First and foremost, the group liked the game. We didn't finish Return to the Tomb of Five Corners because a few people left, but we'll finish up the last bit next weekend.
My lack of experience with the power level caused me todoubled the number of zombies in the first fight thinking it might give everyone a chance to act, but it came nowhere close. It did explain the tick system well though, so mission accomplished.
The bandit fight was fairly easy. The arrows did very little damage and then a Death of Obsidian Butterflies wiped out all the foes that hadn't already been dropped by Naria's arrows. It also caught a few party members in its wake, giving people a chance to roll soak some damage, and Morning Breeze a chance to exercise his Oaken Body charm. Moments later they went to the Zenith tomb and Oaken Body let Morning Breeze slide in and easily claim his staff.
Next up was the Tomb of Dawn, where Kade landed a mighty blow but due to not realizing that Melee Excellency can be added to parry DV was dropped to incapacitated by the walking dead. Had he not been already injured by Rinan's spell he would have just been hurt, not taken out. A comboed Serpent-Sting Staff flurry of death and carnage finished the dead guy off, and they went back to rest for a couple of days while a meditating Kade healed up.
Next up was the forest city. They didn't explore it much, but were sufficiently creeped out by the bodies with no wounds and no skeletons. Morning Breeze consecrated the corpses they encountered, and was rewarded by hearing faint sounds of joy from the freed dead souls. They found the citadel entrance and fought the demon servitors on the rope bridge. I gave the servitors the ability to run on air so they could easily run up to the bridge and set it on fire with their feet, giving plenty of opportunity to do some fun stunting as people rush to kill the demons and get off the bridge. It was an easy fight, made hard only by the need to not plummet to the forest floor.
Overall it was a cool experience. Stunting definitely helped liven it up, as our group is usually the type that quickly devolves into "swing & miss, swing & hit, swing & miss" style of combat narrative. The lack of a battlemat was slightly problematic in the demonic servitors fight, but I think it helped pull us away from a tactical mindset and into a more cinematic one.
Overall it was a good game and I'm looking forward to playing again.
Sounds great, James!
It's good to hear that Stunting livened up play. I've played with some folk that absolutely love it, while others continue the "swing... miss" routine.
We had one player continue the swing...miss style except when he really needed the dice. The others are too into minmaxing to let an opportunity for free dice pass them up. :)
The most memorable part came when the guy playing Kara (the renamed Mistress of Pacts as a mole) finally unleashed a combo with massive charm use. He was having a hard time against zombies because I didn't give the character Unfurling Iron Lotus so there will be a surprise for the party when she turns on them, so offense wasn't his strong suit. But when he finally went for blod he got 13 damage dice against a lowly 3 health level zombie. A shake and a throw later and he'd rolled 0 successes.
Wow, you Zombies aren't "extras". Extras are awesome and don't let anyone tell you any different.
Normally for extras, if you have nine damage dice, they're dead. Every three damage dice equals one health level of damage.
It speeds up combat with on non-challenging foes.
I'm also suprised the dawn caste didn't just activate his anima banner and make them all run (Shamble?) away.
Didn't realize there was a damage rule for extras. It probably isn't in the intro adventure because it adds something unneeded and means that in most fights you wouldn't even roll your damage. I'll keep it in mind for when the real campaign starts up.
Zombies are immune to the anima because they never fail Valor checks. The only fight they've been in where an enemy could be affected by it was some bandits. The guy playing the Dawn caste hadn't arrived yet so I was NPCing him and didn't want to overshine the other party members or prevent them from showing off their cool powerz by chasing the opposition away. In that respect it worked, since it let the sorcerer show how deadly flapping your arms and saying butterfly three times can be. :D
The next session they'll be facing about 50 enemies at once, and his banner will come in very handy. He'll be at the table too, so it'll be the player scaring off the baddies instead of the GM.
Sounds like a fine start. May it be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
As far as the combat rules go, I think you just have to get through a couple of fights before they really sink in. And after that it's smooth sailing, assuming the players take the time to learn the rules as well. My first attempt with Exalted 2e was embarrassingly clunky, but within a couple of sessions it got to be 2nd-nature. The rules are never as complex as they look on paper.
My advice would be to make every opponent who doesn't have an individual name/backstory an extra. No need to fully stat-up "Bandit #1" or "Hungry Ghost #42." The auto-damage rule cuts one roll out of the sequence, speeding things up even more and freeing up more time for the players to bask in their own awesomeness. You can worry about that when you're writing up your own baddies, of course.
