Hello all! We, the GM Team for Winter Court 5, have reached (a little beyond) the halfway point of the year documents. For those of you in the back doing quick math, that means that, following the release of Year 1217, we will begin the process of releasing AGM applications, and the logistics for the game will start being implemented! *confetti*

So, as we are nearing such a point, the other GMs and I would like to take this chance to reach out to the community we all know and secretly despise. With the Court growing ever nearer, the time for character concepts to become more solid is coming as well. So, to help that along, we will be holding a Q&A session!

Post your questions about our process, about the state of the Empire, about if your favorite Clan/Family/Spirit Mongoose, about the fictions, about the fanciness of a GM’s hat (Hint: They are quite fancy.)

We will do our best to answer all of the questions. You may not like some of the answers, and some things we may have to be vague on to preserve the secrecy of the coming story/metaplot, but your questions will be answered!

We will be taking queries from today, May 8th, until next Saturday, May 14th (Midnight Pacific time). On Sunday, along with Year 1210, we will post the link to the answers!

Hello!

1. How do the clans hold court with the darkness all around them?

2. How present and active are the Crane in these courts?

3. What happened to the Imperial Bride?

What exactly are your plans for the Spider? Or better yet, what are your expectations?
What kind of Spider would be proper for the game?
There are some concerns and discussion over our clan forums, getting a clarification would help us.

Salutations!

1} What factions will be attending the court? I suppose more importantly for my question, what factions will applications be open for? I presume all the great clans will be there [although some may not be if they are too weak], will any minor clans or anyone else be open for applications?

2} I may have missed it, but where will this Winter Court be held? Who is the host in this time of great despair and desperation?

3} Who's hat is the fanciest, and who's hat is the silliest?

I'm going to limit myself to 10 logistical questions. Basing some of these on issues that have arisen at previous games, WC or otherwise. Others are just things I think it's important for people to know. I may toss in a few more later, once other people have had a chance to offer up a few of their own.

Will you be having Delegation Heads? Secondly, will they be PCs?

Will people be being given canon characters (and/or established characters unique to your timeline) to play?

Will everyone be at the same insight rank?

Will previous Winter Court staff be involved in the decision-making process for choosing AGMs and/or players? In that same vein, is there a pre-established banned list carried over from those games?

How many AGMs are you looking to recruit? What will their responsibilities be?

How many players are you looking to invite?

Will you guys be instituting any homebrew rulings?

Will a wait-list be established/used to replace people that become inactive without warning, or folks that leave the game?

Will there be a tiered conflict-resolution system (IE: If a player feels an AGM has made a questionable ruling, will they be able to escalate the matter to a GM, or simply told the AGM rulings are final)?

Will characters that have been played in previous forum games (with stats adjusted to suit this game's rules) be allowed?

What exactly is going on with the "Imperial" families now that the imperial bureaucracy was dissolved. Didn't that leave almost the entire Otomo and Miya families without anything left to do?

After years of having their posts, positions and responsibilities either seized by the clans or made redundant through new posts without ever putting up any struggle or participating in the contests to win them, are we looking at demotion to the level of a clan, simply coasting through life without any remaining duties to perform or vanish into the nether by all marrying out of their families?

I kinda detest questions that are so clan specific but, here we are:

What is known about the Phoenix and their doings, both externally and internally? (this could really be asked for any clan) Do most Phoenix know about the amulets? Only the Isawa? Only a small group of "ryu-binders" or whatever they're called? etc.

What has happened to the Dragon Channelers in your canon?

What, if anything, is Naka Mahatsu doing?

What, if anything, is the Phoenix Clan Champion doing? (presumably Shiba Tsukimi)

Has the Council of Five changed members at all since your divergence from canon?

1. Which Minor Clan survived? Will tney be invited? Are they any newcomers?

2. What is the status of the Iweko Loyalist Spider? Can they attend?

3. What would be the starting Insight Rank for pc submission?

I'm interested in all the questions already asked, but particularly this sub-part of fyrm's second question: "Who is the host in this time of great despair and desperation?" To add my own spin: What's the focus of the game going to be? I expect it isn't combat, just because that wouldn't be very court-y, but how different an experience will this be compared to other Winter Courts?

And, I want to say again that I'm super excited and grateful to the folks working on WC5. It's so cool that you're contributing all this time and effort to the community. Thank you!

I have a very clan-specific questions:

1. Will the Doji line survive the onslaught of Kanpeki or will the Daidoji take over the reigns of the Crane Clan

2. How are the Crane able to defend their lands against Kanpeki when even the Lion lands burn

3. Harriers... are they now the special forces of the Crane? Are they already absolved of any sins since the Iweko dynasty is basically over?

