Favorite Fantasy Races?

[Crafty_Pat]

You know, there are peoples on the internet who would love to preserve your unknown accomplishments.    A few of the veteran volunteers on the L5R Interwebs (Ling and Lucas Twyman, to my knowledge) even like to put on LBS tournaments at the Big (U.S.) Summer Cons.

Sadly, while I can chat casually about stuff in dribs and drabs - and that's only really an option now, years after it was relevant - I can't really indulge in major downloads, for a few reasons: a) the property's still AEG's, or Wizards', or someone's, and I need to respect their IP rights, b) it would be a major undertaking that would detract from current, paying and semi-paying gigs, and c) I don't even remember it all.   It's been a looong time, and it comes back in pieces. I've got a lot of it written down somewhere, but it's only in hard copy at this point, given the number of computers I've waded through since then. 

But again, casual chat? Totally doable.

[agent oni]

Yup. And the Djinn were unbound kami, and the Ebonites' Black Stone was the same one the Darkness hid under to escape Amaterasu... I build a whole cosmology for that setting that was fluidly interwoven with that of L5R. Even built an RPG outline but never got the go-ahead to start writing. Ah well... That and the third of a book I wrote detailing the Shadow War between the mystic and shadow ninja of the Scorpion Clan will have to fade into the sands of time...

Oh man!  You make me want to bring out my LBS CCG and play it...

ooh!  Shadow war... do tell more...

I still have hope that AEG will do a RPG based on LBS either as a standalone or more likely as a splatbook for L5R 3rd ed.  At least there is still a trickle of LBS characters making it into L5R CCG.

[Crafty_Pat]

ooh!  Shadow war... do tell more...

It's been so long since I wrote it... Basically, you had an internal schism within the clan by way of the Shadow's creation and creeping influence. Since the seed and solution of the problem were essentially "in the house" (so to speak), those initiated into the conflict decided to keep it that way. Thus began hundreds of years of internal fighting between the Shadow-corrupted "ninja" you see in the CCG and a new faction of classic mystic wuxia ninja. Few outside the clan ever knew it was happening.

The original idea behind the Secrets books was to present new, self-contained layers of each clan that hadn't been seen before. More world, less continuity. At least, that's how I envisioned them when I was (very, very briefly) heading the development for them. Scorpion was the first and the only one where I got to play a bit. I was hoping to use them to introduce new character options, settings, and adventure seeds all at once, with material that didn't always work the same as the shadow war, but fulfilled the same basic needs.

Ah well. Sometimes you get kissed by the yin; the rest of the time you get bit by the yang.

I still have hope that AEG will do a RPG based on LBS either as a standalone or more likely as a splatbook for L5R 3rd ed.  At least there is still a trickle of LBS characters making it into L5R CCG.

All the way up to very near the time I left the company they were still kicking LBS around. I don't suspect it would be in their best interest anymore to develop it independently of L5R, though. It would splinter their fan base, which is one of the reasons the CCG failed.

[Valentina]

The original idea behind the Secrets books was to present new, self-contained layers of each clan that hadn't been seen before. More world, less continuity. At least, that's how I envisioned them when I was (very, very briefly) heading the development for them. Scorpion was the first and the only one where I got to play a bit. I was hoping to use them to introduce new character options, settings, and adventure seeds all at once, with material that didn't always work the same as the shadow war, but fulfilled the same basic needs.

Ahh, that sounds intriguing. I was a big fan of Lion myself, but that was mostly a sure way to hear "Oh, rawr Matsu smash huh?"
Well, no...not so much. Definitely the sort of situation helped along by hints of being about something more then not any kind of match for a mounted Moto.

[Number Three]

ooh!  Shadow war... do tell more...

It's been so long since I wrote it... Basically, you had an internal schism within the clan by way of the Shadow's creation and creeping influence. Since the seed and solution of the problem were essentially "in the house" (so to speak), those initiated into the conflict decided to keep it that way. Thus began hundreds of years of internal fighting between the Shadow-corrupted "ninja" you see in the CCG and a new faction of classic mystic wuxia ninja. Few outside the clan ever knew it was happening.

Hmm, doesn't quite work, as The Shadow's canon power was grievously reduced at the end of The Hidden Emperor.  However, I don't know an L5R wonk that wouldn't tinker with canon to some extent, and we do have a thirty year stretch of time bundled tightly in legal red tape...

If I ever get comfortable with this system, I think my first big project will be spycrafting Rokugan. 

[Bill Whitmore]

If I ever get comfortable with this system, I think my first big project will be spycrafting Rokugan. 

Oooh, Dramatic Conflict: Iaijutsu Duels.

[Mister Andersen]

I would have thought that they were pretty much a definition of the Stand Off action.

[Crafty_Pat]

It's been so long since I wrote it... Basically, you had an internal schism within the clan by way of the Shadow's creation and creeping influence. Since the seed and solution of the problem were essentially "in the house" (so to speak), those initiated into the conflict decided to keep it that way. Thus began hundreds of years of internal fighting between the Shadow-corrupted "ninja" you see in the CCG and a new faction of classic mystic wuxia ninja. Few outside the clan ever knew it was happening.

Hmm, doesn't quite work, as The Shadow's canon power was grievously reduced at the end of The Hidden Emperor.  However, I don't know an L5R wonk that wouldn't tinker with canon to some extent, and we do have a thirty year stretch of time bundled tightly in legal red tape...[/quote]

Keep in mind that this was all before Hidden Emperor, when the Shadow was still very much in play.

Also, it was planned as a historical option, so the players could run the campaign in any period of Rokugan's history.

[TheAuldGrump]

Hmmm, races of the orient... Nezumi, goblin-spiders, lots of possibility.

The Auld Grump

[Silverthorne]

If we are talking any race.. uhm.. Numan from the Phantasy Star series. 

Or a strictly fantasy race.. Uhm.. Wolf-riders from the Elfquest series. 

[OverNinja]

Ah, the cute elf barbarians.
While I enjoyed the comics, they're not in my favorites list, even though I'm a big fan of elves.

[Valentina]

If we are talking any race.. uhm.. Numan from the Phantasy Star series.

Yeah. Yeah!
Numans! Speaking of cat women and tragedy, poor poor Nei.
+1! Great memory.

[Morganti]

Moogles, Mithra, Vierra

All from Final Fantasy.

[Fell Logic]

I like gargoyles. Wings and claws and a reassuring rocklike solidity.

I'm also quite fond of the Jagerkin in Girl Genius (http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/), but I suspect they could maybe be doe as variants on some other race. (Wolfmen, or orcs, perhaps?)

[spinningdice]

I've also developed a fondness of the Jagerkin, though I just view them as an 'alternate orc'.