Character Highlight: Kasumi Tenaga (Jadepunk)

Hello again, everyone!

As a follow-up to my recent review of Jadepunk, we will be posting up some character builds using the system. First up is Lady Kasumi Tenaga, exiled noblewoman with a demon-blade.

Like all Jadepunk characters she is made up of Aspects, Professions and Assets. Kasumi spends most of her available Fate-Point Refresh on Assets: in this case her various dragon-school Techniques, a Device in the form of her fearsome demon-blade, and an Ally in the form of her loyal retainer, Toshiro Makabe.
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Kasumi Tenaga

Aspects

• Portrayal: Last scion of Clan Tenaga (Kaiyu)
• Background: Trained in the arts of the Onaga Sword School
• Inciting Incident: Lord Asano destroyed my family
• Belief: I must restore my family’s fortune and honor
• Trouble: I don’t know if I am worthy

Professions

• +3 Explorer
• +2 Aristocrat, Fighter
• +1  Scholar, Scoundrel
• +0 Engineer

Assets

Dragon Takes Flight

• Type: Technique
• Guiding Aspect: Trained in the arts of the Onaga Sword School
• Features: Focus 2 (Explorer +2)
• Flaws: Situational (Only when overcoming obstacles through movement)
• Cost: 1

Dragon Strikes True

• Type: Technique
• Guiding Aspect: Trained in the arts of the Onaga Sword School
• Features: Focus 2 (Fighter +2)
• Flaws: Situational (Only when attacking in a duel)
• Cost: 1

Dragon Moves With Grace

• Type: Technique
• Guiding Aspect: Last scion of Clan Tenaga
• Features: Focus 2 (Aristocrat +2)
• Flaws: Situational (Only when you attempt to impress in high society)
• Cost: 1

Ancestral sword, “Ao Oni no Tsurugi”

• Type: Device
• Function Aspect: Demon-blade crafted from green jade
• Features: Harmful 2, Exceptional (Deadly sharp; a defender cannot mark a stress box when hit)
• Flaws: Troubling (Aspect: The sword demands that I fight!), Situational + Limited (Exceptional feature is only applied if you succeed with style, once per scene)
• Cost: 1

Toshiro Makabe

• Type: Ally
• Function Aspect: Loyal retainer of Clan Tenaga
• Features: Professional 3 (+2 Fighter, +1 Engineer, Explorer, Scholar), Sturdy, Independent
• Flaws: Troubling (Aspect: Legendarily stubborn and contrary)
• Cost: 2

Refresh: 1
Stress: OOO
Consequences:

• Mild (2):
• Moderate (4):
• Severe (6):

Background/Personality:

Born into a life of comfort and privilege, Kusumi’s life was shattered when her family was framed as plotting against the government by the conniving Lord Jubei Asano.

Armed with her family’s ancestral sword and accompanied by her loyal retainer Toshiro Makabe, Kusumi has come to Kausao City - where Lord Asano is now an influential council member - to expose his misdeeds and restore the good name of her family.
***
Kusumi is armed with the Green (Jade) Demon Sword, Ao Oni no Tsurugi. Legend states that the crafter of the sword had a heart filled with turmoil and violent passions: and indeed, she finds that whenever she draws the sword she is compelled by a powerful urge to fight. But the demon-blade also lends her it’s strength: a strength that she believes necessary to stand any chance of achieving her goals.

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Kasumi Tenaga (Google Docs)

*Note: Edited to reflect correct costs for Assets. Thanks to Ron Frazier on G+ for the assist.

Character Highlight: Balsa, Spear-Fighter of Kanbal (Fate 2.0)

Ah, January.

Named after the Roman god Janus, the god of beginnings and transitions. Depicted as having two faces, since he looks to the future and to the past.

In his honor then, as we now all look forward to the new year of 2014 I am taking this opportunity to look back into the past as well: to the first published version of Fate (then called FATE 2e) back in year 2003.

This was the first version of Fate that I read, and the first that I attempted to hack. Even back then, the system was very much designed to be hacked, with multiple possible rules variants and advice for keeping things light and moving forward. For example, when discussing setting difficulties as the GM (sidebar, pg. 15):

"When all is said and done, setting difficulties is more art than science. While it is possible to provide guidelines for what reasonable difficulties might be, the GM will eventually find herself in a situation where she is going to have nothing to go on but her best guess.  

