Welcome to the Cinder Coast, an Exalted game in the deep Southwest.

Awesome.

Alright, so - background! The original idea was that Gou would be a slave rower in a galley until it was sunk during a naval battle, and he used his broken chains to free as many others as he could until the waves claimed him, However, while he was underwater he met a silver lady glowing in the depths who gave him a kiss of life and Exalted him, so he washed up on the shores as Casteless. He would then be taken in by a village of simple fisherfolk and become their protector or something. In a nod to Moana, maybe he ends up becoming the protector and companion of a young Solar girl or something.

Before that, I imagined him as a simple islander who was kidnapped by slavers that sold him to the Realm Navy...

Hello.

I catched up my delay. Now I have everything in order to launch the game.

At first I will mainly focus the game in the Bay of Fire since it give you more freedom. You can now edit your character sheet.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:25, Thu 11 Mar 2021.

Yep, I did it last week. Anything else you need from me?

After a really long time, everything is ready.

Just five things:

-First you have 29 points of skills on your sheet. You need to have 28.
-You don't have specialties.
-Can you add somes intimacies.
-How do you want to use martial art? One skill for all, or one skill each?
-How old is your character and when he was taken as a slave and where?

I launched the games, we can play and sort that out at the same time.

Done, removed a dot of Brawl since it's redundant.


Done, for some reason I thought mortals didn't get specialties


Thought we'd be building them up in game. Doneded.


One for all, if you'll allow it.


In my mind, Gou was taken when he was 13 or 14 and served as a slave for 4-5 years after that.

I launched the games, we can play and sort that out at the same time.

Sorry for the delay busy week and even more busy week-end.

Things are more calm so I hope once every two days.

For martial arts. One skill for all but a one dot merit for style after the first (to represent basic training)

You intimacies gave me a side storyline. The sisters are two or more?
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:31, Tue 30 Mar 2021.

Twin sisters, the best kind.

Sorry for the delay. I was re-reading combat rules to not make a mistake. I forgot the penalty of the lieutenant in round two so I decreased his success by one.

No worries.

Quick question: Do you want to try a persuade action or another social action?

Remember, you know nothing of the lintha intimacy but you guess some.

Sorry, missed this.

What would I need to roll to try and pick up on his Intimacies? I thought this would be a straight fight, but if Gou can convince him to let the others go... Not too likely though.

To pick intimacies you need a Read Intention (Perception + Socialize). You can ask either what he want of the current interaction or what he think of something in particular. You read the social interactions rules.

I doubt Gou can convince them but it make a good introduction to social combat(and who can said if luck will not smile on you, a deed really worthy of a exaltation, no?).

Heh, that's true. So if you don't mind, I'll try and retcon things into a discussion.

No problem.

Oh dear, I knew I should have called it out earlier. I edited Gou's post, not sure if you saw it.

Not didn't saw.

Hello.

Sorry of the long absence, between my job and my internet who suffered a breakdown (some idiots were doing roadwork and accidently damaged the lines in my neighborhood), I didn't have time to post.

But now I am back and ready to end the prologue, who is nearly at his end.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:50, Sat 19 June 2021.

No problem, glad to hear from you again.

Crap crap crap, I thought I replied to this! Sorry!

Hello. Don't worry, I was busy this week, we had a inspection at my work.

I will post tommorow, this was far longer than I expected. Can you prepare your exaltation, we are finally here. P125 of the Core book for transforming a mortal in exalt. I you have doubt with the charms you can let some of them blank and decide latter.

No problem, I'll work on it. Hope you passed the inspection!

And here it is. We are near the end of the prologue (finally) and I hope we will go a little faster. The combat was faster and more one-sided than I expected but it was the perfect occasion.

I you have questions, ask.

For the inpesction we will see soon enought how it was. But my boss is at least not on my back anymore.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:00, Mon 05 July 2021.

Is Gou still on the deck, or is he in the watr? I think he should still be on the deck ...

Just wanted to say I have Gou's Exaltation scene ready and my main stumbling blocks are picking out Charms and wondering if there's going to be a Round 2 with T'Narr.

Still on the deck.
For charms you can let some of your choices blank and decide later. For now I would said take some combat and resistance charms.
This message was last edited by the GM at 04:27, Wed 07 July 2021.

Awesome. Got it.

And done.

Can you send me you exalted stats.

I worked this week-end but now I on vacation until monday so I am free to finish the prologue.

I did a review of your stat and didn't see any problem, except one. Sorcery need to be learned so you can change it with another charm. I will give you the opportunity to learn it early in the game. I didn't knew Desert Basilic Diadem until now, but I like it.

Awesome. Okay, I changed sorcery for Mountainous Spirit Expression. Now he can get hueg even without being a tyrant lizard.

I did see a little problem with your stat. Bear Sleep Technique has Ox-Body Technique as Prerequisite, which you don't have. I suggest to trade Mountainous Spirit Expression (who is Essence 2) with Ox-Body Technique.

If I understood, Glory Sphere give you the capacity to have ONE charm a superior Essence rank, right? So you can keep Mountainous Spirit Expression if you want and trade another.

And you didn't choosse Limit Trigger.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:53, Wed 14 July 2021.

Yeah, looks good to me. Also I saw I have Blessed Moon-Beast Empowerment, which is Essence 2, so I'll stick with that.

You have yet to do your turn.

YEah, I was goign to do it yesterday, I'll do it right now.

The network controller of my PC was down since Wednesday, I managed to fixe it today. I want to finish the prologue ASAP to go on with the story.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:30, Sat 24 July 2021.

You target the Lintha you have already wounded or the one in crash?

Sorry, the crashed one.

I was reading the rules for gambit to be sure, but as you have 3 initiative, you can't make a grapple since you spend the cost of the gambit (3 for a grapple) and wich would crash you.

Ah bugger, I forgot about that. I'll just withering punch him then.

A little houserule if you want.

When you make a decisive attack you choose how much initiative you invest before making the damage roll, so you are not forced to spend everything and build up again. What do you think?
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 18:37, Sun 01 Aug 2021.

