Mixed Circle Help

[Bysshe]

I'm running my first game with a mixed circle, consisting of two solars (one a total mad scientist archetype, the other a very macho dawn caste), a highly cultured fire-aspected terrestrial, and a ronin chosen of battles who basically thinks he's a power ranger, and I wanted to know if anyone has ST'd a game like this before, and if so, what issues tips you might have or obstacles you ran into. In particular, I'm wondering how much experience I should give to the terrestial and sidereal so that they'll at least start out on the same level as the solars.


Thanks in advance!

 

[Captain Hesperus]

Well, it all depends upon what scope the story will take. If you see the story being long-term, then you might consider allowing the Siddie and the DB the same experience costs as the Solars.


Let's not forget, if the DB is Realm-born, they get bonuses in terms of artifacts and manses, and the Sidereal also has beneficial backgrounds and bonuses.


Captain Hesperus

 

[ghoti115]

I think I would give an additional 10-15 freebies at character creation. I know the primary issue with doing so is that people will tend to twink their characters, but I have a good group of players who I trust to make characters and not just stats on a page. The easiest way to prevnet that is to assign XP instead, about 20-30 should do. However, if you want to really keep them from going overboard, you can simply give extras to the DB 1 attribute, 3 abilities, and 3 charms. With the Sidereal, it would be something like 2 abilities, 1 wp, 3 backgrounds, and 1 charm. That's just my thought on it and hasn't been tested at all.


I've used standard creation rules for all of the PCs in the mixed game (4 Solars, 2 Lunars, an Abyssal, and an Alchemical, yes it's a big game) I am running for my friends here and they seem to be doing alright without any extras to one group or the other. They are on the same basic power level so the game has remained pretty balanced despite the different xp costs. However, the PCs only just started picking up the 4th dot of Essence, so that might be changing.

 

[Ledaal Kajiri]

Really, the main issues you run into are issues people create for themselves, rather than really...necessary issues. So long as people have a role they play and where they have a chance to shine in some fashion...all character types can manage to work in a group. I've seen Godblooded hold up as important assets in a Celestial/Solar tier game just fine...so long as they had a part to play, and played to their own strengths and took their weaknesses into account. I've seen a Fire Aspect lead a group otherwise made up of Celestial and Solar Exalts...because they had the DRIVE to do so, while the others...lacked such. Give people a chance to do their thing...and encourage people to work together, and build personal connections. The biggest problem in many games, of ANY sort, mixed circles or not...is lack of connection and bonds between characters.

 

[Captain Hesperus]

Good advice. It's true that the issues of power level can be negated by every character having a task or field in which they excel, such as the Dragon-Blood being the social face for the party when they interact with the Realm or Lookshy, the Sidereal can take point when it comes to interactions with gods and the Celestial Hierarchy, giving beneficial/bad astrological effects to allies/enemies or when martial arts training is called for and the Solars come into their own when raw power is required.


Captain Hesperus

 

[Bysshe]

Thanks for the advice guys! I think I'll offer the DB player some freebies, as was suggested, but the Sidereal's player is a bit of a combat twink anyway, so he should be fine.

 

[xarvh]

In my game, we're using: DBs start with 1 Essence dot more, and everybody spends XPs as a Solar, unless they have better, including DBs learning CMAs.


Pre-2.5 worked very well.


Post 2.5, we removed out-of-aspect surcharge and the possibility of flurrying Simple Charms for DBs.