The beginning of a game is always the toughest to gain momentum during. It's very bad for the health of a game to start slow and be held up by one player. Regrettably that means that sometimes you need to replace players early to keep the game moving, otherwise people start checking in irregularly and things stay slow...which leads to the death of countless pbps. It happens a lot at the start of games.
I certainly hope Ayumi checks in soon, but if not I suggest looking for a replacement that can get us started quickly. And it's the easiest time to bring someone in. It's always a tough decision and I never envy a GM that has to make that call.
As a side note, Sukrai, the player of Ayumi, posted under another alias about 6 hours ago. Here's hoping that they just haven't noticed that the game has started?
I'm in agreement that replacing early is the best option. Before other applicants have their interest die down. Either PMing players that you though submitted strong characters or, alternatively, starting another recruitment thread just for a courtier (to let interested parties step in on their own) would work.
But the night is still young and Ayumi may come through.
Okay. It's a new day and there's still no sign of our absent courtier. Fortunately, it seems like we have a lead on a new player who should have a character ready by tonight. In the mean time, I'll get a new post up.
Sorry! Work's been hectic, and I've had to pull late hours of forced overtime! I only saw the note for the game start today! I'll try to get my post up right away, if that's alright with you! If not, or if you're worried about something regarding my posting, then I'll understand.
Welcome back, Ayumi!
I'm going to take this opportunity while we're waiting for the next move to try out the dice code for L5R's RnK mechanics. I'm expecting to perhaps hear about Takaji's apprehension about his upcoming Tea Party, and Nagasawa would feed him some ammunition for the conversation about how the Crab clan is the Empire's primary producer of the stuff.
I'm guessing a TN 15 to know something interesting about the Crab Tea trade, and calling a raise to know something particularly interesting about the varieties grown? He's got 2 Intelligence and 2 ranks in Lore: Crab Clan
So with Nagasawa's 4k2 I'd have gotten an 18, or really close to knowing something fascinating :]
As for the dice code, seems easy enough. Just go back and edit in more rolls for exploding dice (and 1s for things you have a specialty in). GM Koan, would we do dice rolling in this thread or just directly in the Gameplay thread posts?
Welcome back, Ayumi. Unfortunately, I thought you had dropped, so I put another courtier in motion. If you're not opposed to their joining, I'd hate to tell them no after I told them to make a character.
As far as rolling goes, we can do it in the Gameplay thread. I don't think it breaks the immersion.
As far as rolling goes, we can do it in the Gameplay thread.
One of the distinctive things about L5R is resolving what exactly the final TN comes out to is often an interactive process. Asking what sorts of things count as what kind of raises should be done there as well, all in blue OOC text?
RE New Courtier: Are you asking if Ayumi minds if we have a 7th player who shares her bailiwick, or if she's replaced entirely?
One of the distinctive things about L5R is resolving what exactly the final TN comes out to is often an interactive process. Asking what sorts of things count as what kind of raises should be done there as well, all in blue OOC text?
We'll give it a try, and if it seems to get in the way, we'll move it to the OOC thread.
RE New Courtier: Are you asking if Ayumi minds if we have a 7th player who shares her bailiwick, or if she's replaced entirely?
The former.
I would not be opposed to sharing the courtier position! I would actually welcome a second courtier, as it would allow for some fun interactions! I can!already imagine a good cop bad cop style play if they're going for a more honourable character.
Oh definitely going for the more honorable style.
My character is a Crane courtier and just happened to be one of the courtiers that helped to compose and write the haiku that Hiruma Kage had seemed so taken with.
Now that her fellow Crane has been tossed aside, she is determined to go to his court and to see just who it is that was more worthy than her clanmate.
Uh oh, one Scorpion courtier and one Crane. Things don't look good for Takaji. :P
@Katsuko: Did you mean to offer letting Takaji refer to you as just "Katsuko"? That's how I'm interpreting what you said, but I think that would be considered inappropriate for people who just met, so I want to double check your intention before responding to it.
@Anybody: I feel like normally when I see person/yojimbo combos, it's a lord and his bodyguard, hence "-sama". Would "-san" ever be an appropriate honorific? I can make an etiquette check if necessary to know IC.
@Anybody: I feel like normally when I see person/yojimbo combos, it's a lord and his bodyguard, hence "-sama". Would "-san" ever be an appropriate honorific? I can make an etiquette check if necessary to know IC.
It not only works better for party dynamics if yojimbo/charge are of comparable rank (status), it works in-character as well if they are peers.
If the yojimbo outranks the charge, he can force the charge to put up with her movements being controlled and having little or no control over who she may or may not talk to. She'll be safe, but likely have whatever her daimyo wants her to do compromised.
On the other hand, if the charge can issue orders to her yojimbo, then she can do silly things like naiively go off into the dark alleyway with the scruffy ronin while forcing her yojimbo to wait outside. She can put the yojimbo into catch-22s.. you can't protect her, but if she dies you still are expected to perform the three cuts.