Sounds good, though I think the all-or-nothing part is sort of meant to keep you from unleashing multiple consecutive decisive in one go. In general it's less impactful for Lunar than Solars because Solar multi-attack Charms give free initiative to balance out all the attacks' damage while Lunars' don't seem to have that problem...

Did you have a blank about what to do?

Crap, I thought I replied to this already. Sorry, was really busy this week too. I think Gou will try to rally the remaining shipmates and head to the nearest island... or beat up the Lintha if they stand in his way.

Quick question. There still lintha on the boat, they don't pose much a treat for you and the others. Do you want to fight them (battle group style) or do you want skip it and defeat them naratively to go faster?

Gou will probably just throw them off the boat when he sees them, so let's do it narratively.

Sorry for the absence. Many of my collegues are in vacation so I inherite of their workload.

No worries, I know exactly how you feel. One of my colleagues got transferred away to help with a fire response team and I pretty much inherited his workload.

Food? That can wait after dealing with the Lintha still on board no?

And you have already someone who can be navigator. Lurys, I introducted him in my last post.

Argharghargh. I was busy last week and thought I replied to this already...

Me too, I was quite busy, but now vacation at least, so I am free to post.

The Lintha ship carry treasures and I want to give you a 3 dot artifact, what you will want?

A belt of Shadow Walking, if you'll allow it. It's really useful in all kinds of situations.

No problem for me.

I posted some detail for the seting. I will refine the area where you want to go.

Sorry, was rushing some work last week.

I was busy at work but I managed to advance a little on your next avdenture. I made a resume of Kawaha, if you have questions or thing you want me to clarify, ask.

No worries, thanks for the hard work.

Sorry for the delay, I wanted to close the prologue correctly but I was not realy inspired.

I made a new notice to resume the characters.

Tell me what do you want do with your xp (In two day I see only a charm or maybe a merit). You wanted a belt of shadow walking for artefact, no?

Yes, a belt of shadow walking would be good. Also, it seems some kind of social influence charm might be helpful too, let me look into it.

EDIT: In fact all Lunar training times are measured in weeks (other than favored abilities and MA Charms) so no chance of that.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:25, Fri 29 Oct 2021.

Charms are in day: [Attribute] days for Caste/Favored or [Attribute+Essence] days for others.

But I forgot, Lunar Xp can't be used on Lunar charms, so you can't have one. My bad.

The only ones in days are Lunar Charms, Martials Arts and Evocations. But you don't have enought xp for them.

No worries, I can wait.

I finished to prepare for the first act of your adventure.

Thanks!

You can do sacred hunt on two animals during downtime.

For your form:
Titan Lizard
Tales of massive Titan Lizards larger than ships are frequent in the West, people more familiar with the beast are talk about an amphibious cousin of the Tyrant Lizard. The comparaison is not without reason, but Titan and Tyrant Lizards are more different than alike. Their shapes are similar but the Titan is a more stocky and generaly a little taller but a rare few grow to proportions equal to the legend. The temperament of the Titan is far more calm and they don't attack humans without provocations and eat large marine creatures.

Essence: 1; Willpower: 7; Joint Battle: 10d (base initiative 5)
Health Levels: -0x5 / -1x5 / -2x7 / Incap
Speed Bonus: +2, impossible to tame except with magic.
Resolve: 3; Guile: 1

Actions
-Feats of Strengh: 12d (Strength 7 feats)
-Hide in Sea: 8d
-Intimidation: 10d
-Resist Poison/Disease: 10d
-Senses: 5d
-Tracking: 8d

Combat
-Attack (Bite): 11d (Damage 16, minimum 5), Piercing
-Attack (Slam): 12d (Damage 14, minimum 4), Smashing
-Attack (Talon rake): 13d (Damage 12, minimum 3)
-Attack (Grapple): 8d (10 dice to control), Unopossed against smaller ennemie unless magic is involved
-Movement: 7d
-Evasion: 4; Parry: 6

Special Ability
-Brutal Stomp
-Deadly Trash
-Ferocious Bite
-Furious Rampage
-Iron Jaws
-Terrifying Dragon Roar (Latent)
-Legion-Devouring Maw (Latent)

Merit
-Apex Predator
-Incredible Might
-Legendary Size
-Relentless Pursuit
-Thick Scales
-Aquatic Grace
-Nictitating Membrane
-Amphibious

Do you have difficulty for your aminals shapes?

Kind of. Surprisingly enough there are no fish shapes. Although I don't mind just going with an octopus. Also good excuse for tentacling cute girls/boys. Also, there are no seafowl either, closest thing is a swan. THe idea is to have a flying form that lets me dive underwater so I can shapeshift into an aquatic form and then sneak away.

For the sea bird, the best is to take the swan and delete or change 'devoted mate'. For a fish I not sure, I can try to cook something of you want.

Sorry for the delay, I was a little busy this.
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:43, Thu 18 Nov 2021.

Merry Christmas to you. I hope I kept your interest for the game even with our slow pace.

You did, don't worry about it. Hope you have a happy new year too.

I was busy with family dinners this last week so I am a little late.

Happy new year and best wishes for 2022.

No worries, hope you have a happy 2022 too

You have yet to respond to my post. Busy beginning of the year?

Kind of yeah. I coudl have sworn I replied to your post. Sorry for the delay.

Sorry for the late reply, my phone operator screwed up and I didn't have internet (or cellphone) since monday. At least it's back now.

No worries, been having phone company issues on my end too. Our school (I'm an IT tech) changed providers and our internet access has been significantly worse since.

Yeah, let's fast forward to the meeting.

You have yet to post. Busy?

Yeah, CHinese New Year and other tstuff, Sory ;o;

Don't worry, we are not in hurry, advantage to play with two.

And Read Intention is Perception + Socialize. I roll for you (if I am right you have 1 in perception and no excellency).
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:45, Thu 03 Feb 2022.

