Boogiepop Q&A: Ask the Hat

[Boogiepop]

Hello!

Wow, it's really been 5 Banner of the Stars games already? To be honest, there was never a definite number of them planned. They were built out of inspiration and love, rather than obligation to a rigid long-term goal. Myself, personally, I run them with the mindset of not knowing when the next Banner will be held down the line. Potentially never again, even. This one isn't any different, and it's been quite a ride.

I would like to thank Hatoful GM for hopping on board and helping me GM. His help was absolutely vital, helping with administration work, rules, metagame management, wilderness content, extra NPCs, vibe sounding board, and many more things. While the game was planned to have certain stories and characters, I don't think any of those could be realized to this extent without his help. Honestly, I would have lived in OOC for most of the game if it weren't for him and Nakahama wouldn't be half the game it turned out to be.

Thank you CicadAdmin, Canary, and Fallenash Discord for hosting us!

Thank you to the players! I know a good number of you have played a few Banner games and returned. While there is the name and the setting, things are admittedly different without Tassu's direct involvement, so in a sense this is a much different game. So, I would like to thank you for giving me a chance to not only GM for you once again, but putting confidence in me to headline my own game. There is an additional thanks to the new players. The setting is understandably outlandish from your conventional corebook written L5R system, so there's a bit of a learning curve and vibe adjustment. I am very thankful that you've taken the plunge to join us and we are happy to have you with us!

There are a few challenges I encountered in the game, and they have been a learning experience...

Setting writing is something new to me, especially filling in the blanks of a new world and an island in that new world. For the locations, I was anxious writing them at first, but I managed to fill the blanks from my own travel experiences and from places I wish to travel to in the future.

Another challenge was coming up with the Story. I was really ambitious here as I wanted to try my hand is some family drama with a bit of suspense. I plotted out several story 'arcs', which trying to cram them in a 12-Day game, proved to be quite difficult, but I feel I succeeded in getting all the story beats across.

Finally, the most difficult challenge of all was the Metagame. Writing and thinking up events is easy for me, trying to make a story and mechanic for the overarching reason for all characters to be here...while being happy with the whole vibe of it, that's something far more difficult in my personal opinion. The original intention was to create something simple, casual, and easy to follow. While I feel I succeeded on at least two of those points, the competitive nature of it was surprising and, in retrospect, potentially unavoidable. The game was admittedly meant to be a 'beach episode' game. While I'm glad people are invested in affecting a faraway island province, it turned out to be more competitive than I thought. I suppose in the future, when and if I GM another game, this will taken as a learning experience and further refined.

Anyway! Clearly, I can ramble a lot about my game. Any comments or questions? I have answers! Except for the things that I don't or can't.

Thank you for playing!


Your GM,
Boogiepop

[Kitsuki Ichitaiyo]

Which was the most unexpected thing to come out of the players? Besides the competitive angle, but the one part that made you ask 'Why?' out loud when reading it.

Also maybe the one part where we misbehaved too much.

[Kitsuki Ichitaiyo]

Also, what was Umiko's desicion? Is she going to govern away from Nakahama or... disappearing among the crowds?

[Suzume Hitomi]

Thanks for running. It's been fun seeing the direction you take the setting on your own. I can hardly believe it's been over a decade since these started! (yes, I just went to check the dates on Banner 1) Nakahama and Green Carp are really well fleshed out, and vibrant.

With so many plots to juggle, were there ones that just fell through the cracks?

Were there commission cameos in the wings that you didn't get to use? XD

[Suzume Hitomi]

Oh, and Hitomi's going to love the thrifting windfall from that epilogue. "leaves Run-it-back barely visible under the pile of clothing being carried away"

[Yasuki Taraka]

*Prepares the hat box of slumber to return to storage*

You did really well Boogie. When Tassu lay down the Banner never to pick it up again, we all felt the loss. And we recognize that you are under no obligation to ever do this again (just as he was under no obligation to go forward). Gming like this is a labor of love, and we can't always afford the labor. But you've definitely grown from 'AGM who does friendly NPCs' to "Head GM who runs nice games.'

I think the event design was really well done. I liked the fact that alot of them had points available just for meeting a certain level of performance, like first market, rather than being strictly "Top 3 people who get luckiest on dice" I liked that you very rarely used checks of "If you fail this check, you are eliminated." I also liked the non-traditional format on Jade chef, war games, and the drinking contest. I think it's good for doing contests where people are not likely to have relevant skills, but still reward those who do have relevant ones. I wouldn't do ALL of the events that way, but a few definitely keep things interesting.

