OOC [Exalted 2.5] Forging a Nation

[Noodle]

Welcome to the OOC thread for the Forging a Nation Exalted game. Players, please post a brief description of your PCs first, so we can have them all on the front page of this thread. Any remaining discussion on character generation should remain in the Recruitment thread, rather than trying to move it here.

Remember (1) Be Excellent to Each other and (2) Have Fun!

Rumor Mill Compilation

[Omicron]

Here is Sea of Tears, Chosen of Serenity!

Summed up quickly: she's a Joybringer who's grown desensitized to the exotic pleasures and wonders of the Cerulean Lute. She tries to teach people to be better persons by influence both subtle and overt, and she has some kind of standing bet with Venus of an unclear nature. She's been sent into the Threshold recently to watch over (probably Jim's Solar). She has long straight white hair, wears flowing robes, a blindfold and a silken armor gown, and has the Backing of one faction and one division, giving her a lot of cool stuff.

What follows is the extended process of Sea of Tears' astrology rolls.

Sometime before the start of the game and while still in Heaven, Sea of Tears gathers paper strips, caligraphy tools, astrological instruments and prepares for the long and ardous task of crafting four Destinies. She wants three Resplendent Destinies, one for each of her Colleges, and a single Ascendant Destiny falling under the Sword.

Her basic prayer roll for all four is Charisma + Performance = 9, Difficulty 6. She will spend 9 hours in grand ceremony before each of these rolls (dedicating an entire day to each, basically) for +3 dice. She will use the First Performance Excellency to add +3 dice to each action, and as allowed per Heart-Brightening Presentation Style, channel Compassion on each for +5 dice. Then, she will use the Fateful Performance Excellency to convert the entire 20 dice pool into successes, leaving her with 14 threshold successes, which will add +4 dice to the effect roll in step 2.

Having access to the orrerries and astrological instruments of Yu Shan, she will then compute an horoscope before each effect roll, scoring 2, 4, 3 and 1 successes. Each of these number is 4 or a fraction thereof, so they add +1 to the effect roll. It comes down to Essence+College+4.
Resplendent Destiny of the Sword, 12 dice: 7 successes. 2 sucesses to Duration, 2 to Scope, 3 to Endurance.
Resplendent Destiny of the Ewer, 8 dice: 6 successes. 2 successes to Duration, 2 to Scope, 2 to Endurance.
Resplendent Destiny of the Musician, 8 dice: 2 successes. Sadface. 2 to Scope, none elsewhere.

Aaaand finally, Sea assumes her Resplendent Destiny of the Sword in order to be under the auspices of the appropriate college while she designs her Ascendant Destiny, which will use the Artless Prodigy Blessing; this adds +3 dice to her effect roll. Total: 10 successes, hells yeah. So, 3 Effect points go to scope (Individual Essence 3 being), 3 effect points go to Duration (10 years), and 4 go to Frequency - the destiny manifests every time its trigger is met.

The trigger, incidentally, is "Your fans shall be graceful and mighty weapons, as long as you fight gracefully and with art." So basically, -1 TN and +1 DV when fighting with fans in a manner that emphasizes grace and art.

Aaaaand that's about it. Hope I didn't make any glaring mistakes!

EDIT: silly me, I was forgetting the drawback of all this, which will undoubtedly kill me: Paradox. For the Ascending Destiny, I have 1 die for "simple trigger," 1 die for "10 years," and 3 die for Frequency. Soooo... 4 successes. Urgh. Well at least I'm not dead yet! And 2 dice for the two Resplendent Destinies (Sword and Ewer) which will have a duration of "one year"; no success. Good.

Now I'm done!

[Dietaku]

My character, Ledaal Tirien is up and ready.

In short, she's a Lunar who missed the train on DB exaltation in her Dynastic family, and now seeks to create a "New" Realm to lord over. She's very much a product of her land; proud, jingoistic and certain her methods are correct, but she's also sharp and eager to lead.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1...it?usp=sharing

[Dietaku]

What follows is the extended process of Sea of Tears' astrology rolls.