Whoops, GOu sucks at reading people :p

Sorry I am late. I had a busy week-end.

I didn't realise that the last sentence of my previous post was in french.

Hello.

I have found a great site to help with the game: https://www.lotcastingatemi.com/

You can login with a google account, the you can create characters and joint a chronicle to have the reference of everyone.

Here the code for our chronicle: 3rhNZE2U8e8eBrNf8zhSah2U

I already created Gou (https://www.lotcastingatemi.com/characters/18017), so you can go an duplicate the sheet to add it in the chronicle.

And doing so I saw a minor problem. I don't your limit trigger and your anima banner. Plus I don't remember what animals form you took: a fish and a sea bird, right?

I will post tommorow, I was a litle focused on the M&M game today. Thank for trying it by the way.

Did you have the time to see the site I mentioned previously.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:59, Sun 20 Feb 2022.

Yeah, I remade Gou and put him up.

I neglected the game a little these last day. Not enought time between preparing the M&M game, my brother birthday and my job (take a week a vacation and everything is in fire when you come back).

No worries, that always happens.

Ok, what do you want for training?

I;m planning to have Lunar XP go into Skills (Martial Arts, Stealth, Awareness) and then shoring up Perception.

Actual XP will involve sorcery and then beefing up combat charms.

The break will be a month max, so maybe a low-level ability and several charms.

Abilities are (new rank) weeks

No favored Charms are (Attribute + Essence) days

Favored Charms are (Attribute) days

So let's see, 5 XP and 4 luanr XP... isn't really enough for much eh.

I think Gou will just spend one month training Perception up to 2.

1 month then. I have trouble creating a NPC (charm in particular) but I should have finished tomorrow.

it's simple, make them sexy and want to touch the new handsome captain of a ship of ex-slaves. ;)

I have finally finished the NPC so we can continu. And I am not sure you will like how they want to touch you :)

Don't forget it's your turn in the M&M game.
This message was last edited by the GM at 22:29, Mon 14 Mar 2022.

oh no she wants to drain his precious bodily fluids

Sorry I didn't see you had answered. Can you make a Perception + Awarness roll? Time to use your training.

3 successes!

09:58, Today: Gou Jira rolled 3 successes using 5d10 with the White Wolf Exalted system with a target of 7 with rolls of 3,8,9,9,1.  Perception + Awareness.

I really let the game on side. No more, like the M&M game I will put a three days countdown between my post (okay for you?) and will stand by it.

To resume you and your follower were enjoying freedom and runing a plantation until one day Nala Ry, your sponsor, come to visit.

The combat can be tracked on the site: https://www.lotcastingatemi.com/chronicles/2828/combat
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:12, Tue 03 May 2022.

No worries, these things happen. At least you didn't leave me hanging in the middle of a conversation like Phoenix did in that superhero one. :p
This message was last edited by the player at 00:55, Wed 04 May 2022.

First botch of the game :) and its for an hostile NPC.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:47, Sat 07 May 2022.

Bump. You have yet to post here and on the M&M game. Busy?

For M&M: not a huge fan of Star Phoenix, so I'm trying to think of something polite to say there.

For this game: I genuinely thought I replied to it. Sorry!

Time to come back. You can do an action the turn you grapple an ennemi, so what do you want? The Shadow had 2 success on the Control roll so you have 1 turn of control.

Slam slam slam!

For your charm you forgot to reroll 2 dice (it's 3 dices or Essence dices if you are Ess3+). I rolled for you and had 2 more success.

Hello. You have yet to post. Busy at work?

SOrry, I really thought I posted in response to it. ALso yes, work. :p

Hello.

Sorry for the massive delay. Like I said on the M&M game I had no internet connection for sometime. I just posted and I am ready to continue.

No worries, glad you're back online. Incidentally, my impression of Nala is that she's in her 50s - am I correct?

Yes correct she is in her mid-fifty. If I remember correctly Gou his in his late twenty / early thirty no? He is closer in age of Nala daugther, Alys.

You didn't see my post?

Once again I thought I replied to this. Sorry :( Let's move on to the next scene and start afresh.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:13, Mon 29 Aug 2022.

And here we go.

Sorry. I did think I already posted.

No worries, I do it all the time :p

Sorry. I didn't see you posted.

I think we can skip to the meeting. Except if you want to do something in between or play the Caste ritual.

I kind of think the Caste Ritual would be neat. Never done that before.

Ok. Let think how to do it. I think their is a exemple in the Lunar book.

IIRC the Casting ritual involves inscribing your legend into your tattoos so you retain a sense of self even when the Wyld shifts around you. Or something. It's like declaring your identity to the world at all times to prevent the universe from unravelling you.

I edited my post.

Are you alright?

Ah bugger, forgot you were waiting on me to reply. Sorry. :(

Gou will go with Strength and Stamina, to represent being a big lug.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:11, Thu 10 Nov 2022.

Done.

Do you want a last post or we pass to the next scene? We will directly go to the meeting. Do you have an animal shape that can pass as discret (a cat or bird)?
This message was last edited by the GM at 21:39, Thu 10 Nov 2022.

Yeah, let's move on to the next scene. IIRC Gou has a seagull form that he used waaaaay back whento track that woman who dove into the river or something.

Everythin is ready. I let you have a post to describe a little what you did and the question you before really going.

Sorry, I didn't see your post.

Did you see the kickstarter for Sidereals?

I did, but I'm not a huge fan. THey changed literally everything about Heaven and the Sidereals, and I never liked them much to begin with. Do you like Sids?

Not really. Sids are not bad themselves but I find them a little out of tune with the setting.

The battle begin, if you want the tracker: https://www.lotcastingatemi.com/chronicles/2828/combat

You forgot to roll for Join Battle. I did it for you and scored 5 success, you begin with 8 initiative.

I realised that after rolling Lyra attack so I took a little advance. If you wish to attack one of the demon you need to wait like Lyra, if you have another idea I can try to adapt the post. If you attack you make a surprise attack (so -2 to defense).

