[Actual Play] United We Stand

[Vampir]

I haven't seen any Actual Play threads anywhere here so I'm not sure if it belongs here or somewhere else... sorry for any inconvenience caused...


Nearly three years ago I started running an Exalted game on RPoL. Thinking back the story has amassed a lot of plot and many great memories. With 100 threads and 12 player characters, even I began to lose track of what happened up to this point. For a while now I intended to make thread summaries for quick reference but never got to it until now. When I finished the first one, I thought that I might as well post it here and there for all to see and comment (more like: tell me how bad a storyteller I am).


I'm not sure how often I'll be able to summarise these, but when I do get to it, I'll post them here.


Without further ado (because I don't know what more to say):

 

[Vampir]

Uninvited Guests


Thread active: 17th March - 26th March 2007


Posts per day: 9.(6)


20th Resplendent Air RY-768


Afternoon


It's the end of harvest, for that occasion a festival takes place in the town of Faywyn. It's where a street performer called Haruhi begins to entertain a crowd of children, soon after she start a heavily clad woman joins the crowd of small spectators.


It's not long until she sees a man following a young girl as if preying on the child. No one else notices these for the simple fact of a Northerner getting all the attention. Apparently, the people in the One Hundred Kingdoms rarely see such strangers in their midsts. The woman is momentarily distracted and doesn't notice the man changing his route to appear somewhere in front of the girl. She does notice as he steps back into the shadows. At the same time, Haruhi and the woman see the girl reach into a man's pocket and take out his wallet. The woman approaches the girl and falls on her by "accident" as Haruhi shouts for people to check their pockets.


A commotion ensues that interrupts Caldean's tea drinking. The woman stands up, holding the girl tight with one hand while the man following her steps out of the shadows. Haruhi comes over to the girl and accuses her of theft but wants to hear what she has to say in her defence. Both Haerold and Caldean feel interested enough to join the crowd gathered around the girl. Suddenly, she takes out a knife and tries to stab the woman holding her but drops the knife and twists her other arm. Haruhi picks up the knife while the woman changes the way she's holding the girl to a less painful one. The man introduces himself as a town's guard and warns everyone about exacting revenge on the girl.The latest victim asks for his money back, the guard agrees and orders the girl to do so. Haruhi hands the girl's knife over to the guard, whose name was revealed to be Shadow's Grace.


Caldean steps up to give a speech about poverty, blaming the Guild for people having to resort to crime to survive. Shadow argues to the contrary, questioning Caldean's authority. Haruhi agrees with Shadow on this. Caldean questions their uncaring rulers and greed for silver. Shadow threatens Caldean with violence. As they argue, the woman takes the girl to safety


A Wyld Hunt enters the village in search of an Anathema. The woman takes off her disguise, revealing she was a man wanted for being Anathema. Luckily, the Dragon-Blooded still think his previous disguise is the Anathema. Sensing danger approaching, Haerold moves closer to a town's guard. Caldean apologises to Shadow upon realising this land isn't under the Realm's rule.


The Dragon-Blood notices a flicker of gold from underneath Shadow's clothes and orders her soldiers to attack. Haerold takes a guards sword and steps in front of Shadow and Caldean. He meets the Dragon-Blood's blade with the one he took. Haerold fights the Fire Dragon-Blood which is soon joined by her soldiers. His anima bursts out into the visage of a timber wolf. Quillon takes his serpent sting staff and joins Haerold against the Wyld Hunt. Meanwhile, Caldean and Shadow fight an Air Dragon-Blood backed up by mortal monks. Caldean, whose skin is too hard to pierce with mere metal, kills one and severely wounds the rest. The Fire Aspect isn't doing any better against the two Solars. In the midst of battle Haruhi shouts for everyone to run. The crowd hides in their homes, away from the fray. The fight ends with the Wyld Hunt retreating into safety.

 

[Flagg]

I'm not sure what "Actual Play" is, but we do have a Play by Post site.

 

[cyl]

And you're welcome to log in and ask for players, you'll have a demi ton of players within the week

 

[Vampir]

I'm not sure what "Actual Play" is

Apparently, Google does hold all the answers and it puts it a lot more eloquently than I can...


