New Winds Part 2 End Game Feedback/Critique

[Vutall]

So, at the end of each game (Though we still have all the duels and the gempuku ceremony to wrap up!) I want to have feedback from everyone to see what their thoughts on the game and the direction of the campaign.

Lessons learned:
-Allowing spells in events is not something that feels good, but at the same time disallowing them feels bad for Shuganja players. I did have a warning about using spells too much, but never implimented a penalty for it, and probably should have.

-The Fire! event needed a cap to the number of rolls allowed that wasn't keyed to how many failures a player has

-All "secret" bonuses or penalties to the big overaching metagame should be revealed at the start, well before the game goes live (For Topaz Points, for example)

-Events need a MANDATORY Ghosting instruction requirement BEFORE players begin combat.

-The number of events in both games heavily restricted players abilities to have non-event RP.

-Events that have a potential for delayed arrivals to a combat need to have an upper limit on the delay so people do not get locked out of an event despite being a participant.

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Questions:
What was your favorite part of this game

What was your least favorite part

If you played part 2 over again, what would you change

What do you think of the lore, timeline, and story thus far

Do the custom rules for this campaign need any changes

Is there any current rule, skill, spell, technique, etc (Book or custom) that you feel needs an errata or ban

Did you feel the game was ran well

Did you feel like the game was fair

Did you think there were balance problems

[Asako Saburo]

All of your initial take-aways are accurate.

I will add that, as a shugenja, I did not fully grasp the scale to which certain spells are drastically skewed in their capacity to impact the game by the oddly skewed stats our characters have. As we're IR 4-5 characters at Tech rank 1, we're sporting spells that are in some cases drastically altered in their utility, over and above what they're intended for at Rank 1. Where they would normally give a 2k0 bonus with appropriate rings at IR 1, they're propping up 5k0 which can cause system breakdown.

I do agree that a 'penalty' for abuse of the kami that was actual instead of theoretical might have impacted their use some. But, overall, live and learn. I was comfortable once I stopped using spells in events after the first one I did. Felt much better to just use the meditational aid spell in recovery.

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1) I we're speaking solely of Chapter 2: I probably had the most fun in the observational threads, where characters were reacting to the events. those proved interesting at times.

2) I think it was the fact that the events occupied half of each day. This was unavoidable. It's topaz. That's just what happens in a Topaz module. In future, I recommend keeping it to 1 slot a day for events, 2 on busy days. It allows us more time to meta-pot with each other.

3) I think you've established a groundwork for a potentially interesting civil war struggle that is disparate from the core storyline without delving too far into unexplored territory. I believe chapter 3 could be very interesting.

4) Gimme a while to think on that. My mechanical savvy can be poor on these quetions.

5) Now that we're leaving the event schedule of a gempukku contest never designed to involve massive numbers of Reversal of Fortunes or the like, I do not currently see anything that requires an additional ban or errata.

while I expressed concerns with you over the use of Taryu-Jiai in a Gempukku ceremony because of its inherent lethality with our stats, that was solely because of a personal opinion on the Topaz Tourney itself. I think that the TJ rules you have in place are the exact ones that should be used going forward, with only minimal tweaks at most. I think it looks like a very solid system for magical duels that are potentially lethal in nature.

6) I feel that the game was run sufficiently well for a Topaz Tournament module designed for 4-6 players at starting level ability, suddenly being thrust into a situation where a 30+ squadron of IR 5 children with stats that would make veteran characters in other tabletops blush with envy and basic techniques, could possibly be. It went just fine enough, and we're through it so that our characters are now adults and can face off against the challenges of the empire with our second rank techniques.

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Please consider carefully the various Paths you allow for alternate techniques. However, I think anything out of the core books should be fine in general. I would like to know, hopefully, about Tensai's availability for Rank 2 before we enter into prep for the next game. It's kind of a typical Path for Isawa shugenja.

[Ikoma Eichiro]

Questions:
What was your favorite part of this game
Getting to play L5R again, in a setting that is rather fresh without the baggage of old 4e.

What was your least favorite part:
Competition and points to determine a winner being public, I guess. Thankfully it doesn't seem to have gotten too toxic, but the potential is there. I guess there being a 'winner' for the metagame is also I think I dislike.

