In the Dojo (O.O.C. Chat - Session Zero)

[Purr]

Simplicity - means that you're not swamped with all the possible interactions between us and up to fifteen characters.

Just to be clear - anything over 15 would swamp me, hence that cap. (my original cap was 20.)

I'm not talking about people like Adamantium or the Robotech Broadsword crew; I'm talking about people who largely need your help.

In Sharseya, think of the Meadowsweets, Stewart and Beatrice, Oscar of Highwind, Sparkle, Luna's Callen family and the like. The vast majority are non-adventurers. =)

Think of them as quest givers and people who would like to be close to you.

If you still want their numbers as low as possible, that's less "work" for me. I just want you to see the situation clearly. =)

If any of you have even remote questions about this, do let me know!

 

[Purr]

I just realized; to make it fair I can average the numbers all of you provide me. =)

Sil - 5.
Sherwood - 5.
Kaerri - ?
Psychie - ?

 

[Psychie]

A good half dozen or so sounds fine to me.

 

[Kaerri]

5+15 sounds good to me -- that's 5 each, right? Ohhh, you said between 5 and 15, that's different.

Honestly, I'm up for as many as you want to put in. I love your NPCs and I know they'll all be good characters. Put me down for 15? 5 feels too few for a new community we're joining. Maybe we start with a few, and meet (or meet again) more as we go?

 

[Purr]

Maybe we start with a few, and meet (or meet again) more as we go?

Well, it was my intent to have you all know some at start and meet others along the way.

But now I've got another conundrum to fix - I promised Psychie that Haoyu would have the Khan family in the game. That's 5 folks right there.

 

[Silanon]

Think of them as quest givers and people who would like to be close to you.

5 feels too few for a new community we're joining. Maybe we start with a few, and meet (or meet again) more as we go?

My intuition would be to start with as few as possible, and then see whether the need arises to add more. I'd rather have one deep character who is a spokesperson for ten more in the background than barely get to know those ten people first-hand, if that makes sense.

 

[Kaerri]

But now I've got another conundrum to fix - I promised Psychie that Haoyu would have the Khan family in the game. That's 5 folks right there.

My intuition would be to start with as few as possible, and then see whether the need arises to add more. I'd rather have one deep character who is a spokesperson for ten more in the background than barely get to know those ten people first-hand, if that makes sense.

Maybe combine these thoughts? Have a couple of the Khan with us at the start -- the spokespeople, as it were? -- plus a few others. The rest of the Khans could still be around somewhere, but we wouldn't be meeting them right off, necessarily.

 

[Purr]

My intuition would be to start with as few as possible, and then see whether the need arises to add more. I'd rather have one deep character who is a spokesperson for ten more in the background than barely get to know those ten people first-hand, if that makes sense.

It does. It reminds me of the Tribe of the Broo. They are all potentially deep. Some of them are meant to be background characters (Duskee, Coosi, Tikina, Coro). While others are going to be around regardless because they play a role of some kind (Chieftain Faydra, Shaman Bong, Beema). Want to know them? Show interest! That's how in Broadsword, Taymee the Rainbow Daemoness ended up in your team - you guys seemed interested and I wanted to see what it was like to have a Broo in your squad. Works well if you ask me! =)

You'll have deep characters because it's me running the game. The more interest you show, the deeper they tend to get.

Maybe combine these thoughts? Have a couple of the Khan with us at the start -- the spokespeople, as it were? -- plus a few others. The rest of the Khans could still be around somewhere, but we wouldn't be meeting them right off, necessarily.

I thought about that and tried it in my head and it doesn't work for me. It's like promising someone they're related to the Fantastic Four and you end up giving them 1 or 2. For me, it isn't about need; it's more about "I told Psychie I'd give her this when she chose to play a Khan and I feel I must be true to my word." Unless Psychie doesn't want it, I feel I should include it.

* * *​

A note on the Savior - the two of them are part of a team I call the "Great Guardians" but they're defunct. Chinatown/Japantown is in a bad way because the people lack protectors and bad guys have been on the rise for some time. Your characters can make their own destiny by helping people who largely cannot help themselves.

