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Stephenls posted:I think (and this is just my understanding; I could be wrong) we'll drop a higher resolution preview once we have the final. This is still missing a few elements. I'm not trying to be too much of a jerk about it. But its hard to present something when the text is so blurry  In reality, I know there is a more finished version to come out, but I think it would have been better to wait a little bit for a fuller resolution. Just better presentation in my opinion. I can't complain though, new full and finalized map will be out soon and at least I can stare at it until the PDF of the book is out. So probably another year of staring.  EDIT: At the heart of it, the design and look of the map looks amazing and I am genuinely excited for the future if this is the kind of quality we will be expecting. It looks very nice and very well thought out. I am simply eager to see it larger is all. Bardlebee fucked around with this message at 07:43 on Dec 31, 2013 |
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Dec 31, 2013 07:37
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So, do we know how far the NDAs stretch for Play Testers? Obviously they can't share the actual Play Testing materials, but can they share their impressions and opinions about said material? Or is everything locked down tight? I guess this is basically directed at StephenLS or if anyone has seen answers to these questions on the other boards.
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Jan 7, 2014 00:13
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We are all eagerly waiting for our Christmas presents  so no spoilers!
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Jan 9, 2014 22:39
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My online gaming group needs simple rules for online Exalted. What would you all recommend? So far I'm eyeing Fate, Reign, Primetime Adventures, and maaaybe Dogs in the Vineyard. I know very little about each.
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Jan 13, 2014 21:50
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The forums have had a few attempts for Play by Post Fate-Exalted although I think they died off for various reasons. Fate Core and Fate Accelerated Edition (FAE) lend themselves very well to story-based games, and you can easily get the books/pdfs for Pay What You Want (including free) here! In Fate Core, the player chooses from a series of skills to use, and all rolls involve a Skill (no base stats), whereas FAE simplifies things even more and keeps it to 6 Approaches which are less about how good you are at something, and more how you do it (Flashy vs Stealthy). Both work pretty well and we even have a Fate megathread where you can really ask about the game. I know absolutely nothing about the other three systems you mentioned, so all I can do is suggest Fate for it's universal qualities, just maybe increase the default Skill points and Stunts to emphasize just how better Exalts are compared to mortals. Fate Core is pretty good for Solars and Almost-Solars with Stunts as a close parallel to Charms. Deebs can try to work in a few teamwork-focused Stunts and use tons of elemental fluff. Lunars may want to poke into the Shapeshifting rules from the Dresden Files RPG which is more for having an animal/monster-form or two rather than turning into anything you've taken a bite out of. And you could probably hack some rules for leaving your Charm-Stunts at home for Alchemicals pretty easily.
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Jan 13, 2014 22:31
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Compelling aspects also gives your players an incentive to play up whatever tragic flaws and foibles their godmans have.
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Jan 13, 2014 23:24
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I've had some luck with Marvel Heroic Roleplaying; it handles superheroic Exalts with ease and the Mental/Physical/Emotional stress dynamic means that you can finally do things like having Eclipses throw around Socialize attacks in or out of combat without the system puttering to death. There's a couple of strict MHR Exalted conversion documents out there, but I would recommend against adhering to either of them and just winging it in a general manner.
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Jan 13, 2014 23:33
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Eventually, I want to hack Legends of the Wulin for Exalted (this urge may go away when I get my 3E book, I'll find out) but as of right now I'd suggest Fate Accelerated Edition. If you wanted to run a Mixed Splat group and let everyone have fancy powers, I can see Mutants and Masterminds actually being a lot of fun.
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Jan 14, 2014 00:00
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bartkusa posted:My online gaming group needs simple rules for online Exalted. What would you all recommend? I think Fate's your best bet. Krysmphonix said most of what I was going to say so I'll second them! Speaking of running Exalted in other systems, I've been working on an Exalted hack for Dungeon World! Right now I've produced some material for the Infernals.
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Jan 14, 2014 00:48
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Kickstarter update!quote:Here's a look at how the EX3 text is progressing: Nnnngh I wanna see those playtest documents so bad!
