Since the official L5R Live thread appears to be for submitting questions, I thought we should make a different topic to actually discuss the contents thereof.

About 10 minutes until going live...

I agree. Also, something I want to humbly ask for:

Let's keep the question thread for questions. Playful banter and jokes are fun, but put yourself in the shoes of the person who has to read this (and other places) scavenging for questions - by filling the thread with banter you make their jobs harder (no matter how much you might make them smile), and may possibly cause them to overlook legit questions that are near the "edges" of banter-arena or inside it.

Always sad that I can't see the live stream on my phone.

The sound is so low. It was like this last week too, right?

Started with Katrina talking about lore and why Hotaru did what she did (i.e. sneak into Otosan Uchi), but the stream cut out for me for a bit so I couldn't hear most of it.

Just now, Kakita Shiro said:

The sound is so low. It was like this last week too, right?

Yup, same deal.

Stuck on loading screen. I blame the Scorpion.

Confirmed that the kami "fell to earth" and that Doji was among their number. Her husband was Kakita, a master swordsman. Is that true in the AEG lore, too?

Duels to first blood are used to settle disputes among samurai in FFG Rokugan. No change there.

3 minutes ago, Kakita Shiro said:

The sound is so low. It was like this last week too, right?

Sounds fine to me. It's really loud in my ears actually. Watching on my iphone with headphones at my desk at work.

Question: How are Crane themes shown in mechanics?

Answer: Crane are strong in politics. Scorpion is the other strong politics clan. Crane are good at honoring personalities and dueling. A very control-oriented play style. Crane is pretty straight-forward and intuitive to play. Design focused on the Crane "playing" honorably. Ex: they show cards before playing them. They play "face up." Daidoji Harriers mentioned.

Question: Any guiding principles for selecting Crane art?

Answer: There is a style guide for each of the clans, including Crane. Style guides include cultural details as well as color schemes. There is an "emotion" field given to artists when art is requested. Art pieces are supposed to give emotional responses.

Question: When do we get a shortened version of the FFG L5R history?

Answer: In the core set there are clan introductions including history, role in setting, and families in the clans.

So... we will learn in the core set?

Question: Is Kakita Asami a reference to a character from the 1st ed of RPG? How were names for uniques selected?

Answer: Yes, Asami is taken from the NPC from the 1st ed Topaz Championship. New characters and new stories will be added to the game, and old characters used, too. Kaezin is Asami's yojimbo.

Question: Is Hotaru's flavor text about a game of go with Kachiko?

Answer: Yes, and Katrina is impressed with us for picking that up. Kachiko and Hotaru played go with each other at winter court years ago. Their romantic relationship is complicated by their political plays against each other.

Question: Any change for male gay character in the cast?

Answer: They will not ignore taboo sorts of romances in the story. This goes into their themes of ninjo (personal feelings) vs giri (duty.)

Dragon also gets a dueling focus. We all assumed that, but it's nice to hear it confirmed.

Question: What are favorite clans to splash into Crane (for FFG design staff)?

Answer: Because of politics focus, Lion or Unicorn to give support. Lion brings protection. Dragon is popular, too, due to attachments (Dragon are attachment heavy, and have dueling focus, too.) Scorpion is good for more political stuff.

Questions: If Doji gift giver bows only defender, does the attacker claim the ring? (This question is relevant because it creates an attacking army with zero military skill versus a bowed out defending army.)

Answer: A zero military skill CANNOT win a conflict; you need at least one to win. No one wins.

Questions: Conflict declaration sequencing

Answer: A given example: 1st player declares a military conflict, 2nd passes, 1st player then declares a political conflict, 2nd Player can then declare one conflict (either military or political), but then no other because the 2nd player has already passed once. When you pass, you give up the opportunity to declare one of your conflicts.

Question: When can we take actions?

Answer: Varies. (Non-answer?)

Question: Running out of cards in a deck

Answer: You lose 5 honor when you run out of cards in a deck. Shuffle discard, then refill your deck.

Question: Actions without presence in conflicts

Answer: Yes, presence isn't required to use actions. Specifically, shugenja cards typically are used this way.

Question: Ties in duels

Answer: No winner. No loss penalties, no win bonuses.

Questions: Can clan-specific conflict cards w/o influence pips be splashed?

Answer: They cannot.

Just now, Suzume Tomonori said:

Question: Ties in duels

Answer: No winner. No loss penalties, no win bonuses.

Boo should be kharmic strike double-loss.