So, it looks like the L5R LCG will debut at Gencon 2017, which is quite exciting. I have played L5R for many years and have played many of FFG's LCGs in the past, so I'm really looking forward to this.
However, I have a suggestion for how L5R's rollout at Gencon 2017.
In past years, when FFG has rolled out a new LCG at Gencon, they've had a "debut tournament" for the game, which is something I definitely want to participate in for L5R. However, in the past, there has been a huge rush at their booth to get core sets for the new game, which meant that if you didn't get into the dealer hall really quick, you didn't get any cards, and thus if you had signed up for the tournament, you were out of luck.
I'd like to propose some sort of core set "preorder" system for those in the tournament. In other words, if you have a ticket to the event, you're guaranteed enough copies of the core set to build any deck.
There are several ways to do this.
One would be to have those core sets outside of the dealer hall and over in the FFG event area. People with event tickets could come and pick up their core sets over there. Given that there are rules on selling outside of the dealer hall, perhaps the tournament's ticket price could include the cost of X core sets (whatever's needed for full tournament play).
Another would be that your event ticket could function as a "reservation" for X core sets in the dealer hall prior to the start of the tournament. So, if the tournament were on, say, Saturday, as long as you showed up at the dealer hall on Thursday or Friday, you could use that ticket to buy your reserved core sets.
I had a bad experience with the Netrunner tournament in 2012 and because of that I skipped even trying the GoT event in 2015. I'd really like to give an "intro" tournament of L5R at Gencon 2017 a shot, but only if it's a sure thing that I could get the cards in advance of the tournament.
Thanks!