On 4/21/2017 at 5:07 AM, C2K said:

I don't know, I feel like his name is just fine when you consider his first card.

It's good, but the ability lacks detail! It's far too simple.

12 minutes ago, Wintersong said:

Once in a decade is enough? Is this like the Kaiu Wall? That one supposed to protect from the Shadowlands but that in the CCG was breached quite often?

Absolutely! The wall ought to be good enough 90% or more of the time.

10 hours ago, Suzume Tomonori said:

I personally will be enjoying the first 5-minutes of story where the Phoenix aren't tainted.

In my opinion one of the best things they could every do is change the entire presentation of the Shadowlands Taint. If anyone here has ever seen the RPG Kuro, it is such an elegant way that they present the notion of spiritual corruption and how spirituality, meditation, prayer, etc. counteract it. They also broaden it to encompass "taint" as all spiritual corruption from being around death to touching flesh (living or dead). I wholeheartedly believe that taint should really be seen the same as all other spiritual corruption. To be too long in the presence of the Dark Kami is to grow more spiritually corrupt which, in and of itself, does not harm you but upon your death can **** you, leave your body as a vessel for evil spirits, or condemn your soul to become a yokai or gaki.

Take the plague elements that have always been problematic out of it and make it a force that can corrupt you no matter what even just by not being devout enough to pray and cleanse after a skirmish. It can also mean that a samurai can fall into the grip of the Fu Leng just by ignoring the spiritual taboos set in place by the "good" Kami.

I was fine with how the Taint was originally portrayed, especially in some of the 1st edition RPG books (the original Book of the Shadowlands and Way of the Crab, for example). It was genuinely creepy and even harrowing at times.

I hated the way it was watered-down over the years. Too many characters got out of it, if they ever got it at all. Then, the ultimate nonsense: "Oh, the Taint will play nice now. It totally gets consent and stuff. We're all gonna get along!" No. Just...no.

I remember that one of the things that Spooky from ST always wanted was for the Crab Clan Champion to be some kind of devious, strategic bishounen pretty boy just to see how the Crab playerbase would deal with that kind of guy leading them as opposed to the standard Kisada/Yakamo/Kuon/ect.

We haven't seen Yakamo yet so there could always still be time for his dream to come true!

That is honestly kinda hilarious xD

To be fair, have we been introduced to any of the major figures among the Clans yet? I thought we had seen several, before realizing that the art I'd thought belonged to Doji Hotaru is actually the Savvy Politician, which opens the question of whether the other images sprinkled through the story section of the announcement page are of Clan leaders or their generic followers.

Well, we have Kisada and Yokuni on the product page, and I think it has been confirmed that the Crane girl with the naginata below them has been confirmed to be Hotaru. I think to Lion guy just below Yokuni is Toturi (it could also be Arasou). And I still can't believe the Crab girl with the dai-tsuchi is not O-Ushi... Could have Steve just been playing on words just because they modified her name or something like that?

I'm hoping that there is no coup or Second Day of Thunder. I loved the story arc but FF has reset the timeline and I really don't want to see a repeat of what we've seen before with a few changes. I'm for the clans going to war with each other but would prefer to see Hentai remain on the throne.

Crane seems to be in a very underdog position with the current story. Inexperienced leader, floods, Lion clan looking for war, and the Scorpion has favor in the courts. The future looks bad for my favorite clan which I really like. A good comeback story is waiting for them.

Crab has the least interesting story. Another huge shadowlands army threatens the Empire so it is just another Tuesday for the Crab clan. I wish they would have done a little more with this. Such as the shadowlands threat was low and the conflict was with one of the clans. Maybe against Phoenix or Unicorn due to tainted magic.

1 minute ago, TechnoGolem said:

would prefer to see Hentai remain on the throne.

Freudian slip? ?

Just now, Builder2 said:

Freudian slip? ?

lmao. More like I am going off of next to no sleep for the last couple of days and I absolutely suck with remembering the names in L5R.

It was confirmed on Twitter that the Naginata girl is in fact Hotaru.

