Naked Steel
The past few installments of this column have been discussing the Q3 release for the RPG, our big new Second City Boxed Set. Last time I discussed the plans for the three books contained within the box: the City, the Court, and the Campaign. I’m pleased to inform you that those three books are currently in the layout pipeline, so we are presently on schedule for our big release later this year. I’m pretty stoked about that because since this column started, I’ve been moved up to serve as the production manager for the RPG as well as its lead designer, so all the various moving parts and schedules and logistical nightmares are now my responsibility. No pressure! I am bound and determined to see this product ready for a GenCon release, so that we can synch it up with our special RPG plans for that show. But it’s much too early to discuss that just yet!
Last time, I said that I didn’t want to talk about the cool bells and whistles we’re putting into the box until I was sure we were on schedule. Fortunately, we’re on schedule! So now I get to talk about them. In addition to the three books, which total almost three hundred pages of new information, there are a large number of additional components that I think you’ll be interested in.
First of all, the idea behind the box is that it is a complete campaign for those people who are intimidated by throwing their own together, or that an experienced GM can take and make his own. Regardless, it’s something you can get that has everything you need in it. Naturally, if we’re going to make a claim like that, there are going to be some simple amenities you require. So, to make sure it’s complete, we put in a GM Screen and a pad of character sheets. You’re going to need those, naturally! Not just a pad of character sheets, though, oh no! We also included a prototype character sheet that we dallied with when we were first designing the game. The pad has the simple front-and-back sheet you are familiar with from the core rulebook, but the additional six sheets we included are a mind-numbing eight pages long! They include room for every conceivable mechanic, as well as some awesome extras, such as my favorite: a place for you to draw your samurai’s family tree. What’s more important to a samurai than the honor and glory he earns for his family? Not much, that’s what!
The component of the set that I am the most excited about, other than the books themselves, are the Technique cards. As you may know from our pre-release design diaries, my battle cry during this edition was “play from the sheet”, wherein I wished to have everything you needed right there on your character sheet. Now, I think we’ve done about as well as can be expected in that regard, but honestly it’s not perfect. I mean, look at those courtier Techniques. LOOK AT THEM. They’re gigantic. If I had to write all that down on my sheet I’d just play a ronin or something instead. But fortunately, we have a solution. I mean, we’re a CCG company, right? So let’s make some cards!
In the Second City Boxed Set, there will be cards featuring iconic art for each of the Basic Schools listed in the Book of Fire from our core rulebook. There are a series of five cards for each School (except shugenja, who just have one). Each card lists the School Name, the rank of the Technique, its name, and the mechanic text. All with some nice, beefy art depicting a characteristic member of that School. Each series has its own piece of art so that they can be quickly visually identified and sorted together. So when your character gains a new Technique, you just get the new card and keep it with your character sheet! I think these things are amazing, and I can’t wait to see what you guys think of them. I’m hoping that they’ll be so popular that we can put out more products of this nature in the future. A starter deck sized box with all the Alternate Paths and Advanced Schools from the core rulebook? Sweet. A starter deck of Techniques from Great Clans? Yes, please.
A man can dream!
The Future
Okay, enough of my gushing about the boxed set. There’s a lot more in there but we’ll talk about that another time. Let’s get down to work on what we talked about last time, which is the future lineup of releases for our game. I received a lot of very good feedback and interesting suggestions from the questions posed last time, some of which are being discussed behind closed doors as potential releases in 2013. One thing for sure, however, is that we are almost certainly going to have another installment of the Imperial Histories next year.
What does that mean for you?
Personally, I feel like one of the greatest triumphs of the Imperial Histories is the Great Famine chapter, which was selected as a result of a contest we held to find the best ideas that people were putting together with the toolbox we provided in L5R 4E. I want to see more. Lots more! So, in our next installment of this column, expect more details about the second Writing the Imperial Histories contest, an opportunity for you to discuss with us how you are going to help shape the future of our game. I’ll also show you some of the ideas we got from Great Famine and how they changed from submission to publication. Ultimately, the design for all mechanics published for the L5R RPG comes from the Design Team, but when we’re working together, we want to take your ideas into account, especially when you designed the material in the first place.
Okay, I’d better start meditating so I can be ready for the influx of entries I’ll have to read this summer. Wish me luck!