In addition I created a Combat Log.

Last thing: what shapes do you have?
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:07, Sun 27 Nov 2022.

D'oh! I thought I got a result of 3 on LCA. I'll eb more careful next time. As for forms, Gou is actually quite limited. Only has seagull, fishe and tyrant lizard. The first two are useless in a fight, the third sounds like overkill. I guess he'll be strangling demons to death again as usual.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:43, Mon 28 Nov 2022.

No on LCA you need to enter the nulber of success you roll on a Join Battle, by default it is zero. The site add 3 to have your start iniative.

One thing, you forgot to add what essence pool you use when you use a charm. Since you spend 15m this turn, you need to draw some from your personal pool if you don't want your anima to flare.

Sorry, I should have specified. GOu will be going from Personal first, yes.

Two things I just realised.

First we have forgot something to the gambits, the procedure is:
-Attack roll vs Defense
-Gambit roll (you roll your initiative against the Gambit difficulty-1) and spend the Gambit difficulty in iniative.
-For Grapple you have the Control roll.

For Gou to make a Grapple you would have:
-Attack roll: DEX+Martial Art vs Evasion
-Gambit roll: you spend 3i and roll your initiative with a difficulty of 2
-Control roll: you make an opposed roll with STR+Martial Art vs STR+Brawl.

You forgot the Gambit roll like me. I will not comeback on the roll but we need to kept that in mind for the future.

The second thing, is that you have the Belt of Shadows Walking who let you transform into shadow, in that state you can interract with immaterial being (like the Az'gal in shadow form or dematerialized). That could open some options in the fight.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:16, Tue 29 Nov 2022.

Yeah, it's been a while since I used that. At least I can grab it if it tries to get away!

Going to make some notes on shapeshifting and forms here.

POSSESSED FORMS

Cormorant (as Swan, but without Devoted Mate/only for Solar mate)

Armored Kraken

TARGET FORMS

Terrestrial, tiny, infiltration: mouse or similar
Airborne, tiny, infiltration: Butterfly
Oceanic, tiny, infiltration: Frog
Oceanic, tiny, infiltration: Mini Octopus

Terrestrial, combat, grappling: Great Stoat
Terrestrial, combat: Hippopotamus
Terrestrial, combat, BERSERKER: Bear
Terrestrial, combat, social: Cat
Terrestrial, tank: Siege Lizard
Airborne, combat, group travel: Sky Titan
Oceanic, combat: River Dragon
Oceanic, combat: Armored Terror

Terrestrial, utility, travel: Horse
Terrestrial, utility: Ape
Terrestrial, utility, social: Dog
Terrestrial, utility, social: Eight-Tailed Molehound
Airborne, utility, travel: Hawk
Airborne, utility:
Oceanic, utility, arguably social: Octopus
This message was last edited by the player at 07:31, Fri 02 Dec 2022.

Sorry I was a bit busy at work.

No worries. Thanks for staying with the game!

Even if I am a little slow to post sometime I like this game so no worry to let it go. And I have ideas for at least three story arcs.

That said, are you sure you want an armored kraken as a already possessed shape? Hunting one can be an awesome fight.

I'll go with octopus or mini octopus, then. Actually, I was thinking about something. Assuming I had the 1 point Gills merit to switch breathing to land only, could I use it while taking an aquatic animal shape so I could breathe on land? Specifically, I wanted to use it in octopus or armored kraken form to tentacle people on land.

EDIT:

Another question, I don't think I saw it, but what happens when grapple control rounds run out? Does the controller automatically release the opponent, do both sides try to roll for control again, or something? Gou is going to try and keep control of the Az'Gal as mentioned earlier, naturally.

EDIT 2:

Also, sorcerous workings can be used to give yourself mutations. Can these mutations be accessed while shapeshifted into stuff?
This message was last edited by the player at 00:25, Fri 16 Dec 2022.

Normaly you lose every mutation when you shapeshift except for the one tied to your tell. That said animals or characters with Gill 1 can survive Essence*5 minutes out of water (25 minutes for you) so for a combat you can do that. The Stamina Charm Shifting Breath Inversion would let breath anywhere.

We can also create a custom charm that let you partially shapeshift.

For grapple, it end when the control round run out. I always found that point a little strange so we can house rule it.

Well, Hybrid Body Transformation does exist (that's the warform Charm IIRC). I was thinking of going more into the chimera side of things, like shapeshifting quills onto myself or unusual hide/carapace while being an octopus or tyrant lizard, which would probably make Lyra very cross.

Most of the Universal Charm expend the Spirit Shape.

-Chimera-Soul Expresion let you have a hydrid Spirit Shape by adding mutation to your Spirit Shape.
-Hydrid Body Transformation let you have a Shape who is an hybrid between your Human Shape and Spirit Shape by adding mutations to your Human Shape.
-Beast Form Empowerement let you add more mutations to your Hydrid Body Shape.
-Shifting Beast Nature let you have a second Hydrid Body Shape.
-Changing Phases Transformation let you change your Attributes when in a Hybrid Body Shape.

But I found the one you want:
-Perfected Hybrid Interaction let you have a library of mutations that you can temporarily add to any of your shape (for exemple adding the Gill 2 mutation on an octopus).

PHI sounds perfect for what I want, though it seems a bit spendy. I wonder if I can stick all the grapple mutations on it...

I have now the image of Godzilla with tentacles in my head.

Spiky tentacles. With aphrodisiac poison. Grabbing naughty DBs!

You have yet to post. If I am right, the battle is ending this turn.

Argh I thought I posted. ANyway, GOu is going to savage the azgal again if he can manage it, or just smack him normally if he can't.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

I will be in vacation until January 9. After that I need to go on a business trip but I should be able to post.

Happy new year! And best wishes of 2023. I hope you had an excellent end of the year.

You have yet to post.

Nice and boring, I like boring. ALso hang on...

Since we are nearly at the end of the story I wanted to talk about how do you next events.

