Any tips for an aspiring ST?

[Sheridan Boyce]

I'm kind of new to Exalted, I've only been playing for less then a year now (not entirely sure how long actually), but I want to write a story for my troupe.  Two of the players are old hat Exalted players, one knows the game inside and out, and the other is just as new as I am.  I've run other games before but never Storyteller, and I haven't read all of the books, or even all of Solars yet, just most of it.


I've got some ideas for the story and I plan on running a Dynast game as pretty much all of us like DBs better than the other Exalts.  I'm basically just looking for any tips or suggestions that any of the mroe experianced STs on the board might want to throw my way.


Thanks!

 

[Flagg]

Since you've run other games, you probably know your strengths as a GM/Storyteller already. Play to those, within the framework of Exalted.


Make sure you don't inhibit the characters. The Exalted can be tremendous movers and shakers in a way few other RPG characters can match. This might be a little unsettling to a DM used to D&D characters and their ilk. Resist the temptation (if it exists) to play down or limit your characters' glory.


Also, while it can lend is self well to small stories, Exalted really excells at facilitating BIG stories.


Finally, if you're going to run a Dynast game, the DB book is a cover-to-cover must-read.


-S

 

[Sheridan Boyce]

I think that first point might be my biggest hurdle, I've an innate fear of letting the PCs be too powerful.  I've been considering not allowing sorcerers, simply because they can do so very much, but if I keep a close eye on the PCs, I shoudl be able to deal with their strengths and weaknesses.

 

[Haku1]

Sorcerers aren't necessarily the big shots in Exalted...


But ANY exalted PC worth his salt is going to be powerful and he is going to make changes to the setting by his actions.


Don't restrict your players... let them fly free.


One of the first thing an Exalted ST needs to learn to do is to say "Yes" and let the game and the players fly on their wings.

 

[Flagg]

I think that first point might be my biggest hurdle' date=' I've an innate fear of letting the PCs be too powerful.[/quote']
Don't tell small stories then. Tell stories where it's expected that kingdoms will be overthrown and armies smashed. Just make the antagonists powerful enough to challenge the PCs. As the ST, you can make the bad guys as powerful as they need to be.


-S

 

[Sheridan Boyce]

Let me tell you a little about what I was thinking of doing.


The basic idea I have in mind is that the PCs are recently commissioned officers in the Red Piss Legion, and I've brought this up to the troupe and gotten a few character ideas out of them, namely a doctor and a translator.  The Legion is sent somewhere within the Realm in response to an "uprising" or to beat on a Lunar raider and his many many wode wearing barbaric sons and daughters.


During their actions with the Legion, the PCs will happen upon a plot to plunge the Realm into civil war, too late to prevent it, but early enough to stop it and keep the shit from totally hitting the fan.


I know I would like to involve a magistrate from house Iselsi, trying to find a way to regain some of his houses lost honour, likely as an ally to the PCs.  I also wanted to work in the All Seeing Eye, the Immaculate Order, and probably some Anathema.  I've got an idea for a Solar who used to be a concubine to the Scarlett Empress, and a badass sergent in the Legion who's spent the last 75 odd years hiding the fact that he's a Blood and basically runs the Legion without it knowing it.

 

[Flagg]

a badass sergent in the Legion who's spent the last 75 odd years hiding the fact that he's a Blood and basically runs the Legion without it knowing it.

Why would he hide that?


-S

 

[Sheridan Boyce]

I haven't decided that yet.  Possibly he's hiding from his house, or simply doesn't want to get the promotions he would likely be open to if they knew he was a Blood.  I haven't put much thought into him yet, but I really like the idea of him hiding the fact that he's a Blood.  I was also thinking of having a Blood from the All Seeing Eye hide his exalted nature and act as an archeon to spy on the Iselsi magistrate.  I was kind of inspired by recent playing as a Solar and being forced to hide my powers.

 

[Jakk Bey]

I'm more for a "Start small and work your way up" approach.


Small events can turn into large.  I prefer to think of stories in terms of characters, rather than just events.  Who will benefit, who will suffer, who will cause what effect?  Consequences from actions, large and small.  Every action has a cascade of effect, and it can be used to surprise the heck out of players who may do odd things, just for ya yas, and they turn out later to have startling reprecussions.


