[Exalted] Shadows of Nexus

Basically, they're like the special abilities as would be found in any other game, similar to the feats, spells, talents, etc... The core book describes all of those types of things. I'd be glad to explain more to you, but this isn't the best medium for such a discussion. I'll give you my Skype name if you want me to walk you through some more of the system.
 
Think of them as neat little (and not so little) tricks that you character can do on demand. They like super powers, but not quite...if I have to use an example from popular culture, let's take PMMM and how Tomoe Mami can just summon guns and ribbons.
 
-Has never heard of PMMM and so doesn't know who Tomoe Mami is. Consults the all-knowing Google- :tongue:
 
@HolyFireX - As I understand it, Charms are what makes your character Exalted in the first place. It's a collection of spells and augmentations, and those two other books - Ink Monkeys and Faucets stuff contain a comprehensive listing.


If you have not yet, you should play this: http://jyenicolson.net/exalted/index.html


It will give you more than a good start to play this game. It's Java-driven and very nicely made ;)


Explains everything as you go along.
 
Actually, both of those books contain only a complementary listing. The primary listing is in the Core book and the comprehensive listing is... Well, on individual peoples' computers because it includes copyrighted material and so isn't usually distributed. Also, Anathema (check 11 posts above) includes a comprehensive display of all the Charms (I believe), though it does not give the full details of them.


And yes, that tutorial was listed in the first post of the Interest Check thread. It is a great tool for understanding some of the basics of gameplay.
 
So we're supposed to read the core rules, and when making the character browse through those two other books in order to select our charms and stuff? And about the 2.5 errata, that too?
 
What I'd recommend doing, is creating a "rough draft" of your char based on the core book, then looking through the errata to check if any of the things that apply to your character-in-progress have been changed. Make any alterations as needed. Then look at Ink Monkeys to see if anything relevant to your character was added and is available. Trade out things for the new stuff you want. Do the same for HFoE, if you care to. That book doesn't add as much low Essence content.


If having difficulty picking out which Charms you want, I'd suggest selecting "all" the ones you would like, then simply removing ones that you could do without until you get down to the number of Charms you're allowed to have. If you want further help, or if you're overwhelmed by the sheer number of possibilities (one of the drawbacks of Exalted in regards to new players), please don't hesitate to send me a PM with what you have currently and what you're having issues with, even if those issues are only indecision.
 
..for the most part, all the charms you'll need are in the core book. The errata is just changes that were made to better balance them out.


I'll have to look and see if I have a copy of imperfect lotus. I might have to rearrange some dots if there's anything neat.
 
At game start our characters already know each other? Does this mean we've already formed a circle traveling together, or simply that we've met before and some of us might be friends but that's it? And lastly, are we starting Exalted or not?


I can't devise my character without that knowledge *bark*
 
Not sure on that score...maybe both options, some of us may know one of the others or might have travelled with another or even lived in the same town with another. I guess it's up us to figure that out. I'd suggest building the character and seeing who wants to associate with who. Each of our characters should at least know one other.


The problem with being a circle is well...the Wyld Hunt, a travelling Circle is bound to attract a lot of attention.
 
Well mine as it stands now is a resident of Nexus. Still working out details on his connection to Laefaer's character though, so that may affect it somewhat too.
 
You guys can choose to know each other or not, on an individual basis. I've designed this so that by the end of the first scene, you'll all have met each other, regardless. As a general rule of thumb, unless specifically stated otherwise, in a game of Exalted, the PCs start as Exalts.


Also, EdExalted is pretty awesome. It allows for quite a diverse range of houserules and such (though some things are coded in and can't be changed, such as the Attributes which is sad because I want nWoD Atts for my Exalted!), and has a decent method for displaying Charms (including custom ones). However, it does take a fairly decent amount of work by the ST to make the changes that houserules require. As I have not yet put enough time into doing that, I didn't suggest the toolkit at the beginning of the thread.


However, I still prefer the pdf char sheets for the ease of use and lack of forcing any specific ruleset on a character, even without spending time to make any changes from houserules. Just know that if houserules are used, don't let the sheet calculate relevant traits and simply do them manually.
 
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Alazair said:
The glories of the First Age are lost. The architects of such wonders trapped for over a millennia are finally returning to find their world shattered and broken, ruled by their usurpers, the Children of the Dragons. Their mates are scattered to the four corners of Creation, fighting both for survival and to hold back the chaos of the Wyld. The advisors of the once-great Lawgivers are nowhere to be found.
What's worse, the Solars and their Lunar mates are now considered Anathema... Demons in human form intent on destroying or enslaving the world for their own ends, or so the Immaculate Faith of the Dragon-Blooded say. And so they Hunt. What choice do they have? They must protect Creation from the Golden and Silver monsters... Or so they believe.



