Exalted vs World of Darkness interest check

Started by RSGAlex, February 08, 2019, 01:47:03 AM

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RSGAlex

But unlike Forge Out of Chaos, this is Digital and I have a copy. And soon, I should also have the time to run things. So, the skinny, one of the Ex3rd writers decided to do Exalted Vs the World of Darkness, a scrapped idea from the planning of Shards of the Exalted Dream. Scrapped because of the space they felt they'd need to actually do the idea right. Well, now a free lancer, this guy went and did it because he wanted to.

And I did something like this, though a much cruder and quicker hack way back when. And I guess I want to try again with these strange rules. (Also, I have more books than before.) So, here's the pitch, first IC, and then OoC.

It's been only a few days since the world stopped making any fucking sense. The specifics of your part in Willie's burning down, exploding, and killing some monster spirits are blurry at best, but that's also a good thing. A lot of people died taking down that monster. Of course, now you're in the shittiest but roomiest apartment known to man feeling hung over, listening to a fucking strange blonde whistle a tune as she waits for everyone to collect themselves, perhaps recover some modesty, and listen to a strange tale. See, excluding her, everyone in the room is the reincarnation of a sworn brother/sisterhood of adventurer-researchers who were onto the secrets of a flying island called the Scar. (Only she used lots more technobabble.) Unfortunately, there was a miscalculation, and their attempts wiped out everyone but the one junior note taker at the back. Now, to discharge her guilty conscience, she's pulling the new incarnations of the old group together, pointing them at their old notes, and washing her hands of the matter.

Then a fucking cyborg phases through the door and chaos erupts.


OOC
The rambly paragraph gives a quick summary of both why the group's together and two immediately obvious act one group goals. Either go and refine those notes and claim whatever it was that killed your last incarnations or go and make sure that the assholes targeting you for them get it into their heads to stop trying to bother you for those same notes while trying to do whatever it is you really want to do.  That whatever can be negotiated after some players get an approval, though.

Now onto the stuff that will probably make or break the idea for plenty of people. Content. Given the nature and power of the Exalted, even in this hack, it's going to be the Grindhouse of Darkness as far questionable content is concerned. You know, basically it's either going to be played for kink or it's supposed to be an overwrought and x-treme INYOFACE deal because the old world of darkness was many things, but subtle and nuanced was rarely one of them. So feel free to bring the lack of subtlty and kinks that move you down the columns on the right; you don't have to be good, just not as bad as the fuckers currently running everything.

Finally, posting. Right now this is probably going to hit my limits of what I can do because work's picking up. So I may only be able to do limited posting once or twice a week until things slow down, and then I can pick up more. So right now, slow is fine by me, and we can see about doing things faster in the next few months. Plus this is an interest check. I have no idea if anyone's interested in this, especially the peculiar version I have in mind.


Now if you read this far, you're either interested or skipped some stuff. Either's good. Let's talk about what you, a potential player would need. First, get the actual fan book, right here. Then you either want one of the WoD 20th cores or a good wiki for lots of the missing stuff. I'm going to steal from most of them for things not in V20. Read up, throw out ideas, and let's get cuhrazy.
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AndyZ

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GunmetalDreamer

I'm going to need a little time with the books (I'm woefully behind on WoD), but I'll flag for "Interest" now.

RSGAlex

Quote from: GunmetalDreamer on February 08, 2019, 06:08:53 PM
I'm going to need a little time with the books (I'm woefully behind on WoD), but I'll flag for "Interest" now.

If it helps, it's Old World of Darkness and I should expand a bit on how things have happened for those in the know. The Week of Nightmares happened, but the fall out was calmed in the Underworld, so things are mostly backed to normal. Mostly. The Avatar Storm doesn't rage, but there are locations where it's definitely still a thing. And that's that as of a few weeks out.
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AndyZ

I'm toying with the idea of a Dawn who started out as a gymnast, has no real reason to have combat skills beyond the Exaltation, and is still bright and cheerful despite everything.  She'll still be a combat beatstick, but with none of the accompanying aggressive personality that one would expect of one, although her personality may adjust further over time.  It's a bit of a stretch of an idea, but seems like a lot of fun in my head, and wondering if you'd be cool with that.
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RSGAlex

It's interestingly doable from a mechanics point, and also from a character point. Got a good idea for the knowing the supernatural part, and perhaps what kind of stuff it was that got the gold for her?
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AndyZ

Basic Exaltation idea I'm playing with is that she was a peaceful, friendly girl who witnessed the supernatural (maybe Sabbat vampires attacking a bunch of humans), maybe just started out trying to throw something at one of the Sabbat vampires and doing amazingly well, then proceeding into an epic fight sequence.  Mechanics-wise, she'd still have normal stats for an Exalt, just that she was severely lacking in various Abilities before the Exaltation.

