Exalted: Non-System Based Interest Check

[BruceTheCat]

Hey everyone!

I would love to create a smaller group (5-10 characters) Exalted game that is not system based with any interested players on E! Before I write up the recruitment and everything I wanted to see if a non-system game is something that people would be interested in?

The game would not be totally free-form. The high-level elevator pitch for the game would be that it is a party of Solars, Lunars, and Dragon Blooded (maybe Sidereals to) who are all banding together at the beginning of the game with the motivation of destroying/conquering the Realm. Very much like a dice roller campagin I will GM the group through a storyline that I have in mind, encouraging player choice and decision making that will ultimately affect the direction entire plot! What we start with story wise could shift entirely as time goes on.

One of the things that would also take place during this time period would be the Realm Civil War is about to get in to full swing. The largest and most powerful dynasty in the world is on the verge of total war, which has decreased their ability to police Solar and Lunar Exaltations.

Every player would start as a "just above starting level" character. So everyone would be relatively young in their Exaltation. Probably between 1-10 years, depending. Exceptions can be made of course.

We would not have official character sheets or dice rolls, but I have a fair amount of experience GMing combat scenes without those tools and still making them fun. We will have the normal group game Character Sheets that I use for my games. What I will ask from players is a high level explanation of your power set. If you can reference specific Charms/Knacks/Spells so much the better, but it isn't necessary. More to come on that in the Character Sheet if there is interest!

I invite anyone who is not familiar with Exalted to join as well. I absolutely love explaining the rich world and lore to anyone interested, so I would do what it takes to make you feel educated on the subject!

Thanks guys!

[Rel Mayer]

I'm thinking about playing a fire salamander lunar who is a sorceress.

But that all depends on what everyone else has in mind. I may switch it up!

[KrataLightblade]

Oh dear good Lord Exalted I want it in my face right now.

I'm pretty flexible in general for character types, though I like Twilight Solars, Eclipse Solars, Chosen of Secrets, and basically any caste of DB.

I'm 100% interested.

[AndyZ]

Keeping an eye on this.

[BruceTheCat]

Awesome guys! We actually wouldn't need a bunch of people to start the game, so that feels like enough interest to me to generate a recruitment thread.

I will work on that tonight!

[HairyHeretic]

What kind of game are you envisioning?

[Gilgameshian]

As someone who has been reading 3e cover to cover and has no people nearby to play with. System or no I'm totally interested in this!

[BruceTheCat]

That is great to hear Gil! I'm not sure whether it is a deal breaker for you, but powers and current events wise I am going to be going with 2nd edition since I have not read 3rd. But I am very, very familiar with all things 2nd edition.

To answer your question Hairy the game is going to be a very family/party oriented game of these characters coming together, regardless of their exalt type and unifying in their motivation to destroy the Realm and its tyranny over Creation. I will guide it as the GM through a storyline, and adapt based on player choice. The main theme of the game will be survival, changing the hearts and minds of Creation regarding their opinion on Amathema through action.

It will involve the Wyld, Deathlords, etc. as well

[Gilgameshian]

If you're going non-system 2e is fine. I have the book but 2e always seemed very "what the hell is this" mechanics wise (though I suppose that might be due to a primarily D&D style background in tabletop stuff).

[KrataLightblade]

If you're going non-system 2e is fine. I have the book but 2e always seemed very "what the hell is this" mechanics wise (though I suppose that might be due to a primarily D&D style background in tabletop stuff).

No, no, 2e is absolutely clunky as hell and weird mechanically, with a LOT of problems based around combat being WAY too lethal if you don't have perfect defenses, around needing perfect SOCIAL defenses or you lose control of your character's actions, around timing being arcane and difficult to track, and over the mass combat system literally just not working well at ALL.

And that's without getting into the... later issues with certain Exalts, where Lunars were just reskinned less-awesome Solars with shapeshifting that never really added to their capabilities much, and Sidereals being functionally incapable of acting directly, and Abyssals being flat out weaker than Solars EXCEPT at murder, where they are merely almost equivalent...

What I'm saying is that for a game I love to DEATH, the edition of it I played most is... borked.

Which is why 3e Exalted exists!  So.. hooray!

[AndyZ]

I have two concept I can easily pull out, either a Twilight Crafter or an Eclipse using a homebrewed sexual martial art I came up with back when.  Neither converts overly well to 3E yet, but if we're not using a system, it'll be easier.

