- Location
- Texas
Would be funny, and theoretically something we can fix with ES crystal glasses.
Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest
- Thread starter eaglejarl
- Start date
-
- Tags
- naruto rational rationalist romance armageddon is looking better and better damn you kishimoto explosions everywhere explosives solve everyone if in doubt surrender to the mercy of zabuza it seemed like a good idea at the time looks like a really bad case of being a jōnin my god. where does the lore end? precommitting is the winning plan screaming in kagome screw the rules i have explosives something bad might still happen sometimes you gotta sociopath stabby zabby subsection c of paragraph 9 should include we can weaponize this so hard
Okay so he's at 318/430. Not great not terrible.
Just FYI @eaglejarl @Velorien @Paperclipped
Hazou didn't fill up on chakra, so per the plan I don't think we should have researched anything. Could save yourselves some spoons and skip this
- Pronouns
- She/Her/They/Them
They're his nerves, assuredly.
Oooh, so to compare with how other things are either stable or subject to change via misremembering, they're both constant in quiddity and unstable in position? Nice. That could be one of the few building blocks that can be relied on. And it's metal, too! We can build stuff out of th- what do you mean "don't tempt fate"?
List of things Mr Welch is no longer allowed to do in an RPG, item 1190: I will not conga line the Pattern. Though the Out's madness looks more like Logrus, I suppose.
3*9 is 27, I tried to check for whether 3,927 on its own would be an interesting number or a clue but I can't find much. It's not a taxicab number (thought of it because of 1,729, slightly mixed up), or a prime or any of the cool ones on a random "type in a number and gets its properties!" site... I might have overthought this. Unless a Ramanujan in the readership already knows it's a cool number?
Some people roll their eyes. Some are said to roll in their graves. Hazō is the first to roll someone else's eyes from his own grave. Is this the true power of the Mangekyō Iron Nerve?
WE'RE SO BACK
And only to himself, in a sturdy yet lifeless environment! Let's, as the hivemind, apply these thought patterns now hoping Hazō doesn't get too bad a case of Essie-itis later on...
The last one was probably Kagami Yūsuke
This is more rules and politics than I expected from the land of the dead. Interesting...
IS THIS THE LONG-AWAITED RETURN OF THE MIGHTY SAITO ARASHI???
Maybe this is the only city in this world that has a definition of "crime" in place and also no one bothers to commit one because... dead.
Ah, shit. An Uchiha beat us here.
I hope that I too can someday obtain abilities that people build cults around. I had to build my cult myself expending precious time and creative effort! I mean, uh, hey, wanna hear about this neat philosophy of life that is totally healthy?
B A D F E E L I N G S .
This is not the Saito Arashi we know and love.
Hm. "Permanently go to fire after you die, never to reappear" seems to be an ongoing theme. Whether as punishment, enlightenment, or just rewards. Did Murakumo no Hisashi know something no one else did?
- Location
- UK
- Pronouns
- He/Him
In my capacity as a QM, I firmly encourage you to tempt fate. If in doubt, remember the bold trailblazer's motto: "What's the worst that could happen?"
[X] Action Plan: Hermit's Assistant
Word Count: <400
Word Count: <400
- Ask the mayor
- What do they use for currency? He said the other towns paid them a fee to use the Holy Fire, what's the medium of exchange?
- Does he know of any paper makers or ink shops in town? Hazou has an interest in calligraphy.
- Is there a person Hazou could talk to to learn more about the surrounding area? Specifically the geopolitics, various power players, etc.
- Hazou doesn't want to break any laws by accident, can we assume that they are basically common sense (murder, thievery, rape etc.)? Are there any laws specific to the city we should know about?
- Avoid signaling any tendency to rules-lawyer here. This guy seems like he would not be amused.
- Go see the Hermit
- Be polite, this guy sounds like he could be as paranoid as Kagome-sensei. We had a good working relationship with Kagome, we can work out something with the Hermit too.
- Try to get a foot in the door before he chases us off. We heard he might have an eyeglasses problem? Hazou knew a bit about optics in life. We could try to recreate them with ES.
- Try to charm him, Hazou had an interest in research while he was alive, that hasn't changed. We got to see some all-devouring black fire in life. Perhaps this Holy Fire is another instance of Ameterasu? Discuss with the Hermit. We don't know much about it, but it was related to the Sharingan, of which the IN is an offshoot, so perhaps there's a connection there.
