OOC Thread

General thread for more meaty OOC stuff.

Ok, think I missed this from the starting post (will add it there as well):

The Topaz Championship
It is the twentieth year of the reign of the divine Emperor, Hantei the 38th. The Emerald Empire has stood for a thousand years, thanks to the guidance of the kami and the wise benevolence of the Hantei emperors. Each of the seven Great Clans vies eternally to be first in the Emperor's favor while safeguarding Rokugan from its many enemies within and without.
The Topaz Championship is a chance for each clan to test their best and brightest against one another. Though all contestants can pass the tests and become samurai, the winner claims glory for themselves and their clan, and may even earn a high-ranking position in the Empire.
As contestants, you are all traveling to the village of Tsuma, where the Championship will be held at the Kakita Dueling Academy. Who knows, maybe you will win it all and become the Topaz Champion...

Just gives a bit more context for why you are travelling to Tsuma. As none of you have undertaken your Gempuku (coming of age ceremony) yet you are not Samurai (although you are of the Samurai social class). You are all attending the Topaz championship and will be undertaking your Gempuku as part of the competition.

Hey all, guess I need to turn on notifications here! Sorry! I’ll catch up and jump in today. It’s been a busy week or two...

Hey! Welcome aboard. 😄

ah yes! another samurai to join us in tormenting peasants with our presence and tea. looking forward to ;)

Hey all, had some issues with my home internet over the weekend, namely that im pretty sure my ISP is literally an 80 year old man who can barely operate google let alone connect fiberoptic cable. it should be rectified by the time im home tonight, but im not sure, until then ill be posting from work whenever i can!

Hey @Tookie_Clothespin, how's it going? Are you managing to follow the game? We're now at the inn so, if you're still in, this may be a great place to join in. Have Iuchi Odayaka hanging out at the bar, drinking tea as one does... and check out that lady unicorn, she has a great horse ;)

Any luck with the "80 year old man" Robb?

Tookie's character Odayaka will have been with you all on the journey into town and is staying at the same inn so you would already be acquainted somewhat

Bump!

Yeah, sorry peeps thought I’d already mentioned this but I’m on holiday this week so won’t be able to post as much as normal. Will try to get the game updated in the next day or so but internets a tad spotty here

Thoughts on the scroll...
So, it is addressed to Kakita Toshimoko, so as far as I google, it's written by Kakita Yoshi. So Toshimoko thinks he's a better dad than Kakita...
I got the idea that Satsume was the writter from before... don't know why :(
What does Doji Satsume have to do with this?

The above should clarify matters

Ah! That’s why I thought they were related. Alright then! Time to squeeze that ghost 👻

Haha, bowlofspinach.

i’ll take culture roll then... I want to know if there has been anything lately that justifies the mantis being targeted... so that would be more like rumours and news and less about politics... (even though it is probably politically motivated)

Ok, I've put a post up with some useful details for going into the tournament. Can everyone have a read and let me know if you have any queries. Also just wanted to check in with everyone and see how you all feel the game is going?

All clear as far as I can tell 👍
Also... that day 2? Yoshi is never going to make his gempuku 😅

The tournament looks very interesting. Can't wait to try it.

I don't have any questions right now. If I think of any, I'll ask

Excellent, will just give it probably until tomorrow to give everyone else chance to look it over and weigh in if they have any comments about things before I start things moving again.

The tournament looks straightforward to me. I'm curious as to how you'll actually have us participate.

Ok, I've sent a PM to Lux001, RobbOgden93, and Tookie_Clothespin yesterday as they haven't posted in this game in quite a while and I want to make sure they're still wanting to play in this before we carry on. I'm going to give them probably until the end of the weekend and then we'll just start the tournament without them if they haven't responded.

Robb was very busy for a while and inactive on GP. I think he's starting to come back now

😨 Now that I just blamed his character for everything that ever happened? 😨
and he is a scorpion? 😰 (coincidence?)

Yeah I know people get busy on occasion but those three players haven't posted in the game in over a month so whilst I'm all for giving people a bit of time if needed we can't wait forever for them.

Right, Robbs been in touch and said they’re still wanting to carry on in the game but they’ll be driving for the next couple of days so I’ll kick things off again on Monday. Still waiting on hearing back from Lux001 and Tookie_Clothespin.

