Sirrocco
Pedantic
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Huh. Just realized a pertinent thing about it.
The "special sunflake" factor denies us the experience of just being another warrior, trying to do the best we can to find some way to help in the middle of a battle far larger than we are. If we're in a major battle, it's going to be against the enemies of Rokugan, and at that point the *least* we are is a secret weapon. If one of the foe fields anything of real power, suddenly we're one of the major playing pieces.
I'm not as bothered by it as some of the others - I *don't* see our contribution as Sousuke-the-bushi as being invalidated by our experience as Sousuke-the-channel, but I admit that it's not my favorite bit. It feels... almost tacked on. We were losing against the oni, and then suddenly we were winning but had a save-or-die effect. The fight against Moto Shinichiro was almost an anime-esque "Now let me show you my *true* power!" thing.
Part of it... L5R is pretty starkly lethal, by its nature. In the fiction, *anyone* can die (and almost certainly will). Even social interaction can kill you. Sousuke is by nature the sort of guy who will go charging into battles even if there's a good chance that they'll kill him, as long as he thinks he can sell his life well. That's going to get him killed some day... but you have a plot that doesn't want him to die yet. Honestly, that's what the sunfire thing felt like the first time. I'm really not sure what the right answer is. Letting him die ends the quest in a way that you might find unsatisfying, and coming up with reasons to keep him alive cheapens it.
Outside of that, the whole thing has been pretty cool. I do like the Sousuke being Sousuke bits.
The "special sunflake" factor denies us the experience of just being another warrior, trying to do the best we can to find some way to help in the middle of a battle far larger than we are. If we're in a major battle, it's going to be against the enemies of Rokugan, and at that point the *least* we are is a secret weapon. If one of the foe fields anything of real power, suddenly we're one of the major playing pieces.
I'm not as bothered by it as some of the others - I *don't* see our contribution as Sousuke-the-bushi as being invalidated by our experience as Sousuke-the-channel, but I admit that it's not my favorite bit. It feels... almost tacked on. We were losing against the oni, and then suddenly we were winning but had a save-or-die effect. The fight against Moto Shinichiro was almost an anime-esque "Now let me show you my *true* power!" thing.
Part of it... L5R is pretty starkly lethal, by its nature. In the fiction, *anyone* can die (and almost certainly will). Even social interaction can kill you. Sousuke is by nature the sort of guy who will go charging into battles even if there's a good chance that they'll kill him, as long as he thinks he can sell his life well. That's going to get him killed some day... but you have a plot that doesn't want him to die yet. Honestly, that's what the sunfire thing felt like the first time. I'm really not sure what the right answer is. Letting him die ends the quest in a way that you might find unsatisfying, and coming up with reasons to keep him alive cheapens it.
Outside of that, the whole thing has been pretty cool. I do like the Sousuke being Sousuke bits.