Kind of a response to the wish from many of us to see how things are going with remaking our game. I was thinking about what the LCG will need.

What will Legend of the Five Rings Living Card Game need in it to work for you? What are the bare bones of what you would like to see in the new game.

For me:

• It needs to be fun.
• I need to be able to teach this game fairly easily, if we're going to get players.
• I need a faction to play. Kitsune, generic Mantis, or Naga.

So what are the points that are important for you?

Edited to add a missing letter. Derp.

Balanced multiplayer. A must. I have more than enough 1v1 in my life. Thank God for Thrones 2E.

Story. If it ends up a static universe or one where statu quo is god, I'll be mad.

There have been a couple of threads of this kind, but they usually go off the rails fairly quickly, so I appreciate the intent of refreshing it from time to time. For me:

1) It has to be fun to play.

2) It has to feel like L5R (it doesn't have to have identical rules, nor does every faction has to be identical, but if it feels like a totally different game and/or different setting, I probably wouldn't play it, however good it is).

3) I have to feel some investment in it- story progression is the natural way of doing this, but if FFG has other ways of doing it, that's fine by me.

Though other things are also important, of course, they are mostly negotiable.

For me, a large part of whether it will be fun comes down to whether it will foster strong association with in-setting institutions, primarily the Great Clans. That will also cover, again for me, whether it feels like L5R. I'd also like to see multiplayer -- I mean a game designed to accommodate two or more players from the ground up, not just as some kind of expansion.

Legend of the Five Rings (LCG): My hopes are that ...

1. The game is fun

2. It is easy enough to learn to play, and teach so that it can grow.

3. It continues to have story that follows along with the game.

4. The Clans exists in some form to allow for rivalries, and alliances.

5. Multiplayer options would be nice.

I am definately going to give the game a shot. I really do hope it will be fun, and dynamic. I am looking forward to the release of the LCG.

C'mon guys, it's FFG, the game is going to be fun. Mechanically, I don't expect the game to look anything like the original but I am confident it will be fun!

The only thing I really hope they keep it the clans and their personalities (crane is snobby/elegant, scorpion is sneaky/loyal, crab is brutish/defensive, etc).

Muliplayer via AGoT Melee would be incredible

1. Fun (FFG's track record here is solid)

2. Easy to learn, easy to teach (part of the CCG's problem was a learning curve that could shatter friggin' skulls)

3. Needs to preserve the "feel" of L5R- each player represents a Clan, striving against its opponents, with mechanics that, ideally, reflect this vibe.

4. Interesting and diverse factions. We don't know if they're going to change the Clan lineup, we don't know if the starter box is going to be able to include everybody, but whoever DOES make it in needs to feel sufficiently distinct from the others that it's not just piles of "Generic Samurai Spud for all!"

5. Story. If I want to play games revolving around a static point in history, I can do that without buying a single new product.I have piles of cards, I have locals who know how to play. The story was always the draw (even when it wasn't very good!).

Here's what I hope for:

- Preserve the L5R Feeling : rivalries, clan representations, dueling mechanics, multiple win conditions, etc. Well... L5R has to be L5R. The mechanics can change, but I don't think they can be removed.

- A friendlier approch: an easier learning curve and a quicker pace. I will admit that I've started playing the CCG at Ivory Edition (Shame on me...) and I saw some change recap and it was even more complex before. Also, if games would be quicker, it may also help a bit.

- A better multiplayer approch. I will say that my group played some multiplayer games and since the game is strongly build around 1v1, it's a bit like: "You win if you wait for someone else to open the gate." Of course there's the siege format, but its a 1 VS (a group acting as) 1. I would like the game to be able to be played at least with 4 players in a free for all type of game.

- Story being dynamic! This is the signature of L5R, this cannot be removed in my opinion. I might haven't follow the CCG communauty for long, since I was more following the RPG side, but I will admit that this part is very unique and I think (WARNING: The following comment is only my thoughts, no need to flame in it, comment on it) this may have kept the CCG alive for that long.

I know this may be a lot, but if these are there, I don't even feel the need to add a point for Fun, because these points are games that I'm having fun with.

Story and it's connection to the players is the most important thing for me. Without that it is not L5R.

Winning by dishonouring my enemies.

Winning by dishonouring my enemies.

But that method must not cause games to stall out when opposed by an honor deck.

Been playing a lot of AGOT2nd ed and I must say I really miss the feel of big battles. For me, that is what L5R excelled at, you felt like you were fighting big battles all the time.

I like the varied character type in a roleplaying sense. Using a lone duelist to stop a large army ala COAAT. Or the commander with his followers. I Imagine it will be preserved and I hope so.

Winning by dishonouring my enemies.

But that method must not cause games to stall out when opposed by an honor deck.

Rulebook effect similiar to Political Standoff should help.

