[Recruitment][Exalted 2.5] Forging a Nation

[Noodle]

Recruitment for this Game is Closed

I'm looking for a players for an PbP Exalted game, here at Onyx Path. Right now, I'm planning on it being a nation-building game out in the Hundred kingdoms, but that is currently negotiable, if anyone has a strong desire to have a different theme and/or location. As of this moment, I am leaving Solars, Lunars, Sidereals and Dragon-bloods as options for PCs.

Let me know if you're interested!

[Omicron]

I hunger for Exalted always.

[FallenEco]

I'm interested.
May I please ask what house rules you are implementing, if any? Not because I won't play if some aren't used, but it makes it easeir to decide on character concepts.

[Dietaku]

I'm down. I'd like to run a Changing Moon Lunar. Are we allowed Schaefer Lunar rules or normal chargen?

[JimB]

I'm not into play-by-posts, but one of my favorite people ever is showing interest, so I think I'd be willing to learn if you'd be willing to teach a newbie how to play this way. I've several ideas I've wanted to run for years, including a Zenith mafia don (best for a game confined to a single city), a Full Moon gunslinger on the run trying to protect his son from those who would kill the boy for having the bad taste to have a [demon/fae/ghost] for a mother, a Chosen of Journeys who considers it his personal duty to fix all of Creation's geomancy and will work with anyone he thinks can help him save Creation; but those are just notes to myself so I won't forget them later. I'm not sure any of them would be better than an idea I might have after hearing a more detailed pitch for the game.

[Hailey McAuliffe]

Color me interested.

[CitanHyuga]

I am interested in playing either a sidereal or a solar crafter.

[Noodle]

Wow. I didn't expect such an rapid and enthusiastic reception. Welcome, all! Six players sounds like a very nice number, so i'm going to close recruitment, unless someone above chooses to bow out.

@FallenEco- the only house rule that I've used in the past is the Schaefer Lunar chargen. If anyone WANTS to use a specific house rule, let me know, and I'll give it a look over.

@Dietaku- yes, just put them up here so anyone else who wants to play a Lunar can have them handy too.

@Jim- those ideas are all pretty cool, and all sound like they could be applicable.

Since you all appear to be looking for more information before committing or starting a character, allow me to explain. Whenever I've ST'd a game in the past, I just gave a vague concept (in this case, nation-building) and a location in the setting (hundred kingdoms), and then built the story around the PCs. My intention was to do that, but if you would rather I give you a more detailed background:

The nation of Novalesk lies along the Rock River north of Nasaru Redoubt. Caught in civil unrest due to a clouded succession, a ravaging horde of Wyld mutants lead by a troupe of Raksha have just invaded from the Northeast, and deathnights stalk the forests in the west.. Drawn to the chaos in the region, the Circle of young Exalts must save the nation from the hordes of chaos and death without alerting the legions of the Realm (in Greyfalls) and Lookshy to the south.

[FallenEco]

Wow, there is a lot more Lunar concepts bouncing around than I thought. In all fairness then, I won't take one. Maybe a diplomatic Lawgiver then, probably an Eclipse design to their stated job. It'll eat a lot of Favoureds but why not. I always wanted to do 1. Will have a more detailed version done soon.

For Dietaku and other Lunar Fans:

Peter Schaefer on Lunar Character Generation

During a private messaging session with a fan, Peter Schaefer discussed his original intentions for Lunar Exalted character generation:
Off the top of my head:

• 28 Ability dots
• 9/7/5 Attributes
• 7 Charms (4 Caste/Favored)
• 3 Knacks
• Two Favored Attributes from the three related to your Caste, two more chosen from any of the remaining seven.

That probably covers the important differences. Backgrounds do not cost any more for Lunars than they do for Solars; e.g., a Lunar can take up to 5 Influence without spending twice normal bonus points. Knacks cost 8xp per instead of 11xp. Nothing else comes to mind.
These quotes were posted on The Freedom Stone Forum

I saved the wiki page before it died. ^^

[Omicron]

I am probably going to play a Sidereal of some stripe, though kingdom-building probably means I have to stray from my usual combat-focused ways... I'll have to think about it.

