OOC Discussion

[jemmus]

I'm going to copycat and give a nod and salute to Marullus's The Tale Thus Far.... thread and post a summary of events so far. It's been a fairly wild ride from character creation all the way to now. Good time to regroup, all get on page 2 (Morning of the Second Day ), and plan what their character wants to do next, I think.

I think we've well passed intro 1st Level. Can Ito, Katsumi, Kentaro, Omi and Taisho also make it to 2nd Level?

[jemmus]

I don't think the rule I proposed about daily upkeep for horses is good. Buke get charged 5sp for staying at an inn, compared to 5cp for non-buke. But I don't think the same should apply for horse fodder or stabling. That could turn into 13 or more sp for buke for himself and his horse per day. 390sp per month. The rules say that the 5cp or 5sp per night apply to inns. I propose that that rule only applies for extra hospitality at inns, not to all general purchases. So, 7cp per day for fodder, a little more for stabling.

(Nippon has post centers every 15-20 miles (around 7-10 ri on major roads. Land on each side of them is privately owned, if not developed. There isn't a lot of excuse for traveling along a highway with camping gear for roughing it in the wild like savages. It seems like daily expenses are a significant factor. At least in the more populated areas).

[jemmus]

I found my old 1st edition Bushido books from 1980. These are by Phoenix Games, not FGU. According to Wikipedia, Tyr Games first published Bushido in 1979 and quickly went out of business. I don't know where FGU fits into the history.

Most of the core stuff of the 2nd ed. Bushido system is in the 1st edition (character generation, BAP, MNA, etc.) But there are no Status rules mechanics. 1st edition is overall simpler and more easy to understand than 2nd edition. I'd say that 2nd ed. has at least twice as much text as 1st ed.

[jmacatty]

I have the same two books, plus a photostatic copy of the original TYR Players book.

[jemmus]

Wow, the Tyr one. I'm still looking for my Phoenix GM screen. Would be nice if it had a lot of useful stuff in one place, instead of having to always dig through the rulebook for things.

Honestly, I think the simpler 1st ed rules might appeal to a bigger market of players. But the same two guys who designed them expanded them and made them even more detailed and "quantified." Even more grognard hardcore wargamer-like, less reliant on GM discretion and more structured. I have to respect that, that was a lot of mental work on their parts. (At the time, Avalon Hill's Squad Leader and Cross of Iron (Advanced Squad Leader) board wargames were the creme de la creme among serious gamers. Very, very precision combat simulation rules. For example, we'd stretch dental floss from the dot at the exact center of a hex on the board to another one to see whether a terrain feature interrupted Line of Sight to the target. It got more complicated after that.

In any event, I think some things of Bushido replicate that grognard sentiment. It's an RP game, but it's also a wargame and a combat and world simulator. Pretty cool, I think.

[jemmus]

I don't remember if I've said this before, but I think by "gakusho," the designers meant "gakusha." Gaku (study) + sho (place) is, well, a place for study. Gaku + sha (master) is a scholar. Sha also appears in ninja: nin (persevere) + sha (master). Sha following an N sound changes to ja, just because it's easier to pronounce.

Just some trivia, what we call gakusho chars doesn't matter. (You can see I've got some time on my hands ATM ).

[jemmus]

I think we'll NPC Ito for a while, then he'll probably go his own way. Does anybody want to take over calling his tactical actions in case there's a combat? (Maybe Frank would enjoy a chance to run a bushi character?) I'd summarize Ito's way of fighting so far as:
-Fearless;
-A patient, pragmatic fighter.
If no one is interested, I can run him. I think I can manage to RP him and not let any GM omniscience about the situation creep in.

[ffilz]

I think we'll NPC Ito for a while, then he'll probably go his own way. Does anybody want to take over calling his tactical actions in case there's a combat? (Maybe Frank would enjoy a chance to run a bushi character?) I'd summarize Ito's way of fighting so far as:
-Fearless;
-A patient, pragmatic fighter.
If no one is interested, I can run him. I think I can manage to RP him and not let any GM omniscience about the situation creep in.

Let's just NPC him. I don't want to get myself in over my head. I'm very much enjoying this campaign, but there's definitely a lot to learn mechanically and the social systems so keeping to a single character is plenty for me. We'll see if I really last with two PCs in two campaigns...

EDIT:

I think I'm handling the social stuff OK for the Gakusho and assuming I am, I'm taking advantage of the merchant class Gakusho deferring to the samurai in most situations to have an easier load understanding the social game. I can see how that's not so easy for the Bushi characters...

[jemmus]

Alright, got it. Two PCs and both of them spellcasters is quite a bit. Anyone else have any interest? It wouldn't be taking of the entire character as a PC. It would just be calling his shots in combats. Or someone wanted to take Ito over as a PC, we could do that to. The player would have to RP them as separate characters, each with his own goals and self-interests, of course.

[jmacatty]

I could give that a try, but I would want you to keep me honest if I start to mesh the two characters too much. Right now they seem to have a good antagonism going.

