The irony is I would levy that kind criticism towards the realm with faux Roman aesestics that don't really gell with the more imperial China style it trends towards in its actual fluff.
@EarthScorpion and @Aleph (and me) have levied that criticism against the Realm for ages; like, there is a reason that their Creation doesn't have triremes (and it's not just because it's fucking stupid).
Fundamentally, typical medieval pastiches has nothing to do with being DnD (there is an oriental setting and an arabic setting) and all to do with it being fucking stupid; if you want a 14-16-15th centuries abominable hybrid in Exalted, you're going to explain how it happened and how it interacts with the setting, because that's how Exalted works.
So like, there's not really any disagreement here.
Fundamentally, typical medieval pastiches has nothing to do with being DnD (there is an oriental setting and an arabic setting) and all to do with it being fucking stupid; if you want a 14-16-15th centuries abominable hybrid in Exalted, you're going to explain how it happened and how it interacts with the setting, because that's how Exalted works.
So like, there's not really any disagreement here.
I mean, my mental image when I heard "Vikings in Exalted" involved the fact that their raiding was largely motivated by the poor soil & harsh winters of their homeland, and adapting elements of Norse mythology to the history of Exalted. Lots of consorting with water-spirits and air-spirits to help their ships steer true and keep the winter wind out of their homes, with a few foolish tribes that turned to old gods or demons for aid and ended up practically enslaved, constantly raiding southwards to bring back tribute to their inhuman masters. Maybe a tradition of "god-children" where some clans ritually marry the jarl's firstborn into a local elemental court each generation to uphold the old oaths, so they're essentially led by a caste of elemental-blooded.
Also, the Second Usurpation is definitely the inspiration for the Ragnarok of their oldest eddas, so you can have a cool distorted account of the High First Age and its end - "and so the Five Gods of the Earth rose against the Sonnenkönig and his unruly children, and each Lord visited their death upon him - choked on hemlock from the East-Lord's garden; burnt to ash in the South-Lord's fire; frozen beneath the North-Lord's pitiless, chill sky; buried alive in the Center-Lord's vaults, and last of all, drowned in the West-Lord's boundless waters. The Sonnenkönig's corpse (bright and radiant, even in death) relives these fates each day, in order - and so it moves across the sky as the Lords pass it among themselves, rising from the East-Lord's garden and ending again in the West-Lord's depths."
Then you can have Immaculate priests trying to make inroads by co-opting their religion and saying that no, the Five Gods are totally the Five Dragons, come over here and listen to the good word about their kids, you'll love it (also here's some food if you sit through the sermon.)
Perhaps so, but it's snobbery that has paid dividends.
As a rule of thumb, Exalted tries to avoid standard fantasy terms like kings and knights and taverns; that's why there's a Despot of Gem and the Perfect of Paragon rather than a pair of kings, and this is useful, because words mean things, and when you change the word you change the meaning. For readers, this does a lot to shape the perception of the setting as something exotic and intriguing, and for writers, stepping beyond the standard fantasy milieu forces them to spice things up a bit. It's easy to thoughtlessly sprinkle some knights around, but when 'knights' are off-limits then you have to think about what sort of army the country does have, and that way lies something actually characterful and interesting, such as, for example, ManusDomine's concept on the previous page.
No. No medieval Europe in Creation (especially not the Standard Fantasy Version with 1500s armour, 1600s absolute monarchy, and pseudo-1300s fighting) - and if you steal features from it, use a different aesthetic and a different set of names.
Names do matter. As do looks. A society of serfs ruled over by cataphracts who build fortresses on strategic points of the landscape is different from a society of peasants ruled over by knights who build castles on strategic points, even if you just swapped out the names. It's good to avoid the cognitive shortcuts of the Standard Fantasy Setting at all costs.
