Ok, so copied and moved bits of this from the other thread as it's now a reality and I'd like to GM a game of this at some point once our quest with Dave has run its course....

That's the actual 2nd edition rulebook (set in the second age) and the Dreams pack (set in the second age) bought of Exalted.

So now to teach myself Exalted....! and then think up some ideas for games!!!

I'm going to start by roughly converting the CotH characters that usually play at monday nights into Solar Exalted characters to give me input and ideas into how the game runs on paper and then if anyone wants to play they can either use those (with any modifications they want to implement) or make their own new characters up from scratch.

For those who have already played Exalted (edition 1) can you see if you can dig out your character sheets and bring them to a monday night? I should be able to convert them forward to edition 2.

And if any of you have ideas for games/settings who can remember the system I'm open to suggestions!!!!

Sam / Bifford / Nevyn

Unfortunately I believe the dreams pack is actually the 1st age and not the 2nd age.

Also, I'd read the book through a few times first before trying to convert preexisting non exalted characters as converting everyone's CoTH characters is liable to be very difficult, particularly if you want them to be starting characters. Fitting them in with the Exalted setting could also be difficult.

since everyone would be new to it i'd suggest pre-genning or helping players to gen some characters from scratch unless you want to completely change the setting.

Adelaide Spellguard Kael d'Amberville
Amber Mage
Assistant Head of the Mages Guild
Countess of Foulness
Brohn Noble: Head of House Spellguard

Dreams is the 1st age, yup. which is why i was even more naughty and went straight online and bought the 2nd edition rulebook too lol.

Converting Nevyn didn't prove too hard actually as he fits into the Solar way of life quite nicely. Some of the other characters might be harder as they would need Lunar or other Sidereal races to properly work, and I don't have those expansion books yet....hmmmm.....Christmas wish-list!!!! Nice!

I need to read all the setting and playing gumph then do my own little game with 3 or 4 characters i can control while also being GM so as to get used to the whole system.. then do a small game with any of the table top seaxe'rs that allow me to jump in feet first! :}

You're welcome to join in the fun if you wish!

Sam

(14-07-2009 06:05 PM)Bifford Wrote:  Dreams is the 1st age, yup. which is why i was even more naughty and went straight online and bought the 2nd edition rulebook too lol.

Converting Nevyn didn't prove too hard actually as he fits into the Solar way of life quite nicely. Some of the other characters might be harder as they would need Lunar or other Sidereal races to properly work, and I don't have those expansion books yet....hmmmm.....Christmas wish-list!!!! Nice!

I need to read all the setting and playing gumph then do my own little game with 3 or 4 characters i can control while also being GM so as to get used to the whole system.. then do a small game with any of the table top seaxe'rs that allow me to jump in feet first! :}

You're welcome to join in the fun if you wish!

Sam

In your original post you did say 2nd age

Conversion wise Solars can sometimes adapt well, in fact they're probably the easiest out of the lot, but for any of them when it gets to charms it can get quite complicated. A lot of the time you may find that the character you want to convert from doesn't have the charms at the beginning of the tree but instead jumps straight to the middle. It may also mean that characters all start off at different levels so if you're not happy with this then you'll either need to dumb down the more powerful ones or give everyone else extra experience to spend as they please.

I'm wanting to run a game myself eventually (in fact I have one planned) so if you wanted a hand looking through (though I admit I'm not very experienced in it - at all) feel free to ask. I'll even gen a test character you can run through various situations should you wish.

I'm tempted to come along to the Monday night TT but I know that if I did I wouldn't arrive until about 9pm - not fair on the other players since they'd either need to run my character and I wouldn't be there for too long (not sure what time you finish but I'm guessing about 10pm ish)

Adelaide Spellguard Kael d'Amberville
Amber Mage
Assistant Head of the Mages Guild
Countess of Foulness
Brohn Noble: Head of House Spellguard

usually start about 8, finish about 11

Wayne

usually start about 8, finish about 11

Wayne

I have been thinking, it may be a good idea to push the players towards non-CotH characters for two reasons:

1 – Most of them really don’t fit into faux oriental mangaesque background. The characters in the beginning are more like low powered supers than the standard fantasy characters and I think having characters which are built for that background rather than the generic sword and sorcery is probably a good idea.

