New Exalted Game

[kenada]

Would the Unconquered Sun do something like that?   Kill his own avatar-on-earth?

I don't see why not. Sometimes one has to break a few eggs to make an omelet &c.

Also, I'm wondering what the other characters want.  Why do they think the Unconquered Sun choose them?

Hugo would say, "I don't know why the Unconquered Sun chose me. I suppose he views my destiny importantly enough to empower me to fulfill it, and I would be remiss not to." I guess that doesn't really answer the question, but Hugo is a pragmatist. He's not very concerned about the philosophical implications of being given god-like powers. He knows he has them, and he's going to use them to accomplish his mission.

[Measure Zero]

Would the Unconquered Sun do something like that?   Kill his own avatar-on-earth?

Why would he allow all of the Solar Exaltations to be imprisoned for thousands of years, until his enemies the Deathlords freed them?  Why would he allow the Exalted of his inferiors to take over for his Exalted, when a little bit of direct intervention on his part could have straightened everything out?  Why didn't he help stop the Fair Folk invasion with a personal appearance?  My answer: he's lazy and aloof.  The less effort a given solution requires on his part, the more likely he seems to be to implement it. Then he goes back to his Pleasure Dome and plays with the Five Maidens and pats himself on the back for doing his duty as Ruler of Heaven and Creation.

Of course, that's not canon, but just look at the state of Creation and ask yourself if he has been doing his job.

[Mike]

He's too busy with the Games of Divinity or somesuch like that.  Doesn't really care about anything beyond Exalting peoples.

[World Builder]

Oh, optimistic Zenith. They're so sure their god actually cares. Ain't it quaint?

Anyhow, Mary, Childhood exaltations are extremely rare. They almost never happened between the time the Solar empire fell and the last couple years when Solars started reappearing in numbers.

So unless your character is still 10-13 years old, I wouldn't recommend having a childhood Exaltation. Additionally, while I like the general narrative of your brief backstory, the specifics don't work well for the setting. I'll email you so we can work this out.

Clayton

[Mike]

You could take the Child Flaw for 3 bonus points, though.  Bonus points are fun!

[kenada]

Child is a three point flaw? That sounds excessive.

[Mike]

You lose dice on all Social interactions with adults.  1 to 3, depending on the adult and the situation.  Also, you would probably take the Small flaw for another 3 points (you lose a -1 health level, and your Strength counts as 1 dot lower for the purposes of minimum weapon or tool requirements.  Plus you're short).

Not a very good Flaw for a Zenith, probably, but if you want it, here it is, come and get it.  But you better make your mind up fast.

[kenada]

Ah, I see.

[bluenigma]

That actually might be fun.

[World Builder]

Thought about starting a new thread for this, but why bother. Might as well keep the information in a uniform location.

As a reminder, our first game will at 5PM Sat Oct 6th, in the usual meeting room.

I still need finalized character info from almost everyone. If you have your character done, send me the stats so I know what I'm dealing with. If your still in a draft phase, you can send the character to me via email and we can hammer our the final touches. If your done, more or less, you can post the character here like Randy did.

We'll be starting in the city of Nexus. Hopefully we all have reasons for your character to be in Nexus at the time. If I remember correctly, so far:

Brandon:   To sabotage the Guild
Alan:  To trade
Mike: To hide among other theives (You'll probably have been in Nexus for a few weeks at least prior to the start of the game, so that your character will have had time to make the contacts he has)
Brian B. (BlueEnigma): Hired by the Guild to investigate some strange events in the city
Brian (MrGah): Tracking a party of slavers who kidnapped his daughter
Mary: Tracking an Abyssal (BTW, Mary, why are you tracking this particular Abyssal? I say we chock it up to Zenith Vision Questing. How's that work for you?)
Randy: Coincidence, right? You just happen to be in Nexus having fled Greyfalls. Perhaps the same person who hired Brian B. could hire you to help protect Brian B., if you character would be willing to take on such work. Of course, those hiring Brian B. might not know he's pretty decent with a bow


Also, I wanted to let you know how experienec would work, so you can be prepared for the distribution round at the end of the session. I'm going to hand out experience as my old group used to. This is the Break-Down:

Don't Screw the Cat: You earn 3XP for showing up and playing well with others. It doesn't matter if your character is a jerk; as long as you aren't you can pretty much count on getting this.

Group Goal: If your character did something particular to help the group as a whole accomplish its objective for the session, you get 1XP. It has to be unique; you can't use "I killed Undead Monstrousity X" or "I financed the venture" every week.  It should be some critical event in the session that only your character would have been able to accomplish.