Any other houserules we should know about?

I'm not into play-by-posts, but one of my favorite people ever is showing interest, so I think I'd be willing to learn if you'd be willing to teach a newbie how to play this way.

I'm pretty sure I could write essays on the different modes of playing RPGs... But don't worry, PbP doesn't bite and isn't that complicated.

[JimB]

@Jim- those ideas are all pretty cool, and all sound like they could be applicable.

Since you all appear to be looking for more information before committing or starting a character, allow me to explain. Whenever I've ST'd a game in the past, I just gave a vague concept (in this case, nation-building) and a location in the setting (hundred kingdoms), and then built the story around the PCs. My intention was to do that, but if you would rather I give you a more detailed background:

The nation of Novalesk lies along the Rock River north of Nasaru Redoubt. Caught in civil unrest due to a clouded succession, a ravaging horde of Wyld mutants lead by a troupe of Raksha have just invaded from the Northeast, and deathknights stalk the forests in the west.. Drawn to the chaos in the region, the Circle of young Exalts must save the nation from the hordes of chaos and death without alerting the legions of the Realm (in Greyfalls) and Lookshy to the south.

I'm one of those guys who can (and frequently does) come up with character concepts in a vacuum, but I always feel kind of bad about it when it's time to apply those concepts to a game, because the GM has his own world and the ideas I come up with usually have theirs too, so there's occasionally some conflict going on. I shall elucidate on my character concepts in a bit after I have a word with Omicron.

I'm pretty sure I could write essays on the different modes of playing RPGs... But don't worry, PbP doesn't bite and isn't that complicated.

I'm mostly worried about etiquette. I am a live gamer mostly, where timing counts for a lot; I can read the people around me, choose my words so I don't bore people with how much time I'm taking, and expect a rapid reply from whoever's sitting across the table. I've never done a game like this before, where I don't have those abilities. I just don't want to step on anyone's toes, is all.

[Noodle]

Ah, thanks, FallenEco. I, unfortunately, didn't save the wiki page, and was having problems finding it elsewhere.

Omnicron- No other house rules, unless someone can convince me that we need them. That said, I've always used the rules as more of guidelines. Which is to say, I try to look at the WHY the rule is in place and enforce that, rather than the as written rule. Dietaku and CitanHyuga can probably tell you better, as they were in my (now defunct) live game. Its rarely had any mechanical impact on the game; the only time I can remember was when I had to stat out a human body as an improvised MA weapon, then next session we realized Infernals had already done it. I think it would probably be more accurate to say that I've always allowed stunts to run into rule-bendy territory. Take that as you will. Oh, and there's likely going to be plenty of combat, so as long as your character isn't solely focused on combat, you should be fine.

Jim- I appreciate the concern, but make away! I have no expectations on anyone's characters (except Dietaku and CitanHyuga, but I know them and I know what types of characters they like to play, so its less of an expectation, and more of a prediction). I would much rather you build your characters to be in line with the other players than any vision I have for the game, since I've found that the inter-player, inter-PC dynamic is the most important one.

As for the etiquette, just be polite and respectful, and you'll do fine. There is no universal Play-by-Post etiquette; each forum has its own nuances and code, but from what I've seen it all boils down to (1) Be excellent to each other, and (2) Have Fun. Plus, think of this: Since Onyx Path has no established PbP community, we are building the informal PbP code on this site. Isn't that pretty damn neat?

Now, to the group at large. As I said, I'd rather you try to build your characters with each other than with me. At this time I'm going to plan on going ahead with the background I posted earlier. At current detail level, it should be enough to give you a foundation to build without locking you into anything in particular. With six players, there will be overlapping roles, so you'll probably be able to build a character into whatever role you desire, without the Circle being left in the lurch. That said, I do highly encourage collaboration in character building. Once you have your characters finished though, get them to me privately, either through PM or AIM. You can also contact me through those methods if you have any questions or concerns that you'd rather not level to the group at large.

Alrighty, then! I look forward to what you come up with!