An Actual Play is a report of a roleplaying game session. Originally a written report put on a forum, blog or website for other gamers to read, more and more gamers are using the power of podcasting to distribute audio actual plays. Checking out actual plays gives you a taste of a game's system, lets you see how others interpret the game world and a glimpse of how other groups play their RPGs.


Thanks for the offer, but I'm doing okay as is :wink:


So... would you mind if I continue with this thread or should I scram?

 

[cyl]

Ow, you mean like campaign resumes.


Well here again, the pbp works perfectly for that too since we use every bit of the system here.


But the idea's not bad, on a thematic point of view, could give new ideas to STs.


But generally they use the ST help section to ask for help.


But I guess it could be cool to have some resumes of ongoing / finished game here, to see how the universe was used and read epic tales.


(we did it on the french community forum, but we have less members).

 

[Vampir]

But generally they use the ST help section to ask for help.

That's why I decided to put it in General rather than the ST section, even though we all appreciate comments :wink:

 

[Vampir]

Aftermath


Thread active: 26th March - 31th March 2007


Posts per day: 13.4


20th Resplendent Air RY-768


Afternoon


When the fight ended, some of the involved Solars were already shining with the sun's light which left the villagers with a mixture of awe and fear.


To avoid unnecessary violence, the two Eclipse among them, Haruhi and Quillon, explained the situation in their favour. The captain of the guard wasn't happy with what just happened so he took Shadow to the side to have him explain the situation. That way the truth about their Exalted nature is revealed.


While Quillon is unhappy with not getting any praise due to keeping his anima in check, Haruhi brings up the topic of why the Wyld Hunt came to this village. A topic on which Quillon remains silent.


The Exalts introduce themselves to one another. As Haruhi pointed out earlier, the Wyld Hunt will return so Caldean proposes to move the village. A plan that Quillon thinks improbable while Caldean notes there's no other alternative. Quillon criticises the use of the Solars powers to the extent they revealed themselves as Exalts. Ignoring their squable, Haruhi proposes setting up a trap for the Dragon-Blooded. Quillon says they might as well attack them outright.


Haerold says not to point fingers at one another, they begin to prepare an attack. A villager comes out of the crowd to speak his mind, Quillon assures him he means no harm. Shadow accuses him of being the cause of bringing the Wyld Hunt here thus having no right to speak of meaning well to his people, since unlike Shadow's Grace, he wasn't born here. Caldean gives a short speech on Quillon's attitude, calling him a snake and a blight.


Haruhi shouts out to both of them to be quiet, saying that in her mind both of them are acting like blights. At the same time she states they need to go with the farmers wishes of staying in the village although she will lead them away if need be.


Quillon decides to face the Dragon-Blood who attacked them, he says the rest should go with Shadow to a safe place in case he doesn't return. Haerold offers him his help in tracking the woman down. They make a plan of Quillon duelling the Dragon-Blood after which they would run away.


The rest decide to stay. Since there is no inn, a villager Moon Lotus allows them to stay in her house. Before the two Solars left, she bound Haerold's wounds in bandages, a thing he kept asking for. Finally, Quillon gives his name, Haruhi now is sure of his identity as an actor.


After Haerold's wounds were taken care of, the Solars split in two groups. Quillon and Haerold go to track down the Wyld Hunt while Shadow, Caldean and Haruhi go with Moon Lotus to meet the Forest which apparently is her friend.

 

[Vampir]

Forest Communion


Thread active: 1st - 10th April 2007


Posts per day: 3.8


20th Resplendent Air RY-768


Late Afternoon


Since Caldean wanted to speak with any local spirit that might be helpful to them, Moon Lotus takes them to the forest not far from where she lives. On their march there, Caldean shows signs of his impatience while Haruhi demonstrates her Eclipse insight into matters of conduct. They are soon met by falling leaves that form into the shape of a large scorpion. After the initial introductions Haruhi takes the lead in talking with the spirit. They quickly find out Mehwei, as he called himself, knew of the Solars' return through rumours. They both explained why they came to the village and then, Haruhi asks if Mehwei could aid her in learning sorcery. She swears an oath to plant trees in the forest in return for information given. After that, they return to the village to buy some seeds.