The Naruto RPG

Why requests?
Unlike in scripted games, TNRPG operates on the principle of player agency; no mechanic of the game is designed with preventing a player from accomplishing any goal they set to mind as an objective for a character, or for design of that character. However, unlike in scripted games, it's very difficult to design hard mechanical requirements for esoteric objectives like "improve your hand-eye coordination" or "prove you've changed"; it's impossible to create some numerical value that actually sets apart some characters from others without either making the bar for "the best" in a particular activity either unreasonably high or meaninglessly low. The manner that we have laid out circumvents that sense of arbitrary prerequisite by asking players to prove that their character has managed to reach a certain bar of development by making an argument on their behalf, in pursuit of certain criteria.

Two reviewers will grave each request. If both reviewers pass you, you are in the clear. If both fail you, you clearly fail. If one passes you and one fails you, your final scores will be averaged, giving you a final pass/fail verdict.

Table of Contents
Mastery Requests
Legendary Advancement Requests
Origin Change Request

There are two features of primary importance to the way Mastery requests are graded, which are taken into consideration before the actual review of the writing and reasoning supplied by the player. The first is the number of Masteries that a character already possesses; the adage "an old dog can't learn new tricks" doesn't exist for no reason, and there are factors at play behind the decision of most university students to not pursue multiple undergraduate degrees. It becomes progressively more difficult to accomplish the same level of success and understanding within different fields within a given amount of time, though it's neither impossible in the real world nor in the world of fiction. All the same, the number of Masteries possessed by a character plays into the strictness with which that character will be required to adhere to the criteria of grading.

The second (and more obvious) of the two considerations made prior to the review of the request's material is the rank of Mastery being applied for. The rank of Mastery represents a holistic understanding of a Skill; a Master in any given Skill has progressed to a point of growth where they intimately understand all that can be taught about their Skill by others. The rank of Master in any given Skill represents the apex of learning that can be accomplished with the guidance of others.

Where the rank of Master in a Skill represents completing the full set of curricula that exist for maturation within existing bounds, the rank of Grandmaster represents the taking of the step beyond those bounds. The rank of Grandmaster demands of those who request it the exploration of possibilities left to them by the knowledge they obtained as a Master. A Grandmaster in any given Skill would never learn something novel about their Skill from reading a book on it, unless they were reading of the exploits of another Grandmaster (or perhaps a Paragon, though the latter is much less common).

The rank of Paragon is not simply uncommon for the difficulty represented by sheer amount of time and effort required to develop the Skill, but also because the degree of ingenuity required to accomplish it. Where a Grandmaster might author a new chapter to a book used by a Master to teach students of a Skill, a Paragon's work, whether they mean for it to or not, rewrites the foundational principles upon which the very grasp of what the Skill is at its core. Only occasionally are those of the rank of Paragon recognized accurately for the measure of their Skill or their contributions to its teachings, as the alterations that they make to the definition of the Skill are often incomprehensible to those that are not their peers (of which, again, there are few).

Again, in terms of real-world academic knowledge, a Specialist in a Major Skill or an Expert in a Minor Skill might be students in a field that have completed four-year degree programs, but a Master is the professor that has completed their thesis. The Master might now expected to contribute to the development of the field as a whole, especially by a Grandmaster, who is a successful figure within that field and has already made significant changes to what is included in the classes taught by the Master themselves. A Paragon, as rare in real-world academia as here, is a figure whose accomplishments are practically legend within the discipline, and upon whom the direction of the students of the Master and Grandmaster ranks are predicated. The levels of expectation for comprehension at each rank roughly follow that guideline.

Number of Masteries

Masteries become more difficult to gain as a character acquires more of them. There is no solid upper limit to how many Masteries a character is allowed to achieve, nor will a request for Mastery be denied because of the number of Masteries a character has, but the requirement for the adherence to the criteria ought to become measurably more strict alongside that number. The general guideline for expectations at each interval of Mastery being applied for are outlined below.

Between zero and two Masteries: The first two Masteries requested for a character are relatively easy to acquire. All that is expected is a rough adherence to what is expected of a character at the Master or Grandmaster rank in a Skill. With regard to the criteria, narration and integration are of the least consideration for a character's first two Masteries.

Between three and four Masteries: At their third Mastery, a player could potentially request the Paragon rank in a Skill, so the standard of expectations is raised accordingly. Though it is not a requirement, characters requesting a third or fourth are most likely of the Epic Class. Building on the established familiarity that a player will have developed with their first two Masteries, with regard the criteria of comprehension and application, a character's development toward their third and fourth Masteries will have to solidly display both. In addition, narration and integration will be expected to be of equal consistency in a character's third and fourth Masteries as comprehension and application were in their first two.

