So I see/here people talk about their clan in terms of “we did, we decided, they cheated us, they betrayed us” etc, as if there is a larger community meta going on beyond the literal events stores run.

As a very new player, I’m curious, is there an social “hub” beyond these forums that crab (for example) players come together on and discuss/decide the story direction of a clan, or is it literally just random Joe Bloggs wins tournament X and gets to make story decisions as part of their prize, or is there a semi-pro “elite” who always end up at the top level tournaments and are their own sort of community unto themselves?

Has anyone ever tried to organise on a clan level and actually take a general concensus on things like elemental role, story etc?

Is there a whole other level of this game you only get to experience if you are willing to go to the big tournaments all throughout the year?

If there is, it sound amazing, but sadly I doubt I’d ever have the time/energy and financial resources to participate...

...still loving the game at a more local level though.

EDIT

I guess what I’m saying is that I wish there was some way to officially “pledge” to a clan and get to take part in decisions through a poll or something without it being open to infiltration by other clans just voting to troll. Like linking in your official tournament record to it or something.

The L5R Discord is probably the primary places to look. They have a clan alignment function. Additionally, most of the clans have some other sort of forum. There are some clan forums (I think most of them aren't very active except maybe Crane), as well as Facebook groups.

Most discussion happens on the L5R Discord .

The Unicorn facebook group did some polls to help get a gauge on what the majority of the clan wanted for their next role and in generally people seem to be voting along those lines to give the people what they want.

#whothejigokupickedseekerofearth

I'm pretty sure every clan has a FB page and some even have clan websites. Discord discussion is a good place as others mentioned...……..

Although, it you're looking to have some meaningful Crab Clan discussions, you might be in for a big disappointment. It's common knowledge that most Crab conversations generally involve a debate about the size of one's Tetsubo, how many knobs it has, and/or how much the "chicks dig it." There's lots of grunting, chest-pounding, knuckle-cracking, and at least a handful of "Bah, Honor!" comments. If that's your sort of thing then have fun. If you would rather discuss more worldly topics like how to burn it then you should find some Shadowlands players to hang with.

Yes please join the Crab Clan on Discord. Also, ignore Ishi Tonu, the Taint has rotted his brain away.

3 hours ago, shineyorkboy said:

Yes please join the Crab Clan on Discord. Also, ignore Ishi Tonu, the Taint has rotted his brain away.

Well yeah.......

But I have extra arms and glowy eyes so......

I've learned from a reliable source that Crab Clan discussion is 95% card game talk, 5% CRAAAAAAB!

9 minutes ago, Kaito Kikaze said:

I've learned from a reliable source that Crab Clan discussion is 95% card game talk, 5% CRAAAAAAB!

I think you got those numbers reversed.

Look like Crab, talk like people!

24 minutes ago, Schmoozies said:

I think you got those numbers reversed.

No its been shifting. There is a lot of card talk these days. Just occasional bouts of craaaaab.

Meanwhile Grampa Gunichi regards discords with scorn (for "scorn," read "baffled incomprehension and disinterest"), but doesn't really miss Clan forums as much as he thought he would...

2 hours ago, Shiba Gunichi said:

Meanwhile Grampa Gunichi regards discords with scorn (for "scorn," read "baffled incomprehension and disinterest"), but doesn't really miss Clan forums as much as he thought he would...

I feel the same Grampa. I downloaded discord and felt like I had been simultaneously slapped in the face with a pair of salmon.

I’m sure it’s me.

On 3/17/2019 at 10:39 AM, Shiba Gunichi said:

Meanwhile Grampa Gunichi regards discords with scorn (for "scorn," read "baffled incomprehension and disinterest"), but doesn't really miss Clan forums as much as he thought he would...

Note that some of that is a function of how.... disharmonious the Phoenix fanbase has historically been.

17 hours ago, Shiba Gunichi said:

Note that some of that is a function of how.... disharmonious the Phoenix fanbase has historically been.

Oh? I’m new, and don’t know anything. Was it lore or game mechanics that was dividing Phoenix fans?

23 minutes ago, Bakura83 said:

Oh? I’m new, and don’t know anything. Was it lore or game mechanics that was dividing Phoenix fans?

Its more there is a good chunk of the player base that never saw a maho they didn't want to experiment with as soon as it was out, no matter how much they may suffer for it.

2 hours ago, Bakura83 said:

Was it lore or game mechanics that was dividing Phoenix fans?

Yes. The answer is yes.

(Basically, the only thing the Phoenix playerbase as a whole could ever agree on was that AEG treated the Phoenix badly, in both story and card mechanics)

And yes, as Schmoozies notes, there is a heavy contingent that really ought to just jump ship to the Shadowlands faction and stay the **** outta mine!

11 hours ago, Shiba Gunichi said:

........there is a heavy contingent that really ought to just jump ship to Shadowlands faction and stay the **** outta mine!

Who wants a nice big 4-armed Oni hug?

Welcome aboard!

*fun fact*

My very first Clan box was Phoenix.......which had Oni no Akuma and Summon Undead Champion.

5 hours ago, Ishi Tonu said:

Who wants a nice big 4-armed Oni hug?

Welcome aboard!

*fun fact*

My very first Clan box was Phoenix.......which had Oni no Akuma and Summon Undead Champion.