How powerful should the characters be, by the way?

[BruceTheCat]

I am in total agreement with the imbalances of 2ed, which is one of the reasons that I am making it a non-system game. I am just going to run combat through my method of combat posting when I GM games.

The player characters will be roughly Essence 3 in their power and capabilities. They would have been Exalts for 5-20 years depending on your preference. So relatively young.

[Guancyto]

My benchmark for Exalted games is whether or not they have good support for Outcaste Dragon-Bloods.

No system at all is a perfect for that! Consider me interested, as a Fire Aspect.

One request I would make is introducing the 3e idea of Sorcerous Workings - that a sorcerer can take a bunch of time and materials and make a one-off ritual that isn't covered by his spells (similar to Mutants and Masterminds' Invention system). (It wouldn't necessarily be for me, I just like it.)

[HairyHeretic]

I most often play my Eclipse, but I have a few other characters in case someone already has ideas ... A Dawn caste, ex Ashigaru from Lookshy, a Zenith waging a one man guerrilla war around Thorns, a Full Moon lunar, ... a ronin Abyssal with a tie to another player could be interesting as well.

[BruceTheCat]

The sorcery thing would be totally fine. Since we aren't creating sheets with specific charms and spells I will be allowing players to basically make up their own powers, spells and abilities as long as they fit the thematic of their exaltation and fit the balance of their current power. If players want to only stick to roleplaying out charms or martial arts that are in canon, that is fine with me as well.

Those sound like great ideas Hairy! I wouldn't allow any Abyssals right now, but the others are totally viable.

I should have the recruitment thread up this weekend

[Meliai]

Very interested in this! My first thought is a social-focused Zenith, but since you're not using Exalted's migraine-inducing mechanics I might submit a Sidereal instead. Always liked their astrology stuff but it's such a massive massive pain to actually DO any of it with the ten thousand rolls you have to make.

The background I have in mind is very vague at the moment, but I'll most likely go with a slave or lower-class dynast citizen who exalted on the Blessed Isle and escaped to the Threshold, probably near wherever our starting point will be, with a focus on minimizing civilian casualties/turning people to our cause rather than just slaughtering everyone who looks at us funny~

[KrataLightblade]

Come now.  We have Solars in our crew.  Traditionally speaking Solars only kill the ones they can't win over with their insane social powers.

But in all seriousness I'm actually kinda really excited to see where this 'un goes.

[Gilgameshian]

I'm thinking I'd play a Night Caste. An assassin known only by an alias that he made that has created a small guild of assassins around himself and has gained a decent cult as a sort of God of Just Demises or some such. The noble, in the sense of having a code, killer style.

That's just off the cuff though. Needs refinement.

[Meliai]

Come now.  We have Solars in our crew.  Traditionally speaking Solars only kill the ones they can't win over with their insane social powers.

But in all seriousness I'm actually kinda really excited to see where this 'un goes.

Hence offering someone focused on said insane social powers  ;D

[BruceTheCat]

Happy to see more interest growing for the game! I'm hoping to put the thread up this evening

[BruceTheCat]

Hey guys!

I wanted to share the WIP of the Recruitment Thread with everyone. It is still missing a few things. I'll sex it up a bit and add Character Sheets and everything else in tomorrow for posting. But I wanted to give you guys the chance to ask any initial questions now before then.

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

The Story

This game is open to everyone! If you are not familiar with Exalted, but interested nonetheless please feel free to ping me for some help! I am more than happy to explain the setting, characters, and assist you in being able to join and have fun.

The game will be set in the 2nd edition canon of the Exalted universe. The Realm, Creations largest and most powerful nation is on the bring of a civil war. The Scarlet Empress has been missing for over a decade, and already several potential candidates are lining up to take her place on the Jade Throne. One thing is inevitable, if things continue the way that they are going in the political courts of the Dynasty, then it will end with violence. Troops, diplomats and Dragon Blooded agents are all being recalled by their masters on the Blessed Isle in preparation for this oncoming battle. As a result, the Dynasty's ability to police Solar and Lunar exalts, as well as Ronin Dragon Blooded has diminished severely. Providing a unique opportunity for ambitious Exalted, who have their minds set on a brighter future, to make their move out in to the world.

