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Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

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faflec said:
Do you remember what the list of skills that we can use is? I remember that Athletics works, but wonder if other skills (Taijutsu, Weapons...) also work.
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There is no set skill list. It's GM judgement. Certainly I see no reason Taijutsu and Weapons shouldn't work for this sort of "get in the enemy's face and shut down whatever they try" thing. You could probably even block movement with ranged attacks... suppression fire and that sort of thing.

I think this battle is going to demonstrate the deadliness of blocks if you can outnumber your opponents. Even if you overcome a block, it's shifts are still subtracted from your results. So if you overcome a block to attack then it's pathetically for your opponent's defense roll to stop whatever you managed to get through the block and beat it by so many shifts that the counter-attack might well put you down.
 
Alright, in this case I'm going to push Chouji into being a Striker instead of a Blocker, because Blockers need superbly high Athletics to get into position and I don't rate Chouji as being faster than Hazou.
 
faflec said:
Alright, in this case I'm going to push Chouji into being a Striker instead of a Blocker, because Blockers need superbly high Athletics to get into position and I don't rate Chouji as being faster than Hazou.
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But as I said, I suspect that his clan jutsus grant special bonuses to blocking. Normally the pattern of battle would be that Chouji locks down opponents until Shikamaru and Ino can use their clan jutsu to permanently stop them. So this should be a role he's very familiar with.

I have in an edit that these are "open to discussion" so basically, if Chouji thinks he could be better as a striker, Hazou can slot into the blocker position.
 
Briefvoice said:
But as I said, I suspect that his clan jutsus grant special bonuses to blocking. Normally the pattern of battle would be that Chouji locks down opponents until Shikamaru and Ino can use their clan jutsu to permanently stop them. So this should be a role he's very familiar with.

I have in an edit that these are "open to discussion" so basically, if Chouji thinks he could be better as a striker, Hazou can slot into the blocker position.
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Chouji only gets to block if he's in position, which I don't see happening unless he's fast enough to get into position.

Eh, it's ultimately a minor concern anyway. Gonna reread your plan and see if there's anything else I'm worried about.
 
We should have codewords for when each person needs a substitution from someone melee-capable.

e: And a codeword for "I'm going to substitute with that person"
 
Inserted tally
Adhoc vote count started by faflec on Feb 6, 2018 at 7:20 PM, finished with 342 posts and 15 votes.
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Jello_Raptor said:
Can't we have the pangolin dig the tunnel all the way to the ambush site? Just because we can't leave the arena doesn't mean our side effects can't.

Cue the excessive destruction of any and all pieces of cover we disapprove of in the zone between the swamp and the finish line.

Also random pangolin dug deadfalls, scouting and traps.
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Good idea. May as well pre-emptively set that field of grass on fire so that it's nice, flat and not burning by the time we arrive.

Briefvoice said:
So in a way, this "12 Strong" strategy has been a big gamble.

Look, we don't know how many ninjas the proctors intend to advance from this exam, but my guess is that it's a major winnowing device. Eaglejarl said outright that at least half the teams have been straight-up "taken out" and then you have the ones who don't bring in enough seals. I wouldn't be surprised if they only end up advancing 32* or so (10%) and then those go to the tournament. 32 would produce five rounds of tournament fights, which would allow everyone to display their stuff. That's 11 teams. We want to ensure the pass of 4 out of only 11 teams?
*11 teams would be 33, but I'm sure they can just pick the two weakest-seeming ninja and force them to fight for a slot or something.

Or hell, what if they only take the top fifteen and then it's a four round tournament, with some lucky fellow getting a bye on the first round! Then we're trying to ensure 4 out of only 5 teams!

I can see why multi-team teams might not have been a popular strategy. If you're trying to provide enough seals for 12 people to advance, you have to give up all hope of just targeting the weak and mutually agreeing not to fight with the other strong. It becomes not doable anymore. You're going to have to fight the strong. The numbers ensure it.

That was always going to be a tough row to hoe. We just did the easy part, chilling in a fort and relaxing for the majority of the exam. Boosting our score with seals. But now the piper comes due. We are going to have to fight multiple strong teams to win this. The best of the best, the few out of the 300 with the most power and skill. It's going to be brutal. And frankly, running around hunting a few weak teams won't help much. It's the toughest ninja that have the number of seals we need if we want 12 people to all pass.

Now, our advantage is that we do have numbers and we did spend most of the exam relaxing in the fort. Tanned, rested, and ready as the saying goes. But this is going to be one hell of a punch-fest.
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I certainly wish this were the case. That'd imply other villages are unlikely to form alliances such as ours (what village other than Leaf has so much inter-village friendship a 12 person alliance can actually happen? Intra-village alliances are basically impossible for the same reason), and as such we'd be at a numerical advantage in combat. Defeat in detail, 12 coordinated people can defeat much more than 4 teams of three.

I.e. higher selection pressures for passing teams actually help us more than they help the opposition unite and murder us.

