Yōkai (Abandoned)

[Merchant of Venice]

A mad scientist, I like. And what does yokai mean? I never stopped to think what it meant but it seems like it must be important.

[Hitai de Bodemloze]

Ohh It means ghost/demon/monster

[Merchant of Venice]

Ahhh, a quick google translate probably would have worked but hey I'm too lazy nowadays!

[Alwyn]

Wow - you pushing the boundaries of what an AAR can be and you demonstrate impressive creativity with the latest chapters. I agree that an AAR can be a story written in the world of a game, whether or not you're actually playing a campaign. In your thought-provoking piece on 'Narrative Trends In Shogun 2 AAR Artistry' in The Critic's Quill Issue 44, you wrote that you consider 'hard narrative' AARs to be nonetheless AARs, however you weren't sure you could say why. I wonder if you're any closer to an answer.

Here are my tentative, undeveloped thoughts: if we try to find a distinction between AARs and creative writing in the era of 'hard narrative' AARs, we tend to struggle (or I do, anyway). Could it help to focus instead on the distinction between AARs and guides to campaign strategy and battle tactics (I'm thinking about the sort of guides you can find here and in equivalent forums for other games)? Guides to strategy and tactics can use images and reports from campaigns and battles. Guides can look like traditional AARs - for example Astaroth's guide to playing as Britain for Empire: Total War, especially from part IV Step 1 onwards - and yet I don't see them as AARs. Why not? Because, for me, the main purpose of an AAR is to tell a good story using elements of a game. (Of course, other people may well want to define AARs differently and their definitions are just as valid as mine.)

As I see it, which elements of the game an AAR writer uses is up to them - you can use a campaign (or campaigns), custom battles and/or just the game's world. When I read or write an AAR, I don't feel that it is any less an AAR in chapters about characters who don't exist in the campaign (if there is one).

You asked whether this is the end of the traditional AAR - as I see it, IneptCmdr's For King and Country shows that a traditional AAR can still tell a good story.

(I'm sorry if this is off-topic here - if so, I'll cut and paste this post, from the second sentence onwards, to the Critic's Quill 44 thread.)

[Hitai de Bodemloze]

Wow - you pushing the boundaries of what an AAR can be and you demonstrate impressive creativity with the latest chapters. I agree that an AAR can be a story written in the world of a game, whether or not you're actually playing a campaign. In your thought-provoking piece on 'Narrative Trends In Shogun 2 AAR Artistry' in The Critic's Quill Issue 44, you wrote that you consider 'hard narrative' AARs to be nonetheless AARs, however you weren't sure you could say why. I wonder if you're any closer to an answer.

Here are my tentative, undeveloped thoughts: if we try to find a distinction between AARs and creative writing in the era of 'hard narrative' AARs, we tend to struggle (or I do, anyway). Could it help to focus instead on the distinction between AARs and guides to campaign strategy and battle tactics (I'm thinking about the sort of guides you can find here and in equivalent forums for other games)? Guides to strategy and tactics can use images and reports from campaigns and battles. Guides can look like traditional AARs - for example Astaroth's guide to playing as Britain for Empire: Total War, especially from part IV Step 1 onwards - and yet I don't see them as AARs. Why not? Because, for me, the main purpose of an AAR is to tell a good story using elements of a game. (Of course, other people may well want to define AARs differently and their definitions are just as valid as mine.)

As I see it, which elements of the game an AAR writer uses is up to them - you can use a campaign (or campaigns), custom battles and/or just the game's world. When I read or write an AAR, I don't feel that it is any less an AAR in chapters about characters who don't exist in the campaign (if there is one).

You asked whether this is the end of the traditional AAR - as I see it, IneptCmdr's For King and Country shows that a traditional AAR can still tell a good story.

(I'm sorry if this is off-topic here - if so, I'll cut and paste this post, from the second sentence onwards, to the Critic's Quill 44 thread.)

