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Marked for Death: A Rational Naruto Quest

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Dictator4Hire said:
So it looks like we can't unscrew the pooch then. Damn shame. And that means we lost three precious weeks of potential actions too, ugh.
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It's more that you spent those three weeks putting distance between yourselves and the village which wants to kill you, and looking for a good location for a base. So your three weeks of actions were all sunk into doing those two things as well as possible, if you want to think of it that way.

Dictator4Hire said:
We could say that after the commander got brutally assassinated we hightailed it out of there and are on the run from, what we estimate to be, an enemy group of assassination specialists (to explain the lack of destruction from the last three weeks in addition to why we didn't make it to the objective). For those last three weeks we would say we have been sprinting to escape after one of the jonin was killed instantly by an unknown technique while his body was left seemingly untouched. Then we could have some chunin and jonin tear up the landscape we are currently at to fake a battle, maybe contribute some blood to make it more realistic, and send a frantic series of messages describing our rapidly worsening situation. We could say that the enemy used some new technique(s) similar to The Flying Thunder God Technique (TFTGT) and are actively cleaning up the trail so we would have less of a chance of reinforcements finding us. The last messages we send would say that we are desperately trying to find a way to combat the technique and our speculation on why the enemy takes the bodies from each fight from both factions (because Edo Tensei has been around since the 2nd Hokage made it). The reason for our former village's ninjas finding our commander's body would be that they wanted our bodies relatively unharmed for some nefarious purpose. Hell, we don't even need to report the correct direction we are now headed (after faking the battle scene, if that step is even necessary); we could send messages irregularly claiming that we suspect the enemy has begun to somehow intercept our messages (ups the spook factor). All we have to do as the PC is tell the jonin our idea and some suggestions on how to make it work. After all, one of them is our sensei. As jonin they know how to report to the Kage and what would make it more believable; that's the beauty of manipulation, using others' strengths to your (occasionally mutual) advantage. I can go into more detail or potential dialogue/messages if need be.
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That's six or so separate pieces of deception you'd need the village to believe, many of them with an initially low probability. Good luck.

Also, natural 20s are only a critical on attack rolls, not on skill checks.
 
Just a note on philosophy: the mechanics are there to approximate real life. Generally people should assume unknown cases will follow reality before mechanics. That is, we'll sit down and think "Well, what would happen if I tried to attack from stealth? I'd probably do better seeing as they'd have less or even no time to react." and then add appropriate bonuses or penalties from there depending on the specifics of the situation. So, if a thing is a good idea in a realistic world of murderous ninja, then we'll try and make it be a good idea in this too.
drasky said:
Can I still sign on? Any positions open.
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Sure thing, you're all voting to decide on the one genin at the moment, who will become the PoV character.
 
Jackercracks said:
Just a note on philosophy: the mechanics are there to approximate real life. Generally people should assume unknown cases will follow reality before mechanics. That is, we'll sit down and think "Well, what would happen if I tried to attack from stealth? I'd probably do better seeing as they'd have less or even no time to react." and then add appropriate bonuses or penalties from there depending on the specifics of the situation. So, if a thing is a good idea in a realistic world of murderous ninja, then we'll try and make it be a good idea in this too.

Sure thing, you're all voting to decide on the one genin at the moment, who will become the PoV character.
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Oh I thought this was a mob quest with everyone playing someone different. Thanks for clarifying.
 
Thoughts on where to set up camp:

Not in a desert. That would be stupid.

As would a snowy tundra. Let's avoid temperature hazards.

If we set up on an island it would be harder for enemies to find us so we'll have more time to prepare, but also harder for us to escape when they do.

Forests would be the obvious place, but hills or mountains would also work.

Trying to take control of an obscure fishing town somewhere would draw attention to us, but also give us a labour pool and access to a reasonable amount of resources. If nothing else, we might want to disguise ourselves as ninja of another village or as samurai/bandits and raid a town for resources (or maybe also slaves depending on how flexible our morals are here: slavery is despicable, but damn useful to us at this point [jk]).

Another possibility is to take control of a ship and sail around the coasts being pirates. We'd be much harder to track down than if we were on land, but it would severely limit our escape options if we were found.

A cave system would be strongly defensible, but we would have difficulty with escapes if the defences were breached.
 
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MadScientist said:
Thoughts on where to set up camp:

If we set up on an island it would be harder for enemies to find us so we'll have more time to prepare, but also harder for us to escape when they do.
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Given that almost every ninja will know water walking, an island isn't much different than any other patch of ground, either for attacking or escaping.

MadScientist said:
Trying to take control of an obscure fishing town somewhere would draw attention to us, but also give us a labour pool and access to a reasonable amount of resources. If nothing else, we might want to disguise ourselves as ninja of another village or as samurai/bandits and raid a town for resources (or maybe also slaves depending on how flexible our morals are here: slavery is despicable, but damn useful to us at this point).
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I will make the point that the lives of commoners suck. You could likely recruit a bunch just by offering protection, three meals a day, and a sense of purpose. And they'd be delighted at the offer and ridiculously loyal if treated well.
 
eaglejarl said:
Given that almost every ninja will know water walking, an island isn't much different than any other patch of ground, either for attacking or escaping.