(which is why @ManusDomine's use of mixing up various historic Denmarks into something new is the way to go)
I think the setting is aided by avoiding the usual trappings of European Fantasy, rather than harmed.* To continue on with this, I'd suggest using Eastern European, specifically Russia; so we have Boyers instead of the regular nobility, Bogatyrs in place of knights and Streltsy instead of Men-at-Arms etc, as a rough comparison. Not to mention that they have their own look and feel that is more in keeping with the established Northern Aesthetic(tm). With heavy furs over chainmail instead of plate that characterises the North in Exalted, but with a more 'civilised' feel to them.
Heck the time before Russia became united under Ivan the Terrible, First Tsar of Russia, is perfect Exalted Material(tm); there were tons of warring city states in a constant state of low-level competition, perfect for a circle of Solars to either unite or tip over. Another thing to take into consideration is the real-life conflicts between the Russians and the Mongolians, such City States and Principalities would be perfect rivals for the Bull of The North, giving PCs who are aligned with the Bull to fight, and those who would oppose him allies to rally together for a climactic retelling of the Battle of Kulikovo.
*If I had to make a Knightly Civilisation, I'd stick'em near the Haslanti league, dress'em up as Norman Knights in Chain Swathing, with those tear-drop shields and bullet helmets. they are a related people to the guys in Haslanti and several horse riding Ice-walker tribes who intermarried, but they haven't joined up with the Haslanti , though the League is courting them for membership. (they want that sweet sweet Heavy Cavalry Elite Unit.)
Not related to the current topic, but has there been an attempt to bring Magic the Gathering things into Exalted, and if so where? I'm more looking for a narrative sort of conversion than a mechanical one, though a rough equivalence / conversion rate between motes and "Lands" would be great to have.
I'm more looking for a narrative sort of conversion than a mechanical one, though a rough equivalence / conversion rate between motes and "Lands" would be great to have.
Not related to the current topic, but has there been an attempt to bring Magic the Gathering things into Exalted, and if so where? I'm more looking for a narrative sort of conversion than a mechanical one, though a rough equivalence / conversion rate between motes and "Lands" would be great to have.
I agree with sydonai, I can't remember what benefits you get from an uncapped demense but if I recall from previous editions hearthstones formed from manses give you faster more regent which would be both a thematic and mechanical adaptation of them, though I imagine it would be more like the special land cards, and they could also give you speacial benefits, like the land card sliver hive which allows you to make sliver creatures, which is something similar to what you can actually do with a manse if you want.
Thinking about this, if someone were to convert slivers to exalted would they make more sense as a demon or a rakasha?
If you want to trace Slivers back to the core concept, they're more of a Darkbrood Problem than anything else. A magically-created beast of unknown age and origin but extensively modified and adapted to a huge array of varied hazards and environments, but what holds them in check is being extremely centralized around a huge and immobile queen bound to a singular chamber buried deep within the earth guarding a sprawling treasure of untold power. Should the queen ever be killed, her hold on the hive is the only thing standing between the world and extensively a magical grey-goo scenario, where rampaging swarms of slivers will branch out into founding new hives, creating "areas of influence" where they bubble up out of the earth, with regionally-adapted slivers congregating together and no-man's-lands between where they overlap shared traits between themselves and become the apex predators at the cost of decimating all nearby human and animal life which can't keep pace with their evolution.
That's way too much to saddle on one species of demon, and way too organized and coherent of a plot-bomb to present under raksha control.
Magical grey goo is probably an overstatement. Dominaria still has plenty of non-Sliver life even though the Slivers have been loose there for quite a long time. And I think Creation is more resistant to fast-breeding cooperative shapeshifters than Dominaria.
I agree that they probably shouldn't be demons or raksha, though. I'd be inclined to make them one of the races of the Age of Glory, now surviving only in Malfeas.
I agree with sydonai, I can't remember what benefits you get from an uncapped demense but if I recall from previous editions hearthstones formed from manses give you faster more regent which would be both a thematic and mechanical adaptation of them, though I imagine it would be more like the special land cards, and they could also give you speacial benefits, like the land card sliver hive which allows you to make sliver creatures, which is something similar to what you can actually do with a manse if you want.
Thinking about this, if someone were to convert slivers to exalted would they make more sense as a demon or a rakasha?