If you want we can stay near Nahalu and help the rebelion. Or we can have have you go on a grand quest to find the missing stone of the god. I have idea for the two path. The path depend if you want a game static were you can build your power base or if you want to explore other places.

For Lyra I wanted her to be important, but I think I took to much of iniative with her. How do you see her?

Since Gou is a fresh off the boat (literally) Lunar, I think having her take the initiative in politics is, to some extent, unavoidable, especially since I'm playing him as an unsophisticated ex-slave for now. That's going to change, of course.

As for the game style, a more mobile version might be better, since Gou saving the slaves is basically an extension of not leaving them in the lurch when he has the power to help them. To that extent, would finding the god stone be better for tsuch a style?

Sorry I was a bit busy this week-end, I helped my brother to move in his new housse.

The two storylines will involve freeing slaves, so it's mainly a matter of if you wish Gou to stay in Nahalu or to move accross the Bay of Fire.

I guess he'll be going across the bay then. I had some ideas for picking up sorcery too I figure a volcano god would be able to teach him an interesting initiation.

Everything is okay?

Yeah, I thought I repleid to this. Sorry!

Also, upon reading the shapeshifting rules carefully, I noticed that forms are incompatible with Martial Arts and use Brawl. I'm wondering how this works with the houserule that allows Gou to use Martial Arts with Brawl. Should I just convert the Martial Arts skill to Brawl and have him buy it up the old-fashioned way, especially since he hasn't actually bought any Charms with it yet?
This message was last edited by the player at 07:40, Wed 08 Feb 2023.

Sorry for the delay I was sick these last day.

Still here?

Yes, sorry; I honestly don't know how I missed this...

Don't worry.

We are nearly at the end of this chapter. Afterward I am thinking sending you hunting the jewel of the volcano god with a detour to pick up the Yamai twins (time to use that intimacy).

Sounds good to me. Also, is it possible for me to shift my charm selections around? I realize that there are some things I've never used and some things that I use more often than others.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:35, Mon 27 Mar 2023.

No problem.

If you wish we can end the arc now and you tell me OOC what preparation you took for the travel. You have still the Forest Scent and part of your escape would follow you (not everyone, you need people at the plantation). Or if you want, we can roleplay the preparation.
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:53, Mon 27 Mar 2023.

How do you want to handle the preparations?

The plan is to have the community manage themselves here for now while Gou runs off on his own in traditional irresponsible Exalt fashion to get into trouble by himself. THe thing is that he can't sail the ship by himself and he can't think of a good reason to bring the others along and endanger them...

In that case we can have Gou or Lyra recruit an new crew who will remplace your Follower merit while you are away. Or you can take other boat as passenger. As you wish.

My plan is to have the next story at Saphire with Lyra, then send you alone toward the north in pursuit of the Ruby.

Another thing, I am calculating the xp you won. If you still want to be a sorceror, Lyra will arrange for one of the Priest Suri to follow you and teach you sorcery.

I plan to be a sorcerer, but after reviewing the requirements I realized that I need 4 mental charms first and I don't think social Charms count towards that. My personal plan for sorcery was to recover the volcano god's gem and then get the Pact With An Ifrit Lord shaping ritual as part of the reward.

That was my plan at first. But I thought you may appreciate the opportunity to learn earlier.

For the requierment, I have no problem to ignore them. Unlike nearly every other charms, having blocked Sorcery don't make much senses since mortal can learn it.

IIRC traditional sorcery needs five stations: humility, tutelage, experience, facing your fears and sacrifice. Having a mortal priest would help with the first two, I think.

In 2e yes. In 3e it's a bit more varied. Rule wise I was thinking to use the Pact with an Ifrit Lord as a base, in-game I was thinking to attune with fire as one of the base element of Creation. I am open for idea and especially what you want to have as a first shapping ritual.

I finished to calculate your xp point. It was relatively long so I will cut the thread into two sessions. At the end I give you 10xp (for a total of 15xp and you already spend 3), and 4 lunar xp (for a total of 8). I already changed your sheet on LCA.

You wanted to change some charms if I remember right?

Yeah, I changed them on my sheet. Also for the shaping ritual, I like the one which extinguishes flames for sorcerous motes. How will you handle increasing Heart's Blood, incidentally?
This message was last edited by the player at 18:25, Sun 09 Apr 2023.

I handle that in story. You just need to said who want to take time to hunt animal shapes and we will see what shapes you gain. I will probably ask for a roll. For exemple:

You said you will hunt for 1 week, you roll Wits+Survival, if you gain 1 success you have the gain the 1-dot rank, 3 success you gain the 2-dots rank and 5 success you gain the 3-dots ranks.

And I had added a resume of your shape so we are on the same page.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:50, Tue 11 Apr 2023.

Thanks. I've been busy all week and I have an operation next week so I hope you can give me some time. Sorry!

No problem. Tell me wen you are ready to go.

Argh I'm so fucking pissed off. The hospital posponed the operation again ("Sorry, an emergency came up") to May 16th.

Fuck it, let's start chapter 3 right now. Gou is on a boat headed for Volcano Island. His pals are back eking out a comfy life for themselves while he goes to look for Solar playmates and the volcano god's gem.

Okay. I am busy not at home this week-end so I will post tomorow. Do you want to us some of the xp you have?

If I'm not wrong, I have 5 XP and 4 Lunar XP, right? Not sure how much I got from Chapter 2. In any case, once I get 10 XP I think I'll start by picking up a Perception Charm (Sense-Sharpening Change).

Lunar XP will go to raising Heart's Blood, or Brawl if that's not feasible.

You have: 12xp (15 total, 3 spend) and 8 lxp (8 total, 0 spend).

So yes you can buy Sense-Sharpening Change (10xp, 3 days of training) and Heart's Blood at 1 dots (3xp, 1 weeks) or 2 dots (6xp, 2 weeks). For Heart's Blood you have access to animals living on tropical coastal sea, jungle and in urban environement. Ask if you want one with Legendary Size.

