Just now, Iuchi Toshimo said:

I'm gonna call him Doji DeadSoonAnyway. He seems like a plot coupon.

Maybe he'll return from his "obvious demise" with glory and he'll be Doji O'Rama.

Or he could be Doji Chomei. Who can say?

7 minutes ago, Taki said:

I'm cool with this, but what I would have liked to see was things like story prizes being "Who is Kachiko's secret lover?" and "Will the Crane champion betray his/her fox wife/groom?" Rather than just tell the same story we all know.

I really hope they don't go that way. Too many story prizes was one of AEG's problems, and it often led to people choosing something they thought would be amusing rather than, say, good story lines. Unless, of course, you're looking forward to Shizue's cat being Kachiko's secret lover

Just now, agarrett said:

I really hope they don't go that way. Too many story prizes was one of AEG's problems, and it often led to people choosing something they thought would be amusing rather than, say, good story lines. Unless, of course, you're looking forward to Shizue's cat being Kachiko's secret lover

Does this count as the new game's first meme?

Just now, agarrett said:

Unless, of course, you're looking forward to Shizue's cat being Kachiko's secret lover

I want to know who isn't.

Pure speculation on my part, but, the Crane fiction revealing that the position of Emerald Champion is currently vacant makes me think that this will be one of, if not the first story prize available. Would be a pretty sweet way to kick off the release at Gen Con with something that is immediately impactful to the game.

16 minutes ago, Taki said:

I'm cool with this, but what I would have liked to see was things like story prizes being "Who is Kachiko's secret lover?" and "Will the Crane champion betray his/her fox wife/groom?" Rather than just tell the same story we all know.

Not the same story. And do not expect to have as much of an influence on the story as in the AEG days.

39 minutes ago, TechnoGolem said:

It may be a little dull but I think it would be a good idea to stick with stereotypes when it comes to the base set, especially the clan champions.

I'm all for them changing things up and making more unique characters from time to time. But I think it would be better to wait until after they released a couple of Dynasty packs first.

Doji Hoturi was a fan of polearms as well. Literally every Personality card he ever got (and his Ancestor card!) all depict him using a polearm, often instead of a katana.

... Dave's on FFG's story team? Huh. I can live with that.

I never needed another Crane story as long as I lived, and this is no exception, but as an expository piece debuting the Clan in FFG's Rokugan, it more or less does its job. As a set-up for a yawningly inevitable Crane bid to reclaim lost glory that'll eat up page count, it fills me with trepidation.

The Unicorn and Phoenix must be rolling in clover if Hotaru has literally no thoughts at all about them. Call it a hangover from the old continuity, but that annoys me.

I'll have to see a fiction focused on a Clan I'm less utterly sick of hearing about to be fair.

44 minutes ago, TechnoGolem said:

It was a little disappointing to see that Hotaru using a naginata. I was hoping the Crane champion would be a more traditional duelist.

I couldn't help but cringe when I got to the part where she has a school girl crush on Kachico. What was the point of turning the character into a woman again? Bad fan service? It sure feels that way. Why couldn't they make the love interest a different female character if they wanted to go this route?

It looks like the first story prize will be who wins the position of Emerald Champion.

I really wish she was a duelist as well; meh, she could use both. Perhaps she just favors the Naginata over the Katana outside of Iaijutsu duels.
I also cringed; the writing at first was jarring and very 'ugh' to me. Hotaru's shift from introspective Champion to star-struck teen felt forced.
I know this will offend some people, but I'm conservative, and I'm always afraid Identity Politics will ruin something else I enjoy. I've never seen them pushed into something without destroying the storytelling. I've seen times when such things have been handled well, as part of the character, but have never seen it do good when added in like it was part of a quota.
So far, this is just fine; a secret homosexual relationship between two characters doesn't really ruffle my conservation feathers (I dislike more that they changed Hoturi to Hotaru to fill a diversity quota). Now, if they made both women's husbands awful, sexist and abusive to justify the affair, when in the original, both spouses were nothing but loving and sacrificial, that would be something I would take umbridge with. That would be trying too hard. In the end, I just don't want modern politics poured into what should be an escape from that (I'm in teaching profession, so I get bombarded with politics all the time, and often how me being conservative makes me worse than Hitler).
On a pleasant note, we need more of of Fumio the cat. I demand him as card, even if only a useless one!

1 hour ago, TechnoGolem said:

It was a little disappointing to see that Hotaru using a naginata. I was hoping the Crane champion would be a more traditional duelist.

She wants to hide her identity, by using a Naginata.
If she would have use a "perfect strike with no thought" with the ancestral crane sword every crane in the caravan would have notice a master in the Kakita technique cutting the "ex Mirumoto" Ronin . I would not have been sneaky at all.

35 minutes ago, Akodo_Metuki said:

Also the Mantis do not even have minor clan status in the original story at this point in time.

Hm? Mantis were nameless, yes, but they had been an officially recognised minor clan for over 500 years before the current point of time. In the original story, that is. Chances are they've switched stuff up, of course.

1 minute ago, Smobey said:

Hm? Mantis were nameless, yes, but they had been an officially recognised minor clan for over 500 years before the current point of time. In the original story, that is. Chances are they've switched stuff up, of course.

I believe that Metuki meant in terms of CCG text and story; the Mantis were mentioned rarely, if at all, until Yoritomo's Alliance became a faction in Crimson & Jade.

