Good morning, Rokugan!

As many of you already know, I am taking over as brand manager for the L5R trading card game. Luke Peterschmidt has moved up a step in the org chart and will oversee not only the L5R game, but also our forthcoming WCW Nitro, Marvel Superheroes, and other trading card games. At the same time, Wizards of the Coast worked out an agreement with Pinnacle to take the Doomtown TCG off my desk and turn it back over to Pinnacle (and AEG). And, finally, we have hired a new person to handle the "Classic" games. The upshot of all of this is that the L5R TCG is now my sole and complete responsibility.

That's nothing but good for you, me, and the game. Not that I didn't like being in charge of the Doomtown, Rage, and Netrunner games, but it's nice to be able to devote all of my time to one brand. But don't worry--I am not going to get lazy; my responsibilities with the brand have increased. I'll be working no less hard!

2000 is going to be a very interesting year for the L5R game.

We release Fire & Shadow", our next big expansion, shortly. The Honor Bound and Ambition's Debt expansions both sold out within two weeks of release, so I have increased the print run for the Fire & Shadow set. I still don't expect it to be gathering any dust; if we have any left after about three months, I'll be slightly surprised.

L5R novels. Yes, L5R novels. Guess I've said all I need to say about that!

A new intro set will come out this summer. We're taking all of the lessons we learned with the Siege of Sleeping Mountain TI set and are making an even better teaching guide. You'll be impressed.

The L5R TCG is hopping overseas. Our European office ordered 45 percent more cards for the Fire & Shadow set than it did for the Ambition's Debt expansion. The French team made a good showing at Gen Con, and the French Nationals are the largest national L5R tournament held to date. I am working toward localizing the rules in French, German, Spanish, and other languages. I will talk about other localization plans in future issues.

The Kotei tournaments will be more carefully organized and better executed, plus we have no less than three global storyline tournaments coming this year.

Gen Con? Well, Gen Con will be the biggest thing to hit the L5R TCG yet. I want everyone there. If you haven't been to Gen Con, you should go. It's a gamer's paradise. I drove 20 hours straight to my first Gen Con, and it was worth it--although it took me until this last year before I could actually play in a Gen Con tournament! Anyway, we have big plans to make Gen Con an L5R show and an L5R event. Please be there, and help us make noise!

There are going to be gambles, too. There will be no new basic set this year; we are carrying the Pearl Edition set through the year, and forecasts show the supply should last (though barely). We, of course, will have continual difficulties with acquiring enough paper and printing capacity, given the new surge in TCG popularity.

And, finally, at Gen Con'99, Luke and I told you all that everyone would want to be Imperial Assembly members this year. The L5R team has made a concerted effort to make the Assembly a cool place to be. Not only will you get four timely, punctual, and informative issues a year (with promo cards, of course), but we are offering members-only products. The personalized Imperial Assembly Honor counters last issue were a start. For our next, check out this issue. You will not be able to find this in any stores.

Wow. I've already written too much. Enjoy the issue, enjoy the game, and talk to you next Herald!

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