OOC Chatter

[Asahina Bo]

Duel Flowchart (Based on my understanding at least....)

Pre-Duel
Set the terms (weapons allowed and objective - presumably this will be pre-decided for the event)

Initiative
Roll Meditation/Ring versus TN1. Your Initiative Value is your Focus+Successes
You are now in the Stance of the Ring you used for the Initiative roll.

Rounds begin

Staredown
Gain Strife equal to the round. If you are not compromised you may take additional Strife (to a maximum of your Focus) and increase your Initiative Value by that amount for that round only.

Actions
The character with the highest Initiative Value takes first action. In the case of a tie the character with the lowest Honor takes first action.

Round Completes
Check to see if either character has achieved the objective. If so the duel ends. If not repeat this process starting from Staredown.

Score and Resolve the Duel
Use the scoring table and results section to determine the outcome of the duel (but it's likely pretty obvious in the case of Iaijutsu at least)


Special Rule: Finishing Blow
If at any point in the duel a character becomes Compromised or Unmasks the other character may immediately execute a Finishing Blow. If this happens during a check in progress the Finishing Blow happens on Step 6 of the check. The character performing the Finishing Blow makes an attack roll, if successful, they deal a Critical Strike with Severity of (Weapon's Deadliness x2 + Any bonus successes on the attack roll). If both characters become Compromised at the same time (such as during the Staredown) the character with the lowest Honor strikes first and, if the target survives, they strike second. If the Finishing Blow completes the duel objective the duel ends and moves to 'Score and Resolve the Duel' even if the round is not completed.

[Asahina Bo]

Suggested Duel Actions

Calming Breath: No roll, any Stance. If Strife is greater than half of Composure remove 1 Strife and if Fatigue is greater than half of Endurance remove 1 Fatigue.

Center: Roll, must be in Void Stance. Roll a number of dice up to the value of the skill being used in the duel and set aside as many as you wish. The next time you Center or the next time you use the Skill (whichever comes first) you replace any number of the rolled dice with the reserved dice.
(Clarifying Example: Kakita Bob has Martial Arts (Melee) 3. Turn 1 he centers and rolls one success on the three dice and sets it aside. The next turn he decides to center again and rolls 2 successes on the the three dice and replaces the blank die with his previously rolled success. He now has three successes banked when he rolls his Martial Arts (Melee) to Strike on Turn 3.)

Prediction: No roll, any Stance. Secretly choose a Ring other than Void. The next time your opponent sets their Stance if it is the Ring you selected they take 4 Strife and must choose a different Stance instead.

Strike: Roll, any stance. Make a TN2 Martial Arts check using the proper roll for the weapon involved.

(Edited to fix 'Prediction' to 'the next time your opponent sets their stance' as previous wording 'changes their stance' would imply it does not trigger if they set the same stance twice in a row which is not correct.)

(Also edit to note the emphasis on 'suggested' - the game allows for pretty much any action to be taken these are just the most pertinent to dueling, especially Iaijutsu)

[Saibankan]

Suggested Duel Actions

Calming Breath: No roll, any Stance. If Strife is greater than half of Composure remove 1 Strife and if Fatigue is greater than half of Endurance remove 1 Fatigue.

Center: Roll, must be in Void Stance. Roll a number of dice up to the value of the skill being used in the duel and set aside as many as you wish. The next time you Center or the next time you use the Skill (whichever comes first) you replace any number of the rolled dice with the reserved dice.
(Clarifying Example: Kakita Bob has Martial Arts (Melee) 3. Turn 1 he centers and rolls one success on the three dice and sets it aside. The next turn he decides to center again and rolls 2 successes on the the three dice and replaces the blank die with his previously rolled success. He now has three successes banked when he rolls his Martial Arts (Melee) to Strike on Turn 3.)

Prediction: No roll, any Stance. Secretly choose a Ring other than Void. The next time your opponent changes their Stance if it is the Ring you selected they take 4 Strife and must choose a different Stance instead.

Strike: Roll, any stance. Make a TN2 Martial Arts check using the proper roll for the weapon involved.

An important thing to note about strike, is if you hit the TN to hit them, but did not trigger a critical strike (You didn't have the opportunities) the target still takes the fatigue of 'dodging' your strike. Thus you did not satisfy the frist strike part, because you missed.

It lends itself to a very anime feel of a novice recklessly swinging a sword at a master who keeps effortlessly dodging them while they focus.

Though if your fatigue exceeds your endurance from all this dodging, you're still gonna fall down.

[Aimi]

Oh that makes sense, I was wondering why you might want to do literally anything other than "strike" on your first turn. But if fatigue doesn't 'count' for most cases, it... honestly still might be better to strike if it's a lethal duel, since damage is damage, but I can see the idea.

[Asahina Bo]

Yeah in terms of objectives an 'Iaijutsu Duel to First Blood' isn't who swings first, or even who hits first, but who hits and scores a Severity 5 or higher Critical Strike first. Though with katanas against unarmored opponents hitting first gives good odds of that first blood....

[Moto Mitsuki]

I'm curious how the Predict Action is going to be managed in a PbP. Good faith? Send a PM to GM for reference + Good faith?

Regardless, that means that if someone uses Predict, the other player must declare their stance, then check with the first player, then continue with their action. One more back-and-forth.

EDIT: Also, the strife bid for Initiative isn't exactly thought for asynchronous gameplay.

[Asahina Bo]

Yeah I imagine PM to the GM is the way to go on that one as then there's a paper trail if it gets disputed. There's no solution for it that won't be messy.

[Saibankan]

Yeah in terms of objectives an 'Iaijutsu Duel to First Blood' isn't who swings first, or even who hits first, but who hits and scores a Severity 5 or higher Critical Strike first. Though with katanas against unarmored opponents hitting first gives good odds of that first blood....

Though with the right build, you could totally Crab your way through a duel

[Saibankan]

I'm curious how the Predict Action is going to be managed in a PbP. Good faith? Send a PM to GM for reference + Good faith?

Regardless, that means that if someone uses Predict, the other player must declare their stance, then check with the first player, then continue with their action. One more back-and-forth.

EDIT: Also, the strife bid for Initiative isn't exactly thought for asynchronous gameplay.

Relevant things like that is gonna have to go in private forum, so the gm can adjust the round count just like combat.

[Moto Mitsuki]

Prediction: No roll, any Stance. Secretly choose a Ring other than Void. The next time your opponent sets their Stance if it is the Ring you selected they take 4 Strife and must choose a different Stance instead.

Thinking about it, doesn't that mean this action is perfectly useless against someone with Void as (one of) their highest ring?

And can't someone just choose to use Void on their turn to be sure to avoid the prediction?