Those questions were more meant for clarification, but if I'm inferring correctly:

Carded peeps and homebrew peeps will all have the same starting points (The below seems to say that every character has the same number of points).

Will everyone be at the same insight rank?

Not necessarily. Although characters will have the same amount of starting experience points we are considering not reaching a certain insight rank with said experience points.

No, you haven't decided yet in terms of number of points (I apologize if you posted something but I, honestly, saw no reference to point amounts or thoughts behind even whether this would be high point, low point, or mid point beyond no insight requirement for whatever points would eventually be given.)

People apply for one clan. (The below seems to imply that player applications are clan-specific.)

What factions will be attending the court? I suppose more importantly for my question, what factions will applications be open for? ...will any minor clans or anyone else be open for applications?

All nine Great Clans plus whichever Minor Clan, Imperial and Brotherhood applicants can pass the screening process. There may be room for less conventional characters if we like your suggestion.

I apologize. We have not allocated any experience point totals as of yet. As to the below statement, I can see the confusion but no. As in years past, players will have a selection of factions to list in order of personal priority.

-Will there be any sort of point system in regards to 'winning' the event, or will it be more loose so that one may interpret the events that occurs and draw conclusions based on that?

-Will time zones be taken into account when distributing players?

-What is the expected duration of the event in RL time?

-What is the level of supernatural in the event? Will there be gods walking among us, will the 'dragons' barge in or will it be more subtle with spiritual whispers and ancestral guidance?

A few questions about the taint and Spider for you guys to consider for the next round of questions.

- How will the contagious effects of the taint be handled in court, especially if tainted spiders are openly around and about. Will other players be at risk of exposure and corruption based on their interactions with spider clan, could a player be corrupted by the spider either by accident or intention?

-To what level will the Spider Clan players be able to draw upon the taint? Will they be allowed to have high levels of taint and their inhuman gifts that come with it or will there be a limit.

-In a similar vein should tainted characters appear relatively human or can characters that are undead, Goju, Maho Chuda, or simply severely tainted individuals appear for court. I think of characters like Daigotsu Bofana for the first category, as he still looked human, with only a small amount of taint's influence showing vs characters like Daigotsu Churo, Tomiyama, Taishuu, and Meguro who are very clearly consumed by the taint visually.

-While the story is still being slowly unveiled, the idea of where the Spider fit in wintercourt should be considered for players designing characters. Will the Spider clan be the heralds of Emperor Kanepki, able to speak from a position of strength because of the Emperor's favor? Will this court be made and represented mainly by rebels and thus the Spider are intended to act under the knowledge that they are simply tolerated quests? Are the Dragon Delegation going to be accepting Kanpeki as emperor for the duration of this court. Will the Spider even have the official throne? Basically, how Onyx edition is this WC going to go, as the position of the Spider is heavily affected by the amount of power backing them from the Emperor and their clan's military might, which as of now is unapproachable by any single clan in the story.

Besides that I await more of the developments.

Concerning this round of questions, we will harvest them over the course of a month and provide you a fresh batch of answers as the timeframe closes.

Not to beat a not-quite-yet-dead horse, but I have done my damnedest to locate this alleged Seppun Tashime closure fiction but cannot. Could I get a link please? PM me if you prefer. I gotta know what happened to that guy!

Thanks in advance.

Greetings from the Sands, Evil-Smelling Brother-in-Law of a Camel!

Could it be possible to play a character from the Burnings Sands in the upcoming Winter Court V ?

Over the last century many Rokugani clans had dealings with the various factions of the Burning Sands and Medinaat-al-Salaam is featured in the updated fictions.

I understand that a Winter Court is mostly about inter-clan negociations and "proper" rokugani events (such as the Winding Water Banquet, Bowman’s Wager or the Devil Chase) but it could provide the players something unexpected yet already well established in the L5R setting.

Of course, Burning Sands characters would probably never set foot in the Tenshukaku*, and a full delegation from the sultanate is probably too much, but a few characters might provide some interesting conversation for the players**.

After all shinsei said "If you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you" and, of late, Rokugani have been doing more than just stare at the Burning sands.

See you in the Sands !

*: not with their heads still on their shoulders
**: and a good topic of gossip

Anything eh?

I’m just wondering what your relationship with Fantasy Flight has been like?

Have they given you any guidelines as to what a non-profit fan event is allowed to do with a lic ence they own?

Have you had any kind of discussion with them at all? Have you tried to?

L5R has a great tradition of fan created works such as Heroes of Rokugan but I am finding Fantasy Flight tight-lipped when it comes to granting official permission for such an event.

Thanks for whatever details you can provide.

Shiryo no Otaku

I’m just wondering what your relationship with Fantasy Flight has been like?

Have they given you any guidelines as to what a non-profit fan event is allowed to do with a lic ence they own?

Have you had any kind of discussion with them at all? Have you tried to?

I wonder why everyone asks this. FFG has as much to do with this as they would with playing L5R 4th Edtiion in your living room.

Have they given you any guidelines as to what a non-profit fan event is allowed to do with a lic ence they own?