I'm speculating of course, but I imagine AARs probably did grow partly out of strategy guides. What I call 'traditional' AARs have a lot in common with strategy guides and many are styled in that way, for example you'll find AARs that are called 'after action reports/walkthroughs'. Not so much here anymore, but in places like ParadoxPlaza they're still booming, last time I checked. The distinction between both to me is that a record of personal gameplay is involved in after action reports and not strategy guides, although of course there is sometimes a blurring of the lines. Indeed, the extents to which gameplay is used and/or referenced in an AAR is my criteria for categorizing them.

It's honestly really interesting to me to hear you say the main purpose of an AAR is to tell a 'story' using the game. This is actually a really modern perspective, reflective of perhaps only the past couple of years. I go into all of this in a lot more depth in an upcoming Quill article, but there was a big change in AAR styles on TWC in around 2010-2011, where what I call 'soft narrative' and others call 'story-driven' AARs came into vogue. In the past on TWC (and in the present on other boards and websites) traditional AARs without character/plot driven stories were the most popular - if not the only - style.

I'm not sure if we're in a 'hard-narrative' era as of yet. It's interesting to see some more people going in that direction, but there's still a lot to think and talk about. It's a natural progression from soft-narrative, but I don't think there's a huge want among people to distance themselves completely from gameplay at the moment. I'm not advocating a stylistic revolution by any means, simply trying instead to define and contextualize these changes. I'd still like to write soft-narrative or gameplay AARs in the future as well, even if my current project doesn't conform to this style.

Also, not to be nit-picky, but For King and Country is what I'd say is 'history-book' or 'faux-history' - the 'true' stylistic successor to the traditional style if you will. A record of gameplay that isn't story-driven, but also isn't immersion breaking, told as history rather than as either a story or as gameplay.

Finally, to return to your question of whether or not I feel any more confident about asserting that hard narrative stories are AARs, I believe so, yes. I think the post I made in this thread the other day about hard narrative stories allowed me to get some more of my thoughts down. I think looking at it from a BAAR perspective is very interesting and probably represents one of the best theoretical ways for supporting a theory that hard-narrative AARs are indeed AARs. Definitely something I'd like to write more about for the Quill in the future.

Of course, these are just terms I've either simply come up with or have been used colloquially by folks here. I'm not here to force my theories down anyone's throat or to tell you what you should believe. I'm just trying to articulate my own thoughts how as to I feel AARs should be defined. If people would like to accept my theory, I'd be very honoured, but if you disagree and feel AARs should be defined along other lines (or even not defined at all), I'd be truly interested to hear your views. But if this is something that interests you, you should keep an eye out for the next issue of the Quill. The team tried to get me to shut up about it, but I got a little too merry over the holidays and went a bit mad with writing

Thank you for taking the time to comment, I love to discuss these kinds of things.

[Lugotorix]

I'm in the 'no' camp concerning AARness. But you are using images from the engine and I'll tell you what, its a damn good and compelling CW piece. Congrats on the 1st place tie!

[Lugotorix]

Also, not to be nit-picky, but For King and Country is what I'd say is 'history-book' or 'faux-history' - the 'true' stylistic successor to the traditional style if you will. A record of gameplay that isn't story-driven, but also isn't immersion breaking, told as history rather than as either a story or as gameplay.

Your post summarized my thoughts on the matter exactly. Narratives can be given frameworks by the engine as loosely as time periods, or even breaking the rules of the base game/modification, which I think Yokai is more a case of, going with the supernatural explanation. I agree completely when the 'revolution.' occurred, around 2011, as I've been here since around 05' and the traditional style, which I use a stricter version of now, is what only existed then and what I write in now. For King and Country is the strictest incarnation of the traditional style, and a likely successor as it covers the events in a journal format where every year is documented. I've noticed people working off of it's successes and I think it's helped the community. An example of this is 'creating' a family tree for Rome II, which I plan to do at some point, in AAR format, to give it another historical dimension: this was attempted in someones Egypt campaign, but since I have suites, it's going to be very elaborate when the AAR is finished.

