Two decks!
Great artwork!
Clan War!
No Enlightenment, but Rings are everywhere!
I think I like what I see so far.
Announcement Article Up
5 minutes ago, Shikaku said:Gender swapped intentionally is the question... someone back at the office is either going, 'Oh ****, we have a typo and we meant he instead of she, and the image we assigned to the Crane Clan is a female! Now what do we do!' or they are saying, 'Yeah, buddy.'
Doubtful, they swapped Yokatsu too.
However, if they intend for Hotaru and Kachiko to have a romance I am totally in this game like yesterday.
AEG never let us push the romance between the Crane and Scorpion girl in Ivory/20F.
Just now, Gaffa said:They won't, because both shelf space and SKU space are very limited things in game stores. FFG is already competing against itself as much as others for room on your FLGS's shelves; a separate print run that would not sell as well as the core set is not something they want to crowd space from other games they're offering.
Which is fine...but I could imagine the demand issues with some stores. Let's just say there isn't a crazy rabid fan base and a FLGS gets 4 core sets and one big fan gets all 3. That leaves 1 for one other person and probably 3 others waiting to get their hands on it.
The design looks amazing, I really like this fate system idea very fitting and unique. Keeping the two decks and updating the province system is awesome. I fully understand why the storyline reset was done, as the other had become convoluted and cumbersome.
My only real complaint is the disappearance of the Mantis clan. I will still play the game, I just will have to find a new clan for now. It is my sincere hope that the Mantis will rise again.
By the way, with this first preview, can you see the (non-Spider) Shadowlands ever becoming playable?
It seems it would go against most of the flavour of the mechanics/terms shown for the moment.
I have always thought that the Shadowlands worked better as a tainted temptation to the main clans than as its own thing.
2 decks, honor/dishonor/military, provinces, nice art> like
characters dont stay on the board forever > like very much
have to see if the rules are streamlined correctly
looks good for now
Also good luck to those going to Gen Con (myself included). If there is truly a 1 per person limit, three long line-up trips will be required.
Somewhat sad that there is no enlightenment victory, but open to the possibility of a "backdoor" version, such as a card that grants a bunch of honor if you do all 5 ring effects in one turn or something.
4 minutes ago, KerenRhys said:By the way, with this first preview, can you see the (non-Spider) Shadowlands ever becoming playable?
It seems it would go against most of the flavour of the mechanics/terms shown for the moment.
2 minutes ago, Tonbo Karasu said:I have always thought that the Shadowlands worked better as a tainted temptation to the main clans than as its own thing.
I think both could be good. But they have given themselves plenty of design space for either (as well as other factions). They could do something with it later.
Just now, Ryric said:Somewhat sad that there is no enlightenment victory, but open to the possibility of a "backdoor" version, such as a card that grants a bunch of honor if you do all 5 ring effects in one turn or something.
I'll note that it would be kind of hard to do that, since each player can only do 2 conflicts per turn!
Generic names for non-unique characters is something that I saw coming, and something I'm exceptionally pleased about. No more trying to guess which copy of Shinjo Byung is the "real" one.
Just now, Ryric said:Somewhat sad that there is no enlightenment victory, but open to the possibility of a "backdoor" version, such as a card that grants a bunch of honor if you do all 5 ring effects in one turn or something.
Or a special stronghold that allows it as a monk victory.
I'm not really on board with the fate system yet, though I imagine it's a needed consequence of some of the other design choices.
The Rings system is fantastic. It should really provide a lot of interesting decision making.
I think the make or break mechanic will be how well the honor wagering for Conflict cards pans out.
Just now, Tonbo Karasu said:I'll note that it would be kind of hard to do that, since each player can only do 2 conflicts per turn!
I missed that, but imagine a personality that gave +2 honor each time you use a new ring effect. So you could get +10 total if you did all of them before that personality wandered off.
Why do they have to add always a **** dial. I guess that part substitutes the blind bets in duels.
