Let's talk about your characters

Here's an example for the Aspects' uses.

Togashi Suzume has an Aspect named "Former Crane (Kakita)". He knows the Crane Clan, even if he choosed a different path.
When he wants to talk with some Kakita, especially his former teacher, he could benefit a bonus or a reroll if needed (negociating, finding ressources).
But other families of the Crane may think of him as a traitor.
Of course, that's not the only way to use that Aspect, but it can be Invoke (to benefit Suzume) or Constrain (to complicate his life).

Another example, for a scene this time, your character tries to escape a place, and the initial description is that it is night time, and the place is surrounded by lanterns (not Ryan Reynolds) with fire in it.
While escaping, your character could use that fact to break a lantern on the floor of a bridge, creating a new Aspect being "the bridge is on fire".
Given you have discovered it, you gain a free Invoke of that Aspect, and it could be "Because the bridge is on fire, it will collapse under the weight of my pursuers".

About the leveling, maybe you're right here. I'm used to that system around a table, where players tend to roll and roll on every possible occasions.
Indeed, it's a bit different in PbP, where narration takes a lot more importance.
Moreover, usually, my systems have a number of skills 3 times superior to the attributes, so maybe my base of calc was wrong here.

Being a play test of the system, i'm definitely open to ideas on how to improve it.
Saying that, there is a logical aspect to that leveling system:
- The Adult's Play Level makes character just after their Gempukku, which is around 15 years old.
- Each Play Level after that takes a good decade to set up for the character. It's all about training, gaining experience, living.
And remember that your character doesn't live only while the scenarii, he has his own life between those.

For the record, that system is made so that players are the one to roll. You want to attack ? Roll. You need to defend yourself ? Roll.
Basically, you resolve both your actions and your opponents'.

Having said that, i'm open to suggestions, if we all agree on it, let's put those in the game.

About Raising the Difficulty Level, with the escape-by-the-bridge example of the previous post, you could want to gain back 1 Fate Point.
For that, you choose to Raise the Difficulty Level, and add a new narrative element that will complicate the scene for you (the element itself is up to you).
For example, while escaping, the bridge is collapsing, but your character comes face to face with a wild bear in the near forest.
The whole difficulty of the Action is increased, you gain 1 Fate Point whether your action is a failure or a success, and there is a new narrative element that everyone has to take into account for the following story.

The whole "only the players get to roll" is vary PbtA...

Yes, i discovered that similarity when i read about PbtA, was looking for another way to create world with players.

I already created my resolution table at that time, and that way of only players get to roll, so when i read that in the PbtA, it was quite easy to understand the mechanics because of that.

Hello, all. Sorry I'm late, it has been an insane week at work. Thank you for your patience, I hope you're all doing well.

I'm still hammering out the details of my character, but I'm planning to play a Phoenix shugenja from the Asako clan.

And we can welcome Falible who joins us in this chronicle.

I'll make your private section right away.

Welcome, indeed! I'm looking forward to meeting you, Falible.

Howdy all! I haven't dived deep into the details of this character thread yet, so I hope I'm not stepping on anyone's toes, but after reading the custom core rules, I'm aiming for a Shiba Family Bushi from the Phoenix clan. Bending the knee to the five elemental masters, and one day hoping to wield Ofushikai!

I'll read the rest and I expect to have my character fleshed out sometime tomorrow afternoon.

Take your time.

Varian, a second Phoenix, you're ok with that ?

Hey Varian, I don't mind switching clans, I kinda might have an idea for a Unicorn clan member, but I could also be your bodyguard! You'd never have to worry about the evil forces that want to keep the Phoenix Shugenja down.

A bit of report here about our current situation.But the number of players does not necessarily increase, and on the other hand, I bet that you still want to play.

I can close the recruitments, possibly increase the number of characters per player to 2, and start a game as soon as the characters are ok.

For that, 2 Phoenix will go well for this early story, for example. And only need for one character each at first.

What do you think ?

Sounds good.

Sure :)

Falible, you're free to play the character you want - I would enjoy meeting someone from the Unicorn clan just to round out the experience, but it seems like Delio has a plan that works well with two Phoenixes so I'm good with it either way.

I'm not sure I understand what you mean when you say you could be my bodyguard? I just want to know what I would be signing up for if I took you up on that offer. Can you fill me in on your intentions, please?

Looks like i talked a little too fast.

Welcome therecusant.

I'll make your private section in a few moments.

Falible, Phoenix or Unicorn, as you want.

Varian, from what I understand, the Phoenix clan is heavily influenced by keeping harmony between the gods and mortals. The clan has two main roles, shugenja and warriors who protect the clan's shugenja. I didn't mean to imply any major collaboration between us, or that you couldn't hold your own in a challenge, I just wanted to give a suggestion on why we would be heavy on Phoenix clan members, like maybe the clan leaders gave you a task, and I was assigned to assist, or something like that. I feel like I won't really understand my place in this game until we start playing a little.

I do prefer to stick with Phoenix clan, because it's the most firm character in my mind right now and it's closest to the characters I've played in other games. If we go with two characters, I'd develop a Unicorn clan member.

Falible, thank you for your explanation. This is my first immersion in the world of L5R, and I've focused on learning more about the shugenja's role in Phoenix society. Somehow I overlooked their guardians in that learning process...

I want to apologize if I came across sharply earlier. I have a rocky history with tabletop RPGs, with scenarios I wasn't always comfortable with but that I engaged in because the other players were my real-world friends and roommates, and a GM who was really good at making my reasonable boundaries seem like attacks on other people's moral character. I'm still learning to trust the medium again, and actively trying to remember that this is a much safer way to play.

I think it would be a perfectly logical reason for there to be two Phoenixes in the party, and Inara (my character) will be happy to have a familiar companion. For my part, I would welcome that, as well, now that I have had a chance to think it through.

Haha, thanks, but no reason to apologize. I understand that texts and posts don't always capture the intricacies of face to face communication. Plus, I'm new to this game style too, and I was worried that I was making some kind of mistake.

Once we get into the story and see what our role in the scenario is, I bet we can come up with a proper connection between our characters. I was a little confused about the aspects, but now I'm near to finishing Yoshi (my character), and I'll post a description to let ya'all know a little about him soon.

Welcome, Therecusant! Looking forward to samuraing with you!

Edit of the Reference Link, adding of the Rokugan Map.