Let's talk about your characters

Welcome everyone.

Here's the main topic to talk about your characters, if you have any question, i'm here.

I'll create specific threads for each of you so that we'll have an area to discuss in private.

I still have to read your rulebook, but I should be able to come up with something quickly once I'm done reading...

We're not in a hurry, take your time :)

Started reading. Looks like an interesting system. Just one nitpick, at this current time, the Utaku are still named Otaku. They changed their family name some time after the battle of Oblivion's Gate (which happened in the year 1130-something IIRC, I forgot the exact date).

Oh ? My mistake then, consider them Otaku so far.

I'll correct that later in the day :)

Thanks for the precision :)

Does everyone see the specific subforum reserved for everyone ?

I see mine, so I assume it worked.

Good, first try is good then :)

So has anyone started thinking about their characters? I'm thinking of a Dragon Ise-Zumi.

Direct an Ise Zumi, sounds great.

eyeofskadi, any idea for your character ?

Welcome on GP, and into this game Varian :)

Your attention please.

I reread my core book, i think the points for both rings and vocations are a bit low.

So i updated the pdf for that, you can find the new version of the book here: https://tinyurl.com/l5rDelioCustom

I assume we start at "adult level"?

howdy, just noticed that I got accepted.

Hey welcome eyeofshadi !

The Adult level is positioned just after the Gempukku (the ceremony by which a samurai entered adulthood, in which children were often expected to take a new name, their adult name, at this time, and a trial would be expected too), Hardened is rather 10-12 years later.

So, for what I planned, the Hardened level seemed more consistent to me.

Now, I will also try to adapt the scenario to your respective backgrounds, and also to see if I manage to bring together 7 players. If not, I will have to adapt the scenario.

So for now, Hardened level please.

I might be over looking something; is there a separate rule book?

It is a homebrewed system Delio is testing.

Kalajel said it all.

You have all your own section in the Out Of Characters subforum. Or here if you don't need the privacy.
Anyway for any question, i'm here.

So, if I want to represent my tattoos and maybe some kihos using this game system, do I must put points in the shugenja vocation or will simply putting points in the monk vocation suffice?

Monk will be good enough i think, you'll have Schemes next to put your tatoos.

But maybe you don't see it that way, so i'm reading if you have other ideas.

That seems good enough.

I'm wondering about Bonds. The book does not really seem to go into detail about those (unless I missed something). What are the rolls for? What do they do?

got it, thanks, ill read through it friday

About the bonds, i'll generate the tables today. One table of 100 people per clan. That's what the D100 is done for.
The two D6 are here to simulate the Connection (aka the efficiency of the character in his domain, Adult, Hardened, Veteran), and the Loyalty to your character (Stranger, Acquaintance, Close).

Can you choose on which table to roll or are you limited to your clan's table?

You roll on your clan's table. It represents a percentage of the population of that clan.

Eventually, if you have an aspect that implies that you come from two different clans, you could roll a part of your bonds in the second clan's table.

Ah, okay. Well that would make sense. I had worked on my character's background, and like most people who became Ise-Zumi, my character came from another clan when he heard Togashi's call and made his way to Kyuden Togashi. In my case, the Crane Clan. also, since adopting this more ascetic lifestyle, he views himself as having some affinity with his cousins from the Sparrow Clan and often visits...

Ok, so most of your Bonds come from the Dragon's table, let's say you can choose to have 4 of them rolled on the Crane's table.

I suppose then one of your aspect relates to your affiliation with the Crane ?

Yes. I'm not entirely sure how to word my aspects just yet, but one of them will definitely have to do with me being a former Kakita.

Nice :)

Do not hesitate to create a thread in your section to share your background, so that i can start reading it :)

Are there any sort of initiative mechanics for combat? I'm asking before I select my Schemes and make a mistake...

As for now, there isn't, the initiative mechanics of the PbtA works quite well: it follows the logic of the scene.

If there any needs for one as any moment, it will be ring Fire + ring Water (duels maybe ?). We'll see how that goes for now, and if we need something more tactical, i'll propose something to you all.

Leaning towards Crane Kakita. With Artisan, bushi and Shugenja as my vocations (8/4/4 respectfully) Playing around with the stats (air, earth, etc) but unclear so far the significance of each.

Daidoji seems interesting too but Kakita seems more well rounded.

Question about Honor Rank; it says we must keep at least 1 honor rank available. Is this used in various Charisma sort of checks (diplomacy, etc) or are we better off using these points towards Schemes?

Does Stress have an impact on anything other than from Disease, Poison and failing concentration?

You have a number of Fate Points (rerolls or get a +2 bonus to the total) equal to your Honor Rank at the start of a scenario. So it all depends on how many Fate Points you want available...

Each Ring covers up to 2 innate attributes of the character, except the Void which is dedicated to the affinity with kamis and magic.

You need to make a check on your intelligence ? Maybe conceiving plans for a construction ? Fire Ring will do.
You want to get through a beam bridge by keeping your balance ? Fire Ring will do too as it represents both your intelligence and your agility.

If Honor would have to be taken in consideration in a scene, your rank will be considered as a full trait in its own, with no roll. It is similar to your global reputation (except if you play a Scorpion). That's for the RP part.

As Kalajel said, in terms of mechanics, that rank refills your Fate Points at the start of a scenario if needed. So the choice is yours to see if you prefer having more Schemes or more Fate Points.

About the Stress, it provokes consequences when it's full, like in the Fate Core, but it's not use the same way. L5R being a game with deadly potential, you can't absorb wounds with stress.

Q: Is the rule book linked in resources a supplement to the 5th edition of L5R? (or another older edition). I'm wondering if referencing the official rule book for things like Equipment are appropriate.

You can reference any equipment you want from edition 1 to 5, only RP speaking.

If we talk about game mechanics, there is not really any, a katana is deadly, a tetsubo too, the same goes for a tento, and in the right hands, a staff is as deadly as a katana.

So at creation, you start with the logical equipment given your background.

If at any time, you need some special equipment, like a treasure item for example, we can manage that the way it is describe in Fate Core: description with Aspects that can be invoke or (sometimes) constraint.

Hello there,

How is it going for you and your character creation ?
Kalajel has nearly finished, what about you eyeofskadi and Varian ?

I'd like to know more about them, their story, background, personality.

Here's what I've came up with.Still need to come up with a background.

Are you able to provide an example of everything being discussed on page 41 to sort of illustrate the intent of that block of rules?

On leveling:
and reading page 35: So say we are at Fire Ring rank 5. To 'level up' to rank 6, we would need to get 1800XP.

To get 1800 XP we make a Fire Ring roll, we roll 5 d10's. We roll a 3,5,6,2,10. We choose 2 of those rolls. so we choose the 10 and the 6. Now we are 16XP closer to the next rank, right? so, 16/1800.

The mean value of a d10 is 5.5. Let's round to 5. So we could expect, to go from rank 5 to rank 6 to make 180 Fire Ring rolls.

Is there intent to level up the ranks and the vocations? If so, is rolling that common to make that reasonable?

Even lower ranks, say rank 2 to rank 3, would be 90 rolls on average.