I do appreciate it when NPCs walk into empty threads. I know it's even more bandwidth to do that on top of everything you're already doing, but I'm always hesitant to ASK for NPC interactions, and I'm sad when no one shows up to an open thread. Umiko shilling for First Market was an amazing experience, and when people were like, "Umiko is actually an evil money laundering cult member who is planning on murdering her sister for her position!" I was like, "Awwww, damn it, not Umiko, I liked her. Why can't she just be the competent person who gets things done for her party animal sister? But it makes sense, dang it."

You did an excellent job setting building. You put up an amazing amount of locations and the world truly felt alive.

The only real suggestion for improvement is not from a "Boogie did this bad and wrong." this is a "Boogie could have done this a little better." Or we can blame Craw, that's what co-gms are for right, GB? XD There IS a real split in the community between those who want "Light-weight party game" and those of us who want "Heavy politics game" You did try to accommodate us both. But this led to the age old, Heavy politics players want more crunch, vacation players want less XD. I did really like the fact that Crab players got to interact with other players and offer their support in them securing the contract. The lacking bit, I think is that players didn't have a good idea of what they could offer us to get us on their side. It's kinda like waaaay back in AEG WC2. "Okay, I have a barrel of glass marbles to trade....what the heck is that even worth?" OR "Does anyone want these gaijin goods? Or should we just toss everyone's into an empty room?" Perhaps the intention was that players were just going to win us over with their charms, and we just make the decision on vibes, but the economic theme led to some of us to wanting a better idea of just what we could offer or be offered for our support.

But that's really it! Someday I'll figure out how to join a side plot, someday, but that's a me problem. It was a great ride, and I hope you do it again someday.

Thank you so much!

[Yoritomo Ochiba]

As ever Boogie, we are fortunate you spent your valuable time and resources making such a well crafted game for us.

I will echo what has been said above, I think the event design on an individual level was top notch. We enjoyed highly varied and diverse setups that tested a range of skills and were all thematically delightful. It really did feel like a fun holiday of this tropical paradise with our samurai engaging in diverse bits of local culture, sponsored by KINSENKA BREWERIES and UOMOTO CO.

The island itself was also a star, a strong sense of place right from the get go which is incredibly important to a game which is going for a vacation vibe. Generic city it was not!

PvP metagame mechanics are always extremely difficult to balance and account for, and I think a lot of games struggle immensely with them where one side is basically guaranteed a win from the start if results aren't weighted, builds carefully scrutinized, events finely tuned to be 'balanced' ect. Often PvP is used as a crutch to generate content when there actually isn't really anything going on in the game.

Nakahama didn't feel like that, and while hindsight is 20/20 (shoot the next person who asks if they can trade gentries) I wouldn't stress about it. And now you're even more powerful and wise for the future.

[Bayushi Senshuken]

I will simply say that this has probably been the best pbp game I've every played and kami, I have played lots of them!

It was so good that it got me back to forum rp instead of discord rp after two previous failed attempts. For a creature of habbit as myself this is very telling on how good of an experience it was! Still I'm stealing all the hats as revenge if I have difficulty returning to discord now

The events were amazing in design, the political aspect was just enough to tickle our instincts and not let us get bored and all the npcs were well thought and distinctively rped. I didn't notice any real pvp, not something that would cause trouble, at least, but still I hope that I didn't cause any issues with my character. Sometimes it is done without even knowing it, unfortunately.

[Kakita Haruhi]

This was such a fun game! Thank you thank you thank you!

The events were amazingly well-defined. I could understand how to participate, and it was always possible to participate, even if it wasn't something the character was going to be good at. And the feel and flavor was so interesting and different, day to day.

I think I managed to avoid talking to most of your NPCs (which is rare for me, as a player) but just speaks to how engaging the world was. There was stuff I wanted to do every day. PCs I wanted to talk to. Personal quests (and a big big thanks to Hatoful GM for that!)

A question from me! Was Nakahama based on Seattle? (That's where I live.) I felt like it could have been with the weather, harbor, tall building with observation deck restaurant, big ferris wheel on the harbor, etc. We even have a volcano and rainforest elsewhere in the state.

[Susumu Sumiko]

Thank you for bringing banner back and running a wonderful game! The events are so well done and really interesting, they may be some of my favourite events ever from any pbp I've been in.

[Miya Kisha]

I'll also join this chorus of "Damn, this was a good game!" I appreciate you having me!

I'll have to say that I appreciate how real this felt, that there was a life to the place even independent of the game's goings-on--and that there was an in-game life to it even aside from the deeper plots (of which I was only aware from outside views). It's a hell of a thing to pull off.

I do hope that, if and when you run again, that I may join you.

[Hatoful GM]

Boogie! Thank you for running a terrific game. I'm very happy to have helped to make your game a thing!

I'm not sure that anyone got the full story of Ayame and Umiko. Could you share anything that you think people missed? Anything else you wanted to see explored more?

