1 hour ago, M4S-_-T3R said:

I also hope they somehow address the multitude of tables needed to play the game. It was to the point where myself and others compiled master list tables and handed them out to players. Things to spend opportunities on was the main culprit; at least include some reference materials or something.

I agree. I wonder what they will consider important enough to include on THEIR GM screen.

Is there gonna be a fixed TN for striking? I was hoping you could play the different archetypes of fighters (like the tough, resilient bull or the evasive, hard to hit ninja). If that is going to remain like that Im hoping school techniques bring up opportunities for that.

On 8/19/2018 at 11:56 AM, Shosur0 said:

Is there gonna be a fixed TN for striking? I was hoping you could play the different archetypes of fighters (like the tough, resilient bull or the evasive, hard to hit ninja). If that is going to remain like that Im hoping school techniques bring up opportunities for that.

Look at the various opportunities for stances, not to mention the 'Striking as' techniques. I think that's where the big difference is going to be.

On 8/19/2018 at 6:56 AM, Shosur0 said:

Is there gonna be a fixed TN for striking? I was hoping you could play the different archetypes of fighters (like the tough, resilient bull or the evasive, hard to hit ninja). If that is going to remain like that Im hoping school techniques bring up opportunities for that.

Striking has a base TN of 2, according the Beginners Game rulebook, but that can be modified by stances and other things. There are also ways to change the number of dice rolled, making it harder or easier to hit a TN. Here are some of the things that came up during a recent play-through of the Topaz Championship.

• A character in fire stance may add successes for each rolled strife kept, making that TN 2 easier to reach for aggressive players.
• A character in air stance is harder to hit and Strikes targeting them are at TN +1.
• If a player takes the Guard action, they can add TN +1 to Strikes targeting them until their next turn. In my recent game, we had a low-endurance player character take air stance and use the Guard action, adding TN+2 to Strike actions targeting him. Narratively, he deftly leapt behind a table and was doing all he could to stay just of range of the attacker.
• Characters can use the Assist action to give another player one extra ring or skill die on their turn, making a TN 2 easier to hit. One player had an NPC help him pull out a loose tatami mat from underneath an opponent. I ruled it was a Strike with a TN 2 plus Assistance, but that the player should use the Fitness skill instead of a Martial Arts skill.
• When successfully Striking someone (or passing any other check), a character can spend two opportunity to Assist another character, giving them an extra die on their turn.
• A character who failed to Strike someone (or pass another check) can spend just one opportunity to Assist another character.
• A character who suffered some critical strikes may have to roll TN +1 to hit someone.
• Characters can inflict and suffer conditions that alter the TN of a check.
• Terrain may have some TN affects as well.
• The GM can decide that some other narrative circumstance warrants adjusting the TN up or down or that a character roles more or less dice.

With so many ways to alter the number, TN 2 seemed like a good base number for Strike. We were then able to find ways to alter that number or alter the number of dice rolled to reflect a character's fighting style and tactics. I mentioned above how one player used air stance to be evasive, but another player used earth stance to avoid critical strikes, which is a whole other matter. And then there are still the techniques you mentioned, which will probably warrant a separate post later.

40 minutes ago, DanGers said:

• A character in fire stance may add successes for each rolled strife kept, making that TN 2 easier to reach for aggressive players

This is something that comes up quite a few times, so let me fix the mistake here: Fire Stance provides Bonus Successes and not normal ones. You have to succeed on the Skill Check first to receive any Bonus Successes. Thus, Fire Stance actually does not make the character better at succeeding, only improves their degree of success.

4 minutes ago, AtoMaki said:

This is something that comes up quite a few times, so let me fix the mistake here: Fire Stance provides Bonus Successes and not normal ones. You have to succeed on the Skill Check first to receive any Bonus Successes. Thus, Fire Stance actually does not make the character better at succeeding, only improves their degree of success.

Thanks. I'll add that to my list of corrections for our next session.

16 hours ago, AtoMaki said:

This is something that comes up quite a few times, so let me fix the mistake here: Fire Stance provides Bonus Successes and not normal ones. You have to succeed on the Skill Check first to receive any Bonus Successes. Thus, Fire Stance actually does not make the character better at succeeding, only improves their degree of success.

Indeed. It's great at delivering 'killing blows' but no better at hitting in the first place. Which kind of fits, when you think about it narratively.