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Exalted: Shards of Hope - General Discussion

Dave ST

By Dave ST,
in Shards of Hope

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Dave ST Elite

Dave ST

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There are a few flaws with that concept, at least from my standpoint.

1. The most obvious... I'd have to post my ass off while people sit on their thumbs to see how cool they looked.

2. If I have to do all the flavor text then things like stunt dice, exp bonuses, willpower recovery, and regained motes would go right out the window. Sorry guys/gals, but I'm not about to award bonuses for something I had to write myself. The heart of Exalted is Epic. To describe what you do and how you act, to descend upon you enemies in a rain of fiery death is the heart of it all.

3. Some enemies require players to use their heads or the environment to defeat, no matter how you attack it weapons will do you little good (this is a common theme for my games, sometimes player have to think). Why should the ST write out you character's insight into such matters?

Opinions?

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SalmonMax Boss

SalmonMax

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Well, sort of.

One thing I noticed about Exalted combat is that the ticks are just a timekeeping convenience. From a player perspective, they're not really relevant. The player just goes, "I do this, I do that," and based on the numbers associated with their weapons and so on, their actions are arranged into ticks. Eventually the player can't take any more actions in that turn, and he's done.

I was suggesting that we keep ticks on the GM side of things, so the player doesn't say, "In tick 5, I attack." He just says, "I attack."

The GM's summaries are determined not by tick, as they can and likely will span several ticks at a time. They're determined by actions. One back-and-forth between the PC's and antagonists. All the PC's act. All the antagonists act. The results are summarized.

Of course, it may take 2 or 3 ticks for ALL the PC's to act, or ALL the antagonists to act. There will likely be a lot of empty ticks too, especially towards the end of the turn. Those can be handwaved in the summary.

So a summary might look like this:

Tick 5

PC 1 screams havoc and lets loose his Daiklaive of war, slashing madly at the wounded wyld barbie! Her howl of terror is cut short...as is she...when her head leaves her body; bound for somewhere in low orbit! (PC does 89 lethal damage to barbie, who fails to soak.)

PC 2 slips on entrails and barely manages to block the other barbie's Cosmic Dreamhouse Attack! (PC fails Athletics roll, and barbie only scores 40 successes...not enough to penetrate PC's Parry DV of 49).

Tick 6

The barbie shaman finishes her spell, and a herd of multicolored unicorns stampedes through the battlefield, trampling everyone! (PC 1 takes 3L damage, PC 2 takes 1L damage, last wyld barbie is made into a barbie torte...mmm...torte...).

Tick 7 - Nothing happens.

Tick 8 - Also nothing.

Tick 9 - ...yawn.

Tick 10

PC 3's mighty Orbital Jump and Freefall Prana finally takes effect! He plumets from the sky, flaming and screaming defiance, striking the shaman with such force that he carves a crater into the bedrock and the shockwave blasts the dirt high into the ionosphere, and knocks over trees for miles around. The shaman is, if he's lucky, dead. So is PC 3. And 1 and 2.

Encounter over! (Pyhrric) VICTORY!!!

...

The idea being that there's 3 PC's, taking their actions over a wide spread of time...only one summary is required, rather than laboriously go tick by tick.

Okay...whoa. smile You wouldn't be writing the PC actions. They would be. You just copy and paste those. Same for stunts and such...that's still the PC's prerogative, and responsibility. That doesn't land in your lap either. As for insights and such, you don't have to write those...unless a PC action results in one (like, if a PC requests a skill or stat check to realize something, and you feel that's justified). Otherwise the PC would post his or her action like, "I jump kick the invulnerable Arnold into the pool of lava!" And you'd then post the results.

I guess I wasn't being very clear. smile

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Travis Kincaid Experienced

Travis Kincaid

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Yar, I don't want to give my my overly detailed epic descriptions, but at the same time I'm an edition behind and so would feel more comfy if our intrepid Storyteller oversaw the actual resolution between my roll and his beasties.

I.e. I would write ...

,,
Quote:
Callum nocks the frog crotch arrow and pulls the short-bow into firing position. Sighting down the arrow he aligns his shot with the eye of the great sandwormselky and imbues the projectile with a leathal mix of refined essence and pure solar power. Unleashing the arrow he feels the orichalcum "string" split the air as the arrow bursts into pure solar flame and races toward the creature...

*15 dice, 8 successes*

To which you would provide the actual descriptor of the impact and damage. This has the added advantage of allowing the PCs to post in pretty much any order and have their actions be worked out via initiative step. I may write that and Rysha may also write an attack against the same creature. Her attack comes second and deals the killing blow but she may have posted 3 hours prior to my own post.

I think it's a win-win

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SalmonMax Boss

SalmonMax

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Right...and if something happened earlier than you in the initiative that makes your action impossible (say, Rysha's before you in the order and kills your target before you act), then it's reasonable for the PC to specify a contingency like (if the shaman's already dead, I'll do the same action to a bodyguard, or any other opponent).

Failing that, the GM can ask for a clarification via email or OOC post, or if things seem obvious (there's only one foe left, for example), he can just apply the PC's action to the clear course of action.