[Hitai de Bodemloze]

Resolve
Tsu-han, October 1864

It took a while for Nishina to regain her composure. As the weeks bled into October, she found herself barely able to speak or eat. That night…

She couldn’t remember much. As soon as she had freed Shinji’s bonds, the world had turned upside down. There had been a piercing scream and an eruption of blood. The mechanical townsfolk of Matsusaka had been sent flying through the air, dismantled completely in the blink of an eye. Yet she had not had time to fully comprehend what magic the boy had conjured – what demon he had summoned? She knew not. The boy had grasped her by the arm and led her sprinting through the cursed town amidst all the chaos. After that, she didn’t remember anything of those following few days.

She remembered the Kumozo River and following it for a few days west, just as she had outlined to Shinji on the boat before. Had the boy remembered? Was he honouring her wish to bring him to Rome of his own free will? It was around this time where they had acquired a horse from somewhere. She hadn’t thought to ask Shinji how or where he had procured the beast, not that the boy would have answered anyway.

With Shinji riding – hands now unbound – they had left the Kumozo River as it wound its way into the mountains, making for the Ise-Kaido highway, a road that cut south through the Nara peaks. They could rest at the post station of Nabari, before continuing on.

At first, Nishina didn’t know why she felt so strange. Was it seeing the boy’s powers up close? The stress and chaos of battle? Or was it fear? She hated herself for freezing up in the face of the karakuri army. It took her two weeks before she was able to wake from the strange stupor she had found herself in – to feel awake again. Yet even then she felt anxious. It was then that her thoughts wound their way back to their time in the inn at Matsusaka, just before they had been cornered by the karakuri. She didn’t feel herself anymore. There was a part of her that frightened her, perhaps even frightened her more than any puppet army or conjured demon. She resolved to distance herself from the boy. Whatever secret feelings her heart might have harboured for Shinji, she knew God’s intentions were not behind them. She needed to be braver, to not taste of forbidden fruits.

She bound Shinji’s hands once again and replaced him as the horse’s rider. Shinji neither complained nor showed any hint of emotion at this change and Nishina resolved not to care either way. She ceased to share her thoughts with him, ceased to dote upon him with food and wine. Whenever they ended their travels for the day, she left him bound whilst she scavenged for food, sleeping far apart from him when the sun set. They exchanged no words and Nishina found herself thinking of him less and less, even as he sat behind her upon the horse every day. She cast her mind to other things, to Rome, to God, to exploring the world.

As she dismounted one day under the rising moon, she saw a valley come into view, towering over a small group of cabins upon the shadowed plateau. Aoyama Pass. They were only a few days from Nabari now. With God’s good grace, they would arrive in Osaka within two weeks.

[Hitai de Bodemloze]

Sorry this one is a little late, I've been super busy with exams. I'd also like to extend this apology to folks who've also updated stories which I haven't had chance to catch up on yet. Sumimasen!

Your post summarized my thoughts on the matter exactly. Narratives can be given frameworks by the engine as loosely as time periods, or even breaking the rules of the base game/modification, which I think Yokai is more a case of, going with the supernatural explanation. I agree completely when the 'revolution.' occurred, around 2011, as I've been here since around 05' and the traditional style, which I use a stricter version of now, is what only existed then and what I write in now. For King and Country is the strictest incarnation of the traditional style, and a likely successor as it covers the events in a journal format where every year is documented. I've noticed people working off of it's successes and I think it's helped the community. An example of this is 'creating' a family tree for Rome II, which I plan to do at some point, in AAR format, to give it another historical dimension: this was attempted in someones Egypt campaign, but since I have suites, it's going to be very elaborate when the AAR is finished.

An interesting thought I had was that normally AARs have their story dictated by gameplay, whereas something like this has gameplay dictated by a story; kinda turning it on its head.

But yeah, you hit a lot of nails on the head It's very interesting to see how influential this style of AAR has been and the resurgence its making now, in the past year or so. I'm not sure we'll see a return to the original traditional kind of style, but it's great to see people going back to the genre's roots and innovating there

[Alwyn]

Shinji's powers seem to be both mysterious and terrifying. I will be interested to see whether Nishina can resist temptation.