24 minutes ago, agarrett said:

I really hope they don't go that way. Too many story prizes was one of AEG's problems, and it often led to people choosing something they thought would be amusing rather than, say, good story lines. Unless, of course, you're looking forward to Shizue's cat being Kachiko's secret lover

At this point, I'm willing to volunteer to be the cat's secret lover! But seriously, what I meant was that the prize could me a mad libs type thing, the winning players don't name who the story prize goes to, the writers do. Like if you win as lion maybe ffg picks toturi to be the cat's lover, maybe if dragon win it's daini. I'm not saying that the tourney winner gets to make the call.

Just read the story, and honestly, not too big a fan. I can't quite place my finger on it, but at times some of the dialogue seemed jarringly out-of-period. I was also rather disappointed that we saw Hotaru as skilled warrior and giggly, lovesick schoolgirl, but not as an actual leader. If this is their champion, then the Crane clan is in for a rough time, initially. Though, I suppose we'll have to read more to discover if this is an actual weakness in the story or whether this is a real, legitimate plot element.

After all the hype and excitement, I was expecting something a bit more interesting and memorable, but then again, FFG is still getting into the swing of things, too. I guess I'll wait and see how the other clan introduction stories go.

EDIT: Also, the persistent focus on how perfectionist the Crane were was rather irritating and distracting. After reading this story, Crane are this close to replacing Unicorn as my least liked clan.

40 minutes ago, Akodo_Metuki said:

Also the Mantis do not even have minor clan status in the original story at this point in time.

Sure they did. Gusai earned the Mantis Minor Clan status in the year 429.

17 minutes ago, Tetsuro said:

Doji Hoturi was a fan of polearms as well. Literally every Personality card he ever got (and his Ancestor card!) all depict him using a polearm, often instead of a katana.

Spears, or correctly: yari.

Just now, Bayushi Tsubaki said:

Sure they did. Gusai earned the Mantis Minor Clan status in the year 429.

And lost it in 510 so a little longer than i thought they had it, but ...

Just now, JJ48 said:

Just read the story, and honestly, not too big a fan. I can't quite place my finger on it, but at times some of the dialogue seemed jarringly out-of-period. I was also rather disappointed that we saw Hotaru as skilled warrior and giggly, lovesick schoolgirl, but not as an actual leader. If this is their champion, then the Crane clan is in for a rough time, initially. Though, I suppose we'll have to read more to discover if this is an actual weakness in the story or whether this is a real, legitimate plot element.

After all the hype and excitement, I was expecting something a bit more interesting and memorable, but then again, FFG is still getting into the swing of things, too. I guess I'll wait and see how the other clan introduction stories go.

I feel the whole point of Hotaru is that she's young, naive and inexperienced. I can pretty much envision her own storyline focusing on her growing as a leader —probably after being cruelly betrayed by her lover, of course!

Just now, Akodo_Metuki said:

And lost it in 510 so a little longer than i thought they had it, but ...

They lost the Gusai name, but they never lost their minor clan status.

People do remember that Hoturi was essentially a naive character until Kachiko imprisoned him and created the False Hoturi, right?

Yeah, dialogue was definitely the worst part of the fiction.

I find stories like this so unbelievable, especially with figures like the Scorpion clan. When it is such an open secret that your clandestine lover's brother is a poison master assassin that you automatically assume him as a suspect in your father's murder, and you are certain that your lover would gladly throw you under the bus at a moment's notice for her family's gain.... why are you still smooching with her?

Especially when she's a renowned manipulator?

I'd have preferred some set up about how when the tsunami devastated Crane lands that the Scorpion were at the forefront of the relief efforts, that Scorpion has been supplying rice to Crane villagers. Maybe it was during this cooperation between clans that our two lovers grew close to each other. That the reputation of Scorpion was of a fierce enemy, but a strong ally, with perhaps the darkest of whispers that those who get in their way seem to regularly come to bad ends. That all the good and honorable things they do though tempts you to ignore those whispers.

Instead we get "My lover's family is Evil McEvil. BUT SHE'S HAWT"

3 minutes ago, Smobey said:

I feel the whole point of Hotaru is that she's young, naive and inexperienced. I can pretty much envision her own storyline focusing on her growing as a leader —probably after being cruelly betrayed by her lover, of course!

Maybe, but everything about Hotaru (her naivety, her father issues, her crush) was just so over-the-top that she came across more as a caricature than as a character. They'll have to tell the story of her development remarkably well if they want to avoid making it trite and cliché.

1 minute ago, SirEuain said:

People do remember that Hoturi was essentially a naive character until Kachiko imprisoned him and created the False Hoturi, right?

Never read that far in the old fiction, sadly.

6 minutes ago, WHW said:

Yeah, dialogue was definitely the worst part of the fiction.

I loved satsume's line: [Do not thank me,” Satsume said, his face stone. “Very good is merely a guest house on the road to perfection—a place to visit briefly, not to stay. You, Hotaru, seem to have made it your home. Someday, you will lead our clan. If that leadership is merely very good, then you will have failed.” ] it was perfect

I for one would like to say that I thought the fiction was awesome! And thank you to FFG, the story team and D.G. Laderoute for taking the time and energy to put some flavor and depth into this world we're all intrigued by. It's not easy or cheap to do so. Thank you!