Don't think of it as a reboot. Think of it as the soul of L5R.

It would be hard to sell the "this is a 20 year old story, filled with player interaction" when you erase the 20 years of interaction.

Besides, the magic of clan war during its golden time was just how unexpected the story was going, there were legit twists and plot points people didn't see coming in the slightest. You cant do that kind of stuff now. If they did Clan War again all it would have is everyone knowing the plot before it began, and diverting would easily be seen as purposely overriding the choices made in the past... bad ingredients for wining an old fanbase and drawing new players into the magic.

I'm actually pretty sure that jumping back and retell the story with different twists and turns (obviously, as the different players would interact with the setting differently this time) would promote the interaction much better. Kinda like "See, those guys totally did it, you can read about all 20 years on the wiki - now it is your turn!" Then have stuff like Kisada not allying with the Shadowlands because the new Crab players do not choose that path, and the Scorpion Coup succeeding because the old Scorpion players do everything in their power to make it happen.

It isn't about erasing, but rebooting. The old players would retain their "knowledge of the future" as key points would remain unchanging. For example, Toturi would still marry Kaede, and his four children would be still destined for greatness - even if Toturi himself never becomes the Emperor. I think a race for the exclusive right of raising, say, Naseru or Tsudao would result in some pretty wild tournaments as old fans and more knowledgeable new fans try to get the super-courtier or the super-bushi for their Clan. It would be, like, Tomorrow's Prophet but without the actual time-travelling shenanigans.

I'll be honest, I'm not really interested in this kind of stuffs. I would prefer a time jump to a reboot. In fact, a reboot may mean that the Mantis will no longer exist, that the Spider will not exist until a while (Note that we just went through a few pages on why the Spider should or shouldn't be a Great Clan)... It would be very bad for some parts ot the community.

A time jump provides a better point of start, in my opinion. While it keeps the 20 years of story, where some parts could have been better, but overall, it's a good story. With that time jump, it will give the opportunity to start a brand new story, not some "We all know what's going to happen!" where some players could just want to troll to make the story even worst. Specially if "Key points would remain unchanging", it would be very hellish.

Also, because some people like playing tournament but don't care about the story, some stuffs like the actual stories will still happen, that's if the tournament still has impacts on the story. On another point, for the RPG side, it will be very bad, because you remove a lot of content for that side. Having a long story like L5R is actually a great starting point for a game. Sure, it might seem overwhelming for new comers, in particular from D&D players (since the core doesn't include a strong setting), but it's really great to have all those arcs for the RPG. Someday, you feel like playing in the Clan War, some in the Four Wind era, then in the Exploration era, etc. It allows a lot of different feeling and different gamestyle.

I barely played the card game, compared to playing the RPG, but I can say for sure that rebooting a story will not help the RPG communauty. And I'll repeat what I've said, it will also mean to remove the Mantis for a while and the Spider for even longer.

I don't know. I mean I get the point of view, but I think more good than bad would come of a reset.

Just think about it! How big a deal is it when a new minor clan gets established (or, I should say, should be).Now multiply that up to a great clan, and you have an event that (should) fundamentally change how the setting looks. This is my number one complaint about the setting as presented. Brand new great clan! Nothing changes. New imperial dynasty! Nothing changes.

One thing a reboot could do is make these things seem like they were actually important events. You know, like a setting with history, not just a mandate from a card game that nothing ever really change

A reboot wouldn't affect your RPG. Make it set whenever and wherever you want. It's a RPG.

How do you know it won't affect my RPG? Are you playing in my game? Have you tried my game? I highly doubt it, so yes, it will affect my RPG because I really enjoy to pick an Era and use the story as the backstory, it gives a lot of life in the story and create great moment, specially when 2 Clans starts a conflit and there's at least one player in each of those Clans. Sure I can "set whenever and wherever" but what's the point of having a setting? The whole point of having a setting is actually to use it and the story is a huge part of it.

I could say the same for the card game, what does it does? It's still a simple card game at the end. So what's the point of rebooting, it's just a card game. So the story is useless for the card game. I'll use your own word: It's a card game! Sorry but thinking that way is plain stupid.

