I had prepared to send this message day after tomorrow, on the official
street date for Jade, but since at least two distributors I know of have
broken the release date, and several stores scattered haphazardly all over
North America have released the cards early, I thought it would be best to
post this message today instead.

First, let me say that the road to the Jade Edition has been a long, but
rewarding one.

Nearly four years ago, I sat down with the original members of the L5R
design team and we mapped out the rough outlines of the Clan War story arc
for L5R.  During that meeting we discussed the market trends and the chances
for survival of such a risky game from such a small company, and we decided
that we had a good, but by no means guaranteed shot at getting all five of
the originally planned expansions released.

We never, ever dreamed that the game would become and remain popular enough
to sustain interest after Time of the Void.  To say that we were pleased to
reach that conclusion in the early part of 1997 would be a vast
understatement.  At that time, the Design Team swung into full gear planning
to expand the game after the death of Fu Leng and the triumph of the Seven
Thunders.  Of course, we also had a contingency plan should Juzo win the Day
of Thunder tournament, and someday I will write up my notes on Dark Rokugan
and the Eternity of Revenge environment.  Needless to say, it didn't happen,
and the story ended pretty much as we expected it to.

Shortly after we made the decision to go ahead with additional releases
after ToV, we had the rough outline ready for Scorpion Clan Coup.  That
project served two purposes.  First, it allowed the Design Team to create a
better "foundation" for the whole Clan War story by answering several
important questions about the events just prior to the Imperial Edition that
we felt would add a lot of depth and richness to the whole setting.  Second,
it was pretty easy to do, since there were so many good ideas and ways to
show existing characters in a new light that we would be able to handled
designing the set >and< focusing on making the 225 card ToV set as good as
we possibly could.

That all set the stage for the Jade Edition.  With Jade, we move forward
into a whole new era of play in Legend of the Five Rings.  There are, and
remain some play balance issues that the Design Team is concerned about,
which we feel are addressed in large measure with the Jade Edition.  There
have also been huge changes in Rokugan, now reflected through art, flavor,
borders and some traits on the cards.  Finally, we wanted to create a big
old "start here" sign for new players who may have been intimidated by the
previous 1,500 cards and the need to collect cards from sets long out of
print in order to be reasonably competitive.

You will notice that all the Jade Edition cards contain a "bug" indicating
that they come from the same story, as will the Hidden Emperor cards.  The
result of that change is a simple and easy way for organizers to put
together a play environment in which all the available factions are much
better balanced and interesting to play, both in sealed deck and in
constructed deck formats.

We made some big changes in Jade Edition, some not so big changes, and some
stuff that most people will probably never recognize.  This is a big "tune
up" for L5R in general.  We're putting the game up on the rack, rotating the
tires, changing all the vital fluids and generally getting the engine ready
to run for another 1,500 cards in good order and without significant further
adjustment.  There has been a slowly accumulating list of "wishes" on the
part of the Design Team which we've met with Jade - things won't be this
bumpy again for quite some time.

What is the purpose of the Jade Edition?  It is designed primarily for
people who do not have substantial collections of L5R cards, who are new to
the game, and who have heard about all the fun and excitement and want in.
We >don't< expect people on this list to buy a whole ton of product - it's
not for you, it's for that new guy (or gal) right next to you who has only a
deck and a few boosters and wants more.  It's for the 12 and 13 year old
kids who have seen really cool decks, but who only have a few bucks to spend
on cards and want to be competitive.  And, in a real sense, it's a gift to
everyone who's been with us from the beginning, and who we continue to value
as our best and longest customers.  We want to keep you playing and enjoying
L5R for many years to come, and we want you to find more to like in the game
than dislike by a substantial margin.  So even if you don't buy any Jade
boosters, we think we've made the game better for everyone in some real and
concrete ways.

Let me put a few rumors to rest right now:

1.  The Phoenix have been decimated

As a clan, they're toast.  They are abandoning their lands and retreating
into the shadows.  Their major fortresses have been burned, their libraries
are lost, and their spells destroyed.  The vast bulk of their shugenja are
dead, as are their bushi.  The leaders of the Clan are gone as well, and all
that remains is a small, dedicated core of survivors who have chosen to
serve the Empire in the only ways remaining to them.