[JimB]

@Jim- those ideas are all pretty cool, and all sound like they could be applicable.

So I'm gonna do something a little weird here: I'm going to give you a little more info on my character concepts, but I'm going to have odd blanks that are mostly for you to fill in according to the needs of your story. Like, remember who with the Full Moon concept, I said the kid's mom is a [demon/fae/ghost]? I was going to leave it up to you, or at least your input, to decide which kind of monster is more appropriate to your story or which one would call you the least trouble.

Right. Off we go.

Jagger, beloved crimelord

Jagger is a boss for [crime organization in the game's primary town] who started off as muscle and worked his way up to the top the hard way: by killing his boss when his boss asked Jagger to take the fall for a job gone bad. It was a dangerous move, but Jagger makes friends easily with his ability to keep his personal opinions to himself and his casual acts of kindness to support people around him, so he had enough support that the organization stayed in place despite the risk. The organization has done well under Jagger's command, though a lot of that is because he's willing to delegate responsibilities to those better equipped than he to handle them. The community is largely supportive of him because he makes his success theirs, taking care of his employees and their families as well as spreading his wealth around. The organization has pretty much moved out of local crime as to avoid alienating the community and is focused now mostly on importing illegal substances through a furniture shop Jagger owns an interest in after its owner got behind on gambling debts.

Jagger is a good man. He's also a bad one. He's hurt and killed for no other reason than his own profit. Nevertheless, he has a moral compass he adheres to, and it earned him a powerful ally. Jagger always had a cat and mouse relationship with Dezino, an outcaste magistrate in [game's primary town] that Jagger kept ahead of mostly by knowing the limitations of Terrestrial lie-detecting Charms and being careful to always have a wall of deniability in front of everything, but one day a member of a rival criminal organization kidnapped Dezino's son. This outraged Jagger--children are not part of the game--and he turned the town upside down to find the kid. He shut down all of his businesses and paid his employees out of his own pocket for a week to get them in on the hunt, bankrupting himself in the process but finding the child. He Exalted for it, and it was a good thing, because Dezino had come into Jagger's office in a rage and beaten the crime boss within an inch of his life looking for proof of who had the boy, so an Exalted metabolism helped him heal his wounds with a lot less discomfort than he otherwise might have had. Returning the child did not make him Dezino's friend, but the Dragon-Blood knows he owes the criminal a lifelong favor now.

After the kidnapping, the rival organization was destroyed by a Dragon-Blood on a vendetta, and Jagger controls pretty much all crime in town. He also knows he's capable of much, much more than that, but he doesn't know what to do with all his power. Divine right suggests he should perhaps start reshaping the world according to his own sense of right and wrong, and he could be okay with that--if nothing else, it would be a challenge--but he's been driven by risk analysis and personal profit for so long he's just not sure what to do with himself.

As a character, Jagger is a pretty social-focused one. He knows his personal power is built on the support of those beneath him, and he takes care of them. He has a big supporting cast and will be reticent to leave them or the places where they're safe.

Yuma of the White, killer and hunted kingmaker

Yuma was born to a warrior caste in [I don't have a particular place in mind and would probably make one up if you have no ideas you want to use]. He was never a smart man, but he had a quick eye and he learned his lessons well. He was a good enough soldier to graduate to commando, and when he quit military service at age 38 after having spent most of his life as a grunt, he took a job as a bodyguard because spotting threats and killing people were pretty much the only skills he had, so his career options were limited to violent ones. So, ultimately, was his death: His own client ambushed him and killed him, yelling something about the client's wife. Yuma was never sure what the man was on about; he'd never touched the client's wife.

Yuma is convinced he died and Luna saved him. No one has bothered arguing with him about it. Despite his fairly compelling reason to seek revenge, he's never done so, because Exaltation has changed him in ways he's not convinced are good ones. He's drawn as if compelled to [demons/fae/ghosts, whichever you'd prefer to work with], not with violent intent but with fascination. He's even sired a son with one, and he's now convinced he's cursed, possibly from this life but more likely from his previous one, to become a creature of darkness, a servant of some other, inimical world. It even shows in his Tell: Anyone can see his skin is pale, but those who pierce the Tell can see his skin is the color of [Malfean porcelain/ghost jade/gossamer].