I dunno but I feel like the story of L5R is too confusing and inconsistent to give a good start to the setting. Unless you really want new players who think that allying up with the Shadowlands against the Empire is totally cool because Kisada did it.

Not at all, in fact, there's very great stuffs to use in it. My very first campaign was in the Clan War where they lived the Clan war, from the Crab Clan perspective, as simple low-rank soldiers, as the introduction of my campaign. After the Clan War, I turned the game into assignments to help the current war, twisting a little the story to give them a reason to move ahead. Some already know the story and they were like: "****... so... if we fail that task, it could prevent this to happen and bring great failure to the whole Clan." They really enjoyed the campaign. My current campaign is after the Destroyer's war, where they're now helping the Imperial with the establisment of the Second City.

I don't do the "usual" "Do-Whatever-You-Want" in my campaign, I usually toss my players into assignments they have to fulfill. My players really like that kind of campaign. Sure, not every group plays the same, but the way I'm playing the RPG, I'm using the storyline as the skeleton of the campaign. But a skeleton is nothing without what I'm adding, but without the story, I don't have a skeleton and I might as well play another setting with a story.

That's being said, I'll turn off the quote you've said with this, how rebooting the story with another Clan War will prevent new player allying up with the Shadowlands against the Empire, because Kisada is actually doing it? By keeping the old story, The new player has a point to see how Kisada regret his action and did everything to undo what he created by doing this alliance. So I don't feel like that rebooting will change anything, because we'll be back at this situation anyway... And by looking at the whole story, it's not like it's a common thing, so, it's easier to see, for a new player, that it happened, but very rarely and it wasn't that great at the end.

The story of L5R might have some confusing and inconsistent, but a reboot won't mean it will not become as confusing and as inconsistent. In fact, it may be more confusing, based with all the currect available ressources for L5R, compared to some games that has been rebooted. There's a lot and I really mean a lot of ressources available on the internet for L5R, it's just crazy. After a while, it might be more confusing to look, let's say at the year 1134's event, because the old story will say something and the new one will say something else. Which can be prevented by a 50-100 years jump in the future and it could be the starting point of "Scorpion Coup 2.0".

That's being said, I'll turn off the quote you've said with this, how rebooting the story with another Clan War will prevent new player allying up with the Shadowlands against the Empire, because Kisada is actually doing it?

By actually having a consequence of Kisada's actions that should net nothing less than the total annihilation of the Crab Clan. Not "He was very sorry so we made him the Fortune of Perseverance and everything was cool." tier of storytelling. This is also the way to ensure that the new story won't be confusing or inconsistent: by playing the story straight in a consistent way. Players can still do bad things, but then they will suffer serious consequences.

That's being said, I'll turn off the quote you've said with this, how rebooting the story with another Clan War will prevent new player allying up with the Shadowlands against the Empire, because Kisada is actually doing it?

By actually having a consequence of Kisada's actions that should net nothing less than the total annihilation of the Crab Clan. Not "He was very sorry so we made him the Fortune of Perseverance and everything was cool." tier of storytelling. This is also the way to ensure that the new story won't be confusing or inconsistent: by playing the story straight in a consistent way. Players can still do bad things, but then they will suffer serious consequences.

I won't keep arguing, because it's just a bunch of "What if..." Because nothing can prevent the storyteam to do the same mistake. Which leaves to the same problem. Because they could keep that as a "key point" as you said. So no, I'm not buying a reboot as being useful, because, based on the topic, I find the whole story something being cool about L5R.

Otherwise, I would play D&D in a samurai's world, but in L5R, it's not just a Samurai's world, it's Rokugan, it's the whole story. Something that will feel empty with a reboot, for the RPG.

Again a story reboot need not affect you. It's a RPG you can play whenever and with whatever time line you like. Or even make stuff up. That's the great part of RPGs. It is your game.

One thing that is cool about L5R is that when compared to Conquest, L5R will be around in a year. It's confirmed to be cool to troll Lion players. They have more time to be offended since their decks play themselves.

One thing that is cool about L5R is that when compared to Conquest, L5R will be around in a year. It's confirmed to be cool to troll Lion players. They have more time to be offended since their decks play themselves.