And you had the decency to jump off into the Shadowlands as soon as possible, if I'm right.

Personally, I stopped the old game when the only choices being given to us were maho-tsukai or dragon-tamers. I played Phoenix because I wanted to play powerful shugenja!

1 hour ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

And you had the decency to jump off into the Shadowlands as soon as possible, if I'm right.

Personally, I stopped the old game when the only choices being given to us were maho-tsukai or dragon-tamers. I played Phoenix because I wanted to play powerful shugenja!

So you basically stopped playing Phoenix after the "pay 7 and give Shadowlands" box came out.

That means you missed all the......and the.......or what about the.......yeah nvm you dodnt miss much

2 hours ago, Ishi Tonu said:

So you basically stopped playing Phoenix after the "pay 7 and give Shadowlands" box came out.

That means you missed all the......and the.......or what about the.......yeah nvm you dodnt miss much

No, I started in Jade, and stopped when the only Stronghold available were City of Blood and City of Remembrance, which I think was the end of Diamond.

Yeah, an honest Shadowlands fan doesn't annoy me in the slightest. Heck, Shinden Fu Leng was/is the best of the old Clan Forums, in my opinion.

Someone who tries to turn a non-Shadowlands faction into Shadowlands lite, on the other hand? Go away.

I don’t get the whole shadowlands faction thing. I think I’ve gathered that somehow Spider was both a great clan and a shadowlands army? That seems really...odd. Maybe I don’t understand the shadowlands enough but isn’t it all demons, skeletons, zombies and furries? Or is it like the east in LotR where there are human tribes that just embraced evil?

Also, good god the wiki needs to get a Canon/legends function like Wookiepedia has...it’s really hard to figure out what’s going on.

6 hours ago, Bakura83 said:

I don’t get the whole shadowlands faction thing. I think I’ve gathered that somehow Spider was both a great clan and a shadowlands army? That seems really...odd. Maybe I don’t understand the shadowlands enough but isn’t it all demons, skeletons, zombies and furries? Or is it like the east in LotR where there are human tribes that just embraced evil?

Also, good god the wiki needs to get a Canon/legends function like Wookiepedia has...it’s really hard to figure out what’s going on.

Spider don't exist in this timeline. A lot of this is history from the old game, which FFG has entirely reset the history (Keeping a few bits and pieces, such as the fall of the Kami) and started over. There are two L5R wikis. One covers new stuff , one, old stuff .

The furries are actually "good guys" and fight the Shadowlands.

For reference, Spider were a set Shadowlands aligned mostly human people who acted as an infiltration faction for the Shadowlands. Eventually their leader took over for Fu Leng, then another eventually they made a deal with the Empress at the time to be accepted into the Empire as a full Great Clan to help against a worst threat. The reason why is complicated and probably poorly thought out, but mainly came down to they wanted to unify how the various factions functioned within the card game, and then put a story reason on top. They do not exist in the current timeline, though arguably one of the current main characters could be the leader who replaced Fu Leng. I think nearly everyone except the most die hard Spider clan fan would like to not see a repeat of the mess that was the Spider clan.

6 minutes ago, Mirith said:

Spider don't exist in this timeline. A lot of this is history from the old game, which FFG has entirely reset the history (Keeping a few bits and pieces, such as the fall of the Kami) and started over. There are two L5R wikis. One covers new stuff , one, old stuff .

The furries are actually "good guys" and fight the Shadowlands.

For reference, Spider were a set Shadowlands aligned mostly human people who acted as an infiltration faction for the Shadowlands. Eventually their leader took over for Fu Leng, then another eventually they made a deal with the Empress at the time to be accepted into the Empire as a full Great Clan to help against a worst threat. The reason why is complicated and probably poorly thought out, but mainly came down to they wanted to unify how the various factions functioned within the card game, and then put a story reason on top. They do not exist in the current timeline, though arguably one of the current main characters could be the leader who replaced Fu Leng. I think nearly everyone except the most die hard Spider clan fan would like to not see a repeat of the mess that was the Spider clan.

Which current main character? I’m intrigued. Is it the Prince who just got passed up for the throne?

10 minutes ago, Bakura83 said:

Which current main character? I’m intrigued. Is it the Prince who just got passed up for the throne?

Actually, no, its the other Prince. Old character was named Daigotsu, and was the second son of Hantei the 38th, whom Bayushi Shoju Assassinated to kick of the Clan Wars plotline. He was actually unborn at the time of his father's death, and his mother was captured by Bloodspeakers and was born during a Maho ritual. Later he met and married Iuchi Shahai (Pictured here ), who helped lead the Bloodspeakers, and eventually founded the Spider clan.

New character is Daesetsu, the second son of Hantei the 38th. He's made friends with a nice lady named Iuchi Shahai!

In the old Story, Hantei the 39th was possessed by Fu Leng himself during the Clan Wars era. So we will see! It will interesting to see how FFG takes the story in general. If they will try to play up the clan conflicts, or focus more on the external threats (Shadowlands, Gaijin, etc). I'm assuming they are working towards some sort of "Second Day of Thunder" as I believe each of the old Thunders at least are carded now. However, this doesn't mean they have to keep the same Thunders, or even the same basic plot line.