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General Exalted Thread

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Indivisible said:
@Lioness I don't think I have any of the Realm setting books so that's interesting information. I definitely think some Dragon-blooded would be into it because roughly 1/5 have Survival as an Aspect ability and pigeons were so central to old-time communications.
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Exploiting an animal's pre-existing homing instinct is a pretty low bar for a survival focused Dragon-Blooded, one of my PCs recently convinced a wild bat he found in a cave to deliver a message for him by offering it food.

The main value in messenger pigeons would be those communications that don't have a Dragon-Blooded on either end but are nevertheless important.
 
Feel free to tell me to shuffle off, but not many people play 2E these days so:

It is I, the infamous and maligned ChrisARose/Touch of Sepia! Ready again to launch into my slightly grimdark world of Exalted*. See spoiler for the spiel.

The prior two installments chewed through a cast of ~20 players, though only a handful endured through the full length of either run. Each leg ran in and around:

The Silver Princes: August 2014 till around July 2016The Silver Princes Awash in Crimson | Obsidian Portal

This story took place within the court of the Devil Princes, first mentioned in Masters of Jade. It explored the oddities of my own takes on Lathe, Golden Seal, and Locke. The realms of the Underworld and Malfeas were visited on occasion as deemed appropriate to PC need. These focused on my own take on the vast domain of the First and Forsaken Lion and a region of the Labyrinth for the Underworld. In terms of the daemon realm a Malfean shard/Szoreny pocket universe/ and the Malfean Tabernacle were visited. Over the course of the adventure PC's were killed and chased quite literally out of the game for particularly poor choices in character. Millions died to PC mismanagement of resources and the alien motivations that prevented them from unifying their efforts in any one direction. Ultimately, with a nudge from a PCs, Qaf committed assisted suicide to see new vistas withheld to him for so long (PC died too, suicide pact style), the Realm waged open war and discovered the long hidden realm of the Devil Princes, Locke was infiltrated and corrupted, a trial was held against a chosen of SWLiHN and near to twenty Infernals attended, and many other events besides.

The Dragons Shattered: August 2016 to current (with one player)

The Dragons Shattered | Obsidian Portal

The second story opens with questions about the Skyfall. This was later discovered to be the Joten of Qaf falling from Hell to cut the dragonlines of Creation in twain. The East sends sickened wood essence to the rest of Creation through withered veins and those in the know prepare for great famine and sickness to take hold. The PC's are unaware for the majority of the game and instead serve the leadership of Gem and foment a war with Paragon (that many wanted anyways). Before that could be accomplished, fallout from the Skyfall touched them even so far West as an ancient First Age experimental weapons manse reawoke and began to conduct it's mission unattended. It was found to be an answer to possible problems related to Wyldhand, but the Lunar elder that had once been part of the project did not stay long after taking the AI core. The manse soon melted down and much technology and lore was lost. This sorrow could not long be dwelled on, as a PC tipped off the Wyldhunt to the party and all soon had to flee their wroth. This led them to Chiaroscuro and ultimately trapped them in the machinations of Grandmother Bright. An ancient first age bank was discovered, raided, and it's wealth never used. The fallout of Grandmother Bright leaving the city was not investigated - as there was some rush to head East to the Nameless Lair (which is really rather akin to Versailles and MaHa rather the more French beggar-king romantic in my game). Countless other events transpired as well.

Some things to get out of the way as well, since I am openly a lovable bastard - but also a bitter,demanding fellow.

Players are actors first, they are not bound to be perfect circle mates and can fight over resources and npcs as they see fit, as dictated by their personal motivations/intimacies. Expect the game to pay mind to socio-political themes, the responses of kingdoms to the waves the Exalted make – even then, do not expect anything to stand still. This will be a living game that moves forward regardless of where the player spotlight is currently shining. The game is comparable to Elder Scrolls for its sandbox nature, but also Wheel of Time or Game of Thrones for the change of perspective as the players travel together and break into smaller groups to pursue their individual vendettas. Combat is not likely to be a major focus of this campaign – in that when dealing with such powerful beings as Exalted you go big or you go home. Sometimes you will receive bribes, sometimes employment, sometimes threats and sometimes armies could be mobilized to turn your eyes to less difficult regions. Do not expect to roll into powerful nations and pull them under your sway without long months of real time work – and even then, this will take excellent role play to achieve.