Between five and six Masteries: Six Masteries nears the maximum of what a character is expected to be likely to achieve if they were to reach the ACP cap. Though it remains a non-requirement, players considering requesting a Mastery beyond their character's fourth should know that extensive justification will be required for a character at such an early point in their overall development reaching such a high bar of specified development. Players requesting their character's fifth and sixth Masteries will be expected to thoroughly display that their character has met each of the four criteria. At a character's fifth Mastery, it is expected that their quest for growth has an impact on the character, rather than exclusively the other way around.

Seven or more Masteries: Though, as with prior expectations of Class, a character is not required to be of the Legendary Class to pursue Masteries beyond their sixth, an extensive amount of justification will be required for a character at such a point in their development to possess such a large and varied degree of expertise. Given that it is unexpected even for a character that has managed to reach their ACP cap to possess more than six Masteries, a character that has not yet progressed to the Epic Class is not likely to acquire Masteries beyond their sixth. Players seeking to request a Mastery beyond their character's sixth ought to be aware that real, conscious in-character effort towards growth to a level of Mastery is required; unlike with Masteries between a character's first and their sixth, subconscious developments in a Skill during combat are ineligible for reference for those Masteries from their seventh forward. Any sudden jumps in understanding count against a character's odds at acquiring a Mastery from their seventh forward. A character's fulfilment of each of the criteria will be graded most harshly for Mastery requests beyond their sixth. Every instance of a Mastery request after a character's sixth should be as impactful upon that character as would (or, as it may more likely be, was) their Legendary Advancement request.

The Criteria

Comprehension; hopefully the least surprising of the four criteria, as Mastery involves developing a level understanding with regard to a Skill, a character needs to demonstrate their knowledge and development in it. There are no Masters who do not intimately understand their Skill. The demonstration of a character's knowledge need neither be complete nor technical in nature (especially in the case of a request for the rank of Master, which concerns itself primarily with fundamentals no matter the circumstance), but should clearly change from some lesser degree to some greater degree over time, and should illustrate a few concepts that the character identifies as core facets of their Skill. Requirements for comprehension at the rank of Grandmaster and Paragon are, of course, steps beyond that.

Application; hopefully also somewhat obvious, those characters that wish to achieve Mastery in a Skill had best be prepared to use it. This is the expectation of the actual implementation of all of a character's theoretical understanding. Whether the instance of use a character's learning is itself a high-stakes moment or not, the focus of some part of the moment ought to be on the manner of the technique, and neither simply that character's thoughts about it nor the story behind the moment in which it is being used. It is with this criteria that the technical aspects of a Skill's use come under most consideration, and it is here that instances of condensed development (such as a "Grandmaster Moment" or a "Paragon Moment") come into play.

Narration; all characters have to start somewhere, even those destined to become Masters, and it's the growth from that point to the Mastery that matters when this criterion is considered. Early on, this is simple; all that a player need show of their character is some small alteration in thought or behavior from topic to topic. As a character gains more Masteries, this becomes one of the most important criteria, as the more Masteries a character has, the greater the justification they must present to pass beyond their limitations. Early on though, it is fine if the development of a character is a side-effect of the narration of that character's acquisition of Masteries, rather than the other way around.

Integration; how much does the Skill matter to the identity of the character? Another criteria that progressively becomes more important at higher ranks of Mastery and alongside a character's number of Masteries, a player should be able to justify the role of a Skill in a character's story not simply as a tool, but in terms of how their character's relationship with that tool and their development in it has shaped their personality and story. While this might manifest in some characters as an understanding of a Skill to such a degree that the Skill itself acts as a place or position of comfort for that character (as something reflexive that the character uses as a primary means of protecting themselves, or as a primary part of their identity as a warrior), as a character nears the higher ranks of Mastery or a higher number of total Masteries, this representation of identity necessarily becomes more of a conscious feature of their growth.

The Rubric

The pair of reviewers for any given Mastery request will post their evaluation of the request with the following format.

Frequently Asked Questions

Initially, this list will be small. As people ask more questions, it will grow, so always be certain to ask a question if you have it; others may very well harbor the same uncertainties that you do.

"If I request more than one Mastery at once, what happens?"

The reviewers of a request considers your Masteries in the order presented in your request. Be aware that this includes applications for multiple ranks of Mastery in a single Skill, so the reviewers of the request will expect to be presented with a period of development between the time of the events you identify as key moments in your growth to the rank of Master and the events you identify as key moments in your growth to the rank of Grandmaster (or between Grandmaster and Paragon, or between all three if you happen to be so bold as to apply for all three at once). Assuming that the reviewer of your request considers your growth qualifying of one of your Masteries, your total number of Masteries increases, and the bar of the requirements for your subsequent Masteries increases.

Unlike Mastery requests (as perhaps could be expected, given that a character can only advance to the Legendary Class a single time, whereas a character can earn any number of Masteries), there are multiple considerations that are taken into account during the grading of Legendary Advancement requests prior to any review of the writing and reasoning supplied by the player. The first is the character's Class, as a character must already be of the Epic Class before they may advance to Legendary. The second is the character's TCP, which must be at least 3,000 higher than the amount the character received at registration. The third is the amount of Renown (which can consist entirely of Fame, entirely of Infamy, or of any proportion of the two) received by the character for the event being referenced as the Legendary Moment in the request, which must be at least 1,200 in total.

