Dice War of Despair (Exalted 3e) - OOC

[Raparth]

I do really appreciate the help from everyone. I am honestly not trying to be difficult here.

No worries. And, hey, I want the same from all of you! I ran Tomb of Dreams last night and messed several things up, I realized after. Especially battle group rules.

 

[Raparth]

Base is three, then there is the +1 for being a Dawn in full amina effect.

Wait, maybe I'm confused. I thought you were doing a second NAA. Sorry for being obtuse!

 

[Sherwood]

No, just the one shot.

 

[Greenstalker]

Couple of housekeeping items. I think from now on, due to the nature of the medium, if you're writing a description at all, just take a two-point stunt.

Also, from now on, if it's a mundane enemy or a battle group, I'll be posting their applicable defense value and soak so you can apply them and roll damage yourself.

Just to be on same page by two point stunt you mean the one with two extra dice, 1 extra success and one willpower return one right?

 

[Raparth]

Just to be on same page by two point stunt you mean the one with two extra dice, 1 extra success and one willpower return one right?

I kind of hope Wlfsamurai meant a two-dice stunt (aka a one-point stunt), because otherwise we'd be really incentivized to spend that one Willpower on every action (turning all stuntable rolls into +2 dice,+2successes).

So, like, totally up to you, WlfSamurai , but if you did mean two-point stunts as Greenstalker described, then I would suggest we drop the WP gain unless it's particularly cool. Otherwise, the WP economy is going to get weird.

 

[WlfSamurai]

I meant two-point stunt, with the Willpower. But I could see how that would become a problem. So, we'll say a one-point stunt instead. I wish they didn't call them that in the book. Super confusing. But yes, a one-point stunt gives you two dice.

 

[WlfSamurai]

I do really appreciate the help from everyone. I am honestly not trying to be difficult here.

Same here. You're doing better than I am and I'm running the damn game.

 

[Greenstalker]

I meant two-point stunt, with the Willpower. But I could see how that would become a problem. So, we'll say a one-point stunt instead. I wish they didn't call them that in the book. Super confusing. But yes, a one-point stunt gives you two dice.

They probably called it one point because it gives one point increase to static values after all one die was confusing for static values.

 

[WlfSamurai]

Guys, how're we doing so far? How ya feelin'?

To give my own feedback:
I'm enjoying where the story is headed. You guys are fantastic to play with (which some of you I knew that already). I really appreciate the understanding and flexibility. I'm still working through the combat system, which will just take me time. I'm not as impressed with 3e as I had hoped to be, but it gets the job done. In the future, to keep the story moving, I'm considering ways to make battle groups take less time.

But I think we have a good game thus far, despite it only being one scene long. Hah.

 

[Greenstalker]

Guys, how're we doing so far? How ya feelin'?

To give my own feedback:
I'm enjoying where the story is headed. You guys are fantastic to play with (which some of you I knew that already). I really appreciate the understanding and flexibility. I'm still working through the combat system, which will just take me time. I'm not as impressed with 3e as I had hoped to be, but it gets the job done. In the future, to keep the story moving, I'm considering ways to make battle groups take less time.

But I think we have a good game thus far, despite it only being one scene long. Hah.

Well so to speak the storyteller systems (oWoD, nWoD, scion, exalted etc) are hard to use in a pbp format and most of them are systems that does not depend on mechanics but story (hence the name story teller) but exalted is somewhat stuck between story teller and mechanic heavy systems which requires a little bit more than getting used to it. One advantage of pbp format is we can take our time to check things unlike when it is on tabletop and moving story is more important than checking some details no matter how small or important they are. It is also easier to make changes on the fly in pbp.

 

[WlfSamurai]

Well so to speak the storyteller systems (oWoD, nWoD, scion, exalted etc) are hard to use in a pbp format and most of them are systems that does not depend on mechanics but story (hence the name story teller) but exalted is somewhat stuck between story teller and mechanic heavy systems which requires a little bit more than getting used to it. One advantage of pbp format is we can take our time to check things unlike when it is on tabletop and moving story is more important than checking some details no matter how small or important they are. It is also easier to make changes on the fly in pbp.