Just to say, one of my finest memories was beating a Lion in the Ann Arbor/Ypsilanti area with fallen dueling. I had 3 insights in hand and played 3 cards from his own deck. Like 5 more movement bs with sudden movement. I really hate toxicity and I was very polite to him, but I think that made it worse.

Sorry for the quote chain ;_;.

Anyway, stuff. The issue with the spider..... and perhaps issue is to strong a word. Thematic space. When designing a game you want each part to be thematic and feel unique. The spider exist to threaten the empire.... but they want to be included as part of it? The spider are there to be the foil to the more honorable clans.... but that's the scorpion. The spider is there to threaten the clans that are weak? But the lion is there specifically to knock down the clans that grow too powerful and ambitious.

They are a neat idea, and if the scorpion never came back they might even have a really good place for them to fit... but there are a lot of people who feel that having one clan of dishonorable bastards who do what they want for sketchy reasons is more than enough.

Shourido is kind of a neat idea, academically, but giving it the same mechanical weight as bushido is a mistake. Let people believe this new philosophy, but the get low honor scores, not something new in its place

Woops, I didn't see that I helped with that chain too. : P

But anyways, I think that much of that problem (trying to fit within the empire) is something that has been addressed or is part of the plan. Remember articles like this. It literally talks about the idea that the clan is a great clan, much like all the others, with choices to made going into onyx. Nothing was going to change that. Not even the story line and clearly the story line for onyx was simply the Spider (Kanpeki) taking over. You can simply look at it in the same light as the Scorpion clan coup and no one says that the Scorpion should simply not exist any more. Well, not to their faces.

There's also two major issues with the clan which also hurt the typical Spider as one arguments. First, is the change in clan champion and the spilt of the Susumu clan. Tetsuo alone can be pointed to as a possible spilt for the spider monks. There's much more going on with the clan than 'they want to destroy everything', 'corruption, corruption, corruption', 'oni's at every tea table', or other silly argument against the clan.

If someone should be pissed, the Mantis have that right with losing their faction temporarily.

That's fair, and I've said before I came into the setting from the rpg,not the card game, 4th editing specifically when I really got into it.

My thing is that if you look at the setting as a living world rather than a collection of player rewards, lots of it is nonsensical. The crab betrayed the empire? No biggie put them back on the wall. Scorpion betrayed the empire? Who cares! A peasant was uppity to the Emperor and was given a clan for his trouble? NOTHING CHANGED AT ALL.

A setting reboot is a way to turn this world into something that has internal consistency and follows it's own rules. That is much more important than keeping any single faction available

That's fair, and I've said before I came into the setting from the rpg,not the card game, 4th editing specifically when I really got into it.

My thing is that if you look at the setting as a living world rather than a collection of player rewards, lots of it is nonsensical. The crab betrayed the empire? No biggie put them back on the wall. Scorpion betrayed the empire? Who cares! A peasant was uppity to the Emperor and was given a clan for his trouble? NOTHING CHANGED AT ALL.

A setting reboot is a way to turn this world into something that has internal consistency and follows it's own rules. That is much more important than keeping any single faction available

Wait, you don't mention a samurai Challenging the Moon to a duel to take his place.

Come on, of course there were a lot of WTF moments in the history of L5R, but if you came to the setting for the RPG, you're always free to ignore anything you find don't make sense in your campaign.

As a L5R GM, my story split from the canon really early on. The content of the books is still always usable, but most of the time, the actions of the players were what made the story advance. Afterall, they were the heroes.

Now, I'm also in favor of a reboot of the story. Not because I didn't like what has been done (I really liked most of it), but because I think it would be a better option to attract new players.

At this point in time, I don't care whether my favorite clan will be in the core set, and there's a good chance it won't be in it. If they're not, I'll choose another faction and tag along for the ride.

I would be surprised if every faction was available. As a lcg the card pool for the expansions is not large enough for more than say 9. More than that and players will stop getting expansions as there is 'nothing in it for their clan'.

So we will probably see an initial release of 6-7 factions with the rest in deluxe packs.