The Silver Pact found Yuma and assuaged his fears with a gift, a prayer piece Yuma calls Lead Merchant. As long as he can still use that, he is still pure, and he holds to it dearly. The Pact has more or less cut ties with him since the birth of his son came to light, and Yuma can live with that. He's on the run from the Pact and from anyone else who has an interest in hurting him or his half-human son, working odd jobs here and there to support them both while trying to give Chambers Appointed with Jade a good life. He's the boy's sole caregiver since his mother delivered him to Yuma in something of a panic, wanting him to live in a world less likely to eat him, and he is Yuma's entire reason for being.

Yuma is a Prince of the Earth, but he has no idea what to do with that. If you gave him a kingdom, he'd probably turn it down as something he can't use. His son, though...his son is royalty in two worlds, and to Yuma's way of thinking, that means Chambers Appointed with Jade deserves to sit on a throne of his own. Yuma will make that happen...somehow. He doesn't know how. That's not really his skill set. He thinks he probably needs friends, which is hard for him; he's a hard man, suspicious of everyone and not prone to friendships, most likely to solve any problem by killing it as he was taught to. Learning peace has been very hard for him.

Yuma is not a team player, but he's learning. He may be hard to get along with until he's as sure as he can be that no one means his boy any harm. His goals are to protect his son and the boy's mother (a boy needs his mother, is what Yuma thinks), and if anyone gets in his way...well, he knows how to get people out of his way.

This seems like it's probably about to hit the word limit for a post. I'll do another one in a while.

[Noodle]

Jagger could fit into the rather simplistic view of the game I currently have very easily. I had more or less envisioned the nation as being structured similarly to a Hellenic City-State. There's a central Polis (the capital Novalesk) with a handful of of satellites that exist on the border of small city and large town, and a cloud of agricultural demes around each town/city. I could see him running crime in one of the satellite cities and its surrounding territory, since being the mafioso in the the central Polis would require WAY more background dots than are available at chargen. To flesh him out, I would suggest taking the Code of Honor Merit and either the Obligation Merit or Ally background.

Yuma may be harder, but is still possible. Ghost or Fae would be easiest for me to integrate, because I've already added the dead and the Fae to the miniature three apocalypse pileup. That said, any of the three could work. I would suggest taking the Ally background for your spouse (depending on their power-level), and the Ward Flaw for your son. Now, I am envisioning the political system of Novalesk being an Essence-based oligarchy. The current succession conflict is occurring because the old ruler, a god-blooded daughter of the city-father, just achieved apotheosis. The strongest claimants are a middle-aged enlightened mortal, and a recently exalted DB. And the PCs, of course, but y'all will have to build your backing.

I'm reminded of a few things. I am allowing the Merits and Flaws system in Scroll of Heroes, but they should all be justified as part of your backstory. Jagger serves as a good example of this, as illustrating that he has a Code of Honor (Don't harm children) and the story for how he received an Obligation. Also, I typically don't charge exp for backgrounds gained through play or good roleplaying.

[Omicron]

I could see him running crime in one of the satellite cities and its surrounding territory, since being the mafioso in the the central Polis would require WAY more background dots than are available at chargen.

Oh, I don't know about that. Backing 5 (Polis Crime Syndicate), Contacts 3 (Beggar, Corrupt Cop, Merchant), Followers 3, Influence 2 - that would cost 8bp in addition to all your Background dots, but you have full control of the local criminal underworld, three major contacts and +3 dice for finding information, a hundred of "elite soldiers" level extras to act as your personal loyal troops, and everyone who matters knows your name... Doable, if expensive.

RE: house rules; if this to be a mixed game involving Solars... Would it be possible to convince you to consider making the BP/xp costs paid by other splats the same as Solar costs? It's just kind of annoying to pay 10 bp for Essence 3 when a Solar pays only 7 for no real good reason. Just a consideration.