20150912.0818

After shenanigans yesterday, I am back, if a bit belatedly. Sometimes, things get in the way. But I am back, now.

Among the things I did to entertain myself yesterday was to look at online discussions of the Legend of the Five Rings games, with which I have been involved for some time, now, as I have discussed. News came yesterday that the property is changing hands, leaving the company that began it for Fantasy Flight Games. I find myself uncertain how to feel about the shift.

I certainly experience shock about the matter. I had been given to understand that L5R was earning a fair bit of money for its now-former company, particularly through the card game (which I used to play but have long since abandoned). I know it had a smallish but dedicated following as an RPG product--largely since I stand among that following, if as a much lesser member. For the company to sell out came as something of a surprise to me--and to many others, as the online chatter has had it.

At the same time, looking back, I can see hints of it coming. The changes to management--some of which have been quite good, I might add--and some of the comments from the higher echelons of the company seem to hint at big changes, and it is not challenging to read them as a lead-up to a table-flipping "Fuck it; I'm out." Given some of what I saw administering the 2014-2015 Winter Court game, I can understand why; I am given to understand that the player base in that game is more or less representative of the player base as a whole, and there are some holes in it. (I leave it to you, dear reader, to guess what kind of hole I mean--and what can be used to fill it.)

And I have had some experience with the new company's products. What I have seen looks good; I have hope that it will be handled well. I suppose I shall have to wait and see what happens--and make sure I have a full set of the books...