Does the Design Team hate the Phoenix?  No, we do not.  In fact, they are
>my< favorite clan.  I'm (trying to) write the Phoenix Clan sourcebook for
the RPG.  I will ensure that the honor, duty and sacrifice of the Phoenix
are truly and fairly represented in the game.  You can be assured that the
Phoenix have and will continue to play a large role in the ongoing
storyline.  That said, at the Chessex MW open house last weekend, in a game
with six other expert level L5R players, the Phoenix sealed deck won hands
down and going away, beating a Crab, a Dragon, an Alliance, a Unicorn and a
Naga deck with ease.  While they may lack clan-aligned Personalities, the
Phoenix are still a force to be feared.

Yes, Osugi is now Unique.  We should have made that change a long time ago,
but we've been busy and it was far from the most pressing need that the
Design Team had to meet to keep the game running.  Now that the world has
turned and the Jade Edition is here, we can at last address one of the
nagging issues that everyone on the team acknowledges was a problem with a
simple, clean and easy fix.

In Emerald, the Phoenix looked to dark paths.  In Obsidian, they were shown
the results of their folly, and in Time of the Void, they paid the ultimate
price.  In Jade, they can begin the long, hard and slow process of
rebuilding that which they have lost.  Far from being marginalized or
reduced, the Phoenix in a very real sense stand at the core of the entire
L5R project from the beginning to today.  It would not be far off the mark
to say that the Legend of the Five Rings story >is< the story of the Phoenix
clan.

My suggestion to my Phoenix bretheren is simple:  Follow Shiba Tskune.
Retreat.  Heal.  Regroup.  Forge alliances with the unaligned and the Great
Clans in new ways.  Husband your power.  And wait.  The day will come when
the awesome power and knowledge of the Phoenix will be needed by the Empire.

And the Pheonix will heed that call.

2.  The Lion Clan is too powerful.

Let me be very clear:  In unrestricted built deck events, the Lion Clan is
too powerful using the existing mix of cards and strategies.  It isn't
really "broken", it's just too highly optomized.  And that just has to
change for the good of everyone.  Anyone who thinks the new Stronghold is
more powerful than the old is simply and demonstrably wrong.  Combined with
the lack of key personalities like Gohei and Agetoki, and the change to
Traversable Terrain, we've fixed the vast bulk of the excessively focused
and optomised LSD and returned the "Fast Attack" strategy to where it
belonged all along - risky, fun, and balanced.

In Jade Edition, we begin to see how that change is going to affect the Lion
from here on out.  Prior to the Clan War, the bushi of the Lion were like
shock troopers - ready to live and die in vainglorious attacks of
overwhelming power.  They were directed by the Matsu - a family known across
the Empire for being hot-headed and unwise.  The Lion were willing to pay
any price in blood to achieve what they considered victory.  And during the
Clan War, they paid and paid and paid.

One of the reasons that the non-Unique personalities appear in L5R is to
suggest that there are many such heroes of a given "type".  That is to say,
from Imperial through Obsidian there were many Lion Clan bushi who had a
high honor, required little in the way of treasure to secure their services,
and who were awesome on the attack, like their namesake, Matsu Gohei.

Well, following the clash with the Crab army, and the Day of Thunder, the
Matsu Goheis of the Lion clan are dead dead dead.  Gohei himself survives,
barely, and you may see him again in some incarnation as the story
progresses.  But the legions of bushi of his "type" are gone, their blood
spilled on battlefields across the Empire.  Similar fates have befallen
"types" like Matsu Agetoki.  The Lion have been irrevocably changed by their
experiences in the Clan War.

They are lead now by an Ikoma, who in her heart is really an Akodo.  But
that line has fallen, and while Toturi reigns, it will not be revived.  The
Ancestral Home of the Lion follows the dictates of one who is cautious, but
bold, careful, yet decisive.  In all ways, the Lion Clan is in excellent,
and some would say better hands than before.  That is the real meaning and
result of the sacrifice of Lady Matsu.

