New Tenets of the Forgotten Bay

Okay guys, so as we develop and nourish L5R in this new environment, I think now would be a great time to re-visit the "tenets of the forgotten bay".  IE I think we should have a list of good behaviour and "rules" that we all agree to for the betterment of our playgroup and the game as a whole.  I'm on lunch right now and won't be able to post any until I get home, but I'd like to get everyones thoughts on the matter.

A few things to consider:
Our approach to New Players
Our approach to drafting
Our approach to proper playtesting (attitude, ability to take advise and think outside the box)
Our approach to casual play (including small tournaments)
Our approach to competitive play (Actual AEG sanctioned events like release events, kotei, and higher)
Our approach to community

etc etc.

In case you want examples, the old "tenets of the forgotten bay" is still stickied in this very forum.  Lets all post our ideas here and then I'll iron out something official looking.  Then I'm thinking of maybe getting it printed on some nice stock and/or lamenated and then keeping it with us at the shop to reference while we play.  Like our own "code of bushido" or "10 commandments", a list of things that we can do to become better and be better to one another.

We could look at it like the lost tenets of Sun Tao.  Kind of interesting if you think that his decendants could of founded the forgotten bay dojo...  Then again I always viewed the forgotten bay as a place outside the empire, like in the ivory kingdoms.

Going into this the intent had been to play almost purely casually and not worry about cards. I wanted to ease back into the game slowly and focus more on community building and just hanging out. Then they posted kotei dates.

Now my competitive spirit is in overdrive. I really want to start testing and ironing out some decks, esoecially since there are so many decks to try and little time.
We have the first kotei of ivory in atlanta. Its a chance to get in while the environment is still raw. There will be no top tier decks to contend with, no overbearing meta decisions to make, any deck has a good chance. Unfortunately though, koteis are going to put a lot of stress and getting cards.

All that being said, building the community is a huge priority. The game is way  more accessible now, and cheap to play. I'm all for having a more casual atmosphere for play to get new players involved. We have never had a hardcore atmosphere for local play and tournaments and it should remain that way.

If however we are going to attend koteis and spend signifigant money on cards and gas I want to have that investment be worthwhile. I quit playing before because I felt no one was motivated to play. Things have changed in the last 2 years and I don't intend to take the game as seriously this go around, but I do want to be able to have a motivated environment for playtesting when kotei season rolls around.

I kind of agree...  When the play-group shifted out I felt like something was lost, a certain level of brotherhood.   I look forward to rebuilding, greeting new folks, and exploring the changes to the game.  

Overall I think the old tenants still stand:  Read your cards, read theirs.  Play hard but have fun.  

As for the new players, I do feel like there was something we ran into with the old group, people were frustrated with new players and dealing with them.   What I mean by this is the investment.   It's rough to invest into a new player, give them things and teach them only to have them disappear when they get bored or disenfranchised.   I think lowering the boundary to entry (the group pool) helps this, but it's also everyones responsibility to take time to help new players.  Additionally you shouldn't just think about yourself and your time... investing time into others and improving their game-play improves yourself!  More players with more perspective also spices up the play.   I know towards the end of last arc when it was mostly Chris, Corey, Myself and Jason things got stale, fighting the same three decks over and over.   It also showed at tournament where the meta environment had shifted and we just didn't have the play group to support it.   Our life-blood is our players and cultivating new ones AND KEEPING THEM, will be imperative to the group and lead to a golden age for the dojo very similar to our height in celestial.  

Either way looking forward to it.  Distill the above into the alcohol of truth and may it quench our thirsts and steel our nerves.

Im going to be teaching ben and aaron (from monday) and another new guy, lj, to play tonight. We are off to a good start as far as recruiting goes. Once ivory physically hits, I want to try to convert some of the regular magic players like omar. Itll be much easier to retain players when there are more players of all skill levels playing.

I think focusing on draft for a lot of our casual play is really the way to go. It enables us to buildup a cardpool and takes the emphasis out of constructed deckbuilding, which is where I feel most new players really get lost.
I would like to be able to keep a set of a matter for honor at the store so that new players can play it whenever they want without relying on us for cards. Its also a good tool for promoting the game.