If you played part 2 over again, what would you change:
Parts of my build I guess. Not the character, just the rings and skill points chosen I suppose. Higher Void as an example.

What do you think of the lore, timeline, and story thus far:
Yes, I do.

Do the custom rules for this campaign need any changes:
No, I don't think so.

Is there any current rule, skill, spell, technique, etc (Book or custom) that you feel needs an errata or ban
None that I can think of, no.

Did you feel the game was ran well:
Yes, for a GM team of one I believe that you made yourself available as much as humanly possible to answer questions and RP with us.

Did you feel like the game was fair:
No, at least not for Part 2 start characters on paper. There were definitely rewards set out for Part 1 characters that may (and still will) skew things in their favor. I know in the Courtier debate, I gotta fight against Great Potentials and Prodigy earned from Part 1, for which no XP was spent.

This issue disappears when the game stops being outright competitive with PvP and such.

I also think you hit it as far as Shugenja spell things. If the kami had gotten tired after a while, requiring raises to keep casting spells it might have changed things.

Did you think there were balance problems:
See above, as a Part 2 character there was some inherent imbalance due to rewards. As far as events go, no not really.

[Otomo Nobuko]

A suggestion for a thing to implement for events, not just combat events:
A "Fill out this form and include nothing else but the information needed in your first post" form. During the events. several players did not post what ring they were using during the event and it had to be sussed out by what they posted in the RP portion or the roll tags (for example: Skill X/willpower).

A simple form to make sure all necessary info for tracking anything can be copied and pasted, then filled out, will make tracking things easier and keep them formatted the same. Just like you have to use the exact format for Submitted Character Sheets, first posts should have the exact same format for everyone to follow in that event.

It can also be used to simplify the Orokos Roll descriptions, so we know what's being factored in before void/honor/glory, and don't have to state that along with the rest to help reduce the amount written in descriptions - which can be difficult for those of us with issues reading or doing math to follow. It also means anyone else doing the math along with us will be able to correct us if we roll wrong and need to redo or add something.

For the Topaz events, that might look something like this:

Ring Choice: X ring
Bonuses Applied (before void point spending/honor/glory/etc): Y Free Raises from mastery, Yk0 from Advantage Z, etc

And again, have that be the only thing included in the very first post.

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What was your favorite part of this game
No one single favorite part. But I did really like that what we did outside of events had some benefits or consequences (like getting Erina as a servant for 1XP + RP scene). It felt like a much more dynamic setting where what we did actually had effects and that's always satisfying.

What was your least favorite part
Shugenja Duels and Courtier Duels

Shugenja Duels being included they way they were. Shugenja are too valuable to have them tossing spells against each other at a Gempukku ceremony where damage from those who aren't as experienced in life as their elders, might not be able to control themselves. Changes should have been made so they were not casting at each other, but ONLY for effect. They could have been instructed to cast an X level spell of whatever element they wanted (so, TN15 for 1st level, or TN20 for second) and then the Assessment & Focus phases could have been used to give them bonuses to their rolls, with the 'Strike' being the actual casting. If the spell needed a target, a target dummy could have been subbed in.

This is a very dangerous thing to be putting shugenja through and is done very, very rarely already for good reason. Making it more of an exhibition than a potentially fatal challenge would have been more in keeping with the setting's views on magic and the Crane's views on nonlethality.

Courtier Duel mechanics are boring. I know you were attempting to do something with it, but it just ended up being a dice pool dump instead of something that felt more dynamic. You could have kept the Assessment/Focus/Strike set up with their 'weapons' being words instead and going after each other instead of trying to convince a judge - this would have allowed techniques, advantages, and disads to trigger the same as Iai and Shuggie duels, which let the participants use their applicable techs/advantages/disads. The assessment could have been described flavor-wise as psyching each other out, focus on narrowing in on part of the topic to really pick apart, and strike the definitive statement they make before everything (potentially) dissolves into petty bickering (i.e. 'combat').

If you played part 2 over again, what would you change
The points system for the events. Just go with a simple pass/fail rule for them and up the TNs according to dice pool rolled - 3k2 is TN15; 5k4 is TN20, 7k5 TN25, etc, so that everyone has a challenge that is roughly equal to their skill. Your one on one match ups were fine, since you were basing them on who had the same or nearly the same level of Skill in the Skill.

What do you think of the lore, timeline, and story thus far
All good.