On the storyline I think they should ignore the aeg storyline. Create their own. Let the past remain in the past.

A setting reboot is a way to turn this world into something that has internal consistency and follows it's own rules. That is much more important than keeping any single faction available

That is only true if and only if the storyteam goes in that direction. I mean, if they prefer to go against it's own rules, it will bring the very same problems. Also, if they keep card game tournament having an impact on the game, there will still have "WTF moments".

We don't know how they are going to do with the story right now and we surely don't know how they will handle the story. With this in mind, it's really hard if a reboot will prevent this.

Here is a question for all the pro-reboot people:

Would you be okay with a reboot back to the Clan War that took the original premise (dying Emperor, six Clans, and the Crab march an army north to seize the throne by force), and completely ignored the entire canon storyline from the Battle of Beiden Pass forward?

You have the same iconic characters (Hida Kisada, Hida Yakamo, Toturi the Black, Doji Hoturi, Bayushi Kachiko, Isawa Tadaka, Shiba Tsukune, etc), and the same basic premise (the Scorpion Clan pulled a coup to prevent a prophecy from coming to pass, failed, were destroyed, and now the dying Emperor is becoming Fu Leng). You just put it down on the table, and go "Yeah. The Phoenix are opening Black Scrolls. The Crab are allying with the Shadowlands. The Unicorn are rife with the Kolat and want to lead a peasant revolt. The Lion are without proper guidance, and are tearing themselves in half in the "Emperor vs Empire" conflict. The Crane are losing all their holdings. Yoritomo is going to try to seize the throne. The Naga want to kill all humans. And the Dragon are the only ones backing Toturi, but they are willing to let the Empire burn. And Kachiko? Just making the situation worse."

The Clan War presented each Clan at basically its worst possible state. This can make for a compelling narrative if handled properly, but is this what the pro-rebooters really want? Do you want a game where Kisada is ambitiously evil and making a blatant attack on the Throne just because he CAN? Where Kachiko is destroying the other Clans out of vengeance for the destruction of her clan? Where Toturi is backed more by the Dragon Clan than the Lion Clan? The Lion Clan is attacking the Crane because it is too weak to defend itself? And the Phoenix Clan are literally summoning oni for wisdom and power? And where the Unicorn... actually do something?

Personally? I would LOVE to see the Clan War drawn out into a five year arc, with full narrative depth and each of the characters allowed genuine depth and character journeys. However, I somewhat doubt that this is something that would make a good LCG, and I seriously doubt the Crab players want Kisada at his most villainous, or Scorpion players want Kachiko at her most villainous, or Dragon players want Hitomi at her nearly most villainous. Personally, I would love to see full-blown "have your own son ritualistically murdered for power, have the other son enslaved to an oni, and ally with the demon army you swore your life to oppose" Hida Kisada the SuperVillain of L5R. But I have unpopular opinions.

Yes, this is something I'd be really OK with. You coudl even have each Deluxe + cycle be an Arc,

So, as an example, core set would be 7 factions :

Crane

Lion

Dragon

Carb

Unicorn

Phoenix

Naga

You could then a first Deluxe box with Mantis and Scorpion (yes, even though they were "destroyed", they were still around).

Here is a question for all the pro-reboot people:

Would you be okay with a reboot back to the Clan War that took the original premise (dying Emperor, six Clans, and the Crab march an army north to seize the throne by force), and completely ignored the entire canon storyline from the Battle of Beiden Pass forward?

You have the same iconic characters (Hida Kisada, Hida Yakamo, Toturi the Black, Doji Hoturi, Bayushi Kachiko, Isawa Tadaka, Shiba Tsukune, etc), and the same basic premise (the Scorpion Clan pulled a coup to prevent a prophecy from coming to pass, failed, were destroyed, and now the dying Emperor is becoming Fu Leng). You just put it down on the table, and go "Yeah. The Phoenix are opening Black Scrolls. The Crab are allying with the Shadowlands. The Unicorn are rife with the Kolat and want to lead a peasant revolt. The Lion are without proper guidance, and are tearing themselves in half in the "Emperor vs Empire" conflict. The Crane are losing all their holdings. Yoritomo is going to try to seize the throne. The Naga want to kill all humans. And the Dragon are the only ones backing Toturi, but they are willing to let the Empire burn. And Kachiko? Just making the situation worse."

