OOC Discussion

[ffilz]

I'm going to be off to the beach for the week. I will have my laptop and phone, but likely won't have that much time to check in.

[jemmus]

It's a cold, dark, and lonely winter night for Taisho, Akemi, Haruto, Hiroshi, and Buru. And for the whole crew ready to get up and port the load all way to Kamakura, in mid-winter. Sharing an inn with snoring porters and yakuza.

In the depths of the night, Akemi hisses and whispers, Taisho... Haruto. Wake up, Hiroshi, Buru. The girl points with her nose and indicates with her eyes a yakuza who is about to depart the common room and the lonely wintry inn.

[ffilz]

You might want to move this post…

[jemmus]

That's the second time I've posted on the wrong thread this week. Too many distractions while posting (cat on the keyboard, incoming calls, minor home emergencies, etc.) I just deleted the post entirely, please disregard it. I want to give you guys some more time to post before moving things ahead.

[ffilz]

I forget, I know Taisho started training Prana-Yoga, did he do enough training to gain some skill?

[jemmus]

I see from my records that Taisho completed one full week of training in prana-yoga.

[ffilz]

I see from my records that Taisho completed one full week of training in prana-yoga.

OK, got it, so he has a Kowledge of 15 in Prana Yoga and BCS 5 (15/3 + 2)

[jemmus]

Nice. Not bad for a week of downtime.

[jemmus]

Just an FYI that I have an eastern front, western front, and northern front all open at once in RL at the moment. One was expected and planned, but the other two weren't. If my posted seem hurried and/or imprecise, that's why. In a week or so things should be back to normal.

[jemmus]

Sorry, I will try and catch up next week. Between the holidays, transition of employment, Comcast upgrading infrastructure in our neighborhood, and more, I haven't been able to focus on this as much as I should. I need to read all the postings and come up with Hiroshi's and Taisho's responses.

No problem, of course, Frank. I've been very bad at the GMing-- but there is a scheme, plan, story arc, or something. You guys set out to visit the Raijin shrine, somewhere deep in the flat seaboard region of Nippon. It's many days of travel away, maybe 10 more days and nights. On highways full of snow. And low, gray winter skies

[jemmus]

Sorry, I will try and catch up next week. Between the holidays, transition of employment, Comcast upgrading infrastructure in our neighborhood, and more, I haven't been able to focus on this as much as I should. I need to read all the postings and come up with Hiroshi's and Taisho's responses.

There hasn't been much for Taisho and Hiroshi to post actions about. Here's a summary of recent events.
-There was the fight with the yakuza in the warehouse.

-The next day on the road, there was a huge blizzard. Haruto protected the group with protection from cold spell. To do that, he had to take a more humble position in the center of the group instead of at the front, at the risk of losing some Status within the group. "Familiarity breeds contempt" and all that. It hasn't come up yet. It might if he or someone else need to persuade the group to do or not do something.

-The next day the group was snowbound in an inn. The Shinto gakusho kamunushi of the local shrine visited them and channeled a kami. She advised them that having Fuujin as a patron and uniting it with its counterpart Raijin could transform the pilgrim's lives. And when someone sets out to do that, the whole world rises up to oppose them. The kamunushi warns the group that a horrible crime will open a portal for demons and ghosts.

-The group has left Kai Province and crossed into Sagami Province. The daimyo samurai here are part of the Minamoto alliance, but they're of Taira descent. The group is currently before a a lonely, isolated postal inn between the highway and a sea cliff.

[jemmus]

Thundersnow is for real.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=PdRWGMyeSYY ... IECMiOmarE

[jemmus]

Sorry for my slow posting rate lately. I'm GMing a Boot Hill game, and it's taking a lot of time. I didn't realize how crunchy the combat is in BH. As crunchy as Bushido's, if not more. And because of the nature of the setting, (wide open spaces, characters with long range weapons), PCs tend to get spread out. One's under the window at east side of the house, another is at the shed with his rifle steadied against a post, two are inside the house with the NPCs-- like that. Some can see each other, some can't. Not everyone can see or hear what other PCs are seeing and hearing. So to keep it quasi-realistic, I have to post to each player separately in a private thread. Really interesting, but it takes a lot of GM time.

That said, our Bushido game is still my favored baby, I don't know about you guys. We've made a pretty good story along the way, and some great characters too, I think. And put a lot of time and effort into trying to learn and master Bushido's rules system. I like them more all the time, really.

Anyway, I should be able to post more often as we go along. We have the kinks in the Boot Hill game mostly worked out, so it won't be so time consuming. My goal is to move the Bushido game forward every Sunday, at the least.