Very true. In any iteration, I find it funny that it's called the storyteller system. Indie and other actual narrative-based games show that's it's not even close to being a story game. I was very surprised that this edition plays the way it does with the modern market of RPGs. I mean, story games even influenced the new edition of Dungeons and Dragons. The whole section of personality traits and bonds, I think story games had a huge influence on it, Not to mention the change to mind's eye play rather than miniatures.

Anyway, all good points.

 

[Raparth]

It's a Storyteller game because story has primacy over mechanics (something that even Exalted keeps very central with the Orichalcum Rule.

I mean, yeah, I love 5e D&D as an evolution of D&D more to promoting roleplaying (instead of just what I've seen in years of gaming, which tended to be rollplaying). That said, stuff like the social influence system and initiative as a resource in combat (and combat not just being about whittling down the massive amount of HP something has, even in D&D5e) is something that I enjoy about the system.

One obstacle we have in this game is that you're running 5 different scenes at once (so super-props to you for that!), which is obviously a lot more work for you, on every post. Battle Groups are immensely easier than trying to deal with those combatants individually, but certainly aren't nothing. Plus, there's a lot of combat-y mechanics that are faster in person when you can get constant feedback/communication (instead of say, you ask me a question, a day later I reply, a day later you act upon it, a day later I clarify again...). Your decision to give us more of the stats of what we're fighting will certainly speed things up (which, hey, don't forget to tell me the defense of the zombies Hadria is fighting! I can't figure out threshold successes without it, which gives you yet another thing you have to worry about.).

Honestly, while I spent several of my earliest RP years doing play-by-email or play-by-post, having spent most of my life now doing tabletop or virtual settings that try and replicate that, I think there's always just a restriction on speed whenever you are roleplaying at different times. It's like relay team roleplay. Nothing is going to be quite as fast, even if it's straight rp and no mechanics, as me just vocally talking to someone else and them talking to me. *shrug* You, of course, can have a lot more detail in a written-format game that's hard to have in a vocal-format game, so it's just a different strength of each.

 

[WlfSamurai]

It's a Storyteller game because story has primacy over mechanics (something that even Exalted keeps very central with the Orichalcum Rule.

I mean, yeah, I love 5e D&D as an evolution of D&D more to promoting roleplaying (instead of just what I've seen in years of gaming, which tended to be rollplaying). That said, stuff like the social influence system and initiative as a resource in combat (and combat not just being about whittling down the massive amount of HP something has, even in D&D5e) is something that I enjoy about the system.

One obstacle we have in this game is that you're running 5 different scenes at once (so super-props to you for that!), which is obviously a lot more work for you, on every post. Battle Groups are immensely easier than trying to deal with those combatants individually, but certainly aren't nothing. Plus, there's a lot of combat-y mechanics that are faster in person when you can get constant feedback/communication (instead of say, you ask me a question, a day later I reply, a day later you act upon it, a day later I clarify again...). Your decision to give us more of the stats of what we're fighting will certainly speed things up (which, hey, don't forget to tell me the defense of the zombies Hadria is fighting! I can't figure out threshold successes without it, which gives you yet another thing you have to worry about.).

Honestly, while I spent several of my earliest RP years doing play-by-email or play-by-post, having spent most of my life now doing tabletop or virtual settings that try and replicate that, I think there's always just a restriction on speed whenever you are roleplaying at different times. It's like relay team roleplay. Nothing is going to be quite as fast, even if it's straight rp and no mechanics, as me just vocally talking to someone else and them talking to me. *shrug* You, of course, can have a lot more detail in a written-format game that's hard to have in a vocal-format game, so it's just a different strength of each.

