2 hours ago, Soktine said:

Edge is the editor of L5R in France, but French edition are late they never finished either 3rd an 4th edition. I do not really trust them.

As far as I am concerned, with that much unfinished word I don't think I'll follow an eventual reset of the 5th edition or a 6th one from Edge. But I am just speculating, I will wait and see.

I don't have a Twitter account, but I believe I saw somewhere that Sam Stewart, who was head of FFG's RPG department (worked on Star Wars and Genesys) and was let go a few months ago, has now been rehired as Edge's RPG head, or something to that effect. So internal restructuring has probably affected Edge as well.

30 minutes ago, Swordbreaker said:

I don't have a Twitter account, but I believe I saw somewhere that Sam Stewart, who was head of FFG's RPG department (worked on Star Wars and Genesys) and was let go a few months ago, has now been rehired as Edge's RPG head, or something to that effect. So internal restructuring has probably affected Edge as well.

https://tabletopwire.com/sam-gregor-stewart-former-fantasy-flight-rpg-manager-to-take-lead-at-edge-studio-run-by-asmodee/

On 6/4/2020 at 10:45 PM, neilcell said:

Slated for August, but I hope that they surprise us and get it out sooner than that.

Didn't FFG say they weren't going to release anything until sept. 1 due to covid? Or was that only for x-wing product?

Also, I think I finally figured out what the plan was. The minor clans in each book are related, in some way, to the major clans in each book. The Toritaka are strong allies of the crab that, in old lore at least, eventually fold into the crab clan. The Shika are an off-shoot of the Crane, and the Centipede are an off-shoot of the Phoenix. It's difficult to find a minor clan that has ties to the Lion, but I believe the "war" book will contain Lion and Badger clans.. since the Badger in this era act as mercenaries and, at least in old lore, were allied with Toturi. I still strongly believe there's meant to be a book on crime/justice. While all 3 remaining major clans are known for their magistrates, I think the key here is that the Wasp are the minor clan most involved with crime/justice (because they're bounty hunters) and the Wasp are an off-shoot of the scorpion (who can represent both the criminal and legal aspects of the book).

The question then is, what minor clans are tied to the Unicorn and Dragon, and what aspects of Rokugan are those clans involved in. Personally, I've long had a feeling that there should be some kind of book on "nature" in Rokugan. While writing stories, I often find myself googling what types of plants and animals exist in parts of asia. When my characters go hunting they often catch a.. "uhmm.. something.." or they may be delighted by the smell of the beautiful.. "uhmm.. would they have roses?". and I know other players have had similar experiences.. for example one person asked why the silhouette of a wolf is listed in one place as 0 and another place as 2.. Now this may just be an editing error, but it turns out there are two different types of wolves in Japan and they are very different in size. So while "nature" may not seem like an inspiring topic in the way that "spirit realms" is, I feel like it's necessary.

Okay, so both the Unicorn and Dragon have ties to nature.. To be honest, I first thought the Dragon would be a shoe-in for a book on nature because the founder of the Kitsuki was a naturalist and many Kitsuki continue to follow that path. Meanwhile, I rarely view the Unicorn as being naturalists (I don't think they study nature, the way the dragon do).. However, the Unicorn do have their strong ties to their horses and dogs and they are the best survivalists in the empire. Furthermore, they are tied to Fox clan and Fox clan has almost druidic/ranger-esque ties to nature. So I think there was intended to be a "nature/the land" book that was intended to have Unicorn and Fox clans.

That leaves Dragon clan.. and what does Dragon clan represent? Who are they tied too? Well, it looks like Dragon clan has ties to a couple of minor clans that I don't really know much about.. what they represent could be pretty easy though, depending on scope. The Dragon are known for their monks, they are also known for alchemy, naturalism, and deductive reasoning.. This led me to believe that a dragon clan book could be based on any of those things, again.. in this case it's a matter of scope. The Dragon clan book could be "Philosophy and Science".. or even something as broad as "education". I feel like, if we can figure out what minor clan has a tie to the dragon and excels in one of those areas, we could figure out what the dragon clan book was going to be. (sparrow clan seems very philosophical and educational, but I don't really think they have ties to the dragon, do they?)

Of course, since publishing is going to another company, it may all be a moot point now.

If the Minor Clan in the Dragon book isn't the Dragonfly, I'll be very surprised.

2 hours ago, Black_Rabbit_Inle said:

The question then is, what minor clans are tied to the Unicorn and Dragon, and what aspects of Rokugan are those clans involved in.

For the Unicorn, the natural choice for Minor clan is the Fox, the descendants of the Kir-Rin Clan that did NOT leave the Empire with the Kami Shinjo. And that may be the answer to your question about "nature" or druid/shaman aspect.

Well, I, for one, thought Path of Waves would contain Unicorn stuff because it was the book about foreign stuff (that the Kirin met or not). But yes, dragonfly and dragon and fox and unicorn make totally sense.

Honestly they probably held back a bit on some of the further afield gaijin stuff for a future Unicorn book, so as to not steal too much thunder from them.

1 hour ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

If the Minor Clan in the Dragon book isn't the Dragonfly, I'll be very surprised.

I agree.. my problem is that I don't know what they Dragonfly do apart from telling people "the pass is closed". I mean.. they are noted for their own shugenja school too, but they aren't in the "spirits" book.

45 minutes ago, Black_Rabbit_Inle said:

I agree.. my problem is that I don't know what they Dragonfly do apart from telling people "the pass is closed". I mean.. they are noted for their own shugenja school too, but they aren't in the "spirits" book.