4 minutes ago, TechnoGolem said:

I'm hoping that there is no coup or Second Day of Thunder. I loved the story arc but FF has reset the timeline and I really don't want to see a repeat of what we've seen before with a few changes. I'm for the clans going to war with each other but would prefer to see Hentai remain on the throne.

Crane seems to be in a very underdog position with the current story. Inexperienced leader, floods, Lion clan looking for war, and the Scorpion has favor in the courts. The future looks bad for my favorite clan which I really like. A good comeback story is waiting for them.

Crab has the least interesting story. Another huge shadowlands army threatens the Empire so it is just another Tuesday for the Crab clan. I wish they would have done a little more with this. Such as the shadowlands threat was low and the conflict was with one of the clans. Maybe against Phoenix or Unicorn due to tainted magic.

I think Crane are in very much a protagonist role in the current story. Hotaru's very relatable as a young and inexperienced leader, and the Crane's underdog position makes you really want to cheer for them.

In comparison, all the other clans are pretty much in their traditional roles. Scorpions scheming, Crabs manning the wall, Dragons sitting on mountains, such.

All in all, this should work pretty well for getting new people invested in the story and getting them to be familiar with the setting. While, yeah, Crabs might just be sitting there on their wall, at least all the new players will get to see them through the lens of their traditional duty.

Oh hey, I haven't pontificated on this of late...

The state of the clans!

Crab- Not the most interesting tale, but, uh...this is not a faction known for nuance. Part of their relative popularity and their endurance in the story is that Crab are really, really easy to explain.

Crane- I hate them for being story hogs, rather than for in-setting reasons (although if I had any in-setting reason to like them, I might be more forgiving). Might not be fair with a new continuity, but, you know, I'm only human. Their default starting position is perhaps more interesting than in the past, but since I never need to see another Crane story as long as I live, my bias prevents me from having anything constructive to say. I fully expect to utterly despise their inevitable role as heroic underdogs returning to prominence, and to wish the tsunami had been more thorough.

Dragon- I like that it sounds like they actually interact with the Empire a bit as a matter of course. That whole "hiding in the mountains" thing was one of several narrative hobblings the Dragon clan had to endure. The birthrate thing is also a neat angle. Hope that this time they aren't swinging from a plot device that they'll never outgrow. Heaven's Net may have stuck in the fanbase's craw, but it didn't come out of nowhere. I hope they're less "Togashi's secret weapon," more, "Togashi's experiment in making better humans."

Lion- Like the Crab, they're kind of basic. Their alliance with the Scorpion seems hilariously doomed, and they will no doubt lose some duels to make the Crane look good. Might be some good material there.

Phoenix- Not wild about hints of flailing for forbidden secrets. Again. Happy that the conflict with the Unicorn is something with some room for nuance, but dreading the inevitable,"Phoenix got it wrong" before they've had a chance to build up any credibility. If my baggage from the past makes the Crane a Clan I have no use for, it makes the Phoenix a Clan I desperately want to see get it right for a bit before their hubris inevitably returns to humble them.

Scorpion- Courtly dominance is... sadly, to those of us who recall AEG's run, not really a new development. I'm not invested in Shoju or Kachiko. Their alliance with the Lion has already been mentioned as something I regard as high comedy. In the absence of playable Shadowlands bad guys, the Scorpion look like they're back to being Hantei's villains. Hopefully some better reason than setting fiat is on hand to explain why their continued existence is tolerated.

Unicorn- Glad their return is more recent-it makes everybody treating them like weird outsiders make more sense. Glad they're less Mongol-ized than they were after the Moto takeover. For the sake of the Phoenix's almost nonexistent credibility, I really hope their meishodo is actually a problem that they'll have to adapt to make spiritually acceptable, because opening with a hypocritical dive into dark mojo after thinking the Unicorn's magic is a problem is pretty much a recipe for validating every snide remark the Phoenix fanbase has had to put up with for twenty years. Glad the Unicorn have something to do in this plot.

How would you utilize the chance to do the story reset? In what positions would you put the clans, and what kind of themes and story seeds would you plant?