Being attuned to an uncapped demense allows you to regen motes significantly faster within it.
While, in theory this could work (land-bonding being "just" able to access attuned demenses from a distance), it runs into some issues. Mostly in conversions. Like, how to convert motes to "mana costs" to get a rough idea of parity, how many motes it'd take to get the effect of a MtG card, just as a rough rule of thumb. Because demenses / manses have a meaningful variety of energy rates, making a direct conversion tricky. If anyone's already done the legwork to get a rough idea of conversions, that'd be great, otherwise I'm going to have to pull a VS debate and line up effects with costs and sketch it out myself.
'Cause I mean, come on, 2m = 1 Mana is silly, even accounting for Planeswalkers being mortals and being much less efficient than Exalts.
Also, yeah, manses are definitely special or legendary land cards.
Being attuned to an uncapped demense allows you to regen motes significantly faster within it.
While, in theory this could work (land-bonding being "just" able to access attuned demenses from a distance), it runs into some issues. Mostly in conversions. Like, how to convert motes to "mana costs" to get a rough idea of parity, how many motes it'd take to get the effect of a MtG card, just as a rough rule of thumb. Because demenses / manses have a meaningful variety of energy rates, making a direct conversion tricky. If anyone's already done the legwork to get a rough idea of conversions, that'd be great, otherwise I'm going to have to pull a VS debate and line up effects with costs and sketch it out myself.
'Cause I mean, come on, 2m = 1 Mana is silly, even accounting for Planeswalkers being mortals and being much less efficient than Exalts.
Also, yeah, manses are definitely special or legendary land cards.
There's also the issue that there really isn't a proper scale in magic: Seven Squirrels can deal as much damage as a giant monster(quite possibly more, as the giant monster might not have trample). Abilities are also often not really how things work in universe: one of the sliver abilities allows slivers to leave play if they would be targeted, because they're floating higher than the clouds. This mechanic is also used if you want to remove something from reality. Any mechanical conversion is basically going to be full of arbitrary decisions.
Now, you could try and base it on the flavor of each, but the issue there is that the flavors of the games really don't seem to mesh well.
Seven Squirrels can deal as much damage as a giant monster(quite possibly more, as the giant monster might not have trample). Abilities are also often not really how things work in universe: one of the sliver abilities allows slivers to leave play if they would be targeted, because they're floating higher than the clouds. This mechanic is also used if you want to remove something from reality. Any mechanical conversion is basically going to be full of arbitrary decisions.
Most of this is trying to conceptualize "How does this effect the Planeswalker that represents the Player".
A dozen knives to the face will do as much as a city-wrecking blast because they both kill the Planeswalker.
Magical grey goo is probably an overstatement. Dominaria still has plenty of non-Sliver life even though the Slivers have been loose there for quite a long time. And I think Creation is more resistant to fast-breeding cooperative shapeshifters than Dominaria.
I agree that they probably shouldn't be demons or raksha, though. I'd be inclined to make them one of the races of the Age of Glory, now surviving only in Malfeas.
do you mean making like the sliver queen and the other legendary slivers like behemoths who are capable of creating other smaller adaptable versions of themselves?
Most of this is trying to conceptualize "How does this effect the Planeswalker that represents the Player".
A dozen knives to the face will do as much as a city-wrecking blast because they both kill the Planeswalker.
Doesn't really work, because a dozen knives to the face quite probably does more damage than the blast. Hell, most city wrecking blasts don't do anything to a player(as they aren't creatures). Magic mechanics are really divorced from the fluff, so trying to do a conversion based on those mechanics is going to give really weird results.
This is especially true as the mechanics of the game don't really represent what planeswalkers can currently do, despite theoretically each player being a planeswalker.
Here's a guide I had sitting around that I hadn't posted in this thread - a breakdown of my Oramus Charmset and how to use it.
Firstly, it's important to remember what "the Mad" means to Oramus.
