To a World of Darkness (Exalted/WoD)

[RSGAlex]

December 12, 2010. The day the world ended.

Or was supposed to, according to the long plans of a Baali elder. The ritual was perfectly performed each time. Each one perfectly spaced out according to his use of the Long Count calendar. But of the two dozen spirits that emerged from the portal, only a few were mighty warriors or grand manipulators, and even among those few, none desired to end the world.

Not that the old vampire knew that. For right after the spirits emerged, a grand flood of unbelievable power collapsed the portal and annihilated the vampire and those descended from him for three generations!

And now upon the world step a mere five people, but with power such as the world has never seen before. Drawn together by ancient spells of undreamed of potency, the world itself conspired to have these people meet. What shall they do? How shall the world be changed by them?

Those are stories yet unwritten.

OOC Intro & Chargen

Hello, Elliquiy, it's me, with a second attempt at running a group game. I don't think I did too good a job on the first one, but I'm going to try again. And hope I do better this time.

As the hastily written narrative above mentions, this is going to be a game where a small number of modern day people get world shaking power in the classic World of Darkness.

Now, for this one, it's going to be all EXP char-gen, using the last errata, and the Exalted Modern abilities and charms from Shards. Specifically, you will have 667 exp to build a character with, backgrounds costing 3 Exp per dot, doubled for the fourth and fifth dots. With three exceptions. Everyone can start with Mentor 5 representing the sorcerous tricks that your last incarnations played to make sure that their next incarnations would be ahead of the game. Celestials are set to Essence 3 and Terrestrials 4. The Dragon Blooded also get Breeding 5.

Merits and Flaws are out, doubly so for certain classic WoD Merits. 

Mentor 5 in this case represents a gestaltic knowledge base taken of the whole circle, such that you can learn any of the charms in your core book as though you had a trainer, can set up a self-initiation into sorcery, and generally learn things from past memories. Not that they necessarily knew all those charms and abilities, but they had a long, long, long while to speculate and plenty of favors to call in.

And if you want to take any Exalted era artifacts, remember to also buy a cache egg. Explanations for things from Shards and cache eggs available upon request.

Craft works a bit like Linguistics. With each dot, you get another craft. Extra crafts can be purchased as specialties.

The next couple of spoilers are going to be general and specific rules things, neither of which are likely to be comprehensive. Most, in fact, were gotten by either trying to unify mechanics that I could think of, referring to handy books, and referring to wikis.

If things seem biased towards Exalts, yeah, they are. It's intentional. The Baali might not have gotten the ending they want, but even a few Exalted is the end of the world as we know it.

General Rules

Linguistics Dots give a language family. I'm going to be a bit permissive about where the line drops for applicability of a family. Just don't try taking Proto-Indo-European, unless you like knowing dozens of ancient languages. A single language can be purchased as a specialty.

"Don't drop the explosive" would take no penalties. Building a computer would take heavy penalties. Trying to convince a person like this will always add 4 to their MDVs.

Charms that rely on the Wyld can be used anywhere, but cause a response analogous to the Paradox of mages. Roll Essence, with more successes generating worse results. A botch tends to mean that reality accepts the result, but not always. The effect has the keywords of Counterattack and Shaping. Personal Shaping defenses will only protect the Exalt against direct changes. If you get a horde of monsters intent on destroying what you created, Integrity-Protecting Prana won’t help you there.

Exalted resist most mental effects with MDV. Illusions are resisted with Per+Awa instead, and they would be the usual exception. They also do not take aggravated damage from the claws and fangs of supernatural beings, absent powers that make them aggravated.

The sheer power of the Exalted is easy to track in this beggared age. Proper supernatural sight lets the tracker add the Exalt’s Essence in successes to track them. Of course, most beings with a quarter of a brain would be wary of such powerhouses.

Because of the broken nature of the world, it is harder for the Exalted to enter other realms, but the other supernatural residents would often envy the ‘difficulty’ of the Exalted. Crossing over is a dramatic action (speed 6, DV -2 in combat) that costs the Exalt (Gauntlet-Essence) motes, to a minimum of one mote.

Taking others requires thaumaturgy, or sorcery for a more durant or versatile portal. Any personal shaping defense will protect an Exalt from some of the nastier bits of the metaphysics of other realms. More importantly, even without such protections, the Exalted may always use their powers.

