Geese:
Right! So, let me see if I've got this all correctly. You want a game that:
And I'll verify yes or no and to what degree. :)
Geese:
-Has some dirt under its fingernails without being bleak, with plenty of room for grand heroes
Definitely. I do better when I care about <problem>, something that strikes me as "wrong", but I was/am in a 1e game that dealt with human trafficking. My character is now the emperor, and it FEELS like a real job. It might have even had some classical philosophical points on slavery, crime and pnishement, independently discovered as our group played. Simply put, it was still not super real, but ending slavery is something that took us RL years to do; I'm not up for that again. I may even need to make some jading to it to ignore.
Geese:
-With a focus on character and story drama and a minor in action.
Um, yes, but action is very important. Minor as in maybe at least 20% of the game, and upwards of 50% if the rhythm just grooves.
Geese:
-Ruling and commerce are okay for stories but the hard nitty-gritty of politics and bookkeeping is not desired.
Yes, you got it! Though I do want to point out, other players may feel the reverse. I'll tolerate being the silent partner in their political vi, if they tolerate my commerce tycoon ambitions.
Geese:
-Although some humor is fine it shouldn't a focus, and it shouldn't be an outright silly game.
Correct!
Geese:
-There should be human bad guys and just bad bad guys, and some really alien bad guys.
Probably in reverse order! Fighting the zombies is emotionless fun, even yes they are eating people, it's distanced. Fighting the demon summoner, the abyssal nihilist, and the horrible tyrant cynis is more personal, but again gives reason to kill and not KO. Finally some human characters make the experience more tailored. Some of us will be the judges of old; and not all dynasts will be worthy of murder, some be muguided; and need to be stopped, but given mercy. Very much Fullmetal Alchemist: BH "Scar".
Geese:
-The stakes should be non-apocalyptic, with room for Exalted to develop and grow and flourish
You got it!
Geese:
-PC death should be rare and exceptional. Supporting characters shouldn't have the same kind of protection, but their sacrifice should still mean something
Yeah, I'ma big fan of "the show must go on" if PC's player wants to switch character, I personally think they should be able to, especially if their character isn't much fun anymore, but hand waving their character away may be better suited to death scene; allowing you, the ST, to set up a hard fight and have the PC targeted viciously and exlcusively while the rest of us are in the dark. This doesn't have to happen, certainly the hand wave can sometimes, often even, be best; but a PM death scene that leaves the party out of the know, can be really cathartic. Especially when the player goes "Oh no, I wanted to play another character" and is glad of the death. Anyway, I'm a bigger fan of amalgams thatn most people. So supporting cast of STPC can really be fun and not make my character seem like summoner that has dozens of people I'm "playing".
Geese:
-There should be cool treasure and perks, but character growth is more important
Absolutely!
Geese:
-An Adult game is fine.
preferable. Exalted, unlike D&D, really starts at PG-13 and only goes up. I'm an adult. I want the ground level to be R-rated. ;)
Geese:
That all sounds just my speed, so yeah, I think I can work with this!
Brilliant! Just let me know when a game is up. ^_^
Geese:
A question about the mortal aspect! Being a mortal would definitely be a prologue to Exaltation: how would you feel about a mortal prologue being freeform, with an Exalted sheet (possibly) waiting for you at the end of it? I'm mulling over giving people who start as mortals some extra XP/BP for their Exalts for going through the trouble.
I'm all for that! Freeform is an easy of handwaving and just "mother/father may I?" that I think really shows a good ST's intention, and let's player wing it and just immerse into their character, and not their cold sheet. As long as we became Exalted soon enough, and didn't linger for RL months as mortals, I think it's great!
Geese:
That would let you do things like start as a super-rich merchant prince who exalts as an Eclipse but the Wyld Hunt burns down all his holdings, meaning we don't have to go through any kind of mechanical shenanigans to reconcile a Resources 4 mortal with a Resources 1 Exalt.
Create idea! It builds...character...personality I mean. ;)