Have I ever told you that L5R players are cool? How cool you might ask? Well as I write this three of our players are in the back room doing volunteer Taka work: stuffing self-addressed stamped envelopes with Taka's Treasures requests. This may not seem like the coolest thing in the world to you, but when you have to go through the hundreds of envelopes that come in every day, you are thankful for any help you can get. The great thing is that over the last year we have had over 20 people volunteer their time to just come in and help get the Taka requests out. I can't name all of you here but from Taka and myself, we thank you.

Volunteer work is not the only thing cool about L5R players. There was so much of it at the Gencon Tournament that it brought tears to our eyes. It was so amazing to walk around the room and see each and every player shake hands and wish their opponent "Good luck," before they cut each other's decks. You don't see that a lot in any kind of tournament, but for ours, it was the rule rather than the exception.

Want to hear some more cool stuff? Before the 340+ Player tournament started at GenCon, we started a cheer in the main gaming hall. We yelled at the Lions and there was a great roar, we yelled for the Crabs and the room thundered, we yelled for Pheonix and the roof was raised. We called for the followers of Yoritomo. There was silence. Then one lone figure steps forward clenches his fist in the air and screams "YORITOMO!" And he gets a standing ovation from the rest of the players. Steve Swarner (last year's runner up at Gencon) had to play him in the second round. I have never seen a person so unhappy about winning. Nobody wanted to knock Yoritomo's representative out of the tournament.

In the first round two Nagas had to face each other. Instead of fighting it out in the usual manner they played six turns and declared the player with the highest Force on the table the winner. When asked why they said: "Conflict is a human trait." It gave me chills to hear it.

During that same round two Dragon players also had to face ofœ When time was called they could not be found right away because they were on the other side of the auditorium. When asked "why?" they stated "We are Dragons and we settle our differences in the mountains."

Before the tournament started, a group of Scorpions offered a bribe to the judges to have all the Lions face each other in the first round. The judge jokingly said it would take 1200 Koku. They returned with over 4000. He of course reneged on his offer. Hey, come to think of it, he hasn't checked in at the office lately.

Before the tournament, the room resounded with the chant of "Death To Yugo Junzo!" Their reply: "We're already dead." The crowd cheered when the last Junzo player was eliminated from the tournament ... or so they thought. The second day, one of the 5 Phoenixes - one representing each of the Elemental masters - turned out to have a Junzo shirt on under his Phoenix shirt, revealing his true colors: an alliance with the Shadowlands and Yugo Junzo. That's just how close we came to an eternity of darkness.

And when the final round came up, all that remained were a Lion and a Crane. But we'll let John Wick tell you how that turned out a little later in the Herald.

It's funny our players (and friends) often thank us for L5R for all the joy it has brought into their lives. I believe I am speaking for the entire staff when I say that this has been the most fulfilling thing I have ever done. I get to hang out with people that play L5R That's pretty cool.

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