The Clan War presented each Clan at basically its worst possible state. This can make for a compelling narrative if handled properly, but is this what the pro-rebooters really want? Do you want a game where Kisada is ambitiously evil and making a blatant attack on the Throne just because he CAN? Where Kachiko is destroying the other Clans out of vengeance for the destruction of her clan? Where Toturi is backed more by the Dragon Clan than the Lion Clan? The Lion Clan is attacking the Crane because it is too weak to defend itself? And the Phoenix Clan are literally summoning oni for wisdom and power? And where the Unicorn... actually do something?

Personally? I would LOVE to see the Clan War drawn out into a five year arc, with full narrative depth and each of the characters allowed genuine depth and character journeys. However, I somewhat doubt that this is something that would make a good LCG, and I seriously doubt the Crab players want Kisada at his most villainous, or Scorpion players want Kachiko at her most villainous, or Dragon players want Hitomi at her nearly most villainous. Personally, I would love to see full-blown "have your own son ritualistically murdered for power, have the other son enslaved to an oni, and ally with the demon army you swore your life to oppose" Hida Kisada the SuperVillain of L5R. But I have unpopular opinions.

yeah, this is a good point, because the unstated, maybe even not entirely considered, assumption i think with a lot of the reboot blah is that unpopular things change, popular things don't. people are all into the idea of a reboot now, but a clan wars reboot where Toturi doesn't become emperor? where the scorpion are eradicated rather than forgiven? i think suddenly people would be a lot less excited or for it.

A setting reboot is a way to turn this world into something that has internal consistency and follows it's own rules. That is much more important than keeping any single faction available

That is only true if and only if the storyteam goes in that direction. I mean, if they prefer to go against it's own rules, it will bring the very same problems. Also, if they keep card game tournament having an impact on the game, there will still have "WTF moments".

We don't know how they are going to do with the story right now and we surely don't know how they will handle the story. With this in mind, it's really hard if a reboot will prevent this.

both of these statements make me laugh, like legitimately laugh, because the first assumes l5r has ever placed any value on internal consistency. which isn't to say it shouldn't. just the cognitive dissonance of associating the two notions evoked a giggle. and the second because i 100% agree that the only way to prevent WTF moments is to keep both the story team and the player interactions on a SUPER tight leash. and honestly, wtf moments have led to some of the best l5r moments. i'm not 100% sure that making rokugan boring is the right solution. then you're entirely at the whim of having great writers. which isn't, ya know, a given. i'm sure FFG will hire the best people they can find but thats no assurance. i think the element of randomness is sometimes incredibly valuable.

my point, if i have one, maybe rebuttal is a better word, is that i love l5r in spite of and maybe even for its flaws. i wouldn't want a predictable, boring, standard fantasy setting l5r. the insanity makes it unique.

Hey, if I were to re-write the Clan War, the Moto barbarians would totally show up as "secret Unicorn reserves" as Shinjo Yokatsu tries to make HIMSELF the Emperor on the backs of spreading Empire wide peasant revolts, due to the lack of protection from the Wasting Disease. And sandwich Toturi the Black firmly between the Lion attacking the Crane because of history, the Crab attacking the Empire, and the Unicorn attacking the Empire. Because a four way battle for supremacy sounds like a REAL Clan War to me.

Would you be okay with a reboot back to the Clan War that took the original premise (dying Emperor, six Clans, and the Crab march an army north to seize the throne by force), and completely ignored the entire canon storyline from the Battle of Beiden Pass forward?

I would start the reboot with the Thousand Years of Peace breaking up for good with Akodo Arasou's fateful attack on Toshi Ranbo, his death, and Toturi's ascension to become Lion Clan Champion. Everything after this event is up to grabs in a similar way than the Onyx path choices (only translated to tournament victories rather than player votes): Bayushi Shoju will consider a coup, and depending on the players' choice he will either do it, back down from it, or find an alternative route. Of course, this would need more fine-tuning, but I think it can work.