CONCEPT: the Mad
The Dragon Beyond the World calls the delusional and crazed to him. Their skulls are split open by truth, and their eyes stare out at his forbidding cosmos. His music drifts into their fractured minds and fills up their empty vessels. For the purposes of Oramus Charms, the following categories of being count as Mad:
Those cracked and warped in mind. This includes characters with derangements, characters currently suffering from Illusions or Emotions imposed by Unnatural Mental Influence, and any character with an Intimacy of "Fearful Fascination" towards the Infernal.
Those who have glimpsed the terrible unconstrained nature of the impossible reaches of the cosmos. This category includes any character suffering from Nosognosia or who knows any Oramus Charms. Also included are Oramus' misbegotten progeny, Luna, and any of her Chosen who have learned Lunar Charms that invoke the Beyond.
Those consumed by their conflicting passions. This includes characters with at least two Virtues rated at 5, characters whose Motivation opposes a Virtue they have rated at 5, and Exalts experiencing Limit Break.
Those whose very natures are turned on themselves, spurring them to endless writhing futility. Such characters include all raksha and other Creatures of the Wyld. Also included is Oramus' tenebral younger brother and his souls.
Now, you'll notice from that that a few of these categories hit quite a few Exalted characters. Like the "at least two Virtues rated at 5", "all Creatures of the Wyld", "all Lunars who know Charms that make use of the Beyond", or "currently suffering from UMI Illusions and Emotions". The latter is very notable, because it means that a lot of Oramus Charms are set up so if you have access to a source of UMI illusions or emotions, you can "prime" people to use your other charms on them better.
I don't need to suggest the possibilities that opens, do I?
Now, to the Charms:
ANCIENT AND FIRSTBORN - This Charm is a big deal. It's a cheap, easily accessible way to completely no-sell social influence. Someone can literally torture you, but "You will not make me betray my friends" as an oath said to them not only means nothing they do will make you talk, but on top of that they immediately know that you are sincere. This also lets you do things like say "I vow I will not lie to you while I explain what happened here", and use that as a way to persuade someone that yes, you are telling the truth when you say you didn't kill this person and that you were set up - as long as you are telling the truth. Now, on top of that, it's also an instant shounen promise in a bottle. "I will not stop until I have defeated you", you say, and you are forced by your own oath to work your hardest to defeat them, never relaxing. And on top of that, you can choose to break these oaths if they become inconvenient, even if it really fucking hurts.
HORROR BEYOND WHIMSY - Easy upgrade to Ancient and Firstborn so it also no-sells all Shaping that would make you break an oath you've sworn (which always includes anything that would kill or incapacitate you). As long as you have an active oath, bad-touch Shaping just falls off you.
YOU MEAN NOTHING - No-sells Raksha and other Creatures of the Wyld. They literally can't attack you if they have a lower Essence than you. Great if you're going up against Creatures of the Wyld, useless if they're not a meaningful part of your campaign.
ENNUI BEYOND JOY - One of those Yozi Charms you have to be careful with, because of how much it changes your character. At the heart of it, it reworks how Temperance works so rather than it stopping you from indulging in vices, it means you can do so - but you grow bored of them swiftly and you don't engage in vices you're bored of. It's part of how Oramus is the Temperance Yozi, though his Temperance is a "yawn, done it before" kind.
INCHOATE DREAM SNATCHER - One of those things that strip effects on you, behind the pineapple of Ennui Beyond Joy. For just 1m, it makes all Emotions and Illusions affecting you Obvious. Then if you can't break it on your own, you can just spend willpower and eat the Illusion to regen Temperance channels. Oh yeah, and you can do this on other people.
TREASURES BEYOND POSSIBILITY - Hammerspace charm. Functional, useful, also lets you walk into someone's house after being checked for weapons, and swap out your hairband for an explosive kunai.
SLEEP-FORGE GULLET - Essentially, you're now a lucid dreamer who can keep on working when you're asleep. Store books in your dreams and read them during the night. Practice with your weapons. Craft things.
INESCAPABLE VISIONS - Area social attack tool. Whenever you sleep, make people dream what you dream and you can use that to social fu them. Niche unless you're playing a wandering preacher.
