It has been almost a year, with no update. I realize FFG likes to keep things close to the vest, but this seems excessive. At this point in development, the base mechanics should be pretty much locked in, no? They should be starting the work of play testing specific cards for balance, working on graphic design, card layout and art, and working on future releases. I don't want a spoiler for the base set, well I do, but I really mean any sort of update. I can't be the only one who is having trouble with this.

The main difference between this and their past announcements, is this killed an active game with a long gap between updates. When they announced A:NR, netrunner had been dead for like 8 years, AGoT v2 was announced, but v1 had releases until the very end. This level of silence is frustrating. I realize people might think I need to put my big-boy-pants on, but I still feel this is a poor way to treat a fan base.

Will the lack of news affect my decisions regarding getting into this game, no. Just needed to vent.

I understand needing to vent. I have started playing other games to release the frustration. Also, there has been some news. Team Covenants video had very little but it was something.

But I agree. I happened across pnp decks of 20 festivals yesterday and felt sad.

The only reason we know this exists is because the nature of the sale. Otherwise we wouldn't even have an announcement of it yet. It's going to be a while yet.

I realize, that we wouldn't even know if they hadn't bought it, but we would also still be playing AEG's l5r. I have no doubts that game could have gone on for awhile longer. That is my point, they are not treating this any differently than their other games, and the nature of its acquisition. and nature of the product are different, that is my frustration.

I play lots of games, though mostly board games, and had actually dropped l5r prior to the announcement as I just didn't have the budget for it.

I feel ya on wishing we had more info, but i'm actually kind of glad we don't get more. i think fantasy flight is being smart. whether is out of stubborn "this is how we operate, deal with it" or an acknowldgement of who we are as a fan community, the reality is L5R fans are a) demanding and b) diehards. a small, vocal minority will take this lack of communication as an affront and refuse to buy the game (not saying OP is doing that) but the majority of people who care enough about this game to have been paying attention when it was sold are gonna keep an eye out for it a year from now, whether they want to or not. i don't really think FFG gets anything out of treating l5r fans any differently than anyone else right now. when the time comes, and they are ready to launch this thing, i'm fairly confident FFG is gonna throw l5r up on the marquee as one of their top properties, since its their first wholly owned ones. then we'll get LOTS of games and lots of news.

We'll get articles 2-5 months before next GenCon. If we get anything sooner, I'd be very surprised.

Weaning the fanbase off of the yell-at-the-company-and-expect-public-response/interaction teat is probably one of the most positive aspects of the 2 year break, judging by how often that open communication either backfired on them, made them look extremely unprofessional, or flared up toxic/entitled segments of the community.

It's difficult to think of a time Zinser went to "clear things up with the community" that didn't end up being worse than just silence down the road.

FFG is known for not putting out product until they are happy with it. If they have everything ready for the L5R base set already then Design is working on the subsequent sets and Marketing is waiting for that sweet spot in their calendar to start the Hype.

We'll get articles 2-5 months before next GenCon. If we get anything sooner, I'd be very surprised.

And we will get to see something quite unusual for L5R. Real marketing. Not just the fans doing all of the advertising.

.... then we'll get LOTS of games and lots of news.

Even if I don't play the other games, I know I'll end up buying a few so I can have those Mantis figures....

We'll get articles 2-5 months before next GenCon. If we get anything sooner, I'd be very surprised.

Weaning the fanbase off of the yell-at-the-company-and-expect-public-response/interaction teat is probably one of the most positive aspects of the 2 year break, judging by how often that open communication either backfired on them, made them look extremely unprofessional, or flared up toxic/entitled segments of the community.

It's difficult to think of a time Zinser went to "clear things up with the community" that didn't end up being worse than just silence down the road.

i agree with all this, though i would caveat i'm not sure to what degree "talking to the community" is necessarily what went wrong in that last bit as much as who was doing the talking. not that Reese or the forum mods had much more luck than Zinser, but he seemed to produced markedly less good results. Possibly because, as the top of the pyramid, he got fiercer criticism, i dunno, but that was my observation. One of the story team guys at the end, Hand, was i think one of the only AEG guys who managed to interact with the fan forums positively every single time.