But that's me, and I keep damn near every detail from a game in my Big Black Book of Doom to use as inspiration.


In Exalted, you cannot be afraid of your PC's getting too powerful--if they can challenge the Gods, that's fine, because that's just desserts for critters who cast down their Masters, and the Solars were cast down by their servants, so it is within the theme.


Take a look at how Rome started off.  It's a great example of how storytelling should be done, and recent enough, and readily available.


Our Legionairres are chosen for a crappy little mission with very little chance of success, great chance for death, and handed to them, because no one liked them.  They succeeded, despite the odds, and not really likeing one another, and that sealed their fate to run parallel with Caesar's.  This trend continues for several episodes.


Small events impact larger.  You can take your Legionaires through what on the surface are small missions, that will have great impact later on, setting the stage for larger events.  Kind of like those pesky Bothan spies who get the details of the Death Star.*  


Start your PC's off with smaller stories, that will blossom their results into larger events.


They put down an uprising against Guild and Dragon Blooded nobility from some pesky peasants--which was supported by some Anathema, who will in turn investigate, because the village in question is home to a lost scion of an Order who is being hidden away from their God parent, or Demon parent, until the Anathema in question can either figure out how to cajole the parent into giving them power, or use the kid to defeat the sucker, depending on what brand of Anathema you want to roll in with, and how dark you want to go.


Your PC's are ignorant of the coming struggle, and "rescue" the child, not only drawing the attention of the Anathema, but their enemy as well.  Enter the Plot Complication. The child can stay with them, or be shuffled off to some column of Guilders who may or may not take the child off into slavery.


By this time, the Anathema shows up, demands their scion, and is interrupted in their rant by their biggest enemy.


This is a good point for the characters to either pick a side, or if they're smart, beat feet until they can figure out what the hell is going on.


Reveal your big plot in small doses, and start the stories off small at first, just so your players can get into character, and have an idyllic moment or two to look back upon, as they halycion days. Even if you start your stories off with a bang, such as chase scene with your Legionaires being chased by something very nasty, with little Essence left, their lines miles away, and the thing behind them gaining, the scope of the story is still fairly small--survive this challenge, it only affects you and your companions. Later, when they have more on their shoulders, and more riding on their actions, they will look back on the days when they didn't have so manys' fates in their hands with some affection.


*OK, has anyone actually read any Star Wars fiction--official that is--that deals with these Bothans?  Seriously, because I think it would make a damn fine video game by now...

 

[Obsidian Soul]

The greatest stories in literature do not (most of the time) revovle around world-shaking events.  The greatest campaigns do not need to either.  Important events are important to those who live them, be it a civil war in the Realm or the grinding guerilla resistance against Bull of the North.  DB's are the Princes of Creation but there are a lot of big, bad things out there (read Lovecraft to get a better idea) that can eat DB's by the hundreds without getting indigestion.


My suggestion, remember the mortals.  I once set an experience mortal (about 200 XP, about two decades of combat experience) against a beginning DB in a tournament in the Hundred Kingdoms.  He kicked the ever-living piss out of the DB.  Exalted are only scary while they still have Essence.  When they run out of Essence, they are just crunchy mortals.  


Remember also the little things.  Does it really matter if you describe the forest that they are marching through in perfection?  No, but it adds color and flavor and, with the right amount of luck, will create a story worth talking about in years to come.

 

[Sheridan Boyce]

This is all very good stuff, thanks.


I like the idea of starting small and getting bigger and more out of control, it certainly appeals to me as a storyteller and a mythologist.  I like the idea of starting with some simple mission or another with the Legion, possibly involving a big bad battle near the beginging and having the PCs happen upon the first hook into the greater story thereabouts.  It will also help knowing more about the characters everybody will be playing.


Obsidion Soul, you make a good point in remembering the mortals.  It's something I want to work into my game, that there are dangerous mortals and God Blooded out there, and that there are other things to fear than big nasties and more powerful Exalts.


A new question to the other STs here.  I've never ran a campaign that's lasted more than four or five sessions, and they've fallen apart for any number of reasons, but I'm trying to avoid that here.


Anyone have any suggestions in this vein?  About how I can keep a campaign going long enough to finish it up?  Usually they fall apart because of my own lack of interest or lack of desire, not my players.  I'm planning on getting at least an overarching outline for the campaign done, the entire campaign, before I get to working out details and actually running the game.  Any suggestions?