I just want to have a clear idea of how static/dynamic a given character is before I commit to a stat block.

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.

Hello, Therecusant! Welcome to the game :)

And... Delio... did you say MAP? :D

I need to gush for a minute because wow. Sorry not sorry but that map is absolutely lovely. I'm an amateur cartographer myself, so looking at the ocean I can tell someone spent quite a few hours doing nothing but detailing those waves. 10/10

I mention it somehow, yes.

Personally, I always preferred the first edition map, if only because of the backstory behind it. It was highly inaccurate, but the Emperor had recognized it as the official map of Rokugan, and since the Emperor is considered infallible, then this map was also now infallible despite it's wild inaccuracies. And as such, samurais often had to come up with clever excuses when travelling a road which was longer than actually depicted to explain their late arrivals, such as "I'm terribly sorry for my lateness Daimyo-dono, but I had to stop and pray at each shrines along the way to show proper respect to my ancestors."

So that is both hilarious and awesome, thank you for sharing!

Here's a rough outline of my character. I started to reference the 5e character creation and I think it has a lot of good questions to answer to help flesh out a characters personality but I haven't included everything like that here. Just the outline.

Question: Samurai serve a lord, typically. In this we are members of influential families. I assume I would serve whoever is the ruling member of the Doji family, then?

Itsumi Kakita, a member of the Crane Clane, has a very direct, and sometimes brusque, personality. He is an artist and artisan who is a skilled Sculpturist and fond of Tea Ceremonies and creating Ukiyo-e (woodblock prints). He wishes to quell the tension between his clan and the Lion clan, seeing more to gain from peace, than war but will chase glory where ever opportunity presents. Itsumi believes that because The First Emerald Champion was a Kakita then why not the next not be a Kakita, too? Why should it not be him?

Shiba Yoshi, of the Phoenix Clan, has a difficult relationship with his parents, as his mother committed a crime and fled, leaving his father to pay the price. To escape the family drama and lingering shame, he spent much of his youth wandering the local country side, feeling like the animals were his friends and the wilds were his playground. He does have one childhood friend, Ishawa Toyotomi who he deeply loves. At a young age, Toyotomi became a Shugenja, motivating Yoshi to seek the path of the Yojimbo.

Yes, the Daimyo of the Crane Clan is a Doji. I suppose that Kakita warriors are both the protector of the Doji family, and in the same time, they are majors and generals in the army of the Daidoji family.
Given that, while being under the rule of the Daimyo, they have their influence about military matters.

Falible, Shiba Yoshi sounds like he has a similar outlook to Asako Inara. She is very much at home in the midst of nature, and has always had a connection with the kami of the land, many of whom she considers to be her friends (how much they reciprocate that is anyone's guess, but for her part she is quite fond of them.) I'm still formulating the "why" of her spending so much time wandering, but it's deeply informing the personality I'm building for her. I think it's great that they have that aspect of their characters in common and I hope we'll be able to build on that. Those common traits are what she looks for when she's trying to decide whether to trust someone or not :)

Nice, I like that idea. I've looked over the map, and now I see that the Phoenix lands are on the coast. I was thinking that he would wander in the forest, but now I can kind of see Yoshi as some kind of beach bum... divining for clams, hoping for pearls, and making fires on the shore. Or something like that. If the water is cold, then he'll defiantly be a forest dweller. @Delio, what's the climate like? Okinawan, perhaps? :-)

Climate is like the one of Japan, for the most part, in which each season is clearly defined by its own aspects: colors, temperature, habits of the inhabitants, customs, ...

You can find more informations in following that link Calendar & Climate.

The geography of Rokugan is mainly forest and mountainous.

Nice! Winter looks pretty scary. I think Yoshi will start hibernating in the month of the dog, just to be safe!

I'll be off for a week, and i won't have time to answer, so i'll keep that for when i'll return.
I'll check from time to time to keep myself informed, but mainly see you in one week.

Take care, Delio. We'll see you when you get back

I'm back, i'll watch everything tonight to update myself, and i'll answer your questions :)

Hi there everyone, how are you doing ?

I'd like to hear more about your characters, for those i don't know much yet. therecusant ? Falible ?

If you have any question, don't hesitate to ask, i'm here to help you :)

I'm sorry. I felt like Yoshi was complete. I've been moving for the past couple of days. Tomorrow, I'll go through the character creation again and fill in anything I might be missing. Is there anything specific you would like to hear more about?

Ah no, yours is complete for the creation process :)

I was just wondering about your bonds, if you want to name those :)

OK, I named my bonds and I added some equipment.

Kalajel, eyeofskadi, and Falible are good to go or nearly.

Varian has still some infos to check and process.

I'll dm therecusant to see about his character.

My deepest apologies it took so long, the game has started. I hope you will have fun for this fable.

By the way, i would recommend all of you to create a character here on GamersPlane, on a custom system.
That way, you will be able to add an avatar for that character, and you will be able to reply as the character.

Sounds great, that will be my afternoon project! Thanks, Delio, and all of you, I'll see you soon! :)

I answer here Kalajel, to not disturb the RP topic.

My bad then, i will correct to Emerald Empire instead of Jade Empire.

For the year, i do not have a precise idea for the exact year, but the scenario comes in the beginning of the 10th century, after the come back of the Kirin.
I'll go look for a bit much of history, but if you have suggestion, i'm listening.

I have looked for the Dragon history. Togashi Nariako or Togashi Yokuni both feet the role Kalajel, and for what i have in mind, Yokuni seems to be the most suited of them.

Beginning of 10th century, so around early 900s. Yeah, the Ki-Rin return would have been relatively recent enough for the clan to be highly mistrusted, considering they were still very much mistrusted back in the pre-Scorpion Clan coup era in the early to mid-1120s.

As for Togashi, he changes body and identity roughly every 50 or so years to give the illusion different people are the Champion of the Dragon clan, I don't think it could be Yokuni. Looking at the L5R wiki, there seem to be this big hole between Togashi Shotaro (circa 715-750), and Togashi Yokuni (circa ?-1128) In which Togashi Nariako would fit (dates unknown). Still, it is highly unlikely Togashi would have ruled for roughly 350-370 years in the same (Nariako's) body, and as such, you're pretty much free to invent a Dragon Clan Champion of your own to fit your adventure...

We checked the same pages i guess :)

Ok, here's a quick names list for those Dragon Champion, and the order is not really important. Peak the one you want.
Tomohiko
Shinichi
Nobusuke
Takechi
Takuji
Rikyu
Kojiro

As you said, they still are Kami Togashi, the guy's basically The Doctor, or any time lord/lady, from the Rokugani's point of view.

As for the timeline to come for the L5R universe, i don't plan to follow the official one, though i plan to get inspiration from it.
The rest will depend on you and your actions.
So now that the Kirin has come back, we all will create the world as it's changing and evolving differently from the original history.
Like in a parallel universe, someone turns left instead of turning right, and everything is different.

Oh, concerning Togashi, it gets even better. If you want to go with unret-conned 1st edition lore, instead of taking over the bodies of special Ise-Zumies to keep his consciousness alive, the original lore stated that Togashi Yokuni was the original Kami Togashi, original body and all!