2 – The CotH characters mainly have a lot of background history which may be slightly daunting for a novice GM. Having new characters means that you have greater power to influence how the characters develop, how they fit into your idea of what you want the campaign to be, rather than conflicting with what the player expects their characters to be able to do and achieve.

I understand that this might not be possible for all the players, they like having their characters that fit into any campaign world, but sometimes that fit is a bit awkward. Personally when I am setting up a stand alone campaign I prefer it that players have new characters, then again when I play in stand alone campaigns I prefer making up new characters as a player.

Since there hasn’t been a huge amount of feedback on this thread it might be an idea to bring this up on Monday night. I am expecting my current campaign to draw to a close in the next 4-6 weeks, ignoring the holiday break. I am not sure how far a long in preparing your campaign you are, but if you are expect the players to make their own characters (which is generally a good idea), even if it is only a basic idea about what that character is and does, I find giving them enough time to do this before the campaign starts is a good idea. About half of the Monday Nighters have some experience of Exalted, even if it is only minor so it should not be too difficult. Also giving them a handout about the campaign background and character options, before the campaign starts is also a good move (see the D&D threads on this forum for example).

Anyhows that’s just my opinion, it’s your campaign so run it how you want. As GM always remember you are the ultimate power and never accept players telling you how you should run things, if rules don’t work for what you want either ignore or change them. Only one rule is ever sacrosanct Rule 0.

(24-07-2009 10:32 AM)Jon Peacemaker Wrote:  I have been thinking, it may be a good idea to push the players towards non-CotH characters for two reasons:

1 – Most of them really don’t fit into faux oriental mangaesque background. The characters in the beginning are more like low powered supers than the standard fantasy characters and I think having characters which are built for that background rather than the generic sword and sorcery is probably a good idea.

A good point, there's also the thing of when you generate your character a-new you get some insight into the way the game system runs.

(24-07-2009 10:32 AM)Jon Peacemaker Wrote:  2 – The CotH characters mainly have a lot of background history which may be slightly daunting for a novice GM. Having new characters means that you have greater power to influence how the characters develop, how they fit into your idea of what you want the campaign to be, rather than conflicting with what the player expects their characters to be able to do and achieve.

I understand that this might not be possible for all the players, they like having their characters that fit into any campaign world, but sometimes that fit is a bit awkward. Personally when I am setting up a stand alone campaign I prefer it that players have new characters, then again when I play in stand alone campaigns I prefer making up new characters as a player.

This is a very good point, and you know it was fairly hard for me to convert Nevyn to Exalted, and he's a fairly simple being ( )
I'm liking the idea of new characters more and more, especially now you've said I can mould them as they play LOL.

(24-07-2009 10:32 AM)Jon Peacemaker Wrote:  Since there hasn’t been a huge amount of feedback on this thread it might be an idea to bring this up on Monday night. I am expecting my current campaign to draw to a close in the next 4-6 weeks, ignoring the holiday break. I am not sure how far a long in preparing your campaign you are, but if you are expect the players to make their own characters (which is generally a good idea), even if it is only a basic idea about what that character is and does, I find giving them enough time to do this before the campaign starts is a good idea. About half of the Monday Nighters have some experience of Exalted, even if it is only minor so it should not be too difficult. Also giving them a handout about the campaign background and character options, before the campaign starts is also a good move (see the D&D threads on this forum for example).

Firstly, that's all good - it means your 4-6weeks ends after my trip to Paris with Sarah (FYI I shall be absent on the Monday 24th August).

Secondly, if I'm honest I have not as yet had any chance to think of any ideas, or even finish reading the information in the rulebook regarding the Exalted setting etc. I did get a decent way through the First Age book, but naturally that is going to be different to the Second Age setting. I need to read that and then do some plotting!!!!

I was thinking of an "intro game" however so that it's nice and simple and eases all of us into the Exalted world, following straight into a harder one.

(24-07-2009 10:32 AM)Jon Peacemaker Wrote:  Anyhows that’s just my opinion, it’s your campaign so run it how you want. As GM always remember you are the ultimate power and never accept players telling you how you should run things, if rules don’t work for what you want either ignore or change them. Only one rule is ever sacrosanct Rule 0.