DREAMLANDS HEATH EXHALATION - Geomancy charm. Make a twisted area of landscape Outside of Fate where everyone dreams the social attack you made to make it every night. Oh yes, and on top of that it gets bigger if Mad people live in it.
PATHS OUTSIDE WISDOM - It's just a super-useful travel speed booster. At minimum you're going to be travelling 3 times faster over long distances, and given how much Oramus incentivises high Temperance, you can easily get up to 7-8x faster. Plus, you can repurchase it to take other people with you, and repurchase it again so no one can follow you (or people you take with you). Notably, does have a chance of putting people who travel with you into hysterics, because you're basically going through creepy twisted parallel dimensions.
BOUNDARY OF THE POSSIBLE - Perfect dodge and a flurrybreaker. Good at what it does. Not much more to say.
SCALES OF STRANGER STARS - Grow a coat of stony dragon scales. Become immune to all environmental hazards and environmental effects. Note that mechanically, things like explosions are resolved as environmental hazards in Exalted - and so would too things like "clouds of poisonous gas".
SOUP OF THE PROFOUND - Hobo soup dragon Charm. Make edible meals that'll feed a large number of people for an entire day from whatever you find lying around. If people rely entirely on this for food, they'll go a bit mad and start getting Oramus mutations.
GRANITE DRAKE'S HIDE - Remember how Scales of Stranger Stars was a really good defence? This upgrades it so no one can give you any Crippling effects while it's active. It is literally impossible to cut off your arm. Or steal your eyes. On top of that, you can even spend WP when activating it to negate Crippling effects currently affecting you so your stone dragon parts make replacements.
MONSTROUS PENNONS FLUTTERING - You can grow weird comet wings. You can fly. Plus, on top of that, use the wings to fly through other dimensions and teleport miles.
WRAPPED IN TATTERED WINGS - A cheap and fast and solid disguise charm - with the cost that you need to disguise yourself as something that isn't common to the area and if anyone sees through the disguise it fails.
WREATHED BY PORTENTS - Firstly, it makes you a hole in Fate who ruins any attempts to tell the future around you when you anima flare. But more than that, it also imposes Instability penalties on anyone around you, which means when you're flaring it's actually really hard to fight you in hand to hand if you don't have perfect balance.
METEORIC SHOWER BOMBARDMENT - Attack multiplication Charm. Turn one arrow into lots. Clone of that Solar Archery effect.
OMEN CLOUDBURST - Make any attack you make explode in an environmental hazard of omen weather. Make your regular kunai work like explosive kunai. Punch someone and also leave them burnt by a sudden frost or covered in a rain of blood.
HARBINGER OF DESOLATION - Weapon creation Charm. Fire comets from your eye or throw javelins of cosmic energy or have orbs of strange stars floating over your head which target foes. Mechanically, treated as a single moonsilver artefact ranged weapon of your choice - so, say, your eyeball comet might hit like a Moonsilver Long Powerbow. Also, any attack with this is enhanced for free by Omen Cloudburst. It's basically a really good signature weapon making effect, especially if you don't have an easy access to artefact weapons
WYRM OF THE FAR REACHES SHINTAI - Do you want to turn into a dragon who's also a comet? 'Course you do. It's a combat shintai that's flat out immune to mundane attacks, that can move through things (like walls and trees) as if it was immaterial, trails a killing ice storm behind it, and oh yes, also tears a hole in Fate.
MADDENING ASTRAL PIPING - This is the other root charm, and it's not as immediately useful as Ancient and Firstborn. It also drives you mad, but you've got it under control. However, it is a nasty little subtle tool, as you can use it to precisely drive people into hysterics - and even if they're not persuaded by your arguments, the things you're saying to them are a vector for madness. It's a weapon in your arsenal to discredit or disable people who you can't socially-fu the honest way, because you can share forbidden knowledge with them and make them have a psychotic break. Just don't run out of Temperance channels or you lose control of your own madness.