The urge in those situations is often to take several minutes to dig through the rules, looking for some explicit ruling - RESIST THAT TEMPTATION! We'’ve written the book, and we can assure you that rule is not in here, so trust yourself, and use your best guess."

 This reads rather refreshingly like a piece of advice that might appear in Fate Core ten years on. So although the particulars might change, the Core of Fate - being the philosophy that guides it- remains the same.

Looking through my old builds for Fate 2.0 today, I found one for the character Balsa from the anime Moribito, Guardian of the Spirit:

http://moribito.wikia.com/wiki/Anime

I won't post that build here: I am sure that the readers of the blog have certain standards, and my early builds were rather poor. But in the spirit of looking back as well as looking forward, here she is built using FATE 2.0 rules fresh for 2014:

Balsa, Spear-Fighter of Kanbal (Fate 2.0)

Aspects

• Bodyguard for hire: O
• Jiguro trained me..reluctantly: O
• I’ve vowed to redeem eight souls: OO
• I know people everywhere: O

Skills
+3 Melee
+2 Athletics, Unarmed
+1 Awareness, Endurance, Impress
+0 Deceive, Languages, Lore, Riding

Fate Points: 3
Goal: "I will protect my charge."
Outcomes:

• Scratched (0):
• Clipped (1): OO
• Hurt (4): OO
• Injured (6): OO
• Taken Out (7):

Background

A skilled warrior from the faraway land of Kanbal. She is 30 years old.

Balsa is pragmatic and intelligent and she does not hold much regard for class distinction customs. Despite her deadly skill with a spear, Balsa tries not to kill in combat. As a result her body is covered with scars.

She is the daughter of the former Kanbal King's physician who had discovered that the new King had poisoned his predecessor. Worried that his crime would be revealed the new King ordered the physician and his daughter, Balsa, be executed for treason.

To protect his daughter the physician asked the one warrior he could trust, Jiguro who was the first of the King's 9 Spears, to take her and run while he stayed behind. Unfortunately the King sent the other 8 Spears (while holding their families hostage) after them. Her guardian was able to protect her but had to kill all 8 of his former comrades to do so.

Later he taught Balsa how to use a spear responsibly after seeing her perfectly re-enact the moves she'd seen him use.

Although Balsa claims to be a simple bodyguard-for-hire; in reality she wields her spear in order to save lives in atonement for the eight lives that were taken to protect her when she was a child. 

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Balsa (Fate 2.0) Google Docs

FATE 2e PDF

*Edit 01/03/13 - Updated with character Goal, since I forgot it in my original build.

Plug and Play: Character Highlight- Yojimbo/Sanjuro (FAE)

About a month ago I posted a FAE build of 'Sanjuro' from the movies Yojimbo and Sanjuro on the Fate Core community on Google Plus. 

It was fun to stat out, and the build was well received. 

For those Kurosawa fans that might have missed this earlier, here is arguably Toshiro Mifune's best known role modeled via FAE :

YOJIMBO

• ASPECTS

High Concept: Scruffy wandering ronin instigator & swordsman
Trouble: “He’s nothing without his swords!”
Other: No master worth serving; Let circumstance make the path; I’ll think while I drink

• APPROACHES

+3 Clever
+2 Quick, Sneaky
+1 Forceful, Careful
+0 Flashy

• STUNTS

- When I Read people, I am +2 to Cleverly Overcome when attempting to determine existing Aspects.
- When I Lure an opponent, I am +2 to Cleverly Create an Advantage using an existing aspect I am already aware of.
- When I choose to Strike an opponent, I am +2 to Quickly Attack as long as I have access to a blade.

• REFRESH: 3
• STRESS: OOO

CONSEQUENCES

• Mild (2):
• Moderate (4):
• Severe (6)

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Yojimbo (Google Docs)

Yojimbo & Sanjuro (Review via Blu-ray.com)

Sanjuro by Nunofrias (Deviant Art)