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Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

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Sir Stompy said:
It's a skill, I wrote like 5 or 6 plans before I ever got one voted in, most of those plans were very bad. My first ever plan that won was, frankly, a disaster.
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MMKII said:
Mine killed a pile of genin and civilians in the chuunin exams and got retconned two chapters later. 😅
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Hmm, it looks like my first winning plan was reconciling with Kagome after the Hana/Mari disaster. I recall that went pretty well! I think a section from it is also what got Hana drowned by Jiraiya, which, fantastic.

Re-reading the discussion, I was doing adorably responsible things like ensuring I had my voters' buy-in before I made substantial changes to the plan close to the deadline. That's cute.

Ohh, that was also the plan I'd publicly considered replacing with "let eaglejarl write what he wants" at the last minute if sufficiently bribed. Based.

Good times.
 
Spector29 said:
Yeah, I mean, my understanding of this quest has always been that it's not really a democracy in the way other quests are, it's basically a Representative Democracy. The quest veterans who have made plans before craft one every cycle, and every year a couple more people come in to fill the gaps caused by the vets getting burnt out for one reason or another. We vote for which veteran made the best plan, or we vote for which veteran we like more if we're low on spoons or having any other difficulty with the current cycle. If you want to run for local office and write your own plan, that's great! Encouraged, even. Just don't expect anything, because everyone else has the weight of legacy and experience behind them. I'm sure the Discord/Thread-only divide can also factor here.

As an American, I'm used to this kind of system. It's why I vote for Inferno Vulpix when I need to and just cross my fingers nothing burns down.
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Honestly this is darkly funny to me, because you're not describing a working representative democracy, you're describing an oligarchy, and given you're American... it made me laugh out loud in a grim kind of way okay. Or a technocracy, but I lean towards oligarchy on this.
Veedrac said:
I'm not sure if this is the right way to put it, but as someone who has also felt at times frustratedly at odds with the playerbase's choices, that only seems like a reason to think voters not generally favoring my plans is correct? Like, it would be an issue if the wider community agreed with you and then voting failed to express that, but I don't think that happens all that much, especially given the heavy editing cycles most plans go through.
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It's more that the putative drive is towards 'rational' plans with thought given to every factor and not letting biases get in the way, but when they go wrong people usually (in my memory of past incidents) blame the characters instead of acknowledging they made mistakes and didn't consider the culture they are trying to work inside. At the beginning I tried to provide context and knowledge from my social work learning to make Hazou-pilot more functional but it didn't go well. Subsequent attempts to assist with a perspective and leaning outside what seems to be the general zeitgeist of Hazou-pilot plan-makers didn't go well either. In the end I gave up because nothing good was happening, I was getting infracted to the point of contributing to a tribunal being called on me and it didn't seem like it was gonna change any time soon. And it seems it hasn't.
 
Shane_357 said:
Honestly this is darkly funny to me, because you're not describing a working representative democracy, you're describing an oligarchy, and given you're American... it made me laugh out loud in a grim kind of way okay. Or a technocracy, but I lean towards oligarchy on this
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You would not, and apparently do not, believe the amount of random shit I put in my plans to appease the voters.

Just like a goddamn representative democracy. I even refer it to as "pork". We have a "budget" (word count) and people often want it spent on their pet projects. We often have to make "budget cuts" (word count trimming) to fit additional "legislation" (action items) in the plan.

I even spend time "canvassing" (asking the thread and Discord for their plan ideas) so I can write what's on people's minds.

I realize this might look like an oligarchy to those with little engagement with the process. But no, actually, when I want to do things that the thread doesn't, I shut my mouth and trust them (after an appropriate amount of whinging).

Like, for example, I was most interested in exploring the ruins of Whirlpool for this combat unstagnation, but I ran a poll and watched the discussion and asking Cannai for a combat mission against the Leopards had about twice as much buy in. So that's what I wrote.
 
Honestly I'd genuinely love to explore the ruins if we'd gotten the slightest indication in-character that that was a thing that we could do and expect anything of... but we'd been told the opposite. Sadge.
 
Veedrac said:
shields absolutely get strapped to people in history all the time.
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It doesn't seem to be a popular defence system in EN. Like, I don't even remember seeing a shield once in the quest or in canon Naruto. To be fair, unless you don't have to hold it, it's completely useless (as you can't even do ninjutsu if you have to hold it). I'm thinking of spike-like FC seals on the armor so we get to punish close-combat enemies. If FW is great at resisting ninjutsu, then yeah a FW armor or toggled shield sounds great!
 