42 minutes ago, Builder2 said:

Freudian slip? ?

Nah. LCG spoiler. T he Hentai bloodline has affinity for certain type of Shadowlands creatures. That way, they can get away from the whole black scroll thing.

12 minutes ago, WHW said:

How would you utilize the chance to do the story reset? In what positions would you put the clans, and what kind of themes and story seeds would you plant?

The clans are already predisposed to kill each other. There is some shadowlands behind Crab and Phoenix, maybe Dragon, but the rest do not need it. Lion will attack the Crane because plot. Unicorn, allied with Crane and/or Kamoko seeking retribution, will go against Lion. Phoenix may have some reasons to go against Unicorn but not so sure, not so early? The other clans do not seem to have clear red lines against other clans.

23 minutes ago, Wintersong said:

Nah. LCG spoiler. T he Hentai bloodline has affinity for certain type of Shadowlands creatures. That way, they can get away from the whole black scroll thing.

Hentai Ecchi will rise to the throne as the true emperor.

Quote

Amid this infighting, the largest and most dangerous Shadowlands army ever recorded marches on the great Carpenter Wall in the south. A combined force of goblins, ogres, undead, and legendary demons known as oni threaten to spread their darkness and destroy civilization in the name of Fu Leng, the fallen Kami.

I wounder who is leading that Shadowlands army?

Hmm...

I don`t mind if they take the story in the same or different direction....would like if they kept most of the early characters up to about gold setting. but do not want to go through the Winds again! Think story will be very different though.

45 minutes ago, BlindSamurai13 said:

I wounder who is leading that Shadowlands army?

Hmm...

Daidoji Tsukuro maybe?

18 minutes ago, Isawa Tasatu said:

I don`t mind if they take the story in the same or different direction....would like if they kept most of the early characters up to about gold setting. but do not want to go through the Winds again! Think story will be very different though.

That's funny because I'd hugely prefer to see the Four Winds story arc than the mess that was the Lying Darkness one.

10 minutes ago, KerenRhys said:

That's funny because I'd hugely prefer to see the Four Winds story arc than the mess that was the Lying Darkness one.

I did not dislike the Four winds story as a standalone, but I did find it the point at which things felt forced story wise.... and I preferred characters up to about Gold'ish. Ironically I started just when gold was released, but my group largely played with cards prior to that expansion for my first year or so. Probably lots of nostalgia here.

22 minutes ago, KerenRhys said:

That's funny because I'd hugely prefer to see the Four Winds story arc than the mess that was the Lying Darkness one.

You never know. If it happens, they might not leave the main villain for Hidden Emperor Part Deux up to tournament results. (and then have to jimmy in a replacement that doesn't quite make sense)

Story leak/spoiler for the LCG:

Hotaru is working on a fundraiser for victims of the tsunami when the Arasou decides to crash their party for not paying rent on Plot no Shiro . Event that Kamoko uses to take revenge on Lion Kolat assassin #11 (" Hello, my name is Utaku Kamoko. You killed my mother. Prepare to die. ") while dragging her clan into the fight. Yokuni and Ujimitsu's clans suffer some clerical errors and blame each other of their troubles. Tsuke starts a flamewar and Mitsu is happy to oblige. On the other side of the Empire, the Shadowlands army marchs towards Rokugan, towards Phoenix lands. They know what is happening and want to help the shugenjas to earn some points with the Empire (something about getting a Clan in the future) but some problems in comunication with Kisada lead to open conflict. Meanwhile, Shoju supplants the Emperor with a Shosuro Actor because blackmailing and killing people has become quite a boring chore and needs new things in his life (and let's be honest, the Emperor sucks as a friend). And to finish, Yoritomo takes his people and leaves Rokugan, conquers the Ivory kingdoms and creates his own Empire of Badassery.

25 minutes ago, BitRunr said:

You never know. If it happens, they might not leave the main villain for Hidden Emperor Part Deux up to tournament results. (and then have to jimmy in a replacement that doesn't quite make sense)

I still think the Hidden Chicken resolution made more sense than the Hidden Emperor one.