One of the more wonky mechanics in the CCG as I see it, was the fact that all beings other than humans had to have a keyword establishing them as Nonhuman , with a second keyword saying what they were instead. Going by their previous designs, I don't see FFG going this route, as they tend to be very minimalist when it comes to what they call Traits . So the question becomes, when there are effects that should thematically only work on human characters (for example), how do you think they will proceed?
Edited by MarthWMasterDo you think there will be Humans in the FFG reboot?
EDIT
Edited by MarthWMasterHopefully, by not including any Nonhumans whatsoever we can avoid needing to define what a Human card is.
Hopefully, by not including any Nonhumans whatsoever we can avoid needing to define what a Human card is.
But what about elements of folklore: oni, nature spirits, and the like? I doubt Rokugan would feel quite the same without them.
Hopefully, by not including any Nonhumans whatsoever we can avoid needing to define what a Human card is.
That would be very boring crap game.
Hopefully, by not including any Nonhumans whatsoever we can avoid needing to define what a Human card is.
But what about elements of folklore: oni, nature spirits, and the like? I doubt Rokugan would feel quite the same without them.
Folklore is one thing. Printed cards are another.
Hopefully, by not including any Nonhumans whatsoever we can avoid needing to define what a Human card is.
That would be very boring crap game.
To you. To me, it is an intelligent design decision.
To you. To me it's a stupid ass design decision. The kind of stupid decision AEG would make and since ffg is smarter than them I trust them not to make that kind of a mistake.
To you. To me it's a stupid ass design decision. The kind of stupid decision AEG would make and since ffg is smarter than them I trust them not to make that kind of a mistake.
Agree to disagree.
In a setting where 95%+ of the featured inhabitants are human, no. "Nonhumans" are fine with whatever trait they get, be it Oni, Ogre, Undead, Nezumi, Spirit, and so on. I could understand the need to put human as a trait in a game like Magic: the Gathering where there are multitudes of nonhumans around.
And honestly, who gives a flying flark if a random Male Naga attaches "Samurai Boots" because they didn't bother to put a "CREATURES WITH FEET ONLY" trait on it?
Muh immersion.
Hopefully, by not including any Nonhumans whatsoever we can avoid needing to define what a Human card is.
But what about elements of folklore: oni, nature spirits, and the like? I doubt Rokugan would feel quite the same without them.
Folklore? In Rokugan those things are just as real as the rice your average samurai is eating. If even not more real in a metaphysical way.
Hopefully, by not including any Nonhumans whatsoever we can avoid needing to define what a Human card is.
But what about elements of folklore: oni, nature spirits, and the like? I doubt Rokugan would feel quite the same without them.
Folklore? In Rokugan those things are just as real as the rice your average samurai is eating. If even not more real in a metaphysical way.
Except they are never depicted as being anything remotely central to focus of the original the card game or even the rpg. Instead, everything revolved around the major clans* and members that belonged to them with a sprinkling of other factions. These nonhumans have been done well within that structure like oni belonging to the shadowlands or spirits in the Mantis clan. They don't have to belong to a clan as neutral cards are perfectly fine too, in moderation.
*-I'd also include the Shadowlands as a "clan" because of the major focus that it had but also because of the Spider Clan.
If we don't get a HUMAN keyword, then I hope we at least get proper templating to describe them on abilities: as non-NONHUMANs, rather than referring to an implied keyword, right?
Hopefully, by not including any Nonhumans whatsoever we can avoid needing to define what a Human card is.
But what about elements of folklore: oni, nature spirits, and the like? I doubt Rokugan would feel quite the same without them.
Folklore? In Rokugan those things are just as real as the rice your average samurai is eating. If even not more real in a metaphysical way.
I mean "folklore" in the sense that these elements are inspired by Japanese and other Asian folklore. Was that not obvious?
Edited by MarthWMaster
Hopefully, by not including any Nonhumans whatsoever we can avoid needing to define what a Human card is.
But what about elements of folklore: oni, nature spirits, and the like? I doubt Rokugan would feel quite the same without them.
Folklore? In Rokugan those things are just as real as the rice your average samurai is eating. If even not more real in a metaphysical way.
I mean "folklore" in the sense that these elements are inspired by Japanese and other Asian folklore. Was that not obvious?