Yeah, they nerfed a lot of things in the later editions... Some for good reasons though (I'm looking at you Ikoma Omoidasu [nerfed] and Kakita Artisan! [broken!]).

As for my Dragon champion, I'll go with Nobusuke.

I had stayed with the fact that he just changed his name over the years, and keeps the same body, and I had found a reason that justified this, as far as I am concerned. So I left on that.

Hence the "the Dragon speaks to you".

I'm still here. It's been a crazy week and I basically forgot I was playing games. I'll catch up and post soon.

Welcome back! I hope you're doing well, and that you're safe from... you know... All The Things Happening. I sent you a DM just so we can be on the same page, since we'll be traveling together. Eagerly waiting to hear back from you!

No worry, the game has just started :)

sorry! I lost all track of everything getting sucked into all these riots.

Totally understandable.

Stay safe, take your time :)

I've had a similar problem in one of the games I played once. Not sure what causes this bug...

This will also be very useful for your upcoming posts.

Edit: I was also looking for what could be the Rokugani equivalent of pages, and the best I could find quickly shifting through my books would be either some sort of servant or retainer.

And to answer one of your questions, the one about fields of culture.

I was thinking to wheat, rice, and other agriculture fields.

I'm sorry if that's not the good term, let me know and i'll correct.

I'll make a more detailed description of the area on my next post.

I submitted the character. I forgot there was another step.
I assume English isn't your primary language then? It might help to know what your primary language is.

'fields of culture' is pretty romantic/poetic language. Now that you've explained it I kind of like it. More common parlance would just be 'farmland' or 'grazing fields' or something to that effect.

I was thinking, too, about military rank structure of the era. I am almost certain they had something more than Daiymo > Samurai > peasant troops. There had to be some rank structure but I also doubt they had the same that the west uses. Earliest I could (easily) find on google was Imperial Japan in the early 20th century which followed the same officer structure (more or less) as the west (e.g. 2Lt, 1LT, CPT, etc)

Reading that link you shared, too, a platoon of 400 people is absolutely mind boggling massive. Your typical infantry platoon today is 40-50ish. 400 is more on par with half a battalion. A Roman legion was 4000 - 6000 depending on the period. 'units', too, is a weird word to describe a specific size. It's not that weird, but it's generic. like, i would use the word unit to describe my company, my battalion or my brigade, depending on the context.

So I guess, based on that, Rokugan is a densely populated, highly martial place, likely with mandatory conscription. (or maybe the writers just didnt have a frame of reference for the size of military units). I'll use this link as reference and dig around elsewhere in the wiki for other unfamiliar terms

so i found a copy of 3rd edition. The wiki isn't fully edited. And this break down and explanation make far more sense, if still a bit weird in the western context (e.g. a sergeant being in charge of a platoon).

Even in America, military ranks can be a pain, mainly because of non-equivalent ranks across branches (a Captain in the Army is an O3, while a Captain in the Navy is an O6, significantly higher in rank). So many thanks for the resources there :) I'm still very new to the PbP style but if this is what's normal, I can definitely get used to it!

I'll answer tomorrow, it's been a tough week at work.

Take your time :)

A question for you all.

Do you prefer:
- Discover the information in game, at the same time of your characters ?
- Or discover the information OOC when i give those, given that if you prefer that, be aware that what you know and what your character knows are too different things ?

I can do both, so I let you choose what you prefer.

Can you tell me which one you prefer, and why ?
Thanks.

For myself, I see the benefit of both. As a player, I enjoy the surprise, the sense of discovering a world and watching it unfold.

At the same time, I know there is information that I don't know I don't know - but which Inara certainly would. There are limits to how far I can take the idea that she gives equal regard to all people before she starts making people uncomfortable, which is the opposite of how I am trying to build her. So if I'm honest, the more info I have to inform her worldview (if not her personal knowledge), the better.

But in the end, I'll go with what the group wants.

I can see merits in using both methods. The first one is very immersive and what most players are used to, but since communication is imperfect and misunderstandings can always occur, sometimes using the second methods to clarify things can be extremely useful.

[q]Do you prefer:
- Discover the information in game, at the same time of your characters ?
- Or discover the information OOC when i give those, given that if you prefer that, be aware that what you know and what your character knows are too different things ?[/q]

can you give an example of each?

The info i gave you about what happened before the war is a perfect example.

If you, players, want to discover those informations in the game with your characters, then it's already the case.

On the opposite, if you choose to be open about OOC information, that could bring a deeper understanding of everything happening in the story. That could help setting a context and explaining why that character or that one react the way they do. By example.

Though, i won't allow an OOC information to have impact on characters who don't have that information in game.

Ah, then, yes, I am with the others in seeing the benefits of both. I see no reason not to utilize both when appropriate. Allowing players to drive part of the narrative has the benefit of giving us added investment in both the characters and the story.

For the record, therecusant is out. I have no news from him.

Still getting used to names and hierarchy so defaulted to Damiyo as I cant remember who that is for the Crane clan off hand.

Welcome to gurthor who join us for that chronicle.

I'll see with him for his character, and when ready, then one more player in the role play.

Sounds great! Welcome, gurthor! I'm looking forward to meeting your character.

Hi guys, I just spent a little while getting up to date on this thread, to try an gauge what character would be fun to play. I'll keep reading the rest of the forum and get back to you with a first draft!

For the record, it happens we get with a known bug of GamersPlane, the one making subforums disappear.

So 2 solutions about that for now. Or i keep track of the url of those subforums on my own, and when you need, i'll forward you the link.
Or we think of those disappearances as a russian roulette, and so, Varian will be the first to be killed.

gurthor, in the "Reference Links" thread, you have the pdf of the corebook, the map, a glossary, and the population distribution of each clan.

So, ah... Falible, assassins are Yoshi's thing, and I could use a bit of help right now.

Yoshi vs Delio... This should be good.

I know, i know, the difficulty is cheap on that one, my bad. I did some math wrong there.

So yeah, you're all going to succeeded to your rolls, no prob, the rolls will just have to be for the XP for Rings and Vocations.

About that, you pick two dice, sum them both, and you add that result to the XP of both the Ring and the Vocation, no division.

Kalajel, can you explain the formula you used ? I saw 1d10, 1d10, 1d10, 1d10, 1d10, RA.
What's the RA ?

I simply noted my dice as "1d10, 1d10, 1d10, 1d10, 1d10". RA is Reroll Aces, which allows you to reroll your dice if they roll the max.

Oh ok, good to know then :)

Thanks :)

So, do the XP applied to both or do we have to split it? Can we pick the die we picked for our rolls as one of those two XP dice or is it off limit now?

It's not split, and yes you can use the roll dice in the XP calculation.

Varian said it.

Alright I'm almost ready to start, I've decided on a matsu magistrate. For anyone interested, her not-so-brief bio is on there.

I believe the appropriate response is "SQUEEEEEEEEE!"

Ehem... Welcome, it will be good to have a Lion in the mix. This is going to get interesting :)

Sorry, but I am dropping out. This is the second time I've tried play by post games, but it's just not my thing. Good luck and have fun!

