I love running 7th Sea and I don't need a new RPG, but I'd love to see what kind of boardgames FFG would develop with that IP.

My problem with L5R 4e was the wide open chargen allowed players to create characters so specialized they were useless outside their niche versus 1e which allowed you to go down rabbit holes, but your core abilities meant you still were useful in most situations.

Sad, but expected. AEG has been in "shoot myself in the foot" mode for quite awhile now. End of an era, but perhaps for the best.

So what exactly happened to the card game? I haven't played in a long time, but I did examine the Ivory edition rules and its cards, and it looked pretty good to me. Market burn out?

Heh, how far do you want to go?

The lead designer, who was talented in some areas, ended up in an ouroboros playtest pool of his buddies. The shift from clan variation of theme became fossilized into very specific strongholds as power creep went into hyperdrive, with most of the essential chase rares being locked into promos and direct-to-player sets (thus ticking off retailers). They tried to put the break on the ridonkulous power creep (Celestial and Emperor were just made of egregious: turn one 36 honor, anyone? how about turn two oni copy rush?) in Ivory. But they forgot about the retailers and casual fans again, listening to the same tired pool of incestuous buddy-fans.

I live near the epicenter of the clusterfuck, with some of the game's historically best players (as in the one's used to breaking the game, along with other CCGs) shaking their head as they retell the story. The lead designer and buddies circulate through my greater metro and are rather known, and the company distro and warehouse are a hop, skip, and a jump to the next major metro, so front row access was available to me. Many of my local player pool grew up with the game and loved it, but were sad at the continual poor design and marketing decisions. They tried to offer criticism, even having vocal heart-to-hearts with the lead designer a couple of years ago when he popped into my FLGS, but...

And then there's the warehouse and distro issues...

Let's just say it was a long time coming.

I missed the boat on L5R... ironic given my obsessive love of Japanese themed Asian fantasy. Oh I miss my Kozakura and Wa....

So I'm looking forward to FFG's RPG (assuming they do one.) I like their Star Wars game, so I'll give it a shot.

Quote from: tenbones;861130I missed the boat on L5R... ironic given my obsessive love of Japanese themed Asian fantasy. Oh I miss my Kozakura and Wa....

So I'm looking forward to FFG's RPG (assuming they do one.) I like their Star Wars game, so I'll give it a shot.

L5R is one of the settings that has most consistently impressed me over the years. The meta-plot has gone crashing off the bridge on several occasions, but the period neutral setting details themselves are usually solid. 4th edition was effectively the "greatest hits" album, free of all the nonsense.

Dragonlance could use something like that really (I've been studying Dragonlance lately).

Quote from: Shipyard Locked;861156L5R is one of the settings that has most consistently impressed me over the years. The meta-plot has gone crashing off the bridge on several occasions, but the period neutral setting details themselves are usually solid. 4th edition was effectively the "greatest hits" album, free of all the nonsense.

Dragonlance could use something like that really (I've been studying Dragonlance lately).

Noted. I might nab it! thanks