I have a question before we go: How you will go to Saphir? Swimming, as passenger in a ship or taking your ship? If it's the last do you pay a new crew or take your followers (or a mixt of the two)?

Not really planning to take the followers with me. This is something Gou is doing as a Lunar, not as the leader of the Scent's crew. Besides, he can't keep them all safe, anyway. So I think Gou will be swimming instead. He can steadily eat creatures along the way until he arrives at Saphir, what do you think?

Good idea.

You take Heart's Blood at 1 or 1 dot? And can you make a list of the shape you add. We can even have a stop during travel for you to hunt an Armoured Kraken.

I like 2 dots. Hunting the Armored Kraken sounds fun too.

I will let you fight the Armoured Kraken. I think that if you use your Spirit Shape it will not be to difficult.

Can you make a list of the other animals shape you want.

6-12 small animals
6 strong animals
1 extremely strong animal (the armoured kraken)

And can you tell me the mutation you have in your Hydrid Shape. You 12 dots.
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:17, Fri 28 Apr 2023.

The hybrid shape is Godzillaman form...

Unusual Hide 5
Claws/Fangs 4
Deadly Weaponry (Smashing) 1
Tail 2

Okay for your hydrid shape.

You can post when you want.

Forms that interest me:

Small
Cute kitten
Dog
Great Stoat
Mongoose (Tiny Creature version of Great Stoat)
Tiny Octopus (previous form was normal-sized)
Mouse
Raiton
Snake
Hellboar

Strong
Benthic Knifetooth
Great Cat
Hippopotamus
Bear
Death Moa
Gorilla

Very Strong
Armored Kraken

I'm going to draw up an Excel spreadsheet listing their attack types, dice pools and special features after I finish a little assignment of mine, for everyone's benefit.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:30, Fri 05 May 2023.

Still here? I think you operation is newt week, no?

Yeah, on the 16th I thought I repleid to this :(

So the operation is tomorrow and I'm working on converting the Sea Titan statblock into a statbar, just so you know.

EDIT: And done.


This message was last edited by the player at 16:34, Mon 15 May 2023.

Good for the stats.

And good luck for the operation, take your time if you need to recover, the game will be waiting for you.

I hope your operation did go without problem.

It was fine, thanks for the well wishes. Combination of Veneseal and vein avulsion to remove varicose veins. After seeing how much I can bleed from a 5mm stitch I have a healthy respect for violence in games.

I had a family gathering yesterday and was to busy to post, but I am happy to hear that everything had gone as planned.

Sorry for the delay, I thought I had all ready posted.

No worries. Thanks for sticking it out for so long!

Sorry for the long absence I was extremely busy at work (ended at 9p.m nearly very day).

You have yet to answer my post.

I was seconded to the cashier department a week ago and missed this... Anyway. Gou has a bunch of objectives now... In rough order of importance:

- Find Lyra
- Free the twins
- Find the Ruby

- Kill the Consul
- Find who hurt the Kraken and avenge it
- FInd and eat the Lintha

Sorry for the late reply, was busy for 2 weeks with reassignment. THings have settled down now though.

My turn to be sorry, I thought I posted last week.

I am still alive. I hade really a shitty couple of week.

I have just posted.

Poor lad. Get rest!

Thanks

These weeks make me hate my job. Fortunately my boss is on my side.

You can continue to post. The game is a good discration from my work :)
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:10, Thu 21 Sept 2023.

Hello. I hope everything is fine for you?

Wait, didn't I reply to this? I swore I replied to this... twice! Ugh. Hang on...

Don't worry. I was really busy these last weeks.

Hello. You have yet to post.

Hello, I hope everything is okay for you.

I am sorry for the delay I could have these last months, I was really busy since my promotion, but I will have soon a co-worker to take part of my workload. So things should be better in December.

For the game I am thinking about adding a bit of Abyssal in it since it what recently put on Indie GoGo. Have you backed it?

Nope. Lost all faith in 3e, but I appreciate the effort you put into the game.

No problem.

If you want to stop the game you can. Playing with someone who dislike the game engine is not much fun. Or we can try to convert in Exalted Essence if you want to continue but want to change the mechanics.

Out of curiosity, what made you lost faith in 3e ?

My objections to 3e mainly revolve around the changes to the setting (a bunch of them were ill-considered) and how the rules changes mean Exalted don't really feel that Exalted any more (mainly Solars, but also because the developers have a vision of character power that I don't really agree with). I came in around 1st edition, and I simply don't like the direction Exalted went. I'm also not inclined to trust Essence either...

In all frankness I'd rather continue/reboot that superhero game you were running some time back, though I think you had your own difficulties with that one.

EDIT: That said, I saw a discussion of abyssal thematics that sort of made me want to try out a concept I've had for a while but never had the chance to play.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:00, Fri 08 Dec 2023.

Unfortunately I never played 2e, so I cannot really have an opinion of which is best.

But if you want to test Essence, or Abyssal, I can share the book/manuscript with you. Abyssal previews are nearly all released (Necromancy tomorrow and NPC the 13th) and some charms have potential (War charms let you bring back your victim as zombies).

For the M&M game I made, I prefer forget it. I think everyone had different idea of what they wanted.

Actually, I kind of want to see if I could build that Abyssal in 3e now, if you don't mind...

Here:

https://drive.google.com/drive...Xvy2c?usp=drive_link

From what I heard, the Deathlords have really changed from 2e. I find nearly all of them interesting.

What are the concept you want to try ?
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:21, Sat 09 Dec 2023.

I added the Preview for Martial Arts and Necromancy Chapters, and the Artifacts Chapter.

Well, a long time ago I had a concept for a Dragon-blooded Dynast who was madly in love with his childhood friend, but he Exalted and she didn't, so he got sent to the House of Bells for secondary school training while she got shipped off to a rural family estate in the North.

DId I mention that they were both from House Tepet?

So anyway, he receives news that the Bull of the North attacked the estate in the North and leads a unit to save her. The problem is that she was a Solar, who handily stomped him and his dragon before leaving him for dead (She seemed really reluctant about it, though...)

