Update: Post-GenCon Wrap Up, and Things to Come

Sorry for not posting anything sooner -- it's the tail end of an exhausting week after an exhausting (and exhilarating) weekend.

First thing to do is acknowledge everyone who made GenCon a great event, in particular for all things Legend of the Five Rings! Apologies if we left anyone in particular off; if we did, think of this as shout-outs rather than a comprehensive list.

• Pine Box Entertainment for continuing to host L5R events for Onyx Lives! and Emerald Legacy, as well as for their very successful 30th Anniversary Social Event using the chaotic single-pack "Shiro No Name" format, which drew over 20 players on Friday night and raised $350 for the Red Panda Network. We acknowledge that not all events had high turnout (and we have taken to heart the feedback that people were not able to search specifically by "L5R" in the Event Catalog, though searching by Game System was still functional), and will be reassessing the number and nature of events next year.
  
  Pine Box also ran their annual Shiro Big Deck championship on Thursday afternoon, which was won by Antonio Calderon, originator of the format.

• PlayCCG for running the Obsidian Hand Legacy and Modern L5R events on Thursday and Friday. Greg Osborne continues to be an absolute force of nature in legacy events like these, having won both of these events this year. (If this information is incorrect, please let me know -- I am working from recollection, as there are no update posts I can find (yet).
  
  Mike Petke of PlayCCG and artist Jonathan Hill also did amazing work getting the Shattered Empire-legal promo card Blessings of the Red Panda Spirit (our tribute card to Case Kiyonaga) printed to be distributed for all of the L5R CCG events.

• Patrick Hayden and Alex Jacobs, organizers of the L5R All Clans Dinner at Brothers Bar on Thursday night, where we had representatives from Asmodee, Monolith, Office Dog and others drop in. Asmodee even provided L5R 30th Anniversary swag bags for attendees of the dinner (and for those who showed up to Pine Box's 30th Anniversary event on Friday)!

• A special shout-out to Mykael "Isawa Jim" Dolph for his assistance during GenCon, in particular proselytizing the virtues of the Onyx Lives! Project's continuation of the game. I quickly dubbed him our "hype man," as he distributed copies of our Icon Reference promo card to anyone who seemed interested, and used the proxy decks I'd assembled for the convention to engage players in games and drive interest. Mykael was probably single-handedly responsible for helping get our efforts in front of dozens of additional eyes last weekend, and we look forward to seeing who will check us out.

• Trevor Cuba for being one of the hardest-working folks in showbiz, helping out at all levels behind the scenes. Trevor is a graphic designer who worked on the Emerald Legacy L5R LCG continuation, as well as a contributing artist, and has helped facilitate some of the Asmodee efforts in promoting the L5R IP. He has also done freelance design work for Pine Box. Someone should hire this man!
  
  The discussions with Trevor and Mykael on reducing barriers to entry, not just for the Onyx/Shattered Empire formats, but any of the various aspects of the game, were engaging and productive, and we hope to be able to continuously improve this accessibility over time.

• Frank Kallal for another great year producing the winner's trophies for the L5R events, as well as for the great 30th Anniversary mugs given to organizers.

• The various former L5R artists in Artists' Alley and elsewhere, who now have copies of the Icon Reference (with its very handy QR codes linking to our "little project"). Some of the discussions there are already bearing fruit, and we hope to be able to announce some things soon(ish).

• The players. Whether you participated in any of the events, or just stopped by to reminisce, say hello, and see what all we had going on, we appreciate you. You, more than anyone, are who our efforts are for, and without you none of this would be possible. Thanks, and please continue to follow and participate in our future efforts!

Having actual physical promos to distribute this year was a great boon -- and the decision to include QR codes on the Icon Reference was the right one. It serves as a way to remind the recipient about Onyx Lives! and drive their interest directly towards our avenues of participation.

Results from our GenCon storyline events

Our Saturday main event, the Shattered Empire constructed deck tournament "There Will Be Blood", drew a total of 10 players. A total of seven clans were represented, including not one, but two Mantis dishonor players, and one intrepid player running a Sparrow Clan / Three Clan Alliance deck. The overall event was won by Luke Gregory, playing Akasha / Balash Sensei / The Kanpeki Dynasty. Luke chose to have the Naga return the Blood of the Preserver to the humans aggressively, in a manner which will ultimately benefit the Kanpeki Dynasty, and chose Hardayal as the Personality to drive these efforts. We are already at work incorporating this into our next expansion, Chaos Reigns, Part III.

The Sunday storyline event "The Injuries We Do" led to a brokered decision: Nick Riggs chose the Mantis Clan, and in particular Hoji Tsai, with the help of Isawa Akime, to deliver the "Shattered Prince" Iweko Shibatsu into the custody of Otomo Suikihime. I am certain this will only lead to good things in the future...

What's Next?

We have another fiction in the pipeline related to the events of Chaos Reigns, Part II, which should be out before the end of this month. We have significant content planned for CRIII, lore-wise, and will hopefully have the time and manpower to execute on it.

We are incorporating results into CRIII and working out the particular story beats, and intend to release the expansion as the final set of the Shattered Empire arc sometime late this fall. Behind the scenes, we are putting together preliminary designs for our next base set, Three Dynasties, which will release sometime in early 2026 (tentatively spring). As has been previously discussed, there will be a hard cutoff between the Shattered Empire arc and Three Dynasties, both because the rolling releases have had a somewhat hamstringing effect on Design, and we want to revisit some mechanics and rules before rolling out a new arc. Three Dynasties will continue our storyline after a short (~10-year) time jump.

In the meantime, we will continue to have regular online events in Sun and Moon. We may do something special on that front before the end of the year, depending on our time and ability to coordinate.