Do the custom rules for this campaign need any changes
After some discussion and examination, Family Bond is underwhelming and underpowered compared to the other 3 Bonds. At the max rank you're getting a +5 to rolls made with X trait. That's really low when compared to +5k0 to a skill your bond has for Comrade, 5 rerolls for Rival, and -10 wound penalties for Lover. Maybe make it "a number of free raises equal to your bond rank that may be spent only on rolls made with the ring you chose when this was activated." This lets them raise dump on one roll, or spread them out across several during a scene.

Is there any current rule, skill, spell, technique, etc (Book or custom) that you feel needs an errata or ban
Are timeslots a rule? I think having timeslots occupy 3 IRL hours instead of 2 made it hard to get more RP in with the number of events going on. If there's less plot-specific events per game in future games, keeping them as is probably isn't a problem.

Did you feel the game was ran well
Yep. You did good. I've enjoyed it. Have had a lot of fun.

Did you feel like the game was fair
Generally, yes.

The issue with shuggies and there not being a penalty for casting so much, despite having a warning of such, as you've addressed in the initial post is a concern. Not just mechanically, but flavor and lore-wise.

For those just learning the system or very new to the setting and still getting a handle on it, it gives them the idea that shuggies are similar to DnD Sorcerers or Wizards. When - lore wise - they are rare and often awe-inspiring, and casting is more of a spiritual thing, sometimes to the point of being religious depending on what school they're trained in. Spellcasting isn't usually allowed openly in courts or allowed for Testimony. It's the kind of awe inspiring that creates fear of the user in those less familiar with it - which, unless you're a shugenja or work closely with one - is most of PCs at game start. The setting should reflect that. Shuggies aren't spell dispensers you can call on at any time for any reason, they're very special people with a very special talent and connection to the elements and powerful forces of the world.

The penalty didn't need to be one of points necessarily, but a social stigma perhaps, or a glory or honor hit for not being viewed as showing proper deference to the spirits being called on. Something that would reinforce the setting's views on the use of magic without hurting the players mechanically for not necessarily knowing better on an OOC level

Did you think there were balance problems
Yep. Most of it's addressed in my above answers. But all that said, this is a high-powered campaign. It's going to have balance problems. Some won't be as obvious until after it's a little too late to do anything about it and we just have to roll with it and learn for next time.


Now that that's over with: If I come across as harsh, I apologize. It is not meant that way, but I have a lot of trouble getting 'tone' to come across properly in text, so I know it might. I've been having a lot of fun and enjoyed this game. Any problems pointed out/suggestions are just things I think should be kept in mind and given some thought. If they are not changed or implemented, I'm not going to be upset about it.

[Utaku Nesrin]

So, at the end of each game (Though we still have all the duels and the gempuku ceremony to wrap up!) I want to have feedback from everyone to see what their thoughts on the game and the direction of the campaign.

Lessons learned:
-Allowing spells in events is not something that feels good, but at the same time disallowing them feels bad for Shuganja players. I did have a warning about using spells too much, but never implimented a penalty for it, and probably should have.

Kind of always a tricky balance. It was interesting seeing a full tournament with spells mostly allowed.

-The Fire! event needed a cap to the number of rolls allowed that wasn't keyed to how many failures a player has

heee. The flooding of Tsuma would make this Championship memorable, even if nothing else had. If you're going to have overwhelming success on an event though, this was the one for it.

-Events need a MANDATORY Ghosting instruction requirement BEFORE players begin combat.

And possibly a GM note that in the absence of useful instructions, you're going to toss basic combat rolls from that section of their character sheet at the most wounded baddie...or whatever you want the default to be.

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Questions:

What was your favorite part of this game

It's always the character interactions. The game provides a framework and plot points to bounce around, but the interactions with other players/characters make the game. Gratitude to all the neat characters running around this one.

What was your least favorite part

My general schedule making posting tough, and the way that tournament games can feel a bit like a dice fest. The latter was somewhat mitigated by our ridiculous builds. Throwing that many dice around is a bit novel and kind of fun.

If you played part 2 over again, what would you change

My need to spend much of the day working to pay my rent? Short of that, I was really happy with my character build. I might have chosen to push some points from Iai to Kenjutsu, realizing how much use the latter would get. But I do not regret Earth 4 instead of Void 5 for sure.