As I'm relatively new, it's great to see the thinking of people who have seen how AARs have developed. I like the idea of game-play dictated by a story, the distinction between 'campaign-driven story AARs' and 'story-driven campaign AARs' seems like a helpful one.

[Hitai de Bodemloze]

Shinji's powers seem to be both mysterious and terrifying. I will be interested to see whether Nishina can resist temptation.

As I'm relatively new, it's great to see the thinking of people who have seen how AARs have developed. I like the idea of game-play dictated by a story, the distinction between 'campaign-driven story AARs' and 'story-driven campaign AARs' seems like a helpful one.

Thanks Al I'm interested to see too! I have no idea what's going to happen

Next chapter will be up today. Apologies for the delay, Skyrim happened...

[Hitai de Bodemloze]

Journeying West
Nabari-cho, Takatori-han, October 1864

The village of Nabari was a peaceful one, nestled high in the mountains that divided the Kii peninsula. It had developed into an important, if sleepy post station along the Ise Kaido highway, which linked Kyoto with the Grand Shrines of Ise. Nabari served as a vital resting place for weary travellers on their pilgrimage over the mountains.

With the promise of such respite, Nishina was glad to finally see the town come into view, as her and Shinji finally came to a halt on their strange journey. After the unpleasant business at Matsusaka – and not to mention the strange happenings at Asahi – Nishina felt a few days rest in a comfy bed would see her mind at ease.

Unlike the ghost towns she had frequented those past few months, Nabari was bustling that late autumn day, as traders lined the streets to peddle wares and neighbours exchanged friendly greetings to and from the roadside markets. Finally, some normality.

Their travels from Aoyama Pass had been thankfully uneventful and Nishina’s shoulders felt somewhat unburdened. The only interaction she had had with her captive had only occurred at meal times, although she had taken time to undo his bonds before arriving into Nabari; the boy did not yet have a replacement disguise to hide the rope across his arms or the gag betwixt his teeth. She had not uttered a word to him, instead only issuing him a stern look. However, despite their reduced communications – not that he had communicated at all before anyway –, she trusted him somewhat more. He had after all saved her life in Matsusaka, as well as continued them on their journey to Osaka. Perhaps he was planning something sinister, but the boy just seemed too…vacant, as if he didn’t really care either way. Whichever the case, she did not fear undoing his bonds for a short while.

In the markets of Nabari however, Nishina did manage to procure some new attire for Shinji; a second long robe for him to wear over his kimono. She debated whether or not to purchase another large hat to shadow his face, yet when they finally reached the livelier locale of Osaka – as well as the intimate confines of the train she intended for them to take –, she knew that hiding something so obvious would be futile.

After eating a real meal – their first in weeks –, Nishina decided they should best retire to an inn before the night crept in. After conversing with the proprietor for some time – long enough to ensure that he wasn’t an automaton –, they booked themselves into a room for two nights, making sure that there were two beds of course.

However, despite having slept on forest floors and roadsides ever since departing Matsusaka, Nishina was unable to drift to sleep that night. The ever silent Shinji did not even snore as he slept, yet peace eluded Nishina. After tossing and turning for hours, she finally took a walk around the village to clear her head.

Far away from the supposed brewing of whatever war that mad puppeteer Kaname had been promising, Nabari was as still as the leafless trees. No samurai stalked the streets, no assassins crouched upon rooftops, no army of karakuri had assembled and no purple mist enveloped the tranquil scene. Or so Nishina thought...

“You’re awake late.”

Making her way idly down Nabari’s main thoroughfare, Nishina turned as she heard a voice. Walking a few paces behind her, a man was gazing up at the starlit sky above. He wore a simple black kimono and…a mask? As he lowered his gaze to look at her, she saw the features of a monkey inked across a Noh omote. She almost snorted with laughter; certainly not the most threatening visage of a killer.

“Stand down,” she commanded, unsheathing one of the katanas from her belt, “or I’ll take my blade to that monkey face of yours.”

The man shrugged, but did not stop, as he continued to pace lazily towards her, arms clasped behind his back. “So quick to fear the company of others. You must have had a frightful journey to reach this place, traveller.”