This game expects invested players that are ready to write readily and often. Those who do not meet expectations will be informed in a kindly manner and if such behavior continues, a replacement will be sought. This is not for the faint of heart or the casual RPer. Please only seek to contact the group if you are interested in a story rich game focused on the lives of the characters. Thematically, this game will be close to Conan/"Sand and Sandals" or Hercules. Those proscribing to Gurren Lagann'esk themes and views of the setting at large will be removed.

This game is planned to start up in roughly two months. Time enough for me to flesh out a few more regions in the Greater South and incorporate/vet player backstories. I'm a bastard. I require solid backstories of 800+ and give myself the right to offer critic and suggestion. I'll write up an opening blurb in coming days to wrap a backstory around, for now know that it will be in the South and centered around the resurgence of a pact of Lunars that have long held themselves apart from the Silver Pact but also Ahlat's "Great War" brewing in the Region. Expect to spend much time around the Dreaming Sea and Kamthahar. Lunars and Abyssals** are preferred - but I'm open to other concepts if they are similiarly solid. We would be using TAW for Lunars and starting EXP would be pretty high (like 350 or some shit, so you'd be established Exalts/gods/Raksha with strong backgrounds).

If you have questions as I'm firming this up, please message me at christopher.a.rose on Skype. I'll create a big chatroom and people will drop in and out as we move through the process. I run a tight ship and I'm a hardass, but most say I run a good game. I invite them to comment if they wish.

*The way I run it, obviously not in general.** You'll need to work with me on this. I have a lot of content that's different from normal and the Deathlord served would likely not be one you'd be familiar with. I also frown deeply upon "free" deathknights. The closest I've had is Dirge (from the Exalted Art Backers, guy with Violin) and he was really closer to a military contractor.
 
greensun said:
Hmm? Sorry, can't hear you over the sound of Messanger parrots, who don't carry piece of paper, but repeat the message to you.
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Which you then have to kill, because they know your secret message and if someone gets access to them, they can get the information from in exchange for a treat. And now you have to train another homing parrot.
 
greensun said:
Hmm? Sorry, can't hear you over the sound of Messanger parrots, who don't carry piece of paper, but repeat the message to you.
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Rather have a written message where I can be reasonably sure the message was not garbled by the parrot mishearing or the sender misspeaking. And which can be encoded into a cipher.
Sure, it requires that literacy be a thing, but that's a bonus, not a drawback, since only a literate interloper would be able to intercept it.
 
I have been thinking about Elemental courts and how they seem to be less useful summoning to a Sorcerer. And even their metaphysical identity seems to be nonexistent and than I hit on an idea from Naruto of all places.

Anybody whom has seen the Naruto knows what is a summon but for of you whom does not know it is when a Ninja signs a Contract with an animal clan and after proving themselves, agreeing upon a price etc. can summon anybody from that clan with a summoning jutsu.

I am guessing you guys know where I am going with this. ;)

Anyway what if the invidual elemental courts could make similar contracts? It is clearly the superior option especially if these contract add a bit protection to invidual elemental (essentially you can only summon the clan representive if you are not already a contract holder) Not only just that but the court as a whole can negotiate price for their service (In Naruto Toad Boss merely asks to share a drink with his summoner while Snake ask for 100 human sacrifices)

More to point from gamedesign prespective; creating such contracts would be sorcery but once contract created it can be passed to non sorcerers as a charm making them a different beast from another flavor of demon summoning.

Hell it would even give you an incentive to create invidual clans of elemental courts.

It also gives Courts an identity in the same vein as Solars being the rulers of the creation while Gods are the menagers. In this case Elementals are the Merceneries of the creation.

So anybody thinks this is a good idea?
 
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Rook said:
Who are you again
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Sorry, been too busy running Exalted for the last decade to spend all that much time on forums. When I do come on it's mostly about charms, new demons, stories or location write ups I've done. Or I guess letting people know about a new two year story I'm starting up. Productive stuff I'm sharing with the community, sorry you've missed it. But caught me this time, so that's cool :)

But ya, I don't come on here much so use the r/exalted or skype link to get into contact with me. I'll head on out now.

