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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pemerton" data-source="post: 8329994" data-attributes="member: 42582">There are skills like Poetry (haiku), Go, Hawking, Tea Ceremony and similar. Flower Arrangement (Ikebana) is mentioned on p 17 as one of "many other Fine Arts which we have been unable to discuss in this chapter due to space limitations" but which "Gamesmasters who wish to broaden their campaign's cultural horizons may include . . . at their discretion."In my re-reading I haven't yet got to the rules that explain what actually follows, in play, from these skills, beyond (i) studying them can raise mental stats, and (ii) successfully performing the Tea Ceremony can raise effective Status in the context of an influence attempt.Well, I've just got to the section of the rules on Experience. To get to level 2 requires 10 Budo and 10 On. Defeating a 1st level warrior is worth 1 or 2 Budo (depending on whether s/he is "Rabble" or "Classic"); an Extra (a "minion" in 4e D&D terms) is worth 0.5 Budo. So that seems like quite a few risky combats to get to 2nd level! And that's before we get to the On requirements, which are comparably onerous. (If you'll forgive the transliterational pun.)It's 50 for 3rd, 100 for 4th, 500 for 5th and 1,000 for 6th!Allowing for the Avalon Hill-wargame style of rules presentation, it's actually quite evocative - reading the rules is generating mental images of these intriguing characters whose abilities (expressed in detailed RPG mathematics) and whose social context are both known in loving detail. (This is a contrast with eg Agon which I played for the first time on the weekend, and which by way of contrast paints in very broad brushstrokes both mechanically and in respect of setting details.)But I worry about the play - everything that you say seems consistent with what I would expect these sorts of rules to lead to. If I wanted to run this sort of game these days I'd use Burning Wheel, perhaps through the lens of The Blossoms are Falling.</blockquote>

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