Sorry to see you go fallible, goodbye.

Sorry you don't find your fun on this format.

Bye, falible. We'll miss you. Take care, and don't worry... I'm sure Inara will make sure Yoshi eventually gets some sleep, and eats his vegetables :p

Be well.

Actually, it's 1 die per attribute which are not at 0 (which given the amount of points we were given at character creation, should be all 5 of them). Also, do not forget to check the small box labelled "Reroll Aces" next to your roll as your 10s can explode.

What do you mean 10s can explode? why wouldnt i want a max roll?

By explode he means it is actually not a max roll, because if you roll a 10, then you reroll it, and the result is 10+the new roll. That's why you want to "reroll aces".

I guess, the best example I can give is my post here where I managed to roll an 18 with my last d10...

The week has been a bit chaotic ... I answer tomorrow, promise.

So that was my first PBP post ever, so feel free to tell me if there is anything I'm doing wrong

It's good to go for me.
You got me with that one, big smile right on the start.

Yoshi being a kami was obviously unplanned, and as recently as my last post, I’ve been treating him as fully human. Honestly, I don’t feel like editing all of that, so I’m just going to treat it like a retcon – as far as Inara knows, he’s always been a kami, nothing has changed.

I have also just started a new job – I love it very much but it does take up a lot of the Brain Processing Power during the day, and my shifts are 12-13 hours long. So, at least until I get a rhythm going with my schedule, you may see some shorter posts from me, and/or they may not get done until my days off. But I’m here and all is well! Take care, and I’ll post in the main chat soon.

Correct me if I am incorrectly understanding Itsumi's role in the story thus far; new commander, in control of a company size element, attempting to maneuver that element to attack the Lion Clan from the rear at Dawn while the other Cranes attack from front.

I can't imagine being concerned with reports of a scream in a near by village unless I misunderstood something.

So far, i tried to make you in command for two different aspects.

First, you are the officer in command for the night watch, so everything happening will be reported to you to be managed. That night watch changes every night to set up a rotation among the officers.

Second, your squad for the day to come, setting up for battle.
In the plans you wrote, you said your squad would be going north to take the strengths of the Lion on two sides.

The reports the sentries gave you indicate they perceived strange cries coming from the area you planned to use to hide your troops, waiting for the battle.

If i wasn't clear enough on that point, i apologize.

Ah ok, I think the only confusion on my end was the map and location of this and that. The scream came from the village, right? I thought I was staging people much further north across the river than that.

Yes, they come from the village.

Oh, further north. Got it. But you would have to get near the village to get to that position, and the sentries can't give you a precise location, but instead a direct orientation.

I hope I'm not overstepping here, but I'd be more concerned with the possibility of the Lion investigating the scream too (if you're hearing it from the castle, they're probably hearing it too) and catching me with my pants down trying to flank them.

Yes, you can attack and roll for that

Eyeofskadi ? Anything wrong ?

sorry, work got too busy. It lets up after Saturday.

In the story I must be alone in being lost. I thought I had left my tent to go lead the soldiers in an ambush at dawn from the rear of the lions and I dont understand why I am still in the tent. I have nothing to say to the other players at the moment since my character is only interested in the current conflict.

The scream was heard almost immediately after you left the room Inara met you in (there was time for her to be escorted to the guest room and have a brief convo with Yoshi, which possibly took 10 minutes, tops). Your men have been clamoring to report to you. After the scream Inara was immediately escorted to (what I am assuming is) the war room, and I doubt the walk took longer than 5 minutes.

I hope that helps lay out the timing :)

In my theatre of mind I was in private tent. My sergeants were getting final preparations and staged to move out. You guys showed up unexpected, I rushed you out because I was trying to go to the Soldiers. A sentry reported a scream, I ordered it to be looked at by whomever is on guard that night and then left to meet with the assaulting force.

but I also thought we were camped outside the village but we're in the village I guess? I still wouldnt know what I would need to talk to Inara about. I'll combine your description with what I just said and hopefully I can get on the same page as the DM. Sorry for any confusion.

I'm not sure i understand how you feel being outside the village, or near the village.

Crane's army is at the moment inside the castle of Shiro Daidoji.


I haven't updated that map for now, but TOGASHI Suzume and MATSU Reiko are in the village, while ASAKO Inara and KAKITA Itsumi are inside the Shiro Daidoji, one of the fortress of the Crane Clan.

As for the scene currently running, Inara is not alone in front of Itsumi's door, there is also the ambassador of the Scorpion, BAYUSHI Akami, (the scorpion in your contacts).

I'll answer tonight.

My first attack felled 2 attackers, is it because I ended up with a result that was twice the difficulty, or was the difficulty taking into account that there were 2 attackers. I guess what I'm getting at is, if I roll an 18 do I kill all of the attackers, or do I kill only one, because there's no way to get to 36?

Consider the difficulty for the group. I can't promise you'll manage the whole group in one roll (still depends on your roll).
Basically, it's a mix between the efficiency and the endurance of the task.

The idea behind is that i set up a difficulty for the round, depending on the number of opponents. That difficulty is used both to attack and defend, and so, you can resolve it in only one roll.
Given that, the narration should be more fluid.

I get the intention, but it makes it more difficult for me to gauge the result of the roll, and narrate it. I'll give it a go though.

With that roll, 2 of 3 are out, no prob.

I had guessed as much, so I posted a combat narration that definitely kills 2, and attacked the third, but didn't give the result of the attack, so that you can give the result yourself. Is that ok?

Yes, perfect, thanks :)

Eyesofskadi, I'm standing by to see how you react before I reply

Question for gurthor: would you consider that those peasants have broken the law ?

Well attacking an emerald magistrate is definitely a least a gray area ^^. Kidding aside, I did announce who I was right from the get-go, so yes, I would.

Ok thanks :)

Kalajel, can you roll in the OOC topic for rolls the roll i asked for perception "Water + Monk" in your case, please ?

Oh, sorry.

Thanks :)

Well, that was worth asking xD

I'd just like clarification, because 3+3+6 makes 12 and it also says there are 10 remaining and 3 out for the turn. The numbers don't seem to line up, and i want to be extra sure before i roll and post.

Thanks for the warning, and mea culpa.

I updated my post after recalculating all the people, it should be better.

Here's a record of the battle so far (just made it, and i think i will keep that format to keep notes on battles ...)

Blue are the allies, black are the opponents.
Red are dead, purple are KO, and green are out for 1 turn.

thank you for clarifying that.
Rolling for combat

@Gurthor: Kawanabi succeeded his roll, i don't know if that changes anything on your post.

Well I thought the difficulty was 18, so with a 15 he probably hits with his arrow and manages to stop the subsequent attack (I had left it hanging to allow you to have him get injured). Is that all right? Does he kill the attacker with his arrow?

Yes he does

Right, I'll edit my previous then

Just out of curiosity, the free invoke for my Aspect. Is it per scene? Per day? Per adventure?

It depends on the situation. Sometimes, it is because you have discover a new Aspect on some elements of the scene, sometimes, you will have work to make it happen. I consider here is that case. Thay's how you can gain those free invokes.