 

[Flagg]

Usually they fall apart because of my own lack of interest or lack of desire' date=' not my players.[/quote']
what do you think causes you to lose interest? Addressing that problem, whetever it may be, is probably important.


-S

 

[memesis]

Usually they fall apart because of my own lack of interest or lack of desire' date=' not my players.[/quote']
You need to figure out why you are running, if this is the case.  If you don't have a reason better than "none of these other monkeys will do it", then don't.

 

[Sheridan Boyce]

Actually, several of the other monkies have run and are running, which is partly why I want to run, because they've dragged me into this wonderful game called Exalted, and also I like to run.


As for the other games, I think a lot of it was the fact that they were D&D, which I have trouble with because I have issues with the system.  Or I have issues with the setting, or the way the campaign is going, but in retrospect, I never planned ahead in my previous campaigns, so I think that'll really help with this one.


Sometimes the game just falls apart because of schedules, and once because of the group that was involved.


I'm pretty confident that things will go far better for this game though.

 

[Jakk Bey]

Take notes. Lots of notes. Take notes about what your players do--even if they seem insignifcant with support characters, the odd NPC, or little events.


You then take those events, in you Big Black Book of Doom--or purple, or red, or whatever color you prefer--and look them over at a later date to see if you can use those things as further plot hooks.  You can, at a later date, assign new significance to those 'little' events, which can then be brought back later to haunt or reward characters.


The PC's save a wandering merchant from bandits. Just another day in the life of the Red Piss Legion, right? Turns out that the cargo that the merchant was carrying had a special surprise for their commander--be it a new shipment of components for a new goody, or maybe a cursed item that the commander's rivals had shipped in to mess with him.  The merchant may or may not be aware of this, may or may not be involved, but he returns at a later time when the characters are trying to run something else down--or he returns later on, after a few sessions, and looks to reward the PC's for their good deed.


You can bootstrap entire new rafts of plot by taking into account these little events, and later turn them into plot points that are much more significant--even if the PC's thought they were just 'flavor text.'  When you retcon a plot, you can add a lot more layers, and it teaches your players that even small events can lead into much larger ones, and that their actions always have consequences--even if they aren't aware of what they could be at the time.  


It gives the ST a chance to drop in ideas at a later time--and build layers of plot that can keep you guessing as well, as you try to fit in these new elements, and it keeps your players interested, because they never know when that NPC will return with good or ill.  It makes them a little leaner, and keeps their interest up by making each encounter a chance to possibly make a new ally, a new contact, or cascade down into new adventures.

 

[SagaciousAscendingHero]

As a more crunchy point of help:


Be careful what you let them have in the way of Artifacts. When I first started Exalted, I made the mistake of letting them end up with an Artifact surplus. One time they literally had a room in their manse to store their extra daiklaves, etc. Remember this a game about cool people with cool powers, who just so happen to have a kinda nifty sword. Dont let characters be defined by their Artifacts.

 

[Sheridan Boyce]

In the Dragon Blooded game my friend Nick runs, one of the other STs in the troupe, we started with Dynast level artifacts even though we were outcaste, and since then he hasn't given us too much in the way of artifacts along the way, and I think things are pretty much in control.


I plan to follow a similar thread with artifacts in my game, and I'm starting them out as Dynasts.  I'm also working with each of them on the artifacts they have, trying to keep things balanced, hence my post about the Perfect Mirror Essence Striking Armor, which seems to be causing some trouble.

 

[wordman]

A couple of random points, in no particular order:


Play up the idea that modern day artifacts are both more plentiful and not as interesting as ancient ones. This will help keep artifact power creep down a bit. If I was to start my campaign over again, I'd probably lower the ratings of armor artifacts, but basically say that very little ancient armor was made at the "base" power level. That is, most orichalcum armor and weapons would still be rating 4 or higher, because they would have extra abilities but almost none would have been made under that level.


Don't be afraid of power creep. Your characters are demigods. They are supposed to be powerful. This isn't D&D. It is expected that the characters will be able to wreck cities. Their lives (and, often, motivations) will be closer to that of Godzilla than Harry Potter.


Be prepared to handle swarms of extras. This is harder than it sounds.