Sweet! I really appreciate all your comments Dave and will think on them all long and hard (but not too hard as that may hurt my brain!)

Sam.

Yeah I for one will not be creating a CoTH style character I will be creatinga very bard, Singer, Dancer, Instrumental based character of a female bent who is unlike any of my other characters except perhaps my Shadow Run Rocker Ms Razz. I think I will call this one Dazzel. She will most likely dress in Rainbow Robes and be armed with Staff and Daggers. A bit of a Spell Singer!

Gary.

Also we really need four new players for Monday Nights or I will have to close Seaxe and Sorcery Monday Night Table Top which would be a real shame as it has been going for 25 odd years.

She sounds like a wonderful character! LOL

I have made sure to include tabletop info on the flyers to hand out at Romford, so with any luck this will bring some newbies in!!!!

Sam

Well I hope she will be a little different from my male characters.

For Gary's concept I can think of two "builds" that could fit:

- Zenith caste with emphasis on presence and performance charms, however, both trees require one of the excellencies as a pre-preq (basically a charm tied into a specific skill which grants either extra dice or extra successes depending on which is taken).

- Assuming Sam acquires the necessary book called Scrolls of the Monk, consider the Celestial martial arts style named Song of the Nightingale ( at least I think it's called that, not read the book for a while.

These were just off the top of my head but without knowing the specifics, I could not suggest any charms to aim for.

That'll be the "Silver-Voiced Nightingale Style" which has a nice lot of charms on it. The problem with this Style is that it means the bearer can not wield weapons or armour unless they have been specially crafted for them, and even then they arn't exactly useful.


On a different note....I now have every single book, addition, story etc in PDF form

Sam

That's the one!

(30-07-2009 06:35 AM)Bifford Wrote:  That'll be the "Silver-Voiced Nightingale Style" which has a nice lot of charms on it. The problem with this Style is that it means the bearer can not wield weapons or armour unless they have been specially crafted for them, and even then they arn't exactly useful.


On a different note....I now have every single book, addition, story etc in PDF form

Sam

Sam, you know I'm your best friend ever.......

Adelaide Spellguard Kael d'Amberville
Amber Mage
Assistant Head of the Mages Guild
Countess of Foulness
Brohn Noble: Head of House Spellguard

Yes that's very true, they can't wear armour but that's exactly what descreet essence armour was made for. It's come in very handy for my Ebon Shadow martial artist on a number of occassions.

(30-07-2009 10:35 PM)Mhorador Wrote:  Yes that's very true, they can't wear armour but that's exactly what descreet essence armour was made for. It's come in very handy for my Ebon Shadow martial artist on a number of occassions.

More information needed please! heheheh

Sam

Descreet Essence armour is a two or three dot artifact that comes in the the form of two armbands that are worn on the forearms, small enough to fit under Hearthstone Bracers, and a pair of legbands worn around the ankles. The artifact will only function whilst all four are worn as they generate what can only be described as a magical personal forcefield around the wearer, providing a moderate amount of armour soak (something like +5B/+5L). The artifact is perfectly compatible with martial arts that do not allow the use of armour however, the effect they generate is considered as obvious. I think they are found in either Wonders of the Lost Age or possibly even Oadenol's Codex.

Okay, well so far I have the following lined up for an Exalted (2nd Edition) game:

Dave playing Kavod, a Solar Exalted Tank (M);
Gary playing Dazzel, a (probable) Zenith Exalt Spell Singer (F) (Details to be solidified in Scotland);
Sam W with a character to yet be decided;
Kim with a character to yet be decided (though I personally feel we should steer away from the usual CotH char so Not a druid type!); and
Paul with a character to yet be decided.

Any other takers?

I shall be taking my full Exalted set to Scotland and hopefully will have some basic ideas for chars and gameplay sorted before and during that time.

Sam / Bifford

There isn't really a Druid type solar. For that you'd probably need to be a lunar. Would you like me to join in or would people prefer me to run a new DnD campaign? Perhaps wait to see when current games finish etc? Looks like mine could be running for a while.

Adelaide Spellguard Kael d'Amberville
Amber Mage
Assistant Head of the Mages Guild
Countess of Foulness
Brohn Noble: Head of House Spellguard