The keyword is non-profit. A tournament that asks money to participants (unless only to cover for the cost of the boosters/starters provided) must/should ask permission. A site which receives advertisement money must ask permission to host such events.

People on public forum boards having fun. Nothing wrong here.

Okay folks. Round 2 is up!

Will there be any sort of point system in regards to 'winning' the event, or will it be more loose so that one may interpret the events that occurs and draw conclusions based on that?

Let us be very, very clear about the answer to this question:

There will be no point-systems whatsoever that will unequivocally determine the outcome of events for Winter Court 5.

The GM team, who a number of were players for past Winter Court events, feels that these “point-systems” are both detrimental to play and logistically unwieldy to both implement and keep track of.

Results will be based solely on character motivations, actions and their outcomes. In other words, Roleplaying.

Will time zones be taken into account when distributing players?

While we will be asking players for their local timezone during the application process, the “two-to-one” ratio of real-world days to in-game days is really the mechanism being used to take the timezone issue into account.

What is the expected duration of the event in RL time?

The current scheduled plan is that Winter Court will start in early January 2017 and end in early March 2017. However, the GM team reserves the right to extend this if in-game events surface that the GM team deem require more time for resolution or for players to interact with or if Real Life events occur to the GM team that make these “day extensions” required.

What is the level of supernatural in the event? Will there be gods walking among us, will the 'dragons' barge in or will it be more subtle with spiritual whispers and ancestral guidance?

Certain very specific elements will be more prominent than “base” Rokugan, but the overall supernatural power-level will be lower than “base.” There will be no divine or infernal intervention, and even something so mundane as prayers to the Fortunes or Kami will be a chore to get heard.

Note that this will not affect prayers to the (lowercase) kami, as simple elemental spirits are not even aware that Tengoku has departed.

How will the contagious effects of the taint be handled in court, especially if tainted spiders are openly around and about. Will other players be at risk of exposure and corruption based on their interactions with spider clan, could a player be corrupted by the spider either by accident or intention?

Bit of a spoiler, mechanics-wise, but we will be handling this in the following way:

All members of the Kanpeki-Loyal Spider (Or Tainted Scorpion loyal to him) will be required to begin court with Kanpeki’s blessing, as described in the fictions. This acts like a suppressant, effectively reducing any Taint rank to 1, as well as cutting off both the mental effects and the contagious nature of SuperCancer.

At any time, a player will have the option of dropping the blessing, gaining access to their full powers (Though we will likely still place a hard cap on Taint levels. No need to make it too easy for you lot.), but the protections of Court will also drop from them as well. While they are suppressed, they are grudgingly accepted as emissaries from a powerful, aggressive nation with shared borders. Should they drop that suppression, all they are is a leprous invader, which any one (or twenty) nearby samurai are free to put down as they please. That being said, sudden access to the Taint, mental effects aside, could be a powerful weapon, even if it is suicide to call on.

TLDR: You don’t start contagious, but can become so, knowing that you are signing your death sentence. That being said, even if you aren’t contagious, don’t expect a Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood welcome. Also, Tom would like to add that the Dark Lord frowns upon stupidity.

To what level will the Spider Clan players be able to draw upon the taint? Will they be allowed to have high levels of taint and their inhuman gifts that come with it or will there be a limit.

See above. As for higher levels, we will be putting a hard cap on levels (as soon as we figure out what we want that cap to be).

In a similar vein should tainted characters appear relatively human or can characters that are undead, Goju, Maho Chuda, or simply severely tainted individuals appear for court. I think of characters like Daigotsu Bofana for the first category, as he still looked human, with only a small amount of taint's influence showing vs characters like Daigotsu Churo, Tomiyama, Taishuu, and Meguro who are very clearly consumed by the taint visually.

The exact details of how the Taint physically manifests for any particular character will be most likely left up to that particular character, however, the GM team will likely require them to decide this at some point in time for logistical purposes and so that we can ensure that other characters who should see the particular physical manifestation do -- as we understand sometimes a player simply forgets to mention something when they are creating a post in a particular thread. Once a particular physical manifestation is chosen, the GM team will be holding that character to that particular manifestation -- unless there are adequate story reasons to make the physical manifestation increase or decrease in magnitude.

Such is dependant on what role you intend for these characters to take on. A maho tsukai may stand a good chance of surviving by remaining discreet and publicly act only out of desperation or careful planning. There of course, also exist shadowlands powers that allow characters to hide their taint (see unholy beauty). We strongly suggest players who intend to play such types discuss with the GMs and their own delegation before taking such characters on. Though that’s not to say we don’t already have pre-gens in store for them.

HOWEVER: It is worth noting that Kanpeki’s blessing does nothing to affect physical mutation. Whatever extra limbs you are packing, you keep, even if you are sane and non-contagious. However, in addition to social stigma, you the player do not chose the mutations you get. The Taint itself does that. Those looking to powergame by slapping extra mechanics on via the Taint should look elsewhere. By “the Taint” choosing mutations, we mean “the GMs.” And we can get pretty horribly creative...

