52 minutes ago, TheHobgoblyn said:

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I see that it also mentions the colonies specifically in the description of the product, so I suppose that indicates they aren't necessarily dropping any of the dead-end ideas that popped up in the last few expansions to the game.

Also, the first set is called "A New Emperor Rises", so maybe they are picking up with Kanpeki taking the throne? Maybe then it will be a reflection of Clan Wars, the bad guy has taken the throne and it will be up to a rebellion to take him down.

It just seems like way too much chaos to try to restart a game and sell people on. It isn't going to work out if one has to know all the story developments over 20+ years to at all comprehend what is supposed to be happening in the game.

The first set is called, Legend of the Five Rings: The Card Game. The original article detailing the sale was titled A New Emperor Rises, and I believe it is half-referring to FFG's takeover. However you are correct that the product page does mention the Colonies, so one might assume that there is some chronological consistency. I too share the belief that the base set will, by necessity, have fewer factions - but I'm not terribly confident about which ones. Chronologically speaking, Spider are more important than ever. The tension around the Spider (in real world community AND in setting) is seriously fertile ground for story-telling. If FFG does plan to pick up where we left off, I can't imagine them ignoring this potential.

there's always gonna be some kind of villain faction. there has been since like the first or second expansion of l5r. whether its spider or shadowlands depends on if they continue the story or do some variety of reboot. But i hope they continue it, and, do wrap this back around, i hope if we get a stronghold its Otosan Uchi. granted, i'm a berzerk daigotsu fanboy, and i've always enjoyed that he's a Hantei and the spiritual/cultural shenanigans all that implies. But i do think that the spider occupying the site makes for really excellent storytelling opportunities that having them exiled off in Shinomen or the city of the lost just doesn't provide. the spider are at their most narratively effective and interesting when they are not just being the dark mirror of rokugan, but holding that mirror up to rokugan's face and saying "UGLY AINT IT!". we're rokugan's picture of dorian gray, to take another analogy. it only works when rokugan is confronted with it. forcing the rokugani to not just face, but interact, with these people who want to BE them but also flaunt all the ways they refuse to conform to their traditions provides great storytelling opportunities. it gives the writers easy avenues to explore the unstated assumptions behind rokugani characters, spider characters can be familiar enough to be a part of the story, but foreign enough to require exposition and thus be a good audience surrogate.

i've wandered off my point and turned this into a manifesto about why the spider are important to the story. yup. i'm okay with that.

All this talk about reclaiming Otosan Uchi does take me back to Winter Court IV...

We really DID want to try to purify Otosan Uchi, and it, like the Progressive Economic Alliance and the expansion of the Gyushi family, were among the petitions of the Spider Clan which basically got answered by the GMs going "This is going to the Story Team. Deal with it." And then we found out about the Exodus of the Spider through the card game...

As for why Otosan Uchi would remain a ruin for 50+ years after Daigotsu destroyed it? The best reason I can think of is, simply, Rokugan refuses to acknowledge it. Specifically, the samurai of Rokugan CANNOT acknowledge that the city where the Hantei ruled is forever Tainted in places and destroyed, because in doing so, they must acknowledge their own failure to protect it. It is, literally, a source of shame upon the entire Empire. Furthermore, it was the seat of power for the Hantei dynasty, which is dead. The Iweko have always ruled in Toshi Ranbo, why would you bring up that source of shame in our past?

It is not dissimilar to the Great Famine or the Heresy of the Five Rings. Rokugani culture IGNORES a shameful past event until, literally, no one thinks about it. Two generations after the destruction of Otosan Uchi, and all it is to them is a shameful place where people do not go.

Mind you, I have a Tabletop game plan in place for my next game of "Congratulations! You are the Minor Clan tasked with restoring Otosan Uchi to the Empire! Because Iweko III did not want the Great Clans going to war over who got that 'honor'. Don't worry, no one lives there anymore." "Uh... sama... there's literally 10,000 people still living in that city. And most of them are bandits, or the families of bandits." "What, I can't hear you over the EMPEROR SAYING NO ONE LIVES THERE ANYMORE."