Eh. Give it to us when you're ready. I'd rather have no news than some small amount of news to obsess over until the game comes out.

That way lies madness.

I realize, that we wouldn't even know if they hadn't bought it, but we would also still be playing AEG's l5r. I have no doubts that game could have gone on for awhile longer. That is my point, they are not treating this any differently than their other games, and the nature of its acquisition. and nature of the product are different, that is my frustration.

Well, yes, that's kind of the point here. There's tons of FFG employees who love L5R (did you see them gush about it at GenCon?). But there isn't anything special about L5R compared to all their tons of other game lines; it's one of many they do, and they try to share development love on all of them. Why should they treat it differently than their other game lines? They'd like them *all* to be successes.

And why aren't you playing AEG's L5R? The game's just as playable now as it ever was; the cards still work just fine. If you have a local play group, go and have fun with them! If you don't have a local playgroup, how much playing were you having before the sale anyway?

If you want to see how the rollout of rules and art will go for L5R, watch FFG's front page for what they're currently doing on their new Arkham Horror LCG. It was announced at GenCon. It's slated for a release later this year (probably Octoberish and in time for Arkham Nights in the Twin Cities, if the legendary FFG Chinese Boat behaves itself). There was an announcement page on August 2. Now, three weeks later, they follow it up with an introduction to rules and basic concepts (incidentally including a lot of art along the way). About three weeks from now, they'll probably start showing off characters and how to build basic decks. Most of the time they crank up the frequency of their front page news blurbs as the release date gets closer; sometimes they don't. Still, I wouldn't be surprised as October begins that the Arkham Horror LCG might be up to weekly updates on the front page. Then a nice big article the day its released, and then on to the same cycle for expansions.

This is how they do all their rollouts at FFG; a lot different than AEG, and they aren't going to change their approach just for any "specialness" for L5R. In May or June next year we'll get the first front page post saying "Return to Rokugan!" or something. About a month later, the first peek at a very light rundown of rules. Given it has clans/factions, there will probably be a weekly release focusing on each clan, just like they did for the factions in Game of Thrones. Depending how much they have changed the rules, there might be an article just on the combat phase (as that was always the most finicky of L5R's bits in the past). Since they're probably doing a release-day one-set only tournament, just like GoT, a PDF of the rules will probably be on line to be read a week or two before GenCon. Full spoilers will not be released, even on FFG's official card game site cardgamedb.com, until after the release.

Right now, given the schedules we've heard them work with on Conquest, Netrunner, and other LCG games, they probably have all the art for the base set finalized and are tinkering with graphic layouts for each clan. The first six expansion packs are certainly designed and being playtested by now, and probably the first deluxe expansion or so. Rules and rulebooks for the base set are being finalized, and they're probably testing hard any changes they made to the rules to see if they work well and hold up over a wide variety of cards. And we will continue to hear nothing of the sausage-making, because that's how FFG does things.

You're far from AEG land here. They'll never have a fan/storyline representative sitting here in the discussion boards communicating with us. The design team will be happy to start talking to whatever podcasts and websites shake out as the most popular and fun once the game is released (just as they have been for Netrunner, Star Wars, and others), but they won't discuss future projects, and won't give spoilers, but will talk about how this design decision was made, or why they changed something else.

Just want to throw in my support, super excited about this one. For those of you that are impatient though coming here from AEG or whatever. FFG makes a ton of awsome card games that are well worth investing in while you wait.

In either case... can't wait for this one!

Just want to throw in my support, super excited about this one. For those of you that are impatient though coming here from AEG or whatever. FFG makes a ton of awsome card games that are well worth investing in while you wait.

In either case... can't wait for this one!

Aye, the silver lining of l5r being put on hold is I discovered Netrunner. Really awesome game.

Will be playing both games when l5r is launched, and will probably continue collecting netrunner given that It'll cost me less than what I was spending on l5r ccg alone!

Just want to throw in my support, super excited about this one. For those of you that are impatient though coming here from AEG or whatever. FFG makes a ton of awsome card games that are well worth investing in while you wait.

In either case... can't wait for this one!