The Dragonfly are notable for a couple of things about their shugenja. Firstly, they are adept with divination magic - not surprising since they are water primary. Secondly, they are known for being a bit more experimental and fluid in their style than the Isawa, while still being Elementalists.

Other things to note that are newish to this edition - the Dragonfly really are the outer face of the Dragon that most people see. The City of the Rich Frog, (or at least the Dragon third of it) is possibly the largest trade hub of the Dragon, and it is run and defended by the Dragonfly. I mean, one of the NPCs from the Emerald Empire description is the Dragonfly governor of the place.

Also, they appear to be a bit more notable militarily now. They are amongst the three minor clans that have armies worth talking about, and the card that shows up with Dragonfly on it in the CCG is actually a Bushi (a Gatekeeper).

I could be wrong but I believe that the governor of the City of Rich Frog is an Imperial, but the leader of the Dragon District is a Tonbo.

They are really neat clan.

I wasn't surprised when the Crane book, I mean Courts of Stone, didn't have the Sparrow Clan. Sure, the Sparrow are literally the most down to earth clan in the empire, but they originate from a Crane lineage and train remarkably long winded storytellers fitting courtly roles. Maybe they should have been in Path of Waves for their lower position among clans? Here's hoping they are in the Dragon Clan book, for philosophical differences with the rest of Rokugan Proper.

If Dragonfly, Fox, and Wasp are with Dragon, Unicorn, and Scorpion respectively, where do the Hare fit in? And I bet at least one of those books has a new Minor Clan instead.

Maybe we do still end up with a Minor Clan book? If each Great Clan book is only going to have one Minor Clan, AND they're going to add new Minor Clans, there's going to be a few left over. Badger, Hare, and Sparrow, at least. Maybe Boar?

I hope that they'll do something similar to Path of Waves, but for Minor Clans, picking up the various named but not investigated Clans of this edition and possibly a couple of other odd ones. Then you have a chapter about building your own Minor Clan, very much like the build-your-own gaijin nation thing. That might even be the first book that Edge does...

ETA - I was unclear with the City of the Rich Frog thing. The Tonbo is indeed the supervisor of the Dragon quarter of the city rather than Governor of the whole thing.

I would assume eventually a "book o minor clans" yes, with notes and guidelines which walk you through founding a Minor Clan, similar to PoW making Gaijin Cultures, and will probably have a collection of historical and modern Minor Clans. Founding your own Minor Clan sounds like an appropriate goal/high-level reward for certain campaigns.

2 hours ago, UnitOmega said:

I would assume eventually a "book o minor clans" yes, with notes and guidelines which walk you through founding a Minor Clan, similar to PoW making Gaijin Cultures, and will probably have a collection of historical and modern Minor Clans. Founding your own Minor Clan sounds like an appropriate goal/high-level reward for certain campaigns.

Indeed it is. I had the chance to play in one a long time ago and it was very rewarding experience.

On ‎6‎/‎30‎/‎2020 at 4:32 PM, Black_Rabbit_Inle said:

It's difficult to find a minor clan that has ties to the Lion

The Hare. They're the Lion's closest ally amongst the minor clans and have probably the best army out of the minor clans (Mantis aside)

On 7/21/2020 at 10:36 AM, Magnus Grendel said:

The Hare. They're the Lion's closest ally amongst the minor clans and have probably the best army out of the minor clans (Mantis aside)

Well, outside of the Monkey Clan, assuming the War/Lion book takes a very long time to come out.

On 7/24/2020 at 1:58 AM, T_Kageyasu said:

Well, outside of the Monkey Clan, assuming the War/Lion book takes a very long time to come out.

The Monkey Clan doesn't exist, and we have no indication that it will ever exist. Emerald Empire has a paragraph about Minor Clan military assets - "Only the Hare, Falcon, Dragonfly, and Mantis Clans have sizeable forces,". Of those the Falcon and Mantis have already been featured, leaving the Dragonfly and Hare. I've said before I'll be surprised if the Dragonfly aren't in the same book as the Dragon (now revealed as Writ of the Wilds ) but I'd be even more surprised if they end up in the Lion book. That leaves Hare.

7 hours ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

The Monkey Clan doesn't exist, and we have no indication that it will ever exist. Emerald Empire has a paragraph about Minor Clan military assets - "Only the Hare, Falcon, Dragonfly, and Mantis Clans have sizeable forces,". Of those the Falcon and Mantis have already been featured, leaving the Dragonfly and Hare. I've said before I'll be surprised if the Dragonfly aren't in the same book as the Dragon (now revealed as Writ of the Wilds ) but I'd be even more surprised if they end up in the Lion book. That leaves Hare.

I'm not arguing that it won't be the Hare, just pointing out the Monkey Clans origins should it take a long time for the book to be published.

Toku was raised to minor clan Daimyo by Toturi in 1129 AEG canon. That being said, FFG could decide to make them an official minor clan by moving up Toku's elevation to Monkey clan Daimyo much sooner; perhaps one of Doji Satsume's last recommendations to the Emperor before he died was to create a new minor clan.

I could see them use Wasp as an interesting pairing with the Lion given their very tumultuous (and brief) history. Indeed, it would make a lot of sense to have two clans in conflict be the focus of a book on war, combat, and dojos

By the way, any update on Celestial Realms?

The official page still says it would be out on Q2-2020 and while I believe the pandemic messed up a lot of logistical pipelines, they haven't updated anything! We are almost mid Q3-2020 and no news.

Latest info is still that they're planning on a US street date of August 28th.

The store page is acting like it would. probably switch into late preorder soon.

If previews appear this month, we shall know it is meant to be soon