ODie's Livejournal

Lang overdue for posting to the journal, here's the last of the setting entries that I have composed at the moment. Enjoy!

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Here's a bit more of an introduction into the world of the campaign that we're finally building up to running. It would probably serve as the opening text were this to ever be published as a proper roleplaying game. Not that I have any such ambitions at the moment, too much other stuff to write up, I reckon.

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More setting information about the Champions X campaign as I am developing it up. Need it be said that the author seeks to assert his copyright, no matter that this is available for public consumption? If so, it is said. the work is mine, and I retain all rights to it.

That said, for those who wish to delve a little into how things ended up being so bad, a little history lesson, after the cut…

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The following is a mostly unedited email from me to the player group, which may explain the informal tone here and there. It’s mainly a series of questions to try and get the players to think about the interactions within and without their super team and to help to sort out some of my own preconceptions of the game.

I always think it’s important to let players know where you’re going as the GM before the game starts rather than run afoul of misconceptions down the track. Its rare for me to have players not “get it”, though I have had to ask one guy to leave a game in the past because I was trying to run an X-Mutant style superhero games and he kept coming up with power armoured firefighters or something. Anyway, on with the show…

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The game, as I see it, is meant to be a contrast between the four-colour idealism of the superheroic PCs (and like NPCs) and the dark cyberpunk future of the meta-humans.

Meta-humans are drug-enhanced normals who have little remorse and lesser moral standpoints to the superheroes due primarily to the effect upon their psyche of the Meta-Human Drugs (MHDs). Of course, the mind set of someone who would take drugs (widely reputed to be unhealthy) in an attempt to gain superhuman powers may not have been all that healthy to begin with, so...

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For the general public, I’m about to start running a new Champions campaign. I’m going to share some of the ideas and setting information here on my dust-covered blog, on the basis that the spiders and other things that have set in to populate an otherwise abandoned space might like some reading material.

I had originally intended to try and make something semi-educational by transcribing my notes to myself and then commenting sagely upon the developing ideas of the campaign. I think I lost the momentum on that one after not getting them up soon after I got back from Tasmania (we attended the 26th Australasian Handbell Festival, Em as a delegate, I & Siobhan as hangers-on).

The posts may have a very chatty & informal tone to them as they’re really going to be almost direct lifts from the emails out to the player group. If that detracts,. then so be it; LMK and I may make a bigger effort to tidy up prior to publication of subsequent posts.

I do have a vision of a growing number of entries, cross-linked through the magic of the internets, into a mini LJ-pedia of my setting. I don’t know if that is likely to manifest in the end. Fingers crossed there…

So here's a summation of the various rulings that have been made about Iaijutsu duels in the 4Ed L5R RPG game (drawn from the Alderac forums supporting the game Errata and Rules Questions). Trying to get it all into one place rather than spread across the morass of the errata topic. Excuse the American spelling from the cut/paste.

Advantages:

Karmic Tie:
Q: Can the Karmic Tie bonus be applied to a duel if the duelist is defending the person who he is bonded in a duel?
A: Yes, but only on the strike (Focus rolls are not attack rolls).

Touch of the Void:
Q: With a character that has taken the Touch of the Void disadvantage; if they fail the Willpower roll while augmenting a skill roll, are they considered dazed before or after making the skill roll? I'm assuming before, for a net result of (-1)k(+1) to the skill roll.
A: Before.
Q: Also, how does the Touch of the Void disadvantage behave in iaijutsu duels? More generally, what happens when one becomes Dazed after engaging in a duel but before its resolution? By the book, you "cannot perform an iaijutsu duel" while Dazed. Do you automatically lose?
A: For the purposes of maintaining dramatic tension, I would either discount use of this Disadvantage during a duel or have its effects kick in immediately afterwards.

Armor TN:

Q: In previous editions, during an iaijutsu duel your Armor TN equivalent was reduced to 5. In 4E your Armor TN remains the same as normal combat. Could you provide just a quick explanation as to why this was changed? It's causing confusion among some of us forumites, as to whether your characters are now actively dodging and parrying during iaijutsu duels.
A: From a design viewpoint: The old TN 5 mechanic was dependent on the corresponding form of the Focus mechanic in previous editions of the game. Once one mechanic was changed, the other had to change as well.
From a thematic viewpoint: I've always been a little dubious of the idea that samurai in an iaijutsu duel don't move at all. I think they do move -- albeit not until after the swords come free of their saya. More generally, a character does not have to be constantly in motion in order to maintain Armor TN. Reflexes is a reactive Trait, after all.