Aye, the silver lining of l5r being put on hold is I discovered Netrunner. Really awesome game.

Will be playing both games when l5r is launched, and will probably continue collecting netrunner given that It'll cost me less than what I was spending on l5r ccg alone!

For me it was AGoT 2.0

I think I'll be playig both as well, but I don't rule out dropping AGoT. It'll depend on how boring or fun the meta will be in AGoT next year.

Just want to throw in my support, super excited about this one. For those of you that are impatient though coming here from AEG or whatever. FFG makes a ton of awsome card games that are well worth investing in while you wait.

In either case... can't wait for this one!

Aye, the silver lining of l5r being put on hold is I discovered Netrunner. Really awesome game.

Will be playing both games when l5r is launched, and will probably continue collecting netrunner given that It'll cost me less than what I was spending on l5r ccg alone!

For me it was AGoT 2.0

I think I'll be playig both as well, but I don't rule out dropping AGoT. It'll depend on how boring or fun the meta will be in AGoT next year.

I started AGOT 2.0 also but personally felt the meta has already got to that point. Stopped enjoying deck building in particular after I got wolves of the north.

Just want to throw in my support, super excited about this one. For those of you that are impatient though coming here from AEG or whatever. FFG makes a ton of awsome card games that are well worth investing in while you wait.

In either case... can't wait for this one!

Aye, the silver lining of l5r being put on hold is I discovered Netrunner. Really awesome game.

Will be playing both games when l5r is launched, and will probably continue collecting netrunner given that It'll cost me less than what I was spending on l5r ccg alone!

For me it was AGoT 2.0

I think I'll be playig both as well, but I don't rule out dropping AGoT. It'll depend on how boring or fun the meta will be in AGoT next year.

I've been enjoying Lord of the Rings LCG in the downtime.

LotR SO GOOD.

LotR SO GOOD.

thirded. i just moved 2000ish miles from my group, and haven't had time yet to find a new one. solo mode LotR is baller.

I've been needing another card game and bet on Ashes. It's not hitting the mark for me. Why is lotr so good? It's coop yes? That made me doubt it could scratch the right card game itch.

I've been needing another card game and bet on Ashes. It's not hitting the mark for me. Why is lotr so good? It's coop yes? That made me doubt it could scratch the right card game itch.

LotR is both multiplayer and solo, so you can "scratch" that itch alone if you wanted. The randomness of the encounter deck (with no way to "fix" it like Ashes allows) means each play-through is variably difficult, instead of beating your head against an opponent with an optimized deck.

I've been needing another card game and bet on Ashes. It's not hitting the mark for me. Why is lotr so good? It's coop yes? That made me doubt it could scratch the right card game itch.

What I first liked about it was that it was very thematic and true to the lore (this made me feel MUCH better about FFG taking over L5R, as I expect they'll take similar care). It's also quite difficult, and there's a lot of variety in the quests. A deck which breezes through one quest may get completely annihilated by another quest, and vice versa. Overall, it's a lot of fun either alone or with others.

LotR is great, for me, because what attracted me to L5R was a) the lore and b) deckbuilding. i'm a frankly awful player. to the degree thats its kind of in insult to inflict me on most people who don't already like me and are will to forgive in advance whatever abomination of thematic deck building i'm towing. LotR lets me play solo, so the only person who pays the price of my nonsense is myself, or two handed if i need the help (playing two decks yourself) and also has INCREDIBLY deep deckbuilding. i'm rocking a dunedain deck and a noldor deck right now, and having a lot of fun with them. and only getting the floor wiped with me like, 2/3rd of the time. WHICH IS SUPER GOOD for lotr. the game is often QUITE hard. you can't rest on your laurels at all. i've had to switch around my deck several times to beat certain quests. the quests are another awesome element. they tell a story. they aren't just a blank wall you throw yourself at.

if the l5r lcg is half as deep and detailed as lotr we'll be happy campers.

Very cool. Would you recommend anything other than the base set to start? Anything "required"?

Very cool. Would you recommend anything other than the base set to start? Anything "required"?

To avoid further derailment, I would direct you to the Lord of the Rings LCG subforum .