Welcome!

[Yoritomo Kaito]

I was the poor boy that had a genesis instead of the snes so i missed part of that era. I still recognized a few of those games though

[Hida Musasha]

Phantasy Star 2 was one of them, Genesis boy.

[Bayushi Nobuyoshi]

Cause yea... we all prolly know at least some of this feeling

Surprisingly little, I almost always get bored with the final grinding before the end boss and switch to something else. The Persona series, that I love enough to finish and am fired up that they're finally releasing Persona 2: Innocent Sin in the US, the first part of the two part story.

...Only a mere 11 years after they brought the second half of the story to the US

[Yoritomo Kaito]

Phantasy Star 2 was one of them, Genesis boy.

never played it unfortunately :p

[Agasha Qian-Fan]

My Great Clans just arrived . . . finally. I may be distracted for the rest of the day.

Ooooo Bunneh!

. . . pretty Bunneh!

[Toritaka Hoitsu]

It's a really well done book

The Pony section and new schools weren't quite to my tastes, but apart from that it was a good buy all the same.

[Yasuki Himiko]

It was indeed a good book.

The Shosuro actor still makes me want to beat small things with an aluminum bat though (and I say this as a scorpion fan) >_>

[Isawa Junpei]

So....not a fan? Because I really liked what they did with it.

[Agasha Qian-Fan]

Kakita Artisan School.

All is well in the world of Qian-Fan's player. I can happily make an 'Orchid Breeder' for future use now.

[Bayushi Nobuyoshi]

It was indeed a good book.

The Shosuro actor still makes me want to beat small things with an aluminum bat though (and I say this as a scorpion fan) >_>

Really? I thought it would have been the Yogo Ward Master that caused such feelings. Is it too late to copy the homebrew version from Black Scrolls and glue it into everyone's copies of Great Clans?

[Yasuki Himiko]

I hate techniques that require an entire side bar to work properly in general. The other issue is that they retained the effectively indestructible persona aspect to it. A GM effectively has to know every aspect of said persona's clan in order to actually have a shot at an NPC breaking the persona, so long as said persona doesn't do anything blatantly stupid.

I actually have no problem with Yogo Wardmaster. It's an improvement over 4th ed, and as a 'buff the party' school it does a better job than most shugenja just on the ability to place multiple buffs in one round.

[Isawa Junpei]

Kakita Artisan School.

I know no PC will ever get to be this high in Rank, but what I love about the Kakita Artisan School is actually their Advanced School, the Kakita Master Artisans and their Rank 3 technique. I was a huge fan of the 1E 3rd Rank Origami maya, so that they brought it back (in a fashion applicable to all arts) just tickles me beyond imagining. It makes me feel good that I can take such joy from something so simple.

[Amaya]

I hate techniques that require an entire side bar to work properly in general.

Really, the Butei school has always been, on a conceptual level, problematic for that general reason. The persona is supposed to be something that doesn't break because "I Has Technique," but rather through legwork to hunt down clues as to the person's paperwork, family, origins, etc... along with the ability to verifiably knock holes in their grasp of their clan's nature. It's designed as a technique that isn't supposed to break or crack because of a conversation or two. It's supposed to crack after a suspicion is raised for secondary reasons and the person does extensive legwork to verify or puts the suspect under torture.

That is, effectively, a "Super Technique." It has always, in prior editions, 'trumped' a large number of other techniques (the amount of griping that used to fly from Kitsuki about older versions is exceptionally high). In this sense, it's one of the most powerful single courtier techniques in the game, as one can't simply bludgeon a victory out of it. It is something of an Ultimate Shield for spies, as it were, for which no Ultimate Sword exists in the game or has ever existed.

Basically, the tech's well balanced in 4e, but it's very existence will always be just as problematic in any given game as it always was. Either one permits Kitsuki lie detection to see through it, and thus its technique (which has no mechanical protection) is completely negated and no Butei can stand in the presence of a Kitsuki, or one must ultimately elect to grant it a lesser Ultimate Shield and innure the "Character" from casual scrutiny. The consistent selection has been to favor the butei and permit the Kitsuki or other investigator to just struggle through the old-fashioned legwork. If the Butei is a PC, a GM must prove to be clever to play out a specific suspicious NPC's playing out of that legwork, and go step by step over multiple sessions to chink away at the butei PC. That's particularly difficult for GMs, so they need to decide pre-game whether or not they want to deal with NPCs not seeing through this disguise generally (though individual lies are another matter). If the Butei is an NPC, it's much easier, and PCs can do the legwork as part of their adventure, but it may still be a headache.

Butei will always be a bugger-bear. They're difficult to permit in the average game because they are mechanically protected in ways other schools cannot be, and this level of protection is, in fact, somewhat necessary because of how the social mechanics work. But, yes, I definitely see how many GMs might decide "Why do I need a damned sidebar to run this class? No butei for you!" That's a reasonable response. Plenty of GMs did that before, back in older editions.

[Bayushi Nobuyoshi]

*Makes plans to run a party of nothing but actors, just to show 'em*

[Agasha Qian-Fan]

*Makes plans to run a party of nothing but actors, just to show 'em*

Now, to me, that works just fine. Every player has the same toys and just the GM has the headaches. Unless the GM also has an NPC party of nothing but actors.

[elonweis]

Since a few have inquired regarding visits to the Shrine of Osano-wo:

viewtopic.php?f=48&t=109&p=6032#p6032

[Shinjo Qulan]

... I want to play a Yoritomo Shuggie sometime.

[Amaya]

I know the concepts that I wish to touch on at some point. Fear and tremble ye mortals. *giggles*

[Volsung]

The reason that the Butai shouldn't be able to be outed in one or two rolls is because once they get outed that entire personality is pretty much shot and can never be used reliably again. Word will spread that Agasha Kim is actually a Scorpion and then you've got a technique which is essentially useless. So I can see why they've made it so hard to break, as long as the actor does their legwork to make certain their persona is accurate as well.

If I ever ran a game where a player picked up a persona without doing background research on their persona's hometown or supposed past, you can bet I would drop an NPC from their "old home" on them with a righteous vengeance.

[Iuchi Rinzuki]

Remember, as a GM it's sometimes important to say, "No, that school just won't work in the game I have planned out."