Oh yes. True. You're right about all of that. And I never expect PBP games to move as fast as live tabletop games. Especially in combat. Exalted 3e is an improvement over the horrible bookkeeping nightmare of 2e.

And in many regards I find the "storyteller system" games more satisfying and better than D&D. I always have.

What I was saying, poorly, about the "storyteller system" is that it's sold as...well...a system to tell stories with. But the mechanics are to resolve tasks made by the characters. There are modern story games that go beyond simple task resolution. The mechanics do more than "do I succeed or fail?". They resolve conflicts instead of tasks and push the narrative forward in the mechanics—

Never mind. It doesn't matter.

I want to play Exalted and I'm enjoying this game a lot. I appreciate the patience. I'm really glad to have you guys here to check me on the mechanics I haven't gotten used to. Let's keep playing.

 

[Raparth]

What I was saying, poorly, about the "storyteller system" is that it's sold as...well...a system to tell stories with. But the mechanics are to resolve tasks made by the characters. There are modern story games that go beyond simple task resolution. The mechanics do more than "do I succeed or fail?". They resolve conflicts instead of tasks and push the narrative forward in the mechanics—

Never mind. It doesn't matter.

You're totally right and I think it's a great thing about some of the newer games. (Heck, Scion/Trinity is looking to have a great Momentum system that basically slaves all mechanics to larger narrative drive.) I think there is always room [and you should certainly feel entitled] to decide that the mechanics aren't going to push the story forward. I might often enjoy weird things in RPs that others don't seem to (like a conversation in a Dark Heresy game yesterday where my character was trying to negotiate with a ship's administratum adept about how to cut operating costs... trust me, it was going to be really helpful later), but you should feel free to, to use your working, making the game focus on resolving conflicts instead of tasks. I totally empathize: when running games, I've often been known to check-in with players to see if they are enjoying a scene/situation or if they'd like to just skip forward a bit.
Just to use the example that my character's in right now, maybe the zombies-vs.-caravan story isn't as interesting right now. It could be skipped over, with set losses to the winner, or maybe there's just a single roll to decide how well the whole effort went. Hadria and her followers (plus the additional mercenaries) certainly aren't as mechanically (and maybe not narratively) as nimble or interesting in a mass combat. It just depends on where player and storyteller want to put the focus. To extend the example, I can imagine, say, Sasha and Hadria going on parallel attempts to move through and take back the city. Their forces might be hitting the same goals, but while (I suppose we'll see if Sherwood agrees with my interpretation) scenes with Sasha would be her doing really awesome martial tactics to take back the city, and rescuing people as she went (which I sort of imagine in MMO terms of, "Okay, got those people, now to the next engagement"), Hadria's scenes could be her doing all this planning before hand, then focus on motivating/integrating the discovered people/resources into her plans as she went). That's one of the cool things about Ex3's way of focusing on the Caste roles: each person should get their time in the limelight, and each gets to push what they care about. That doesn't mean that Hadria doesn't get herself into physical scuffles or that Sasha doesn't have to deal with social or political entanglements, but they are likely secondary aspects to their larger story.

Also, I forgot to respond to your initial question earlier: I'm having fun. I know we're in a rev-up phase right now, but I already had a lot of enjoyment of the scene so far. Not only Hadria's, but seeing what others are doing is cool too.

 

[WlfSamurai]