Combat Maneuver legality:

Q: I'd like to know if other Combat Maneuvers during an iaijutsu duel are now legal (i.e.. Feint, Knockdown, etc.)?
A: The iaijutsu strike in 4th Edition is a normal attack roll (albeit with extra Raises if you won the Focus roll by a lot) so if the GM thinks it is reasonable, you could certainly do Maneuvers. Of course this is a matter of interpretation and personal taste -- some GMs and players may prefer to say that iaijutsu is a "pure" art and no such hijinks should be permitted. My personal iaijutsu favorite has always been the Called Shot (cutting the sleeve off the foe's kimono, etc).

Duelling System mechanics:

Q: Do you feel that an iaijutsu duel is 2 samurai standing near one another, katanas sheathed, minimal movement, no armor, assessing, focusing, striking?
A: Well, that perfectly describes the Crane ideal of the iaijutsu duel! In practical reality a duel will not always follow that format exactly. An iaijutsu duel can certainly be fought in armor, for example, or with swords already drawn. (I've often portrayed Mirumoto as going into duels with weapons drawn in my own games, for example.) From a practicality standpoint I should think the duelists have to be near each other, and the presumption is that they are not moving until the Strike phase.

Q: It would seem obvious that you feel there is some movement as the TNtbH includes the Ref TN.
A: The basic presumption is that the characters are in motion as soon as they enter the "Strike" phase, although we avoided any specific descriptions to allow players/GMs to dramatise duels as they see fit.
Corollary Q: Or, do you feel that what you have described as iaijutsu dueling is really just the mechanics for working out a duel, and that everything else is more the "fluff" of the duel? In this case, weapon could be other than katana, they could be sheathed or not, etc.
A: That is certainly a valid viewpoint in a lot of ways, and I certainly wouldn't say no to that approach. However, the presumption of the DT is that an iaijutsu duel is always fought with swords, and usually with katana. You can certainly modify that if you want your game to be more flexible, go for it, but the "Design Intent" (TM) is that the duel should be fought with swords.

Q: During the focus phase, if neither player out rolls the other by at least 5 points, then the duel is considered a "kharmic strike." Both players will then roll to hit simultaneously, but regardless of the outcome of the rolls, the duel is considered a draw and the reason for the duel is dropped. This seems rather lacking. First, if the duel was about the guilt or innocence of someone, where does that stand with a draw as the outcome? If the duel was to the death and a kharmic strike occurred, but one of the players is killed and the other unscathed, is it still a draw?
A: Correct, the draw would apply if it was a duel to first strike/first blood. You are correct that a duel to the death can continue past the Strike, and the loser would be the guy who actually died. :)

Q: In a duel to the death, after the initial strikes, if both are still alive. They would (if it haven't been made before) roll initiative gaining the Center Stance bonus to the Initiative, chose their stance, and gain the Center Stance bonus in whatever action they made in their first round?
A: Yes, correct. It becomes a normal skirmish with all standard skirmish rules, and the effects of Center Stance would apply normally.

Q: The bigger question is about the Stance choosing. In a duel to the death, independent of the setting, would it be better to roll Initiative before the duel, obviously choosing Center Stance when roiling Initiative, or roll after the first Strike, choosing to start the skirmish portion of the duel in a different, and secret, stance.
A: If the duel took place during a pre-existing skirmish, they would use the Initiative they already rolled. If they're starting a new skirmish due to a duel not resolving on the initial strikes, I would think the simplest choice would be to roll Initiative at that point (after the Strike).

Emphases:

Q: Why is there no Strike emphasis in the Iaijutsu skill? The skill doesn't list it as an emphasis and the mechanics for iaijutsu duels call for an Iaijutsu/Reflexes attack roll rather than an Iaijutsu (Strike)/Reflexes attack roll, so it seems like this was an intentional decision. Do you foresee any problems if one were to include a house rule to allow such an emphasis?
A: There is no Strike emphasis because it would be an absolute no-brainer! That said, I don't see it as a problem for a house rule.