The use, though, is unitary, it's like you have 1 free point to spend on that Aspect, for the current scene.

GM's Intervention, please do not answer more on the IG topic until some clarifications.
Can you tell me where that affirmation comes from, Varian, please ?

I don't remember Itsumi mentioning that to Inara, but maybe i'm missing something here.

Pre-game briefing with you, unless I am terribly mistaken. That was info I received from the Council. If that is not correct, I will edit my response accordingly.

Varian has changed her text following the discussion we had this night.

Given eyeofskadi has already answered, i suppose the next time i need to stop the RP, i'll have to lock the topic. No problem for me.

We can go again.

Thanks.

I believe we've all had a turn though, so you're up delio!

I know, my turn, i'll look for the answer :)

Sorry for the confusion, guys. My bad, I got a bit of ooc (for me) info I picked up from Itsumi's thoughts mixed up with what I know from the Council. But the records of that are in my personal subforum, which is still missing.

But we worked it out. :-) Thanks for your patience, Delio. Looking forward to the next round.

I feel like there is some misunderstanding on both our parts here.
From my perspective, Itsumi is not waiting for reports. He planned a coordinated pre-dawn raid/attack on the Lion clan that he was/is going to lead and thus needs to leave now.

Or am i not in charge of troops directly but of this city/town Shiro Daidoji?

Both, actually, for that night at least. And your own troops all the time.

For what i remember, you had some reports talking about strange fighting sounds coming from the village AND the direction of the area where you will be supposed to stay before ambushing the Lion's army.

Given that area is, for the tactic of the next day, a crucial aspect of the strategy put in place, there is too much risk if this area is compromised by the Lion.

In fact, and again, if memory serves, Itsumi sent scouts to determine the origin of the reported battle sounds.

A little precision for Kalajel, i just read your post.

The peasant who greeted Suzume and Sakura are elders of the village, above 40 years old, and you have seen no other than them when you arrived.

The ones who attacked during the night were younger, between 25 and 35 years old.

Ah, ok. I'll do a slight edit to my post then...

Hey... where is everybody? :)

Sorry guys, I'm moving within three weeks and I've been a little busy what with work and preparing for the move. I'll post right away

Take your time, you all have been patient with me, same goes for you :)

Welcome to Qralloq and Windyridge.

You have a bit to read before entering. Scorpio or Crab clans available.
I explained of background to let the Scorpio entering the game, we'll have to discuss about the Crab, i'm open to ideas.
For a reminder, the Great Wall was pierced during the return of the Unicorn clan, and so, threats may well have infiltrated the kingdom.

I'll set up the character sheets for both of you, i'll have to think about the private OOC section ...

Looks like the old guard is here. :D

Who you calling old? Young whippersnappers ain't got no respect, these days. Back when I was a punk kid, I said please and thank you or I got the back side of a hand, I tell ya.

Ok boomer. :P

Guess I'm making a Crab! How about a Kaiu siege engineer there for morale support against the lion. Yasuki spouse, divided loyalties, I'm assisting the Crane because that protects extended relations.

As to repairing the Carpenters Wall, my secondary duty is to gather some of the more unusual supplies needed.

Could you develop your idea a bit ? I'm not against it, but i'll need further explanations to make it work.
Crab and Crane have never been in any good relation, they literaly hate each other, especially since the Yasuki have deserted the ranks of the Crane.

Kaiu engineer is a great idea, and with the Yasuki spouse, you got a nice network to move with.

Well, they don't hate each other. the Crane generally hate the Yasuki on principle, then again, individual Yasuki have individual bonds all over the clan. I think we can assume there is going to be some animosity towards a Kaiu though... ^^

True, thank you for the precision :)

Quick question for gurthor and kalajel.
Do you want Reiko and Suzume to go together to meet the commander in charge at the fortress, or only Reiko ?
What should i do with your seconds ? Sakura and Hidekatsu ? Do they come too ?

I suspect KAWANABI has his own orders, reading what Reiko told him, and he will manage that on his own, but i still wonder, especially for Sakura.

Kawanabi has his orders, so he's not going to be there. Reiko's imposed on Suzume at the village to have his story as early as possible, and requested his help, he is under no obligation to assist her beyond giving testimony though. As far as Reiko is concerned he's an asset and is welcome to any meeting but it's up to him

Hate is fine, adds to the drama. The idea I had is that I was traded to the Crane for assignment. Additional material (not stone or earth, but specialized items such as rope, compounds for mortar, special woods, etc.) is needed to repair the wall, material that the Crane have. In order to achieve the trade, they opted for the Yasuki patented trade as gifts. The Crane need this expertise in siege warfare. The Kaiu need these materials.

Longer story, grew up in the household of Yasuki Yashiki as parents dwelt there while administering and maintaining the Watchtower of the East. Fell for a Yasuki girl as children, and the matchmakers were encouraged to make it official.

As an adult, have spent time in the wall, at the watchtower, and the Black Crane Estates.

Ok, sounds good to me :) Go for it :)

Yeah, given that I was sent by my clan champion to figure out what this conflict was all about (and see how it was linked to this prophecy), I would go. I'd leave Sakura behind with instructions to try and talk to the castle's servants and see what else she can learn.

Ok, perfect. I'll post right away, thanks :)

I've start building him, and I'll noodle on the Aspects and Schemes part tonight.

Welcome mcneils5, our new scorpio.

Windyridge has told me this game was too much to handle, so she decided not to take the place. No worry, mcneils5 will do wonder i'm sure :)

Hi all, glad to be onboard and don't worry you'll be able to completely trust and confide in my character, all the things you've heard about Scorpions are just scurrilous rumours.......honest.......

Oh well that's a relief...

Yay, for open and honest dialog. Say, this Rokugan sure is different than I remember.

Everyone has posted in the story ?

We're missing Itsumi's turn I think

It's been almost 2 weeks though... Life happens, and we all understand that. But communication is important

I'll answer today to move forward, we'll see what happens.

And what follows, boys and girls, is what happens when Inara is allowed to roam about unsupervised, without her dear paranoid bodyguard to remind her not to take candy from strangers.

Damn it Yoshi, where are you when I need you?? XD

What's the plan? It's been a couple weeks.

I'll answer this WE, and we'll talk about your characters right after.

It's good for you Qralloq, you can join the story. How do you want to get into it ?

Where KAIU Ichiro is supposed to be and what is he doing ?

Remember to roll for the relationships of Ichiro, that will give him people to know across the empire.

Hey all, I'm going to drop out before I get involved. I'm not very keen on games with very slow posting rates, as I lose track of my internal character's motivations and plans.

Best of luck!

Okay. Cool man. I know slow-paced games are not everyone's cup of tea.

Best of luck to you too :)

Hi, all. I just wanted to check in, it seems we're missing a few posts for the week. How is everyone doing?

Sorry guys, I saw your posts when I didn't have time to respond, thought to myself, "I'll do it tonight", and then proceded to convince myself I had already answered. Post done.

No need to apologize! I just wanted to be sure you guys were good. Life happens :)

And Covid happens too, so I agree, it's good to know you're fine.