 

[Kaerri]

To be honest, I don't understand the problem here. If we want to get to know characters, well, Dann doesn't make shallow ones, no matter how many there are. If we don't spend time with them to find that out, that's on us, that doesn't really relate to the number. (Except as time permits, I suppose, but then, plenty of times in other games, some of the PCs have just ignored the NPCs to do their own thing regardless, so again -- that's on us.) 5 or 15, the biggest bar to NPC interaction, as I see it, is player interest.

I thought about that and tried it in my head and it doesn't work for me. It's like promising someone they're related to the Fantastic Four and you end up giving them 1 or 2. For me, it isn't about need; it's more about "I told Psychie I'd give her this when she chose to play a Khan and I feel I must be true to my word." Unless Psychie doesn't want it, I feel I should include it.

That's why I said "at the start." I didn't say never. But if that's how it is, that's how it is. I guess if we're going with the bare minimum, they're all going to be Psychie's family.

 

[Purr]

That's why I said "at the start." I didn't say never. But if that's how it is, that's how it is. I guess if we're going with the bare minimum, they're all going to be Psychie's family.

Hmm. Psychie Would you be comfortable with me putting the Khan family in later instead of at start? Your characters will know them either way (all of you meet and get to know them in your upbringing). Or would you rather they be included?

 

[Psychie]

Hmm. Psychie Would you be comfortable with me putting the Khan family in later instead of at start? Your characters will know them either way (all of you meet and get to know them in your upbringing). Or would you rather they be included?

I don’t mind a later intro for them. Thank you for asking.

 

[Purr]

I don’t mind a later intro for them. Thank you for asking.

Psychie I will create an item then. Let's make a... porcelain black bowl made during the Song dynasty (960–1279). Porcelain because Chinese porcelain awed the art world during that age. Black to represent yin (Chinese dragons represent yang). Bowl because it holds things. Like water. Not all cats like water, but tigers certainly do.

This item is known to all of you. It is required for Haoyu to make contact with her family (as the Savior will have departed by then). It awaits Haoyu in San Francisco! =)

 

[Purr]

So... let's tally up the numbers!

Sil - 5 (actually 4, but 5 is my minimum for reasons you'll just have to trust me on!).
Sherwood - 5 because he agrees with Sil,
Psychie - 6 because Princesses like her like to be different!
Kaerri - 15 because Kaerris like to be reaaaaaally different!

Add 'em all up and we get 31. Divide by 4, we get 7 with 3 left over. That's closer to 8 than 7 so...

8 NPCs at start in San Francisco it is! Thanks for voting! =)

 

[Kaerri]

I'm a weird one, I am.

 

[Sherwood]

Weird is a good thing.

 

[Purr]

8 NPCs at start in San Francisco it is! Thanks for voting! =)

Kaerri Psychie Sherwood Silanon
And just like that, BANG! All 8 San Francisco-based NPCs are ready to go! That was fun! Thanks again, Gang! I'm moving on to the next section of G.M. biz now.

Let me know if you want help with anything?

 

[Purr]

Hey! I've learned what not to call Sil's falcon-battle-birb!

Falco! 8D Right, Sil? Right?! 8D Ha ha!

"Falco - Rock Me Amadeus (Official Video), Full HD (Digitally Remastered and Upscaled)"

 

[Sherwood]

Didn’t that song come out in the late 80’s? I don’t remember exactly, but that is a good reason not to slip up and say that to him.

 

[Purr]

Didn’t that song come out in the late 80’s? I don’t remember exactly, but that is a good reason not to slip up and say that to him.

1985! Austria's boy, Falco, doing it like only he can! RIP, Falco! You are missed! =)

 

[Purr]

Kaerri Psychie Sherwood Silanon

Okies. Time for a deeper question - what is the purpose of your team?

This is different than your aiding San Francisco Chinatown/Japantown. That's a goal. I mean... what do you want your team to be all about? Are you crime fighters? Are you treasure-seekers? Do you want to live in the way the Savior lives - valuing a Japanese sense of honor like the Hirawi clan does?

