I need to make the Japanese 'tea ceremony' thing into a more interesting one that'll be fun to play for a Not!Asia...

I need to make the Japanese 'tea ceremony' thing into a more interesting one that'll be fun to play for a Not!Asia setting.
Suggestions on how do I make it?

My suggestion: Graduate high school and get a job.

>Heavily ritualized and absolutely mundane act.
Why would you want to do that, and why that ceremony in particular?

Well the tea ceremony will be entirely cinematic unless you shoehorn retarded checks in them, so there's two things you need to do: describe it beautifully and make consequences if it is done wrong or they somehow dishonor the ceramony. The first one is on you, but feel free to add your twist on your !not asia setting. The rogue sighs and rolls his eyes during the ceramony, the !not shogun's hotheaded son demands a duel to first blood. Or the !not mountain wizard curses the wizard who itched his scratchy asshole and you need to trek up a nearby mountain to get to a purifying spring.

Let them know not to fuck with the tea ceramony, make them fear dishonor.

The tea is actually a drug made out of bark of the World Tree. When imbibed, it lifts you to heavens and gives you visions, after which you receive animalistic totem superpowers.

Jade Tea helps fight the spread of Shadowlands Taint.

Those sound pretty good. I don't know, other than describing, how to make it interesting. Like how will it go and such

The Tea Ceremony is highly ritualized and frought with symbolism, and getting any part of its proceedings a wrong will make the party look terribly foolish at best or gravely insulting at worst. There are many components to the Ceremony that will require that the individual PCs participating pass various skill and trait rolls that will test their cultural knowledge, manual dexterity and patience.

You're a child, and a stupid one at that. Lay off the weed and hit the books or your life will be a hard one.

Heed this advice or not, I hope you remember it.

As long as the hosts aren't looking to put you up, a tea ceremony is basically something you visit to look at art with your boss.

The usual political functions are to naturalize the hierarchy towards in-and out-groups. Towards the in-groups by demonstrating that even a magically egalitarian setting, your boss and his goons are still your betters and towards the out-group by demonstrating that the owner of the venue is a man of poise and style who can demonstrate that he's a wise ruler who's respected in all corners of the nation and/or the world.

The setting claims to be a meeting of sages who only engage with the floating world because their wisdom is absolutely required to set things right, the art on display demonstrates their familiary with the classics and the esteem they're held in by their equals, the objects their familiarity with the sciences and the seating- and drinking-order recreates the hierarchies of the outside world as envisioned by the patron who owns the hut and the tea master.

The show'd be a total failure and the tea master an ass in a frock if it would fail to communicate all of that to its participants, so yes, it is okay to not be subtle about stuff.

Getting attacked by ninjas is part of the ceremony.

Because he's a faggot weeaboo

I'm not sure you could make a "western" tea ceremony since its so steeped in japanese/northeastern asian culture.
The only time a narrated something at least a bit similar without making it a "cutscene" was when the party was trying to integrante into a mercenary band based on (who else?) vikings.
They had this little ritual after battles when they sat around the fire and took turns drinking from a horn and telling "tales of woe", basically the most sad, painful and epically tragic stories they could come up with. It always degenerated into just a bunch of drunk dudes telling absurd tales like "How Angvar Rodbrök lost his virginity and both his arms to a troll - IN THE SAME NIGHT" and laughing their asses off to blow steam after fighting. If one of them had to shed some manly tears for something (like the death of someone important in the fight), he could just take a sip and say "aye, that's a moving tale".

So, basically, I made a whole session in wich my players just bonded as characters and improvised ridiculous stories. Like a more barbarian version of the Four Yorkshiremen sketch.

Award them with points for following procedure well - showing correct etiquette, making the right conversation, showing appreciation for the tea and subtle things like that.

Award them with even more points if they can shake up the ceremony without disrupting it, and even more if they can completely reframe or restyle the entire thing by setting a new trend.

I watched an anime almost entirely about preparing tea, and it was still worthwhile.

>I watched an anime almost entirely about preparing tea

Go on.

It's... beautiful.

Hyouge Mono.
It's about art appreciating samurai doing art appreciation stuff. It's good.
You won't like it if you want stuff constantly happening, though. It's just people talking - and that's exactly what makes it fun.

Hyouge Mono is a semi-historical retelling of the warring states period of Japan featuring all the historical characters but primarily focusing on their appreciation for tea and more specifically tea-bowls, kettles, the setup of the tea-house, the clothing that people would wear etc.

There's one scene where a monk blows everyones minds and completely redefines the entire aesthetic and purpose of an era by painting everything black, thus bringing an end to the age of opulence and leading everyone to celebrate humility and imperfection.

Don't expect many fight scenes, but do expect over the top behaviour, funny faces and plots within plots and you'll have a good time with Hyouge Mono. The main character is a likeable guy.

Tea houses feature a single jar of flowers, which have to be seasonal and fit the mood of the ceremony, as does the vessel you serve the tea in. There's also a single wall scroll with a short poem. Participants in the ceremony will be expected to understand and discuss all of the above to show their appreciation for the art.

>ITT:

>You won't like it if you want stuff constantly happening, though.

Who do you take me for?

Sounds good. Thanks, pal.

I dunno, man, a lot of people on /a/ (and Veeky Forums, for that matter) act like they are ADHD-riddled.
Just saying.

That's because this site is filled with children.

Not my business judging them, mate.

There's proof in this very thread.

So it's Bartender in the Sengoku era?

Nah, Bartender is people telling their stories and trying to get their happy ending through inner realizations. There is clear-cut episodic story structure, with climaxes and stuff.

In Hyouge Mono, the story happens through dialogue. There are no happy or bad endings. There are no climaxes. There are just people who talk about things, who obsess over stuff and who appreciate finer arts.

By tea ceremony do you mean usuing Japanese Matcha? Where one brews the tea and then sit around the table and drink from the same bowl? Or what?

I think they mean bukkake.

I must say the last episode, particularly the last scene with the whole "The ending of an imperfect man in an imperfect way at the hands of an imperfect apprentice" was fucking fantastic.

Well, anyway. Yeah, there some stuff you gotta definitely cover. Purifying the body, cleansing of the hands in pure water, the actual brewing ceremony would be done by the host? Is a PC doing the brewing? How many scoops of Matcha would they have to use, how much water? How does he stir the Matcha? Does it allow it to froth as it suppose to? These could all be skill checks and knowledge checks I guess. Then everyone has to drink out of the bowl and pass it whilst cleaning the bowl for the next person. Does someone forget to clean it? Lots of small stuff can be issues.

Hyugemono Bartender would be about bartenders trying to one-up each other with high quality shot glasses, bar tops and beverages.

Dwarven moonshine ceremony

Treat it as being all about making sure the other guy (who wants to use your entrails for holiday decorations) can't poison you without getting caught. Failure in a profession check leads to a fort save.

But what about slight of hand checks as everyone tries to discreetly pass the poisoned cup to some other scmuch?