I'm perfectly fine, I've more or less finished to move (I'm now much closer to you Delio) and I'm in a relatively COVID free countryside. I'm just dumb too and thought about my answer in my head, and thought I'd written it down...

Don't worry about that, i don't count anymore how many time it happened to le back in time.

Where are you now ?

Right beside Saintes, barely an hour's drive from you

Wow indeed, we're neighbours :o

That's great :)

@mcneils5
How is Toshi going ?

@Eyeofskadi
Do you want to answer and take the real initiative of the battle to come ?

I'll answer tonight, after work.

Hey, still need to get the last couple of bits with them polished off. Works been crazy the last few weeks but I'm off next week so should have a bit more clear time to get finished and up to speed with everything.

And whilst I think on I need to do you some rolls......

Just a note about my katana. I did mention in my background that I left my original katana with my family when I left the Crane. The katana I currently carry was gifted to me by the Dragon clan and is very plain.

Oh right. I'm sorry.

I'll correct after a bit of sleep. Do as if I didn't write that.

First: i've updated my post so that the katana is not from the Crane Clan. Thanks for the call here Kalajel.

Second: one question after reading Itsumi's post. I wouldn't want to appear quibbling here, but does it seem consistent to you all, given the battles waged so far, that a single series of passes is enough to kill 5 militarily trained opponents, at once ?
I more or less remember that Reiko and Suzume struggled to defeat more than two opponents in the same action, and a lot of times it was only temporary for the second opponent.

We'll go with the flow for that round, as it is currently written, but I would like your opinion for the next posts, please ?

It would depend on the roll really, what I used as a rule on the first fight, was that every +10 increment on my roll above the difficulty set was a definite kill, and that the last, incomplete +10, i'd leave the action open for your decision on the result. On a really good roll that was 2 kills and a maybe. Then the difficulty of the roll had a bit of influence on the result of the fight beyond just success or failure. That was my rule of thumb, you could make it every +5,or every +difficulty/2 or whatever, or decide o' something else entirely

This seems to be one of those games where story telling trumps rules mechanics. Seems whatever helps with making a cool story would work, within reason.

For example, during my combat, I was fighting mostly unarmed against armed peasants, so it would make sense for me to be able to knock out or hamper about up to two opponents at most per round as I would have had to dodge and weave inside the reach of their weapons.

Finally, you are the GM as well as the creator of the game system. If you feel a PC is giving himself too much liberty in narrating his results, you are free to intervene and tone it down a bit: "You killed 5 trained enemies at once? Let's just say you killed 3, and the remaining 2 are now hesitating to attack you after seeing their 3 buddies fall to your blade instead..."

You know what the spirit of your system is meant to incapsulate, and after all, we are playing L5R and not Exalted...

Oh I didn't imagine a single series of anime style passes. But a fight. I just chose more brevity in the description than to describe each individual combat, describing instead the start and end result like how Tolkein wrote the Battle of Helms Deep in Two Towers (he just jumps straight to the after math! and obviously im not comparing myself to Tolkein in talent)

So, he got ahead of his people, got surrounded, used the momentum of his charge to engage and came out victorious. By the end of it his people had caught up and begun to engage the enemy before he could be overwhelmed again.

This, too, could be me not understanding the rule book when you describe the scales of success. Because my rolls met the difficult +3 then I "succeed, no more, no less." so I interpret that as "whatever you were trying to do you succeed at but you don't gain a particular advantage". Is that right?

Maybe a clearer "this is roughly what success looks like, this is what failure looks like with such and such parameters" would help. Examples in the rule book might illustrate the bounds of each better.

In this combat it seemed success was dealing with the enemies, larger success was dealing with them and then something like the smoke shifted in such a way to give advantage to the Crane clan somehow. Then absolute failure would be mortal or severe injury, partial failure wounded or disarmed, meeting the target struggling to fend them off through a series of parries.

Where did the +10 come from? on page 40 it only shows +3 and +6 and -3 and -6.

It's what I imagined would be good increments of the original difficulty, as we are using d10. At that time there was no +3 or +6 anywhere in the rules, and I had to imagine how well I was doing in the fight from a single roll and the difficulty setting. It allowed me to roleplay the fight to an extent. I knew a 36 for a difficulty 12 allowed me to kill at least 2 of the 3 guys I was against, if not all three of them, I left that to the judgement Delio.
From what I understand though, the +/- three indicates a kind of stalemate, and if you reach +/- 4 then you have truly succeeded or failed. What I would understand for a I fight is that on a difficulty 18, if I roll 21 I manage to keep everyone at bay, and maybe injure one or 2 guys, but not kill anyone. I'm not saying I'm right mind, just that that's how I understand the rules.

I've been trying to decide whether to voice my opinion here or not... my concern isn't so much about the mechanics, but the consistency and flow of the character development.... While I will concede to each his own, I am alarmed by Itsumi's transition from the disgruntled commander who was rushed and hyperfocused during the first night, into a man who looks at members of a rival clan as little more than animals. Arrogance is one thing... abject racism and reveling in violence against a dehumanized "other" is quite a different matter. It is chilling to read, and deeply disturbing to me as a player.

Play your character as you want, I will not ask anyone to cater to my worldview here. But Delio has encouraged me to voice my concerns, so... there it is. I am concerned by the sudden transition I saw in Itsumi, and worry about what will happen when he must interact with the other PCs further into the game if he is to remain consistent in his... ah... racial prejudice.

They are different clans, not different races. Mocking the/a symbol that represents the/an enemy is entirely normal. "Othering" them, is too. It's the furthest thing from a racism. Now, it might be interesting to ask where these thoughts/actions fall in line with Bushido and the Honor system (was there a foil to the honor system? I don't see one in the custom rules). Does this system apply to explicit actions witnessed or to ones internal private dialogue as well?

I am pleased that my writing gave you chills though :)

I see that you misunderstood the tone of my comment completely, so let me be clear. It was not a compliment. And the fact that you, the player, take pleasure in my discomfort only proves the point I made.

Ok, thank you all for your feedback.

A bit of explanation for the system then.

The Resolution Table was created in order to emulate the actions to be taken and the obstacles to be overcome, as well as the opponents to fight, both solo and in groups.

In general, when you manage to overcome the given difficulty, you will decrease the tenacity of a rank, until you have completed the task (if the latter requires an effort over time) or defeated the opponent. In the case of opponents, if it is a group, tenacity also represents the number of members of the group you face, they are certainly thought to be second knives and not heroes, but a rank of Tenacity represents an opponent, not the whole.

Taking this into account, eyeofskadi's description is noticeably too advantageous for Itsumi, all the more so that, from a technical point of view, a difficulty of 18, overcome at 21, only makes a margin of 3, no of 6 (which is required so that a success offers advantage too). This implies that the situation should not also become advantageous for Itsumi, which is the case with the return of his men.
However, as I said, we will do with it, it is written that way, and I'll deal with that in my next post.

Yes, I know, the book lacks concrete examples (but on the other hand, the Resolution Table is supposed to address the GM).

