Chikan Gatsu forum

https://www.facebook.com/groups/160842683946823/posts/10082028481828144/?comment_id=10086896064674719&reply_comment_id=10086961754668150

Douglas Dee
Playtesting was a shit show and thats putting it nicely. Playtest was maybe 9 months ahead of the actual game when I was a playtester, but the real pains were the following
1) Arguing with other teams that a card like Favors (https://oracleofthevoid.com/#game=l5r,#cardid=2492) was indeed a fate card - specifically a strategy card and thus could not be run in their dynasty deck as a 3 of and treated like an event that just gained you 2 honor when it was your events phase.
2) Having to test clearly overpowered items that ended games on turn 2 or turn 3 during playtesting
3) Showing the lead designer that occurrences he thought were "highly unlikely" would actually happen 43% of the time and his response was something akin to "I'm not good at math so you must be wrong".
I'll post as I remember more.
Outside of Playtesting, the constant rules changes. GE to DE had no rules changes that I can remember, but DE to LE was huge, LE to SE was even more drastic, CE to EE was another huge change, and then EE to Ivory/20F was another. The most common complaint about not returning for another arc was the drastic shifts in rules changes that made veteran players hesitant to return for another arc and thus not spend $ on the game.
TL/DR: Put some of the blame at the feet of the lead designer from SE to EE.


Daniel Benson
Douglas Dee To add to what Doug stated here. It was very disheartening during playtest when we posted reports, complete with play-by-play and decklists, showing that Dragon could start taking provinces on turn 3 with access to a ton of kill actions and enough protection to ensure they didn't lose any bodies, all while still being able to put more bodies in play than their opponent and turning each into solo Provence smashing killing machines. Only to have the rest of playtest telling us we didn't know what we were talking about and that our decklists would never be viable. If you remember what the Dragon Kensai decks were a problem at the start of Emperor Edition, you can thank Doug and I for fighting to make sure they were not 1000 times worse.

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https://www.facebook.com/groups/160842683946823/posts/10082028481828144?comment_id=10083482131682779

John Zinser
I see a lot of my name in this article.  I have recently been thinking about L5R and the product and business decisions we made. I miss it. I still think we made the right decision for AEG and at the time for L5R. The people inside of FFG who wanted L5R were passionate and had big plans for it. I often wonder what the alternate universe looks like where we did not sell L5R and instead focused only on that brand. As a fan I see the ads for the upcoming monolith miniatures game and am excited that the world still exists. I still feel that the L5R path would have been the harder one. I am sure we would have had to refresh the team, make big changes to the L5R universe, and somehow figure out how to pull new players into a 20 year old CCG with a very opinionated, entrenched, and passionate player base. L5R was the hardest most rewarding work I have done in my 32 years in the industry. But it was exhausting. I love all the people who worked on the world with us and am in still in awe of their talent. I say this every time I post about L5R if we broke your heart with our decisions or actions we apologize. We formed a closer bond with our L5R players than most companies do and gave them control which invested them in the product and story. I am still hopeful L5R will go full Pheonix and have a rebirth but until then must be happy to relive the great moments, accomplishments, and friends made.

Shattered Empire round 5 pairings:

@Makyu vs @Bblade317 (UTC-5) 0-1
@Technogashi (UTC -5) vs @DexterM (UTC + 2) 1-0
@Togashi Rogi vs @yperiwn 1-0
@Tsuruchi Myobu (she/her) vs @Kitsu Nue 1-0
@SiegeBeast vs @Isawa Zai (UTC -3) She/her 0-1
@ThePainUFeel vs @KingAnj 0-1
@Agasha Hinosai (utc-10) vs @Rawtooth he/him 1-0
@Kitsuki Roji (UTC -3) vs @Yajinden 1-0
@Shougo Amakusa vs @Togashi Nimuro 1-0
@Tenchuu vs @Yoshina 0-1
@biapolis vs @Leathers 1-0

@Technogashi (UTC -5) vs @Bblade317 (UTC-5) 0-1
@Makyu vs @Isawa Zai (UTC -3) She/her 1-0
@Tsuruchi Myobu (she/her) vs @SiegeBeast 1-0
@DexterM (UTC + 2) vs @ThePainUFeel 1-0
@Kitsu Nue vs @Togashi Rogi 0-1
@yperiwn vs @Yajinden 1-0
@Togashi Nimuro vs @Kitsuki Roji (UTC -3) 0-1
@Agasha Hinosai (utc-10) vs @Tenchuu 1-0
@KingAnj vs @Shougo Amakusa 1-0
@Rawtooth he/him vs @biapolis 1-0
@Yoshina vs @Leathers 1-0