Etiquette:

Q: Is there anything anywhere in the 4E corebook as printed that prevents you from iaijutsu dueling with a sword other than a katana? Was the authorial intent that iaijutsu duels be limited to katana, and no one bothered to write it down anywhere because they just thought it was so obvious it went without saying? Or was the authorial intent to open this up a little so oddballs weren't excluded from iaijutsu duels? Or was the intent to specifically not answer this question so groups could decide on a group by group basis? (I'm sure there would be social repercussions to going about your duels in an uncouth manner but that's a whole different issue, I'm only asking about mechanics.)
A: There is nothing, mechanically, that prevents you from iaijutsu dueling with any weapon. The only limitations are the crippling social ramifications that rise with using such an unconventional weapon.

Q: Magic dueling, and briefly mentions other forms of dueling. However, I did not see anything about the rights of the challenged to select his form of a duel nor his weapons of choice. So, in 4E are honor duels pretty much just iaijutsu duels with katana or daisho? Could a player who is weak at Iaijutsu but strong at flower arrangements not trick his opponent into issuing a challenge only to insist that the duel be making the perfect flower arrangement? The rules speak about other forms via mutual consent, but why would the strong iaijutsu duelist who hates flowers ever agree to the dueling example just given?
A: 3rd Edition introduced the notion that the "rights of the challenged" could actually change the form of a duel to something other than iaijutsu. This is an idea that didn't sit terribly well with us -- it just felt wrong for the setting, given that Rokugan is a martial society with a near-cultish devotion to the sword. So 4th Edition has restored the more traditional notion from 1st/2nd Edition that duels always default to iaijutsu unless both parties agree to something else.
There can certainly be situations where a character could trick/maneuver/goad someone into agreeing to another form of duel, but that sort of thing is a matter to be resolved through role-play and GM adjudication rather than through rules.

Q: If you take a hard line approach to the duel, why would any one who is not a duelist duel? You say honor, well that would be true of high honor clans, but those who are more concerned with fighting would laugh at you and your little sword (i.e., the Crab), or jest at you for not using a real weapon (i.e., tetsubo). Further, how would you account for the 2 duels in "Seven Samurai" by the Crane-like character? Or, of the many duels of Miyamoto Musashi many of which I would describe as unconventional but were truly duels and not skirmishes. Some with weapons already drawn, some with katana, some with other weapons, and one with an oar.
A: Well, now you're getting into culture and social issues. Rokugan is a society that accepts as a whole that the iaijutsu duel is the proper way to settle matters of honor. Even the Crab and the Mantis accept that as the cultural norm, and behave accordingly. There are always notorious exceptions, of course -- the famous story about Hida Yakamo and Mirumoto Satsu, for example -- but those are notorious and memorable precisely because they are the exceptions.
It is always possible to find historical or fictive examples that contradict anything in Rokugan, but it should be remembered that L5R represents a fantasy ideal of samurai rather than a direct historical/cultural copy. If you take the "Grim Realism" approach to L5R you would probably portray duels in a much more pragmatic way than the idealized form we depict as the rulebook default.

Skills:

Q: Under the defense skill it says "Defense is an essential skill necessary to adopt the defense and full defense stances, both of which increase your Armor TN and make you more difficult to hit in a skirmish or a duel" was defense supposed to work in iaijutsu duels? or was this an error?
A: The duel rules work as described, ignore this reference please.

Q: I have a question about the Iaijutsu rank 5 mastery. It says that you gain a free raise to your focus rolls in a duel, but what exactly does that do since there is nothing to raise for in the focus stage of a duel and, unless i missed it in the book somewhere, you are not able to use Free Raises as a straight up +5 anymore.
A: A Free Raise in a Focus roll is effectively a +5 to your Focus roll total.