Nishina’s eyes narrowed, but she did not make an attempt on his life as he continued his advance. She gripped her sword with white knuckles as he drew level with her, then…

He passed her. With that already infuriatingly nonchalant gait of his, he kept walking past her and down the road. Nishina turned on her heels to see what trick the strange man was trying to pull. In his hands he surely grasped a weapon, she thought. However, as she saw his bare hands in the moonlight, he carried no blade behind his back. Keeping her katana drawn, she watched him pace away into the night, leaving her alone once again.

[Hitai de Bodemloze]

Puns galore.

Sorry again for my tardiness, university and all that fun stuff.

[Merchant of Venice]

I just realised I hadn't read the chapter beforehand, so I was confused about how they escaped. The complicated nature of Shinji and Nishina's relationship makes for some good reading and so does Nishina's feelings for him, though after the last chapter it seems they may have faded but maybe the flames will reignite, who knows.

No need to apologise for being late especially after all the writing goodness you have gifted us in your other stories and AARs.Will surely rep when can.

[Hitai de Bodemloze]

I just realised I hadn't read the chapter beforehand, so I was confused about how they escaped. The complicated nature of Shinji and Nishina's relationship makes for some good reading and so does Nishina's feelings for him, though after the last chapter it seems they may have faded but maybe the flames will reignite, who knows.

No need to apologise for being late especially after all the writing goodness you have gifted us in your other stories and AARs.Will surely rep when can.

Who knows? I know

I've been working away to get back on schedule again, so chapters 25, 26 and 27 are already written. I actually got so excited about the finale of Act 2 that I prewrote that a while ago as well So I think, realistically, we're looking at around ten more chapters to get this act rounded off and finished. I'm not sure if I can wait that long

[Hitai de Bodemloze]

Here's a very lazy map, just so everyone knows where all this is happening.

Subject to change of course, since I've only just finished the Nabari chapters.

[Merchant of Venice]

Nice map, I'm really jealous of your borders they are just so cool!. I take it the thicker black line is the Ise highway, while the dotted lines are small roads?

[Hitai de Bodemloze]

Nice map, I'm really jealous of your borders they are just so cool!. I take it the thicker black line is the Ise highway, while the dotted lines are small roads?

No, the black line is the journey they take from Asahi to Osaka. So they sailed south along the bay after Asahi, landed at Matsusaka, then went east through the mountains to Nabari, along a river that isn't pictured here. The dotted lines at the province borders in Shogun 2. The Ise Kaido isn't pictured, but it would run south/south-east from Kyoto to Ise, dissecting the travel line at Nabari. Apologies, I did say it was a lazy map! When my Gimp skills improve and I get some free time, maybe I'll make it clearer.

Oh and the borders are just some free vector art that I stole from somewhere and messed around with in paint (getting it to the right scale and all). I tried a few different ones, but this one worked best Between you, esa and Robin, I was feeling a bit left out, cool border wise

[Merchant of Venice]

Ah ok that makes sense, maybe just a key would do but other than not it looks nice.

[Hitai de Bodemloze]

I am Mashira
Nabari-cho, Takatori-han, October 1864

Perturbed, Nishina returned to the inn in the early hours of the morning. Finally overcome by exhaustion she sank into bed without a second thought. Her dreams were unencumbered with anxiety for once and she arose later in the day feeling refreshed and at ease. Despite her encounter with the strange monkey-masked man, Nabari was actually proving to be just what she needed. She dressed with a smile on her lips, soaking in the still air.

It was however, night time, as she soon realized after glancing out of their room’s window. Remembering her companion for the first time since waking, she turned to glance at Shinji’s bed. The boy was thankfully sound asleep. Slightly worried now, she wondered if the boy had caused any mischief about the town during her slumbers. She resolved to investigate.

With nothing else better to do anyway, she stalked the night time streets of Nabari once again. The pleasant mountain town was not strewn with corpses nor splattered with blood, so she assumed nothing too bad could have gone wrong that day. Still, even if the boy’s hands were still bound anyway, it was probably still worth having a look around.