Effects that reduce traits are Crippling effects, and can be healed as such. Some may also be Shaping effects.

Finally, and perhaps obviously, things like the Delirium and the Mists don’t affect the Chosen.

Mage

Sphere Magic is a Shaping Effect, however covert effects do not count as Shaping in and of themselves.

Using Correspondence to pull a gun out of a jacket won’t be shut down by anti-shaping powers. A Life transformation will always be defendable by a personal shaping defense, as the transformation is Shaping, regardless of the vector.

Essence converts to quintessence on a 1 to 5 ratio, 1 to 10 if the quintessence can take advantage of the aspected essence.

The Immortality merit can be nullified by any Exalted charm that can kill spirits. Non-Exalted charms that kill spirits, say CMA, merely damage the soul of the mage.

Vampire

Vampires don’t like the Solar anima, but discounting charms or sorcery, it doesn’t affect them as does the sun. As opposed to the anima of a Fire aspect, which does affect them like fire. This is because, as you may know, it is fire.

The blood of the Exalted is soaked in essence, and can be quite dangerous for vampires to imbibe. Or quite useful. Direct injections of Exalted essence tend to be the same, only moreso. Thankfully, direct injection of Exalted essence usually fades at a point a night.

Sorcery can alter the vampire’s curse. Terrestrial can create minor bloodlines easily, Celestial major bloodlines easily, and Solar... well, who knows?

Drinking Problems

Solar essence can quickly kill a vampire, and for little gain as many would see it. Drinking the blood of a Solar means that the vampire need not, and indeed is not capable of, resting, although the lethargy during daylight is not abated. For each blood point ingested, the vampire need not spend a blood point to rise for one night, although the blood sucker risks the Exalt’s Essence in dice of aggravated damage per blood point ingested. A direct injection of Solar essence does the Exalt’s Essence, or the number of motes transferred in aggravated levels. For perhaps obvious reasons, Solar essence fades from a vampire’s body immediately, and not over several nights.

Weres

Thieving Talons of the Magpie can not steal Exalted Charms or Sorcery.

The Exalted can not carry the nature of any kind of were-creature. They can, however heal deformities of the Metis and the Black Spiral Dancers, although why one of the second group would ever consent to such a healing is a mystery.

No, I’m not going to say anything about the Lunars here. Fnord.

Wraith

The Shadow of a normal Wraith is always treated as having Compassion 1 and no positive intimacies for the purposes of Exalted charms.

Non-abyssals need to develop specialized charms or necromancy spells to fully interact with all of the conditions of Wraiths. Abyssals treat wraiths as mortals, and the Shadow as a rather persistent Crippling effect that continually reasserts itself.

Or, should they infect a wraith with Whispers, the Shadow is a conduit for the even more torpid Neverborn.

Changeling

Once, the Exalted warred with and nearly destroyed the progenitors of the Changelings, drawings oaths from them that echoed across the host, indeed well into the future. Indeed, having defeated the greater fair folk of the past, the powers of the lesser fair folk of the current age are laughable to the Chosen.

An Exalt may undo the effect of a cantrip that affects them by rolling Willpower+Essence. Even the greatest of the Changeling’s works will be undone with four successes, and most require far less.

As a point of scant comfort, the Exalted do not have Banality to undo the Changelings.

Hunters

The Exalted are a strange thing for the Imbued. All of their powers treat the Exalted as nothing more than mortals, at least until the anima comes out.

Then the Exalted can be affected by some of the Imbued’s abilities. Most worryingly for the Hunters, their Edges can not lessen the Exalted. Well, most worryingly once the Hunters know of the Exalted.

Mummy

The Chosen are beyond the Ren hekau, as part of their nature is unfathomably older than the languages of Earth.

Also, see the comment about Mages and Immortality. Mummies suffer in the same way.

Demon

Are wholly different from the Classic World of Darkness.

[AndyZ]

Sounds like a pretty sweet idea.

My question would be, if Exalted have returned to the world and can't help but be noticeably supernatural, is that going to sufficiently mess with the Consensus to remove vulgarity and Paradox from magic?

Edit:

Rereading, looks like you want to definitely push people towards playing Exalts.

