceived image with their potential customerbase... which it appears AEG does not.

Moreover, that kind of attitude does not really inspire any confidence that their L5R debacle will not be repeated in some other way... another way to say it is AEG could have helped their image by accepting at least a little criticism on their terms, instead of much harsher criticism totally outside their control (these forums being relatively benign compared to the local gaming group level).

Thaddok

PS: The Doomtown forums going down was pretty terrible on its own (and a few people I know wondered if they were getting rid/ending Doomtown also)... as several have mentioned, communication has not been AEG's strong suit.

PPS: Daramere, your point about having your own podcast is interesting... do you think it is possible that you would have felt differently without your "soapbox" arena?

No, I do not think I would feel differently if I did not have the podcast.

Back on topic, did any one notice that Android has some novels? https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/android-novels/

Gives me hope for Spooky's novel or at least some canon fiction to read.

Back on topic, did any one notice that Android has some novels? https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/products/android-novels/

Gives me hope for Spooky's novel or at least some canon fiction to read.

i think theres a decent chance we'll get novels. L5R is FFG's first property that is entirely their own, and i have to imagine they're going to want to go all out with it, though perhaps not all right away. thats got to include taking the story, the centerpiece of l5r, beyond the short fiction pieces and to a broader audience. that said, i fear for spooky's novel. it was based on the upcoming plotlines of onyx, which i fear are destined for the whatifs and good riddances of history. perhaps they'll one day let him put it on the web for us to enjoy as a treat, but i can't see it ever being completed and published.

Listening to the Strange Assembly podcast, interesting to hear from someone official. Though, there weren't any solid declarations, only a vague 'we're going to try and give l5r a sendoff, maybe'. Would be cool to do that with Spooky.

Listening to the Strange Assembly podcast, interesting to hear from someone official. Though, there weren't any solid declarations, only a vague 'we're going to try and give l5r a sendoff, maybe'. Would be cool to do that with Spooky.

i mean, i hate to be negative, but aeg has so little credibility left with me i cannot express the depth of my incredulity at that statement. their whole "deeds not words" credo, in retrospect, now sounds like it was a private joke on the fans. they've sold the game. if they waste another second of their time on the game, i'll be shocked. theres a few people there left who care, but i doubt any of them are in a position to make substantive decisions except perhaps Dave, but from the way things have played out the last few weeks it seems like his efforts to do right by the community are being pretty regularly stymied.

i think theres a decent chance we'll get novels. L5R is FFG's first property that is entirely their own, and i have to imagine they're going to want to go all out with it, though perhaps not all right away. thats got to include taking the story, the centerpiece of l5r, beyond the short fiction pieces and to a broader audience

Um...what?

FFG owns a number of IP settings, nearly all of which they developed themselves. I mean, first and foremost, they have their signature setting of the aliens and timeline of their original game, Twilight Imperium. Then there's their Terrinoth (the setting for Runebound, Runewars, Descent, Descent 2, Runedoplhins, and Runerune, the Runeining, among other Runes), which is their homebrew fantasy world. Android is their setting -- heck, they brought Netrunner *out* of Cyberpunk 2020 and into the Android setting. And while they obviously don't own the Cthulhu Mythos as a whole, they do own the IP for their charming ragtag band of Arkham Horror protagonists (Montery Jack, Joe Diamond, etc.; I think the only one they might not own is Harvey Walters, who is on-loan and tribute to Chaosium). They also own the Midnight 3.x D&D setting (What If...Sauron wins?). In the past, they also owned the DUST setting (which they did buy from the original owners, and have since sold), and I believe they owned the Tannhauser IP as well (which has also left them). They've been around a while; these are just the ones I could think of off-hand.

Rokugan is far from FFG's first property they've owned. Instead of just making some bold claims, you could look through how they've handled their own IP in the past and see what they've developed and what they haven't, and how they've done it. It might give you a better basis to make your predictions on.

As it was explained to me, L5R is the first property they own top to bottom, and that they do not lease in any way. Most of those are settings. But i could be mistaken. I will fully grant that this was information communicated during the sale, and i took for granted. i was thinking primarily of their LCGs (netrunner is owned by wizards, LotR obviously isn't theirs, ditto warhammer and star stars and game of thrones) but i hadn't considers their smaller gamelines.

As it was explained to me, L5R is the first property they own top to bottom, and that they do not lease in any way. Most of those are settings. But i could be mistaken. I will fully grant that this was information communicated during the sale, and i took for granted.

Your information was wrong. They own well over half a dozen IPs (as I listed in my previous post). Their leased settings are even bigger -- Star Wars is their most successful IP overall, but I think most people would agree that FFG's done more for the 40K IP than Games Workshop has when you consider using it beyond the original miniatures games.