Also, that draw mechanic makes me think that there will not be a multiplayer variation.
Edit: Also, I don't like at all, that event cards are fection specific, making them neutral would improve pack card variety. But, if I'm not wrong, looks like they added some kind of out-of-clan cost to conflict card, as seen in the little stick on the bottom of the cards. I hope there also an option for ooc characters.
Edited by Barbacuo1 hour ago, Tonbo Karasu said:To re-iterate:
Story reset: Emperor Hantei XXXVIII
More correct: alternate universe parallel to the Clan Wars.
The Crane Champion has been genderswapped to female with the name Doji Hotaru.
Akodo Arasou is the current Lion Champ. Akodo Totori is an up and coming general and their relationship is unknown.
The male Unicorn Clan champion Shinjo Yokatsu has been replaced with the female Shinjo Altansarnai.
Edited by Ultimatecalibur
1 minute ago, Barbacuo said:Why do they have to add always a **** dial. I guess that part substitutes the blind bets in duels.
Also, that draw mechanic makes me think that there will not be a multiplayer variation.
If I read this right, its per conflict. So in a multiplayer variant, conflicts could still primarily be between 2 players, but allow others to participate.
Just now, Barbacuo said:Also, that draw mechanic makes me think that there will not be a multiplayer variation.
While you're probably right, the absence of multiplayer given the "multiplayer" nature of the setting makes me think/hope/pretend that maybe draw works differently with more than two players and they're just showcasing the "default" schema.
The more I think about it, the more I like how the rings are being implemented here. It seems like it provides at least a little bit of an ever present meta nullification. So you can avoid those games where you come up against that one type of deck that you know you are screwed from the start.
3 minutes ago, Ultimatecalibur said:More correct: alternate universe parallel to the Clan Wars.
The Crane Champion has been genderswapped to female with the name Doji Hotura.
The current Lion Champ is a character who was previously unnamed and is in a relationship with Matsu Tsuko. Akodo Totori is an up and coming general.
The male Unicorn Clan champion Shinjo Yokatsu has been replaced with the female Shinjo Altansarnai.
The current Lion champion Akodo Arasou existed in AEG version of L5R, but died before the beginning of the story. He was shown in the RPG, was already Tsuko's lover and is Toturi's older brother.
As often in those case, he was portrayed as a "perfect" champion and Toturi's feeling of inferiority (as well as Tsuko's feeling of Toturi's inferiority compared to his brother) is one of the thing that caused Toturi's behaviour and Tsuko's enmity with him.
Edited by KerenRhysAbout the 3 set thing: I'll probably buy one at Gen Con, not going to wait in that crazy line three times. I'll pick up the other two when the official release hits, if playing with my friends has shown I need to. We'll have to wait that long before seeing dynasty packs anyway.
2 minutes ago, Ultimatecalibur said:More correct: alternate universe parallel to the Clan Wars.
The Crane Champion has been genderswapped to female with the name Doji Hotura.
The current Lion Champ is a character who was previously unnamed and is in a relationship with Matsu Tsuko. Akodo Totori is an up and coming general.
The male Unicorn Clan champion Shinjo Yokatsu has been replaced with the female Shinjo Altansarnai.
Akodo Arasou was not previously unnamed.
He was well known from the RPG supplements.
Just now, Ultimatecalibur said:The Crane Champion has been genderswapped to female with the name Doji Hotura.
The current Lion Champ is a character who was previously unnamed and is in a relationship with Matsu Tsuko.
I kek'd on fem!Hotaru harder than I should have. And Akodo Aseru was Toturi's brother (and Tsuko's husbando) in the original too.
But the Phoenix description made me laugh the hardest. Take that Phoenix players and all that
...
God, that artwork is amazing. Especially those philosophy cards, OMG.
Really fascinated by the fate system. And it looks to have a lot of the streamlining I expected from my cursory look at the old rules. Looking forward to it.