Techniques:

Q: Kakita Bushi rank 2 tech 2k0 to attacks when having a higher init then the target. How does that play out in a duel that takes place during a skirmish? Do init bonuses not matter? How was it meant to work when developed?
A: Design Intent is that a duel is a separate event. Although it can take place during a skirmish, it is not itself a skirmish and thus game effects that key off skirmish-specific effects like initiative (for example) do not intrinsically apply to duels.
ODie says: NB: the Kakita Bushi rank 2 technique does not apply in a duel as it is a separate system that does not permit skirmish-based mechanics; even if the duel were to occur on the battlefield, assuming that all combatants respect the duelling etiquette of the Empire (some Oni may not, you know) then the skirmish effectively stops for the two duellists, until the duel is resolved.

Q: How does the Kakita Bushi 5 technique interact with the duel process? Does the Kakita Bushi simply bypass Assessment & Focus? If so, does that mean a Rank 5 Kakita Bushi automatically win a duel against anybody else (unless by some miracle they miss on the attack)?
A: Obviously no. I'm actually kind of flummoxed you would come to this conclusion -- what was your reasoning?
In a duel the only thing it means is that they get the Center Stance bonus on their Assessment roll.
Corollary Q: Then I really fail to see how the Kakita 5 ability to stay in Center Stance for multiple rounds is particularly useful. If everybody can stay in Center for multiple rounds, why specifically say so on the Kakita 5 Tech?
A: Ah, I see. You are conflating skirmishes with duels, hence your confusion.
The Kakita Rank 5 tech allows you to stay in Center Stance and to take Simple Actions in Center Stance during a skirmish. This is quite potent given the bonuses that Center Stance awards, but it has no relevance to dueling. Although an iaijutsu duel can be resolved in Rounds and thus can take place during a skirmish, it is not actually a skirmish itself.

Q: Can Iaijutsu benefit of Toku Bushi School Rank 2 Technique (+1k1 to attack and damage rolls vs. greater Insight opponents)?
A: Yes, but not the focus roll.

Q: Re: Center Stance in iaijutsu question, meaning that two non-Rank 5 Kakita duelists would gain Center Stance bonuses on the Focus AND strike rolls?
A: Yes. The second bonus could be either to the Strike roll or the damage roll. (Duels are dangerous!) The Kakita get extra bonuses above these due to their School.

Q: Does a duelist who is otherwise capable of multiple attacks only strike once in a duel, particularly in a duel to the death?
A: The two duelists make their one attack each and then any secondary attacks can come into play if that is how your GM prefers to run the duel. It is important that each group determines how they want duels to work and tinkers with the peripherals to make sure it captures the feel you are looking for.
ODie says: the nature of the duel is such that normal techniques allowing two attacks as simple actions in the one round do not apply here; it is not a normal combat round where you might spend free and simple actions. This limits some techniques and advantages (and tattoos) that require the expenditure of an action (Free, Simple or Complex), namely that they cannot be utilised in the course of a duel. That does not inherently prevent their application to the duel by employing them beforehand, much like Kata.
Once a duel to the death passes the two Strikes (and Damage) then if it devolves into the (messy) skirmish to tidy up the required death of one of the duellists, then all your techniques can come into play.

Tattoos:

Q: If a Rank 3 Togashi monk with no Iaijutsu skill activate the Lion Tattoo, could he draw a katana as a free action?
A: Yes.
ODie says: Noting that the tattoo then grants not only the skill rank as dice that can be rolled in a skill check but also the attendant abilities that the skill would grant if you possessed it normally!

Example w corrections:

Duel Round 1: Both duelists assess. Because both duelists entered Center Stance ON THIS ROUND, so neither gets a Center Stance bonus (exception: Rank 5 Kakita Bushi). A: Fine so far.

Duel Round 2: Both duelists Focus. Because Focus happens on the Turn of the faster duelist, only the one who won Initiative gets the Center Stance bonus. Other bonuses may include: +1k1 from winning Assessment by 10+, the additional +1k1+ School Rank for Kakita Bushi 1, etc. No Raises take place during Focus, but every excess increment of 5 grants a Free Raise on the Strike. This is not an Action or Attack for the purposes of any other effects or bonuses - anything that affects a Focus roll must say it affects a Focus roll.
A: No, the intention is that they both get the Center Stance bonus on their Focus rolls unless they choose to use the bonus on something else. I have no idea where you're getting the idea that only the person who won Init gets the Center Stance bonus. (Remember that not all duels happen during skirmishes.) The reference to Focus happening on a specific Init is only to assist the GM in when to make the roll if the duel is happening during a larger skirmish. Also, the duelists are still in Center Stance on this Round -- the rules clearly state the duelists are considered to be Center Stance throughout the duel.

