Feedback Focus: Ring Selection, Points Spread

[Vutall]

I think the Bad Feelings come from the 1 on 1 events where its winner takes all. So if player A is very good and picks a ring they rock in, they can call raises without a lot of risk if player B has little skill/picks a ring that they are poor in.

Normally, raises are risky because of the TN increase, but for contested rolls, the risk is mitigated greatly by your opponents rolling ability.

[Kaito Haruki]

Or similarly amplified by your opponent's dumb luck negating the dice advantage.

[Iuchi Prashant]

Alright, having looked over commentary thus far, I have a few points. Overall, I am not seeing a major mechanical discrepancy in the arrangement so long as the primary focus of Topaz points is to hit the 75 point threshold in order to enter the second stage of the tournament. I believe that the flat +5 bonus is preferable to the 2x bonus, but I am less of a gambling man myself, so that reflects more of an agreement with Iuchi Prashant's player in this regard.

Regarding Spells:
Ok, we all know Ishiken are powerful things. This was a known factor going in, and things like the banning of "Alter the Course" are almost necessary fixes for overall balance to be maintained. (In these events, it would have less impact, but Alter the Course is still Alter the Course). The more that I've looked over what Saburo was able to do in terms of heraldry, the more that I think that I have a plan going forward for him.

I won't be using "Strengthening the Void" in future events. While +1k0 when void is spent isn't earth shattering it actually had a pretty significant impact on the overall results to be able to turn Sage into a 7k5 with Void. I believe that Saburo already enjoys a significant advantage in being able to utilize Drawing the Void as a recovery spell between events to recover his void at a vastly accelerated rate compared to his other competitors. Anything else is needlessly gravy. He will hit 75 with no issues, and the lily does not need to be gilded, so to speak.

- On "Fire Kami's Blessing," I believe that limiting the bonus to Masteryk0 is the solution that keeps the spell closer to balanced. The spell is designed as a Mastery 1 spell held by Fire 2-3 characters at tier 1 events, which at Insight Rank 3-4 begins to show dominance at 4k0. We are IR 1, which means everyone is enjoying Technique level 1 effects, while certain tricks are significantly altered in unexpected ways by unexpectedly high rings for IR 1. It's an unintended result, much as I think "Strengthening the Void" is causing a more significant impact than I had expected.

- Regarding overall point spreads, based on the mechanics I've seen, I'm expecting to see a considerably larger fluctuation of results in events going forward. there's a lot of things you just can't prepare for, such as the Athletics test's duration, the horsemanship's widely varied skills, the fact that three events are on top of each other, making void blowing more of a risky venture (even for Saburo, there are limits.).

I can certainly understand frustrations in early events, but I will confess that I've taken a "Go with the flow" mentality regarding the mechanics of the game overall.


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Surprise

I think I agree with all of Saburo's points here. Including surprise!

For the spell, xk0 or xk1 are both ok I guess. But then tbh I'd also be ok with it staying as written even if it is a large advantage.

I also don't think Saburo should refrain from using spells just for that - Ishi ARE potent. And... Using spells for everything may have IC consequences.

As for 1x1 events , they'll always be hard to balance and make fun for everyone. There are different styles of play, and so on.

But if I understand how V set the pairings, most matches had at least similar skills. That actually means, for two very skilled characters, they possibly won't be making many points from raises because they probably wouldn't want to risk simply losing it all. Or - and this is a hint at a strategy if both contestants agree - both can go all out on raises and whoever wins win big. It's very different if the contestants are less balanced - then it's the more skilled contestant probably winning loads of points and the other pretty much as cannon fodder.

But then so it is with contested events I guess. I don't see that as a reason to change their nature at least. Especially since, again, this isn't simply an Arena game and/or a race for Topaz Points.

[Vutall]

My method for pairing is to ensure people with the same skill level (but not ring) are matched. If you have Jiujutsu 1, your opponent should have Jiujutsu 1, for example. If if you have 5, they have 4 and prodigy.

The disparity comes from different rings, techniques, spells, kata, kiho, and tattoos

[Kuni Yotsuo]

If you are going with some surprise benefit at end game based on ring selection, it would probably be ideal to make it something non-mechanical. Going the way of choosing just one ring throughout for mechanical advantage on earning points, doesn't guarantee you will win the championship, since you still have to be a winner of one of the three tournaments to even have points mean anything other than passing.

That's the real takeaway here: if you do not win one of the tournaments it means literally nothing how many points you earn over 75, and someone that doesn't pick based on suggested rings because they fluff-wise just want to show how capable they are at problem solving shouldn't result in others gaining any sort of mechanical benefit for a different narrative choice.

If anything, I'd probably go with two different non-mechanical reward categories: one for those that showed the wisdom of listening to their elders and one for those that favored ambition and strength. The more rings you match the greater the reward for wisdom and the more you showed ambition the greater reward for that. Perhaps some benefit from the sensei wisdom and some benefit from lords for ambition.

They're both legitimate paths towards the completion of the goals set before us.

[Iuchi Prashant]

I actually like Yotsuo's idea, for what it's worth : )

[Moto Ichiro]

so far the only misgiving I hhave is what Kokyou said at the beginning where bushi get penalized a little where their main source of points will be from 1v1 events so like wrestling is my main skill rolling 10k6-10k7 and instead of getting to roll against a tn I had to roll against someone else rolling the same dice. Where as someone who specializes in court stuff or knowledge things just gets to roll against a tn and easily scores 15-20 points where as from my main skill event I got 9. I'm not too worried about it since points don't matter except to get to 75 and that won't be an issue but just my musings on the current set up. But I long ago abandoned hope of being champion so my only goal here is to make the 75 threshold.

[Iuchi Prashant]

I sorta agree with Ichiro on this one, but I don't think that's actually a problem given how TP work.

It might become a problem for the final comparison if Shugenja and/or Courtier have much higher scores than Bushi, but if that's the case there might be some way to take that difference in consideration to correct points for the final comparison, as some have said.