Nope
And honestly, who gives a flying flark if a random Male Naga attaches "Samurai Boots" because they didn't bother to put a "CREATURES WITH FEET ONLY" trait on it?
Muh immersion.
Actually... this is possible, because not all Naga are feetless creatures, some Naga do have feets. If they start to describe specific features on each creature type, it will be a huge mess... I kinda think it would be best to keep it as simple as possible.
As for the main topic, I don't like the term "reboot", since nothing is pointing toward a fresh reboot. Unless the term is used for the start of the LCG game, yes ok. But, I kinda agree with Kuberne, where the "human keyword" shouldn't be there because 95% of the inhabitants of Rokugan are human. I feel like it's a waste of space. I also hope that there won't have a keyword syndrome... When there's 12 keywords and more than half of them are fluffy only, why even bother to write them? As I said, keep it as simple as possible. Each keyword should be used in mechanism, one way or another.
At release, I think that non-human shall be attachment only, if attachments are still part of the game of course. I don't think there should have non-human personality right off the bat. They may come after a while, but at start, I think it would be better to focus on human personality of each Great Clan.
When I first saw this topic, I laughed and thought I sure hope not.
But after thinking about it, I don't want cards that target humans. Or non-humans. I want cards that are less restrictive and allow us to come up with fun interactions.
One of my great frustrations with Emperor Edition was that there were so many cards that all got put to the side since they could never be used in the deck you were running. The LCG model should alleviate that issue to a certain degree, since there should be no useless cards printed. I would imagine that the designers want to create cards that get played in more than once out a niche deck that a grand total of three people are playing.
An Example
Focus
Art
Flavor Text
5 Focus Value
A classic card for the CCG that is played in Dueling and Tactician decks. Not seen elsewhere very often.
But imagine this....
Focus (Coyote Version)
Art
Keywords - Kharmic, Honor, Courage, Legacy
Flavor Text
5 Focus Value
A much more useful card that would have seen play among many more decks.
One of my great frustrations with Emperor Edition was that there were so many cards that all got put to the side since they could never be used in the deck you were running. The LCG model should alleviate that issue to a certain degree, since there should be no useless cards printed. I would imagine that the designers want to create cards that get played in more than once out a niche deck that a grand total of three people are playing.
An Example
Focus
Art
Flavor Text
5 Focus Value
A classic card for the CCG that is played in Dueling and Tactician decks. Not seen elsewhere very often.
But imagine this....
Focus (Coyote Version)
Art
Keywords - Kharmic, Honor, Courage, Legacy
Flavor Text
5 Focus Value
A much more useful card that would have seen play among many more decks.
No Kharmic. And from the too little too late give away for free set.
(But, yes. I forgot about that one.)
No Kharmic. And from the too little too late give away for free set.
Yes, but this one helped me to win at least one post EP tourney with Lion tactical blitz. Of course Kharmic could make it much viable.
As for the main topic, I don't like the term "reboot", since nothing is pointing toward a fresh reboot. Unless the term is used for the start of the LCG game, yes ok. But, I kinda agree with Kuberne, where the "human keyword" shouldn't be there because 95% of the inhabitants of Rokugan are human. I feel like it's a waste of space. I also hope that there won't have a keyword syndrome... When there's 12 keywords and more than half of them are fluffy only, why even bother to write them? As I said, keep it as simple as possible.
Based on how they template all their other LCGs, FFG will probably continue their distinction between Keywords and Traits. All their Keywords will be rules-specific tags (such as Renown or Stealth in their Game of Thrones game), which will be in the main body of card text, not bolded, and assumes you will look up the appropriate rule if needed. But they show a great love of flavorful Traits across all their cards (almost always bolded and italicized), which have no innate rules associated with them, but with which they occasionally make cards that have an effect on a given Trait as defined on the card itself -- examples here include Lord, Ally, Code Gate, and etc.
If the above is true, then the new L5R will end up with a boatload of Traits that will have no game effect beyond flavor -- I mean, it only took Netrunner six or more years to get a card that cares about Ritzy. I wouldn't be surprised if things like Samurai will be decoupled from an innate rules meaning (so, no seppuku by rulebook) to keep their tradition of having flavorful Traits as opposed to rules-specific Keywords.
The only non-human I do not want to see is a spider.