I will make the point that the lives of commoners suck. You could likely recruit a bunch just by offering protection, three meals a day, and a sense of purpose. And they'd be delighted at the offer and ridiculously loyal if treated well.
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Interesting...
 
I think my preference is going to lean towards face primary with some martial to back it up.

Maybe a bloodline involving pheromones?

A good leader is a force multiplier.
 
I know what you're trying, eaglejarl.

You want us to be nice to the commoners so they'll spread the word of a group of people who helped their village grow. One rumor leads to another and then BAM! army of ninjas blowing the whole place up.
 
Jackercracks said:
Just a note on philosophy: the mechanics are there to approximate real life. Generally people should assume unknown cases will follow reality before mechanics. That is, we'll sit down and think "Well, what would happen if I tried to attack from stealth? I'd probably do better seeing as they'd have less or even no time to react." and then add appropriate bonuses or penalties from there depending on the specifics of the situation. So, if a thing is a good idea in a realistic world of murderous ninja, then we'll try and make it be a good idea in this too.

Sure thing, you're all voting to decide on the one genin at the moment, who will become the PoV character.
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I appreciate and sympathize with the view completely. My primary concerns are 1) that different people will have different models of what is realistic when superhuman abilities are involved, so it is important for unspoken assumptions to be clarified according to an objective metric and 2) given scarce resources, it is important to know not just whether an idea is good, but roughly how good it is, so that it can be evaluated against other plans. Given the implied difficulty of this quest and our low power level, this is even more pressing. It's hard to evaluate which ideas are good and which are mistakes if the answers converge to, "it'll be evaluated on a case-by-case basis."

That's not to say that the answers you guys have given haven't been helpful - I very much appreciate the time that went into them and they have helped greatly. But I think it would help us collectively decide on a build if we had more specific guidance on, say, what exactly is the permissible level of power for a bloodline, or which are the critical defensive skills we need to stay alive. Is Stealth more important than Tactical Movement in withdrawing from a fight? I can think of justifications either way. Does a character skilled in Fast Talk receive a bonus to resist it because he's familiar with its tricks? It makes sense, but I can again think of reasonable justifications either way. Stuff like that exists in the unspoken inferential gap between your models and ours, but it is stuff that, in-character, our genin should at least have an inkling about, or be able to ask his Jounin about, and develop his skills appropriately.

To say, "the world will make sense," is reassuring if our models of the world are alike, but I don't know how alike they are. Mechanics, being objective, help clarify the issue, but ad-hoc case by case bonuses and penalties swing it back towards vagueness. Could you give an example of the circumstances necessary to achieve a +1d vs +3d bonus for, say, the Stealth skill? Would employing a smoke bomb yield a bonus?
 
Can I play too?

Not sure what to name my character.

72 points
____
-30pts
Bloodline Limit: You have the ability to use a limited area of effect substitution technique--you can substitute bugs with rocks and rocks with bugs within a limited radius for a limited period of time. Not sure what the max radius and max time should be. Maybe it would be okay to do it based on whether the character can see the area he's using the bloodline limit on, since a lot of bugs and rocks are kinda small. I strongly encourage the DM to edit this ability as necessary to optimize it so that it's fun, not too powerful but not completely useless
=42 pts

Chakra affinity: Earth
Earth attribute -10 pts
=32

-18 pts for Intelligence Lv4
-4 pts for Chakra Regeneration Lv2
=14 pts
-4 pts for Resolve Lv2
=10 pts
-4 pts for Chakra Control lv2
6 pts left, not sure what to spend it on. Maybe I can leave them unspent for now?
------
15 points for skills

Knows how to swim
Known languages: Common language (english) and Common Sign language. Is deaf.
(assign point costs to these however you want.)
All the freebies

Originally from the hidden village of Rock
Hiding out in Waterfall's territory
Refuge in the wilderness is in a subeterranean cave that used to be part of a tunnel that got collapsed, that now can only be accessed by falling off the edge of a certain waterfall. The current will take you there if you do. In other words, my character was ridiculously lucky in finding this place and probably should have died in the attempt, but didn't. He's thought to be dead, but the Hidden Village of Rock is keeping an eye out for him, just in case.

What do you think?
 
faflec said:
I know what you're trying, eaglejarl.

You want us to be nice to the commoners so they'll spread the word of a group of people who helped their village grow. One rumor leads to another and then BAM! army of ninjas blowing the whole place up.
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What if we took the commoners with us?

Harder to use them for farming/mining that way, but still good for fishing/hunter-gathering and general camp maintainence.
 
A village depopulated in an entire night? There's going to be rumors, then investigation, and then ninjas. Lots and lots of ninjas.
 
Sailor Vulcan said:
Can I play too?

Not sure what to name my character.