Still, Varian raised an important point, and for her part, it is clearly a Red Flag. After rereading, I would tend to agree with her, the comments made by Itsumi are, at the very least, borderline.
This is not "othering" as you may want to. I would agree if we were talking about one corrupted by the magic of Fu Leng, but that's not the case here.
And so, it's dehumanizing, clearly, and not only does it completely disagree with the basic respect I demand in my games, but it also disagrees with the way the characters think and act in Rokugan, and ESPECIALLY in what concerns the obsequious Crane clan.

So I'll ask you to change only that part, only the "pathetic creature". And for the next posts, be careful not to confuse arrogance with pure hatred.

And just to be perfectly clear on that. Next time I read something like that, there will be no mechanics used to vary the character. It will be a direct ban from the game to the player.

That being said, topic closed, thank you all again for your feedback and understanding, and I'm looking to see you soon in game (mcneils5 you can join the game, on invitation of BAYUSHI Akami).

Yes, Varian, you should be challenged by writing. Not that I intended such a challenge. It's quite the compliment to receive, though. Especially over such a hackneyed post.

I fear, though, that you have been adversely influenced (as many have) by the cultural constructionism taught in schools and academia. You are victim to the inane, irrational ramblings of critical theorists and post modernist thought. When you first levied the complaint I had to go back and re-read, "did I write a racial slur? Did I comment on skin color?" I wondered. Why would I do that? But instead I see the most banal description which you found "deeply disturbing."

That ought concern you. That words so banal and common place shakes you to your core.

When I wrote, "What a pathetic creature." I was clearly referencing the animal. Not the people. The way you would make fun of someone who used a worm as a mascot. Or a flea. Perhaps the language barrier created such confusion.

Regardless, I will not make any changes or edits. You will delete or edit as you see fit. I will bow out as we fundamentally disagree on nebulous terms such as "racism" and what is considered "dehumanizing language" and I will not kowtow to such loose restrictions.

I urge you to become "unwoke" for the sake of your sanity and mental health, though. I like you, Varian, and think you're a great and interesting writer but I fear you have been conditioned to feel so strongly about nothing. It's very likely you do not know the origins of these philosophies and so I recommend you this to read.

good night! Good luck! And thanks for all the fish!

I'm going to put my grain of sand in, as there seems to be little point in treading soflty anymore. I'll address the issue of racism and of good writing in the mentioned post because I feel they both need to be adressed. As I've mentioned before, I, like Delio, am from France, so I look at what happens over the Atlantic with an outsider's eye, and at a different angle perhaps than anyone living there. While there is no denying that the US are in dire need of social justice (something France has striven for for as long if not longer than the US, while not achieving it completely either), and prejudice and plain old bigotry (be it racism, homophobia, or any other bigotry) are on blatant display (well, more blatant than usual what with the white house's current tenant), I also feel... Perplexed, let's say, by some of the lengths activists are going to lately in the name of that selfsame social justice. One example among a few is this cultural appropriation shenanigans. In today's world, where the Internet is the great spreader of cultures around the world, and where love and appreciation for someone different than oneself becomes in pretty rare supply, jumping on everyone for any perceived cultural appropriation seems bizarre to me. I get the uproar over blackface, and monetization of another cultures items, but Beyoncé disguised as an Egyptian in a video clip does not remotely ring any alarm bell for me. Another example is Adele's weight loss. Because she was a role model for plus size women, it felt like she wasn't allowed to lose weight if that's what she wanted. I could go on for a while (don't get me started on Rowling's late controversies) but my point is, I feel fairly, well, fair, with both sides of this type of argument. Now to get back to eyeofskadi post.
The text in itself is not stirring. It's fairly confused and while you understand that it's about the Lion as an animal, it's not clear if that's an analogy for the soldiers.
If it is, it's awkward, in the fact that it implies relying on women is bad, while it's a pride of the Lion clan that it's women are equal to their men in everything. If it's not an analogy for the soldiers, while it's less dehumanizing, it makes little to no sense to call pathetic an animal considered as the king of animals by most cultures on earth, that is proud and strong and, well, not pathetic at all.
In any case taunting a man because of his birth (in a specific clan or ethnic group, or because of a physical or mental deformity) is still bigotry if not racism.
As for the second part of the post, good old "bits of viscera flying everywhere" does nothing for me. It's not graphic enough to shock me, and it's generic enough to bore me.
So, was the post "challenging" in the sense of well turned out prose? Nope.
It was awkward to read because it made no sense from a character point of view, or it was racist, or both. What disturbed me though was your first answer to Varian where you were weirdly proud of it, while denying what Varian felt was disturbing him could be disturbing. You could have claimed the character was in fact a bit prejudiced against lion clan for any character development reason, but were instead denying it was prejudice, while being proud that it was disturbing.
When you add to that your attitude of the first chapter where you were ignoring Delio's attempts at storytelling (and at including you in the story) because you had decided you were going to an ambush, eager for some bloodletting (and we've seen what happened at first blood) it feels like you only care about your opinions and view those of others as worth less than yours (either another form of bigotry or sociopathy, by the way)
So like you said, goodbye and good luck.
PS: It's "so long and thanks for all the fish"

*sigh*

One less problem then. And yeah, Don't be proud to have raised a Red Flag from a player. One day, I will learn to correctly formulate everything that passes between my synapses, without loss.
Thank you for that gurthor.

We have a story to continue, may we have some fun doing it :)

Thank you, indeed. Both of you. I lost 4 years of my life living with a sociopath, I know the signs, and that individual is the main reason I still cannot bring myself to play face-to-face games and actually relax enough to have fun. So I am grateful that.... well... that I'm not alone here.

I work in EMS, so 13+ hour days for me, and I'm in the middle of a 6-day stretch. I will have the time and mental space to answer Thursday, and I look forward to meeting everyone properly :)

I have no idea what happened here. By wanting to avoid doing any meta gaming, I avoided reading other people's post until our characters were in the same area... Feels like I'm going to need to read up on past posts because seems like I missed something HUGE.

Your choice, but don't bother if you don't want to read those posts and spoil you about the story.

We had a player wanting to play nearly alone and on his own, and on his own conditions, he's gone, that's all there is to say i suppose.

I'll have to manage my own feelings there, but that doesn't change the story running. And happily, his character was on his own when he defected, so none of you will be impacted.

Yeah kalajel, nothing really interesting happened. He wanted samurai swordfight, he had this idea of springing an ambush through the village where we were fighting with the possessed peasants, and wouldn't invest in anything else, not even when meeting varian's character would he interact. A mere "right, OK, well toodaloo, I'm off to spring an ambush" and that was that. You could feel all through it that he was frustrated and waiting longer and longer between posts because of it. And then the last post on the 2nd part of the story (that Delio tailored just so he could have his fight and glory) and the back and forth on this post where he was so weird with varian again.
If you want to go back and read it all, you won't find much that is interesting, I promise ^^

Alright,

Now, I want to start by stating that it is not my intent to offend or insult anyone here, I am just stating my opinion here as to how I perceived the whole incident.