After recovering, our hero decides to resign his commission and runs off with the family spear as part of the Wyld Hunt, hoping to find her again.

The Abyssal I want to play is the Solar girl, who ran to the Lover Clad In the Raiment of Tears because she hates the Bull of the North so much and ends up being corrupted into an Abyssal because of a yuri-powered "could you be a dear and help me with a necromantic experiment" request.

========

Disregarding all of that, the concept is Rain (her childhood name; she never Exalted so she doesn't get the Tepet family name), whose deathknight title is Rain of Bloody Tears. Exalted in the aftermath of the Bull of the North attacking her estate, she threw in briefly with the Lover Clad In the Raiment of Tears before she decided to leave her service. She now wanders the world (and Underworld) looking for her lover (she's not sure if he's still alive) while taking commissions to speak for and avenge the dead who have been wronged by the living. She leads a unit of war ghosts, many of whom dote on her like a daughter or little sister, and some of whom were part of her ex-lover's unit.

That a great concept.

I am a bit partial on th solar part. I fell it should not be just a foot note in the backstory. So unless its important to you, I propose the following twist:

She never exalted as a solar, she was killed in the estate's attack and was brought back as an Abyssal by the Lover. Killing her aggressors and beating her lover when he came to the rescue.

In the end this your character so the choice is your.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:09, Mon 11 Dec 2023.

Yeah, just making her an Abyssal from the beginning would work too. Her lover freaked out when he saw her raise a huge army of the dead and just attacked her and she had to knock him out to get him to stop and she ran away after that because she thought she was a freak or something.

The Solar part was actually because it was a dubiously canon backstory for a Solar character I made involving a duel which would have them both on the verge of death, and Rain's lover burning out his Exaltation as the fuel for an ancient prayer to the Dragons to purify her soul and send her on to Lethe, which would actually catch Sol Invictus' attention instead, and he asks her what she wants to do, and she says, "save him at any cost", resulting in her death and him Exalting (technically mortal again since he burned out his Dragon's blood) back to full health, but with her spirit bound to his forever.

Like I said, dubiously canon. :p I think she has lots of potential just going on a big undead road trip, teaching people to honor the dead and so on.

Dubious canon indeed.

I let you give a look to the Abyssal Previews.

Have you an idea of the caste you want and your areas of focus (from the backstory I would said Combat, Presence and bit of Necromancy)?

And tell me if you want a particular element in game.

The main issue now is that characterization of the Lover changed, from hedonistic mass seducer mastermind to cruel witch-queen. Not sure how to reconcile that with my mental image of the Deathlord that Rain serves. ALso need to read up more on the Abyssals in general and see what they changed. Death's chivalry is being heavily emphasized here, but it doesn't seem to mean anything so far.

And yeah, I'm looking at Apocalyptic Melee + War. Would also like to try out the Dance branch of Performance because you can literally dance through battles with it. Unfortunately Arise and Slaughter is Essence 2 so she can't call up units of ghosts yet, but the flavor of the War Charms is perfect for me, things like speaking to the dead and convincing them to serve her rather than just brute force binding them with necromancy.

EDIT:

After reading her entry in the AByssals book, they managed to flesh her out much better than in 2e while still staying true to the character she had there, so I guess I'm going with her.

As for stuff I'd like to see, I'm envisioning a Command of war ghosts backing her up with a Retainer or two as a lieutenant. Fighting the Bull of the North is a big one, as well as a climactic confrontation with her ex-lover. Either it makes her decide to go for redemption as a Solar or brings him over to her side, I'm sure it'll be great either way.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:26, Tue 12 Dec 2023.

For Death Chivalry it's Preview 1, p11-12.

Yeah, I just read it. So far Abyssals feel like Solars, but after learning lessons from the other splats they released in the meantime.

I have the raw outline for the first story: Your Abyssal will be asked by some ghosts free their homeland from House Sesus (or maybe another Northern power if you don't want go against the Realm yet) and retablish the ancestor cults who had been stiffled by the Immaculate Faith. I may take some inspiration from the Civil War part of Skyrim.

Good idea for you ? Or do you find it go against the wandering knight idea?
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:08, Wed 13 Dec 2023.

Sounds good to me. To be honest Rain doesn't have much attachment to the Realm either since it was their policies which separated her from her beloved.

So how you find the Abyssal Preview?

It's actually pretty good. Mechanics-wise, it reads like a polished version of the Solar tree; Abyssal War feels complete, for instance, and there are fewer dice tricks except for for when parity to Solars is needed.

Merry Christmas.

Happy to hear you like Abyssal. Among the Exalts, the Abyssal were my less favourite but they managed to have me interested.

Happy New Year.

I am finishing the game preparatif. Have you advanced on your character?

I actually don't know where to start. From mortal life, already Exalted, or somewhere in between? I do know how I want to proceed for those points though. Once I finalize with you I can go right ahead.

Unless you wanted otherwise, I think the best would be begining just after your character quit the service of the Lover, so already Exalted and with good knowledge of the Underworld.

Sounds good to me.

I was looking at one of the merits for the Pact With An Ifrit Lord shaping ritual and noticed that there was a 2-dot Merit called The Burning Name, which gave you a light mundane thrown weapon made of fire for 2 dots. Would it be possible to get an artifact sword wielded with the standard Dexterity + Melee for 5 dots, requiring 5 motes commitment as normal? Call it Ghost-Fire Blade.

EDIT: Alternately a soulsteel version of Stormcaller would do.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:27, Thu 04 Jan.

Something like this:

Rain of Bloody Tears
"I am no good at love."
Dusk Caste Abyssal Exalted



A pale, skinny (almost skeletal, in fact) teenager with a melancholy look on her face at all times. She always looks like she's on the verge of crying and has dark rings around her eyes. Yet her voice is strangely enchanting, and those who believe her stick-thin limbs to be weak soon learn, to their detriment, that they contain the strength of a fallen angel. Her hair is black with threads of red in it and her eyes are the color of blood.