What I feel is necessary for the Legend of the Five Rings LCG to be a game I want to buy and play:

1. The setting of Rokugan - Do we need the 20 years of in-game history? Not necessarily, but we need the world of Rokugan. We need the Emerald Empire of Great Clan samurai feuding under a divine Emperor / Empress. The game needs to be live and breathe this setting, and express it from Step 0.
2. Multiplayer and Two-Player Playability - NetRunner is an amazing game, but L5R LCG is an opportunity to create a vibrant game that can be both played as a Duel and a Melee. Multiplayer used to be a huge part of the old TCG. Making it a two-player game which can kind of do multiplayer, or the other way around, would be a disservice to the IP.
3. The Great Clans as Factions - I want my Crane to be different than my Lion, my Scorpion to be different than my Crab. Do I need all the 15+ factions that the TCG has had in the past? No. But the game needs at least the six original Great Clans (Crab, Crane, Dragon, Lion, Phoenix, Unicorn), and hopefully the Scorpion and the Mantis Clans. Maybe the Spider Clan and the Naga? But the original six, or the core seven / eight are needed.
4. Where Honor is Stronger than Steel - This seems to be the tagline that FFG is going with for L5R LCG. I want to see this phrase encapsulate / sell the heart of how the game plays. I want to come back to that phrase when I am teaching a friend the game, and have that look of understanding appear in their eyes.
5. Multiple Paths to Victory - This is a hard one, but it depends entirely on how you define the rules for victory in the game. I just want there to be more than a single path to achieve victory. I want to win by showing virtue / courtesy (Honor), marshalling troops and conquering territory (Military), publicly shaming and discrediting my opponent (Dishonor), or discovering the true path of the world (Enlightenment). And I want them all to be viable in both two-player and multi-player, without slowing the way the game plays.

And, above all else:
INTERACTIVE STORYTELLING

As a previous L5R player, that now plays NetRunner I'm incredibly excited for the reboot. Having discovered the LCG format not too long ago and fallen in love with NetRunner i've got a few things to add to the discussion.

The first is that previous L5R players with minimal experience with FFG might want to check out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCelCL49lR0&feature=youtu.be&t=32m3s It's Christian Peterson talking about the acquisition of L5R, something I only discovered when i started getting into NetRunner and was trying to find out more info on it. It's pretty reassuring for the most part. Given how well they did with rebooting netrunner and making a balanced game with asymmetrical game play i feel pretty confident overall.

The Important things to me are that:

1) If the new game has similar mechanics and rules to the original that they flatten them somewhat. By that i mean that the original was pretty difficult to teach. I felt there was an over usage of keywords that didn't lead to much. Calvary, Naval, Kensai were keywords that made sense and had very real effects but having to explain slightly less used keywords, mechanics, and experienced was sometimes confusing to new players (considering every personality was named but not always unique, and sometimes had experienced versions).

2) The story of l5R and the clans needs to exist in the cards. AEG did a pretty decent job through mechanics, art, and flavor to give a very tangible feel that the cards played and acted like their clan personalities. When i tried to teach L5R to my friends I gave them a narrative of them walking down a street with recruiters for each clan giving them the background and history of each clan. What each Clan wanted, how they would go about getting it, and what would be expected of the potential recruit. If the clans broke their alignment to the color wheel this would have been much harder to do. I know this sounds oddly specific but hear me out, the flavor of the clans in the story and their relation to the cards were tangible and visible. They weren't the end-all be-all of design but they were generally the criteria by which card design was underwritten. Also, I really liked adopting the personality of each clan when enticing my friends as they decided which clan they wanted to commit themselves to. *everyone gravitated to scorpion or crab...i guess i did a bad job of selling spider.*

3) The gold game needs to change (assuming they keep the same buying mechanic). Everyone more or less ran the same gold producing package with minimal deviation(do i want one or two recruitment officers?). I could essentially take my econ package from any clan, rotate the clan specific gold producing cards for every single deck i made. You might slot out a few cards for decks that ran off specific keyword support but for the most part the core remained intact. If you want to talk about limiting design space the entire competitive scene had symmetrical economy packages.

4) Speaking of design space limitations, aside from gold production i think every deck ran cards like a game of dice. So generically good that no matter what kind of deck you played, how you played, what style you were playing you absolutely had to have those cards. I rather that cards like that not exist because they don't add anything to gameplay other than being at a disadvantage for not playing them and being on par for having them. The restriction for playing Game of Dice was only that it could be played as a limited but had no real considerations to make during deck building or when to actually play it. It was more or less always the right time to play that card immediately. However the new game looks i hope that cards that are auto-includes without a second thought don't exist. That really limits both designers and deck builders. Not to say that designers should always err on the side of caution but to not make cards with really powerful generic effects that could fit in every deck.

And most importantly

5) Player Agency. This goes back to point 2. L5R had a very interesting effect on its player base. People got invested in their clan. Yea it might be fun to play all the clans but you had a favorite. When the clans fought for territory in the colonies you bet everyone played their favorite clan hopping to expand their influence in the world of L5R. That sort of mechanic was one of the essential features of L5R, that players had some agency to shape the story of L5R and what would happen to their beloved clans, personalities, and champions. There were even clan groups pitching in to "hire mercenaries" to try and get their clan a kotei win.

But regardless my only hopes for the new game are mostly points 2 and 5. That the story of the L5R feels alive to the player and we get a rich flavorful world to play in, that we fall in love with our clans all over again, and that the cards themselves and the game mechanics act as a medium for the world of L5R.

