I am happy to announce that the weekend of October 22 to 23 we will be hosting a very special event in the Los Angeles area: the Y2C party. "Y2C" stands for "Your 2,000th Card" What does that mean? Well, the Ambition's Debt set marks the release of the 2,000th different, unique L5R card (not counting cards with different flavor text).

Why celebrate this? I think it's very important to take a look at what games survived the early glut of '95: the Magic: The Gathering, Star Trek, Star Wars, and L5R games. That is very impressive company to be sure, and it deserves attention. Many people thought the L5R game would go the way of the games that failed, but it didn't. Why? My business classes say that a product must offer something compelling and unique to survive, and the L5R game fits that analysis exactly.

I'm not a big fan of elitism in anything-and I think gamers as a whole are the most inclusive group of people I've ever had the pleasure of interacting with-but L5R players do deserve to take pride in being a part of the success of the L5R trading card game. More than any other game, the L5R game succeeded because of the fanaticism of the fans. The Ambassador program is the best example of this, but not the only example. Even our licensors are fans of the product. I have no doubt that Eric Devlin and Flying Tricycle are not just doing T-shirts and their other cool L5R stuff for the money; they're doing it for the love of the game.

So, what's this party going to be like? Well, Friday night is going to be the "Emmy Awards of L5R" We are going to give out appreciation awards to the most dedicated L5R fans. Who has the best fan website? Who writes the best fan fiction? Who has done the most demos? What store has supported the game better than the rest? This is not a time for us to give awards to our. selves; this is our time to show appreciation to the fans that made the L5R game what it is today. In addition, Friday will have a dramatic reading by Ree Soesbee, special appearances by L5R alumni and artists, an Asian food buffet, a cash bar, a live-event L5R mystery, and the unveiling of the 2,000th card. Every person who attends will get a special, foil- stamped version of the card with special flavor text that will be available nowhere else.

Saturday will be the one-day L5R-Con, including miniatures, the RPG, a Button Men tourney to decide whether one sword or two is the superior technique, and the Los Angeles area's only Ambition's Debt prerelease event. We will hold special panels on story, design, and the future of the L5R game, so that the players can get better idea of what goes on behind the scenes of Rokugan. And, since Ree Soesbee will attend, you can be sure that she will extract some story from all of these games going on! We will also run pick-up sealed-deck events and sell special, Y2C-party-only merchandise. If you were ever going to travel a long distance for an L5R event this is the one to go to!

More information regarding locations, times, hotels, and event proceedings is available on our website now!

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