Still pondering, though.
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RSGAlex

An update for both those in the thread and anyone watching. My schedule should open up at the end of this week, so I'll have more time to do stuff.
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RSGAlex

#8
Okay. My week of nine to twelve hour shifts is over and I'm going to be more relaxed and able to do stuff. But that's and confirmation isn't the only reason I'm posting this. There's new charms, new rules, new new new. Right here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/exalted-vs-world-24706220

I had more, but the fatigue got to me and I forgot. Sorry.

First, a custom charm (and how to adapt it to non-Solars)

Sorcerer's Burning Chakra (***)

The power of even a weak site of supernatural is easy compared to seeing the subtler flows of individual magic. A Solar that knows this charm has mastered that strenuous task.

System: Spend one Essence and one Willpower. For the rest of the scene any supernatural power that does not attempt to cloak itself becomes visible and recognizable as such to the Solar. This may allow the Solar to counter-act certain effects they may not have thought to, say by using Graceful Crane Stance to counter the thaumaturgic rotting of a wooden floor. This charm's activation may be lessened in two ways.

The essence may be waived if the Solar's caste mark is allowed to burn forth as part of activating the charm. The Willpower may be waived if the Solar has previously used All Encompassing Sorcerer's Sight to attune to a different realm of existence. Similar charms exist for other Exalted types with similar relations to their version of All Encompassing Sorcerer's Sight.


Glories of the Past (***** untyped)
In ages past, the might of the Exalted host was unmatched; this charm recalls a small portion of that umatched power.

Whenever the Exalt is called upon to use a die pool that involves Essence, the Exalt may roll an additional die or add an additional success if one of their own charms is not the reason for Essence to be involved in the die pool. In addition, when resisting powers, consider the Exalt's Essence to be one higher before looking at the resistance table.


And a summarized trio of Countermagics as Ancient Sorceries:

Leaden Countermagic: Any Exalted Occultist can protect herself from hostile sorcery, but only a student of Ancient Sorcery can manage to protect others. Upon learning this Ancient Sorcery, the Exalt can use Protective Countermagic, applying the normal limits for their countermagic and substituting a point of Essence for Quintessence. In addition, the sorcerer may spend at least 3 Essence to turn this protection into a stifling web. For every Essence spent, the countermagic attempt protects another person. This effect may be applied to other Countermagic Ancient Sorceries.

Quicksilver Countermagic: Any Exalted Occultist can protect herself from hostile sorcery, but only a student of Ancient Sorcery can manage to turn spells back upon the caster. Upon learning this Ancient Sorcery, the Exalt can use Offensive Countermagic, paying the quintessence cost with Essence. It can only reflect immaterial curses and the like unless multiple turns were used to build the pool of successes on the effect. In addition, the sorcerer may spend additional points of Essence to lower the number of successes needed to successfully counter an effect on a one to one basis. This can be applied to other Countermagic Ancient Sorceries.

Diamond Countermagic: Any Exalted Occultist can protect herself from hostile sorcery, but only a student of Ancient Sorcery can manage to rend apart the magics of the night-world. Upon learning this Ancient Sorcery, the Exalt can use Unweaving, paying any quintessence costs with Essence. In addition, the sorcerer may spend 5 Essence to show an echo of the countermagic of the first age. For (perm. Essence) rolls instead of merely overcoming the target's successes, each success rolled on the countermagic turns one of the target's successes into a 1, potentially turning a standing effect into a botch. Unweaving an effect in the presence of the originator will result in some kind of backlash. If applied to other kinds of countermagic, this effect is not targeted, but instead sprays around the world; only the one doing the countermagic and people being protected are going to be targeted by the wash of rent magic.
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AndyZ

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RSGAlex

Same here. I haz a plot, after all. And bad references like the man with the flying sword Zhōngxīn Bùbài.
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HairyHeretic

IIRC there was a modern Exalted setting floated in the Shards of the Exalted Dream release. Is this very different?
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AndyZ

Very different.  This one is set up to play very well with the rest of the World of Darkness, with new Charm rules set up.  It's free, though.
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Lustful Bride

Kind of fascinated by this. I love the idea of fighting against the forces of darkness as a Solar or Dragon Blooded, and as the book says "Tossing a Solar Grenade right into the World of Darkness. Fuck you Kain, here comes the Sun."