Nebulus said:
It doesn't seem to be a popular defence system in EN. Like, I don't even remember seeing a shield once in the quest or in canon Naruto. To be fair, unless you don't have to hold it, it's completely useless (as you can't even do ninjutsu if you have to hold it). I'm thinking of spike-like FC seals on the armor so we get to punish close-combat enemies. If FW is great at resisting ninjutsu, then yeah a FW armor or toggled shield sounds great!
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I imagine it falls under the "too heavy, causes ATH penalties" category like armor does.
 
Sir Stompy said:
You would not, and apparently do not, believe the amount of random shit I put in my plans to appease the voters.

Just like a goddamn representative democracy. I even refer it to as "pork". We have a "budget" (word count) and people often want it spent on their pet projects. We often have to make "budget cuts" (word count trimming) to fit additional "legislation" (action items) in the plan.

I even spend time "canvassing" (asking the thread and Discord for their plan ideas) so I can write what's on people's minds.

I realize this might look like an oligarchy to those with little engagement with the process. But no, actually, when I want to do things that the thread doesn't, I shut my mouth and trust them (after an appropriate amount of whinging).

Like, for example, I was most interested in exploring the ruins of Whirlpool for this combat unstagnation, but I ran a poll and watched the discussion and asking Cannai for a combat mission against the Leopards had about twice as much buy in. So that's what I wrote.
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All the this.
 
Nebulus said:
It doesn't seem to be a popular defence system in EN. Like, I don't even remember seeing a shield once in the quest or in canon Naruto. To be fair, unless you don't have to hold it, it's completely useless (as you can't even do ninjutsu if you have to hold it). I'm thinking of spike-like FC seals on the armor so we get to punish close-combat enemies. If FW is great at resisting ninjutsu, then yeah a FW armor or toggled shield sounds great!
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At risk of making a redundant comment, physical armour is far worse in MfD because jutsu no-sell a lot of physical materials and you can't afford a hit to agility. These mostly don't apply to chakra-toggled force walls, which is the sort of armour I think should work in MfD.
 
eaglejarl said:
Infuse Army of One.

Hazō (Sealing): 51 + 24 (SSA) + 16 (prep) - 3 = 88
Hazō (Calligraphy): 47 + 3 (IN) + 10 (prep) + 3 (Dampeners) + 3 = 66

As per usual with seals that Hazō has notes on, the Sealing component is relatively easy, and the Calligraphy component is harder by the lack of discount. Hazō thinks he's a sixth of the way through this seal. He'd be happy to shave off ~2 prep days, as they don't increase the Calligraphy bonus.
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Pinging also @Paperclipped @Velorien

Since we've done an infusion roll on this does Hazou have an idea of what the prospective mechanics are? For reference, this was the original suggestion:
Left-Hand Mutant said:
"Army of One": based on the illusory clone technique. rapidly forms swarms of short-lived illusory clones overlapping the user, which lunge and attack in random directions, making it incredibly hard to read the sealmaster's movements. each clone lasts for about a second, and the seal generates scores of clones over about 6 seconds before burning out.

suggested mechanics: each round observers roll Alertness/Examination vs the sealmaster's Sealing check, on failure the observer gets the temp aspect("which one is real?") and the sealmaster gets two fragile tags. The clones look like the sealmaster, so it's not nearly as effective for others to use.
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This was apparently written with the understanding that it'd be a debuff and not a buff, it also seems kinda underwhelming compared to RRBs. But it's also easier to research so perhaps that should be considered too.

I'd cut the "rolling every round part", sounds like a pain. From my PoV it seems easier for it to last one full combat and be rolled vs Alt once.
 
_The_Bomb said:
Aren't they tiny? A couple inches won't do much
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Minimum air dome diameter is 60cm, meaning roughly 24", and a hole that size is wide enough to crawl through. Thus, even one skywalker can provide cover against a point source, if the ninja is correctly aligned behind it. Having two available would presumably make things much easier. Monday 18 October 2004 Being "correctly aligned" - arms tight to your sides, whole body held out straight at some weird angle - is likely tactically inconvenient in other ways, though, plausibly comparable to the downsides of diving for cover in a fight on the ground. Book 4 - Page 79
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He flipped over backwards, showing his boots to the tower. This was a maneuver Transyvitan warlords hated to do, especially the men. "Minimal aspect" ain't all you're presentin' like that. It was why "flip" was their go-to curse word.
 