MADMAN'S INSIGHT - Hear immaterial things as if they were material, and anyone who's Mad is Obvious to you (though not why they're Mad). At a cost, you take Awareness penalties from hearing skittering unseen things if you can't currently hear music, and you have problems explaining why you're doing things.
GLORIOUS COSMIC MELODIES - AESS-alike. Study and understand essence patterns, just by hearing them.
ECHOES OF ENLIGHTENMENT - Hear prayers to you. Play music to social-attack people back down the prayer-strings. Very much a cult-leader or idol Charm.
WHISPERS IN DARK MINDS - Carry out 15 minutes of investigation in seven seconds, and ignore all external penalties. Someone hiding the evidence or obscuring what happened here gives an external penalty to investigators. It's literally a Sherlock Charm - you can glance at a scene and work out what happened here. However, as a downside, if you would have failed if the external penalties applied, you can't tell anyone why you know what happened without botching the explanation. Ooops. Unless they're Mad... oh wait~ Guess you'll have to drive people mad so you can explain your logic to them.
THAT DAMNED INSPIRATION - Quite an esoteric Charm, but it basically lets you make blueprints for things that haven't ever been made before. Admittedly, it makes you look crazy, but still it can help quite a lot with crafting and sorcery design.
THAT HORRIFIC WISDOM - Success doubler for social attacks that try to "instruct, educate or reveal truths to a character". That's good. Really good. For 2-4m, you can turn a 4 success social attack into an 8 success one. Or a 6 success into a 12 success one.
SANITY-SHATTERING INSTRUCTION - Charm for making mad cultists who study you for enlightenment and basically go all Lovecraft/Bloodborne on you. Quite deep down the "mad cult leader" themes, but hey, it's a way to mutate people so they learn things they couldn't before... and enlighten their essence.
ASCENSION'S LULLABY - Let people turn into 1CD demons. Makes demons, also makes your followers into immortal demons. Niche, more of a cult leader thing.
ENDLESSLY WAILING FLUTIST - A nice little passive booster that means you can reflexively make music (and so keep playing even when doing other things), that you ignore penalties from inadequate musical instruments (you can flawlessly substitute in improvised instruments), and you use Performance instead of Appearance for musical attacks (no need to be pretty if you can play well).
THOSE TWIRLING FIGURES - Lets you control entire crowds' movement just by playing music. Lets you Pied Piper groups of people away from - or into - danger
COMPOSER OF THE NUMINOUS - Mote pool expander which is refilled by playing music or writing music. Also, lets you use time writing music as sleep.
FEARFULLY REVEALING WALTZ - If people can hear your music, there's no difference between immaterial and material. Oh, and by the way, remember that as per Endlessly Wailing Flutist, you can do other things while playing music. Lets you enable your allies to fight immaterial spirits, or bring a bunch of immaterial demons to the battle and then play music so they can punch the mortals.
SONOROUS FORBIDDING CHANT - Can be used in combat time to force things to flee your presence - like, say, enemies (or civilians to get them away from the fight).
CHOIR OF THE FAR COSMOS - Summon cosmic horrors that are about as powerful as a 1CD by playing music. Basically Dot1C as a native Oramus Charm
ACTION BEYOND THOUGHT - Put mental triggers in people which force them to act in ways later on. Works better against Mad people.
PREACHERBORNE DELUSIONS - Rewrite the memories of people. Works better against Mad people. Notice a theme here?
SOCIETY-BREAKING TRUTHS - Twist the ways entire societies act by revealing lies or telling truths. Or smaller social groups. A slightly more limited Taboo Inflicting Diatribe.
THAT CRAZED KING - Appear crazy but harmless to people who aren't Mad, and not a real threat. Appear like a terrifying and wise figure who must be appeased to people who are Mad. Can be repurchased so this also hits things like drawings of you.
LORD OF ASYLUMS - Get overdrive motes by leading mad armies. Probably not much use for a ninja.
FACELESS PROPHET SHINTAI - Become Nyarlathotep. Tear off your face to reveal the Beyond. Drive people who look at you mad, even Exalts. Get the best Awareness effect in the game active as long as you keep this Charm up and completely no-sell any deception aimed at you.