So, at least in my mind, it's not like the president and his secret service. Rokugan has had a thousand years to fine tune the distinction between yojimbo and common "bodyguard". I think Takaji is off on the right foot however. I read your interaction with Katsuko as being, in other words: "I can only control my side of our relationship, but I promise you our relationship won't have a jerk yojimbo in the dynamic."
@Katsuko: Did you mean to offer letting Takaji refer to you as just "Katsuko"? That's how I'm interpreting what you said, but I think that would be considered inappropriate for people who just met, so I want to double check your intention before responding to it.
@Anybody: I feel like normally when I see person/yojimbo combos, it's a lord and his bodyguard, hence "-sama". Would "-san" ever be an appropriate honorific? I can make an etiquette check if necessary to know IC.
The name suffixes of Rokugan are nearly always used. I believe they would only be dropped between close friends and families and, even then, only in private.
-Sama is only used when speaking of somebody of higher standing. Like Nagasawa-san explained, the power dynamic between a yojimbo and their ward is one of equal importance. If the two are similar in status, -san would be appropriate.
Thanks for the info! I actually already know about Japanese honorifics, so my question was more about the relationship between yojimbo and ward/if our status difference of 1 would have been large enough to warrant "-san" being an improper honorific, which I think Nagasawa nicely answered in addition to answering my unvoiced question about who has to listen to whom.
I know very little about them, so useful information if good for me. :)
One thing to keep in mind between Yojimbo and charge: The Yojimbo isn't a servant. They have a job to do and that is protecting their charge. It isn't serving them in any other way. They can agree to do so, if they want, but that's not their purpose. They have a duty and responsibility. And it has very little to do with the wishes of the person they are charged with protecting.
As for status, it can, indeed get a little complicated. And thank god for that! Society is supposed to be complicated. :)
But the main things to note are that Status is strictest when in the same hierarchy and being a Yojimbo and charge does not necessarily mean you are in the same hierarchy. But, higher status demands respect, so it does influence how people interact, or how they should "properly" interact.
@Katsuko: Did you mean to offer letting Takaji refer to you as just "Katsuko"? That's how I'm interpreting what you said, but I think that would be considered inappropriate for people who just met, so I want to double check your intention before responding to it.
@Anybody: I feel like normally when I see person/yojimbo combos, it's a lord and his bodyguard, hence "-sama". Would "-san" ever be an appropriate honorific? I can make an etiquette check if necessary to know IC.
Given Katsuko's higher status, and the nature of your placement as her yojimbo (fulfilling a debt) the use of -sama would be wholly appropriate, and is probably how you should refer to her in the presence of others, in order to save face if nothing else.
Katsuko, however, doesn't really care about the etiquette of honorifics - seeing them as impractical and unnecessary in genuine conversation. You are of course free to see her suggestion as uncouth and refuse to address her in any way less than befits a bushi of her status, but she would rather you speak to her as an equal.
For the record, Nagasawa's quote is indeed a misappropriation of Sun Tzu's "Thus, though we have heard of stupid haste in war, cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays."
I think it's fun to leave unresolved whether the Shinjo Dojo corrupted Sun Tzu's Sun Tao's quote or if Nagasawa simply did that himself.
Given Katsuko's higher status, and the nature of your placement as her yojimbo (fulfilling a debt) the use of -sama would be wholly appropriate, and is probably how you should refer to her in the presence of others, in order to save face if nothing else.
Katsuko, however, doesn't really care about the etiquette of honorifics - seeing them as impractical and unnecessary in genuine conversation. You are of course free to see her suggestion as uncouth and refuse to address her in any way less than befits a bushi of her status, but she would rather you speak to her as an equal.
Ok, I just wanted to make sure the comment was an intentional one on your part. :-)
Hey, guys. Avoid rolling unless I give you a TN. Thanks. :)
Hey, guys. Avoid rolling unless I give you a TN. Thanks. :)
I'd imagine you might want a roll to keep this reaction off Nagasawa's face, and/or a roll to thread the needle in appearing to be "appropriately happy" to see Nari without insulting her by feigning false happiness/affection. Oh, and to sneak in a "I'm really happy to see YOU at least" to Saki on top of it all.
In light of your request I'll wait for you to tell me what roll (if any) you want and whether or not I preemtively declared a raise for myself by aiming so high :}
Edit: with hindsight I think I see that the information in this post about what Nagasawa was trying to accomplish should have just been made explicit in the IC post, in ooc text if necessary. Sorry for that, first timer PBP-er :] I'll try to keep improving.
That raises a followon question for me... asking it here to not muddy the in-character thread.
Are we bushi PCs allowed to wear armor inside the Castle? Normally I wouldn't even ask for a courtly setting, but it is right on the wall. Do the Crab actually want their guests armed and armored, just in case nasties crawl over the wall? Or is it more "normal" courtly standards and we guests don't equate to the samurai defending the wall?
And if it's acceptable to wear armor in Kyuden Hida, are we already, or not so much since we literally just came from the road/parade ground?
EDIT: Oh, and I've totally got an idea to float past Takaji, but I don't want to "move on" from or interrupt the Takakana conversation, since as of my last post I'm waiting for an answer from him. What's the pbp etiquette on that? Is it possible to post the idea without it representing Nagasawa blurting immediately on to the next topic before Takakana even has a chance to respond to his initial question?