Am I correct in thinking that Shellcasters would be reasonable to make as artifact guns but you'd want to hold off on Starcasters and other Blasters?

Can Martial and Martial-Ready Keywords that work for Archery (which includes firewands and such) also be used by Firearms?

Will we be fresh out the box or will we have had enough time to set up a base for things like a volcano to make our own orichalcum?

Can we buy Essence beyond the default?

Sorry to bombard, but I figure that having so many questions will help people besides just me in making sure we understand what you're going for.

[zenpai]

I would really like to try this one but i cant fallow the story line and you got a bunch of stats up.

[Cessali]

I'd suspect the Consensus might be nudged to one direction or the other over the course of play, though what consequences that would have for the greater web of things is anyone's ball.

I'm interested, probably with a spiritual Zenith sort.  How global should we expect these characters to be?

[avorae]

I am interested as well... will come up with a concept as soon as i can

[AndyZ]

I would like to suggest that we try for a full Solar circle.  Jarick wants Zenith and I have partial concepts for whatever else we try for.


Zenpai, here's the basic idea: the World of Darkness is a modern setting with vampires, werewolves, mages and all kinds of other supernatural horrors.  One of them accidentally summons Exaltation shards, from Exalted, which will Exalt ordinary people into basically demigods.

I figure you'll have to have working knowledge of the game Exalted in order to play.  It's going to be very difficult otherwise, especially since the game has LOTS of books out.

[RSGAlex]

Ok, going from the top.

Several questions.

The Exalted are going to definitely mess with the Consensus. Unfortunately, it's not going to be a simple or straightforward thing.

Shellcasters are preferred. If you wanted to make a blaster, it would be really expensive and slow to recharge.  You could, of course, make an artifact charger. My current thought is that a Martial or Martial-Ready charm that works for archery is probably okay for firearms.

You've had several months as an Exalt before the urge to meet up grew very strong. Depending on what you were trying to set up, this may or may not have been enough time. (Orichalcum foundry, possibly within reason. Demense and Manse, out)

Essence can not be purchased during char-gen, but can be purchased afterwards.

How global should we expect these characters to be?

To start, you don't need to be too global, but at least have an eye towards the idea that some day, they'll get there.

[AndyZ]

Okay, so no hearthstones or any Manse rating at start?

[RSGAlex]

Yeah, not to start, although you could take Node or Caern, and then work on making one of those into a manse. Although, depending on how you got it, there may be irate people out for you.

EDIT: You'd treat those places like a demense.

[Jefepato]

I'm interested...definitely want to give those Exalted Modern rules a shot.  Fortunately I only count 4 people responding before me.

If no one else had their heart set on it, I could go for a Twilight caste Solar, although I need to double-check where 667 XP will get me (especially if we're using standard Craft rules).  Failing that, Eclipses are always fun.  (I assume that the Eclipse anima power isn't getting in on the other supernaturals' powers though?)

(Plot-wise I'd find it more interesting to build my own artifacts than muck around with cache eggs anyway, depending how this goes.)

Last time I played in an oWoD/Exalted game, we were all oWoD folks on the business end of an angry Solar, so turning those tables sounds rather nice.

[RSGAlex]

Angry Solar. Ouch.

Also, did I forget craft houserules?

*goes and checks*

Welp.

YOU SEEE NUZZINK! The rules were always there, just badly placed.

And colored transparent. :p

[AndyZ]

I just hope that if you take Twilight, you'll be willing to make us stuff.

Speaking of: RSGAlex, should we assume that we'll be playing out our first-time meeting?

If I go with my Dawn idea, I expect to more set up a base of operations, most likely a tropical island in the Pacific Ocean with a volcano in order to stockpile orichalcum.

My Night caste idea would be more of an assassin, changing the world by taking out decrepit leaders.

I'm not really sure with an Eclipse, but most likely Oathing people into world peace.  My better ideas are either Dawn or Night.

Presumably Eclipses wouldn't learn oWoD abilities but would learn abilities from other Exalt types through their past life mentors, although that's an RSGAlex call.  I would also imagine that the Eclipse "diplomatic immunity" ability would transmute to Stygia, the Umbra and similar areas, but again, RSGAlex gets that decision.  (Hope I haven't overstepped my authority with such suggestions.)