Ok, a little delayed from where I wanted to be but I've unlocked the thread for Day one of the tournament. Short moment for any RP you want to do before the first event.

Will leave it a few days but then if I've not had a response from Lux001 or Tookie_Clothespin then I'll assume they are no longer interested in the game.

In the meantime, let the trash talking and chirping commence, samurai style.

New post is up peeps. I've not had any response from Tookie or Lux so I've dropped them from the game and we'll continue without them.

Is there any advantage of having more success than required? I could get an additional opportunity I guess

Well if you beat the front runner/favorite in a event (i.e. get more successes) you get an additional competition point plus a point of Glory.

mmm... I forgot that detail... ok, so I'll keep it as it is and wait for the next opportunity :D

Edited my post for explosive successes

... by the way... how doesn’t this strife and unmasking work?
Do you have to unmask? If not, what is the effect of accumulating strife?

I figured this would just be easier to copy from the main rulebook below but the short answer is no you don’t but once you are compromised (have more Strife than your Composure rating) you cannot keep any dice that have Strife symbols on them which may mean you have 0 kept dice on a check.


Removing Strife
Characters naturally remove some strife as time passes. At the end of each scene (a self-contained event or events in an ongoing adventure) each character removes strife until it is equal to half their composure, rounded up (unless it is already lower).
Strife can be reduced further through restful contemplative activities including the pursuit of one’s ninjō (see page 38), pursuing a passion (see page 99), meditating, or attending a tea ceremony. Such activities can potentially remove all of a character's current strife.
Finally, a Compromised character can remove all of their strife by unmasking, briefly lowering their façade to act upon their emotions openly (see Unmasking).

Becoming Compromised

While a character's strife is in excess of their composure, the tumult of emotions that has built up causes the char-acter to become Compromised. While suffering this condition, they are at their emotional limit, which their player should roleplay through various subtle cues that they are repressing accumulated emotion.

Effects of Being Compromised

A compromised character's vigilance attribute (see page 36) counts as 1. Additionally, when making a check, a Compromised character cannot keep dice containing Strife symbols (to a potential minimum of 0 kept dice).

Recovering from Being Compromised

A character ceases to be Compromised when their strife drops back to (or below) their composure. A Compromised character can always rid themself of all of their strife through unmasking.

Unmasking

Once per scene, while a character is Compromised, their player may choose to have the character unmask, briefly expressing the true emotions beneath the guise of a perfect samurai that society demands they main-tain. Keep in mind that the character may stay Com-promised as long as their player deems it appropriate, and can seek other ways to soothe their emotions, but these often take time. The act of unmasking gives a character the chance to achieve immediate emotional clarity and openness, at the cost of potentially disturb-ing the scene. Unmasking is an outpouring of raw emotion: anger at difficult circumstances or injustice, joy as a result of success over harsh trials, mirth at a humorous occur-rence, or despair at a tragic turn of events. Impor-tantly, the player never loses control of their charac-ter while unmasking, because the player chooses the shape the character's unmasking takes and the time at which it occurs. The form of the unmasking should be suited to the scene in which it takes place and the various emotions that have led the character to become Compromised.

Benefits and Risks of Unmasking

When a character unmasks, they remove all of their strife. Then, the player roleplays the way in which their character lets their façade fall, and the GM determines any narrative and mechanical consequences this has. Players and GMs can look to the examples of unmask-ing in this section for inspiration, or invent their own to fit the scene and the character. Like any moment of vulnerability, unmasking is a risk but also a chance to achieve things one otherwise could not. Important moments in a character's life often revolve around the incidents in which they allow their façade to slip, even briefly. Some-times, this bared emotion even allows the character to trans-gress societal norms for an advantage or surpass their own limitations to pursue a goal they otherwise could not. They can also say and do things they normally couldn't—and while such behavior might have a cost in honor or glory (see page 37 for more on honor and glory), a valid point raised in anger is still often valid. The GM should take this into account for the character's checks during the remainder of the scene. A character who rebukes their lord should suffer any natural consequences for doing so (perhaps forfeiting honor or glory, and suffering potential narrative costs), but might also convince their lord to reconsider a foolish course of action. A character who reveals their secret love for someone beyond their station might suffer social repercussions but also catch that person's attention, allowing them to begin a clandestine rela-tionship. A character who challenges a social superior in anger might get that person to accept a duel they would normally refuse without consideration—though of course, this too carries its own deadly risks. The GM and player should consider the risks the act of unmask-ing entails in the scene, but also the unique possibilities it might create.