[Tamori Kanna]

Thank you for the game! It was a wonderful experience, and managed to keep people engaged even at a normally dangerous time to run!

I think some of my favorite aspects, outside of the events which I've gushed about a lot before, were the commercials. Did they all have inspirations like Long-Long-Man?

[Moto Shiwahime]

Thanks for the game!

Another feather for your hat!

[Bayushi Hinata]

This has been one hell of an introduction to Banners. Being one of the new kids I'll admit it was intimidating at first. My experience and expertise as a GM lies solely and very narrowly in the improvisation side, making stuff up on the fly and catering moment to moment to player's experiences. So imagine my surprise seeing the sheer amount of prep work put into this game!

I've rarely had the chance to be a player in an L5R game that got so much attention and opportunities to just make an impact. Running into Kaito on D0 (sorry for not following up on that!), encountering Umiko and being so generously bribed, and being stalked so relentlessly by Sumie are the biggest highlights of this game for me.

I really hope to have a chance to play with you again, in whatever capacity opportunity provides. Your work with Craw has made this an unforgettable experience.

Kami! Let's move onto something less sappy. Don't want people thinking Im lame!

When did it click for you to have Sumie stalk Hinata? I've been told she's a recurring Secret Love so I'm curious to know how does this instance differ form the previous one?

If Hinata had pursued Ayame romantically as was my original idea, how'd you think she'd have taken to the charming boy-toy? Would she had chosen him for Oshidama rather than Umiko for example? (Scandalous!)

What's Junpei's opinion on every rando-bushi that strolled up to that gunfight?

Who has the best hat in the game?

[Kitsuki Ichitaiyo]

Kami! Let's move onto something less sappy. Don't want people thinking Im lame!

No, I'm sure you want that lest Sumi strike again.

[Bayushi Hinata]

No, I'm sure you want that lest Sumi strike again.

Sumi I don't mind, it's SumiE that Iam afraid of!

[Kitsuki Ichitaiyo]

Also, because I didn't on my first questions, I am so glad I came across you guys, and the work you put in here Boogie has been amazing. I wish the detective work had been smoother, but between time press and discording timezones, we did a great damn job, thanks for bearing with me every step of the way!

I loved all the events, and I adored how they always put characters on the off-foot, eliciting some great unexpected reactions!

I gotta ask, I got the feeling part some of the events had an internal feeling of "Damn, I dislike it when people just dump Perception", because damn I lucked out with Ichitaiyo's build on that context, given it was a frequent skill roll I had available lol

[Yasuki Taraka]

So did Yasuki Kaito's death from stupidly exploding dice throw off any of your plots, or were you going, "Yeah, this idiot is not surviving this death course"? Was there a plot reason he got kidnapped, or was it a more of, "Yeah, I just wanna punish samurai, and he's a good little bag of wounds to soak for players?" What would have changed storywise had he survived the encounter, beyond no need for a morgue thread?

[Boogiepop]

I'll get to everyone's questions! I just may take me a day or so! I want to provide full answers!

Which was the most unexpected thing to come out of the players? Besides the competitive angle, but the one part that made you ask 'Why?' out loud when reading it.

Also maybe the one part where we misbehaved too much.

Also, what was Umiko's desicion? Is she going to govern away from Nakahama or... disappearing among the crowds?

There might have been one, but nothing comes to mind off the top of my head. As a side tangent, I'm happy to have Hatoful GM help with the wilderness scenes, which are not my forte. I think, typically, as a player, I don't exactly explore or poke zones that might have potential monsters attacking you! Why would you go? It's so dangerous! It seems Hatoful made it very entertaining. The birds, his birds, they were a big hit! Blimey, 'gov! Innit?

I probably have more of a Why Not. I was perhaps more surprised that nobody (especially the locals) pursued the late Kuni Asataka lead, especially when it was the first End Scene of the game to hint at that lead. I suppose I played it a bit subtly in the description and didn't have Kuni Junpei roaming enough to talk about it. The sensei's death was meant to feel sudden and suspicious on second impression! That bit of suspicion was supposed to potentially work its way to the Kaiu Takeo plot, although he would be ultimately a dangerous red herring to the actual answer of the case. Yasuki Nagisa was hoping that people would assume that Kaiu Takeo murdered the old magistrate and cover her tracks completely.

She is more or less going to disappear into the crowds as a ronin. The sisters concluded that Umiko had ended up in a bit of trouble while having some inner resentment for Ayame. While she was a good Karo, she wasn't fit for the job. It was best that she remove herself, potentially better herself in the meantime, before ever considering returning. There was also a lot of trouble with the Temple incident and working with Yasuki Nagisa, another reason it was best to distance herself from the island. Having her stick around after that...would have been far too forgiving, even for Ayame.