Not an issue for me this time around other than on one day, but as noted, timeslots were tight with all the events. I think setting two events in the same timeslot would not have stretched believability and would free up space for rp.

What do you think of the lore, timeline, and story thus far

So, I'm running 5e out in meatspace and really like the rebooted lore and timeline. I love ditching certain baggage and expectations. I stan Kachiko/Hotaru forever, even if it means the latter still ends up walking into a lake to face her kharmic ancestor while the latter's ghost looks on. I like the shifts you made here and the ones to the timeline via polls and inclination to make it your own while still nesting inside the larger canon. And I super appreciate the expansion of background here to include blackmail and more detailed plotting around those dinging Hitoshi. It created a large chunk of plot for players to chase down if they were unable or disinclined to go stab things and made the overall bare bones plot from the module more interesting.

Do the custom rules for this campaign need any changes

I need a forum AI that highlights the rule changes that affect my character sheet so I don't overlook them. But that seems a big ask. XD Otherwise, I didn't run into any that seemed to make a mess of things or turn something fun into something not fun.

Is there any current rule, skill, spell, technique, etc (Book or custom) that you feel needs an errata or ban

Again, not that I ran into in person. I don't have the time to poke at all the things going on, and am not competitive enough to dig into the event results to find that spell x is a problem because it really skewed things.

Did you feel the game was ran well

As noted above, yep. You were available as much as could be expected of a mortal who needs things like sleep. The mechanical shifts and events were well laid out and standardized. My minor quibble is that it would be useful to toss in pictures of NPCs that are speaking in posts. In larger threads where you were sometimes fielding multiple NPCs, it could become hard to recall who was speaking at a given time.

Did you feel like the game was fair

The Crane don't exactly build the Topaz to be fair. And again, I'm not competitive so I wasn't paying much attention. It wasn't unfair enough to make me notice something glaring and awful. As noted, some things will be less of an issue when there is less of a direct PVP element.

Did you think there were balance problems

Same.

[Kaiu Aiichiro]

I put what I wanted to say together before the thread popped up, so long post :P

-Allowing spells in events is not something that feels good, but at the same time disallowing them feels bad for Shugenja players. I did have a warning about using spells too much, but never implimented a penalty for it, and probably should have.

Originally the topaz championship was only really intended for bushi (gaining an armor? iaijutsu?), and as such if any shugenja could make the difference with spells, it could be considered a fair move. As you changed it to be more accessible for them, it would not be unfair to completely block spells from being used in the trials for the events.

I don't think you were talking about pop-up events here, so I won't comment on those.

-The number of events in both games heavily restricted players abilities to have non-event RP.

As the #1 poster, I felt there was too few time, yes :P
I had to delay many things for more important ones. I planned to do the hunting thing at Day 1, for example.
This is something I didn't feel on Part 1. It's just a question to balance timeslots with number of events. This game we had ~3 events +2 sleep timeslots +1 popup event per day, leaving everyone with only three or two free timeslots.
Last game we had ~2 events + 3 sleep timeslots +1 popup event per day, leaving everyone with seven or six free timeslots.
The part 1 roleplay restriction came from our characters having strict schedules.

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Questions:
What was your favorite part of this game
We had an ENTIRE town to explore! It's a big world out there!
I really liked the small character-centric events too, like the gaki disguised as Ninya or the letters thing.

What was your least favorite part
The lack of free timeslots.
I know for this game the events had to be very static (three specific rolls each event that lead to a score), I don't know if this is a pbp thing in general (my first pbp fame), but I would like if the format was more flexible or had better progression. It would solve the problem on people with high void gaming the system by requiring more rolls, but those rolls would not feel massive/chorey to do.

If you played part 2 over again, what would you change
Making it from four to six free timeslots per day instead of ~two.

What do you think of the lore, timeline, and story thus far
The first game had not a metaplot. The second had, but on both games somewhat the scorpions seemed to be more relevant for story things (being able to morally put dirt on people, spy and stuff). Didn't really follow the Part 2 metaplot so this may be completely wrong for Part 2.
Timeline is being interesting.

