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Post by akavidar on Feb 19, 2018 13:40:16 GMT -8
I like SirGuido's idea of the 'declare raises after the roll at 10 points per raise'. And since I'm an old traditionalist that still rocks the 1e L5R, with some additions, it also keeps the rank 5 Bayushi technique useful since they'd be able to declare their raises after the roll without that penalty. Good job, sir. What do you add to 1st ed? Do you have any trouble with the system? I know Tappy said he could break 1st ed L5R pretty easy.
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Post by akavidar on Feb 19, 2018 13:42:50 GMT -8
To me, the best houserule I've heard to "fix" the game (and I think it was SirGuido who mentioned it) is to allow the declaration of raises AFTER the roll. Declaring raises prior to the roll carries a lot of risk, as not making your raise means failure, even if it would otherwise succeed (IIRC, it's been a while...). And Steven is right, many times a declared raise will result in a failure, so my players at least rarely tried it. If I'm understanding the term "swinginess" correctly, meaning wild swings in dice results, that's an aspect of the game I like, as it makes the outcomes of combat unpredictable, making it a dangerous thing (as it should be). That's my 2 cents at least. You do have to be something of a gambler to call raises, a cautious player, or stork, would be a little hesitant to call raises for fear of not rolling high enough and turning a success into failure.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 19, 2018 14:39:34 GMT -8
I like SirGuido's idea of the 'declare raises after the roll at 10 points per raise'. And since I'm an old traditionalist that still rocks the 1e L5R, with some additions, it also keeps the rank 5 Bayushi technique useful since they'd be able to declare their raises after the roll without that penalty. Good job, sir. What do you add to 1st ed? Do you have any trouble with the system? I know Tappy said he could break 1st ed L5R pretty easy. We usually just do small tweaks, like health being (Earth x2)+1 for a wound rank. Add Air instead of just Reflexes for init - in theory to represent being more spiritually balanced, but also to make sure people aren't just dumping everything into Reflexes and Agility. Kakita bushi can use their Iaijutsu for kenjustu; Mirumoto bushi can use their Kenjutsu for iaijutsu duels - kind of creates more of a parity like in the lore. Also, Hunting, First Aid, Lore:(Clan) and Notice Shit, all at rank one that don't count towards insight. Fairly minor things like that. Yes, the system is breakable, and that was addressed when it was first released. But, it's like any game night at any table: you need to decide if having a player break a game is good or bad. It's not an issue to make a super combat effective character. But, you also open yourself up to having no defenses against social things, for example. Taking the full ten points of disads for the points even if they don't fit your story seems like a good idea, until you think of the fact that gives a rank 1 Scorpion courtier 5 free raises (essentially a +25 to their roll) against you. The example John Wick gave from the playtest was this: a PC was a combat monster, with the Taint as a disad, another PC as an enemy, and had limited Shadowlands Lore (this was a Hida bushi, by the way). Had bought his Awareness down to a 1. The party is being assembled to ride into the Shadowlands to rescue a Phoenix ambassador. He could have stopped the player and just said, 'You need to make something more suitable' but he didn't. A Scorpion NPC stepped in at court and demanded to replace the Crab NPC. He pointed all the evidence of why the Crab was a liability, even down to his lack of knowledge of the Enemy. The player knew that at the tables Wick ran, if you roleplayed well, he seldom made you roll. So, his PC stepped in and said his honor had been impugned, and made an impassioned speech on his behalf to his lord. But you know what? It was a contested roll - and NPCs always have to roll. So, basically, the character got sidelined and replaced with a more suitable character. TLDR - I don't think judging a system on breakability is everything, because that can vary from table to table. Either talent or skill. Every system can be and has been broken. Again, with L5R, having a player 'break the game' more than you and other players accept isn't any different than the player that wants to 'refuse the call to action'. You really need to ask the player what they want to do and if this is a situation they want to be involved in. It goes back to the social contract/agreement previously discussed. Sorry for the wordiness
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