The dead of the Underworld claw at the surface of Creation, scheming and plotting before they pour through the blighted lands to wreak destruction and drag all that exists into Oblivion. The Fae dream up fanciful ways with which to unravel what is shaped, returning it to the chaos of the Wyld so that it may be clay in their hands, allowing them to weave such exciting stories as have never been told.



This is the world the Chosen of the Sun return to. And now they must fix what has been broken, purify the blight, and reshape the world. But they are scattered and young, not yet powerful enough to confront the forces arrayed against them. Alone, they are often found by the Wyld Hunt and slain. So they are drawn to each other to join forces and solidify their strength, making them a much more difficult target to kill.



One such circle of Solars finds themselves in Nexus for reasons of their own. Some may live there, others were drawn to the city. Though they do not yet know each other, they are destined to bring the light of the Unconquered Sun to the shadows that have fallen upon Nexus, forcing those shadows to flee from such holy brilliance.



Gameplay


Exalted 2.5 Extended: This game will be using the Exalted 2.5 update as found in the Scroll of Errata, in addition to the Ink Monkeys collection. Most of the content in the Hundredfold Facets of Enlightenment will also be used.


New Players: This game is designed to introduce new players to Exalted. As such, there is no need to worry about making mistakes or playing poorly. I intend to help with any problems and answer any questions I am able to. Hopefully by the end of this story, the players will have a firm grasp of the concepts and system used by Exalted.


SAS Adventure: I will be running this game from one of the premade campaigns. As the game continues, I may diverge from what is written in the adventure. If you happen to have the adventure books and know which I am using, it would be in your best interest not to read it.


Requirements


Exalted 2nd Edition Core: This book is required to play as it contains all of the rules and systems of the game. If you're wanting to play Exalted, however, you probably already have this.


The Scroll of Errata: This book is the update from Exalted 2.0 to Exalted 2.5. Everything in this book will be used as written, barring the few houserules I have (I believe). Therefore, this is required as well. It can be found here.


The Ink Monkeys Collection: This books has a large collection of additional Charms that are all but canon anyway, and most people seem to use it as it has many nice additions. This book isn't actually required, but as it is free, there really is no reason not to have it. It can be found here.


Hundredfold Facets of Enlightenment: This book also has a large collection of additional Charms that can be quite useful. However, it is not canon (though, since Charms can be created by Exalts, it could technically still be considered canon by the loosest definition of the term) and was released before the Scroll of Errata. Therefore, some of the entries in this book are out of date and would need to be revised for use. This book is also not required and choosing not to use it wouldn't really detract from your play experience. However, it is also free, so there's no reason not to at least have it, even if you don't intend to use it for this game. It can be found here.


Character Sheets: These are very useful to help keep track of the stats and other non-mechanical aspects of your character. While they certainly aren't actually required, they are definitely recommended. They can be found here.

Attacking


When attacking with Melee or Thrown, add Strength to the dice pool, rather than Dexterity. Throwing knives and needles may still be thrown with Dex.


Social Appearance


In Social Conflict, Appearance is compared to your target's Temperance (rather than his Appearance), and only adds a single die to your dice pool for every rank in Appearance you have higher than his Temperance, rather than affecting MDVs.


Singular Crafting


Craft is now a single ability with specialties for each of the individual types of crafting. It now specifically ignores the maximum number of specialties that are allowed in a single ability, though the maximum bonus to any single roll is still +3.


Sorcery


When each initiation Charm is purchased, a single spell belonging to the corresponding Circle is given free of charge.


Excellencies


Excellencies are now merged by Caste. For example, instead of purchasing the First Melee Excellency, you'd purchase the First Dawn Excellency which counts as the First Excellency for every Dawn Caste Ability.


Also, rather than referring to the Excellencies as the First, Second, or Third, their names should be used. Examples follow:


Overwhelming Excellence of Dawn


Triumphant Excellence of Twilight


Resurgent Physical Excellence (For our Lunar)


The name obviously isn't very important and if you can't remember them, don't worry about it. But if you can, it sounds much more epic than simply saying the First Dawn Excellency. And epic is good.