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Jan 14, 2014 07:04
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"Theomilitary" is a dumb word.
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Jan 14, 2014 07:55
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bartkusa posted:"Theomilitary" is a dumb word. Kind of, yeah. But it does sidestep the problem of using a real world equivalent name, so I'll accept linguistic clumsiness.
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Jan 14, 2014 08:04
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Do we have a SA IRC channel for Exalted or a more general one where Exalted goons hang out?
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Jan 14, 2014 13:32
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We're making an effort to revive #AllUnderHeaven on SynIRC. Having more folks in there would be welcome - come on in, let's all talk about our pretend anime/pulp/wuxia superheroes!
Thesaurasaurus fucked around with this message at 14:51 on Jan 14, 2014 |
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Jan 14, 2014 14:48
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thatbastardken posted:Kind of, yeah. But it does sidestep the problem of using a real world equivalent name, so I'll accept linguistic clumsiness. No, it's really stupid. If you want to use fake Nahuatl use huey calpulli or something.
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Jan 25, 2014 02:59
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So I'm trying to do my own take on Exalted as a storygame and I want to know what you guys really really liked about Exalted and what you really hated. Most of all I want to know what you think it could have done better. Where did Exalted go wrong? What made you want to play it despite all that?
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Jan 29, 2014 06:45
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Bigup DJ posted:So I'm trying to do my own take on Exalted as a storygame and I want to know what you guys really really liked about Exalted and what you really hated. Most of all I want to know what you think it could have done better. Setting: Good Charms: Okay Mote Economies: Bad Combat being a min-maxer's playground: Awful
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Jan 29, 2014 07:43
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As I remember games of Divinity used to be the go-to source for setting lore. Is that still the case? Is there a good repository of lore for the 3rd edition yet?
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Jan 29, 2014 15:45
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Bigup DJ posted:So I'm trying to do my own take on Exalted as a storygame and I want to know what you guys really really liked about Exalted and what you really hated. Most of all I want to know what you think it could have done better. Starting as baseline characters who are mythic, larger-than-life persons and knowing it will only go up from there is what hooked me in. Implementing that power in a way that makes most conflicts boring and trivial instead of dramatic holds that back. Setting that feels like it's drawing on parts of human mythos that don't normally get much attention and really bringing them to life keeps me going.
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Jan 29, 2014 17:15
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Thanks for answering my lovely question you two! I should be more specific - how do you feel about the Great Curse? Right now I'm thinking of scrapping its association with Virtues and more broadly scrapping Virtues as a mechanical thing altogether - they'd still exist as a prominent philosophy of being within the setting, but they'd be one among many. Instead, you'd define some Minor, Major and Core intimacies and tag one of your Core intimacies as Cursed. The Curse produces a dangerous, hubristic excess of what would otherwise be a positive character trait, pretty much like Milton outlined here. I'm not quite sure how to handle the Great Curse equivalent for non-Solar Exalts, though. What is the Curse of the Abyssals, for instance? Is it the inescapable sway of entropy over all you do? The toxic influence you have on those around you? Is it simply a flaw in your character? What are the Abyssals about, anyway? They strike me as unnatural more than anything else - perverse addictions and a fascination with the grotesque. Giving in to the worst of ourselves.
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Jan 30, 2014 02:06
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Bigup DJ posted:What are the Abyssals about, anyway? They strike me as unnatural more than anything else - perverse addictions and a fascination with the grotesque. Giving in to the worst of ourselves. While that's not entirely wrong, that's really more the Infernals' schtick, what with the whole Literally Princes of Hell thing. Abyssals are on a mission to grab Creation by the ghoulies and tear it all screaming down to the ground and light it on fire. And then stomp on the ashes. And then burn the ashes. Ya know, eventually.