While the story is still being slowly unveiled, the idea of where the Spider fit in wintercourt should be considered for players designing characters. Will the Spider clan be the heralds of Emperor Kanepki, able to speak from a position of strength because of the Emperor's favor? Will this court be made and represented mainly by rebels and thus the Spider are intended to act under the knowledge that they are simply tolerated quests? Are the Dragon Delegation going to be accepting Kanpeki as emperor for the duration of this court. Will the Spider even have the official throne? Basically, how Onyx edition is this WC going to go, as the position of the Spider is heavily affected by the amount of power backing them from the Emperor and their clan's military might, which as of now is unapproachable by any single clan in the story.

This will officially be the court of Emperor Iweko II. As such, he will be the one presiding the start of the game. That is not to say invitations to his court do not get “redirected” or that he is in complete control. Imperial power is waning in this era and this is the Empire’s opportunity to consolidate and reconfigure said Emperor’s power base. How Kanpeki’s (or other) delegation(s) plans to disrupt that attempt will be up to their approach and how they adapt to what the other players and GMs throw at them. As stated above, it will be on the Spider delegation to consult with the GMs on how to approach.

As we’ve shown in prior fictions, Kanpeki holds his Court at Toshi Ranbo, in the Onyx Empire. This isn’t Toshi Ranbo, and it isn’t Kanpeki’s Court. This is Rokugan, and therefore, this is Emperor Iweko II’s Court.

While we will not be forcibly limiting what actions the Spider characters at Court loyal to Kanpeki do, it should be clearly and plainly stated that the members of almost every other faction will be watching their actions very carefully and it would not surprise the GM team if members loyal to Kanpeki who do very silly actions endanger or lose their lives due to it.

As for how much power Kanpeki’s delegates have, they are the voice of a very close, very dangerous neighbor. It may not be personally right, or even acceptable for some of the other delegates to accept their presence at court, but neither can they ignore the wolf at their door when the entire pack is right behind them. Any action they take has the potential to bring ruin on their Clans, so they must treat Spider delegates as though they have a great deal of political clout.

But hey, that’s politics.

Could it be possible to play a character from the Burnings Sands in the upcoming Winter Court V ?

While we are not unequivocally saying no, this Winter Court’s story is focused on the Nine Great Clans of Rokugan and their story. While we have indeed shown that that story involves factions from the Burning Sands, any characters approved that are from those factions (or other factions from the Burning Sands) will be approved on a case-by-case basis from the GM team, and this approval will depend significantly upon the character design, story, and other factors given to the approval team, and how the approval team feels they will work with the overall story for Winter Court 5.

So while we are not saying no, we are saying now that any player wishing to play such a character will need to impress the approval team for it to be possible.

Also, any Burning Sands character could not be at court as a free agent. They would need to be a guest of either the Unicorn or Scorpion (Traitors) delegation, as they are the only factions who have had recent and reasonable contact with the Sands.

Anything eh?

Except that.

I’m just wondering what your relationship with Fantasy Flight has been like?

Currently this game is wholly fan-run, with zero relationship with Fantasy Flight Games at all. While we have posted stuff to their forums, and used those forums to garner press for our game, that is all -- we are doing this solely by ourselves without (expressed) approval or disapproval by Fantasy Flight Games.

Have they given you any guidelines as to what a non-profit fan event is allowed to do with a licence they own?

No. But as stated above, we are principally the same thing as people gathering to play at a diningroom table. We simply have a bigger table. Now if you want to talk 501-C3 tax-exempt non-profit status with all the fun and bureaucracy that entails such, that will be reserved for future consideration pending the success of this event.

Have you had any kind of discussion with them at all? Have you tried to?

No. We have dedicated most of our time to getting Winter Court 5 off-the-ground, but are talking internally on how best to approach Fantasy Flight Games. More information may be coming on this front.

With the division in the Scorpion, between those loyal to Kanpeki and those not, will there be two Scorpion delegations?

Will naga be attending the event? Will they be available as player options?

How much experience with/knowledge of previous pbp games, official Winter Court games or otherwise, do the members of the GM staff possess? Have you guys been players there? Staff members? Chatted up the more experienced pbp folks?


This may've been asked or answered elsewhere as I've been a bit out of the loop lately- Do you guys have an idea of when player applications are going out?

With all the emphasis on Kanpeki, especially with regard to his recent descent into the Pit and his new control of the taint, has Daigotsu's role in the Spider's religion and culture been minimized? for that matter, has it been affected in actual practice? are there any new dark fortunes?

oh, also: Shibatu's spider: buds? those cousins you see at holidays and its weird and awkward? rival gang?

All this talk of Spiders. What about the Lion? It was mentioned that they have been rumors of the Akodo option. Is this a divided opinion in the clan? Who would the 'new emperor' should that faction win out?

Has Iweko II had any kids or is Shibatsu still the heir?

oh, also: Shibatu's spider: buds? those cousins you see at holidays and its weird and awkward? rival gang?

“Rival Gang” in the sense of Jets and Sharks, with about 76% less dance-battles. There has been a sharp uptick in dramatic shanking though.

24% of the dance-battles is still a lot of dance battles. i wanna know more about these dance battles.