[AotD] Spirits and Steel kata + Rant

[AotD] Spirits and Steel kata + Rant
OK, it seems I'll never get the final answer on the main AEG boards, so I come here. How exactly "add Kenjutsu to the TN of all your spells" can be understood as "add a bonus to your spellcasting rolls equal to your rank in Kenjutsu"? There is an underlying problem here that is even more troublesome to me, though I don't dare posting that on the AEG boards: How is it possible that Shawn doesn't really know the intent of the writers? Is there no editing at all? No discussion with the writers? No exchange of info? Who's in charge there? I can't believe texts are printed without the lead writer not having intimate understanding of what they mean. I can tell you there is something wrong in the way AEG work. I do freelance work for Shadowrun, and our books are not free of mistakes either. But Rob Boyle, the line developer, always knows the rules perfectly. I never heard him say "I'm not sure what the writer intended, so I'll just guess" when asked a rule question. That Shawn can admit such a thing on the AEG forum is amazing. If Shawn's only just another writer in the AEG writers stable, then he should not be the one answering rules question. It should be Doug Sun, the editor, who hopefully knows what's going on in the rules he's supposed to edit, as they're all supposed to go through him, right? Mike

Doug Sun even know less than Shawn about what is published. Shawn is supposed to read everything, but usually (I believe it's him) Todd get the books sent to the printer before Shawn could reread everything of it. That happened for all the books since the start of 3rd edition, and I'm carefully reading about MoW to see if it doesn't happen with this one too (EE have not been posted to playtest). On other notes, Spirit and steel is a kata of the main book, and no one cared about the fact I posted they was two katas of the same name.

How can one become part of the playtesting team? I have experience with Shadowrun, and I'd love to do something more useful for L5R than bitching about problems. Mike

How can one become part of the playtesting team? I have experience with Shadowrun, and I'd love to do something more useful for L5R than bitching about problems. MikeGet lucky. If you happen to know a team leader you might be able to convince him to add you to his playtest group. BTW to my knowledge my understanding of that Kata was indeed as you think to be a penalty. The Kenjutsu Rank was to be added to the TN of the spell. This kata to my knowledge works exactly as written. Funny enough when the Jourei Bengoshi got previous to release access to the material and were looking over stuff that we might have to bring up for clarification upon release, someone also for some reason thought that it added to your Kenjutsu to your roll. When I pointed out that it said specifically it was added to your Target Number, everybody just went "Oh okay" IIRC and we just went on out merry way to the next point of contention pretty much assured that it was a penalty, and as written that is exactly what it does. The problem with Shawn's ruling is that he is like the Emperor of Rokugan. If he comes in and takes a quick look at something, and goes "I believe that this is the way it is supposed to work" it gets taken with the weight of law. I doubt he had time to check with the actual writer of the Kata, and simply just went with a snap judgement call. I believe that is statement will be retracted upon further review of the Kata.

LOL anyway playtesters can't bitch at all. Only playtest team leader can, and the one around here is Tsukaede and he bitches quite a lot, but even him don't make things move a lot...

I suddenly feel very good about the way we work on Shadowrun books. Well, I don't know any team leader, I'm not even living in the US. So I guess that'll be tough to get in. But from what I read here, I'm not so sure I want to be in anyway. Seems like people see stuff that needs to the corrected/clarified before the text goes to the printer, but nothing is done with this feedback. I don't know how you guys deal with the frustration. Mike

I suddenly feel very good about the way we work on Shadowrun books. Well, I don't know any team leader, I'm not even living in the US. So I guess that'll be tough to get in. But from what I read here, I'm not so sure I want to be in anyway. Seems like people see stuff that needs to the corrected/clarified before the text goes to the printer, but nothing is done with this feedback. I don't know how you guys deal with the frustration. MikeWell to be sure, we weren't actually AEG Playtest by the time AOTD was already completed. We just happened to enter playtest between the time that AOTD was completed, but before it was released. So we got to see the stuff before print, but after finalization. So mainly it just gave us an advance peek in order to formulate some opinions on potentail rules problems. As Okuma said, it was probably a bigger concern that Spirits and Steel was a duplicate name from the main book as opposed to the actual mechanics. I just automatically assumed that the Kata worked as written, and when Shawn made his statement I was like :shock: . I still think Shawn is in error and this will eventually get cleared up.

The problem with Shawn's ruling is that he is like the Emperor of Rokugan. If he comes in and takes a quick look at something, and goes "I believe that this is the way it is supposed to work" it gets taken with the weight of law. I believe that they call this the Zen Effect on the CCG side of L5r. How can one become part of the playtesting team? I have experience with Shadowrun, and I'd love to do something more useful for L5R than bitching about problems. Mike Yes, please, join us so I don't have to be the only n00b around here. :P Seriously though, I just started posting on the Jourei Bengoshi forums and asked Tsukaede to let me in. How is it possible that Shawn doesn't really know the intent of the writers? Is there no editing at all? No discussion with the writers? No exchange of info? Who's in charge there? I can't believe texts are printed without the lead writer not having intimate understanding of what they mean. The most frustrating thing that I have found is the fact that large sections of the rules was written by Rich Wulf. He has been gone for a year, and there are still open issues that can't be resolved because the staff doesn't know what Rich's intent was. In my opinion, Shawn should feel confident enough to make a call and overrule the freelancers in the errata. But, don't get me started on the errata issue.

Errata is a little bit like Zombie Shoju. The two rules about Errata are : 1. Errata does not exist 2. We don't speak about Errata

I summon forth this thread! :science: I did wonder why you were not on playtest mike. I think only the lack of contribution to technical rules questions would have had Tsuk shy of asking you in, You clearly have a deep undertanding of the rules. I think your experience would be good, should it be that we are allowed to make web-sup material...

I summon forth this thread! :science: I did wonder why you were not on playtest mike. I think only the lack of contribution to technical rules questions would have had Tsuk shy of asking you in, You clearly have a deep undertanding of the rules. I think your experience would be good, should it be that we are allowed to make web-sup material... I agree. My mojo pales in comparison to Otaku Mike.

I summon forth this thread! :science: I did wonder why you were not on playtest mike. I think only the lack of contribution to technical rules questions would have had Tsuk shy of asking you in, You clearly have a deep undertanding of the rules. I think your experience would be good, should it be that we are allowed to make web-sup material... Err, thanks guys :oops: I should visit here more often :) I'm not sure to understand what I might have done to deserve such praises, or why Muchitsujo felt the need to unearth this thread. Anyway, with my young baby daughter around, I don't have much free time left, and most of it goes to paid freelance work for Shadowrun. Good luck for you guys who do playtest all this stuff, my heart goes to you (in a very manly way ;) ). Mike

Well a consilation prize: http://bengoshi.17.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?p=15552#15552 My playtest group right now is quite big, and seeing as I will talk to AEGTodd and Doug Sun soon, I'll see what I can do to get the playtest teams updated.

The main problem with playtest is using the playtest forum on AEG to speaks. Their isn't enough discussion going on here.

Err, thanks guys :oops: I should visit here more often :) I'm not sure to understand what I might have done to deserve such praises, or why Muchitsujo felt the need to unearth this thread. Mike They don't call me the onisu of chaos for nothing! :shock:

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