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Jan 30, 2014 02:10
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Punting posted:While that's not entirely wrong, that's really more the Infernals' schtick, what with the whole Literally Princes of Hell thing. Abyssals are on a mission to grab Creation by the ghoulies and tear it all screaming down to the ground and light it on fire. And then stomp on the ashes. And then burn the ashes. Well the way I see it the Abyssals are rooted in human evil, human fear - they're inverted Solars. I remember people were talking about the Lover's charms earlier in the thread - luring people into unhealthy addictions, draining the life from them and turning them into anhedonic husks of their former selves as they gave themselves to their vices. When I think 'Abyssal', that's what comes to mind. Infernals are just completely alien - primordial things from alternate realities, bringing a piece of that reality to you.
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Jan 30, 2014 02:23
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It helps to look at the respective benefactors of the Abyssals and Infernals to get an idea of the broad strokes that set them apart. The Neverborn are nihilists...their plans for Creation are basically "kill it, drag it into the Void, unmake everything." The Yozi don't want to destroy Creation, they want to own it again. It's theirs, after all. They made it, then they got evicted by uppity tenants and their trained attack mice. Sure, they may torture each and every person living there for 5,000 years, they may warp and twist the very fabric of reality to the breaking point...you have to send a message after all...but ultimately they simply want what was stolen from them. Now of course, the actual Abyssal and Infernal Exalted don't have to march in lockstep to these philosophies because that's the risk you run when you empower a bunch of exceptional humans with godly power, they frequently go and do their own poo poo because gently caress you dad, you aren't the boss of me. But looking at the respective goals of the Neverborn and Yozi can give you an idea of the sorts of powers and abilities they're likely to grant their champions. Abyssals get powers that destroy, corrupt, disempower, that bring things closer to death, decay, other various d-words...Abyssals don't create or nurture, they don't empower except in a way that helps promote even further death and destruction. Infernals are living expressions of their patron Yozi's nature, the closest that the Yozis can get to influencing Creation themselves. That nature may be alien to the inhabitants of Creation, it may be strange or bizarre or even destructive, but it can also be empowering and creative...just, y'know, in a strange, otherworldly sort of way.
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Jan 30, 2014 03:23
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Bigup DJ posted:Thanks for answering my lovely question you two! I should be more specific - how do you feel about the Great Curse? Right now I'm thinking of scrapping its association with Virtues and more broadly scrapping Virtues as a mechanical thing altogether - they'd still exist as a prominent philosophy of being within the setting, but they'd be one among many. Instead, you'd define some Minor, Major and Core intimacies and tag one of your Core intimacies as Cursed. The Curse produces a dangerous, hubristic excess of what would otherwise be a positive character trait, pretty much like Milton outlined here. I like the abstract idea of a mechanic that drives a tragic flaw. It has plenty of flaws in how it's implemented in game and in lore. I'd see it written as something which tempts the player to indulge their flaw for some benefit which carries complications. quote:I'm not quite sure how to handle the Great Curse equivalent for non-Solar Exalts, though. What is the Curse of the Abyssals, for instance? Is it the inescapable sway of entropy over all you do? The toxic influence you have on those around you? Is it simply a flaw in your character? What are the Abyssals about, anyway? They strike me as unnatural more than anything else - perverse addictions and a fascination with the grotesque. Giving in to the worst of ourselves. Consequence. Abyssals have lives worthy of greatness cut short by some cruel twist of fate, and rejected it. From the common ghost, through the knights and lords right up to the great old unborn ones, the underworld is filled with victims who refused to go quietly. They will make you pay.
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Jan 30, 2014 03:48
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Speaking of Abyssals, I've noticed dev commentary that suggests (I could be reading too much certainty in because I think the idea's neat) they're changing how Deathlords work, so instead of being the Neverborn equivalent of Third Circle demons they're more like powerful, ancient ghosts, the kinds that have gone on Underworld quests to recover ancient artifacts and forge deathly kingdoms and other saga-building stuff like that.