[jemmus]

Alright, sounds good. I think you'll RP it fine. Omi's a pretty proud high rank samurai, compared to Ito being a low rank ronin. (I just realized that he and Kentaro are the same caste and rank).

[Marullus]

Alright, sounds good. I think you'll RP it fine. Omi's a pretty proud high rank samurai, compared to Ito being a low rank ronin. (I just realized that he and Kentaro are the same caste and rank).

No, we identified that discrepancy before. Ito copied Kentaro's character sheet and so that's leftovers where it says they're the same - you need to look at the other tab. Ito and Omi are both High Samurai (which is consistent with how they're being played.) If jmacatty doesn't want to play both high samurai, I could pick it up (to play low ronin/high samurai) but I would be happier if he did it.

[jemmus]

Oh, thanks for clarifying. That might be the third time I've forgotten that. I have to update my PCs cheatsheet.

[jemmus]

Please note Ito's backstory:
Ito Namagatchi was born into the Namagatchi clan, a smaller clan in the east, and served as an in-service Samurai from the earliest age. As his clan’s size diminished the skill of diplomacy and statesmanship became more important. To Ito, he felt that his ability to grow as a swordsman was reaching its pinnacle and he made the decision to move through the world without the backing of his clan in search of masters that had similar ability to those of lore. For the time being, he travels alone on this search but is open to what the world has to offer.
Since the Namagatchi are from the east, let's say that they're aligned with the Minamoto. And located in Kotsuke province, northeast of and adjacent to Kai, east of and adjacent to Shinano. Ito has headed westward toward central Nippon and the capital (Kyoto/Heian-kyo) for diplomatic reasons. To present his clan's name to the bigger Minamoto faction clans as he moves along. But he's veered away from the path to the capital itself, because he seeks to independently grow as a swordsman.

But there's a downside. At any point the Namagatchi can summon in service samurai such as Ito to report for service. The current needs, perceived needs, or goals of the clan override any samurai's personal goals or freedom to act. The chance of being recalled increase in times of hazard, emergency, famine, or turmoil. Or in times of opportunity. Ito knows and understands this.

Please note this also:
Master Quality Swords. BCS +3, damage +3. (Sell prices for Average katana, wakizashi 200 are 100 silver, 75 silver. There are Good and Superior grades in between).
Complete Light Samurai Armor (30lbs, AC 6 + level = 7). Unencumbered in his armor and with all of his stuff. BMA 6
Dai-kyu (Man-rating 2)
Strength 25. +2 damage with hand weapons (+5 total for kenjutsu with the Master swords!). Partially encumbered at 50 lbs.
Speed 18. MNA 2
Wit 10. (Not bad for a bushi).
Gold 10, Silver 2, Copper 127. He's not poor, but he's not even close to being able to buy a warhorse (500 Silver) (without selling his dai-sho and downgrading weapons). For now, it's foot travel and lugging the stuff.
Igaku (Physician) skill

[jemmus]

Excel grid for tracking combat movement, distances and facings. There's probably a better, more attractive way, but I don't know of it. Roll20 would be good, but it's online, not offline. Dungeon Painter Studio could be good, but requires a time investment to learn, then time making the images.
https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/azp8mnpl ... emrz6btn8k

[ffilz]

I will be out of town Tuesday to Friday so less attentive and while I'll have internet, I'll just have my phone so it will be harder to do mechanical stuff or write long expositions.

[jemmus]

I haven't heard back from Enoch, so I don't have permission to NPC Katsumi. We'll have to hand-wave him as not being present at the boulders field. Maybe Taisho's cooking didn't agree with him.

[jemmus]

I've been on a samurai films binge recently. Here are some recommended ones.
Seven Samurai - The classic 50's film. Great story and great acting. Samurai, ronin and heimin vs. bandits. Kind of like our PCs. $3.99 to rent on Amazon.
Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning - The first of three movies based on a manga series. Very bloody, but a good story. I can't figure out how they managed some of the katana swordplay stunts. On Netflix.
Onibaba - A horror movie from the 60s, I think. A woman and her daughter-in-law make their living by looting armor and weapons from battlefield corpses. They find a Noh drama demon mask. Free bootleg on Youtube.
Rashomon - Also from the 50s or 60s. A robber murders a Heian Era samurai in the woods and rapes his wife. But was it a duel and a consensual relationship instead? Everyone's story is different.

[jemmus]

Bad news for me-- the owners at work installed keylogger software. Every time we press a key it gets stored in a record. I've been doing most of my posting at work during lunch and breaks. Having ownership reading my private life RPG writing isn't optimal. So I just wanted to let everyone know that my posting rate might go down some. Hopefully not.

[ffilz]

Bad news for me-- the owners at work installed keylogger software. Every time we press a key it gets stored in a record. I've been doing most of my posting at work during lunch and breaks. Having ownership reading my private life RPG writing isn't optimal. So I just wanted to let everyone know that my posting rate might go down some. Hopefully not.

Bummer.

I love working remotely for an open source company. First they wouldn’t install a key logger. Second, since all the work is open, I actually do almost all of it on my personal laptop so there is no cause fir work to complain.