Or other arrangements could be made.

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Warren Verona Mentor

Warren Verona

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We'll see how it goes, it pretty much sounds close to the way I intended it to be with just a bit lost in translation.

Keep in mind also that not every action needs to be epic, but most actions are in response to what's already going on, so instead of saying:

"I shoot my bow"

It's:

"Callum nocks the frog crotch arrow and pulls the short-bow into firing position. Sighting down the arrow he aligns his shot with the eye of the great sandwormselky."

That's the same thing, just without the charm, certainly not epic, but it's text to help us understand what's going on.

Or:

"Callum nocks the frog crotch arrow and pulls the short-bow into firing position. "Rysha! Get down!" Without hesitation Callum launcehes the arrow and it streaks a mere thumbnails lenth above her as she ducks in response to her ally."

That one shows communication between players, as if the function like a team, and they should. Certainly not epic either but in conveys a sense of action and companionship.

And Callum... Sandworms make the Selkys look like kittens. smile

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Rysha Contributor

Rysha

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It bears mentioning that Rysha has melted into the background and is following Callum on foot and through the trees. He may or may not notice her doing so (her stealth roll netted six successes on a nine die pool), but she'll accompany him along the way. How long it takes the rest of the Circle to notice she's gone, I leave up to y'all.

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SalmonMax Boss

SalmonMax

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Mei is dressed like a Southerner, but clearly didn't know the language. It didn't really get us 'found out,' or else there'd be more than just a guy tailing us. smile

It just made them suspicious.

That's the best I could come up with on short notice. :-(

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Ledaal Sovanya Rookie

Ledaal Sovanya

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Originally Posted By: Rysha
It bears mentioning that Rysha has melted into the background and is following Callum on foot and through the trees. He may or may not notice her doing so (her stealth roll netted six successes on a nine die pool), but she'll accompany him along the way. How long it takes the rest of the Circle to notice she's gone, I leave up to y'all.

Shouldn't that involved a IC post? The last thing from rysha was..

Originally Posted By: Rysha
Rysha's involuntary giggle spoiled the severity of the look she threw back at him over her shoulder. "Oh, come on, lazybones. We've got a walk ahead of us, and I don't want to spend longer waiting on your dandified Realm legs than I have to."


She said that and as Callum was gathering his stuff to leave he was stopped, we all (aside from Rysha) talked some more and -then- Callum got up and set off running. There was never any mention of Rysha actually leaving.

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Rysha Contributor

Rysha

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I actually did an IC post earlier referencing her leaving.

Originally Posted By: Rysha
A wry, slightly indignant look brushed across Rysha's face as she looked between Mei and Akryruh and rested a hand lightly at her hip. "The Maidens only know where you two get your ideas. To hear you tell it, I'd charge right into any fight that presented itself without a heartbeat's thought." She flicked her hair slightly, drawing herself up with a slightly imperious air that showed distinct signs of imitating Mei-Ying at her most punctilious. "I shall be the soul of caution, of course."

She offered Elsbeth a final comforting smile, then turned and began a leisurely stroll toward the east with the lithe, easy grace of a natural hunter.

She then made the comment you just quoted while in motion, but since nobody seemed to actually notice she was moving, I decided to work that into the results by having her slip off after Callum. Basically, everyone else is so busy talking that they missed her leaving.

I could have done an additional IC post then, but I was holding off until Callum got his up so I could post Rysha actually in the process of following him.

Acceptable?

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Dave ST Elite

Dave ST

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Chapter 1 will be closed sometime this weekend. Most Chapters will be either a single scene or a few similar scenes. Fighting the Selkys has nothing to do with the Unbidden Oracle so I'll be starting a new thread for that.

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Rysha Contributor

Rysha

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As an aside on Blood and Sand - I'm taking a couple (very brief) liberties in the first few moments after Rysha Exalts in terms of charm use. Blame it on the Throwback and the ambient energy of Exaltation. It won't last past the extra she's currently slicing up, so nobody have a conniption on me. smile

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Rysha Contributor

Rysha

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Posted in both fictions. Also noticed on rereading, to my considerable embarrassment, that I put Flow Like Blood on my sheet when A) I don't have a high enough Essence score for that (Rysha's got Essence 2, not 3) and B) I don't have one of the prerequisite charms, either. So I replaced it with Graceful Crane Stance, and humbly promise not to screw up quite so impressively in future.

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Dave ST Elite

Dave ST

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So out of nowhere he decides "Hmm, I'll look for Rysha." and makes an Awareness Roll to locate her?

I guess his spider sense is tingling...

As a side note, I'ma try and get something posted tonight guys, sorry about the delay but after being sick for a week I have had a lot to get caught up on.

~D

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Travis Kincaid Experienced

Travis Kincaid

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No ... he matched her previous stealth roll and so I figured he might have thought that somebody was following but wasn't able to confirm. He's using the opportunity to try and see if he can spy anybody.

Edit: Thinking about it more, Callum would very likely use the opportunity that a breif stop to gather herbs would bring to check and see what was about even if he didn't think somebody was following him. A scout is not going to do well if he assumes that he is never being watched himself ...

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