So, when picking Oramus Charms, remember that he's basically kind of a Zenith-Twilight fusion. He's got some crafting stuff, a lot of social stuff, investigation and occult stuff, and a fair bit of resistance, integrity and survival stuff (though coming at it from a funny angle). He's not really a combat Yozi, which is why most of his effects are more ranged combat-y.
From Ancient and Firstborn, the Wandering Dragon (for travelling and also for the really good defences) things and the Nuclear Chaos (for a solid ranged combat bunch of Charms) are a good place to look. This stuff is less madness based, and has fewer aesthetic issues. If you don't mind being an omen-weather dragon.
From Maddening Astral Piping, the Mad Prophet Charms (for the very nasty Solar-grade social effects) and the Voice of Insight Charms (but only dipping, for the investigation and spirit-knowledge effects) are good choices. The Mad Prophet things in particular are a tight Solaroid-level set of social effects. Plus, at the E5 capstone you get to become Nyarlathotep. Always fun.
do you mean making like the sliver queen and the other legendary slivers like behemoths who are capable of creating other smaller adaptable versions of themselves?
You could do that, but that's not really what I had in mind. I meant that slivers would be one of the ancient races that inhabited Creation before the Exalted, alongside the Lintha and the Alaun and the Dragon Kings and the humans.
My thought on Whispers in Dark Minds was always less Sherlock and more Adam West Batman. Sherlock at least usually did some investigation and could explain his conclusions in a non-insane manner. Adam West Batman walks in, thinks on the case, and spouts an inane line of logic that turns out to be completely correct.
Also a bit surprised you didn't talk on Essence Impossible.
JoeBobjoe: I can actually see that, my mind immeidately leaps tot that scene in the Adam West batman moie where they deduce that the Joker, Riddler, Penguin and Catwoman had teamed up.
It had such brilliant insights as "The attack happened at Sea...C for cat-woman!" "...but that exploding shark was pulling my leg" "The Joker?"
I really like "Fearfully Revealing Waltz". It's not just useful, but if you know what's going on, you can just put wax in your hears to defend yourself!
Wanted to try and post a Merit I came up with a while ago for running organization:
Executive Leadership: (•• to •••••, N/A at Story Teller discretion)—Story
This merit may be purchased multiple times with diminishing returns up to a total of dots 10 dots of merits (the leader of powerful organizations can not have their attention spread too thin, or they risk losing them) This Merit can only be purchased at character creation with ST permission and by a player who exceeds the prerequisites by 2
The Character is either the head of an organization or a member of an organizations ruling council, either of their own making or one that they gained from another character, by being the natural successor or through hostile takeover, the nature of which must be defined upon gaining the merit. Executive Leadership represents the backgrounds that the character wields and that they benefit from as the head of a potentially powerful organization that they are able to call on for as long as they can maintain their position, as well as a means for a character to increase their own merits outside the organization, but it also represents the strength of the organization itself, which, once defined through the merit, has a life of its own, and although the player may either increase it in greatness or diminish into obscurity by the dint of their own ability or incompetence respectively, once they are no longer the head of said organization, either through retiring or by being made to retire, the organization does not vanish but simply continues at its current level under its new leadership.
Two-Dot Executive Leadership represents:
The character has sole leadership of a small organization with Influence and power throughout a city district or an entire town.
Or
The character is a member of a collaborative leadership, as a member of an executive council, city spanning organization that has significant influence within their city or forms the connection between several towns.
Three-Dot Executive Leadership represents:
The character has sole leadership of a city spanning organization that has significant influence within their city or forms the connection between several towns.
Or
The character is a member of a collaborative leadership, as a member of an executive council, of a large organization whose power and influence is felt throughout the region and begins to resemble a government in of itself rivaling the resources of a city.
Four-Dot Executive Leadership represents:
The character has sole leadership of a large organization whose power and influence is felt throughout the region and begins to resemble a government in of itself rivaling the resources of a city.
