Gates of Tengoku - Information, Lists, Art & Community Engagement

Hello, all. We wanted to take some time today to talk about our next planned expansion, Gates of Tengoku. First, let’s get the bad news out of the way. We had originally, ambitiously, planned to try and get this set out before Gen Con. However, for several reasons, we have decided to delay that for a little bit. The set, originally planned to be about the size of Chaos Reigns, Part I (CRI), has instead developed into a robust 100 card expansion. If we managed to squeeze this set in with the minimal amount of playtesting, it would still end up releasing about two weeks before Gen Con. We don’t feel it would be in the best interests of the people that intend to play in our event to be forced to scrap and re-test their decks to account for the sudden influx of a set of this size. We also don’t want to rush the playtest process of this set in particular, for reasons that we’ll get into shortly. We would rather take our time, and do it properly.

So, what exactly is Gates of Tengoku?

The concept for this set began over a year ago, back when our project first took form. L5R has a long history of awarding storyline affecting choices to players, many of which show up in card form, with the player’s name on them. Unfortunately, it also has a long history of not awarding some of these prizes. Sometimes, things fell through the cracks, though many of the 2014 and 2015 Kotei prizes never came to fruition because the game officially ended before that could happen. When going through our documents in preparation for Onyx Lives!, we happened across the ‘Unresolved Storyline Prizes” document, detailing the results and choices of many, but not all, of these events. Seeing this fulfilled became a high priority for us.

Throughout Onyx Edition, you will see the occasional attribution of storyline prizes on cards. We fit in what we could, when we could, as we worked behind the scenes to reach out to people and try and fill in missing information. The intention was, when we collected all we could, to construct a version of a “Direct-To-Player” style set, containing all of them, and making good on the promise of one of L5R’s most important features, the participation of its community. Gates of Tengoku (GoT) is that set.

The nature of this set was also, as mentioned before, one of the driving factors behind our decision to move up our timeline regarding retiring our project’s use of AI art. We have always wanted GoT to be a positive experience for the entire L5R CCG community, not just those actively interested in our project, but for anyone who ever had a fondness for the game. For all those people who still showed up to L5R events, even after they knew that the game was closing shop. Our attempt to show all of these folks, even if it was only through some fan project, that the efforts they made and the prizes they won weren’t forgotten, and did matter. We did not want the specter of AI art to cast a pall over this set. All of these prizes, with the exception of a couple that are the result of our own online events (yes, they are in here too) were won before AI art was a thing, and we did not want anyone to hear that their prize, after coming to fruition a decade (or more in some cases) later was now associated with something many of them may have deep objections to. Simply put, it is not our right nor our intention to tarnish that for them. If we are going to do this set, then we need to do it the right way. But, that also got us thinking.

We are very encouraged by the overall positive response we have gotten from the larger L5R and art communities regarding our accelerated decision to drop AI. Many individuals and other L5R fan groups and communities have reached out to us, offering art donations or suggestions about things we can do, and even offering to partner with us to help build a larger fan community. These are all very exciting developments, and we thank everyone that has done so. Community is so important to the survival of a ‘dead game’. It is the only thing that keeps it going. Look no further than things like the Continuing Committee of the Decipher Star Trek CCG for proof of that, or any of the ‘Dead CCG’ fan sites and communities.

We believe GoT provides a unique opportunity for us to reach out to the community, due to its nature, so we are going to do something we haven’t ever tried before. We are going to ask the artist community to help build this set together with us. The kernel of this idea came from another of those vaunted L5R fan institutions that has extended a kind hand to us, Emerald Legacy, one whom we hope to build a strong friendship with in the months to come.

There is now available in our files a partial spoiler list for Gates of Tengoku. This includes:

• The name of each card in the set

• The Event and Winner associated with each card (if applicable, there are a few cards in this set that are actually not story prizes, but they are in a clear minority)

• A brief description of the nature of the prize awarded, probably no more than a few words

If you are an artist, amateur or otherwise, and would like to submit art for any cards to be featured in GoT, you can email our project lead at jlsumerlin@gmail.com with the title of the card or cards you are interested in, as well as a link to your online portfolio or site, in whatever form you wish. We will add your name to the spreadsheet indicating you will be the one doing this piece, and you will receive proper artist credit on the card in question. Cards will be on a first come first served basis, so if you have multiple cards you are interested in, please arrange them in a Ranked Choice format. Please be aware that as a strictly 100% free project, and in accordance with the actual guidelines of Asmodee’s legal documents regarding fan projects, we are unfortunately both unable to and forbidden from paying artists directly for artwork for our project.

If you are the prize winner of a particular card being featured in GoT, and you have art you would prefer to see on your prize, you will always be given deference. It’s your card, after all. We’re just making it.

There will be an eventual deadline decided on for submissions, but for now, as this is an experiment, and wholly new to us, and we have virtually just begun the set’s playtest process, you have plenty of time. Thank you for your consideration and your continued support as we embark on this new chapter in the Onyx Lives! Project story.

Gates of Tengoku Art Tracker Sheet