Well, I did read eyeofskali's post as some of Varian's when Inara interacted with Itsumi. I got some elements spoiled, but oh well, I really wanted to get at the bottom of this. I'm wondering if this whole mess was not created by a lack of a social contract. Basically, a social contract is a living, mutable document which states which subjects should not be discussed during gameplay. Some people use the X-Card, me, personally, am more partial to the social contract...

I'm simply saying this because Itsumi's sociopathic behavior seems to have triggered some bad memories in Varian, and the whole subject of dehumanizing someone else seems to be a hot button topic for some here (which I find a bit odd given we're playing in Rokugan: a fantasy world with a very rigid caste system which quite literally considers its lower rungs to be non-humans, but hey, maybe Delio's Rokugan is not the same one I'm use to play in...). Quite clearly, there are some subjects which should not be approached here.

There's also the possibility that there are some cultural differences at work here, and that edgelord behavior is viewed quite differently in Europe than it is here in North America... Edgelord behavior is certainly a nuissance and detrimental to everyone's enjoyment of the game, but the reaction to it felt a bit overblown, from my point of view at least...

Which, again, is why I'm suggesting the implementation of a social contract (or lines and veils, if you prefer) to avoid this sort of incident in the future. I certainly do not want one of my posts to potentially and unintentionally offend anyone here, and as such, I feel I need to know what are the boundaries here (not that I intend on being an edgelord, I got this out of my system a long time ago).

I understand your point of view (though I admit to not knowing exactly what edgelord behaviour is, I can infer general meaning from the context). I'll point out though that we largely let him be for the first chapter despite his attitude and, for my part at least, as I can't speak for either Varian or Delio, it was more his attitude towards varian's post that made me react. I thought his post was not good, but that lined up with his trend from chapter one, and didn't particularly shock me.
I've had a controversial post in another game, I myself opened the debate on it as I knew it could be uncomfortable, and I explained the reasoning in character terms behind the post, listened to other people's thoughts and reactions, and made changes appropriately. He just went "nope I won't bow down to tyranny" and felt pleased with himself... That was my red flag.
I don't know if we need a social contract, but I can certainly abide by one if you guys feel like we do need one.

An edgelord is an internet term and does not limit itself to tabletop roleplaying games. Surprisingly enough, the Miriam-Webster dictionary seems to have a definition, or more like an explanation of the term. In a tabletop roleplaying game, the edgelord will often decide to be a lonewolf, play a brooding character with a tragic background oh so tragic that explains his character's worldview and behaviors but he always refuses to talk about it, usually dresses in black, and then of course there are the whole revelling in violence.

I love Seth Shorkowsky's take on it.

OK got it, thanks for the links.
I don't think he was an edgelord then, he was just disgruntled every time Delio steered him in a direction other than that damn ambush, and took more and more time to post each time he wasn't satisfied with the answer. Anyway, edgelord or not, he's gone.

There is one thing you all don't know which informs my position. Eyeofskadi and I had been exchanging PMs periodically, and there have been vaguely racist and sexist comments made in that context. I could care less about "bits of viscera" or whatever... it was the person I saw in private that was beginning to anger and scare me, and it bubbled over when he began expressing that kind of dehumanizing behavior in the game too.

If someone wants to play a violent or sociopathic character, fine. But in real life, more than once, I have had my sociopathic ex-friend and GM use "it's what this character/NPC would do" to justify mind controlling my PCs into sexual situations because he knew about certain... ah... traumas in my past. Things like that. ...I'm sorry if it seems like I overreacted, but this is one of the very first games I have played since that chapter of my life closed, and I can't deal with it again. This game is one of the few places I don't have to think about how many days I spend neck-deep in covid and mourning coworkers and friends who have died... all I want is to feel safe here, without someone ooc attacking my worldview and real-life perspectives and saying I'm wrong for having feelings and memories. I'm not trying to cause trouble, and this is coming at the end of a 14 hr day so I'm sorry if it makes no sense. I just want to play the game and have fun, that's literally all

It's fine. I was not aware of the PM exchanges. Let's just say that this new information puts things into a new perspective...

What do you mean?

I might have been wrong about the whole edgelord thing.

Copy that. Maybe, maybe not. For the most part I tried to ignore and not validate his weird comments, mostly I was just checking on him to be sure he was safe and trying to encourage him to talk to Delio. I could choose how much of that bigotry I saw I would engage with. *shrug* My concern was exactly as I stated, I was worried what would happen when we all had to start interacting - Reiko is a Lion, and I could see all kinds of ways for that interaction to go sideways, and that's not the game I came here to play. So I spoke up. Now he's gone, past is past, and we move forward.

I've given some thought to what you said about the Rokugani caste system. I have a rudimentary understanding of how that part of the society works, but to be honest, this is my first time in this world. I've never played the original game, and honestly, I'm getting by one topic at a time. (The L5R wiki is actually kind of amazing for that kind of focused topical research...) So the point you made is a fair one. There easily could come a time when something happens in game that bothers me for whatever reason because I don't recognize it as being "normal" for the world. If that happens, feel free to let me know. I would rather have the chance to grow a little, and I've seen enough from you, gurthor, and Delio to trust you can do that fairly :)

Time to go for me. I'll see you all tomorrow, unless by some miracle dispatch lets us breathe a bit today. Take care.

Hmm, I'm thinking about this, but having lost some players so far, are we using the two characters per player option now?

I'm seriously thinking about it, yes.

Waiting for mcneils5 to enter the in-game, and i'll post after that.

No worries, Delio :)

Hi all, thanks for your patience and the welcome messages scattered about :) . I've posted in the IC thread now so we'll see how everyone takes to Bayushi Tohi :)

I love Tohi's mask. Reminds me of Mazinger Z. The super robot fan in me approves.

Delio - Inara saw the battle with the peasants in the vision from the water kami, the one she shared with Itsumi. Does she remember it with enough clarity to recognize Reiko and Suzume?

Asking just for RP reasons and to inform her reactions.

I would say no.

It was night, they were fighting, the whole scene was somehow blurry, hard to recognize people in those conditions.

But Inara could suppose there is a link, and could suppose they are the Samurai she saw in her vision. But she can't be sure of that.

Unless asking :D

"Hey were you the guys fighting tonight ? I saw you I think, I bet on you. Did you win ?" :D
UFC style !!!!

Lol... Yeah, I'm sure Reiko would be THRILLED to know I was spying on the battle

We'll leave it as a nagging mystery for her, at least for now. Thanks for the clarity. I'll work on the reply properly asap, but it will definitely be done by tomorrow night

Hey guys! Hope you all had a good Thanksgiving weekend, and that you are all safe and well. Looking forward to continuing the story!

Hi Guys, anything wrong ?

I'm sorry, work's been crazy this past month. I'll try and find time to post properly tomorrow

Take your time, i just want to be sure you're all doing well.

I'm fine. I was just thinking that given the current situation, I should probably leave the other players do the talking.

Also, with the Holiday season coming, I'm fully expecting all games to slow down some...

I want to thank you all for that game, to have tried to make that story together.

We have one less player, he messaged me a few days ago saying he wanted to quit.

I'll close the game, again, thank you all for your patience and and for bringing this story to life.

Thanks, it was a cool game and an interesting homebrew system.

Take care, everyone - and thanks, I had fun.