Anyone who's interested in watching will also certainly be welcome to join!
EDIT: Approved
EDIT 2: Ah! Forgot to mention the prizes! The winner of the competition will be offered one of the animals which were available to be trained during the competition (*not* entirely the winner's choice, unfortunately, as some of those animals are lifelong companions of the organisers - the goat will possibly be available, as may some other animals which may be offered for training depending on how some things go during the first IC days of the game!). Additionally, 1 Influence point may also be given to the winner! Again, considering no animals are mistreated by them during the event
EDIT 3: Included a small change at the end, allowing folks to use Lore: Nature instead of Animal Handling (at a higher TN!). Maybe this will convince more people to participate!
How to train your Human (D6 - EM)
One of the ways in which many of the old tribes made a living, and now also do many in the clans, is by breeding, herding, training, and in fact sharing their lives with a variety of animals - whether to produce food, help hunt or do a variety of other activities. Ryoshun Rei, Wu Zhe and Chai Kotsume have called those in the palace who may be interested in honouring that proud tradition of coexistence between animals and men to a friendly competition to see who can, in a relatively short time together with an animal, earn its confidence and respect enough to get it to perform the most remarkable tricks or activities.
This event may be attended either as a competitor (who will try their hand at getting acquainted with a beast and try to teach them some tricks), or as a spectator (who will be in the public cheering for the others and observing the fantastic or odd shenanigans each of the competitors convince the animals they're paired with to perform).
As a Competitor, you will have a choice of a number of animals to work with. This choice is purely for fluff, and it may interfere in the actual tricks you teach to the animal, but they are of no mechanical consequence. The organisers kindly ask you be kind and respectful and treat them well, as some of these are their own pets or companions. Even for those who aren't, treating your animal badly will definitely be frowned upon - especially by those who deal with animals most often!
The animals available are:
- 3 Otters (2 adults, Uen and Saen; 1 cub, Chuuen) -
- 1 Horse (Ryuusei, a rokugani Pony)
- 1 Piglet (Hen)
- 1 Baby goat
- 1 Red panda
After choosing an animal, the event consists of two steps: One in which you teach a number of tricks to the animal ('Training your human'); and one in which you perform the tricks you taught it ('Impressing your human').
Step 1 - Training your human
During step 1, you will have 5 attempts to teach tricks to the animal you're paired with. You can teach it Easy tricks or Hard tricks, although you can only attempt to teach it a Hard trick after you've taught it at least one Easy trick. Note that teaching new tricks gets harder as the animal masters tricks you've already taught it, as, especially in such a short time, it's hard to convince your wild friend to do too many different things. Please include in the description of each roll a 'name' for the trick you're attempting to teach it and whether it's Easy or Hard!Step 2 - Impressing your human
- Easy tricks: An easy trick is a common trick often taught to an animal of the type chosen. This would be things like Sit, Heel, Down and so on - note the description is purely for fluff and has no mechanical effect. To teach an animal an Easy trick, you must roll an Animal Handling/ Awareness check at TN 15, plus 5 for each trick (Easy or Hard) you have already taught to the animal before.
- Hard tricks: A hard trick could be a complicated task, or a series of simpler, unrelated tasks, or maths tricks, or things that would be uncommon for the animal you're training. Be free to go a little crazy with this option (within some reason, and try not to do something that would endanger the animal!), but remember the description has no mechanical effect. To teach an animal a Hard trick, you must already have taught it at least one Easy trick, and you must roll an Animal Handling/ Awareness check at TN 20, plus 5 for each trick (Easy or Hard) you have already taught to the animal before. Note this means the minimum TN to teach an animal a Hard trick is 25, since it must have learned at least one Easy trick before this is attempted.
- Raises: Each Raise called when teaching an animal a trick gives you one Free Raise when performing the same trick in Step 2. If you fail while calling Raises, though, you take a -2 penalty per Raise called on all later attempts to teach any tricks to the animal during this event.
- Retries: Trying to teach the animal the same trick (or another trick) after failing carries no penalty, although you're limited by the total of 5 attempts. You can also attempt to teach the same trick to the animal a second time with more raises if you want to - although, in this case, the TN will be higher (as described above) as the animal will already have learned the trick. Remember the difficulty for teaching tricks is increased by 5 for each trick you've already taught to the animal.
During step 2, you will have 3 attempts to perform the tricks you've taught to the animal to the organisers and spectators. You can only perform tricks you've succeeded in teaching during Part 1 - so if you couldn't teach your animal any tricks in Part 1, you're out of luck here, and may just bow out (at 0 points) if you want to. Performing tricks becomes harder after the first attempt, as the animal gets increasingly tired and shy of the audience. When rolling for Part 2, remember to include the name of the Trick, whether it's Easy or Hard, and any Free Raises you may have from teaching it in Part 1 to the description of each roll.After you've completed your three attempts at performing tricks, or when you refrain from attempting any further tricks, your final score will be the sum of the Trick Points you obtained during all attempts at performing tricks.
- Performing Easy tricks: Performing easy tricks is obviously easier, but considerably less impressive than performing Hard tricks. To perform an Easy trick, you must roll an Animal Handling/ Awareness check at TN 10 if this is your First attempt at performing a trick. This TN is increased to 15 if this is your Second attempt, or to 20 if this is your Third attempt. Success at performing an Easy trick grants 1 Trick point, plus 1 point for each Raise called on the roll. Notice Free Raises from Raises while teaching the trick performed apply here. If you fail while calling Raises, you take a -2 penalty per Raise call on all later rolls to perform rolls during this event.
- Performing Hard tricks: Hard tricks are much more impressive, especially if they are done particularly skillfully, as they are harder to both teach and perform. To perform a Hard trick, you must roll an Animal Handling/ Awareness check at TN 15 if this is your First attempt at performing a trick. This TN is increased to 20 if this is your Second attempt, or to 25 if this is your Third attempt. Success at performing a Hard trick grants 2 Trick point, plus 2 point for each Raise called on the roll. Notice Free Raises from Raises while teaching the trick performed apply here. If you fail while calling Raises, you take a -2 penalty per Raise call on all later rolls to perform rolls during this event.
Note 1: Alternative approaches: Some trainers use different approaches to train their animals instead of the most usual ones. This is usually harder, but for some people it works better. You may choose to use Animal Handling with Intelligence or Willpower instead of Awareness for any of your rolls, but the TN of any rolls in which you choose to do so is increased by 5. Note this affects this event ONLY!
Note 2: Using general knowledge: Folks who have general knowledge about animals may try to train animals based on that instead of actual instruction on how to deal with animals, although that is also less straightforward. You may choose to use Lore: Nature instead of Animal Handling for any of your rolls, but the TN of any rolls in which you choose to do so is increased by 5. This can be used alongside the option of using Intelligence or Willpower instead of Awareness (described above), but TN increases stack, so the TN of any rolls in which you use Lore: Nature with Intelligence or Willpower is increased by 10. Note this option also affects this event ONLY!
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