Though I feel like the initial intro post could be done a lot better as I had to reread it a few times to understand what this thread was about. I still don't know who Willie is. And while Grindhouse is what it could inevitably be, I do feel that some good atmosphere is important, the players will be a source of light in a world of darkness, monsters, and horrors that treat humanity like cattle, and may be trying to free mankind from its shackles.

HairyHeretic

Is it just Solars or do all the other types of Exalted exist as well?
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Lustful Bride

Quote from: HairyHeretic on March 01, 2019, 04:20:43 PM
Is it just Solars or do all the other types of Exalted exist as well?

I have the PDF, (but you can find it here) or you can get it here, just scroll down and click the pdf link

It has Solars, Lunars, Sidereals, Dragon Blooded, and Abyssals as the Exalted.

It also suggests not using Hunter the Reckoning (As hunters in that setting are pretty much already diet Solars) and I agree. It would make more sense to use Hunters from Hunter the Vigil, as they could make great NPC allies to help bring new Solars into the fight against the dark forces and would be more than happy to accept superpowered help.

"We got vampires, werewolves, magicians, ghosts, fairies. Its about damn time we got a superhero on our side!"

AndyZ

Concur about not bringing in Hunter: the Reckoning characters, but vehemently disagree about bringing in Hunter: the Vigil characters, or anything else from Chronicles of Darkness (aka nWoD).
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RSGAlex

This opening is a thing I should save to serve as a reminder of why I shouldn't post on the next to last night of a 51 hour week that followed a 46 hour week. Now, lemme go and answer a flurry of activity that I was definitely not expecting. So from the top we have the original series of posts. Nothing to say there.

Then we come to HairyHeretic's first question. To add on to AndyZ's explanation, it is a rather extensive sort of backport of Exalted themes and types to the Old World of Darkness (or specifically the 20th anniversary edition versions of the old WoD) in mechanics and milieu. So charms rated by dots, a tendency for scenelongs and lower costs with harder (compared to normal Exalted) regen. As of the companion, all the types that we've had complete mechanics for are in.

(As an aside, that book is here https://www.patreon.com/posts/exalted-vs-world-24706220 if you need it again, both are free as they're fan works.)

For LustfulBride, yeah. Like I said. I had an idea but was probably a bit too fatigued to properly bring my idea across. There is no Willie. I just wanted a simplistic name for a bar type place and saw a Slick Willie's on my way to somewhere and boom. Simple incident to reference and boom. Opening post. I was also going to joke about the one mortal in the WoD, but then I realized that it would run into Tremere chantry numbers. Which were crazy. So you do have a good point about the atmosphere. But I will agree with AndyZ, the state of the OWoD just clashes too much with the Vigil to really bring in proper. Kinda like why the book recommends Wraith over Orpheus.
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Lustful Bride

Quote from: RSGAlex on March 01, 2019, 11:16:09 PM
This opening is a thing I should save to serve as a reminder of why I shouldn't post on the next to last night of a 51 hour week that followed a 46 hour week. Now, lemme go and answer a flurry of activity that I was definitely not expecting. So from the top we have the original series of posts. Nothing to say there.
Ah I see.

QuoteFor LustfulBride, yeah. Like I said. I had an idea but was probably a bit too fatigued to properly bring my idea across. There is no Willie. I just wanted a simplistic name for a bar type place and saw a Slick Willie's on my way to somewhere and boom. Simple incident to reference and boom. Opening post

Ah I see. I have actually thought about this very system a few times since I first learned of it, and I think one of the more fun ways that the characters could meet up is if things went the route similar to the Terminator. Where a vampire kill team is actively hunting down a weak or exhausted Solar who has been a pain in the ass for the local camarilla. They seek refuge somewhere and are about to be jumped by the vampries, when suddenly other Exalted step in and make their presence known. It turns out the vamps thought only one Solar was active, when they actually had a group, and all of them have now met one another thanks to their efforts, almost like it was written by fate no less.  ::) Curious no?