- If the Hermit seems hostile or malevolent instead of eccentric. Don't share any details of the IN.
- Inquire about the "dragon's tooth". See if he has it, remembers it, or knows where it went.
- We must obtain it eventually, but we might need to earn some money or work for this guy first. Don't overcommit here.
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- Location
- The Soviet Republic of Canuckistan
- Pronouns
- He/Him
"Huzu? Is that you?"
Noumero
Omit Needless Words
[X] Action Plan: Hermit's Assistant
Anyway, I expect he won't take well to being asked to nail down the laws any further than that: he'd interpret it as "a cunning rules-lawyer trying to find loopholes" (which, ahem, we indeed are), and thenhe will immediately smack us with the hammer and throw us into the Holy Fire we need to get out of this situation ASAP chakra-boost in the opposite direction... Well, he probably won't deny entrance just over that, but it'd tick off a box in his head and he'd be marginally less cooperative going forward.
Or maybe I'm wrong, and we do need to know the laws. I suggest just directly asking if "crimes" are defined common-sensically/synonymous with "bad things", or if there are any laws specific to this city Hazou should know about. Probably also inform Hazou he should avoid signaling his penchant for rules-lawyering.
This might be a mistake. The mayor basically answered us tautologically: "the law" is that you shouldn't commit any "crimes"... But doesn't the law usually define what the crimes are? He followed up with–
My interpretation is that his non-answer is meant to be interpreted as "don't do Bad Things, where 'a Bad Thing' is 'whatever intuitively/common-sensically would be considered a Bad Thing'". Combined with "if there's any uncertainty about who's guilty, the mayor decides", this likely means that, in practice, if there's some conflict, they call this guy over, he asks questions, figures out whether there's any legitimate issue, if so who's guilty (which he might be genuinely good at discerning), then smacks the guilty party with his sledgehammer and throws them into the Holy Fire. Very simple.
Anyway, I expect he won't take well to being asked to nail down the laws any further than that: he'd interpret it as "a cunning rules-lawyer trying to find loopholes" (which, ahem, we indeed are), and then
Or maybe I'm wrong, and we do need to know the laws. I suggest just directly asking if "crimes" are defined common-sensically/synonymous with "bad things", or if there are any laws specific to this city Hazou should know about. Probably also inform Hazou he should avoid signaling his penchant for rules-lawyering.
- Location
- Liverpool
FWIW, given how relatively low the chakra cost is for this research, and a desire to see the mechanics in action, I would still be down if we researched it.
But moreso, I support QM discretion of either interpretation/doing it or not doing it depending on spoon availability if that's what is at play.
- Location
- Washington, USA
I agree. It's a case of "if you're only going to obey one law, make it this one, which is all of them."
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu4KToWycNE
- Location
- Europe
[X] Action Plan: Hermit's Assistant
- Location
- Europe
I refused that possible translation on purpose. Therefore the GM is wrong.
It's not that relevant because we haven't researched it, it's Rank Jiraiya and it's an Amaterasu looking flame.
Just funny.
Countries? Man is a well of information!
- Location
- Europe
@eaglejarl , @Velorien , @Paperclipped , Did the Prince tell us something about the old seals/keys? Maybe the Amaterasu flame is a remaining piece of an old seal? Or how an old servant cracked it?
And an explanation where all the old servants went.....
Added this question to my plan, I think we should be working to find out who's in charge around here.
- Location
- UK
- Pronouns
- He/Him
The Prince did not, except to mention that the remaining ones are probably the hardest. As for the old servants, considering the Prince has been at work on the seals for a very long time, Hazō thinks it's likely that they passed on.
- Location
- UK
- Pronouns
- He/Him
PSA about Negative XP
The players have been asking for, and the QMs have been debating, how negative XP should work. After a bunch of discussion we've decided that we're going to do it as a percentage of each positive XP award -- e.g. Hazō has earned 200 XP since entering the afterlife, so in the next update he'll receive N% x 200 negative XP. We've found no particular reason for any specific value of N and are all perfectly happy to hand it off to the players. Taking a quick and non-binding straw poll:
Like = 5%
Heart = 10%
Informative = 20%
Insightful = Some other number, run an actual vote on the issue.
Let's see what the straw poll says; if there's no clear consensus or if a bunch of people choose 'take a vote' then we'll make it an official vote option in the next update.