Note that though the phrasing of "event" and "Legendary Moment" are vague; a player may claim any type of event as their Legendary Moment, be that a specific fight, a large-scale assault on a village, or even the occasional use of a single technique, so long as the other prerequisite conditions are met, but the reviewers of the request will use the context of the referenced event to determine the exact scope of that event as it is pertinent to the request (i.e. the exact frame of time indicated by the player making the request used as a reference). If it is determined that the scope of the time over which the prerequisite amount of Renown for advancement to the Legendary Class has been earned is too great to be applicable to the claimed event, the event may be determined ineligible as a Legendary Moment.

Note also that the bar of qualification for a character's advancement to the Legendary Class is not simply fulfilment of prerequisites, but also sufficient fulfilment of the grading criteria. An event may qualify as a Legendary Moment, but not be sufficiently impactful on involved characters to advance the character named in a request to the Legendary Class.

The Criteria

Narration; all characters have to start somewhere, even those destined to become Legendary, and it's the growth from that point through the Legendary Moment that matters when this criterion is considered. While there are some exceptions, for the most part there should be a story behind a Legendary moment that leads up to it, considering it like the climax of a story, the right time as well as stunning actions. Not all Legendary moments have this kind of context behind them, but a good one will. Note that a truly awe-inspiring, encompassing act Presented may very well make up for a deficit of points in Narration, but it will be difficult to make such a case, so choose your Legendary moment wisely, lest the applicant be disappointed.

Presentation; in general, the presentation of how one becomes a Legend should not be from a relatively unknown standpoint. Again, growth is an important deciding factor (considering a player must be Epic to be considered for Legendary status), unless the deed in question is truly one that might give instant record in history books. When applying for Legendary status, one should decide whether or not their character’s deed is truly worthy of this standalone type of consideration, or if there are other factors leading up to it that give context and worth to the moment without it being truly, fantastically extraordinary itself. Obviously a great deed with a rich story behind it will always be considered more favorably than just the moment itself or just a story with a pleasing, perhaps uncommon but not truly Legendary climax – though both of those things could pass, it is much more difficult.

Integration; the Legendary moment in general should be meaningful. It should impact more than just the applicant’s character, and in fact should likely majorly affect at least one other person, with varying degrees of effect on others because of that interaction. It should bring a storyline to a high point, and quite probably change or reinforce at least one character’s outlook on life – even if it is just the applicant. People should change as a result of this – it should be an important memory in the lives of those that were directly involved, and be of note to those that were not.

The Rubric

The pair of reviewers for any given Legendary request will post their evaluation of the request with the following format.

Frequently Asked Questions

Initially, this list will be empty. As people ask more questions, it will grow, so always be certain to ask a question if you have it; others may very well harbor the same uncertainties that you do.

Unlike Legendary Requests and Mastery Requests, an Origin Change Request doesn't care about how many Character Points that a character has, or what battles they have fought in, though both of these can be factors taken into account during an OCR. In an OCR, what the graders are concerned with is the change over time that has occurred in a given character. Why has this character chosen a new lifestyle? What have they learned about it, and have they shown any kind of dedication to it? This is all graded on three categories, which all-together determine the sensibility of this character's life-altering change as a part of their story.

The Criteria

Narration; change happens slowly over time, and for there to be a satisfying end point, there must have been a beginning that is completely foreign to the destination. Growth is key here. What was the character like before, and how have they changed now? The storytelling here is integral, as it is what conveys the flavorful explanation for the mechanical transition that the character receives with an Origin Change Request. Does the end goal of this character make sense? Is it something that now better reflects who they are than their current Origin?

Presentation; whereas Narration governs the story of how a character has moved from one point in their story to another, Presentation is concerned with how that character appears now. Has the character's growth been presented in a way that makes sense? Is there a mentor figure that has offered them guidance? Does the character seem as if they would be a proper member of this new Origin? Are they following in the footsteps of someone that they know? If Narration is the "how?" and Integration is the "what?", Presentation is the "why?".

Integration; one who would leave behind their old Origin for a new one doesn't generally do so over night. The character will have undergone a gradual process already, often adopting certain customs and mannerism from the Origin that they seek to become, perhaps even learning one of their Skills before requesting an OCR, though this is not required. Good Integration will show that the character has already begun to become a part of this new Origin over time, and that the OCR is merely a formality to grant the mechanical benefits of what already is, rather than permission to begin a transition afterwards.

The Rubric

The pair of reviewers for any given Origin Change request will post their evaluation of the request with the following format.

Frequently Asked Questions

Initially, this list will be empty. As people ask more questions, it will grow, so always be certain to ask a question if you have it; others may very well harbor the same uncertainties that you do.