We can perhaps cast the 'Deluxe' term aside for the story progression discussion. Some folks may be referring to boxed expansions in general. The evergreen 'Deluxe' expansion format will continue for L5R, afaik.

The question is how happy would people be with further boxed products, along the lines of A/NR campaign expansion (base game cost), LOTR Saga expansion (Deluxe expansion cost). Ignoring the specific mechanics in those, but imagine what such a product could contain in terms of interactive narrative potential outside the rotation.

Hurdles:

-Should this only happen after enough Deluxe releases have fleshed out all the clans.

-Would this requirement be a financial barrier for too many. Though participation and story could be provided without purchase.

Personally, take my money FFG. Apply your production and design to whatever extent you wish but provide as many options as you can to be inclusive. You can think outside of the box plenty more for the LCG format.

56 minutes ago, TechnoGolem said:

Never thought about it but it would be a good idea that the starter just has nothing but generic named samurai. A Matsu Berserker could work in any future set, as long as the family isn't destroyed. Where it would be a little weird to be using a named character years after they died in the storyline and using them with their great grand children.

But it looks like there will be some named characters in the starter since one of the partial previews is for Yogo Hiroue

As it has been said elsewhere, cards for long deceased characters were regularly present in the CCG and it never caused any problem. There were even playable cards for characters dead since a thousand years (Kakita, Yogo, Ide, Ikoma, Kaimetsu-Uo, the first generation of the Thunders, etc...), the second generation of Thunders was playable during Ivory, Rosanjin had a new card after his death, etc....

Going back a little on the initial premise, some of the reason I dropped ANR was the lack of quick rotation. I like to play on a relatively competitive level, and there got to be a point where some of the cards out of the base set needed to be rotated out. Not all, just a few. I don't remember which ones, its been a while. And to some extent, this also means the game doesn't evolve over time. If these cards are always legal, then these cards must always be supported. If these cards must always be supported, rules can't change much. Also, these cards were designed in a time when the game wasn't really well understood. I feel like not giving yourself a way out for mistakes made is both unfair to yourself and to your player base. The other solution is to up the power level constantly, obsoleting the original cards. I don't know that is any good either.

Not that I expect L5R to somehow be unbalanced to start, FFG has done a good job in the past, its just a concern that in 2020 we will all be complaining that Matsu Beserker is unbalanced when combined with Totori.

24 minutes ago, Mirith said:

Totori.

Cannot... resist... urge...

27 minutes ago, Wintersong said:

Cannot... resist... urge...

I would be OK with the Wasp joining Miyazaki's Alliance!