Do the custom rules for this campaign need any changes
Since there is little to none narrative change on which ring you pick in the events, it feels way less "wow, my character would complete this chase as adamantly as possible, so I'm picking the fire ring!" like the 5e book example on ring selection for a skill and way more like "which ring would give me more points?". Even if you do righteously for roleplaying benefits, you get behind in the metapoints. I don't think the ring system is working as intended as it is being employed currently. It is a fun statistics minigame, however.

Is there any current rule, skill, spell, technique, etc (Book or custom) that you feel needs an errata or ban
I'm fine.

Did you feel the game was ran well
Overally yes.

Did you feel like the game was fair
Players with higher Void seemed to still score higher. Nothing that would have impacted me personally as my chances of winning were nil anyway.

Did you think there were balance problems
Something is bugging me overall, but I don't think it can be corrected anymore. The power level is kinda too high. I have no problems with this, but high power level calls for equally as high-level opponents. As we are currently very very powerful, there are some options:
- Making every combat very big and long with a lot of opponents.
- Leveling up ordinary opponents so they will be at our rating.
- Throwing in opponents that are naturally a match.
Third one seems to be the best solution. It is not a good one but what the others imply are worse.
First has the risk of making combat really big and slow. I don't have a problem with those personally.
Second one implies a break in believability — people with a ring at four are special and we were made into very special stuff. A normal heimin would have 2 at all rings (or really maybe +1 in two attributes like level 1 samurai), but base 2 is too weak for us. Our power level calls for base 3 (most people will have all attributes at 3). And base 3 is something powerful. If the balancement is done by editing otherwise ordinary opponents in higher attributes, it makes the system kind of pointless.
The third one scaries me, as it means facing rank 3-4 enemies regularly. Or oni lords.

[Bayushi Jiro]

What was your favorite part of this game?
Character moments in threads. Even quick things like the talk with Ginkarasu was really fruitful and nice. It feels good to speak in character.

What was your least favorite part?
Orokos. Actually, the gift-giving thread. I give Toshimoku a teapot from beyond the veil of sleep and I get the same nod as everybody else. Shoulda kept that teapot and read him a flippin' poem.

If you played part 2 over again, what would you change?
My luck. I would have sought out more characters to play with as well. I don't think I had that many free slots, though.

What do you think of the lore, timeline, and story thus far?
I find the stories interesting. I like them. I'm having a hard time keeping track of the subtler shifts from earlier editions. I would say that getting out of the cycle of cataclysm--recovery--cataclysm that plagued the earlier editions is good. A little queer representation is appreciated, not that some of us weren't saturating these boards with it for years in earlier editions. I appreciate very much the governor of the Hirosaka district being in bed with regular-old criminals. The old editions had a problem with the Kolat or the Spider being behind every shadow. Like...at some point some people just do bad things. It doesn't have to be a massive conspiracy every dang time. Moriarty is an amazing character, but he only appears in one Sherlock Holmes story and is only mentioned in one other one. I get the sense that the Kolat are a big part of the canon storyline (I'm trying not to read all of it so that this can develop without my poisoning the well for myself), including the events here, but I understand lots of folks dig them, so that's fine.

Do the custom rules for this campaign need any changes?
Family Bond is kinda the odd man out among bonds. I hesitate to mention it because I don't have a workable solution myself, and I couldn't do better than you've done.

Is there any current rule, skill, spell, technique, etc (Book or custom) that you feel needs an errata or ban?
Not particularly.

Did you feel the game was run well
Yes, definitely.

Did you feel like the game was fair?

I think the game was consciously designed to be as fair as you could make it, and while that is a good thing, it had some unintended consequences. Spell abuse by shugenja in events is the prime one, of course, but I'd include completely open combat threads in that number as well. Obviously, I didn't play a combatant, so I can't tell you whether the final fight was worth it as an experience. It might have been. But the rest of the game also ground to a halt for 60 hours. Finally, variations on the main quest might be a good idea in the future. 30+ people working on exactly the same thing gets funky in l5r, and it seemed like a few people opted out because Hitoshi was getting mobbed by new buddies watching out for his every move. I only got involved toward the middle because Kaidan wanted to.

Did you think there were balance problems.
We're still playing shugenja edition; not much can be done about that except limit abuse of spells in formal settings. Also: fewer rolls in courtier and art events=fewer points for dedicated courtiers. That's probably fine for the Topaz Championship, but it was a little demoralizing to nearly max out my potential in a courtier event--which I am built for--with 21 points or so and then discover that bushi are hauling down 30+ points in 1v1 events like horsemanship and so on.

