#Episode 17: The Next Course
Only after learning the rules does a person say what battlefield they truly want.
This episode has no Scent; it leaves only the post-session conversation log.
Session participants: Kuro(GM), Hana(PL), Mei(PL)
#Law -- Post-Session Conversation
[After the session ends. Dice and sheets are being put away.]
Kuro: Let's stop here today. Combat is done, and I think the rules explanation has moved past the early tutorial level now.
Hana: Agreed. At first it made my head hurt, but now I can see what is turning where.
Mei: Same. At first I thought there were too many terms, but now it is easier because there are fewer overlapping words.
Kuro: Good. Then today, instead of reviewing the combat, let's do this. Your honest impressions after learning the Konsei Reiyotan Core Rules. Tell me both the good parts and the inconvenient parts.
Hana: Can I go first?
Kuro: Go ahead.
Hana: The first wall was exactly one thing. If I thought of it as "turn-based," I kept getting it wrong.
Mei: Ah, yes.
Hana: In other games, the habit is "when my turn comes, I move and attack," but that is not how this works. The count flows, if you have Energy left you can be picked up again inside the same round, and if you have a reservation, you can intervene even after the moment has already passed.
Kuro: Right. The core is closer to a flowing battlefield than to "my fixed turn."
Hana: So at first it actually felt frustrating. I could not tell what I had just "finished." But after more than one session, that became a strength instead.
Mei: In what way?
Hana: Taking a stance, waiting, cutting in, striking when an opening appears. It really feels like using a sword. Action is not pressing buttons; it is managing posture.
Kuro: That is close to the intended impression.
Hana: I especially liked Immovable Formation, reserved Parry, Flank Zone surprise attacks, and blockade. It is not about bringing one strong build and pressing numbers; it is clear that the side that understands zones and timing wins.
Mei: Hana liked that from the start.
Hana: Yes. But I also have complaints.
Kuro: Say them.
Hana: Early entry depends a lot on the GM. If you just read the documents and try to run it immediately, it does not enter your head. You have to see example combats a few times before "Oh, this is how this rule is used" finally clicks.
Kuro: Right. Reading rules and running rules are different.
Hana: Especially Energy and Wounds. From the names, they both look like resources, so they get mixed up at first. But in play they are completely different layers. One is breath; one is injury.
Mei: For me, squads were also part of that. Individuals and squads sit on the same board, but the actor spending Energy is different, so I got confused at first.
Kuro: Those are the two biggest sticking points. Energy/Wounds, individual/squad.
Mei: But after getting used to it, I actually like that separation. A support character is not "I deal weak damage, so I have little to do." Instead, it feels like I am shaping the board itself by changing zones, adding states, placing shikigami, and saving allies.
Hana: I knew you would like that.
Mei: Yes. I liked that the mechanisms cling to the character's personality. Three Ways and Six Hearts, sacred objects, Divine Authority, all of them. They are not just setting. They come down into actual play choices.
Kuro: That is an important axis of the core. If the Scent is stylish but the Law is ordinary, I consider that a failure.
Mei: That is why lines like onmyoji, Pure Land Monk, and celestial were really interesting to me. Sorcery or faith is not just a spell list; it also includes "how this person faces the world."
Hana: On the other hand, what was inconvenient for you, Mei?
Mei: More than the rules themselves, at first I was afraid. There seemed to be so many choices.
Kuro: In reality they are finite, but at first they look infinite.
Mei: Yes. There are zones, stances, maneuvers, breath totals, reservations, Hegemony, Cohesion. It felt like "If I miss even one thing, isn't that a huge mistake?"
Hana: In practice you do not need to use all of them.
Mei: Right. But until I knew that, it was frightening. Now I understand. This ruleset is not telling you to use everything every moment. It is telling you to put only the axes this scene needs on the table.
Kuro: Exactly.
Mei: So now I feel freer instead. "This combat is about Flank Zone and Surprise Attack," "this combat is about barriers and incorporeal enemies," "this scene is about negotiation and Reputation."
Hana: Each scene zooms in differently.
Kuro: That is also why I like this core. The rules words look numerous, but in practice you only need to activate a few words needed for one scene.
Hana: So once you get skilled, it gets faster.
Kuro: Yes. The first 3 sessions are slow; after that, it speeds up.
Mei: Even my speed reading combat logs has changed. Before, I only saw numbers. Now I see the picture. "Ah, this one slipped to the Flank Zone," "a reserved reaction will come in here," "right now this is an Energy fight, not a Wounds fight."
Hana: That is true. I've gained an eye for reading the core.
Kuro: Good. Then the second question. Now that you are used to it, what do you want to do more of?