Or
The character is a member of a collaborative leadership, as a member of an executive council, of an organization that has influence and power that stretches beyond to the nearer parts of adjacent regions whose leader holds the power of a king in their own direction despite not having a state, and is treated as an honored dignitary in others. shared leadership in a creation spanning organization
Five-Dot Executive Leadership represents:
The character has sole leadership of an organization that has influence and power that stretches beyond to the nearer parts of adjacent regions whose leader holds the power of a king in their own direction despite not having a state, and is treated as an honored dignitary in others. shared leadership in a creation spanning organization
Or
The character is a member of a collaborative leadership, as a member of an executive council, of a creation spanning organization, with power and influence that is felt in all the other directions
N/A Executive Leadership:
The character has sole leadership of a creation spanning organization, with power and influence that is felt in all the other directions
Or
The character is a member of a collaborative leadership, as a member of an executive council, of an organization who's influence goes beyond just influencing the five terrestrial directions but extends to even the celestial directions as well.
Example: A Guild Higher-arch
The benefits of each level of merit will vary based on what the ST decides is appropriate for the nature of the organization, however all organizations provide the benefit of an administration and bureaucratic structure to help maintain the organization, influence equal to the level of the EL merit as the head of a famous organization, and they decrease the difficulty of increasing other merits through projects by the level of the merit/2 round up for characters who have sole leadership of an organization, and decrease it by level of merit for characters who are a part of a ruling council.
If the resources that can be gained by the higher ranks of this merit seem large, it is important to remember that the difference between a character with two dots of Executive Leadership and N/A is the same as the difference between a guy who inherited the family's trading company he runs with his siblings, and a guild higher-arch.
Pre-reqs:
Before starting an organization at any level the character must have at least four of the following at at-least the level of the intended organization
Command, Contacts, Cult, Followers, Influence, Resources, or Retainer, however if the player has backing, mentor, or ally at the rank the intended of any of the prerequisite merits at a rank higher than the intended level they may count the merit as meeting two of the prerequisites, and an additional level for each level it exceeds the target.
Nature of administration:
Sole El
Level two - Grants the character's administration 100 npc's with level 1 backing in the administration, 10 npc's with level 2 backing, and 1 npc with level 3 backing each holding the abilities of followers, advanced followers and a level 2 retainer respectively
Level three - Grants the administration 1000 npc's with level 1 backing in the administration, 100 npc's with level 2 backing and 10 npc's with level 3 backing, each holding the abilities of followers, advanced followers and a level 2 retainer respectively
Level four - Grants the character 10,000 npc's with level 2 backing (Because at this point the organization is large enough that what would have been level 1 in a smaller org is now level 2), 1000 npc's with level 3, and 100 npc's with level 4 backing, each holding the abilities of followers, advanced followers and a level 2 retainer respectively
Level five - Grants the character with 100,000 npc's with level 2 backing, 10,000 npc's with level 3 backing, and 1000 npc's with level 4 backing, each holding the abilities of followers, advanced followers and a level 2 retainer respectively, and an additional 100 npc's with level 4 backing and the stats of a level 4 retainer,
N/A - the size of the administration is beyond reckoning
Cooperative EL
Everything just happens one level earlier
The player may also supplement these levels with followers (which the merit allows them to have at up to level 5), retainers, and other such merits that create individuals loyal to the character and in fact it is encouraged, since npcs with backing in your organization would be loyal to the organization and not the player, which could lead to the potential for a hostile takeover.
Other ways of preventing hostile takeovers is through the use of eclipse oaths, blackmail, bribes, influence, and anything you can think of to maintain control.
Any character with backing at the appropriate level (as determined by the st) in an organization may start to make moves toward gaining Executive leadership in said organization
Doesn't really work, because a dozen knives to the face quite probably does more damage than the blast. Hell, most city wrecking blasts don't do anything to a player(as they aren't creatures). Magic mechanics are really divorced from the fluff, so trying to do a conversion based on those mechanics is going to give really weird results.
This is especially true as the mechanics of the game don't really represent what planeswalkers can currently do, despite theoretically each player being a planeswalker.