4. Will the clans trust the Scorpion EVER again??

Non-specific clan questions:

1. I may have missed it, but what caused Seiken's insanity?

2. IF the story will carry over, will Rokugan be the same or will the clans (what's left of them anyway) establish a new empire somewhere?

4. Will the clans trust the Scorpion EVER again??

Isn't that a question each individual needs to answer for themselves?

If anyone was still trusting the Scorpion after the about 10' long list of crimes they have committed, many of which nearly destroyed the entire empire, then I don't imagine the Scorpion could ever do anything to lose that individual's trust. On the other hand, if they don't trust the Scorpion, then I very much doubt there is anything the Scorpion could ever do to gain that trust... other than to marry out of the Scorpion clan.

3. Harriers... are they now the special forces of the Crane? Are they already absolved of any sins since the Iweko dynasty is basically over?

1. I may have missed it, but what caused Seiken's insanity?

From what I understand the answers to these questions come from some of the final tournaments and stories released by AEG before the sale of the game.

A Crane player won a tourney that would allow the Crane to get one of the Emperor's first boons. They player requested permission for the Crane to use Gaijin Pepper. In story the Daidoji got permission from Seiken to study Gaijin Pepper in order to potentially use it against non-Rokugani forces.

Another tourney result had Seiken learn of the First Seal from Pan'ku. I suspect Seiken's insanity comes from being one of Pan'ku's favorites.

Seiken's insanity was never confirmed anywhere. It does explain a lot about his decisions and actions though.

Seiken's insanity is a device of this particular game.

If we have PC delegation heads how do plan on deciding who it will be?

What happend to the Imperials and are they a playable faction in WCV?

What do you plan to do in reagards of the status Problem?

Is there a chance that you instead of using status using a other messurement system to prevent the status problem without needing to cap

it for the players? (For example combining the 3 stats of glory, status and infamy to one mechanicla relevant stat)

I'd been vaguely aware of online Winter Court stuff before, though never particularly tuned in. I'm interested in participating as a first time player. Is that possible? What's my first homework assignment? (besides reading the year docs)

I'd been vaguely aware of online Winter Court stuff before, though never particularly tuned in. I'm interested in participating as a first time player. Is that possible? What's my first homework assignment? (besides reading the year docs)

You. Your question is going to the top of the list.

You. Your question is going to the top of the list.

Super thanks!

Whatever did actually happen to Seppun Tashime?

Given 17 years have passed, what was Miaka and Karyudo's fate in your timeline? Or is this something we'll learn of in future fiction(s)?

Whatever did actually happen to Seppun Tashime?

Our deadline has passed, so consider this a courtesy: Tashime's fate lay many years ago in a fiction written long before any of the staff took the stage.

Given 17 years have passed, what was Miaka and Karyudo's fate in your timeline? Or is this something we'll learn of in future fiction(s)?

I believe Sean Fisk had written a little about them. http://winter-court.com/docs/fictions/Scenes_From_the_Empire_1206.pdf

By the way, we are taking no further questions at this time. But your answers have arrived!

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/220069-winter-court-5-ask-the-gms-anything-answers/

Given 17 years have passed, what was Miaka and Karyudo's fate in your timeline? Or is this something we'll learn of in future fiction(s)?

I believe Sean Fisk had written a little about them. http://winter-court.com/docs/fictions/Scenes_From_the_Empire_1206.pdf

I had totally missed it. Sorry, and thanks!

Questions Round 2:

Will "carded personalities" be pre-built with the same amount of experience as homebrews or will they fill in the higher slots in terms of experience?

Has the amount of experience for "homebrews" been decided? If so what was the overall thought processes behind that amount? (e.g. we kept it low (75-100) to represent clans not sending their best, or we kept it high (200+) to represent the most skilled representatives of the clans, etc.)

Will players be applying for multiple clans at once or just a single clan per application? (i.e. "Put down your top 3 clans in descending order of interest.")

Questions Round 2:

Will "carded personalities" be pre-built with the same amount of experience as homebrews or will they fill in the higher slots in terms of experience?

Has the amount of experience for "homebrews" been decided? If so what was the overall thought processes behind that amount? (e.g. we kept it low (75-100) to represent clans not sending their best, or we kept it high (200+) to represent the most skilled representatives of the clans, etc.)

Will players be applying for multiple clans at once or just a single clan per application? (i.e. "Put down your top 3 clans in descending order of interest.")

These questions are already answered in the link I posted above.