It's the only one of their LCGs they own outright. They're all based on existing IP or licensed mechanics. Which means they're free to do what they like with it, for as long as they like, from the foundation of the LCG's success. That's pretty significant.

I remain a bit surprised that they haven't attempted a Terrinoth or Twilight Imperium LCG, honestly, but they seem to have their hands pretty full with the half-dozen LCGs in active development. And even if you don't assume that L5R players are going to follow the game to FFG (and I'm sure many will), sheer brand recognition of L5R is almost certainly stronger than Terrinoth or TI.

It's the only one of their LCGs they own outright. They're all based on existing IP or licensed mechanics. Which means they're free to do what they like with it, for as long as they like, from the foundation of the LCG's success. That's pretty significant.

A good clarification, and thank you for it.

I'm not seeing the extra significance in owning all of Rokugan as compared to, say, the Android setting. Sure, they have to license the name from Cyberpunk: 2020 (and mechanics from Hasbro), but nowadays there's no way that setting is worth more than the Android world. The Android setting is all theirs, and I've not heard any interviews that show they've not done what they want to the LCG to fit the setting as they see fit. Rokugan, we can presume, will be handled much the same way.

It's the only one of their LCGs they own outright. They're all based on existing IP or licensed mechanics. Which means they're free to do what they like with it, for as long as they like, from the foundation of the LCG's success. That's pretty significant.

I'm not seeing the extra significance in owning all of Rokugan as compared to, say, the Android setting. Sure, they have to license the name from Cyberpunk: 2020 (and mechanics from Hasbro), but nowadays there's no way that setting is worth more than the Android world. The Android setting is all theirs, and I've not heard any interviews that show they've not done what they want to the LCG to fit the setting as they see fit. Rokugan, we can presume, will be handled much the same way.

I agree, and I hope they do. My rooting for FFG to not be afraid to overhaul L5R in various ways is pretty well documented on this board by now.

That said (and without knowing the details of the license deal for the Netrunner mechanics), if FFG lost that license for any reason, it seems to me that pretty much guts support for the setting. The board game never saw an expansion (unusual for FFG), and I think there was another (stand alone) card game that came out shortly after Netrunner that was pretty much stillborn. It doesn't appear on the Netrunner Universe page on FFG's site. I've no idea what's going on with the novels. And that's been it. They *could* do an RPG, or more board games, or whatever, but haven't shown much inclination to do so.

I mean, don't get me wrong, I don't think they're in danger of losing the mechanics. I'm sure it's good money for all involved, given the game's success. But I'm likewise sure that both the fact they may not have it forever and the cost of licensing enters into FFG's calculations, whereas for L5R, those aren't factors. At this point, the cost of the IP purchase is a sunk cost. If they can launch parallel product lines (board games, novels, minis games, etc.) that are successful, it seems like it'll eclipse Android setting as an IP in fairly short order.

I'm not sure that Terrinoth or TI have ever really grown to be something beyond worlds upon which games can hang. Is there an audience out there that snaps up new Terrinoth games? Or that TI Dune reskin that came out a bit a go? Or would those games do just as well in a different skin? Seems like it's hard to say, but it's probably telling that FFG purchased another setting rather than incorporating their own IP into an LCG.

I do 100% agree, though, that looking at FFG's past practices is probably a good guide to the future, at a variety of levels.

Not sure how relevant it is, but keep in mind that Talsorian and CD Projekt Red are working to release Cyberpunk 2077 in a near future. Given how awesome the Witcher series was.... I predict a rebirth and revaluation of the Cyberpunk IP (and associated Netrunner too)

Hi everyone. Interestingly spooky has just sign a halloween story as the author of the l5r novel. Would this mean the novel has been approved?

He's always the author of the novel. Whether it gets published or not.

I'd hope someone can find a way clear to publishing it, though.

This was to be a big milestone in the history of L5R's interactive storyline. I would be very surprised if Jon did not bring the topic up at some point during the IP transfer. So it's a known issue, I think it's safe to say. What that means for the future of the story, harder to say with certainty.

I think one of the many roles Spooky's novel was meant to fulfill for AEG was to re-engage fans vis-a-vis the changing setting.

Frankly, a lot that had been going on on the story front was immensely controversial.

The novel's fate hinges on FFG's plans for the published setting (which could be anything from a complete reboot to some slight retroactive changes to the continuity) - as well as their plans for the unpublished ideas for stories to come (which will almost certainly be completely revised, I mean they paid a lot of money for having complete creative control.)

Spooky's probably going to have to rewrite about 70-80% of it once they have finalized their decision on where to take the setting.