Keep it up, and have fun.
It's definitely shaping up to be a continual game for us. I just found out that two of the players bought rulebooks this week. for the record, that means we now have more core books for exalted than any other game except Shadowrun. D&D kinda gets cheated in that comparison though, since there's an SRD. If there wasn't an SRD we'd probably have close to one PHB per player (5+1GM) for it.
We finished up the introductory adventure last night. Had a good time. the final chicka would have wasted one of the characters but he got some good rolls with the charm that lets him ignore an attack if he rolls his opponent's essence with Stamina + Resistance. Her Essence was 4, so he was burning willpower like crazy to do it. Unfurling Iron Lotus + First Melee Excellency + Reaper Daiklave + Flickering Wisp Technique is nasty.
Everyone decided to keep the same general characters, only tweaking them a little instead of rebuilding from scratch, so next week we'll start the campaign proper.
Quote from: James McMurrayIt's definitely shaping up to be a continual game for us. I just found out that two of the players bought rulebooks this week. for the record, that means we now have more core books for exalted than any other game except Shadowrun. D&D kinda gets cheated in that comparison though, since there's an SRD. If there wasn't an SRD we'd probably have close to one PHB per player (5+1GM) for it.
A very good sign. Exalted is one of those games that really rewards players who learn the rules and use them in their favor. Like d20, it's intentionally designed that way. The player enthusiasm (and rulebook ownage) can only be a good thing. Glad to see the game seems to be a hit w/your group. I know it's one of my favorites, which is to say that the 2 games I've run have been epic fun for all involved.
Another player bought the Dragon-Blooded book and will be buying a core book some time next week. So we've now got 4 core rulebooks, Lunars, and Dragon-Blooded.
Unfortunately there aren't a lot of preconstructed adevntures available. 2e only has the introductory one. 1e has a bunch but I can't find any conversion guidelines anywhere. that means I'll be pretty busy trying to make stuff up, which is fine, I'm just a little leery of my ability to generate good challenges for a game with no CR system and my low grasp of the rules.
It's true about the lack of published adventures, but I'm sure you'll do fine. You don't need to worry so much about matching opponent power levels to players like you would in most d20 games. Throw a bunch of extras at the PCs now and then (more to let them show off and develop new tricks than to really put them in danger) and save the deep thought for the main antagonists, the fights with whom should be things to remember.
I wonder if the absence of more published scenarios is simply because they're not profitable or perhaps also because Exalted is the sort of game in which you can't count on the players to follow a set path of any kind? 'Cause that latter part is true to a large extent--at least, railroading of any kind is kinda pointless when starting characters are capable of taking over small countries. The Compass of Terrestrial/Celestial Directions books seem to have lots of hooks to get you going, though. There are a lot of aspects of the setting that are just begging to be explored, and a circle of solars should be up for just about anything, sooner or later.
1e seems to have had several adventures. I found an online adventure that looked promising as well. I'll have to figure out how to convert 1e to 2e if I use them, but the only big problem I see is the difference in combat with weapon speeds and rates. I'll probably just give things what looks good and go from there.
But for now I'm going to be running made up stuff anyway. The players want to track down the demon they set free during White Wolf's introductory adventure, so that will keep me occupied. Unfortunately, it means less time to play Super Metroid on the Super NES emulator with my son. :( ;)
I started up a campaign newsletter for my group. You can check it out here (http://www.colugo.org/jmcmurra/Exalted/05-04-07.doc).
Part 2 is here (http://www.colugo.org/jmcmurra/Exalted/05-04-07.doc).
I wasn't going to post the next update, but then I saw there were 13 replies and 300 views, so I figured folks must be looking at it.
Here ya go. (http://www.colugo.org/jmcmurra/Exalted/05-18-07.pdf)
Anyone reading them, please feel free to comment. This is my first time running Exalted, though I've run high and epic level D&D in the past. I'm interested in any and all comments. :)
As somebody who has loved the Exalted setting but thoroughly despised the system since its first edition, I must say that your PDF updates are coming dangerously close to convincing me that I need to give the game another go :)
Quote from: jdrakehAs somebody who has loved the Exalted setting but thoroughly despised the system since its first edition, I must say that your PDF updates are coming dangerously close to convincing me that I need to give the game another go :)
Do what I did and adopt a different system, preferably one you're familiar with. I still buy Exalted books, but now use them solely for cool setting information and descriptive flourishes.
Good writeup by the way, James.