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Jan 30, 2014 07:05
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Other than what Kai Tave said (which I wholly agree with) remember what kind of people are chosen by the warped exaltations. Infernals are heroes who failed. They were supposed to lead the rebel forces or free the slaves or bring the rogue to justice and they hosed it up on their own somehow. The Infernal exaltation is given to a demon who has to go find a hero who suffered the same kind of loss that the Primordials did. That hero is going to be reborn, with a lot of new power, and a whole lot of motivation to go finish what he or she started. Infernals are driven to accomplish something. Retake the world! It's yours! It OWES you! Abyssals are heroes who died. The Deathlords get pretty involved in the process, and a hero might be groomed for the exaltation without ever knowing it. Agents of the Deathlords keep an eye on potential candidates, and when one does fall, the offer is made. The Neverborn are selling a twisted version of something that doesn't belong to them, something that should have been free. There is a real theme of debt in the Abyssal exaltation. The Abyssal is eternally beholden to his or her Neverborn masters, and they are not shy about using the whip when their hero disobeys them. Destroy the world! We empowered you, obey us! In short, the Infernal is the neighbor's dog that runs around the neighborhood without a collar, while the Abyssal is always on a choke-chain. There's a huge difference not just in style but in tone. mistaya fucked around with this message at 07:46 on Jan 30, 2014 |
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Jan 30, 2014 07:43
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Of course, this is in part based on 2nd Edition. 3rd is supposed to be shaking up this master/slave relationship between the Abyssals and the people responsible for them.
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Jan 30, 2014 14:27
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There's a joke here about 3E Abyssals and "master/slave relationships" somewhere.
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Jan 30, 2014 15:12
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Well, you can look it at as a master/slave but I see it more as a lord/knight. One of the things that's neat about the 2E Abyssals that I hope they don't change is that Abyssals are part of an army. Where the others are usually doing their own thing alone or in small groups. The Underworld has it's own society and power rankings, and the Abyssals don't even have to go to Creation if they aren't needed there.
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Jan 30, 2014 16:45
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Really, I always found that Exalted's Underworld seemed criminally underused and underdeveloped for a place that's literally as big as the actual world of the living, full of its own "people" and places to go and do poo poo in. Don't get me wrong, I don't necessarily think that what Exalted needs is more hundreds of thousands of words detailing far-flung places in excruciating detail, but Abyssals are right next to Dragon-Bloods for being Exalted who are part of a proper societal structure, so it would probably help emphasize that if some more time and attention was paid to their "dual citizenship."
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Jan 30, 2014 17:09
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I think the underworld in part suffered from having been 'bolted on' to Creation itself in the canon of the setting. This combined with how had it was to work there had a chilling effect on adventures there. On the other hand with the new Berserk style underworld..
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Jan 30, 2014 19:25
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This is gonna sound weird but I always thought Abyssals suffered from being a relatively recent development. One of the things I always wanted from them was a society where they had a special role or caste within the context of ghostly society. Instead, Abyssals are inherently meaningless to ghosts for the most part because they're just too new; sure, ghosts who live very close to the epicenter of a Deathlord's power have a good idea what a Deathknight is but for the most part they're just too new for anybody to know anything about. I like the idea of a Deathknight being able to go anywhere in the Underworld and have its denizens recognize her as a Warrior or a Diplomat of the highest caste. I think it helps underscore their relationship as heroes of the dead. Also there's a lot of cool stuff you can do with a couple hundred years of Abyssal history.