Players


HolyFireX - Dawn


Lord-Leafar - Zenith


ayetherebobbyu - Night


Wolf Rawrrr - Twilight


Foolish13 - Eclipse


PirateLexi - Changing Moon


All character slots are currently full and I am not searching for any more players.


Interest Check thread is here.


Tagging players from other thread: @HolyFireX, @Lord-Leafar, @ayetherebobbyu, @Wolf Rawrrr, @Foolish13, @PirateLexi

[QUOTE="Captain Hesperus]If that's the case, then you can now proceed to the Storyteller's Forum, read the advice given there and submit your forum requests.
Captain Hesperus
@Alazair, is this game ready to be created?
[/QUOTE]
 
Almost. I'm just working on cropping an image for the banner and making a description and such. I figured I'd make sure I had everything ready before I sent a request in. I don't like submitting things that are incomplete :)
 
Any chance that if I went ahead and posted my sheet if I could get some advice? lol. <-- is currently unemployed and has way too much free time.
 
@ayetherebobbyu - you should really play the Exalted: Becoming tutorial. It answers so many questions... scratch that, all the starting questions you may have and it will definitely more than prepare you for this game. It will also make Alazair's job a bit easier. If we want to learn how to read it's only polite that we learn the alphabet letters first :P


Well my character was also supposed to be a resident of Nexus... Now, I have not yet read up on Nexus, but doesn't being an Exalt already draw attention even before you're part of a circle? I mean in the tutorial, at the end your character Exalts, kills a couple Dragon Blooded and then has to leave the city before the enemy from the Isle comes looking for you.
 
ayetherebobbyu said:
I was wondering if someone could explain intimacies, how they work, and what they are for?
Intimacies are what make your character 'tick', they are the core values (both positive and negative) which define the character's life and goals for the future. Intimacies tend to be an object, place, person, group or concept and an associated feeling which has an importance to the character, for instance a noble samurai warrior character might have the Intimacies: Kingdom of Pangu (Protective Love), King Zheng of Pangu (Honor and Respect), Queen Mei of Pangu (Secret Adoration), Family Sword and Armor (Pride), Bandit Chief Bloody-handed Mau (Hatred), Acting Honorably (Dutiful Respect). A merchant from the same kingdom might have different intimacies, for example: King Zheng of Pangu (Jealousy), His Business (Pride), His up-and-coming nephew Chin (Suspicious Envy), Earning More Money (Lust).


The objects and feelings of the intimacy can be as simple or as complicated as you want and they become anchors for your character when engaged in social combat, but conversely they could be used against you by someone who learns of one or more of them.


Captain Hesperus
 
The point of Intimacies, is that they can be used in Social combat in 2 main ways, the first one is to help you, if someone is trying to force you to act against your Wife (Intimacy of Love), then you have a greater defense at being convinced to do so. The other way is the opposite, if someone is trying to convince you kill the man that killed your kung fu master (Intimacy of Hate), you will have a tougher time resisting since your character is somewhat predisposed to harm/kill/annoy that person due to his hateful intimacy.


You will find that some charms create Intimacies as part of their effects, Solars tend to create intimacies of respect/adoration/love, when that happens, the people affected can't help but feel those feelings and act accordingly, which leads to great story potential when the the honorable Solar manages to cause an Intimacy of Respect in his sworn Dragon Blooded enemy, and eventually establishes a meaningful friendship with his former enemy.
 
PirateLexi said:
Any chance that if I went ahead and posted my sheet if I could get some advice? lol. <-- is currently unemployed and has way too much free time.
Go ahead, I'll be happy to help.


Btw, it is assumed that we all have been Exalted for 1 year approximately, give or take. My suggestion, is for everyone to post a rough character idea for their own characters and together we can work with ties in into each other's backgrounds, to determine how much we might know about each other.
 
Cool, thanks. Heres the rough draft; all the dots are spent, and I'm still working on at least a rough full history to at least show how he was exalted.<p><a href="<fileStore.core_Attachment>/monthly_2013_11/Avexi_pdf.e81e4fe926ce47a90f1b3d5b0035d975" class="ipsAttachLink ipsAttachLink_image"><img data-fileid="24456" src="<fileStore.core_Attachment>/monthly_2013_11/Avexi_pdf.e81e4fe926ce47a90f1b3d5b0035d975" class="ipsImage ipsImage_thumbnailed" alt=""></a></p>

Avexi.pdf
 

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To be honest by looking at the sheet I thought your character was female, it wasn't until the last page when I read the gender that I realized otherwise hehe.


Ok, I'll read it more thoroughly and send you some advice through PM.
 

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