GenCon 2013 was phenomenal.

I don't know how to put it any better than that. Despite all the little
problems that banded together and tried their best to derail things, the
convention went very well. I'm glad that everyone I spoke to seems to have had
fun, and I hope that all the grand and glorious stories the players were able to
make over the course of the modules and interactives are what will be
remembered. Every year, we learn more about how to make things better, and this
year I think we learned a lot.

The Battle Interactive (B3: the Ivory Invasion) was hard-fought, but the forces
of the Empire prevailed. The city of Balishnimpur was taken, and the main
mission objectives were accomplished; the leaders of the plot against Rokugan
were slain, and though the Mahajanapada's military forces proved more resilient
than initially thought by the Empire, they were unable to mount an effective
counter-offensive before the samurai of Rokugan proved victorious. Special
mention must be made of Moto Batugan, who sacrificed his life to ensure that the
enemy forces outside the city would not be able to enter the gates. His spirit
has no doubt joined the ancestors in Yomi; may future generations be inspired by
his valor. While there are going to be issues in the city for some time,
Yoritomo Aramasu has begun the process of securing a more lasting peace with the
rest of the Ivory Kingdoms.

The Court Interactive (C11: Know the School) resulted in, among other things,
the determination that the child Empress Toturi Tsudao will attend the Akodo
Bushi School to learn the ways of war and the sword from them. Her instruction
will take place at Shiro sano Ken Hayai, at the largest and most prestigious
Akodo dojo, and an invitation was made to the Tsuruchi family to provide an
instructor in the art of Kyujutsu for their newest student. Of course, where
the child Empress goes, the Emerald Champion follows; it remains to be seen how
comfortable the Lion will be with the members of Tsudao's entourage who are
from Clans often at odds with them… Additionally, the Imperial Chancellor Otomo
Mitsuhide secured the assistance of the Unicorn Clan in establishing an Imperial
courier service, using regular remounts and relay stations to transfer messages
from one end of the Empire to the other in a matter of days instead of weeks. 
Finally, three positions as sensei in the First Imperial Legion were given to
worthy samurai by Otomo Dsichi.

The three modules that were released (SoB40 "Your Heart's Enemy", SoB41 "Divide
and Conquer", and SoB42 "One Will Fall") will be ready for home-play this
weekend – there are a few final edits that need to be addressed, minor things
that passed through the first few play-tests. But they will be available by
Saturday (the 24th). On that note: I would appreciate it if players who played
a Crane PC through"One Will Fall" would contact me. A reward of moderate
significance was accidently omitted, and I would feel bad if I did not attempt
to rectify that.

It was recently (and justly) brought to my attention that I have not been
particularly good at keeping in communication with the playerbase, and I
apologize for that. Let me assure you all that it is not due to any issue with
the players or the community – I consider myself extremely lucky to be able to
provide the framework that allows us all to tell what are proving to be some
truly epic and awesome stories. I tend to remain silent and try to focus on
generating content because it's what my gut tells me I'm better suited to. 
(Even this message strikes all of my editorial instincts as too long and
self-indulgent.) However, I have come to the conclusion (with some help) that
this tendency of mine has been a disservice to the players and the community,
and I will make a dedicated effort to do better.

I have six module submissions that I am working on editing currently, and we are
looking at having two releases at KCGF as well as an October release (at the
least). There will also be a repeatable political interactive. (I think I gave
the wrong impression at the GenCon interactive about that – the WiR interactive
will be the one that will likely have more options for the bushi than has
previously occurred. It was late-ish and I was getting tongue-tied; sorry for
any confusion.) As no doubt mentioned by others, the KCGF Kickstarter funded
shortly after (as in, the DAY after) GenCon and Tom LaPille's eloquent plea for
assistance on it. It is greatly appreciated, and we are looking into the
practicalities of doing a Kickstarter for WiR 2014 after seeing how much you are
all willing to come together for that sort of thing.

If you have an idea for a module, please send it to me at this address; we are
having several technical difficulties with the website and the yahoo accounts,
so it would be best to just send it directly to me. If you don't hear from me
within a week of submission, inquire again. (I'm trying to do better, but it
may take me some time to be appropriately responsive.) If you've already sent a
module idea my way and not heard back, send it again to this address. I really
want to get some more modules in the queue from the playerbase – this is a
wonderful setting that we share, and I would really enjoy helping other people
share their ideas with the campaign.

Thank you all for your continued participation, support, and all the good wishes
we got through the weekend. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone who can make
it to KCGF in November.

TL; DR version: GenCon was awesome, you guys are awesome, I'm going to get to
work on making the campaign as awesome as you deserve.

-Cory Mills
Head Campaign Admin
Heroes of Rokugan 3: Spirit of Bushido