Anima: A storm of phantasmal blood pours down from above, leaving spider lilies that slowly fade away when the droplets splash on the ground.

Intimacies:
Defining Tie: Tepet Vergus Makashi (love)
Defining Tie: The Bull's Barbarians (genocidal hatred)
Defining Principle: "I must find him."
Defining Principle: "I must keep myself pure for him."
Major Principle: Honor the dead, who are free of life's suffering.
Major Principle: "I am a tainted creature?"
Major Principle: Keep your word, because it goes before you.
Major Tie: Barbarians (contempt)
Major Tie: Her unit, the Black Rose Knights (camaraderie)
Minor Tie: The Lover Clad In The Raiment of Tears (lust and fear)
Minor Tie: The Bull of the North (hatred)
Minor Tie: The Realm (contempt)
Minor Tie: Dragonblooded who are not Makashi (contempt)

ATTRIBUTES
Str 5
Dex 5
Sta 1

Cha 5
Man 1
App 2

Int 5
Per 1
Wit 3

ABILITIES
(A) Melee 5 (2 BP) (Vs. Essence Channellers +1)
- Elegant Flowing Deflection
- Death Well-Remembered
- Oblivion Devours All
- Five-Shadow Feint
- Unfurling Iron Lotus
- Time-Scything Technique
- Instant Murder Flash x2
(C) Athletics 3
(C) Brawl 3
(C) War 5 (2 BP) (The Dead +1)
- Forsaken Legion's General
- Loyal Unto Death
(C) Ride 0

(F) Integrity 1
(F) Occult 3
- Ivory Circle Necromancy
(F) Presence 5 (2 BP) (Intimidation +1)
(F) Stealth 5 (2 BP) (Ambushes +1)
- Moonless Night Absence
- Flawless Assassination Style
(F) Survival 1
- Pomegranates Full And Fine

Lore 1
Performance 3
- Morbid Fascination Style
- Sanguine Revel Celebrant
Socialize 1

NECROMANCY
Initiation: Hollow Envoy Wisdom (Bound Soul Wellspring)
Ivory Circle: Summon Ghost

MERITS
03 - Fast Reflexes
05 - Huskflayer
05 - Command (Size 5, Elite Drill, Might 1 war ghosts) (3 BP)
01 - Languages 1 (Old Realm, High Realm native)

Essence 1
Personal 13
Peripheral 33(28 - 5 committed)
HLs: -0/-1/-1/-2/-2/-4/Incap
Willpower: 5/5

BP Spending
02 - Melee 3 to 5
02 - Presence 3 to 5
02 - Stealth 3 to 5
02 - War 3 to 5
03 - App 1 to 2
03 - Command 2 to 5
01 - Languages (Old Realm)
This message was last edited by the player at 07:44, Fri 12 Jan.

Not bad.

Are you sure you want Sorcery and not Necromancy (most Sorcery spells have a Necromatic counterpart).

For the Merit Ghost-Fire Blade: it is an artefact or a sorcerous merit that make an attack with a Daiklave profil? Or have do you prefer Stormcaller?

I'll stick with the modified Stormcaller, less stuff to adjudicate. Make it soulsteel instead of orichalcum and change Divine Tempest Blade to reference Elegant Bloodletting Art instead of Hungry Tiger Technique. The backstory doesn't have to change much either, say it was used to bind a thunder god or demon and only bloodshed or a good drink can soothe it.

I'll go look at necromancy again. Unfortunately I don't think there's a shadowlands (first) circle spell that raises undead...
This message was last edited by the player at 00:42, Fri 05 Jan.

Agreed on Stormcaller, it can created from Soulsteel comming from a Hekatonkhires.

For Necromancy, the First Circle has Raise the Skeletal Horde (create a Battlegroup of Zombie) or Summon Ghost (if you want more supernatural undead).

THose look interesting. I foudn the Indiegogo page, I'll look further into those spells.

I changed the spell to Ivory Circle Necromancy - Summon Ghost, mainly because it seems more fun for investigation purposes and for avenging the dead. Plus I think she would cast it as often as possible to see if her beloved was dead yet and be secretly happy when the spell fails. I think I will have her pick up Terrestrial Circle Sorcery separately at some point.

Sheet should be done now, but I need to keep sticking more Intimacies onto her.
This message was last edited by the player at 11:28, Sun 07 Jan.

I am ready to launch the game. I will open it soon so kept an eye on it.

Two things:

-Your character have 1 in guile and resolve and no way to boost them. That okay for you ?

-What will be your birth tongue. Most of the people you meet will either talk in Skytongue or Old Realm, but as a dynast it would be strange that you don't speak High Realm. Maybe have HR as birth tongue and Skytongue and OR as a merit (taking a point in Command)?

She was always the straightforward tomboy type before this, I figure coming back as a semi-stalker type doesn't exactly help that. She has 1 dot in Socialize and Integrity, I'm planning to bump those up later on with experienc to represent her rounding out more as a person.



I moved some points around for that, so her native language is High Realm and she has 1 point on Languages for Old Realm. Probably means she can't speak Skytongue but she doesn't care about that, she never liked the North much anyway.

Great, I have many hook with the number of intimacies.

For language, you will need to rely on a traductor (since you have a thousand war ghosts, that should not be to difficult to have). And I can consider it a flaw if you are in a situation where you need to understand without a traductor. Good for you ?

I will open the game tomorow or friday. I jus brought Across the Eight Direction (I put it on the Drive) and see if there something I like in the North section.

It works for me. War ghosts can animate a suit of armor so she can have a lieutenant to translate for her. Or she can just summon a ghost and let it possess her (Hollow Envoy Wisdom!) to share sensations or just enjoy being alive again while benefiting from advice/translation. There is one mote ritual which lets her drain a possessing ghost for motes if it gets uppity so there is that, though she won't use it unless the ghost tries to make her do something against her principles.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:18, Thu 11 Jan.

And the new game is up:

link to another game