The bare necessities (to play Exalted)

[Slulura]

Exalted has a really deep and interesting setting. But, to be honest for five seconds, it can be hard, when you've been invested in it for years, to separate the essentials that a new player needs to know from the half a ton of information that you've learned as a fan.

With the intention of limiting infodump, what do you think are the things that new players absolutely need to know before starting a campaign?

[Sandact6]

Bring a lot of d10's. 20 minimum, 25 recommended.

[Slulura]

Bring a lot of d10's. 20 minimum, 25 recommended.

While that's always a good advice. I was asking about setting informations.

[Critian Caceorte]

With the intention of limiting infodump, what do you think are the things that new players absolutely need to know before starting a campaign?

"You are a chosen of the Gods (well, one God/Goddess in particular), and as part of your choosing, you are free to do as you please with your newfound superpowers. That doesn't mean other chosen won't fight back against you, but there is no law against your will which you cannot overcome."

That's a 2-sentence explanation that I feel covers the basics.

[Otto D'Fey]

My introduction for new players goes something like this:

The Immaculate Order tells us that in ancient times the Anathema dominated Creation. The Elemental Dragons saw the unnaturalness of their rule and created the Dragon-Blooded host to bring them to heel. A Shogunate rose and fell long ago, replaced by the Scarlet Empress, who saved Creation from forces Beyond and instilled order upon the Realm and the rebellious nations beyond. Anathema still appear from time to time, but the holy warriors of the Wyld Hunt travel the Five Directions, scouring their kind from the earth. But rumors of many troubles have reached your ears. A Great House brought low in the north, Anathema appearing in greater numbers, Thorns conquered by a powerful sorcerer, the Scarlet Empress...gone.

And now, a further complication. In a moment of crisis you felt a power take hold of you. Surrounded by a magnificent golden aura, you became something more than you were, with a purpose backed up by the holy power of THE UNCONQUERED SUN. Suddenly, YOU are one of the Anathema. YOU are now an enemy of Creation, antithetical to the Holy Immaculate Order and under death sentence from the Wyld Hunt. Possessed of mad sentience and terrible power, you must be destroyed before you can wreak havoc on an innocent populace. You are insanity and corruption personified!

Only…you know that it’s not true! The power within you has not come to destroy Creation but to save it, to bring justice and righteousness to the world in place of the Scarlet Realm’s corruption and the many ills that plague the Threshold. Epic tasks await you, made all the more difficult by the fact that the world perceives you as its Enemy. Nonetheless, Exaltation comes only to heroes ready to fulfill their Destiny. Or to follow their own formidable will, wherever it may lead... What stories will they tell of your deeds?
-=-=-=--=-
I followed this up with some discussion of themes and questions meant to determine the kind of game experience players were looking for, as well as the Direction in which we might begin. Also, "Buy more dice."

[GhanjRho]

Long ago, the gods rose up against their creators, fusing their divine Essence with mortals to be their weapons. After their victory, these living weapons, the Exalted, ruled over Creation, forging many strange wonders. The Solars, the most powerful among the Exalted, fell gradually into madness, leading to them being killed, and their Exaltations sealed away. In their place, the Dragon-Blooded formed a Shogunate, which ruled for centuries before falling to Contagion and the Fair Folk. From the ashes of the Shogunate, the Scarlet Empress forged her Realm, subjecting Creation to Imperial oppression. Throughout their rule, the Dragon-Blooded have spread the Immaculate Faith, teaching that the other Exalted are Anathema, enemies of Creation by their very nature.

It is now the 768th year of the Realm, and the Time of Tumult has begun. The Realm falls towards civil war, the Empress having disappeared 5 years ago. The Solars have returned from their long imprisonment, ready to reshape Creation. The Lunars continue their long war against the Dragon-Blooded, striking from the fringes of the world. The Sidereals struggle to keep Creation running as the return of the Solars reignites long-dormant factional disputes. Strange new Exalted appear, championing the causes of Oblivion and the demon lords of Hell.

[JohnDoe244]

"You are a chosen of the Gods (well, one God/Goddess in particular), and as part of your choosing, you are free to do as you please with your newfound superpowers. That doesn't mean other chosen won't fight back against you, but there is no law against your will which you cannot overcome."

That's a 2-sentence explanation that I feel covers the basics.

I like this.

I would set my first game somewhere in the Threshold and tell the players basically nothing:

You live in a little town, it's a quiet village. Most people work the fields to bring in enough food to survive the winter, giving thanks to the god of the fields. The village priest says the world is full of gods and monsters that deserve your reverence and fear, though you have never seen them. The blacksmith forges tools and weapons out of bronze. Life is hard, but it's life.

Until one day, something exceptional happened. Maybe you sought out a god to speak with face to face. Maybe you fought against one of the dread monsters from the stories. Maybe you found a magical relic of an age long past. In that moment, you were Chosen: Exalted, shinning like the Sun with the great power of the greatest of gods. Your powers are based upon your Abilities -- allowing you to push yourself beyond mortal skill -- and you are now one of the mightiest beings in Creation.

Others fear and covert your power. You must leave your sleepy hometown and set forth into a wider world you know little about. Early in your journey, you meet with your companions (the other PCs), and you find yourself drawn to an ancient ruin (cue Tomb of Dreams).

*

From there, we can have a Session 0 discussion about what themes they like, what kind of game they want to play, how the system works.

[Matthias]

1) This is a kitchen sink fantasy setting with heroes and farmers and monsters and stuff, but with more inspiration drawn from classical antiquity and non-Western premodern societies than from medieval Europe. Classical epic literature like the Odyssey and Ramayana and Water Margin are big influences, and you’re likely going to be a ridiculous hero like Hercules or Lu Bu.
2) There are lots of little gods for things like rivers and forests and the local city, and it’s normal to talk to them (though you might want a specialist - a priest, a shaman - to handle negotiations with them.) Ghosts are real. There are weirder spirits out there. Sorcery is rare and idiosyncratic (but so are PC types so you can totally wield it.)
3) There’s old ruins with ancient spaceships and mechs and stuff. Current tech is more iron age.
4) The biggest empire in the world, a kind of Rome plus China, is run by an aristocracy of people with hereditary elemental powers. They have a state religion that talks about why they should rule the world, but also does other usual religion things.
5) (more stuff related to the Realm and Immaculate Philosophy if regionally relevant)
6) (faeries and the Wyld and mutants of regionally relevant)
7) (more on the region itself)
8) (things relevant to the character they want to play)