For example, the big rivalry between Mirumoto Hitomi and Hida Yakamo can get a good ending if tournament victories push their characters to a more reasonable (for Hitomi) and regretful (for Yakamo) path. But it can end the same way as it did originally. Or it could turn even worse and result in the death of one at the other's hand (say, if Yakamo does grow regretful, but Hitomi continues her quest of vengeance).

Reboots suck- "been there, done that."

If FFG reboots, I hope they go scorched earth. Even AEG dipped into the Clan War Nostalgia Bag before the end. Let's not do the Clan War again.Let's not do the Four Winds again. Let's do something NEW. Whether that's tacked to the current timeline,or the jumping off point for an entirely new one, let's NOT simply wind the clock back twenty years and try to do a better job.

Reboots suck- "been there, done that."

If FFG reboots, I hope they go scorched earth. Even AEG dipped into the Clan War Nostalgia Bag before the end. Let's not do the Clan War again.Let's not do the Four Winds again. Let's do something NEW. Whether that's tacked to the current timeline,or the jumping off point for an entirely new one, let's NOT simply wind the clock back twenty years and try to do a better job.

I think you are confusing reboot with rewind. A reboot does not mean we are going to do it again. A rewind does.

I think you are confusing reboot with rewind. A reboot does not mean we are going to do it again. A rewind does.

Just about everyone here has been using "reboot" to mean what you use "rewind" for.

What else is one to think when every second "reboot" post is "let's go back to the Clan War."

Here is a question for all the pro-reboot people:

Would you be okay with a reboot back to the Clan War that took the original premise (dying Emperor, six Clans, and the Crab march an army north to seize the throne by force), and completely ignored the entire canon storyline from the Battle of Beiden Pass forward?

You have the same iconic characters (Hida Kisada, Hida Yakamo, Toturi the Black, Doji Hoturi, Bayushi Kachiko, Isawa Tadaka, Shiba Tsukune, etc), and the same basic premise (the Scorpion Clan pulled a coup to prevent a prophecy from coming to pass, failed, were destroyed, and now the dying Emperor is becoming Fu Leng). You just put it down on the table, and go "Yeah. The Phoenix are opening Black Scrolls. The Crab are allying with the Shadowlands. The Unicorn are rife with the Kolat and want to lead a peasant revolt. The Lion are without proper guidance, and are tearing themselves in half in the "Emperor vs Empire" conflict. The Crane are losing all their holdings. Yoritomo is going to try to seize the throne. The Naga want to kill all humans. And the Dragon are the only ones backing Toturi, but they are willing to let the Empire burn. And Kachiko? Just making the situation worse."

The Clan War presented each Clan at basically its worst possible state. This can make for a compelling narrative if handled properly, but is this what the pro-rebooters really want? Do you want a game where Kisada is ambitiously evil and making a blatant attack on the Throne just because he CAN? Where Kachiko is destroying the other Clans out of vengeance for the destruction of her clan? Where Toturi is backed more by the Dragon Clan than the Lion Clan? The Lion Clan is attacking the Crane because it is too weak to defend itself? And the Phoenix Clan are literally summoning oni for wisdom and power? And where the Unicorn... actually do something?

Personally? I would LOVE to see the Clan War drawn out into a five year arc, with full narrative depth and each of the characters allowed genuine depth and character journeys. However, I somewhat doubt that this is something that would make a good LCG, and I seriously doubt the Crab players want Kisada at his most villainous, or Scorpion players want Kachiko at her most villainous, or Dragon players want Hitomi at her nearly most villainous. Personally, I would love to see full-blown "have your own son ritualistically murdered for power, have the other son enslaved to an oni, and ally with the demon army you swore your life to oppose" Hida Kisada the SuperVillain of L5R. But I have unpopular opinions.

Would I like it? I'd love it.

I've already run a couple variations of it in my RPG games, including one where a Scorpion PC (posing as a ronin) spent two-thirds of the game trying to kill Toturi because she blamed him for her father's death. (One of her more imaginative schemes involved trying to give him water laced with saliva from sufferers of the Wasting Disease.)