I know it's a rhetorical question and you don't care. Just shit posting, but since that's not productive, figured I'd actually play ball.
 
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Touch of Sepia said:
Sorry, been too busy running Exalted for the last decade to spend all that much time on forums. When I do come on it's mostly about charms, new demons, stories or location write ups I've done. Or I guess letting people know about a new two year story I'm starting up. Productive stuff I'm sharing with the community, sorry you've missed it. But caught me this time, so that's cool :)

But ya, I don't come on here much so use the r/exalted or skype link to get into contact with me. I'll head on out now.

I know it's a rhetorical question and you don't care. Just shit posting, but since that's not productive, figured I'd actually play ball.
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No, I mean, I literally did not know who you were, and was wondering why you'd introduce yourself as "infamous". That was really it.
 
Touch of Sepia said:
[snip]
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While Touch of Sepia can be a bit of a grumpy bear he is actually a pretty great guy.

I was in the previous game, which this one is a sequel to, and can confidently say it was the best rpg I have been involved in. All the players worked together to create a rich and fleshed out world, filling in some of those gaps in the map of Creation with diverse and interesting cultures and NPCs.

It can be a lot of work, trying to really get into the head of the character you play and the culture they come from. Things happened in the narrative that I really wanted to undo but couldn't. Actions did have consequences even if they weren't always fun ones. The game was better for that though, and when we accomplished something it felt like an actual accomplishment.

Touch of Sepia's games are different from a lot of the usual fare but they are consistently good if you take them on their own terms rather than expect them to conform to some nebulous standard of what an average game of Exalted is like.
 
Searching for two from here.

One is a clan of squid women who act as socialites and have charms and thaumaturgy to curse those who insult them.

Another is a breed of dog that acts as alchemists.
 
Touch of Sepia said:
Over the course of the adventure PC's were killed and chased quite literally out of the game for particularly poor choices in character. Millions died to PC mismanagement of resources and the alien motivations that prevented them from unifying their efforts in any one direction.
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Hey, just for the record digging up old OOC drama as evidence of how your game is so hardcore is not a good look.

Exthalion said:
While Touch of Sepia can be a bit of a grumpy bear he is actually a pretty great guy.

I was in the previous game, which this one is a sequel to, and can confidently say it was the best rpg I have been involved in. All the players worked together to create a rich and fleshed out world, filling in some of those gaps in the map of Creation with diverse and interesting cultures and NPCs.

It can be a lot of work, trying to really get into the head of the character you play and the culture they come from. Things happened in the narrative that I really wanted to undo but couldn't. Actions did have consequences even if they weren't always fun ones. The game was better for that though, and when we accomplished something it felt like an actual accomplishment.

Touch of Sepia's games are different from a lot of the usual fare but they are consistently good if you take them on their own terms rather than expect them to conform to some nebulous standard of what an average game of Exalted is like.
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I'm not going to try and invalidate your experiences Exthalion, but after the subtle dig in Sepia's post I feel like I should note that calling him 'grumpy' is underselling it quite a bit unless he's mellowed out substantially since I played with him. Looking back over some of my chat logs, my experience is kind of summed up with this one I sent to one of the other players: "He 'runs a tight ship' like we're unruly children to be controlled. He 'just wants to tell a good story' like it's only his to tell." The rest of the group was fun, but this grated on me so much that I left after the second or third time it became a thing rather than put everyone else through that. If this is what he's talking about when he then turns around and says 'I chased someone out of the game for poor decisions', then let people be aware of that going in.
 
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Tasoli said:
It also gives Courts an identity in the same vein as Solars being the rulers of the creation while Gods are the menagers. In this case Elementals are the Merceneries of the creation.

So anybody thinks this is a good idea?
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Honestly I think it's more...

Tbh the role of Elementals has never been particularly clearly defined and there's honestly not much to separate them out from Gods so, in my stuff at least (yeah yeah the YCMV caveat yeah), I ended up just treating them as a particular kind of god. Almost wholly terrestrial and running the gamut from "basically animalistic, kinda like pokemon" to full on sapient. But I do think that- hrm. I do like the idea of Sorcerers making contracts with Elementals but I honestly don't think you need to give the Court thing much weight to make it work (and I'm not especially fond of that since iirc it's kinda just "they have courts like gods but they're less prestigious and also not like gods, how are they different? Well like we said they're less prestigious and also fuck you"). Rather you just need to lean into the in-setting implications and, uh, explications?