I played during the Gold arc and dropped out shortly after Diamond began. I stopped playing for reasons unrelated to the game.

I toyed with picking it up again in the last couple of years and even bought some product. What struck me was the quality of the packaging was far better than the cards themselves. That really held me back from committing to the game a second time.

So, for me the quality of the physical product that I am going to hold in my hand while playing has to be non pareil. Also, the cards have to be readable. The font can't be too small and the colors/color conventions have to be clearly distinguishable for those of us with common color blindness (e.g. red-green).

As to the game itself and the flavor... What attracted me to L5R in the first place was the foundation of Asian philosophy and military strategy. So I want, the Code of Bushido, the Art of War, the Book of the Five Rings, the Tao te Ching, and Confucius, to have significant place in the structure of the game. For me, what distinguishes L5R from Magic, Doomtown, 7th Sea, and other thematic card games is that it is fundamentally a war game. As such, on some level it must represent a physical battle field where armies will stage, maneuver, and clash and heroes and villains can impact the flow of battle with inspiring charges or sacrifices or tricks.

I am playing Magic now because that is the only viable game in my town. I was glad to see Doomtown revived and I hope 7th Sea will be as well; but L5R is by far the one I have the highest hopes for; FFG please don't disappoint!

In my experience, it needs to remain different from most other card games that exist. L5R expressed this, in my opinion, in three ways:

1. This rich story that could be influenced by players through both playing the game in Kotei tournaments and through the RPG (such as Winter Court). The story being more in the hands of the players than other games gives players an intrinsic investment in the game.

2. The number of factions and the way you built a deck lent to how my friends and I played the game. We would pool our money, buying 2 to 3 tins of booster packs as well as all of the clan decks. When we opened the packs and began deck building, we didn't have to fight over the cards the way I've experienced playing MTG. The Crab player got the Crab Clan cards, the Lion players, the Lion cards, etc. Even with regard to strategies and followers, the different types of decks we were each making and the different types of victories those decks aimed for made it so that very few cards, by comparison to MTG, became points of contention.

3. This leads me to my third point, the complexity of the game. L5R does not have to be difficult to play; however, the complexity of the game was what kept my interest. I have tried several cards games that failed to keep my interest because the simplicity and short length of games sometimes made setting up a game take longer than playing one. The fact that I had two decks, multiple victory conditions, and faced off against a variety of Clans, each with their own themes, made L5R exciting and interesting, as opposed to watching the "flavor of the month" in MTG win handedly in under 5 turns played out in less than 2 minutes.

Some changes to the game are due; but these changes should be minor with regard to both the CCG and the RPG. The core fans, like myself, don't want L5R to become something so different that it is unrecognizable. L5R has a soul to it, driven by a complex story, a card game that, in a world of MTG lookalikes, was more complex and diverse and didn't make me feel like I was too old to be playing it. I felt like I had to put more effort into the card game, as well as the RPG, to fine success and enjoyed the game more because of it. I feel like I got more out of L5R than entertainment; I was invested in the game on multiple levels. I was playing an RPG, competing in a card game, collaborating on a story, and waiting to see what would happen to the characters I felt so invested in because of the identity I felt I had as a player. My allegiance was to the Crab, the Lion, the Mantis, the Phoenix, or to any other clan, family, or faction that existed in the story rich world.

I conclude with this plea to the developers, whose hands hold the future of L5R. What changes await the structure of this game, CCG, RPG, story, or otherwise, keep your players active participants. Afford us the pride and identity afforded us to by siding with our favorite clan. Keep the samurai drama: the honor, the tragedy, and the feeling of this uniquely crafted world.

I've been reorganizing my game closet recently and it hit me how much I had invested in L5R. Even though I played only during Gold and the beginning of Diamond, I acquired a huge amount of cards from every previous expansion. So, it would be nice if there was some re-usability there.

So, while certainly not a must-have...definitely, a nice-to-have would be some room for the rule of foo with respect to old card names, in order to allow those of us with older cards to be able to reuse some of them under the new mechanics and rules.

I've been reorganizing my game closet recently and it hit me how much I had invested in L5R. Even though I played only during Gold and the beginning of Diamond, I acquired a huge amount of cards from every previous expansion. So, it would be nice if there was some re-usability there.

So, while certainly not a must-have...definitely, a nice-to-have would be some room for the rule of foo with respect to old card names, in order to allow those of us with older cards to be able to reuse some of them under the new mechanics and rules.

Oh, so people can get (back) into the game with zero investment? Not bloody likely.

Not gonna happen. CCG and LCG cards will not mix.

No, the two wouldn't mix. However, what if we did a community based upgrade for the older cards once we know how the new game functions and we see new cards?

I tried Call of Cthulhu lcg with some of the ccg..... Nope.....

Older cards? When new scene appear you can always try to interest new people with "Classic". All i know i'm going to have fun with cgg as there will be people to play with. And i'm pretty sure i'll find someone to play during big lcg meetings. So, sort your cards, build some decks and be ready for 2017!