Hana: Mine is very clear.
Mei: Tell us.
Hana: I now want a grand long-term campaign more than short episodes.
Kuro: More specifically.
Hana: Something with a beginning, a clear turning point in the middle, and an end. Something where we keep seeing the same place, keep meeting the same NPCs, and people who were weak at first carry completely different meaning several sessions later.
Mei: Ah, not "one episode complete."
Hana: Right. An anthology is good as rules examples. But now that I have the feel of the core, I want to see how well this system can sustain a long-breath narrative.
Kuro: Beyond combat too?
Hana: It can't be just combat. Domain conditions accumulate, relationships accumulate, failures remain behind, and "this choice comes back 8 sessions later." And the GM has a clear large line too. A campaign where you can see, "this chapter is going here."
Mei: That is very Hana.
Hana: There is a reason. This core is so good at moment-to-moment battlefield judgment that I want to see what kind of narrative appears when those moments pile up. It has already shown that you can fight well in one battle. Now I am curious how those battles make one life.
Kuro: So you want a "grand long-term campaign with a fixed story."
Hana: Yes. Not a full sandbox. I want a clear large line, but with enough room for us to twist things inside it.
Kuro: Good. Mei?
Mei: I am the opposite. I want more character expansion.
Hana: Of course.
Mei: No, I like long stories too. But what I want right now is a little different. Now that I am used to the core, I keep thinking, "This ruleset could make this kind of person too."
Kuro: For example?
Mei: Episode 16 already did that. Sayaka, Karna, and Uzuki all had completely different flavors. Seeing them made me think, "There must be so many people we have not opened yet."
Hana: You especially liked Sayaka.
Mei: Yes. I like people who shake. But it does not stop there. Not only gaijin, heroic spirits, and celestials; I want to see other cultural schools, other sacred objects, other disciplines, other side traits, other yoma conversions.
Kuro: The horizontal breadth of characters and choices.
Mei: Exactly. The core has a strong vertical axis. You advance in dan, relationships build up, injuries remain. I want it to widen horizontally too. A feeling that "besides this person, there are also these people, these schools, these backgrounds, these techniques."
Hana: Build appetite.
Mei: That is part of it, and so is appetite for mood. Even with the same onmyoji, I do not want only a very Japanese onmyoji. I would like sorcery from other cultures, clergy from other regions, support characters with other interpretations.
Kuro: Keeping the core frame, while adding more shells and variations.
Mei: Yes. And not only in the direction of getting stronger. I want more characters that are stranger, more specific, and more divisive in taste.
Hana: You want more holes for players to fall into?
Mei: Exactly.
Kuro: Good. Your desires split very cleanly.
Hana: That cleanly?
Kuro: Yes. What Hana described is a desire for a campaign container, and what Mei described is a desire for a character palette.
Mei: I like "palette."
Kuro: So I have two things to introduce.
Hana: Here it comes.
Kuro: The first is Expansion 1, Drift of the Spirit Realm.
Mei: The name already sounds like a long-term campaign.
Kuro: It is. This is a super-long open-world adventure that assumes full mastery of the main volume. A small kokujin local lord's domain falls wholesale into the Spirit Realm, and the structure is about enduring with one barrier and one dying onmyoji.
Hana: The domain is the home base?
Kuro: Fundamentally, yes. The domain is the return point, the defense line, and the storehouse of bonds. The barrier, core, squad operation, and return-and-redeploy loop are the campaign's heart.
Mei: Then there is a rhythm of going out and coming back.
Kuro: Yes. Return ↔ mission ↔ return. Between those, domain management, resident relationships, central NPCs, taint, and barrier upkeep accumulate.
Hana: How many sessions is it?
Kuro: Even just the main line is 20 sessions. It has a 5-chapter structure, with 4 sessions per chapter. If open-world and side material attach to it, it gets longer.
Hana: That is exactly what I described.
Kuro: Right. The starting dan is low too. It starts at 1st dan and ends at 9th dan, reaching right before a 10th dan Renown Title depending on how things unfold. So the sense of growth stays alive for a long time.
Mei: Then does it add many more rules than the main volume?
Kuro: It does add some, but the direction is different. Drift of the Spirit Realm is not the type where character options explode in number. It is an expansion that attaches the core to a long-term campaign frame. Domain, barrier, taint, return loop, chapter rewards, central NPCs, and so on.
Hana: So it does not thin out the density of tactical scenes; it stretches the outside frame long.
Kuro: Exactly. It is for someone who has already learned the core combat feel and wants to ask, "What happens if this accumulates over 15 sessions, 20 sessions?"
Mei: Do NPCs reappear a lot?