Quote from: DrewDo what I did and adopt a different system, preferably one you're familiar with. I still buy Exalted books, but now use them solely for cool setting information and descriptive flourishes.
If I could find all of the books used/cheap, I would. Paying full cover price for books that I'll only be using about 40% of doesn't make sense for my budget. In the meantime, it's easier to apply the concept of "badassitude" to settings that I already own ;)
Quote from: jdrakehIf I could find all of the books used/cheap, I would. Paying full cover price for books that I'll only be using about 40% of doesn't make sense for my budget. In the meantime, it's easier to apply the concept of "badassitude" to settings that I already own ;)
Fair enough, although it's worth noting that the Compass Series (Terrestrial and Celestial) for 2E is roughly 95% setting information. Flicking through
The Blessed Isle reveals not a single stat line until page 64, and even then the crunch is pretty small and isolated.
Of course the splatbooks (DB's, Lunars) have a much higher rules content, but then they need to.
Quote from: jdrakehAs somebody who has loved the Exalted setting but thoroughly despised the system since its first edition, I must say that your PDF updates are coming dangerously close to convincing me that I need to give the game another go :)
Wow, thanks! :)
The game has definitely gone differently than I expected. I expect the players to dash left (charge straight at their nemesis) but instead they jig right (surrender to the police). They've kept me very much on my toes, which I think makes the game better. Since I'm not running any prefab material that's not heavily modified I can make sure it matches my players better, then they play off of it more, which has a harmoic resonance type of effect.
The next update will be the climactic battle with the demon lord. It was definitely an interesting fight.
I'm not sure what other system I'd use for Exalted, but my experience outside the mainstream is fairly limited.
Duh, Palladium!
There's a HeroQuest conversion here (http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/bferrie/resources/exaltedindex.htm). You're lucky, 'cause I almost deleted it from my list of links. I tend to just use 1st Ed.
Quote from: James McMurrayI'm not sure what other system I'd use for Exalted, but my experience outside the mainstream is fairly limited.
I use TSR's old Marvel Super Heroes system, with a few simple (but to my mind crucial) mods.
These days it's available as freeware:
http://www.heroplay.com/features/rules/marvel.php?resolution=print
No need for the link, I'm a FASERIP fan myself. :)
I'm definitely interested in your tweaks. It seems like FASERIP is good at making powerful niche characters, but not so good at makeing characters that are powerful at all sorts of different things. Although I guess a lot of that could be handled just by fiving them higher skills and abilities.
Quote from: James McMurrayNo need for the link, I'm a FASERIP fan myself. :)
I'm definitely interested in your tweaks. It seems like FASERIP is good at making powerful niche characters, but not so good at makeing characters that are powerful at all sorts of different things. Although I guess a lot of that could be handled just by fiving them higher skills and abilities.
Here's some of the mods. The rest are in note form elsewhere.
COMBATCombat now resolves by subtracting the defenders Fighting or Agility from the attackers Fighting or Agility, then rolling against the new value on the Universal Table.
eg. An attacker with Fighting Incredible (40) attempts to punch a defender with Fighting Remarkable (30). 30 - 20 = 10, therefore the attacker rolls on the Good (10) column to resolve.Armour has two values, Hardness and Soak. Hardness is a flat value that stops all damage up to it's rating, or reduces damage by it's current rating. Soak shifts the remainder by a number of columns. Only Magical Material Armour and certain powers have Soak ratings.
eg. An attacker hits a defender for 40 points of damage. The defenders armour (H= Good (10) S= Typical (6)) reduces the flat total to Remarkable (30), then shifts the damage 3 columns to the left for Typical (6) damage.ESSENCE POOL & EXPENDITUREThe available Karma Pool for dice boosting is now retitled Essence Pool. Characters can use it for the following:
Increase an active stat on a 1:1 basis prior to dice roll.
Increase a passive stat (eg. Fighting whilst defending) on a 1:1 basis prior to the opponents roll.
Increase Damage Points Done on a 1:1 basis prior to an attack roll.
The maximum increase for all the above is double the current value, including adjustments for magical weapons and the like.
Shifting a result one colour upward (eg. a green success becomes yellow, a yellow becomes red) on 1:20 basis. A white result can only be made green against extras.
Performing multiple effects (eg. increasing an attack, damage and shifting upwards) requires the additional expenditure of Essence Points, described below.
Solars select 4 attributes they can boost in this way (eg. Fighting, Strength, Reason & Psyche). Lunars & sids select 3. Dragon-Blooded select 2.
