Rules Discussion

[jemmus]

The one clarification I'd like to make on the Budo/Shugendo rules is that Bushi need to have engaged in the combat to get the 1/2 Budo award, and Shugenja and Gakusho need to use magic in the encounter to gain Shugendo. Thus if an encounter is entirely resolved with magic, only those who used magic in the encounter get an award, Shugendo. Conversely, if an encounter is resolved entirely martially, even with a Shugenja or Gakusho engaging with martial weapons but not magic, only the Bushi get Budo. This will result in somewhat different rates of advancement for the two types, but keeps with the spirit of the original rules.

And yea, the sharing Budo does mean faster advancement, and yea, I think that's good for Play by Post. I'd even say it will be OK should I end up running a Roll20 Bushido campaign because 2 hours every other week isn't a lot of game time.

As to the Distractions, I think we should leave the time frame for any distractions that is specified as is and only apply the WILL save reduction to those where a time frame is not specified. The Distraction for spell casting definitely makes sense that it applies only for the one casting and poisons clearly need to not be able to just shrugged off with a WILL save.

Excellent. House Rules post updated.

[jemmus]

How did Katsumi get such a high effect number on his second attack? I thought it was a secondary action which goes off at half BCS.

His kusari-jutsu BCS is 12 (11+his level). As a secondary action, it's halved to BCS 6. +10 for a rear attack, +0 for range, -1 for AC = +9 So the BCS was 15. The roll was a 4, so 11 is the Effect Number. That's 11 Distractions, in addition to the 3 from the first action. (The NPC passed a Speed ST, so he wasn't tripped. But he failed his Will ST, so the Distractions still apply).
If I'm getting something (or many things) wrong, please let me know.

[jmacatty]

Cool. I forgot that situational modifiers were applied after halving.

[Enoch]

How did Katsumi get such a high effect number on his second attack? I thought it was a secondary action which goes off at half BCS.

His kusari-jutsu BCS is 12 (11+his level). As a secondary action, it's halved to BCS 6. +10 for a rear attack, +0 for range, -1 for AC = +9 So the BCS was 15. The roll was a 4, so 11 is the Effect Number. That's 11 Distractions, in addition to the 3 from the first action. (The NPC passed a Speed ST, so he wasn't tripped. But he failed his Will ST, so the Distractions still apply).
If I'm getting something (or many things) wrong, please let me know.

That was how I did the math. The big thing was the massive +10 for attacking from behind, far and away the largest component of my Adjusted BCS. Anyone with a bonus skill (BCS 1) has at least a 50% chance of hitting someone in peasant garb from behind.

[jemmus]

I'm thinking that rolling to break ties for actions in Action Phases may be too cumbersome for PBP. Consider this example.
a) GM: Please roll to break the tie for Action Phase 8.
Some hours or days pass.
b) Player: [Posts his die roll].
Some hours or days pass.
c) GM: You win, you go first.
Some hours or days pass.
d) Player: Saburo's katana flashes in the sunlight and bites deeply into the kappa's shoulder....

If player had known that his roll won, he could have posted at b), instead of posting twice. Delays like that could become significant to everyone as we get into multi-PC combat situations. Especially of more than one PC needs a tiebreaker roll.

So, if no one objects, I'll save a step and do all of the tiebreaker rolls as GM. I'll post the PCs' and NPCs' rolls for everyone to see. Any thoughts?

[jmacatty]

That sounds fine to me.

[Marullus]

Sounds like a good plan. I like speeding this up.

[jmacatty]

I haven't looked at the rules about multiple characters and an action round, but I do remember that we used to give initial actions preference and second actions preference over 3rd actions.

[Marullus]

Yes, that's in the rules. You only roll-off if it is a tie for phase AND matches on being Basic/Primary/Secondary.

[Enoch]

That sounds fair.

[ffilz]

This will result in somewhat different rates of advancement for the two types, but keeps with the spirit of the original rules.

That's fair - the spirit it maintains is that the encounters matter less. The Shugenja needs downtime to conduct magical research and the Gakusha needs to conduct Trances outside of Detailed Turns.

I also was overlooking that the methods for Gakusha and Shugenja differ and the "Overcoming Foe by Magic" only applies for Shugenja, who potentially have spells that can actually overcome foes. Gakusha don't generally have offensive magic and so wouldn't really benefit from this house rule at all. Gakusha earn Shugengo by Healing and Blessing- if that can merit their 'participation' under the house rule, I think that would be fairer. Otherwise, Gakusha are getting left behind in our PbP. Thoughts?

Hmm, I need to look at Gakusha closer, and I guess as a player I care

[jemmus]

Maybe as we so how budo and shugendo turn out for the other classes, we can come up with something to keep the gakusho at around the same level as everyone else. Informally bump him up some maybe. Or award more shugendo per spell cast.

[ffilz]

Maybe as we so how budo and shugendo turn out for the other classes, we can come up with something to keep the gakusho at around the same level as everyone else. Informally bump him up some maybe. Or award more shugendo per spell cast.

That sounds reasonable. I'm game to see how the system plays out with minimal changes initially. I do like the shared Budo, but let's see what Gakusho can do to earn Shugendo in play before we go too far in changing things up. I do note the Shugendo for Blessing, and with Karma Yoga, I can add Bless someone to add 2 to all their BCS...

[jemmus]

Very much agreed about not changing things up if we don't have to. I'd guess FGU playtested before publishing and were happy with the design. Besides, sticking with the hardcore rules is kind of the fun of playing an OSR game.

ffilz, where can we find the errata section? I can't find it in my rules PDF.

[ffilz]

Very much agreed about not changing things up if we don't have to. I'd guess FGU playtested before publishing and were happy with the design. Besides, sticking with the hardcore rules is kind of the fun of playing an OSR game.

ffilz, where can we find the errata section? I can't find it in my rules PDF.

Hmm, I found them on a file sharing site... I'm not sure what the best way to share them is...

[jemmus]

Maybe by Google Docs, the way we share character sheets and such? Kind of a pain, but I'll just copy and paste the text into the House Rule post and we'll have them in an easy access spot forever.

[ffilz]

Maybe by Google Docs, the way we share character sheets and such? Kind of a pain, but I'll just copy and paste the text into the House Rule post and we'll have them in an easy access spot forever.

I just added them to the end of this document: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Pzl ... sp=sharing

[jemmus]

I'm seeing that Gakusho may have ample opportunities to save the day and gain shugendo. Not in fights, but in encountering strong spirits, ghosts, specters, and even kami back to where they ought to belong. The shugenja points look pretty good for that. Whole points of them, not fractions of them. Fearsome consequences for failures, though.
Things may be going along naturally, as they always have, all across Nippon...

[Marullus]

Very much agreed about not changing things up if we don't have to. I'd guess FGU playtested before publishing and were happy with the design. Besides, sticking with the hardcore rules is kind of the fun of playing an OSR game.

I agree with trying it out faithfully.

I am about the story, and if it doesn't work well in pbp we can just default to a Milestone type system and all lrvel up with the GM says so.

[ffilz]

I'm seeing that Gakusho may have ample opportunities to save the day and gain shugendo. Not in fights, but in encountering strong spirits, ghosts, specters, and even kami back to where they ought to belong. The shugenja points look pretty good for that. Whole points of them, not fractions of them. Fearsome consequences for failures, though.
Things may be going along as planned...

Yep, that's what I see. Actually the different XP rules actually make the classes more unique and make more sense. Gakusho are not about fighting, though if need be they can defend themselves, they're about healing and putting spirits to rest, and blessing. All sorts of priestly things...