Demons are dangerous, immensely useful, but inherently suspect things. They're alien, terrifying, and rarely hold any kind of actual love for their summoners and it's in their nature to be -hah- hellraisers. They're tempters and Sorcerers must constantly be on guard less they fall prey to their machinations or lend credence to their lies and whispers. There's got to be all kinds of restrictions on what you can and can't do with them and when. Summoning them is also waaaay more of a production since their prison-dimensions is deliberately estranged from Creation, separated by the Endless desert and generally whenever unbound demons escape they tend to tear shit up. Someone who summons demons should be, IC I think, treated as...well as a creepy, kinda-pulp-but-ideally-less-racially-coded cultist who's associated with all kinds of sinister things.

Similarly while the Dead aren't literally sealed away in their own private hell-dimension and the Underworld exists a lot nearer to the waking world, but at the same time they're impure. Spiritually tainted and unclean. And kinda made all the worse for so many of them very clearly having once been human and those who were never human are quite literally walking nightmares. And that's on top of Necromancers dealing with graveyards and battlefields and all kinds of ominous, eerie shit that makes most people viscerally uncomfortable and the whole thing is sorta suspect even if the dude/girl in question is legitimately just a decent person.

But elementals? Elementals are great. Elementals are very clearly and obviously Of Creation (thus a plus), they're largely just animals and can be trained, tamed, or partnered with without having to be watched just in case they fuck off to go skin some cats or accidentally corrupt a god's shrine into rust and dust (double plus), and they've got overt associations with the Elemental Dragons (huuuuge plus). And I think in that context Sorcerers and even mortal thaumaturges should absolutely be bonding with and, like, doing the Pokemon Trainer thing with elementals. A would-be sorcerer raising his weird leaf-raptor from a tiny hatchling of green scales and petal-plumage, to a loyal dinosaur monster that can slice through stone with its armblades should be something the system enables.

And I think that context kinda works y'know? A Sorcerer who trucks heavily with elementals is very obviously not to be trifled with but is also an august and powerful person who can command Creation itself. They are something to hold in awe, to respect if not revere. Whereas a demonologist or necromancer is to be feared and, if not shunned, then at least kept at a healthy distance by most depending on how obvious they are about it.
 
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But at that point if the only difference is elementals are less icky, why choose anything else
TenfoldShields said:
Honestly I think it's more...

Tbh the role of Elementals has never been particularly clearly defined and there's honestly not much to separate them out from Gods so, in my stuff at least (yeah yeah the YCMV caveat yeah), I ended up just treating them as a particular kind of god. Almost wholly terrestrial and running the gamut from "basically animalistic, kinda like pokemon" to full on sapient. But I do think that- hrm. I do like the idea of Sorcerers making contracts with Elementals but I honestly don't think you need to give the Court thing much weight to make it work (and I'm not especially fond of that since iirc it's kinda just "they have courts like gods but they're less prestigious and also not like gods, how are they different? Well like we said they're less prestigious and also fuck you"). Rather you just need to lean into the in-setting implications and, uh, explications?

Demons are dangerous, immensely useful, but inherently suspect things. They're alien, terrifying, and rarely hold any kind of actual love for their summoners and it's in their nature to be -hah- hellraisers. They're tempters and Sorcerers must constantly be on guard less they fall prey to their machinations or lend credence to their lies and whispers. There's got to be all kinds of restrictions on what you can and can't do with them and when. Summoning them is also waaaay more of a production since their prison-dimensions is deliberately estranged from Creation, separated by the Endless desert and generally whenever unbound demons escape they tend to tear shit up. Someone who summons demons should be, IC I think, treated as...well as a creepy, kinda-pulp-but-ideally-less-racially-coded cultist who's associated with all kinds of sinister things.

Similarly while the Dead aren't literally sealed away in their own private hell-dimension and the Underworld exists a lot nearer to the waking world, but at the same time they're impure. Spiritually tainted and unclean. And kinda made all the worse for so many of them very clearly having once been human and those who were never human are quite literally walking nightmares. And that's on top of Necromancers dealing with graveyards and battlefields and all kinds of ominous, eerie shit that makes most people viscerally uncomfortable and the whole thing is sorta suspect even if the dude/girl in question is legitimately just a decent person.