Since the Empire is your focus, realize that DBs can breed at almost mortal rates, but age much more slowly. And, the empire is not expanding much. As a result, increasing numbers of DBs are quibbling over smaller and smaller shares of the same size pie. This one fact will help figure out how to drive the story when you are confused more often than not.


Look at various house rules to see what people have corrected before your game starts. Figure out what you want to alter. If you aren't sure about using a house rule versus canon, use canon.


Training times make a big difference to your story, as do trainers. Adjust them if you must, but don't ignore them. In general, PCs will probably have more XP than training time in which to spend it. I highly recommend requiring trainers for things like form charms and pinnacle martial arts charms. The need to track down trainers helps the characters drive the story.


Plant a seed in the first session that only makes sense in the fifth or sixth (or whenever you usually get bored with campaigns you run).


Expose the characters to opponents that completely outclass them (but, for some reason leave them alive) before getting to far into the story. Villans make a story good, and prevent demigods from getting far out of line.


Decide on standard versus Power Combat before characters are made. It makes a big difference. If you use standard, figure out how you handle delaying actions.


When introducing new artifacts into a game, try to add three "utility" items for every one weapon or suit of armor.


Hearthstones are a gift to storytellers: they allow you to bump the opposition with gifts that the players can't use. Well, until they track down the manse anyway (but that gives them another way to drive the story themselves, which is always good).


Understand the combo rules. The game makes way more sense when you do.


Understand the way virtues work. When I first started, I treated them mostly as rules intended to force players to role-play (which my players didn't really have a problem with), so I mostly ignored them. Don't.


Understand the way stunts work. Make sure your NPCs use them, particularly if your players are new to Exalted.


Understand how essence is committed. Track essence use in four buckets (available, used, committed to artifacts, committed to charms and effects). This won't matter at first, but when characters start gaining essence from charms, it makes the game go much more smoothly. Note that sorcery motes go into the "used" bucket, no matter how long the spell effect lasts.


As much as possible, figure out ahead of time what charms NPCs will use in combat. When dealing with more than four opposing NPCs, I usually forget that the NPC can do certain things unless I've made a bullet point list for each one. Also, know their basic defensive strategy (avoidance, blocking or soak) and how they manage it.


Plug: you might want to check out my GM sheet.


Take a few minutes to fully appreciate the scale of the main Exalted map. Travel can take a really long time. Plan accordingly.

 

[archaratar]

STing cause noone else will.


I read someone else's post, and this is NOT my idea originally, but here it is repeated.


Make 3 or more outline concurrent stories that happen without the PCs help.


The PCs can't be involved in all of them.


If the PCs get involved, A happens,


If they don't no story change.


The PCs get to pick their story


The players get the type of game they want or stories they want.


The point of the game is to have fun for all.


Now how do the characters react to the fact that it is their fault the consequences turned out this way? What about the stories they didn't do?


What are the consequences to that?


Who do they stop?


Who do they help?


Does this chain lead to others?


And the other guy has a great point.


Introduce plot threads that will not come to fruition until much later in the game.


Example: One character is from the Lap. The rest are from the North and the East.


Many adventures are happening in the Halta region.


Introduce Alchemical assault on Lap as a rumor(Lap is being Invaded)


Lap character wants to leave, rest of group wants to buttwhoop the NorthBull. Lap character is now torn between stopping NorthBull and leaving to travel to a war she may not be able to stop in time.


How does character react if she does go and is in the war?


How does character react if she waits to see the carnage?


How does character react if group is waylaid by multiple adventures on the way there?


Stalling a group with chances to get XP costs the Lap character lives of friends, family, etc...


Stopping a Juggernaut on the way home, better or worse than stopping unknown invaders? Is it really?


It's only an example.


The more types of stories that the characters have to undertake at the same time, the more the players will enjoy getting Their Type of Fun(combat, itemquest, romance, intrigue), and feel that they are shaping the world around them.


Use No-Win situations...


but use them sparingly.

 

[Sheridan Boyce]

Lots of good advice here.  Wordman I printed up your GM sheet, it's pretty intense but I'm sure it'll help.


I actually made notes about various signature DBs from the section about the houses that I want to use in my story.  I could likely get a fair number of other storylines from them that I coudl run concurrent to mix things up.