72 points
____
-30pts
Bloodline Limit: You have the ability to use a limited area of effect substitution technique--you can substitute bugs with rocks and rocks with bugs within a limited radius for a limited period of time. Not sure what the max radius and max time should be. Maybe it would be okay to do it based on whether the character can see the area he's using the bloodline limit on, since a lot of bugs and rocks are kinda small. I strongly encourage the DM to edit this ability as necessary to optimize it so that it's fun, not too powerful but not completely useless
=42 pts

Chakra affinity: Earth
Earth attribute -10 pts
=32

-18 pts for Intelligence Lv4
-4 pts for Chakra Regeneration Lv2
=14 pts
-4 pts for Resolve Lv2
=10 pts
-4 pts for Chakra Control lv2
6 pts left, not sure what to spend it on. Maybe I can leave them unspent for now?
------
15 points for skills

Knows how to swim
Known languages: Common language (english) and Common Sign language. Is deaf.
(assign point costs to these however you want.)
All the freebies

Originally from the hidden village of Rock
Hiding out in Waterfall's territory
Refuge in the wilderness is in a subeterranean cave that used to be part of a tunnel that got collapsed, that now can only be accessed by falling off the edge of a certain waterfall. The current will take you there if you do. In other words, my character was ridiculously lucky in finding this place and probably should have died in the attempt, but didn't. He's thought to be dead, but the Hidden Village of Rock is keeping an eye out for him, just in case.

What do you think?
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Not that kind of game.

We're ALL playing the same character, voting on their actions.
 
faflec said:
A village depopulated in an entire night? There's going to be rumors, then investigation, and then ninjas. Lots and lots of ninjas.
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Not totally depopulated, just take three or four that seem the most useful.

But I see that that has the same problem.

Hmmmm

Maybe we could take the whole lot, and leave clones behind in their place? Any close inspection will reveal the deception, but hopefully we'll be long gone by then.
 
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What do you guys think of a generic disguise skill using make-up, wigs, ect such that one wouldn't need to use henge which most ninja's I imagine would be trained to look for. Should you also learn the henge jutsu, it would also enable superior usage out of it and you could have a normal disguise hidden under a chakra one.

I was primarily thinking this would be helpful individually given our low skill, but it would also add something helpful to the group if you decide to stick with them. Make it a social build, and you have a character able to integrate well into society. Potentially even better if instead of fast-talk/seduction there is just a normal socialize skill, but that may not be unnecessary complexity (which I think applies to some of the default skills already given honestly).
 
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Velorien said:
That's six or so separate pieces of deception you'd need the village to believe, many of them with an initially low probability. Good luck.
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Seems like a low risk, high reward situation. High ranking ninja should know what the Kage expects in their mission and field reports. We could just ask our jonin-sensei his/her thoughts on it before we propose it and have him/her offer input as necessary: "Shikigami-sensei, I have an idea: [insert previous wall of text here]. What do you think of it?"

Or we could ask specific questions initially, like:
"Why did the Kage put us in the Bingo Book after only 3 weeks? Does that usually happen?"
"What would it take to convince the Kage that we were indisposed for three weeks following a complication in the mission while taking into account what we have done in said weeks?"
"How would you explain the lack of our bodies on the nonexistent battlefield?"
Then tell the plan, followed by:
"Is there anything I have missed?"
"With all of that considered, do you think it has a chance of working? If not, what can I do to help?"

Possible outcomes I can see:
A. We try it and it succeeds, we are now listed as dead with all of the benefits that entails.
B. We try it and it fails, well we were already going to being hunted to begin with, maybe we lost a day or too
C. We get called an idiot for suggesting such a dumb idea (best to propose it in private, making mistakes is a part of the learning process after all)

Will we get any exposition on what our comrades can do before we begin? I mean, three jonin and six chunin must have some good ideas among themselves for a long term plan, let alone what the other genin think up. There is no pressing need to be completely self-sufficient at this point; I'd rather face down enemy ninja as a group than on our own. Another benefit would be for us as the players to see what passes for a rational course of action in a rational Naruto AU from an NPC's perspective.
 
Oh, and just so you're all aware, there are a lot of posts here at the minute that the vote counter bot won't parse correctly. So if you're voting for things, make sure there's a [x] at the beginning of each thing that you're voting for or it may not end up counted. I wouldn't want you guys to end up with something no-one wanted because of a mishap like that.

Although we would still try and go through and sort it out for the first few updates while people get used to the system. Still, we'd much prefer it if we didn't have to.

For example, the bolded parts are the bits that the bot would correctly idtentify and parse, the italics bits it would not parse. Indents imply sub-categories within a single part of a vote:
 
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Alright, so, I propose that another vote should be set up, so we can decide our focus between Stealth, Social, Melee (weapons and Taijutsu both), Medical, Genjutsu, and Seals.

Edit: And also Ninjutsu. Forgot about that...somehow.

Another vote to decide Bloodline from those that have been proposed and gained some amount of popularity (Such as Ice, internal Chakra control, or none at all).

A vote for affinity (assuming no kekkei genkai affinity is chosen)

And then a vote for village of origin.

This is, of course, the decision of the QMs. I'm simply proposing something based on what I've seen of the discussion thus far.
 
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