That being said, we should discuss what we would do if we don't have enough seals at the end for 4 teams to pass, but do have enough for, say, 2.

faflec said:
Command and Control? Or Communication and Control?
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Cupcakes and Croissants.
 
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faflec said:
Chouji only gets to block if he's in position, which I don't see happening unless he's fast enough to get into position.
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You don't need to take Athletics checks to get into melee the way you needed Tacmove checks in the old system - as long as he's in the same Zone as the target, he can engage; in an open area like this, it won't take incredibly high Athletics to move between Zones.
 
[X] Action Plan: Hunt like Raptors

I have serious reservations about the number of seals cited here, but fine, Briefvoice understands the new mechanics enough to make relevant plans and there's nothing that seems obviously wrong about it to me.
 
We should consider a few traps scattered about the field to lead people into. Not Kagome-approved, just enough.

Also:
Ponder usage of Silence Mines for additional Stealth; if reasonable (and doesn't fuck OPSEC) suggest for all teams.
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This is for us to decide. I don't think that Silence Mines would fuck opsec, and think we should definitely use them.
 
@Briefvoice Feel free to ignore this, but...

I'm going to request that you add "think carefully before you do this" when you give out goo bombs/use fire log macerators.
 
Been thinking. Probably not wise to distract from the PUNCHING right now, but when we have a little more time I'd like to drop an Empathy roll into one plan or another to try and determine why Haru has such a chip on his shoulder about our team. Seems like it should be low risk... a fail just means we couldn't suss him out. It's the sort of thing we could do some social maneuvers to set up to improve the odds.

The thread should start a "social projects" folder for stuff like that. People whose Aspects we're trying to learn; plans to do social maneuvers to bend others to Hazou's point of view, and that kind of thing.
 
Briefvoice said:
Been thinking. Probably not wise to distract from the PUNCHING right now, but when we have a little more time I'd like to drop an Empathy roll into one plan or another to try and determine why Haru has such a chip on his shoulder about our team. Seems like it should be low risk... a fail just means we couldn't suss him out. It's the sort of thing we could do some social maneuvers to set up to improve the odds.

The thread should start a "social projects" folder for stuff like that. People whose Aspects we're trying to learn; plans to do social maneuvers to bend others to Hazou's point of view, and that kind of thing.
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I thought it was because he hates the clans?
 
Cariyaga said:
@eaglejarl Does the fact that we only have 12 ninja change Keiko's assessment of how many teams we need take out?
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Not really. Basically, she estimates that each member of a top team has ~70 seals and each member of your team has ~35. If you knock off a top team then you each now have ~105, putting you in the lead. On the other hand, if the first team you ambush only has ~30 then you would need to take out another team as well.
 
hmm... 15 pages since I last checked. Are there any plans which:

1) Are less than 1000 words
and
2) Refuse leadership, having Nara take command while offering some sort of strategy?

Edit: if there are any plans which meet the above criteria, and I am tagged to be notified about them before tomorrow morning, I will vote for them.
 
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eaglejarl said:
Not really. Basically, she estimates that each member of a top team has ~70 seals and each member of your team has ~35. If you knock off a top team then you each now have ~105, putting you in the lead. On the other hand, if the first team you ambush only has ~30 then you would need to take out another team as well.
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If that's the assessment we'd need to take down around 6 weak teams, which would give our 4 teams 540 seals total; when distributed we'd get 45 seals/person, giving us a total of 80 seals per person. Which is above the approximation of her top team. For strong teams, we'd need to take out 3.
 
Cariyaga said:
Quick reminder of how blocks work for everyone:
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That's written wrong. It currently says you subtract the result of your roll from the number of shifts they generate, which is obviously wrong -- you don't subtract 40 shifts from their roll just because you rolled a 40. It's intended to be effectively a time-delayed opposed roll against their skill roll. The original DF rules (which is what we were intending to use) are:

To perform a block, declare what specific type of action the block is intended to prevent and roll an appropriate skill. The total of that roll is called the block strength. During the exchange, any time a character wants to perform the action that's covered by the block, he must roll against the block and meet or exceed the block strength to be able to perform that action. If he fails, he cannot perform the action in question. If he meets or exceeds the block strength, the action resolves normally, with benefits for extra shifts if the roll beats the block strength by a wide margin.
 