Duel Round 3: Both duelists Strike, starting with the one who won the Focus by 5+. Because this is now 2 Rounds after assuming Center Stance, neither duelist gets a Center Stance bonus (exception: Kakita Bushi 5, who receives a Center Stance bonus + Kakita Bushi 1 Center Stance bonus for the entire time they are in Center Stance, including the Turn in which they entered it. It doesn't matter that the Strike occurs on the slower duelist's Turn - they receive their bonus for the duration, regardless of Turn).
A: Incorrect. They were still in Center Stance on Round Two and thus will gain the CS bonus to either their attack or damage roll (their choice) on Round Three.

(Continues:) The Strike is against the normal Armor TN of the opponent. Free Raises from Focusing can be used to (among other things, but probably most commonly):
a) lower this TN by 5 (pg. 79 - Raises)
b) Add 1k0 to the Damage Roll
c) Any other Maneuver, if the situation calls for it.
A: Yep! GM's discretion on Maneuvers, I would personally certainly not allow a Feint in an iaijutsu strike, but that's your call.
ODie says: I see no reason why a skilled duellist could not feint the incoming strike such that their opponent was fooled enough by it and suffer the effects of the maneuver.

My Canberra "day" trip went well, and even though the flight home was delayed by over an hour while Qantas found a new plane that needed less maintenance than the one I was supposed to be on. Still, got home and Em reaped the benefit of my being Spartan with my travel allowance, and got her pwessie of three new books (given that someone did not get any books for her birthday, and was  a very good girl in not making overt mention of the national tragedy that this constitutes!) - [Links to Amazon, BTW] The Book Thief, The Widow Cliquot, and The Magician's Apprentice by Trudy Canavan. Turns out that two of them are by Australian authors, the latter being Melbourne based. I think that the Magician's Apprentice is a prequel, based on my quick peruse of the Amazon site.

I got the middle one, even though we don't often read biographies it's about Madame Cliquot, who took her Champagne house from a small concern into one of the larger in the world (and even shaped the way Champagne is made by introducing many techniques still used today) and Em's favourite Champagne is Veuve Cliquot. Also, we recently read "Newton and the Counterfeiter" - another biography - and both really enjoyed it.

Currently reading Ancient Tales and Folklore of Japan. Oh, and the Annotated Brothers Grimm to Siobhan for bedtime stories :-)

I guess it is inevitable that your name for your brand new game is going to clash with the name of some other thing – eventually the simple, catchy phrases that authors and game writers use will align with the unspeakable conceptualisations of the rest of humanity in an unfortunate manner.

The latest and saddest example of this would be John Wick’s Blood and Honor, in which he returns after ten years to samurai drama, or in his specific case here with a new game, samurai tragedy. The unfortunate alignment here is that Blood & Honour is, in Australia, the name of a white supremacist organisation. I can’t say much more than that about them, on the note that when your argument is based upon a simple premise of hatred, I quickly stop reading.

So anyway, if you’re Googling for Blood & Honor ever, don’t forget to add “John Wick Presents” to your search keywords to avoid links to offensive violence and maltreatment of other human beings…

 

… then again it is a game about samurai, who spent their life preparing for war, whose swords were tested by slicing multiple bodies stacked belly-to-back, and who would disdainfully kill any member of the ‘lower classes’ who so much as offended them. Oh, wait, key words: “a game about”… not practicing that sort of crap in real life.

Various clan sites have now been blessed with previews of the 4Ed RPG. Mainly for my own convenience (as the L5R Facebook has links to all of these as well):

Crab - grappling rules
Crane - Iaijutsu duels
Dragon - Monks & kiho
Lion - Advantages & weapons
Mantis - Kitsune shugenja school
Phoenix - new/old spells
Scorpion - poison rules
Spider - maho
Unicorn - movement & horses

( House rules consideration below )