“Up again I see.”

Perched on a bench by the roadside, between two empty market stalls, the monkey-masked man was stargazing yet again. With her thoughts still dwelling on Shinji, she was reminded immediately of her captive’s similar strange habit for staring off into the distance. At least this man talked. Not that she cared if Shinji didn’t, but… It wasn’t important.

"As are you,” Nishina replied cautiously. She had stopped in the middle of the road and was debating how to proceed. The strange man didn’t seem too threatening now. His pale hands were sat in his lap and there was no visible sign of any weaponry about his person. She suddenly realized that she, with her twin katanas at her belt, was the more threatening of the two of them.

With no one else around in the dead of night, this strange man was her best bet if she wanted to make sure Shinji hadn’t killed half of the town in her absence. With a sigh, she slowly approached the man. “I was wondering if you could help me with something,” she began.

The man turned his head to glance at her and she saw once again the monkey-mask atop his face. A painted wooden mask straight from the Noh theatres, it bore a crude, yet somehow elegant depiction of a monkey. Its features were greatly exaggerated, with thick cream paint around the small eye holes and jagged black eyebrows above. It had a round, unnatural smile that stretched halfway across the mask – cutting it from ear to ear –, giving the man quite a terrifying countenance. Tearing herself away from the strange visage, she saw the man beckon her to take a seat next to him. Warily, she did so, keeping one hand resting atop the hilt of a katana as she did so.

The man didn’t say anything as he returned to stargazing, so Nishina continued with her line of questioning. “It’s nothing important – you’ll probably think me crazy –, but you haven’t seen any purple mists around Nabari have you? No spurts of blood from the ground? People randomly disappearing? Anything like that.”

The monkey man shook his head and Nishina let out a sigh of relief. That was good. “Why do you ask?” the man countered, although he seemed more curious than interrogative.

“No reason,” she replied a little too quickly. “It’s just…after last night, I slept through most of the day. I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss anything exciting, that’s all.”

Her newfound companion chuckled. “No, Nabari is as it has always been. Quiet, peaceful. A lot of strange folk passing through, but the residents are used to that.”

“You’re not a resident then?” Nishina asked, finding herself more and more curious now as to this strange man’s identity. She suddenly realized that her body was no longer tensed up and that her grip on her katana had slackened. Somehow, she was relaxed again.

The monkey-masked man gave a non-committal shrug. “It depends on what you mean by resident,” he spoke eventually.

Brows furrowed, Nishina didn’t quite know what to make of that response. “Do you live here? In Nabari?” she qualified bluntly.

“My home is Japan. My home is its fields and forests and mountains and rivers and lakes. Wherever I go in Japan, I am a resident of that place, for I am a resident of all of Japan.”

“Well, thanks for that,” Nishina muttered, shaking her head. She wasn’t sure what answer she had been expecting from a man in a monkey-mask past the hour of midnight, but she guessed that was surreal enough not to be too surprising.

“What’s your name?” she asked, after a pause. It had been a long time since she had actually indulged in conversation. Even in the company of this strange man, she could not help herself. Ever since she had begun to snub Shinji following their escape from Matsusaka, there was no doubt that she had been somewhat lonelier.

The man continued to gaze at the stars before replying. “I am Mashira.”

Nishina really did snort this time. “Of course,” she laughed to herself. “What else would you have been called? As if anyone wearing a monkey-mask wouldn’t have literally been called ‘monkey’, I really don’t know why I even asked.”

Mashira chuckled again, but did not elaborate further on his apropos name. Overcome by curiosity yet again, Nishina pressed him further. “So, Mashira, what do you do? I take it you’re an actor of some kind? You’ve come to Nabari with a theatre troupe?”

The monkey-masked man took his usual time to reply. “I am Mashira,” he repeated himself eventually, as if this answer was the key to solving any and every problem in the world.

“No,” Nishina shook her head, eyebrows furrowing again. “I already know your name. What do you do? What are you?”

“I am Mashira.”