We feel that for the first time in nearly a year, the people who play Lion
in constructed deck events will do so because they love what the Lion stand
for, their place in the story, their passion and color and honor - not
because they are mechanically superior to other decks and therefore the
reasonable selection for play.  The Lion have been bloodied, and they will
continue to bleed, but from that sacrifice will come a sense of order and
honor to the other factions that would do Master Akodo-kami proud.

3.  The Dragon always get Screwed

It is my hope that in six months this list is deluged with email from people
complaining that the Dragon are too strong, and that they need to be
weakened by the design team because they are winning too many tournaments.

Jade Edition doesn't quite get us there, but such a situation is on the
horizon.  In Jade, with improved balance between the factions, the most
balanced faction, the Dragon, will be a force to contend with.  With Hidden
Emperor, the Dragon will emerge as a significant power in the Jade Empire.

4.  The Scorpion Clan have been exiled and we lied about Burning Sands

As Jade Edition opens, Toturi has vanished and the stage is set for the
Hidden Emperor story arc.  The Scorpion have been banished, and so like the
Phoenix their numbers have been greatly reduced.

They are about to embark on a journey quite like that of the Design Team.
Like the Scorpion, we are about to confront the Burning Sands, and we are
just as unprepared as they.  What lies in the heat waves of the endless
desert?  What strange people live there, and how will we come to know them
and their stories?  What dangers does this new realm contain and how will we
overcome them?  How will we be true to our roots and our history, and still
grow and change to embrace new ways of thinking?

Imagine the legions of Scorpion bushi marching through the sweltering sun of
the desert, dehydrating and burning in the blinding sun.  They are attacked
by strange forces - men with unknown weapons and powers.  A Scorpion stands
forth, declares his ancestry and his honor and challenges one of these
unknown opponents to a duel.

And the feathers of an arrow sprout in a cloud of red blood from his throat.

For the Scorpion, the pain of the Clan War, their treachery to the line of
the Hantei, and the implication that they have removed Toturi from the
throne is just the beginning.

Never underestimate a Scorpion.

5.  Storyline tournaments and their effects

Here's the straight scoop - right from the Head Office:

It is my belief that without any effort on our part, without any kind of
campaign on our part, and without any amount of arm twisting - just telling
people what we want to do and why we think those things should be done, that
the regular tournament scene for L5R will reflect the following conditions
by August:

40/40 decks will be the standard
Decks will follow the "storyline simulation rules" in the JE rulebook
More people will play in that format than any other and will agree that it
is superior and fun

The key factor that will make that happen is that the Storyline events we
are planning for 1998 and beyond will all use those rules, as will the huge
GenCon tournament, and the most competitive players will want to be familiar
with and experienced in that format of play.  That will put pressure on
local organizers to meet those needs, which will in turn make those
adjustments de facto standards, for the good of everyone, including the
mental health of Dave and myself!

The reasons are pretty simple, and they come right from the heart of L5R:
It's a story first, and a game second.  Most people support that idea and
they love the fact that things in L5R evolve over time.  There is an
implicit recognition in the L5R gaming community that the "health" of the
game, and the "balance" of the game is vastly more important than anything
else, including the list of cards regularly used in organized play.

We published an ad once apon a time that said "0 Banned, 0 Broken".  That's
a high standard to be held to, and we don't expect to be able to maintain it
forever.  Our committment to you is that we'll work hard to keep the playing
field level and balanced and we won't forget what got us to this point in
the first place.  If that means that a few cards pass forever into legend
and the binders of long-time players, we hope that the positive benefits of
those decisions outweigh the fears that the game is becoming too much like
our sibling down the hall.  All I can ask of you is that you remember and
believe that we're only trying to do the right thing for the right reasons
for the most amount of people, and that reactionary claims that we're
"killing the game" or "becoming just like Magic" hurt far more than they
help.  It is hard enough to get new people to try the game when they see all
around them overwhelming evidence that Magic is the most popular game to
play, we don't need to make them feel that they're making an unwise choice.

Thank you all for your continued support, interest and feedback,

Sincerely,
Ryan S. Dancey
Brand Manager, Five Rings Publishing Group
Wizards of the Coast, Inc.

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