Essence Pool maximum is 10 x Essence Points, and starts at half that value.
Essence Pool does not regenerate, instead it refreshes via story awards and stunt bonuses. Stunts award 5 -15 points, Plot Points and Goal Completion range from 10-50.
ESSENCE POINTS & EXPENDITUREEach solar starts the campaign with Essence 10.
When invoking multiple applications of Essence Pool, the Solar pays 1 point per application invoked.
Eg. Increasing Fighting by 30, Damage by 30 and Shifting a colour would cost 80 Pool and 3 Points.Essence Points regenerate at the rate of one per hour.
--------------------------
That's the gist of it. The aim is to get away from the laundry list of charms and replicate their effects narratively via essence expenditure, power stunts and the like. Artifacts, Warstriders and other doodads either provide boosts to stats or replicate the effects of powers at certain levels.
I wanted to run with something that had a pick-up-and-play quality I felt Exalted was sorely lacking, and MSH fits the bill to a tee.
Oops. Forgot to say that non-artifact armour has Hardness only. Soak is a property of the magical materials. Only the most powerful of artifact armour has both.
Also, Health is derived by (F+A+S+E)/2.
Here's the new one. (http://www.colugo.org/jmcmurra/Exalted/05-25-07.doc) It's a Word doc for now. When I get home to Open Office instead of MS Office it'll be converted to a pdf.
Here's the pdf version (http://www.colugo.org/jmcmurra/Exalted/05-25-07.pdf).
Quote from: James McMurrayWow, thanks! :)
Well, it's confirmed -- you've sold me. I bought the core book, ST's screen, and ST's Guide yesterday. Today I went back for the first Book of Sorcery (had to get the rules for War Striders, of course). And I just queued Return to the Tomb of Five Corners to print.
The only difference is that when I run Exalted, I'll be using six-sided dice (mainly 'cause I already own several buckets full) with a standard TN of 5 and results of 6 counting as two successes. The math has been run and, statistically, it seems that it will shake out the same.
I caught some crap elsewhere for using the six-siders but it would be
stupid to drop $30-$40 on ten-sided dice when I don't have to (particularly because, unlike six-sided dice, I'd probably never use them with any other games).
6-siders works too, although it makles botches slightly more frequent due to more ones popping up.
If there's a sorcerer in the party or you intend to use Abyssals as recurring bad guys I highly recommend the White and Black Treatises as well.
What's the screen like? I haven't seen it yet, but if it's a good reference and cheap I'll snag it up quick.
Be a little careful with the ST's guide. It was written at the same time as the main book and has a few power issues because of it. For instance, Deadly Wildfire Legion has been converted to be less powerful but be one of the dragon blood excellencies. The STG version lets you give dice to people who have higher or equal ratings with you, and that's nasty. One fight we had against some dragon bloods went from a challenge to a bloodbath because of it.
The Abyssal section is pretty good though, at least the parts of it I got to exercise last night. :)
I found the screen quite useful. There's a lot to keep in mind for Exalted, and you don't want to have to stop and look it up. And the new WW screens are nice and durable, being made of the same stuff as the hardcovers.
Welcome to the fold, Jdrakeh. Trust me, Exalted 2e's rules look horrifying at first glance, but they're not nearly as scary as they appear. After the third session or so, the system becomes second-nature. The only real way to get a feel for it is through play (as I'm sure James could tell you).
And James, I know I haven't said so lately, but your game sounds like a lot of fun. And I know exactly what you mean about the players keeping you on your toes. I could never plan more than a session in advance, since I (the GM) didn't know what was going to happen next. The GM still has a lot of control, but it's a more reactive job than in some games I've played, which makes GMing almost as exciting and unpredictable as being a player. It's like the GM is still a god, but even a god in the Exalted universe often has to scramble to stay a step ahead of a circle of the Chosen.
Thanks! We're enjoying it. And if I go by the view counts for this thread and the copy of it at WW's Exalted forum other people are too. So I'm a happy camper. :)
Quote from: James McMurray6-siders works too, although it makles botches slightly more frequent due to more ones popping up.
This was my initial thought as well but as somebody on Enworld pointed out, you have a two in six chance of success, with fives counting as successes and sixes counting as two success, and a one in six chance of er. . . rolling a one. So, that is, occurances of "1" are actually just as common as an occurance of a "5" or "6" and
less likely than the occurance of a "success" (which encompasses results of "5"
and "6").