[Kokyou]

Lessons learned:

Not to devote too much time in a character expectation that one doesn't have full control of. Either Orokos, other Force Majeure or game flow can impact that. I honestly think I should have exercised more often, and trained more often than spending hours at the forum.

What was your favorite part of this game

Having all the competitors (mostly) at the Inn was fun again. Good way to be able to nearly reach everyone out.

What was your least favorite part

Definitely the iaijutsu duel

If you played part 2 over again, what would you change

If I played a Topaz Championship game like this again, I would make sure every "tag" would have fitting award associated to it. I would also make sure that potentially game breaking rules, advantages and spells are not available for use in certain PvP scenarios (e.g., Strength of Honor)

What do you think of the lore, timeline, and story thus far

It's fine. A bit far away from the characters, though.

Do the custom rules for this campaign need any changes

Any rule involving direct PvP should be reviewed.

Is there any current rule, skill, spell, technique, etc (Book or custom) that you feel needs an errata or ban

Improvised Weapons not being a bonus to the DR
PvP benefit of whomever posts last in a Contested PvP Roll
Any Crab Berserker

Did you feel the game was ran well

Exceptionally well. Although, I believe NPCs could have been more vidid. They have been far more "alive" than on Part I. Suggestion: get Assistant NPC to run a couple of them.

Did you feel like the game was fair

It was balanced enough and felt quite nice. There are some issues here and there, and I was caught into one. But overall, a very nice game.

Did you think there were balance problems

The 2 tags structure took care of most of the balance things. The events themselves were quite nice. We had people lucking out on several rolls, and a certain shugenja blasting through with a specific build. Not sure if the build itself should be corrected, or if it is the same as in a Kakita Duelist advantage.

[Kitsuki Asahi]

What was your favorite part of this game
Another tanuki making another of my characters drink until he passed out.

What was your least favorite part
Another tanuki making another of my characters drink until he passed out. It isn't a major issue, but the possibility of resisting drinking further would have been nice.

If you played part 2 over again, what would you change
I would have come in during pre-game so I could set up some character connections.

What do you think of the lore, timeline, and story thus far
I enjoy it. Familiar, but different enough to be interesting.

Do the custom rules for this campaign need any changes
I am still adjusting to them, so I'm not sure. Others are better suited to make suggestions, regardless.

Is there any current rule, skill, spell, technique, etc (Book or custom) that you feel needs an errata or ban
See previous answer.

Did you feel the game was ran well
Yes.

Did you feel like the game was fair
Yes.

Did you think there were balance problems
There are always balance issues, but I think you are working to address them as well as you can.

[Bayushi Kaidan]

What was your favorite part of this game?
Getting a pet. Actual getting things through RP and the open world.

What was your least favorite part?
Not many time slot for RP. Others people with RL no Oni bothering them.

If you played part 2 over again, what would you change?
My character sheet... My character ended very random in part 1 to be able to actually be useful or tournament worthy.

What do you think of the lore, timeline, and story thus far?
I enjoy it even though I do not follow it that closely.

Do the custom rules for this campaign need any changes?
I would say that a better rule for tairyu jiai would be the avatar way. It will keep the player safe and also would make it a bit more picturesque.

Is there any current rule, skill, spell, technique, etc (Book or custom) that you feel needs an errata or ban?
I don't think much about this.

Did you feel the game was ran well?
Of course it was. It is one of the few PbPs I have felt that I have done something and that I haven't been frustrated playing the character.

Did you feel like the game was fair?
Pairings were a bit weird. Going against same skill but not same ring people. But I know this is difficult to place fairly.

Did you think there were balance problems?
Yes, but perhaps I am bias because I feel I was playing an underdog, cat, person, man, woman...

[Matsu Qiang]

What was your favorite part of this game
- I really liked Team Lion and the Lion study group, and how the Lion were very supportive. Many props to the other Lion players. Their support was nice for Qiang since he was quickly treated as an antagonist for a lot of the other PCs early on.

What was your least favorite part
- I was pretty nervous about the PvP aspects. Qiang was lucky enough to do well at this part of the game, but I was worried that could lead to OOC drama and bad feelings. It seems like it turned out OK at the end, I was just worried about it.