QuoteI was also going to joke about the one mortal in the WoD, but then I realized that it would run into Tremere chantry numbers. Which were crazy. So you do have a good point about the atmosphere. But I will agree with AndyZ, the state of the OWoD just clashes too much with the Vigil to really bring in proper. Kinda like why the book recommends Wraith over Orpheus.

Ahh I see. Personally I just really like the Badass Normals/Kickass Muggles among the hunters of the Vigil and some of the factions and groups among them fascinate me. I do think that some of them could be ported over to provide Hunter contact, maybe go a route more similar to John Carpenter's Vampires where hunters know they don't stand too much of a chance against vamps and have to fight smarter and usually against younger vampires unless they have a true advantage in some form or another. Most hunters get killed within the first week as they make too much noise. 

RSGAlex

#19
Just to be sure though, what is your opinion about ash trays? Actually seriously, Tiger Warrior Training a close enough equivalent, a dash of hedge enchantment or alchemy, and you can make a scary force as long as you got some skills of your own.

Also while the terminator scene is a good inspiration, and one that I might have taken a few cues from subconsciously, I wanted a little more wiggle room in the villains aspect an also I think I saw something else that had inspired me. Just completely forget what.

EDIT: Additional thought.  The shih and Strike Force 0.
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HairyHeretic

I'll have to have a look at it.

Would you be able to give a quick blurb on how the different Exalts fit into the setting though? Would the Lunars align with the werewolves, the Abyssals with the vampires, or is it much more open than that?
Hairys Likes, Dislikes, Games n Stuff

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You too one day shall die
I know a thing that will never die
Fair fame of one who has earned it.

AndyZ

As of the startup, they're really JUST coming back, with nobody really knowing what's going on yet.  At least, that's the impression I got.
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Lustful Bride

Quote from: HairyHeretic on March 02, 2019, 07:20:38 AM
I'll have to have a look at it.

Would you be able to give a quick blurb on how the different Exalts fit into the setting though? Would the Lunars align with the werewolves, the Abyssals with the vampires, or is it much more open than that?

The Exalted are finding their own equilibrium. The Dragon Blooded were always there, watching things from the shadows, protecting the bloodline and occasionally fighting with the creatures of Darkness. Especially were creatures and the Kindred of the East.

Lunars are usually accepted into Were tribes but seem out of place, and feel different than other weres.

Abyssals are indeed usually drawn in by vampires, but in one instance in Australia an Abyssal seems to be taking control of the local camarilla."

Solars don't know what they are, but tend to usually have been wronged by the supernatural and suddenly have powers, so they migh think they are a super hero or blessed by God and decide to war on the darkness, some die because they don't know not to spend all their essence, some live to fight another night, recovering essence in sunlight and growing stronger with each survived battle.

Cessali

So I've finally nursed a concept to health.  Submitted for reflection is Vera Hemmingway, Twilight Caste, formerly attached to the Progenitors before she went off the grid.

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide
Dr. Vera Hemmingway is a talented physician, an oncology specialist of some repute; she could not deny the irony when she learned her mother was diagnosed with cancer, and could not herself contribute to her mother's care. She was a prominent and oft-relied-on unEnlightened assistant in her research hospital's greater work; her superiors offered her no leave, and Vera did not ask for it.  Sometimes, she initially reasoned to herself, there were sacrifices that had to be made.  Family for all of humanity.  If normal people like herself couldn't help push the boundaries of science forward, without the assistance of high-concept nanotech, then what good was it to anyone?  This was front-line stuff, making people better off, and maybe she wasn't directly fighting against the weirdness of the world, but she was doing her best to help people who needed it, and that was more important than her own personal desires.

That said, Mary Hemmingway was the lynchpin of her family, keeping her often-squabbling sons and daughter in contact with one another.  Vera was the only 'successful' one of her generation, and while she was able to help with the bills that her mother faced, her siblings' resentment only grew as the burden of her day-to-day care fell on the rest of them (her father having died some years back as the result of a cataclysmic heart attack).  Signing a check once a month and scattered Facetime conversations weren't enough to soothe her conscience, and when news reached her that her mother's cancer had reached Stage IV, she finally broke down and asked for an extended period of leave -- which she was granted.  When Vera came off the plane, her brothers' reception was somewhat frosty -- but Mary, even loaded up on chemotherapy and pain medication, still recognized her daughter.  It was a heart-wrenching moment; Vera's experience identified several signs to her eyes that her mother's time was very limited.  A few days, perhaps.  And the doctors and nurses all denied it, ignorant of the insights her own clinic had garnered because they weren't part of the established knowledge base.  Faced with the choice of trying to convince her mother's medical team from a well-practiced and oft-rehearsed course of action or sitting back and trusting to them against all the evidence of her senses, Vera found in herself a strange insight: she knew exactly how to save her mother.