Would it be possible for Aki to withdraw into quiet contemplation between two tasks or would I have to do that long enough to miss the next challenge in order for it to count as unmasking?

Yeah I'm going to say as all of the days events are presented as a single scene in the adventure (for the purposes of Strife recovery) that if you do that then you would have to miss an event and doing so would incur an Honour and a Glory hit.

That's what I thought. Too bad, though xD

Do I already get the negative effects of strife from having strife equal to my composure or does it have to be higher?

No your strife has to be higher than your composure to become compromised so you're fine at the moment

Nice

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.

I think I'll go with 3 xp for the way of the earthquake since I can't raise any ring :(

Unfortunately that's a Rank 2 Technique so you can only pick it up after you get to at least Rank 2 within your school. If you want to advance a Ring you would probably be best banking the XP for now

really? how does the school advancement work? I just assumed I could pick anything under rank 1 :(

Nope, you're right. All I can find in the rulebook is you must meet the prerequisites listed on the Technique and it doesn't give any exceptions for cases like the above but after checking the Errata if a Technique is available in your current school rank as long as it has the diamond like symbol before the name then you can ignore any prerequisites whilst you are within that rank.

if it is in an errata is must be confusing :D by the way, how do techniques work? can I just spread earthquakes around now or is there a use limit?

Depends on the Technique - for Way of the Earthquake it says:

Activation: As an Attack and Support action.....

So for that one you could do it every round, others might be a bit more restrictive or need you to spend a Void point or similar to Activate

I'll learn the technique Lady Shinjo's Speed (pg222). For reference Utaku Battle Maiden school is on pg 86.

Ok, I'm going to leave it another few days and then start the game rolling again peeps.

Also ready

ready

Hi all, apologies for the delay - works been an absolute s*** this last couple of weeks and I've been struggling a bit to get posts up for my games. Will get things moving again for you all shortly!

Sorry, can you explain again how the ranking will go in the end?
There was the part we did so far and then the other two tournaments tomorrow.
Do the points we got so far matter or is it just the person with the most points tomorrow will be the champion?

And what exactly are the things tomorrow going to be? One is a fighting tournament of some sort and the other?

Wait, I reread it and I think I got it now.
There's two winners tomorrow and those two will get their points from the previous two days compared and the higher of those wins the championship, right?

Now I only need to know what Iajitsu and Taryu-jiai mean xD

Iajutsu is katana dueling.

Right, below is what it says in the book regarding the final part of the championship:

The next morning, the remaining contestants gather for the final stage of the Topaz Championship. It is a single-elimination iaijutsu dueling competition, fought with blunted steel swords.
After each round, half the contestants are eliminated, until only one remains: the Topaz Champion. Note that all of the contestants who are allowed to enter the tournament must have attained enough points to complete their gempuku—the duels are only to determine who gains the honor of becoming the new Topaz Champion.
There is also a parallel competition for shugenja, known as taryu-jiai. If the winner of this magic-oriented competition has amassed more total points than the winner of the iaijutsu dueling competition, then the shugenja is named Topaz Champion—a very rare occasion to be sure, but one that has happened in the past.

I've added emphasis to highlight what i see as the most pertinent points here so whilst the points do matter it essentially comes down to whoever has the most points out of the winner of the two duelling contests for who get's named Topaz Champion

Thanks!

very quick question... We recovered all our strife/fatigue before the tournament right?
mine was at 6 just now :(

From the rulebook:

Fatigue recovery
After a full night's rest, a character heals fatigue equal to two times their Water Ring.

Strife recovery
Characters naturally remove some strife as time pass-es. At the end of each scene (a self-contained event or events in an ongoing adventure) each character removes strife until it is equal to half their composure, rounded up (unless it is already lower). Strife can be reduced further through restful con-templative activities including the pursuit of one's ninjō (see page 38), pursuing a passion (see page 99), meditating, or attending a tea cere-mony. Such activities can potentially remove all of a character's current strife.

