Hi all!

I had to come back from Gencon and run my store this weekend, so I thought I'd share some L5R info.

1--The FRPG space was enormous! Probably just as big as WOTC and there were always lots of people at the demo tables, gunslinging, and buying product. For people who either hadn't heard about L5R or wanted to see what it was all about, they got a really good show of how popular the game is. Oh well, I guess being bought out does have it's benefits...

2--There were Obsidian packs and decks for sale, but no TotV. I'm told that Obsidian should be shipping "any day now" but with the UPS strike it really doesn't matter 'cause we still won't get it. The ancestral item is of course the Ancestral Standard of the __________ and they all do the same thing: "Unique. May only be attached to a XXX Clan personality. Followers in this army attached to a XXX personality receive a +1F bonus. All opposing XXX personalities get a -1F penalty. REACTION: Bow when a XXX personality is destroyed to move one follower from that unit and attach it to this personality." The standard itself gives a +1 +1 bonus to the personality it's attached to. Standards for the other "non-basic" clans will be in TotV, but since I was lucky enough to get a Scorpian standard I've noticed that it's different from the 6 basic---it costs one less to attach (7 instead of 8), gives a +2 chi bonus to the personality it's attached to, and states "All opposing Scorpian personalities receive a -1F bonus penalty IN BATTLE ." Cool...

3--Although there was no TotV to buy, at the table showing koku prizes they had the 12 stronghold cards out for display. The end of the story is told in great detail on the backs. They are all uncommons and each tell a part of the story's climax; there's a lot of deaths here! I'll copy one at the bottom of this post.

4--The show floor closed at 6pm. Friday around 4, most L5R players were wearing their color-coded clan shirts for the Time of Thunders tourney starting at 6. So while we were all standing around, someone thought it'd be cool to take all the TotV singles they had for display (about 3 full sets plus the packs they came from), put them in a box, and charge $1.00 for a blind draw of four cards. Within a few seconds there was a line stretching three booths long. You could only pick once, but you could get back in line if you wanted. Tom and I both made it through 5X before they shut the line down so everyone would move over to the tourney site. Here's some of what we got:

Actions: Dark Lord's Favor--Lose 7 honor. You may only play this card once per turn and only if you have the lowest honor. Choose one of these four effects when played: OPEN: Dishonor a target personality. LIMITED: Target a player who must discard a card from his hand. BATTLE: Reduce an opposing card's Force to zero. REACTION: Reduce one Honor gain to zero.

Jiujutsu Duel--REACTION: Play when you are entering a duel. All items controlled by both Personalities in the duel are bowed. These items give no bonuses and produce no effects during this duel.

A Good Day to Die--To put this card into play you must bow one of your shugenja that is in this battle and has one or more Corruption tokens. Lose 5 honor. BATTLE TERRAIN: The result of this battle is a tie. The province is not destroyed.

Events: The Heavy Shadow of Fear--Until your next event phase, any card capable of a fear efffect has a force bonus equal to the strength of each fear effect.

A Soul of Thunder--Select one of you Personalities. If this Personality is alive and under your control at the beginning of your next turn, you gain 7 honor. As a LIMITED action, any Personality may challenge this Personality to a duel that cannot be refused. There is no limit to the number of challenges that can be made in this fashion and they may be made until the end of the game.

Followers: Warrior Monks--2/0/1/5/- Will attach to a monk Personality for 3 less gold. REACTION: Once per turn, cancel and negate the effects of one spell targeting this unit or cards in this unit.

The Twelve Ronin--4/0/2/8/- Calvary. Unique. May only be attached to a Toturi's Army Personality. BATTLE: Ranged 3 attack, once per battle. This does not bow the Twelve Ronin. BATTLE: Bow for a Ranged 3 attack.

Personalities: Akiyoshi--2/4/0/5/3 Unaligned Samurai. Toturi's Army. Experienced. Unique. REACTION: Bow when an Experienced Personality is about to be destroyed. The Personality is instead reshuffled into that player's dynasty deck instead of being destroyed.

Jade Dragon--5/4/10/10/2 Unaligned Creature. Calvary. No items or followers. Shadowlands cards cannot target the Jade Dragon with actions. BATTLE: Ranged 6 attack that can only target Shadowlands cards. This does not bow Jade Dragon, but may only be done twice per battle.

Hida O-Ushi (my hero!!)--4/4/0/10/2 Crab Clan Bully. Samurai. Unique. Experienced. BATTLE: Bow O-Ushi to bow any opposing Personality with a lower force. REACTION: Bow O-Ushi when she is entering a duel to change the duel to a contest of Force vs. Force. All other conditions and effects of the duel are unchanged.

I have other cards, but this is good for now. I might post a few more later if people want to see more. Really though, TotV might as well be called "The set where everyone dies" after reading all the strong- hold backs. Very sad stuff. We now know all of the thunders: Doji Hoturi, Otaku Kamoko, Hida Yakamo, Isawa Tadaka, Bayushi Kachiko, Toturi, and Mirimoto Hitomi (didn't see it coming for her, didja?!?) If anyone wants to know Yokuni's part in all this, let me know. It's a pretty huge deal. Other stuff of note: The experienced Ikoma Tsanuri is a goddess!! She costs a lot but can use the IF without actually having it once per turn. Also, the new Crane ancestor is a huge bonus for Crane decks. We got to see the new Crab and Phoenix splinter decks, but I forgot what they do. They also showed us the art for 12 new clan shirts. The Experienced Doji Hoturi looks really good, if a wee bit over-poncey, but there's STILL only two with women! Kachiko and Kamoko are still the only ones. I really hate this!! There's probably more story news I'm forgetting, but feel free to ask if there's something you want to know (like who kills who or who dies when). TotV is supposed to ship to the distributors in about 2 weeks, which means we'll get it about a week after that. I'll write more later about the Thunders tourney (I'm still bummed about losing hard to the Phoenix). One of the storycards is copied below. Enjoy!

When Toturi's army approached Ostan Uchi, two Lion armies were there. One, led by Ikoma Tsanuri, carried the banner of the Emperor, ready to fulfill their oaths to protect the Emperor at all costs. The other, led by Kitsu Motso, carried the banner of the Lion, ready to kill or die for the empire. As he watched, the armies charged at each other with a thunderous cry. Discipline quickly descended into disorder and Lion fought Lion, regardless of family or allegiance. No longer able to stomach the bloodshed between the members of his former clan, Toturi charged his army into the midst of the battle as Junzo's army simply watched and laughed. Toturi's battle cry erupted from the middle of the fighting and a deep silence fell across the battlefield. About to engage each other, Tsanuri and Motso both turned to look at Toturi, and the thousands of bloody Lions waited for a command-- any command. Toturi raised his sword high and pointed it at Junzo. "For Matsu Tsuko and for Rokugan!" Behind the feral smiles of their three commanders, a single army turned towards the army of Yogo Junzo and the battle cry of ten thousand Lions, old and new, echoed through the walls of Ostan Uchi.