Fortune and Strife - GM QnA

[Ender]

Thank you all again for playing. I had an excellent time running the game and seeing you all explore your characters.

While not every one is the Topaz Champion, the true prize were the friends we made along the way.

[Asahina Sakura]

Which was your favourite Test to run/come up with details for?

[Kakita Ahiru]

Thank you for running the game for us.

I wish I had been able to participate more but at this time of year I am lacking for spoons. Overall I had a good time, and my problems were with the system and not with the game.

I enjoyed the little details in the Daily-post like the food that was served each day.

[Ender]

Which was your favourite Test to run/come up with details for?

The Test of the Soul. It was the one that I think had the most people guessing what it could be, and the event responses generated were amongst my favorites.

[Kaiu Taura]

It was fun. Enjoyed the tests even if I still do not feel I have a good grasp of the dice system.

Are you happy with the broad sweep of the FFG reset of the history? Or do you think the original AEG version had a better "vision"?

[Yukikaze no Kasumi]

Thanks for GMing this bad boy!

Biggest curveball the game threw you?

Favorite curveball the players threw you?

Favorite NPC to run?

One specific thing you'd do differently if you were setting this game up again knowing what you've learned from this runthrough?

[Shiba Jiro]

Thank you for running. I enjoyed the game. Look forward to the next installment!

[Ender]

Thank you for running the game for us.

I wish I had been able to participate more but at this time of year I am lacking for spoons. Overall I had a good time, and my problems were with the system and not with the game.

I enjoyed the little details in the Daily-post like the food that was served each day.

Thank you! That was one of my favorite little details to add to the game. You all were on your own for lunch and dinner, but Courts of Stone made a point of the importance of the breakfast meal, so I wanted to showcase a little world building.

[Ender]

It was fun. Enjoyed the tests even if I still do not feel I have a good grasp of the dice system.

Are you happy with the broad sweep of the FFG reset of the history? Or do you think the original AEG version had a better "vision"?

I didn't get into L5R at all until I randomly bought the 4th edition CRB at my FLGS shortly before they folded the license. Didn't even play any until Iron Hearts 2.

So I don't really have an opinion as to which is better.

I do know I'm going to vastly prefer the timeline we build here. I don't like how they gave both Shoju and Kachiko idiot balls in FFG timeline.

[Ender]

Thanks for GMing this bad boy!

Biggest curveball the game threw you?

Favorite curveball the players threw you?

Favorite NPC to run?

One specific thing you'd do differently if you were setting this game up again knowing what you've learned from this runthrough?

Thank you for playing!

I don't know if the game threw me any curveballs. The biggest would have been work and my weekend schedule, forcing every even day to be four irl days long versus three days long.

I don't really think the players threw any curveballs. I enjoyed seeing players strategizing themselves for the test points, and the approaches.

For the brief cameo, I absolutely loved bringing Hantei XXXVIII in, though Tenshin as the magistrate was a neat bit to bring in. I hoped to highlight what each Clan thought was important with the various judges.

Saito was fun, as well.

If I could go back, I'd start the game with an AGM. Flesh out the NPCs a bit more, and hand off the Opium Smuggling and the Shrine restoration plots to them; so I could better engage with the judges.

[Ender]

Thank you for running. I enjoyed the game. Look forward to the next installment!

Thank you!

[Seppun Urusai]

I'll echo the thanks; running's hard, and running solo...O_o

[Kaiu Taura]

Would you like an assistant for the next game? What would you look for for an AGM?

I didn't get into L5R at all until I randomly bought the 4th edition CRB at my FLGS shortly before they folded the license. Didn't even play any until Iron Hearts 2.

So I don't really have an opinion as to which is better.

I do know I'm going to vastly prefer the timeline we build here. I don't like how they gave both Shoju and Kachiko idiot balls in FFG timeline.

Well, for a newcomer to Rokugan you did very well. Speaking as an old hand

It is hard to script villains well. (And, I admit, I have not read how the later FFG continuity plays out.)

[Funegao no Hirame]

I had a really fun time this game! Ah, the folly of youth and pirates...

Did you have any favorite scenes?

I know you've talked a bit about the inspirations for the game, but if you could go into it a bit more, that would be great.

[Ender]

I had a really fun time this game! Ah, the folly of youth and pirates...

Did you have any favorite scenes?

I know you've talked a bit about the inspirations for the game, but if you could go into it a bit more, that would be great.

Honestly, I can't pick a favorite scene.

So inspirations-

The more active and present spirits are greatly inspired by the work of Miyazaki. Again, I think if I had an assistant, I wanted to play that up even more. Rokugan is a pastoral place, with trouble brewing underneath.

The opium smuggler story is pretty basic, but wanting to add in a dash of kids on bikes 80s coming of age stories to it.

I haven't figured out how yet, but I want to get some hip hop feel a la Samurai Champloo. That's a work in progress.

Honestly, I want people to have the vibe as they are leaving Tsuma that "Don't You Forget About Me" is playing.

[Yukikaze no Kasumi]

Honestly, I want people to have the vibe as they are leaving Tsuka that "Don't You Forget About Me" is playing.

Full disclosure- For Gyohime, it's gonna be something a bit less... wistful. (NSFW. Or for one's children to hear, most likely)

[Shiba Jiro]

I haven't figured out how yet, but I want to get some hip hop feel a la Samurai Champloo. That's a work in progress.

This is the way to go. And what you do is normalize sadane as slam tracks and rap battles. Make the clever wordplay game more musical and general culture can follow.

Having it so that there is some sort of fluffy spiritual, theological, or social benefit to rhyming could drive it too?

[Funegao no Hirame]

Honestly, I want people to have the vibe as they are leaving Tsuma that "Don't You Forget About Me" is playing.

Yessssssssssssssssssssssssssss!

[Isawa Natsuko]

Thanks for allowing ishiken and trusting me with immense cosmic power. And thanks for all the work a game like this requires.

What was the outcome for the shrines if we'd all looked at it and shrugged (unlikely...but...)?

Sotorii's haunting is a nice touch on a bit of canon that had a lot of possible explanations with none settled upon in canon.

[Ender]

Thanks for allowing ishiken and trusting me with immense cosmic power. And thanks for all the work a game like this requires.

What was the outcome for the shrines if we'd all looked at it and shrugged (unlikely...but...)?

Sotorii's haunting is a nice touch on a bit of canon that had a lot of possible explanations with none settled upon in canon.

Tsuma was spiritually dying. Without the tax revenue going to help fund the support of the shrine, people were ignoring it in general. And so the local spirits were leaving.

Had it been ignored, Saito would have died the day of the Iai finals. The shrine would feel barren.

The issues weren't caused by not caring, but because the governor was pressed to make sure that what happened in 1121 never happened again. So money had to be funneled to the Laughing Carp, and further infrastructure in Tsuma.