Sometime before the start of the game and while still in Heaven, Sea of Tears gathers paper strips, caligraphy tools, astrological instruments and prepares for the long and ardous task of crafting four Destinies. She wants three Resplendent Destinies, one for each of her Colleges, and a single Ascendant Destiny falling under the Sword.

Her basic prayer roll for all four is Charisma + Performance = 9, Difficulty 6. She will spend 9 hours in grand ceremony before each of these rolls (dedicating an entire day to each, basically) for +3 dice. She will use the First Performance Excellency to add +3 dice to each action, and as allowed per Heart-Brightening Presentation Style, channel Compassion on each for +5 dice. Then, she will use the Fateful Performance Excellency to convert the entire 20 dice pool into successes, leaving her with 14 threshold successes, which will add +4 dice to the effect roll in step 2.

Having access to the orrerries and astrological instruments of Yu Shan, she will then compute an horoscope before each effect roll, scoring 2, 4, 3 and 1 successes. Each of these number is 4 or a fraction thereof, so they add +1 to the effect roll. It comes down to Essence+College+4.
Resplendent Destiny of the Sword, 12 dice: 7 successes. 2 sucesses to Duration, 2 to Scope, 3 to Endurance.
Resplendent Destiny of the Ewer, 8 dice: 6 successes. 2 successes to Duration, 2 to Scope, 2 to Endurance.
Resplendent Destiny of the Musician, 8 dice: 2 successes. Sadface. 2 to Scope, none elsewhere.

Aaaand finally, Sea assumes her Resplendent Destiny of the Sword in order to be under the auspices of the appropriate college while she designs her Ascendant Destiny, which will use the Artless Prodigy Blessing; this adds +3 dice to her effect roll. Total: 10 successes, hells yeah. So, 3 Effect points go to scope (Individual Essence 3 being), 3 effect points go to Duration (10 years), and 4 go to Frequency - the destiny manifests every time its trigger is met.

The trigger, incidentally, is "Your fans shall be graceful and mighty weapons, as long as you fight gracefully and with art." So basically, -1 TN and +1 DV when fighting with fans in a manner that emphasizes grace and art.

Aaaaand that's about it. Hope I didn't make any glaring mistakes!

EDIT: silly me, I was forgetting the drawback of all this, which will undoubtedly kill me: Paradox. For the Ascending Destiny, I have 1 die for "simple trigger," 1 die for "10 years," and 3 die for Frequency. Soooo... 4 successes. Urgh. Well at least I'm not dead yet! And 2 dice for the two Resplendent Destinies (Sword and Ewer) which will have a duration of "one year"; no success. Good.

Now I'm done!

Man, there's a reason I never got into Sidereals, and you just lined it up perfectly. I love the idea of Heavenly Middle Managers who fight with paperwork-fu, but GAWDDAMM, is Astrology wonky as balls. Good work, though, Omicron.

[Omicron]

Yeah, it was... longer and much more involved than I'd thought. And at the end of the day, all I have to show for it is a measly 2-3 points for my Resplendent Destinies, barely enough to activate their lower powers a couple times. I guess I'll have to invest in other Abilities and put more dots in Colleges if I want more.

[FallenEco]

I'm sorry, but I am not happy with the work on Willow I've done.
I am going to drop out, rather than hold you all up because I'm fussing over my character

[CitanHyuga]

My character is Hyuga,

He has a gruff manner, but is secretly a really kind-hearted guy. He can't help but to try and look cool and always be ahead of the game. He is a genius blacksmith and was taught the skills by his guardian Loheim after both of his parents died at age 15. He is 35, has red hair, dark olive skin, and looks younger than he is. He is now wandering around the east trying to find inspiration for his works. He wants to rebuild the realm defense grid, create the most powerful sword ever, and protect people with his artifacts.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_V...it?usp=sharing

[Noodle]

Okay, the game has officially begun here.

Sorry for the delay. Things came up on Saturday, that forced me to move the things I was going to do on Saturday to Sunday... etc. I'll be posting some administrative things here in a bit, just to have them here for the record.

