1st Age game

[X-Salted]

Hi guys.


Thanks for accepting me in. I have been played Exalted for about year now and by far I consider it to be my favorite WW title and I greatly enjoyed it. I haven't though played for a few months now since my ST put our game on hiatus due to RL issues. I'm now planning to start my own Exalted campaign and I was wondering if you guys can give me and comments/suggestion on the setting since its my first exalted game.


First of all I won't set my game in the 2nd Age which WW originally staged it in. I'm either setting it during the primordial wars or in the first age. My players would first create heroic level mortal characters and based on their concepts and actions they'll be transformed to any one of the exalted types of the player's choice (except abyssal). In a nutshell, the players will mold creation and civilization to how they see fit. The Usurpation though may or may not happen but that would entire depends on the players's actions.  


I wanted at first to run the game using 2nd ed but since the charms and anima abilities for lunars, sids, and DB have not been converted/updated to 2nd ed yet I have little choice but to use 1st ed (which really isn't bad). I was thinking that this game would be more inclined to new players since they have little knowlege of the game's history and they can explore their newfound abilities. Experienced exalted players could probably play it my game provided that they role-play without that knowledge.


Since my game is set in the 1st Age/Primordials War era should I let my players create some of their own charms or should I just stick to the ones from the sourcebooks? I also reread the lunars sourcebook and remembered that lunars had 5 castes instead of 3 (not including the non-caste) back in the 1st age. I would greatly appreciate to anyone who can give suggestions for anima abilities for the waxing moon, waning moon and half moon castes. I was considering to base their anima abilities from the solars' zenith, night, and eclipse castes since they have somewhat similar roles but I don't want them to be identical.


Anyway, I apologize for the long first post. thanks again. Til then...

 

[Flagg]

I'm guessing that the unofficial wiki probably has a bunch of attempts at the 5 original Lunar Castes. You might want to check there.


-S

 

[X-Salted]

Thanks a lot Stillborn.

 

[Persell]

Here's how I saw the anima abilities of the lost castes -


Waxing Moon:


As Lunar's courtiers, they are greatly prized for their silver tongues.  When their anima flares, it's a glittering globe that entrances those they whisper their wants and needs to and they add their Essence score to Socialize  and Presence rolls.  Their favored Attributes are Stamina, Appearance, and Intelligence.


Half Moon:


The Half Moons were Luna's tacticians and generals and often saw through their enemies ploys.  When their anima flares, Luna lets them better see through their enemies' deceptions, reducing Perception rolls by half their Essence, rounded up.  Their favored Attributes are Strength, Charisma, and Perception.


Waning Moon:


Waning Moons are Luna's tricksters and illusionists, passing themselves off as one thing and obfuscating their true selves.  Waning Moons can spend 10 motes to transform his anima in a veil of illusion.  Their favored Attributes are Dexterity, Manipulation, and Wits.


When it comes to Favored Abilities, I say to just let them pick 4 and Survival.  I don't think that changed.

 

[The Scorp]

I think you should just keep it a Solar game, and make these special lunars as NPC's.  Makes it a whole lot easier.

 

[Flagg]

Converting the other Exalted Charms to 2E isn't hard. Seriously, it's not.


I'm continually baffled as to why people think it's anything but simple.


-S

 

[Persell]

Yeah, I say you go for 2E too.  It's so much smoother than 1E.  And you can always use the charm packages from the STC.  Rather than let them buy separate charms, just have them save up enough XP to buy an entire package.

 

[The Scorp]

charm conversion isnt my issue.  Its the whole lunar thing.  Werent they completely different in the 1st age than now?  didnt the wyld change their nature and how they did things?  Lunars are masters of the wyld supposedly, but thats only in the 2nd age.

 

[Persell]

Lunars aren't masters of the Wyld - they're just able to survive it much more easily than others because of their moonsilver tattoos.  They actually changed very little.  It's been said somewhere that it's always been that when a Lunar first Exalts, they go through trials to determine the caste to which they belong and then perform rituals to lock them into it.  Ever since the Usurpation, though, the rituals to lock the Waxing Moons, the Half Moons, and the Waning Moons don't work - they'll always blend with each other because they've been warped by the Wyld.  As such, they are now Changing Moons.  The Fair Folk are the masters of the Wyld - the Lunars are just able to survive it for long periods of time.

 

[Upaatk]

I'm not near my books just now, but as I recall in the 1st Age they didn't have trials and rituals performed by other lunars.  Instead they would take a quest into the near wyld where the wyld would test them and when they walked back into creation their caste would be set.  On top of this if they spent too much time in the wyld it would un-set their caste and they would need to quest for setting again.


Of course before they had a set caste they would rotate through each caste as the moon turned, and I personally think it would have been awesome if un-tattooed Lunars in the 2nd age still rotated through the "lost" castes but that's a threadjack for another day.


I recommend not requiring Survival as a favored ability for all Lunars in the 1st Age.  If Luna favors heroes that can survive in every type of situation it's pretty limiting for all of them to be the type that survive in the wilderness (versus survive in all social situations, or all combat situations, or survive by knowing everything, etc).  In case you want some more options, the caste attributes I like best are:


Waning: Strength (the leaping trickster that can carry off anything), Manipulation (tricksters that can teach a man to see the sky as made of silver), Wits (always thinking one step ahead of their targets)


Half Moon: Dexterity (not the warrior that hits hardest, but the tactician that hits most often), Charisma (a leader that guides the pack through battle), Perception (always seeing the foibles and follies of their foes)


Waxing: Stamina (steadfast, never tiring courtier priests), Appearance (turning all social situations to their advantage), Intelligence (knowing all the songlines and worship lore of their people)