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eaglejarl said:
That's written wrong. It currently says you subtract the result of your roll from the number of shifts they generate, which is obviously wrong -- you don't subtract 40 shifts from their roll just because you rolled a 40. It's intended to be effectively a time-delayed opposed roll where their skill roll . The original DF rules (which is what we were intending to use) are:

To perform a block, declare what specific type of action the block is intended to prevent and roll an appropriate skill. The total of that roll is called the block strength. During the exchange, any time a character wants to perform the action that's covered by the block, he must roll against the block and meet or exceed the block strength to be able to perform that action. If he fails, he cannot perform the action in question. If he meets or exceeds the block strength, the action resolves normally, with benefits for extra shifts if the roll beats the block strength by a wide margin.
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@Briefvoice, I don't think blocks are gonna work anymore.
 
faflec said:
If that's the assessment we'd need to take down around 6 weak teams, which would give our 4 teams 540 seals total; when distributed we'd get 45 seals/person, giving us a total of 80 seals per person. Which is above the approximation of her top team. For strong teams, we'd need to take out 3.
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Keiko said:
In that case they are now expended, reducing the likely total per person to only eighty or ninety each, or perhaps even as low as seventy.
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Essentially, she wants you to knock off either one or two enemy teams for each team in the Leaf coaltion. That means 4-8. You're right though -- 3-6 might be enough. She's a bit of a pessimist.
 
eaglejarl said:
That's written wrong. It currently says you subtract the result of your roll from the number of shifts they generate, which is obviously wrong -- you don't subtract 40 shifts from their roll just because you rolled a 40. It's intended to be effectively a time-delayed opposed roll where their skill roll . The original DF rules (which is what we were intending to use) are:

To perform a block, declare what specific type of action the block is intended to prevent and roll an appropriate skill. The total of that roll is called the block strength. During the exchange, any time a character wants to perform the action that's covered by the block, he must roll against the block and meet or exceed the block strength to be able to perform that action. If he fails, he cannot perform the action in question. If he meets or exceeds the block strength, the action resolves normally, with benefits for extra shifts if the roll beats the block strength by a wide margin.
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You're kind of changing the rules at the last second here... but okay, I'll roll with it.

I'm going to change Team Block to Team Set-Up and have them performing Maneuvers instead.
 
Briefvoice said:
You're kind of changing the rules at the last second here... but okay, I'll roll with it.

I'm going to change Team Block to Team Set-Up and have them performing Maneuvers instead.
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Probably better just using them to punch people out. Akane and Lee both probably punch as hard as special jounin so more effective to not waste there actions not punching
 
faflec said:
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@Briefvoice, I don't think blocks are gonna work anymore.
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Briefvoice said:
You're kind of changing the rules at the last second here... but okay, I'll roll with it.

I'm going to change Team Block to Team Set-Up and have them performing Maneuvers instead.
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Sorry, I'm not sure how that got through our filters. I would have hoped that it was obviously wrong, though -- the way it was written didn't even make sense, since you were subtracting apples (a skill roll total) from oranges (a number of shifts), and therefore a genin could trivially shut down an S-rank ninja.

Random Newly-Graduated Genin: I put a Block up, preventing Pain from doing anything.

Pain: Haha, you're kidding, right? I'm one of the most powerful ninja in existence! I have 80 in every skill and you have, what, 20?

RNGG: Whatever. Roll it.

Pain: Okay, fine. I attack your fellow student, Al. We both roll average. 80-20 = 60 / 3 = 20 shifts. I explode him.

RNGG: No you don't. My total skill roll is subtracted from your shifts. You accomplish nothing.

Pain: What? Let me see those rules! [reads] Aha! Ties go to the attacker, so I deal 1 stress!


EDIT: Added last part about 1 stress.
 
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Briefvoice said:
  • Tactics:
    • Team is divided up into Setup, Strikers, Ranged, and C&C (note that assignments below are subject to discussion if team members feel that Hazou has misjudged or does not understand their abilities, and GMs should adjust for reasonable NPC arguments)
      • Setup: Akane, Lee, Choji. Their assignment is to concentrate on setting up the enemy to be taken out by the Strikers. Mechanically they will be doing Maneuvers to place Aspects such as "Knocked down" or "Disarmed" or "Hole in Defenses" (whatever seems appropriate for a given opponent). They will then pass the free Tag on these Aspects to the Strikers to do damage. In the event one of them is injured or out of position, Hazou can slide up to become the third Setup.
        • In the event we are facing multiple teams and can no longer easily outnumber opponents, Shikamaru in C&C can make the judgment call to have the Setup turn into Strikers and concentrate on making sure all enemies are covered.
      • Strikers: Hazou, Neji, Haru, Noburi. Their assignment is to get in close and hit their opponents with taijutsu/water whips to do damage. Noburi's water whips should allow him to stay slightly back, and he should use them to chakra drain downed opponents.
      • Ranged: Keiko, Tenten. Their assignment is to use goo bombs and thrown weapons against enemies who have some sort of jutsu or ability allowing them to stay out of melee or to lock down excess opponents if we're fighting multiple teams or a team with clones or something of that sort.
      • C&C: Shikamaru, Ino, Sakura. Their assignment is to maintain greater battlefield awareness from the rear and use their special jutsu against the most dangerous opponents such as those who have a damaging aura that makes it impossible to engage in up close combat, some sort of overwhelming jutsu that can hit multiple opponents, and that sort of thing. Shikamaru directs traffic, and Sakura takes responsibility for defending Ino's unconscious body if she uses her possession jutsu.
        • Make sure Sakura has some air dome seals for deployment on C&C group in an emergency.
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Revised tactics. I think this ought to work pretty well.
 
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