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Jan 30, 2014 19:50
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Abyssals spent the second half of 2E getting their faces repeatedly ground into the dirt by literally every other Celestial Exalt in every way. The weakest of every Celestial (Once Sidereals got fixed), basically from Day 1- seriously, a base 2E Lunar and a base 2E Abyssal having a fight? Lunar wins. Doing Social Stuff? Lunar. The Abyssal can make stuff better with CNNT but that's about it- having the fewest charms outside of the locked ones of Sidereals, The fact they literally have a 'Background' Tax on their limited background dots in Whispers, because if you don't get that at 5 for Char-gen you're locked out of certain charms until you pilgrimage to the Void and pay for more dots, portrayed as literally unable to ever go against their Deathlord or the Neverborn because then they suffer, while Infernals get given power and then 'Well the Yozi can't do anything to you so be free to do whatever!'. Yozis giving people Torment if they want to got removed. Neverborn are still free to do that. Compass; Underworld? A boring 'not-Creation' full of rape and generally boring stuff that the Deathlords have already conquered by the time the Abyssals show up. Remember that the base 2E Abyssal from their book should be spending a majority of their time there, because Abyssals are the only Splat that can not recover motes in Creation. Not only that, but back then the Specteral Keyword existed. This included their PDs- in 2E's perfect or die meta-, meaning they had to spend WP on their PDs. This got removed, eventually, but the mote recovery only being in the Underworld or Shadowlands still exists. Compare to Compass; Malfeas, a genuinely interesting book that avoids the problems of Chapters 1&2 of Infernals to create a pretty interesting world. And even if it isn't your thing, you aren't literally chained to it by the fact that you can only recover motes while in it. I could go on and on and on about the problems of 2E Abyssals, because I want to play a person who hosed up something, almost died, and then a creature of tremendous power appeared before them, whispered. "I can help you live. But you have to make me a deal. If you live, everything else dies. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not even in a hundred years. But eventually, you will help kill the world." and in a moment of weakness, that person says "Okay." Usually people will just tell you to play an Infernal if you say that, because "Then you can do what you want." I really like Abyssals. I just wish they were better. As is, the Cause of Oblivion, as it is, is more served by picking up a Solar. Stallion Cabana fucked around with this message at 20:51 on Jan 30, 2014 |
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Jan 30, 2014 20:43
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Can someone explain why Sijan is cool or makes sense?
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Jan 30, 2014 21:38
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Plenty of old cities in the past dealt with taking care of the dead, and this is a setting where the dead have a voice.
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Jan 30, 2014 21:57
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bartkusa posted:Can someone explain why Sijan is cool or makes sense? They deal extensively in postmortem funeral arrangements. Not postmortem funerals, which are, barring shenanigans, a tautology - they will actually use thaumaturgy to hold seances and ask ghosts how they would like their remains tended and their last wills and testaments executed. This, in a setting where the default treatment of anything supernatural that isn't part of the existing power structure is "Punch it in the face until it shuts up and falls in line." For ghosts, 'falling in line' means reincarnating regardless of unfinished business or the fact that the Immaculate promise of being born into a higher station in the next life for living humbly and virtuously in your current one is unadulterated bullshit. Sijan is awesome.
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Jan 30, 2014 21:59
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bartkusa posted:Can someone explain why Sijan is cool or makes sense? It's a literal border between life and death. Dunno how that can be anything other than cool.
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Jan 30, 2014 22:02
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bartkusa posted:Can someone explain why Sijan is cool or makes sense? All of the above, and the city is also the place for making sure your stay in the Underworld is a comfortable one. A person that is more lovingly tended to and mourned becomes a more powerful and richer ghost. Lavish and loving funerals is Sijan's business. In other words, it's a huge investment bank for the Underworld. Why shouldn't it exist, there's gold in them burial mounds! And, uh, the knowledge that you have sufficiently honored and contented your still-extant ancestors. That too. But mostly gold.
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Jan 31, 2014 04:14
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Stallion Cabana posted:I could go on and on and on about the problems of 2E Abyssals, because I want to play a person who hosed up something, almost died, and then a creature of tremendous power appeared before them, whispered. "I can help you live. But you have to make me a deal. If you live, everything else dies. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not even in a hundred years. But eventually, you will help kill the world." and in a moment of weakness, that person says "Okay." I'd love you to go on and on about 2E Abyssals! What's wrong with them now? What could be done better? I mean I hate the idea that you could be eternally beholden to anything - Neverborn, Deathlord, whatever. I think the Lord-Knight relationship is way more nuanced and interesting than the Master-Slave relationship. But then if you're describing the Deathlord-Abyssal relationship as a Lord-Knight relationship, what's the nature of the Neverborn-Abyssal relationship? The Neverborn have got Whispers and Resonance as a means of influencing the Abyssals - is there anything else? What do you think of Whispers and Resonance, and how could they be improved? I've always liked this Resonance rewrite.
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Jan 31, 2014 05:01
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That is probably going to be a long post. I'll spend some time and see if I can explain the whole thing.
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Jan 31, 2014 05:06
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