[Noodle]

First regarding dice rolls, and copied verbatim from the Recruitment thread:

I am not sure how y'all want to deal with the mechanical end of the house, during play. I've heard of situations where the ST retained all control over dice rolls, but I think that as limiting your freedom as players. This is how I propose to deal with things, and how things were dealt with in the myriad of PbP games I've been in. You retain direct control over rolling dice and activating charms for your character, unless you give me a contingency, which I will activate if applicable (ex: If you say "If the Abyssal with the sword attacks me before my next action, I'll activate Crimson Palm Counterstrike in response", I'll activate the charm, roll the dice, etc. for your character if the Abyssal with the sword attacks you). Otherwise, I'll apply the results of your rolled actions to your targets, roll any NPC actions, and then tell you the result ("The Abyssal's lunge will connect, and would deal 15L raw damage. Do you respond?") I know this messes up a large part of the step-based combat system, but I feel that doing otherwise would either slow the game to a crawl or force you try and give me dozens of potential contingencies, and neither of those outcomes are fun. If no-one has any objections, that's how it will go.

And:

I've allowed my players to use whatever sort of dice-roller they want in the past, be it an online Dice roller, dicetools, or actual physical dice. That said, all the PbP games I've ran have been on a very small, pretty amicable forum, so there was a gentleman's agreement of sorts that you would be honest with your rolls. I'm personally inclined to follow that, but I recognize that part of what made that system functional is that we were a very small, tight community. My concern would be that if someone got a sequence of really good rolls, another player might think that they're fudging the dice.

In order to prevent that from happening, I'm inclined to say invisiblecastle or something else that lets you prove your rolls (I had no idea such a thing existed, but I'm not really surprised). If y'all don't think it will be a problem, then I would say to not worry about it and use whatever you feel comfortable with.

[Noodle]

Now, regarding Stunts:

I expect you to use your better judgment and assign what you feel as an appropriate Stunt-level to your description. I would merely like you to add, after your description, what level of stunt you feel as appropriate to the action, and then, with roll the stunt dice separately, so in the unlikely case I need to subtract dice, I can do so without messing with your dice luck.

An example scenario:
The Sidereal Ascendant Sword is currently locked in a deadly battle with the Deathknight Mendicant Vixen in Blood-soaked Stockings at the base of his Tower-Manse. After dodging a fierce flurry of attacks, Sword retaliates with a single punch, letting the Holy effects of his already-active Horrific Wreath charm do its work.

Option 1 (No Stunt)
Sword makes a Punch attack at the Abyssal. He rolls 18 dice, and gets 10 successes.

Option 2 (1-die Stunt)
Seeing a momentary opening in his foe's defenses, Sword attacks, trying to make the best of his momentary advantage (1 die stunt). He makes a Punch attack at the Abyssal, rolling 18+1 dice and getting 10+1 successes.

Option 3 (2-die Stunt)
Seeing that the Abyssal has allowed her guard to lower after the flurry of activity, Sword leaps toward the wall of his manse and then launches himself off of it at his Foe, putting the force of his entire body behind his punch (2 die stunt). He makes a Punch attack at the Abyssal, rolling 18+2 dice and getting 10+1 successes.

Option 3 (3-die Stunt)
Sword's eyes lock onto a momentary opening in his foe's defenses. He springs off of his manse's walls, putting the entire force of his body behind the his fist. As Sword descends towards the deathknight, his anima condenses for a moment into a handful of Old Realm words. His fist, wreathed in Holy martian essence streaks towards the Abyssal's jaw as he shouts, "Sidereal Soul Breaker Fist!" (3 die Stunt). He makes a Punch attack at the Abyssal, rolling 18+3 dice and getting 10+2 successes.

[Noodle]

Oh, Hyuga, before you start getting ideas, I'm not going to allow you collect Behemoths like they're Pokemon.

[CitanHyuga]

>> Now I am AGAINST that pal. I think we all know who it is that wants that... I'll just build an army of automata

[Dietaku]

>>
<<
WHAT?

IT WAS A GOOD IDEA, OKAY?

[Omicron]

CitanHyuga using the first person in-character is confusing the hell out of me XD

[CitanHyuga]

XD Sorry it is habit. I very easily switch back and forth between view points. I'll try to control it