Here is a question for all the pro-reboot people:

Would you be okay with a reboot back to the Clan War that took the original premise (dying Emperor, six Clans, and the Crab march an army north to seize the throne by force), and completely ignored the entire canon storyline from the Battle of Beiden Pass forward?

I'm reboot-neutral, but sure. I'm 100% okay with this. My battlecry has always been for FFG to make it work on FFG's own terms, whatever "it" is.

I think, this approach mine to handle, I'd have the core set lay out the world and the first expansion (possibly a deluxe, but not necessarily) to actually launch the full conflict, but that's a minor detail. I think, also, a hard look at the great clans is warranted. Can we make room for mantis/spider in a way that makes sense? I mean, if we're actually doing a reboot, I don't see any reason why story should have to say, "we're changing things this far back, but no further."

Maybe Mantis earned great clan status 500 years ago. Maybe Spider has always been a great clan. Again, as long what FFG is doing is internally consistent, and hopefully honors the spirit of the setting (whatever that might mean), go crazy, AFAIC.

I have my preferred approach (more on that in a response to a later post), but there are many other approaches I'd be perfectly happy with.

The Clan War presented each Clan at basically its worst possible state. This can make for a compelling narrative if handled properly, but is this what the pro-rebooters really want? Do you want a game where Kisada is ambitiously evil and making a blatant attack on the Throne just because he CAN? Where Kachiko is destroying the other Clans out of vengeance for the destruction of her clan? Where Toturi is backed more by the Dragon Clan than the Lion Clan? The Lion Clan is attacking the Crane because it is too weak to defend itself? And the Phoenix Clan are literally summoning oni for wisdom and power? And where the Unicorn... actually do something?

So, something that gets thrown around a lot in certain storytelling circles (and I'm sure there are related ideas in related fields) is the idea of presenting the "life dream" of a character (in this example, the clans being the characters). Sometimes -- probably usually -- it's aspirational.

It's Luke Skywalker escaping the farm. Ariel wanting to be where the people are. It's Jamie Foxx's postcard of paradise that he keeps on the visor of his cab in Collateral. If you watch basically any Disney animation, it's the, "I wish," song. It tends to be not very specific, but informs a lot of the context of why characters do what they do when they're chasing more specific wants and, later, realizing more important needs.

Sometimes it's trying to recapture something. A past glory or lost relationship. This is sometimes where you look when you have a character beginning your story at a low moment. It's John McClane wanting his family back in Die Hard.

If the clans are your characters (and I think, in the way the card game was structured, they are exactly that for the card game), and they're at their lowest moment at the start of the clan war, you introduce elements of that clan's idealized version in flavor text, art, even mechanics. Fiction, if you look outside the game itself. Just a few examples for each clan. Just so it's clear that the current low moment of each clan is exactly that, and not the norm or the ideal.

So then, in climactic moments, when the clans are really forced to choose one path or the other (whether guided by the story team or interactive), there are those touchstones. So the choice between honor and dishonor -- defending the empire or conquering it-- is clear and real, rather than abstract. You call back to those ideals, those characters and moments that expressed it early on and in small moments throughout, and you put them in direct, even literal conflict. Such as with a cadre of crab, led by that idealistic character intro'd in the core box, allying with the imperial guard against Kisada. Or making a desperate, principled and doomed stand alone, maybe even earlier, before the crab even leave crab lands.

Which is all just to say, sure, start the clans at low moments. That doesn't mean we can't also see their ideals.

Go back to the clan wars and do it again. But possibly better and different. Hell yeah. I don't care if it ends completely different with the 1000 years of darkness storyline instead being the result.

I think you are confusing reboot with rewind. A reboot does not mean we are going to do it again. A rewind does.

I could be wrong, but I don't think Gunichi thinks that if FFG rebooted to Clan War, they would do it the same way that AEG did it. But maybe Gunichi does. *shrug*

I don't object to a Clan War reboot, but I think there's room to prefer not to walk in the same stream twice, even if the specific path you tread is a little -- or a lot -- different.

A rewind doesn't really mean anything when talking about remakes. Because who rewinds anything anymore?