The game will begin in the East. The starting location for all players will be a relatively small town called Oak Harbor, which is located a few days ride south of Nexus. Fate has lead everyone to a small inn near the center of the town.

The Game

Similar to a normal table-top campaign, this game will be story driven. I have a series of events and overall plot in mind that will drive the game initially. Based on the decisions of characters throughout the story will ultimately affect the direction of the game. Some of the primary elements I hope to see in the game are feelings of brotherhood and family among the Exalts. Banding together against a common threat, regardless of history or Exaltation.

As players you will have the ability to choose between three different Exalts – Solar, Lunar, or Dragon Blooded. If you choose to play a Dragon Blooded I will thematically be increasing your power to bring Solars, Lunars and DB on a similar power scale. This will only be the case for PCs, not NPC enemies. This game will not be system based, so we will not use dice rolls or normal Exalted character sheets. Whichever you choose, whatever your motivation, please keep two things in mind. First is that all characters need to share a passion for wanting to destroy the Dynasty. This will be the primary focus of the game, at least in the beginning. Second, your character needs to have a personality that will mesh well with a party of other Exalts. Similarly, your character needs to be OK with traveling across Creation on this journey. Please keep these things in mind when generating your backstory.

A very important note for all of you who are familiar with Exalted – This game will be set in my version of Creation. There will be things that seem incorrect to you based on what you know about the world. Certain factions may operate differently, be more powerful or less powerful. You will need to be OK with this. Arguments over appropriate canon will slow the game down. If I state something is one way, and you think that is incorrect, roll with it.

Characters will begin the game as moderately powerful, newly Exalted fighters. Because we do not have sheets you can sort of feel free to gift yourself powers, charms, martial arts, spells and abilities that are thematically appropriate for your Exalt type and power level. You can make up some of your own to if you would like! Please note, as the GM I reserve the right to ask you to change any of these if they seem unbalanced or inappropriate.

Game Rules

1. Be nice to your fellow players and GM/s. If you have a concern please feel free to PM me, or voice it in the OOC section
2. Real life comes first
3. This game will have 2 types of threads. Main Story Threads, and Side Threads. The Main Story Threads will be where the core plot moves forward. If the Main Story Thread is waiting on a post from you, then you must post in it before any Side Scenes. You must be able to post in the Main Story Thread at least 2 times a week, if not more. Side Scenes are optional
4. Please give everyone the chance to post once before posting again in a Main Story Thread
5. All players can feel free to create their own Side Scene Threads. Please send me the link so I can add them to the list
6. All characters must be over the age of 18

Power Increase

As the game progresses I will grant people the ability to add a new Power to their character. Usually this will happen after story arcs. Think of this like a bulk gain of experience. You will be able to use this to add new abilities to your sheet. In this way we will grow more powerful as the game continues.

The Sex

All of the characters work together and travel together, so this is inevitable! Scenes that involve sex or other smut writing can happen however you guys would like. The only rule would be that it does not take place in the Main Story Thread, unless approved by the GM/s.

[KrataLightblade]

May I ask in what way Creation's changed?

I'm mostly asking because I'd hate to build a pitch a character that is, for example, a person born and raised but recently left from Skullstone only to find out that Skullstone is actually happiness and flowers now.  Or that Thorns is actually run by the Cult of the Illuminated and Silver Faction Sidereals fighting some kind of shadow war or something.

I'm not suggesting that you'd be making changes that dramatic, but a general gist of what your version of Creation might look like could be helpful.  I once played in a Vampire the Masquerade game where the ST didn't think to mention that the Camarilla includes all Clans and Bloodlines until the game had started, so I like to check on these things, just in case.  Not that such things are automatically a problem... but they ARE the kind of thing a guy might want to know before throwing a character in the mix.

[BruceTheCat]

No problem Krata!

It is not anything that dramatic, in my opinion. As an example I narrate it where the Lintha Pirates are exactly like the Reavers from Firefly. They are not a enemy that has a organized civilization, or can be reasoned with. They are just monsterous cannibals that roam the seas looking for victims.

For the sake of your backstories you can assume the world is as you understand it to be.

[Rel Mayer]

Sounds good! I'm not quite savvy in Exalted, but thanks to the help of some I can craft a proper character!

Let me know whenever the character sheet templates are up, so I can start crafting it and see if it's something the group would enjoy participating with.

[AribethAmkiir]

Is there still room for interest or are you full?