Let’s say you’ll have all had ample opportunity to do things to recover all your strife but the fatigue (if you need any) would be recovered as per the note above (2 x your Water Ring)

Ho is everyone finding the dice rolling in posts going? The last post I made I had to edit about 8 times as I was going along but admittedly I am running actions for 4 NPC's in the fight. Are you all happy with it/the way I'm managing things (trying to keep things out in the open at the moment so everyone can see how things are coming about) or would you rather see less of the crunch stuff in the IC thread?

I can see how this system is cumbersome if you're running groups of NPCs in PBP. For just the PCs, I think it's fine in the thread. Outsourcing it into a different thread would be possible but to me that just makes it harder to navigate.

It would be cool if GP had a function to hide dice rolls in a spoiler tag or something that you can open or keep closed, though...

It's fine with me :) I've developed "roll blindness" so I don't even notice them anymore :D

Hmmm, I might move to rolling for NPC stuff like that in a different thread then (maybe just post a link on the IC post to where the rolls are) that way everyone can still reference them if they are curious

Ok, thought I'd share this for reference (will put together a references thread with most things in at some point). This is how I'm abstracting Range Bands:



That make sense for everyone?

Nice you're using the diagonal=1.5 steps thing. I like that!

that looks fine. My main problem was figuring out unarmed attacks were up to range 1... it looks so far on the grid ;)

Yeah it's important to remember it's an abstraction and not a realistic depiction, just to make it easier to figure out things from a tactical perspective.

Based on that, Kashita will not move. That Ronin is in the way of keeping Sugai in poking distance.

Well, your Iron Forest Style effect will end at the end of your turn so Sugai will be free to move forwards on his action without needing a check, that would put him in striking distance of both Kashita and Aki and he would be inside the guard of your Yari (so you wouldn't be able to attack back unless you move back) but it's up to you...

By the way, I saw this in the rules. Is it allows for this one? It just feels right that yoshi settles this like a man with that ronin from the tavern

Yeah going to resolve that once we've finished with Kashita's turn. Just bear in mind that the Ronin may not behave in the same way an 'honourable' samurai would :)

Apologies if things are running a bit clunky all round, given this is the first proper combat we're doing I'm just wanting to be careful to work through things.

Combats are always a bit of a mess in PBP. This is going alright :)

Especially considering that I at least don't know the system at all

ahah we don't really know what we're doing as well, but so far so good.
I guess he not accepting the duel is a moral hit on the others or something right?

Yeah, sorry for the extended delay. My partners birthday is just before Christmas and then we have a pretty full docket between then an new year. Things should be moving normally again now though.

Question for everyone. We're drawing to the end of the adventure in the starter set so how are you all feeling? Would you like to continue on with these characters, start from scratch with new ones, or are you thinking this was enough of this setting/system/my GM-ing for you for the time being?

I've thoroughly enjoyed running this and would like to continue if you are all up for it.

I really like playing this game. It's a lot of fun but I'm still finding it difficult to really immerse myself in this setting.
I think I'd prefer to just finish this game after this adventure ends. The system is awesome and really fun to play and I like your GM style but the setting is just not really for me, I think.

I'm willing to continue with the Otaku I'm currently playing.

I'm in the process of rethinking my time management as I got myself into a lot of new systems and this month will be tough at work :(

I agree with bowl that this is an interesting system and it seems to work well in PbP once we get used to checking the table (I think testing this was one of the original goals). Unlike bowl, the setting is fine with me. However I may take the end of the tutorial as an opportunity to reduce my game numbers (its more about the diversity of new systems I need to keep up with than actual numbers!) Once I get used to my new job, and other games finish up (including the ones I GM), I could make a come back to L5R :)

Totally understandable, I've had similar myself a few times.
Lol, yeah there is no shame in conceeding to an obviously superior opponent in a duel but it does mean that the individual conceeding would still count as having been defeated and would have to fulfil the of their defeat - up to and including ending their life in the case of a duel to the death.
Again, totally understandable. I've had to trim down my games a few times when RL comitments picked up. If you findyouself with a bit of free time and want to join again (assuming I'm still running L5R) then I'd be more than happy for you to rejoin
Good to hear. I'm going to wrap up the current scenario a bit later on and then have a think about where I want to go next with this before I see if theres anyone else out there interested in playing.

Real life is the scourge of PbP :)

Once I end a few games and settle a bit I'll get back to joining some more games :D