[RSGAlex]

Yeah, you'll play out the first time meeting. Perhaps there will be ninja.

Yeah, the Eclipse oath ability is still in effect, and the diplomatic immunity is too, despite what some spirits might say. The charm learning, well it would depend on your friends.

Because outside of them, you have the strange charms of the modern spirits, and trying to track down one of the 24 spirits that also made it through the gate.

[AndyZ]

Hmmm...my only concern there is that the only way to get shellcasters would be to make them yourself, then, unless we get it done via some other form of correspondence from a crafter or we have one heck of a backstory.  Any way around that?

[Cessali]

He's mentioned previously that a Cache Egg tied to one's Exaltation would be an adequate way of ferrying a small artifact or two within them to one's next incarnation.  Shellcasters seem like an excellent thing to ferry along.

Last question before I dive in: when you say all-XP Build, do you mean that everything starts at a zero (save for Attributes and Virtues at 1 and Essence at 3/4) and we then buy everything up with 667xp?

[RSGAlex]

Technically, a powerful cache egg can carry a whole lot of stuff. Offhand, I think that the biggest one can fit ten cubic yards or so.

Another possible explanation would be that it was done during the post exaltation rush of power. And yeah, Jarick, you have got it.

[AndyZ]

Ah, I figured that the Exalts would be limited to the usual kinds of stuff from cache eggs.  If they can have pretty much whatever we have stats for because Exalts just figured out how to do all sorts of crazy things back in the day, that'll handle that nicely.

Wait, we have to buy EVERYTHING?  Dang.  I thought the 667xp was on top of the base stats for an Exalt.  That's going to take serious planning.

[RSGAlex]

If you look at it, the 667 is about normal Chargen + 300-something exp.

[AndyZ]

No, it 100% makes sense: White Wolf doesn't give any serious balance to their character creation when compared to XP.  I was just momentarily shocked because I hadn't expected it.  Apologies if I came off rude or anything.

[RSGAlex]

I didn't think you were rude. I just wanted to explain my reasoning.

Which is better than the reasoning in ILLBLEED.

[Jefepato]

Angry Solar. Ouch.

Oh, it gets better.  GM decided his anima did count as sunlight.  Somehow the only survivor was the freaking Lasombra.  (For a value of "survivor" that includes torpor.)

I just hope that if you take Twilight, you'll be willing to make us stuff.

Sure.  I mean, taking enough skills to actually craft stuff and then not sharing the joy strikes me as a pretty bad way to make friends here.  And completely unfun compared to, say, experimenting at length with the variety of crazy magic toys I could make.

If we're okay with me going Twilight (and RSGAlex approves me joining the game, it may be bad form to assume) I can start planning a bit how to do this thing XP-wise.  Anything besides core book and Shards we can use?  I think I had my eye on Peerless Paragon of (Element) in GotMH.

I wouldn't mind a benchmark on how good we should be in combat.  I don't intend to be too much of a weak link, but I've seen more than enough of "Twilight with all and only Melee Charms."

[zenpai]

Zenpai, here's the basic idea: the World of Darkness is a modern setting with vampires, werewolves, mages and all kinds of other supernatural horrors.  One of them accidentally summons Exaltation shards, from Exalted, which will Exalt ordinary people into basically demigods.

I figure you'll have to have working knowledge of the game Exalted in order to play.  It's going to be very difficult otherwise, especially since the game has LOTS of books out.

Never heard of it so won't be of any use .

[RSGAlex]

Most things outside of the Scroll of the Monk can be used. It's just assumed that if it's outside the core, and not sorcery, then you managed to invent or reinvent the charm on your own.

As for a benchmark, if you have a base die pool of 6, an excellency, and a penalty negator, you are fairly hot shit for most of the WoD. You only really have to worry about werewolves (because they tend to come in packs), and some of the really old stuff. Especially if you have an artifact weapon or armor.

Bring it up to 9 dice, and a few more combat charms, and even the old monsters are going to be in trouble. Especially if one of the charms is Infinite Mastery.

zenpai, which part of the combination haven't you heard of?

[zenpai]

 Never heard of the whole series! Sorry to waste your time.

[RSGAlex]

No worries.