As to using negative XP: you can spend the cost of a level to eliminate that level, dropping you down one. e.g. If you spend -40 XP then you can reduce a level 40 skill to a level 39 skill. You must spend the full cost of a level at once -- you can't spend -20 XP to drop from 40 to 39, thereby making a net gain of +20 XP. Neither may you spend -20 now and another -20 later.
Same rules as when buying skills up -- you may make multiple moves at a time (including jumping over an entire AB), interim states are allowed to be invalid, final state must be a valid pyramid.
The players have been asking for, and the QMs have been debating, how negative XP should work. After a bunch of discussion we've decided that we're going to do it as a percentage of each positive XP award -- e.g. Hazō has earned 200 XP since entering the afterlife, so in the next update he'll receive N% x 200 negative XP. We've found no particular reason for any specific value of N and are all perfectly happy to hand it off to the players. Taking a quick and non-binding straw poll:
Like = 5%
Heart = 10%
Informative = 20%
Insightful = Some other number, run an actual vote on the issue.
Let's see what the straw poll says; if there's no clear consensus or if a bunch of people choose 'take a vote' then we'll make it an official vote option in the next update.
As to using negative XP: you can spend the cost of a level to eliminate that level, dropping you down one. e.g. If you spend -40 XP then you can reduce a level 40 skill to a level 39 skill. You must spend the full cost of a level at once -- you can't spend -20 XP to drop from 40 to 39, thereby making a net gain of +20 XP. Neither may you spend -20 now and another -20 later.
Same rules as when buying skills up -- you may make multiple moves at a time (including jumping over an entire AB), interim states are allowed to be invalid, final state must be a valid pyramid.
- Location
- Europe
Well ok. Thank you niece low on spoons GM for your time.
>:|
Nobody asked you Hazou! Want to jump into the flame that badly!? Or that I press Informative?
Little shit.
Can we voluntarily sacrifice more memories to generate negative XP like we saw that guy do right when Hazo first arrived, on that mountain? For example, if we wanted to lower Earthshaping from 50 to 49 so we could move something else into its slot in the 50s but only had 30 negative XP, would we be able to voluntarily waste 20 more XP?
Pinging @eaglejarl @Paperclipped also,
It would be very convenient for the players if one could voluntarily give up XP for the purposes of dropping down the rest of a partial level.
There is significant textual evidence for this so far, it appears possible to voluntarily give up memories or experiences.
My suggestion is:
Allow rounding up partial levels. That is, if you have negative XP banked, you can spend it to knock down a level from one of your skills even if you don't have the full amount, but you are required to spend all your banked XP first, and that XP is permanently gone, so you'll continue to accumulate negative XP as normal.
It's strictly worse than just allowing negative XP to accumulate but allows us some flexibility to avoid pyramid bottlenecks.
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- Location
- The Soviet Republic of Canuckistan
- Pronouns
- He/Him
[X] Action Plan: Witty Title
Word count: <300
Word count: <300
- Jūjigai
- Tone: respectful and deferential without fawning.
- What is his work?
- Goal: get him talking about himself.
- Other towns pay them for use of the Holy Fire - in what? Currency, finished goods? We have no money and fear we'd be a pauper.
- Beyond himself and the hermit, is there anyone in town we should know about?
- Does anyone have paper, or ink, that they'd be willing to sell or part with? We were a calligrapher.
- We've come from a place with a complex system of laws and rules: we hated it, and we're relieved to hear that won't be the case here. (Give a few examples of Yagura's insanity - pick crazy stuff, not just dictatorial, as this guy seems like he might be a dictator.) His system seems a lot better. Can he share any stories of recent judgements he made as mayor?
- Goal: figure out how to avoid legal trouble/his ire.
- The Hermit:
- Be polite. Take the same approach you would with a paranoid Kagome-sensei.
- We heard he might have lost his glasses? We might be able to make him a replacement.
- Don't reveal how, or that we're a ninja, unless we're sure he's trustworthy.
- The fire - what has he learned? Offer up everything we know about ameterasu.
- Goal: build a relationship as two curious researchers.
- Ask about the singer, and "dragon's tooth". Does he have it, or remember anything about it?
- In general:
- Don't advertise that we're a ninja until we know how ninja are regarded.
- Keep our head down: we don't want to die permanently.
- Ask around about the singer and dragon's tooth. Be polite and don't press anyone.
- Location
- UK
- Pronouns
- He/Him
And why would Hazō ever voluntarily give up a memory?