True, but compared to the d10 setup you go from a 50% success rate and 10% chance of a 1 to a 50% success rate and 16.67% chance of a 1. It's not a huge difference, but may discourage players from trying actions where they are relying on attribute alone because smaller pools will have higher chances of botching than with the default. If you don't have statisticians as players there will probably be very little noticable effect.
Almost wish I'd done it because we already own a ton of d6es from our Shadowrunning. I've got a bunch of computer geeks though, so it probably wouldn't have flown.
I'm sure the Exalted gods are willing to overlook the use of d6s--just so long as there's a fistful.
Quote from: Black FlagI'm sure the Exalted gods are willing to overlook the use of d6s--just so long as there's a fistful.
Two fists full! I have 72 six-siders in all :D
How many players do you have? that might not be enough if you don't want people to have to share their stacks.
Quote from: James McMurrayHow many players do you have? that might not be enough if you don't want people to have to share their stacks.
Three interested parties at the moment. We still need to hammer out an schedule. I usually tend to keep my groups around three to five (tops).
You might be in trouble then. A starting character can roll 23 dice without much work. Better buy another brick. :)
Quote from: James McMurrayYou might be in trouble then. A starting character can roll 23 dice without much work. Better buy another brick. :)
I have a brick of 80 little (i.e., Fantasy Trip-size-ish) dice carved from bone that I forgot about. So I think we're good :)
I hope you'll be telling us how it goes? Especially if you opt for a mortal hero campaign like you mentioned over at WW.
Quote from: James McMurrayI hope you'll be telling us how it goes?
Absolutely :)
pdf version (http://www.colugo.org/jmcmurra/Exalted/06-01-07.pdf)
or
Word Document (http://www.colugo.org/jmcmurra/Exalted/06-01-07.doc)
The only difference between the two is that the doc's links work.
I'm still one week behind, but in between those weeks was a long (ten+ page) conversation the circle had with a high placed abyssal which took place over email. My next project is gettignt hat sucker formatted, converting my OOCs to an IC form, and getting it up.
And another. This is the conversation the circle has with the person they meet at the end of the last update. It was done via email then formatted by me.
http://www.colugo.org/jmcmurra/Exalted/Discussions%20of%20Light%20and%20Darkness.htm
Here's the next bit, and I'm mostly caught up except for some stuff that's currently happening in emails too quick to try to enter into this update.
pdf version (http://www.colugo.org/jmcmurra/Exalted/06-08-07.pdf)
or
Word Document (http://www.colugo.org/jmcmurra/Exalted/06-08-07.doc)
Again, the only difference between the two is that the doc's links work.
PDF Version (http://www.colugo.org/jmcmurra/Exalted/06-18-07.pdf)
Word document (http://www.colugo.org/jmcmurra/Exalted/06-18-07.doc)
Index of all past updates and links (http://www.colugo.org/jmcmurra/Exalted/Index.htm)
Here's some updates:
PDF Version (http://www.colugo.org/jmcmurra/Exalted/06-22-07.pdf)
Word document (http://www.colugo.org/jmcmurra/Exalted/06-22-07.doc)
Index of all past updates and links (http://www.colugo.org/jmcmurra/Exalted/index.htm)
Here's another update (http://www.colugo.org/jmcmurra/Exalted/index.htm). They finally enter the Invisible Fortress.
Quote from: jdrakehAbsolutely :)
Not going at all right now due to my work schedule (see also the "Help Me Spend Money!" thread in the general discussion forum).
What? I hope you're ashamed of yourself.
Or not. :)
In this one (http://www.colugo.org/jmcmurra/Exalted/index.htm) we have our first PC death of the campaign, at the hands of another PC.
They've set free a whole ton o' demons, and met the gaurdian spirit of the mansion.
PDF Version (http://www.colugo.org/jmcmurra/Exalted/08-10-07.pdf)
Word document (http://www.colugo.org/jmcmurra/Exalted/08-10-07.doc)
Index of all past updates and links (http://www.colugo.org/jmcmurra/Exalted/index.htm)
We were hoping to get the entire Invisible Fortress Storyline finished this week, but ended up only getting the Final Retreat taken care of and the demons banished. This week will involve taking care of the Gaurdian problem.
PDF Version (http://www.colugo.org/jmcmurra/Exalted/08-17-07.pdf)
Word document (http://www.colugo.org/jmcmurra/Exalted/08-17-07.doc)
Index of all past updates and links (http://www.colugo.org/jmcmurra/Exalted/index.htm)