Isawa Mari Q&A Reading the Omens

[Isawa Mari]

My trip took a bigger chunk out of my posting time than I'd planned, so I wasn't terribly present for the latter half of things. I owed a few people followup meetings and the like, that didn't end up happening. Alas.

But... Yay team for sweeping through that final battle!

And feel free to ask things.

[Usagi Kaigen]

Beware the DREADED FORM QUESTIONS!

1. Biggest curveball Mari threw you?
2. Biggest curveball the game threw you?
3. Biggest Missed Opportunity?

[Saibankan]

What did you like most about the game narratively? What did you like least about the game narratively?

What did you like most about the game mechanically? What did you like least about the game mechanically?

What would you really like to see in the next game that wasn't in this game?

You are, of course, a poet in every game, whose posts fill me with envy....at least until I consider I would have to devote myself 24/7 to writing replies if they were going to match your quality in a gm quantity

[Fukurokujin]

If and when there's a future game, is Mari coming back?

If not, what does her future hold?

[Isawa Mari]

Beware the DREADED FORM QUESTIONS!

1. Biggest curveball Mari threw you?
2. Biggest curveball the game threw you?
3. Biggest Missed Opportunity?

1. Honestly, I'd have needed to get more posting in to find a curveball there. The limited posting did mean finding her a bit more straight-laced than intended.

2. Realizing that Jade Strike did not work as expected. (oh right...Tainted isn't Otherworldly until *very* Tainted. Oh...does not actually deal damage, just a crit, which is resisted...Well at least you can shut off Maho, provided the user is already very Tainted. Did I just house rule this in tabletop? Probably)

3. I mean, at this level of activity? It's largely missed opportunities to follow up, chase things down, etc.

[Isawa Mari]

Warning...gettin' wordy ahead.

What did you like most about the game narratively? What did you like least about the game narratively?

Most: I appreciated splitting things into time-jumped spaces. I think the march could have benefitted narratively from a few GM setpiece threads in the line of the "on your right, you can see Kyuden Doji" to spark some discussion. Given that the style is less common, it would also allow a bit of leading "glad we got through that mudpit last night, but I'm still digging leeches out of my boots..." to highlight that even if there aren't Events, there were events happening in that blank space that PCs are encouraged to fill. (OK, that's a particular lean for me, in that I tend to do this everywhere...and trust that I've honed my intuition on space-building to stay within the bounds of the GMs world) i.e. I think more could be done to dress up this narrative frame, but I think it's a solid frame. And I get why energy/time/etc. can mean focusing on other things, like carving the 5e system into a shape for PbP.

Least: The pacing of slow muster, slow march, huge day of fighting! The last one there actually works fairly well to push up the tempo over the inevitable attrition of a game. But the former kind of exacerbates the normal attrition. Muster had some places to do things and a bit of 'we're getting going and from all over the place!' to give PCs things to talk about. The March loses a lot of that 'what to do and talk about.' NPCs help there. Rumors could have offered some 'what to do' if people were following them up more. But I think the military structure makes that feel a bit discouraged? In character, we're not supposed to be chasing up rumors about our betters, etc. Possibly ambition would drive you into doing more of it, but not all PCs are ambitious. At court, you have factions that mean you *should* chase things down that may damage your clan or let them get a leg up on another. (and even there, they are often just background or 'morning news.')

What did you like most about the game mechanically? What did you like least about the game mechanically?

There's possibly some crossover into mechanics in the above, but I'm not going to dig that apart now. XD

I liked setting the Void/Strife/Fatigue mechanics into a form that fits PbP better. Managing Void/Strife mostly through scenes makes sense at the table, but gets a bit rough to manage in PbP if you don't want a lot of people setting up threads specifically to trigger the same Anxieties/Passions every day for Void/Strife recovery. In the future, I'd put a thread in the Rules rather than a Daily note regarding overnight recovery, as well as setting rules for recovery via things like Meditation that are mentioned in the CRB without actual numbers or TNs attached.

Least? hmm...I think we're still nailing down how to do advantage/disadvantage outside of events. 1. setting the game expectation of whether they apply when it makes sense or only apply if it makes sense *and* uses the right ring. I think that picking them for events worked really well for making sure they matter at least once per game, which is nice.

This also digs into the ring/approach thing of 5e. It's mostly ignored here (and I admit to ignoring even the flavor of it as my available time diminished so I was like ...what does Theology/Water mean as an approach? I don't have the time to ponder this or look it up (or book wasn't nearby)...so it didn't really apply. I do think the flavor of the rings in 5e is one of the things that elevates the narrative side of the system, so I'd like to find ways to use it more, and to create more streamlined touchstones for people to easily pick up on when writing a post with a particular skill/element approach.

I did see that the events experimented with TNs for different approaches vs. use whatever (with the latter making a lot more sense for 'we need a certain amount of success for the game to not feel 'unwinnable', particularly with a small crew.) So this is likely just a 'needs more expeimenting to nail down' comment.

What would you really like to see in the next game that wasn't in this game?

More teahouses? ;p

I think more apparent plot. There were obviously a lot of bits in rumors and tucked inside all those NPCs, but very few things happening on account of them. The Shippei one became obvious (maybe more obvious to me since I was chasing that rumor...badly, and too slowly). I assume the event would have happened in some fashion even if that particular NPC trajectory was intercepted, but the others weren't really apparent.

There were hints about the ronin and commander that could have ended up in scenes where something happened (not entirely sure of the actual plot hidden in there, but based off imaginings--ronin publicly reclaiming a name renounced during musha shugyo for ...reasons? commander dying/quest completed or failed/called out by someone (like the catty Hanas?). Etc. Basically the tabletop version of "this thing is running in the background, if PCs don't touch it, this is what happens." is fine to have floating around. The 'what happens' doesn't even have to be bad things. It makes the world feel alive. And since your style seems to run toward "we like making NPCs" well, it's a good way to make use of them.

Similarly, the hints of Ganbattar floating around and people getting some attachment to them being defeated because of things like the rescued kid. I'd have liked to see some resolution there. Unlike tabletop, many of these PCs will never be seen again, so some payoff this game is a good idea vs. 'plotline to resolve in the future...assuming GMs have time to craft future games.'

This is all to say...intriguing tidbits. I want more payoff that doesn't depend on us inconsistent players. XD

You are, of course, a poet in every game, whose posts fill me with envy....at least until I consider I would have to devote myself 24/7 to writing replies if they were going to match your quality in a gm quantity

Gah! XD

1. Thanks. (I'm getting better at not deflecting compliments!)
2. You do an excellent job of making NPC posts do an intended job with appropriate language to that NPC, and they all have a distinct voice and personality. I wouldn't worry about poetry. We all look to others to build our skills (I'm still not at Mason's ability to shove a paragraph into a sentence.)

[Isawa Mari]

If and when there's a future game, is Mari coming back?

If not, what does her future hold?

She's one of the more readily reprised characters, and could fit into most game types except early career stuff like Topaz or a miai, so it's likely.

Near future is here at the Wall, eventual future...that relative holding that secret and important shrine is going to die/retire/etc. and she'll be dragged into whatever that entails. XD