And so, subtly hijacking a number of supplies from a few hospital rooms, and misdirecting an entire shift's worth of nurses, Vera found herself eight hours later having cured her mother's incurable illness with insulin needles and acupuncture techniques she had never before studied, radiant with a subtle aura of daylight.

She didn't stick around to savor her work.  There would be questions to answer that she had no answers for.  Was this a hemophage talent?  No, she could walk in the daylight.  Was this alien biology at work?  No, it was ridiculous.  'Energy' and 'Essence' weren't things you could use to cure cancer.  Was this genius?  Yes, but it made absolutely no sense to be able to do this with ancient Chinese medicine she had never studied!  She turned off her phone after the first few congratulatory messages and got herself blazing drunk for a few nights, then... well, something else happened, and things became that much weirder.  The gun that had skittered into her hands at the dive bar -- Wally's?  Walt's? -- had felt like a natural thing in her hands, which was really the second-worst thing someone in her position could really think... right?  Or maybe she was just in denial about having become something worse than a faith-healer or a homeopathic drug dealer: a crack practitioner who could -make- it work, but only when -they- did it.

Intimacies:
I have sworn the Hippocratic Oath.
I am generally the most knowledgeable person in the room.
The Progenitors (Doing the right thing in general)


RSGAlex

To add on since I was at work, the only really established ones are the Dragonblooded. Chapter 8 of the main book (p132 on) is all about this in greater detail. But I'll hit some highlights for giggles. Can't meaningfully Embrace the power of the Exalted, but you can ghoul most of them once they're Chosen. It does little for the Chosen, except Abyssals for whom it does almost exactly nothing. It can blood bond, but other than that nothing. Exalts can fight back against being fed on, and with the obvious exception the blood of an exalt is worth triple. A solar with no ox-bodies is worth 21 aggravated HLs per exsangunation. Do not want.

The book notes that while no Exalt suffers from the Delirium, pants shitting terror is a pretty reasonable response to a Crinos charging in your direction. The fact that Exalts can, as a group or individuals, can make binding deals with totems is likely to alarm the Garou. The companion has some notes for the benefits of things that Exalts don't have, but that Totems tend to give. It can be interesting and means certain rituals can include Exalted. Lunars definitely don't feel anything like any shapeshifter in the Spirit World, and Lunes vouching for them can be helpful. Unfortunately, calm and measured approachs aren't the bread and butter of the Garou, and violence a first reaction. Things go well or horrible with little middle ground here. Only one Wyrm spirit likes Abyssals and it's the one that tends to scare the crap out of everyone.

Mages can mess with Essence and even the Exaltation itself. The first is merely a Prime 5 Spirit 5 effect to do transformations to Quintessence, while the latter is a bad idea at best. Beyond the Exaltation itself fighting back with the equivalent of Aerte 10, it's also probably Vulgar As Fuck to any paradigm and without four spheres at 5 means you are trying this with a likely Very Angry exalt trying to put you sixteen feet under. I once did a long write up of things an Exalt can do with their Excellencies and Hedge Magic. If anyone wants, I can clean it up and repost here. Some is pretty funny.

Wraiths are likely to be very surprised to see any Exalt in the underworld and most Exalts won't have too much to do with Wraithly society as a whole. The exception is Abyssals (of course), as they can probably get a small army of twisted spectres to follow and then lower the gauntlet to the living world to really set them on their foes in a bad way.

Changelings have more support from Sids than you might expect given their forebearers. There is also a chance they're going to take in any Lunar that discovers them without knowing what they are. Note, the ambiguity is intentional. With just about any mix of knowledge in there, the changelings are likely to try because, hey. Low Banality tendency ho.

Don't worry too much about Demons. Read if you want the intended, but things will be a little different here. Some of both kinds of Mummy are around, and they will be up for some very jolly co-operation with Solars. As well as any non-Abyssal exalt, though a bit less with the wyld Lunars than say, Sidereals.

The Wan Kuei will have Opinions on the Exalted once they know, as a whole. It will be hi-larious.



And Jarick, interesting idea. I like the first two Intimacies, especially.
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