Paperclipped said:
Hazō considered that. Unsummoning and returning to the Human Path was always just a thought away for Hazō. Could he live decades on this Path holding a kunai constantly to his own throat, only a thought away from killing himself? Worse, Mareo probably had a reflex to unsummon if he'd ever fought battles on the Seventh Path. If he was ever in a flighty mood when his wits wandered, he could kill himself in an instant.
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@eaglejarl @Velorien @Paperclipped
Is unsummoning a reflexive supplemental?
 
_The_Bomb said:
@eaglejarl @Velorien @Paperclipped
Is unsummoning a reflexive supplemental?
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eaglejarl said:
It's a Supplemental action. A round is 3 seconds and you get a Standard and two Supplemental actions, meaning that it only takes a second or two to unsummon, but you can only do it on your turn. If you get jumped by a dozen enemies and you go last in the initiative order then they can potentially kill you before you can get away.
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Sir Stompy said:
Pinging also @Paperclipped @Velorien

Since we've done an infusion roll on this does Hazou have an idea of what the prospective mechanics are? For reference, this was the original suggestion:


This was apparently written with the understanding that it'd be a debuff and not a buff, it also seems kinda underwhelming compared to RRBs. But it's also easier to research so perhaps that should be considered too.

I'd cut the "rolling every round part", sounds like a pain. From my PoV it seems easier for it to last one full combat and be rolled vs Alt once.
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To be clear, I'm not to hung up on the exact mechanics.
The core concept was roughly "Minato was apparently a perticularly strong Essie, seemingly mostly based on his sealing skill. Unlike most sealmasters, he used his stuff to punch people personally instead of supplying his clan/comrades. Let's make a seal that only works for the sealmaster, and uses their sealing skill to punch extra good."
That, along with "if Jaraiya can make a substitution seal, maybe Minato can make an illusoury clone seal, hey, that's could be pretty strong if you tweaked it a little" is the concept.

Any mechanics that fit this are good in my book.

I had initially spitballed it as "pretty solid debuff that doesn't directly affect the user(and doesn't take a buff slot)" thinking that it's mostly making things harder for the enemy rather than improving the user's ability, and that unlike Macerators/RRB, you can just turn it on then forget about it, without needing to adjust your combat style.

But I'm just offering context for my initial draft. The QMs will figure out suitable mechanics as they see fit.
 
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Variable-Length Force Blades
The blade defaults to ~2cm length, but extends while the seal is exposed to chakra-adhesion. The stronger the chakra adhesion, the further the blade extends, up to a roughly ~4m maximum.

The goal being safe, non-face-killling blades most of the time, that Hazou can briefly extend to a terrifying 4m claw of invisible death when he makes an attack.
 
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Left-Hand Mutant said:
Variable-Length Force Blades
The blade defaults to ~2cm length, but extends while the seal is exposed to chakra-adhesion. The stronger the chakra adhesion, the further the blade extends, up to a roughly ~4m maximum.

The goal being safe, non-face-killling blades most of the time, that Hazou can briefly extend to a terrifying 4m claw of invisible death when he makes an attack.
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I don't see why it would have to be adhesion, specifically. I think responding to the user's chakra more generally would increase the quality of life for users of the seal, and make it easier to use from places like the arms and knees which ninja don't often use to climb.
 
redzonejoe said:
I don't see why it would have to be adhesion, specifically. I think responding to the user's chakra more generally would increase the quality of life for users of the seal, and make it easier to use from places like the arms and knees which ninja don't often use to climb.
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We have no idea how to do this. Presumably it is something that Minatosealing could do, but we have seen no examples of paper seals being able to do this.
 
redzonejoe said:
I don't see why it would have to be adhesion, specifically. I think responding to the user's chakra more generally would increase the quality of life for users of the seal, and make it easier to use from places like the arms and knees which ninja don't often use to climb.
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sounds harder, and if it responds to our internal chakra, we risk it activating when we chakra boost or cast jutsu or whatever.
chakra-adheasion is an ability we already have, and seems like the minimum form of "just push a little bit of your chakra outside the body".
 
Left-Hand Mutant said:
Variable-Length Force Blades
The blade defaults to ~2cm length, but extends while the seal is exposed to chakra-adhesion. The stronger the chakra adhesion, the further the blade extends, up to a roughly ~4m maximum.

The goal being safe, non-face-killling blades most of the time, that Hazou can briefly extend to a terrifying 4m claw of invisible death when he makes an attack.
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You could simplify this by just having multiple blades. Toggle the appropriate length at the appropriate time. Variable-length is obviously stronger but I think a two-length version (eg. existing short blade plus a toggleable ~2m one) is a good 80% solution.
 
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