Put another way, do you want to make up your own purpose or do you want to follow any particular established way of life?

The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are all about honor and loyalty and the code of the Bushido (at least as far as their creators, Laird and Eastman, interpreted that ancient and sacred code). They're ninjas all the way (the turtles, not the writers; what are you thinking?!).

You guys? You have a Ninjitsu artist in your midst - Kiseko the Kitsune. Kaerri, it's up to you if Kiseko simply practices the Ninjitsu style or if she is trying to follow the Ninja way of life and become a shinobi ("one who is invisible"). But if you wanted, you could all be ninjas. Or something else.

The Hirawi clan are made up of Papa-san and Mama-san Hirawi. I have not made more Hirawi-blooded people than those two. They are very honorable, extremely loyal, and good-hearted to a fault. The Savior's way of life is to do good deeds wherever possible, to right wrongs (including doing unlawful things when necessary), and kill only as a last resort (they do a lot of beating up bad guys and trying to honestly get them to change their ways). They are also hardcore archeologists/anthropologists/seekers of wisdom wherever it may be found. They have gone through great pains to recover super rare/lost works, even if only to get them out of the hands of evildoers. As a result, the Savior's knowledge and wisdom is said to be second-to-none. They are heroes in every sense of the word.

Your path belongs to you.

There are five of you. Among your five, I can only speak for Toby, your excitable canine doctor/Kung fu artist. Toby is largely of a Hirawi-clan state of mind but he is adaptable. Open-minded. Good-hearted. Eager to discover and learn. If all of you wanted to become street samurai or modern-day cowboys, vigilante cops or a gang of Indiana Jones wanna-bes, Toby would be up for that because those are causes that depend on goodness, justice, and loyalty (O.K., Indiana Jones is largely loyal to museums, but Indy is loyal to his friends too, right?). But every way of life starts with a purpose.

So... what would you like your team's purpose to be?

Maybe chat about this here and work it out together?

 

[Kaerri]

You have a Ninjitsu artist in your midst - Kiseko the Kitsune. Kaerri, it's up to you if Kiseko simply practices the Ninjitsu style or if she is trying to follow the Ninja way of life and become a shinobi ("one who is invisible").

I'll need to know what that means before I can answer. I didn't realize they were different things.

As far as purpose and goal, I'm bad at those. I'll want to be doing good on the whole (I cannot play in an evil game, and I'm not very comfortable in a neutral one). That sounds too vague for what you're asking, though.

 

[Purr]

I'll need to know what that means before I can answer. I didn't realize they were different things.

Kaerri Maybe I should have opened with that! Heh!.

A Ninjitsu practitioner is anyone who is studying Ninjitsu on an amateur level. For example, where anyone off the street can go in and take Ninjitsu classes from Sensei Joe on Main Street, much like any popular martial art like Tae Kwon Do, Karate, Judo. I've read that people who take Ninjitsu self-defense are practicing only the fighting style of the ninjas which is called Taijitsu, which is all they're learning in the dojo.

A would-be shinobi, for the purposes of of our game, is someone who is practicing Ninjitsu on a professional level to become, for lack of better term, a real modern day ninja. They know the facts about ninja and a great deal more about the people, the culture, and the reasons behind Ninjitsu and they see Ninjitsu not as fantasy but as fact. Many of them are completely devoted to the ninja way of life as opposed to "part-time" wanna-be ninja practitioners.

 

[Silanon]

I'm not quite sure about Alyas purpose and goals - gotta think about that for a bit. First few thoughts: Doing good is part of it. She herself feels lost often enough, so I'd see her as someone who does sympathize with those without a place in society. Think urchins, beggars and the like. She does not feel like one to lead others to redemption, however; her own path is too confused to lead others on. She's more of a vengeful character, perhaps - one to stop crimes not by convincing evildoers to walk another better path, but to discourage them from doing more evil by making them pay for it.
The law does not mean too much to her; she's happier the fewer constructs of society restrict her actions.