Kuro: Very often. And that is where emotion attaches. Someone whose name you barely remembered in the first chapter becomes someone you absolutely want to save by the fourth chapter.
Hana: Dangerous.
Kuro: The danger you wanted.
Hana: Yes. That is what I wanted. Not people we use for one or two episodes and throw away, but people who remain.
Kuro: So Hana's desire for a "grand long-term campaign with a fixed story" is answered almost directly by Drift of the Spirit Realm.
Hana: If the title is Drift, it is not just a story about falling and ending.
Kuro: Right. It is a campaign that keeps asking, "How do you endure, how do you return, and what is worth returning for?"
Mei: It sounds heavy just hearing it.
Kuro: It is heavy. But it is built on the assumption that you have already learned the core that can carry that weight.
Hana: Good. That one is checked.
Kuro: The second is Expansion 2, Hyakka Yoran.
Mei: That is my side, right?
Kuro: Almost exactly your side. Hyakka Yoran is a compendium of alternative, optional, and experimental rules layered on top of the main volume and Drift of the Spirit Realm.
Hana: A compendium.
Kuro: Yes. It does not provide a long-term campaign frame. It explosively increases selectable branches: schools, alternative traits, additional general traits, disciplines, alternative rules, spell system, foreign Divine Treasures, yoma conversion, famous squads, and house-rule guides.
Mei: That is a lot just hearing it.
Kuro: It is a lot. And the important thing is that you do not add all of it at once. Independent module On/Off is the core.
Hana: That matters. Otherwise the rules explode.
Kuro: Right. Hyakka Yoran is meant to be cut up and used like, "this campaign only uses 12 archery schools," "this time only 45 foreign Divine Treasures," or "this party only gets 03 additional traits."
Mei: Are there many new classes?
Kuro: Surprisingly, no. No new classes. It keeps the existing class and skill frame. Instead, the choices layered onto that frame increase enormously.
Mei: Ah, that is better. Replacing the skeleton itself is tiring.
Kuro: So Hyakka Yoran does not deny the core. It gives people who already know the core, "Now you can make all sorts of people with the same skeleton."
Hana: The "character palette" Mei wanted.
Mei: Yes. Exactly that. Foreign schools, mobility schools, scouting schools, command schools, mystical schools... ah, good.
Kuro: Sacred objects and yoma expand too. Foreign Divine Treasures, additional yoma conversions, and famous squads come in, so the GM's repertoire of NPCs and enemies widens sharply.
Mei: Then the feeling of "I want to see another person like Sayaka" can continue there too.
Kuro: Yes. It does not have to be Sayaka herself. You can keep adding people with "angles of resolve" not found in the core.
Hana: But if you overdo it, it becomes scattered.
Kuro: That is Hyakka Yoran's trap. It is a good ingredient storehouse, but if a GM who loves ingredients pours the whole refrigerator into the pot, it fails.
Mei: Accurate metaphor.
Kuro: So operation matters. Hyakka Yoran is not a book you spread out in full from the beginning. It is a book where the core and campaign purpose come first, and you take out only the modules needed for that.
Hana: Then what order do you usually recommend?
Kuro: For my taste, one of three.
Mei: Three?
Kuro: First, core only as an anthology. The way we just played. Learn the rules feel.
Hana: Yes.
Kuro: Second, core + Drift of the Spirit Realm. Go deep into a long-term campaign.
Mei: Yes.
Kuro: Third, core or Drift of the Spirit Realm + some Hyakka Yoran modules. Widen characters or atmosphere.
Hana: What about Hyakka Yoran by itself?
Kuro: It is possible, but I do not recommend it. If you drink in Hyakka Yoran before learning the core in play, you cannot feel what the choices mean.
Mei: It sounds safer to do Drift of the Spirit Realm first, then Hyakka Yoran later.
Kuro: For most groups, yes. But if the players are clearly saying "I prefer build experiments to long-term campaigns," it is fine to attach just part of Hyakka Yoran to a core anthology.
Hana: Honestly, hearing this made me more certain. I want to see Drift of the Spirit Realm first.
Kuro: Why?
Hana: The core has already given me enough of the taste of instant battlefield decisions. Now I need a thick line connecting those moments. Accumulated failures, people who remain when we return, and pressure that carries across chapters.
Kuro: Good.
Hana: And as I said before, I like characters of the "I want to see this descent through to the end" type. That only really lives inside a long-term campaign frame.
Mei: That makes me think of Uzuki.
Hana: Exactly. That kind of long curve.
Kuro: Drift of the Spirit Realm can hold that kind of curve well.