If you played part 2 over again, what would you change
- I would’ve liked to start more threads and interacted with more player characters outside the scheduled events. Work was really busy for me for part of the game, and general pandemic stress made me feel less creative about roleplaying, so I ended up doing less RP and interacted with fewer players than I would’ve liked.

What do you think of the lore, timeline, and story thus far
- The lore and story aspects are great so far!
- I did feel weird about Qiang needing to help Doji Satsume and prevent the Crane from being embarrassed, since his background makes him rather anti-Crane. It worked out in the end though.

Do the custom rules for this campaign need any changes
- Yeah, I like some of the things we’re trying here but I felt like some of the game mechanics could use some fine tuning.
- For the “choose your ring” events, it always seemed better to select my best trait of “5” over the suggested ring, if my trait was only “3”. (If it was 5 vs 4 it was a closer decision.) Some people tried to role-play their ring choice in their descriptive text, but overall I don’t think it worked to convey that the character is choosing a style based on a particular ring. My suggestion, for what it’s worth, is to make the choice of ring also require a different skill for each ring; e.g. a physical combat test might let you choose between AIR: Reflexes/Defense, FIRE: Agility/Kenjutsu, WATER: Strength/Jiujutsu, or EARTH: raw Stamina. A knowledge test might let you choose between FIRE: Intelligence/Lore: the Thing, WATER: Perception/Investigation (spot) with an honor loss for copying another player’s answers, AIR: Awareness/Etiquette (Conversation) with 2 raises to conceal that you have no idea what you’re taking about, etc. Then based on your traits and skills you might have a tougher decision when choosing Ring.
- “Strength of Honor” was clearly too powerful an ability since multiple players were strategizing about when to use “Strength of Honor” during the Iaijutsu tournament, and who to use it against. +Xk0 to a roll is pretty huge. It shouldn’t be an “I win” ability for duels. I would suggest you make it less powerful, or at the very least disallow use of “Strength of Honor” in duels, contested rolls, or other PvP situations. (Maybe it’s less of a problem in PvE.)
- I’m a little worried about the Bonds mechanic seeming powerful, but it also costs a lot of XP, so maybe it is ok. I do think Bonds should only be usable if you’re directly interacting with the person you’re Bonded to, though; fighting alongside them in battle, championing them in a duel or court, that sort of thing. I don’t think it should be a static bonus that you can use at any time; it should require roleplaying justification to use.

Is there any current rule, skill, spell, technique, etc (Book or custom) that you feel needs an errata or ban
- None from me. I’d prefer fewer errata when possible.

Did you feel the game was ran well
- Yes. It must’ve been challenging to run this whole game by yourself, and I know our player base can get contentious at times.
- I don’t think it’s actually necessary for you to post every single event and its description at game start. I mean, it’s nice that you did, but I don’t think we should expect it.

Did you feel like the game was fair
- I think so? Mostly?
- The way topaz points were used and the system of byes and bonus points on the last day, followed by comparing scores between 3 different tournaments, was a little confusing, but not sure I could suggest a better way to handle it. Obviously I have no cause for complaint.
- It's tricky to compare bushi vs shugenja vs courtiers in any kind of reasonable way. I wonder if it might make sense to have separate games dedicated to focus on each of these "classes": e.g. Topaz for bushi ending in an iaijutsu tournament, Bloom of the White Orchid for shugenja ending in magic duels, and some sort of Imperial Court for courtiers ending in social contests. (Obviously that would be a lot of work though.)

Did you think there were balance problems
- Oh, definitely. I think this is to be expected at the power level that was defined in character creation. I’m really not used to 290+ XP for a character, and had to look up the “rule of 10” to figure out how to simplify a 20k8 roll. (I had fun, don’t get me wrong.)
- Shugenja buffs were kind of an issue since you could always pick the ring that your spell buffs. I mean, that’s what the spell does, so it’s totally a legal tactic…. it seemed too good though.
- I think the events where you “roll until you get 3 failures” or “roll until you get 10 successes” or “roll until you travel 400 feet beating the TN enough times” should be adjusted in future games, since depending on the skill check involved, some characters may succeed 95% of the time and some may succeed only 30% of the time, resulting in a gigantic spread between their respective outcomes. I think you’re better off just having people roll once for each of these things, and have raises give some defined effect.