Normally the way I've done it is with a time skip type thing where I make it clear in an OOC comment when I'm doing something. Although this can sometimes lead to complicated posts/timelines depending on if other people also want to respond to that. I also have no idea how other people feel about it.
I am generally against having conversations after that part has been passed in the game. I have found that that can lead to conversations which make other characters want to go pack and change an action that has already been dealt with. You get too many wanting to to do that and then you may as well just erase over a day's worth of posts just to redo scenes.
That raises a followon question for me... asking it here to not muddy the in-character thread.
Are we bushi PCs allowed to wear armor inside the Castle? Normally I wouldn't even ask for a courtly setting, but it is right on the wall. Do the Crab actually want their guests armed and armored, just in case nasties crawl over the wall? Or is it more "normal" courtly standards and we guests don't equate to the samurai defending the wall?
And if it's acceptable to wear armor in Kyuden Hida, are we already, or not so much since we literally just came from the road/parade ground?
EDIT: Oh, and I've totally got an idea to float past Takaji, but I don't want to "move on" from or interrupt the Takakana conversation, since as of my last post I'm waiting for an answer from him. What's the pbp etiquette on that? Is it possible to post the idea without it representing Nagasawa blurting immediately on to the next topic before Takakana even has a chance to respond to his initial question?
Wearing armor to court in Kyuden Hida is not irregular, although some of the more genteel clans might view that with suspicion and distaste. Whether or not you're wearing armor depends on if you think your character is.
If you want to ask Takaji something, I would wait until after the scene is finished. If I push a scene forward during a conversation you've already started, you should feel free to continue it in spoilers.
@GM Koan
Re: Family- I haven't planned Takaji's family past his immediate family. It seems possible that he'd have a Ikoma relative, but I don't want to just say that he does without first checking if it's ok. One middle ground could be that he does have an Ikoma dead relative, but maybe s/he doesn't want to talk to him (either just because or I could come up with some reason why they might specifically not want to talk to Takaji).
@GM Koan
Re: Family- I haven't planned Takaji's family past his immediate family. It seems possible that he'd have a Ikoma relative, but I don't want to just say that he does without first checking if it's ok. One middle ground could be that he does have an Ikoma dead relative, but maybe s/he doesn't want to talk to him (either just because or I could come up with some reason why they might specifically not want to talk to Takaji).
I was asking in an in-character sort of way if you want to take a visit to the records and take a chance on stumbling over a lead. Nagasawa has 2 ranks in Lore: Crab Clan, so he's trying to think of a way to find a lead by going with a strength of his.
If GM Koan is willing to actually give you some sort of supernatural assistance that'd be super, but I was figuring if we do this and get some lucky dice we'd be thanking your great grandfather together :D Maybe supernatural assistance is more plausible with a holy priestess along, as well.
Anyway, I'll admit here I'm at a loss for what else to try. Stumbling around asking people "Hey, do you know any dirt about Kage's fiancee?" doesn't seem like a great way to keep the investigation discreet.
There are a few options for personal investigations here.
There is a court going on beneath you and gossiping about the bride-to-be would hardly be considered suspicious. Ameiko has a couple leads as far as that goes.
You also know that Mutsuye has a yojimbo. It might require more subtlety, but he could certainly provide some insight on the day-to-day life of his charge.
@Nagasawa: It's definitely an interesting thought. But I guess we're not doing that...?
I feel like me and Yuo are lucky in that we wound up we're bushi who wound up being asked to follow people around. Of course, we also seem like the two character most likely to have EPIC conversations when put together.
Yuo: ...
Takaji: ...
Yuo: ...!
Takaji: ...?
:P
@Nagasawa: It's definitely an interesting thought. But I guess we're not doing that...?
Pretty much. Between GM Koan's hint above and Takakana's explanation that the libraries have already been scoured, I think we have other avenues teed up. I think we're in the equivalent of the "Any other questions?" phase of the V-C briefing in a PFS scenario.
Going to a wedding today. Nothing from me until tomorrow.
-Posted with Wayfinder
Have fun!
I apologize guys. I wanted to play this game so much, but RL is kicking my ass again and I'm not going to have the time to play... :( I hope you have fun, and I hope to see you all again sometime, but for now, I'm going to have to bow out. Thank you for the opportunity, but I can't ask you to keep waiting on me when I don't know I'm going to have the time. Sorry!
You may as well do your thing.. PbP facilitates multiple scenes at once.
You may as well do your thing.. PbP facilitates multiple scenes at once.
I'm good with going with the GM's flow. If we do it simultaneously, I'm cool with that, but I don't mind waiting either.
I think we're waiting on Isawa Katsuko? I'd suggest pushing on and gaining some momentum. If we wait for people for 2 weeks to post, I fear we'll end up dead in the water.
Hey guys. On vacation sans internet until the 6th.
-Posted with Wayfinder
And I'm back! I need to catch up with all of my games, but I hope to have a post up by tonight!
Welcome back!