Mei: I, on the other hand, want to browse Hyakka Yoran first. I do not mean we should add all of it right away; I think the time spent imagining "Oh, this person could exist too" will be really fun.
Kuro: That is a very normal reaction.
Mei: Especially the school mega-expansion. The moment a culture that is not in the core attaches, the character's breathing changes. Even with the same Spearmanship or the same Archery, the attitude and scene change.
Kuro: Right. One of Hyakka Yoran's greatest virtues is expanding cultural resolve.
Hana: Mei likes texture more than combat power.
Mei: I like both. But texture comes first. I like when "what kind of person they are" is visible in the rules.
Kuro: So you are on the Hyakka Yoran side.
Mei: Yes. And one more thing.
Kuro: Say it.
Mei: The reason Hyakka Yoran seems good now is that I have learned the core well enough to distinguish where the main volume's skeleton ends. So only now, experimental rules are not scary.
Kuro: That is important. If you do not know the core framework, it becomes confusion, not experimentation.
Hana: In the end, both doors open "after learning the core."
Kuro: Exactly. That is why this conversation matters now. If the core still felt unfamiliar, both would be too much.
Mei: Now the two are actually clearer. One is a long story. One is broad people.
Kuro: Well put.
Hana: Do they also differ from the GM's side? In preparation feel.
Kuro: Completely. Drift of the Spirit Realm needs long-breath management: chapters, return loops, central NPCs, accumulating resources and damage. Hyakka Yoran needs restraint in selection: which modules to turn on, which to keep off, and how far to use them.
Mei: Drift of the Spirit Realm is heavy; Hyakka Yoran is broad.
Kuro: Good summary.
Hana: If we use both together?
Kuro: You can. But you need to keep the order. The most stable method is build the trunk with Drift of the Spirit Realm, then attach branches with Hyakka Yoran.
Mei: Oh, I like that wording.
Kuro: If you have many branches without a trunk, it falls. If you have only a trunk without branches, it is monotonous.
Hana: Then to satisfy what I want and what Mei wants together, we run a Drift of the Spirit Realm campaign and plug in parts of Hyakka Yoran.
Kuro: Right. That is the very standard expansion order.
Mei: This is already dangerous.
Hana: Mei already looks like she knows what she wants to do.
Mei: Yes. I think putting one outside-culture character into the structure of "a domain fallen into the Spirit Realm" would be so interesting.
Kuro: That is exactly when you need even more restraint.
Mei: I know. But imagination is free.
Kuro: That is true.
Hana: One more thing. You said Drift of the Spirit Realm has a "fixed large line." Then does player freedom shrink?
Kuro: It does not shrink; it is better to say direction appears. There is a premise, each chapter has goals, and there is a reason to return. But inside that, whom to save, whom to abandon, where to spend resources, and what relationships to make still belong to the players.
Hana: Good. That is what I wanted. Not total freedom, but choices inside strong direction.
Mei: I also like that Hyakka Yoran is not "put everything in no matter what," but choosing within direction.
Kuro: Ultimately both are the same point. It is the skill of choosing what to add on top of the core.
Hana: Then today's summary is this: we have learned the core, and our next desires have split.
Mei: Hana wants a long-term campaign.
Hana: Mei wants character expansion.
Kuro: And I, as GM, have prepared both.
Mei: Scary.
Hana: "Reassuring" is the better word.
Kuro: Both are right.
Mei: If we really go into them next, what should we read first?
Kuro: Hana starts with the Drift of the Spirit Realm Index. Meta card, premise, campaign loop, reading order.
Hana: Okay.
Kuro: Mei starts with the Hyakka Yoran Index. Look at the meta card, then skim only the school mega-expansion 10-21 and the basic reinforcement 01-03 first.
Mei: That alone is already an all-nighter.
Kuro: That is why I said not to read everything at once.
Hana: Good. We have a direction.
Mei: It is fun that we can have this conversation after learning the core. Before, I would have just said "many options are good," but now I can say why they are good.
Kuro: That is mastery. Taste becomes concrete.
Hana: And now I know too. I am the type who remembers a "good campaign" longer than a "good combat."
Mei: And I am the type who remembers "one good person" as long as a "good plot."
Kuro: That is why it is interesting to seat both of you at the same table. Hana pulls the trunk; Mei expands the texture.
Hana: Then what is Kuro?
Kuro: The person who binds you together so you do not fight.
Mei: Very GM.
Kuro: All right, today's record ends here. The core anthology takes a breath here, and the next doors are two. To descend deep, Drift of the Spirit Realm; to spread wide, Hyakka Yoran.
Hana: I go deep.
Mei: I go wide.
Kuro: Good. Then we will see both.