You're totally right and I think it's a great thing about some of the newer games. (Heck, Scion/Trinity is looking to have a great Momentum system that basically slaves all mechanics to larger narrative drive.) I think there is always room [and you should certainly feel entitled] to decide that the mechanics aren't going to push the story forward. I might often enjoy weird things in RPs that others don't seem to (like a conversation in a Dark Heresy game yesterday where my character was trying to negotiate with a ship's administratum adept about how to cut operating costs... trust me, it was going to be really helpful later), but you should feel free to, to use your working, making the game focus on resolving conflicts instead of tasks. I totally empathize: when running games, I've often been known to check-in with players to see if they are enjoying a scene/situation or if they'd like to just skip forward a bit.
Just to use the example that my character's in right now, maybe the zombies-vs.-caravan story isn't as interesting right now. It could be skipped over, with set losses to the winner, or maybe there's just a single roll to decide how well the whole effort went. Hadria and her followers (plus the additional mercenaries) certainly aren't as mechanically (and maybe not narratively) as nimble or interesting in a mass combat. It just depends on where player and storyteller want to put the focus. To extend the example, I can imagine, say, Sasha and Hadria going on parallel attempts to move through and take back the city. Their forces might be hitting the same goals, but while (I suppose we'll see if Sherwood agrees with my interpretation) scenes with Sasha would be her doing really awesome martial tactics to take back the city, and rescuing people as she went (which I sort of imagine in MMO terms of, "Okay, got those people, now to the next engagement"), Hadria's scenes could be her doing all this planning before hand, then focus on motivating/integrating the discovered people/resources into her plans as she went). That's one of the cool things about Ex3's way of focusing on the Caste roles: each person should get their time in the limelight, and each gets to push what they care about. That doesn't mean that Hadria doesn't get herself into physical scuffles or that Sasha doesn't have to deal with social or political entanglements, but they are likely secondary aspects to their larger story.

Also, I forgot to respond to your initial question earlier: I'm having fun. I know we're in a rev-up phase right now, but I already had a lot of enjoyment of the scene so far. Not only Hadria's, but seeing what others are doing is cool too.

I'm with you and you're right again. The game states to use the rules when we want as we see fit. Yet, somehow, I feel like I'm not being true to the game if we don't engage the complex rules. As I write that sentence, I see how stupid it is. I will be better about using the rules to support our story. I mean, they call that out like five times in the rules. I'm going to start taking advantage.

 

[WlfSamurai]

Should have a post this evening.

 

[WlfSamurai]

Greenstalker would you like to still go blow-by-blow with these abominations? I'm good with running the combat if you're having fun chopping them to bits. But, the question in the scene I see is if you're able to save Gennis and his men from being completely wiped out by them. We could resolve that in a roll and move forward.

You're call. I'm having fun with it and will either way.

 

[WlfSamurai]

UnassumingBoxCat I'm actually going to move your with The Fierce-Eyed Woman to the temple and give you some choices. We decide combat if if comes up. Are you okay with that?

 

[WlfSamurai]

Blackadder and Crocodile , I'd like to resolve the greater battle with Strategic Warfare. Crocodile , what is your plan to fight the Behemoths? Do you plan on taking them on yourself with spells or using your demons or working with Blackadder to fight them?

 

[Blackadder]

So is that how you'd like to simplify greater battles from now on? Normally the Strategic Warfare focus is on placing Strategems to affect the battlefield. I'm guessing in this case the Strategems are left out of the process?

Still, the positive side is that Cleon is geared towards winning that Strategic roll.

 

[WlfSamurai]

So is that how you'd like to simplify greater battles from now on? Normally the Strategic Warfare focus is on placing Strategems to affect the battlefield. I'm guessing in this case the Strategems are left out of the process?

Not all. Just this one to start. I actually think the Strategems would be fun to use. You ambushed them and pushed through them. We'll use one final opposed roll with chosen Strategems on each side. I'll add some conditions to it before the roll, etc.

You okay with that for this battle?

 

[Blackadder]

Sure. Let's do this.

 

[WlfSamurai]

Sure. Let's do this.

I'm off lunch now, so I'll detail it this evening.

 

[Crocodile]

I'll likely have Ozric unleash his demons armed with the salt jugs, to help deal with the behemoths. I mean I suppose He could obsidian butterflies and punch too. But he's going to unleash whatever he can against them.

 

[UnassumingBoxCat]

WlfSamurai

Sounds good to me. It'll probably come down to combat at some point, though. We'll see.