OOC Thread

No worries, thanks for the heads up.

Just as an aside I've been on holiday for the last week but I'm back now so should be getting this moving again today

I think this is where we are reaching the limits of the starter characters. In the full rulebook the Isawa Elementalist School gets, among other things, the "Commune with the Spirits" Ritual (a type of Technique, see below) which would allow you to have a limited discourse with the Kami in the area or, if using Void as your ring on the check, with any nearby spirits. Mostly this is just used to glean information from the Kami/Spirits and any more complex interactions (i.e. getting them to do things for you) are handled through Invocations (another type of Technique). Essentially what you are aiming for is an Elemental Gift that goes a bit beyond what you would normally get for the check. There are a couple of ways we can handle this - either we can increase the TN of the Theology check to 3 (but you could always make a prior check to Sense the Kami and hope you get an Opportunity to Reduce the TN of doing the Ritual a second time) or we could say you need to 2 x Opportunities - either way the effect would be to get them delay the 'Elemental Gift' until a certain trigger is met.

Alright, I guess I would still try it. Let's make some magic happen xD
Do I have to choose first whether I want to try for Target Number 3 or for 2 opportunities or can I decide after the roll?

I’m going to say you need to pick before you roll.

For everyone I just want to check in how you’re all feeling the games going? Any issues or anything your finding amiss with the setting or how I’m running things? I’m still planning on carrying on with the game after we reach the end of the adventure in the beginner game so are you all thinking you’ll keep playing at that point and for those of you playing with the pregens are you happy with those characters for continuing? I was thinking if we were to carry on I’d be looking to at least redraw those characters with the rules from the main rulebook but wanted to check what your thoughts all were

Just giving this a bit of a bump peeps

I'm happy with continuing as long as the other two want to as well. I would also stick with Aki. I like her.

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I'll try for TN3. I will just roll in this thread and then when you open up the next IC thread, you can just implement the result, I guess

I will take the Explosive Success with Strife (6 on D6), the Success with Opportunity (10 on D12) and the Success from the Explosion (5 on D6).
I'll use the Opportunity to remove 1 Strife.

Glad to hear it. Well we can look to sort out redoing Aki with the character creation rules in the main rulebook but it's up to you how we handle that (I'm happy for you to do it and come back to me if you have a copy of the rulebook)

I think it is going well and monk works well for me. not knowing the setting, a pregen background is nice :)
There are a couple of rules here and there that I tend to forget, but that's a manner of time... however, with the new job and trainings I can't plan too far into the future :(

Well my thinking was the character backgrounds would stay the same and we'd use those as a guide to 'rebuild' the characters with the character generation rules on the main rulebook. If you don't have the rulebook and/or are a bit short on time I've no problems with sorting it for any of you.

I don't have the rulebook so it would be great if you could work up the updated character for me ':D

I'm pretty happy with Kashita, and I'm enjoying the scenario. It feels like Rokugan which is the best part for me. Continuing on is certainly my preference.

Ok, I've worked on the re-do of the characters - for Aki I have entered the full txt character onto your character sheet on here but for Yoshi I've just amended the one you already had CESN (mostly just added a few Advantages and Disadvantages). Only things that need doing are the following:

Aki - needs to have a Giri defined so Bowlofspinach please add some details around who you see as Aki's lord and what her duty is to them currently (only needs to be a single line).

Yoshi - Needs an Anxiety defining. I couldn't see any in the book that jumped out at me as being obvious fits for Yoshi so do you have an idea CESN? Yoshi also needs to pick a Kiho Technique to gain which would bring them to parity with the other characters, options are Earthen Fist, Earth Needs No Eyes, Flame Fist, Ki Protection, Water Fist. The details of the first two are on the character PDF from the starter kit but if they don't appeal let me know and I'll get you the details of the others to review.

Additionally could you both take a look over the sheet/things I've added and make sure you are happy with the particular things I've added? If there's anything that flies in the the face of how you see your character then we can always change things.

I read somewhere there was an issue with monk's balance on L5R where one of those was compulsory for the class to work! I think it was Earthen Fist. not sure if you know something about this?

Thank you for that, mate!

I'll have a look at the sheet when I'm available and I'll look into the Giri thing. Any resources I should turn to for inspiration?

Erm, not that I've heard of but I wouldn't stress it overly - if you find anything isn't working with the character for you just let me know and we can discuss changing it.
I'm not sure to be honest but it could be something as simple as you are sworn to the service of x Daimiyo who wants you to do Y but if nothing comes to mind right now we can always flesh that out later

so, questions for kiho :D
Earth Needs No Eyes: this is to sense people and gain vigilance
Ki Protection: twice the "healing"
Earthen Fist: more base damage and +1 resistance with change of getting someone prone
Flame Fist: supernatural damage and increased deadlines (what was this again?), with change of getting someone dazzled
Water Fist: ignore a lot of target resistance and use 1 void point (how did you get these?) to make a ranged attack.

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for anxieties:
Superstition (Void) could work, being a more religious based monk
Impatience (Earth) could be one of the flaws that I need to overcome as a monk
Fear of Death (Earth) is similarly something that prevents one from self improvement.
Dark Secret (Void) works for everyone

Right, I'll try to answer this as best I can.
From page 270 of the main rulebook When a character suffers a critical strike after failing to defend against damage, the severity is the deadliness of the source of the damage. - basically the higher the deadliness the worse the injury will be from a 'hit'
You have a number of Void points equal to your Void Ring, you can spend them in the following ways:

Seize the Moment: A samurai should know the right moment to act, but sometimes, even the hand of fate must be nudged by bold action.
While making a check, during Step 3: Assemble and Roll Dice Pool, a character may spend 1 Void point to roll one additional Ring die and subsequently keep one additional die during Step 5: Choose Kept Dice.
Shattering Parry: When faced with death, a samurai must sometimes accept terrible losses to survive. When trying to survive a critical strike, a character may spend 1 Void point to dramatically intercept the attack with their weapon to increase their chance of survival, potentially sacrificing the weapon in the process as described on page 270.
Techniques and Other Abilities: Certain techniques and other character abilities require spending a Void point to activate.

Void points are gained through facing adversity, for without struggle, there can be no triumph. Characters can gain Void points in a number of ways, most of them representing moments in which the character faces adversity and is galvanized to succeed by it. A few common instances include:
* After failing a check on which one of their adversities was resolved (see Resolving Advantages and Disadvantages, on page 24).
* Once per scene, after one of their anxieties caused their strife to rise (see Resolving Advantages and Disadvantages, on page 24).
* After choosing to be affected by a complication that the GM (or the controlling player) introduced into the scene (see page 39).
* After the GM conceals the TN of a check from the players (see When to Reveal or Conceal the TN, on page 297).


Does that all help at all?
No worries, probably a good point for us to do this bit of housekeeping :)

ok. I'll probably stick with an earth based monk for consistence, as I get used to it :D so... Earthen Fist and Superstition (Void) to counter my void passion. Painful Honesty is much more monkly and troublesome actually :D

All sounds good to me :)

Right, last point before I look to get things moving again is to award some XP! I'm going to award 4xp at this stage as that's what the scenario recommends at this stage. You can spend your XP on pretty much anything as long as you meet the restrictions on the below table:



In order to advance within your school you count the full XP spent on things listed within your schools curriculum and half the XP spent on things outside of it. Drop a note below of anything you are spending XP on or whether you are banking it.