Slayer of Dragon RPG

[ThreeGee]

Thanks, Mike. I have not been very clear, I think. Clearly, Slayer of Dragon is a Gamist game. I would be crazy to call it anything else. I have only been saying it can be adapted to other purposes.

I am not fond of the idea that behaviour should be controlled through rules. As I have said, the premise of Slayer revolves around choices, and any rules defining how characters should be played would go against that idea.

A minor point is that Premise is not limited to Narrativism. In fact, if I understand Ron Edward's essay correctly, all games have a premise - a premise simply being what a normal person might call a theme.

I am going to make a moderator-like decision and ask that people please keep GNS comments to a minimum. At this point, I would prefer to concentrate on actual rules and actual experience.

/Grant

[greyorm]

Threegee,

Just wanted to point out that, yes, "kata" is a term used for a combination of linked, predetermined martial-arts moves, not meditation (though perhaps it is used in that sense, I don't know, I've never seen it used as such, though).  Ok, most importantly, how do I know this?  Many, many years as a student of the martial arts -- in my case, Karate (Tae Kwon Do).

So, that being the case, I rather like the term Kata (as opposed to Combo), especially if you are going with the Chinese/Oriental/Anime flavor for your game, and it seems you are with the whole five elements magic system, Chi as magical energy and so forth.

(BTW, something I've been wondering about, shouldn't the title be "Slayer of the Dragon," or am I missing something obvious again?)

[Christoffer Lernö]

So, that being the case, I rather like the term Kata (as opposed to Combo), especially if you are going with the Chinese/Oriental/Anime flavor for your game,

If he's going for chinese flavour it doesn't make sense to use kata as kata is a japanes term.

(BTW, something I've been wondering about, shouldn't the title be "Slayer of the Dragon," or am I missing something obvious again?)

I thought that was intentional?

[greyorm]

If he's going for chinese flavour it doesn't make sense to use kata as kata is a japanes term.

I know, hence my three-way split (Chinese/Oriental/Anime), as I wasn't implying a specifically Chinese flavor, but the whole oriental/anime thing that the game seems to be shooting for, most particularly the latter along the lines of "Dragonball Z" and such (which is the show I've been associating with SoD as the best popular showcase of a similar theme/style...supernatural, over-the-top martial action).

-Raven

[ThreeGee]

Kata is a Japanese word. Originally, I used Japanese terms over Chinese, but people just were not understanding what I meant, so I changed from Ki to Chi and renamed the moves to English names. The name of the game--Slayer of Dragon--is just a joke. The Slayers of Dragons, or The Slayers of the Dragon, would be a more appropriate name, just as Lina's Dragon Slave should be Dragon Slayer.

My current thought for the game is to deliberately evoke an over-the-top 19th/early 20th century China feeling. There have been a lot of HK films released by Disney lately that deal with the period, so I think people would get the idea pretty easily.

/Grant

[Christoffer Lernö]

The name of the game--Slayer of Dragon--is just a joke. The Slayers of Dragons, or The Slayers of the Dragon, would be a more appropriate name, just as Lina's Dragon Slave should be Dragon Slayer.

For what it's worth I understood that immediately. I think it's a good name.

As for a different question, where are you taking the game right now? Polishing it or adding new stuff. Just being interested.

[ThreeGee]

Polishing, if I understand you correctly. The game has been playable for several years, though I have added some new pieces from time to time. Right now, I am working on the magic system to make it based on five spheres: earth, water, air, fire, and void. Also, I will be rewriting parts of the game to make things more clear, with examples and short stories to illustrate both the rules and what I expect a typical session to be like.

There used to be a stat called Luck, which was a metagame resource for rerolling bad rolls and for causing others to reroll. What do you all think of adding a metagame mechanic (not necessarily the same mechanic) to Slayer?

[greyorm]

Having not played SoD (yet), I can't say if it needs it, however, that being the case, I need to ask, does the game NEED it?  If not, then there's the answer!

[Christoffer Lernö]

About the luck thing... I think it's a matter of game lethality. If you have a metagame mechanic like luck you can put in a little more lethality, especially if the players have it and not the average goon.

On the other hand if it's something everyone has, forget about it. Who want's mindless goons to luck out with that mechanic. However it does have it's uses keeping the big bad boss out of dying through a fluke.

I don't know about the game lethality, so I can't say. All I can give as advice is, only put it in if you know that you want it. Not if you just happened to see other games with it. I've seen very few games use this kind of stat well. The only thing that ever worked for me was the Warhammer "Fate Points".

[CrazyIvan]

Katas are combos. If anyone knows the correct Kung Fu (Chinese) term to describe them, please let me know. Maybe I should just use the word 'combo'. Anyway, a kata is just a set pattern of moves that the character goes through automatically.

Just a minor point, use Combos instead of Katas. Katas tend to closer to a active form of meditation rather than a linked series of attacks. Combos also evokes the idea of a linked series of attacks to anyone even remotely familiar with any "fighter" video games (like Street Fighter, Tekken, etc.).

I am in agreement there. Besides being more instantly recognizable, Katas are, at least in kendo, not actually combinations. In Kendo they are a series of complex interactions between a "master" and "student", a cerimonial dance almost. The actual moves are fairly basic, it is the timing and coordination that make it beautiful. But in each one, its illustrative of a move that gets the "master" in a dangerous position.

Combos make more sense, and are, strictly speaking, more appropriate.

[Christoffer Lernö]

In Kendo they are a series of complex interactions between a "master" and "student", a cerimonial dance almost. The actual moves are fairly basic, it is the timing and coordination that make it beautiful. But in each one, its illustrative of a move that gets the "master" in a dangerous position.

I know it is off-topic, but I just gotta correct you on this one. There's no ceremonial dance in kendo-kata. Nooo way. But you're right about teaching timing, control (but you forgot about distance, posture, mind-set and so on).

The "teacher" role is always the one who loses in kendo kata. Why? The "teacher" role shows appropriate openings which the "student" role uses the correct responses to. So that if you recognize any of the openings in real combat (cough! cough!) you are supposed to follow the correct [student] pattern and win.

So anyway, the teacher is supposed to teach the student the right moves, not win.