Personal Goal: By completing a personal objective, you gain an additional 1XP. Sometimes you'll get the Group Goal and not the Personal Goal, or vice verse. Sometimes you get both, or neither. Like the Group Goal, it should be unique. You can claim partial accomplishments of a larger goal (such as your Motivation) as your Personal Goal for the session. For example, if your motivation is to Liberate Thorns, securing an alliance with the Marukani or Lookshy could be used a personal goal. However, if you had an addiction to qat, you couldn't claim securing you supply of the drug as a personal goal, unless you had to do something dramatic to acquire it.

The Captain Planet Award: Your characters should learn from their experiences, and by stating something your character has learned, either a moral lesson or vital information, you get 1XP. This can be something like "My character learned about the Usurpation" or "My character learned that all Terrestrial Exalts are (not?) evil" The catch is that you have to apply that lesson. If you say the Terrestrials aren't the bad guys you thought they were, and still go around heartlessly killing them for sport, you'll lose an XP later on.

MVP: This one the players get to decide upon. 1XP is given to the MVP of the session, emphasis on the P. It's the player that's awarded the point, not the character. You might give out the award for something the player had his character do, or it might just be for the guy who brought us all pizza. In the event of ties, I hold the right to decide. Usually this means that both players get the point, but if the system is abused to force ties, no one gets it.

Creativity Point: By doing something extra for the game, you can earn 1XP. You might draw a picture of your character, write a series of journals, arrange a CD of music to be the soundtrack of the adventure, get a giant map of Creation printed and framed. Anything that shows you've invested some time into the game, above and beyond the call of duty. Sometimes this is worth more than 1XP.

All together, you can count on 5-6XP per session if you work at accomplishing certain goals. If you go beyond that, you might get up to 8, which means you have enough for a caste/favored charm after each session. (unless you're a lunar.)

Finally, can I get a count on which Exalted 2nd Ed. books we have collectively? I almost everything on PDF, but that isn't much help to us during the game away from computers (unless someone had a laptop they felt like bringing). Randy has access to the Core; Mike has the Core, the Lunars, Wonders of the Lost Age, and Scroll of the Monk that I know about. Any others out there?

Clayton

[bluenigma]

Ugh. Unfortunately, this Saturday holds a pep band game with a 6:00 call time. I will show up, but will only be able to stay for less than an hour- enough to meet people, but not much else.

On the plus side, I have managed to acquire the Exalted 2nd Edition PDF.

[Mike]

Books I Have: You might be happy to know that I have the Storyteller's Companion, which has a lot of baddies for you to throw at us.  Aren't you all so excited?

Anyway, since I try to always draw my characters, I suppose I'll be looking at an XP right off the bat.  Does anyone else want me to draw their character?  I really could use the excuse to draw more.

Oh, and points to Clayton for making me imagine Storm as Wheeler from Captain Planet...curse you.  Now he has red hair because of that.

Anyway, character below.
____________________________________________

Name: Storm [I still feel like I should change this]
Caste: Night
Attributes: Strength 3, Dexterity 5, Stamina 3, Charisma 3, Manipulation 3, Appearance 3, Perception 2, Intelligence 2, Wits 3
Abilities: *Melee 2, *Thrown 5, Integrity 2, *Presence 2, *Resistance 2, Lore 1, *Athletics 5, *Awareness 2, *Dodge 3, *Larceny 5, *Stealth 5, *Socialize 3
Virtues: Compassion 3, Conviction 2, Temperance 1, *Valor 3 (Foolhardy Contempt)
Willpower: 6
Essence: 3 (15, 36)
Backgrounds: Resources 3, Contacts 2 (Fat Artie, TBA), Artifact 2 (Sky-Cutter)
Merits and Flaws: Daredevil 4 (M), Unusual Appearance [Blessed Isle Look] 1 (F), Wanted 2 (F), Known Anathema 1 (F), Addiction [Alcohol] 1 (F)
Stuff: Orichalcum Sky-Cutter, Exceptional Chain Shirt, Knives, Fine Thieves' Tools
Charms: Second Athletics Excellency, Second Stealth Excellency, First Thrown Excellency, Lock-Opening Touch, 2 Ox-Body Technique (-0,-1,-1), Graceful Crane Stance, Spider-Foot Style, Observer-Deceiving Attack, Easily-Overlooked Presence Method
Intimacies: Hating Terrestrial Exalts 3, Thrill-Seeking 3, Bars & Taverns 3
_____________________________

That oughta be everything important.

Also, I do have a laptop, so if you want to have all your books at the session, I can help you out.  If you can put them all on a thumb drive or something, it's way better than going through the hassle of e-mail transfering.