But elementals? Elementals are great. Elementals are very clearly and obviously Of Creation (thus a plus), they're largely just animals and can be trained, tamed, or partnered with without having to be watched just in case they fuck off to go skin some cats or accidentally corrupt a god's shrine into rust and dust (double plus), and they've got overt associations with the Elemental Dragons (huuuuge plus). And I think in that context Sorcerers and even mortal thaumaturges should absolutely be bonding with and, like, doing the Pokemon Trainer thing with elementals. A would-be sorcerer raising his weird leaf-raptor from a tiny hatchling of green scales and petal-plumage, to a loyal dinosaur monster that can slice through stone with its armblades should be something the system enables.

And I think that context kinda works y'know? A Sorcerer who trucks heavily with elementals is very obviously not to be trifled with but is also an august and powerful person who can command Creation itself. They are something to hold in awe, to respect if not revere. Whereas a demonologist or necromancer is to be feared and, if not shunned, then at least kept at a healthy distance by most depending on how obvious they are about it.
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rogthnor said:
But at that point if the only difference is elementals are less icky, why choose anything else
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I mean...that's not really what I'm saying? "Elementals should have some in-setting perks to justify why people would want to summon them" =/= "Nobody Should Summon Anything Else". It's kinda like saying "since demons are so useful why would anyone summon anything else" which is sorta what- I mean that's kinda the implicit problem that was posed and I tried to address. :V

But off the top of my head: demons are more focused on individual utility and are literally task-based in design so as long as you know what demon breed you need for a given task you're going to have a self-aware, self-directed, self-motivated tool to carry it out and if you can deal with/offset their weird idiosyncrasies/the fallout isn't really your problem then it's not something you're super concerned with. Necrotic essence is readily accessible, easy enough to generate on its own, and ghosts are, if not plentiful necessarily, definitely around and almost all the ones you want to deal with have some seed of something fundamentally human left in them so they're easier to actually talk to. And signing a contract with an Elemental or otherwise bonding with one is a long-term investment and general commitment in time, energy, power, study, etc. etc.

Beyond that, like, an Elemental is a suite of -well- elemental themed abilities and not all of them are going to do exactly what you want them to do either so as a Sorcerer who deals with them for power you've got to, at times, get pretty creative with the toolset you have. But honestly I don't see why "as a political thing, elementals as native creatures of Creation and ones with an overt connection to the Immaculate Dragons should be more acceptable to summon and bargain with and bond with than literal Demons from no-shit Hell" is a super contentious thing? The whole question of "how much slavery is involved in demon-summoning" aside.
 
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The group's mascot, I want her to be an Exigent of a star god since Sidereal can't throw giant spinning galaxies at people (so much for being the Chosen of the Star)

 
Violation of Rule 3 - Extreme Condescension Is Not Civil
SerGregness said:
"He 'runs a tight ship' like we're unruly children to be controlled. He 'just wants to tell a good story' like it's only his to tell." The rest of the group was fun, but this grated on me so much that I left after the second or third time it became a thing rather than put everyone else through that. If this is what he's talking about when he then turns around and says 'I chased someone out of the game for poor decisions', then let people be aware of that going in.
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Well, I am a teacher Greg. Being an ST, it is about shared experiences and I let players move around and do what they want, I just provide the consequences (positive and negative).

I run lower power and lean very hard into realism. So, training Tiger Warriors, I put a cap on how many can be trained like a normal boot camp. Like 20 guys to a bunk and under a drill sergeant, same as anyone has ever seen in any war movie. I was lenient and allowed for structures and assistants to swell that process - despite the lessening of direct contact with you and therefore the charms.

Just like a classroom, I can't let one person ruin it for everyone else. There was a sigh of relief when you left and you probably should learn that you need to respect an ST's calls if you want to have a game that lasts any length of time. Way way too many flash in the pan cloudcuckoolander games out there.

Fortunately, there is a place for people who don't want that oversight or guidance telling them what is acceptable. Play by post forum games - the ultimate in talking past one another.
 
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