[jemmus]

This might sound a little frivolous at the point, but a little Nippon cultural trivia. "Copse" in Japanese is "hayashi." A hayashi is generally a small stand of woods surrounded by flat rice fields all around. Usually on a hillock. I'd guess that the hardworking ancient-to-modern-and-now folk decided to bypass it and leave it alone, due to geological considerations. I.e. rocks.) In Bushido, the School of Wood is "Hayashi-do"-- "The Way of the Copse." Not "The Way of the Element Wood." I'd guess it was a translation dictionary error. Which is not fault the guys at all. It was pre-internet, and what they did what Bushido is truly impressive and amazing. Those guys somehow researched it all, from wherever they were through interlibrary loans, got the feel, and nailed it. For an RPG rules set, set in an unpopular genre. o7 (A salute emoji) )

[jemmus]

Wow, TPK, for the PCs at least. I really underestimated the power of those spells compared to the PCs' HP. I had second thoughts about making them 3rd level, but got on an important phone call and forgot about changing it. I would have changed to 2nd level, which still may have been a lot. Sorry about that, a GM error.

Options:
a) Call this one quits, and start a new one, if you guys are up to it.

b) Make new chars, applying Karma rules. Died in combat would apply, and Ki from the current PC would not have been spent. In this case, a new storyline would probably be needed, unless there's a reason for the new characters to be going to the Kanto mid-winter.
Per point of Ki +1
Died in combat +1
Committed Seppuku to preserve Honor +5
Committed Seppuku to restore lost Honor +1
For every full 100 points of On +1
Died for noble cause (eg. to save Lord’s life) +1 to 5

c) Retcon and reduce the Level of Spell to 1, which is probably about right for chars of this level. Keep the failed ST rolls, but reroll the damage rolls. But lose Marullus's rich moment of death scenes.

As a GM who made miscalculation and meta attention errors, and who really likes these chars and the stories they've made so far, I personally like option c). But do know that retconning and "unknowing" things hurts game immersion and the goal of "suspension of disbelief." But I also think that it would work, game-wise, for each player to choose his own option.

Again, sorry to TPK everyone because of misjudging and miscalculation errors.

[Marullus]

Bushido is brutal. My rolls all failed. I got to write death scenes. I am not sad.

Given that Ffilz already mentioned feeling a little lost in this story, I have no problem starting over in a different story if that's his preference. Perhaps something a little more heroic and action-y?

...I am also happy if we use the time and energy to post actions in the other Bushido game.

[jemmus]

Oh, there's also option d)
d) The PCs all come back as kami or bodhisattva. With limited powers of omniscience and ability to communicate with PCs. But with unlimited powers of observation and movement. Across the kakuriyo, and down to any point in Nippon. To communicate with and try to guide a receptive mind...

That would require you guys taking partial control of the game as kami or Buddhist bodhisattva in this game. You'd have to take care of a kami or a bodhisattva. And watch the struggling ants and owen from there.

[ffilz]

I'm certainly bummed to not get to continue Taisho, but yea, Bushido is a brutal system.

I need to take a couple days to think about how much energy I want to continue putting into playing the genre. I just really struggle to follow all the social cues of the genre. I have really enjoyed playing though and I am learning something about the genre, it's just slow. Honestly, I'm probably more stuck in Marullus's campaign where one of my PCs is a high ranking samurai... Most of my frustration with playing Taisho has actually been figuring out what he could effectively do besides fighting spirit creatures and blessing and healing everyone. Otherwise he felt like a bump on a log.

I'm going to give another scenario a try in Cold Iron Samurai Adventures. I've got an adventure that I think will work OK and isn't a complicated social situation.

[jemmus]

I have some still pretty vague ideas for continuing this game.
-PCs start off in Kai, since we know the setting. Or in Shinano. Same date, same Minamoto vs. Taira war going on.
-Commit rules heresy and dispense with birth table rolls. Pick any caste and rank you want.
-All samurai bushi campaign. Do heroic stuff in service of the daimyo.
-All ronin for hire campaign.
-All ninja campaign. Go on spying, infiltration and assassination missions.

[ffilz]

I have some still pretty vague ideas for continuing this game.
-PCs start off in Kai, since we know the setting. Or in Shinano. Same date, same Minamoto vs. Taira war going on.
-Commit rules heresy and dispense with birth table rolls. Pick any caste and rank you want.
-All samurai bushi campaign. Do heroic stuff in service of the daimyo.
-All ronin for hire campaign.
-All ninja campaign. Go on spying, infiltration and assassination missions.

I'd be up for trying a ninja campaign. We could be a bit simpler and just run one PC each.