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14:47, 29th March 2024 (GMT+0)

Exalted - Graceful Wicked Masques - The Fair Folk.

Posted by Illfirin
Illfirin
member, 9 posts
Fri 24 Oct 2014
at 04:42
  • msg #1

Exalted - Graceful Wicked Masques - The Fair Folk

The Story as You Know It

In ages past the unshaped lead a mighty quest against creation known as the Balorian Crusade. Many coalitions of unshaped Fair Folk banded together to take back the Wyld that was shaped into the world now known as "Gaia". The greatest of these coalitions was known as "The Grand Line" a band of Fair Folk who took on bodies of land and energy that acted as a supply line for the soldiers moving forward.

When the wicked mortal creation born unleashed their vicious weapons the line was torn asunder and the Crusade was forced back to the edges of Creation. Many of the Fair Folk were killed, destroyed beyond a death any mortal could conceive. Some were left behind, forgotten to time.

This is the fate of your home, The Bastion of Grace and Power. A member of the Grand Line now forced immobile as a small hovel. A shell of its former glory. A dream long from remembered.

But as we all know dreams can not forever be forgotten, and the Bastion has awakened once again thanks to the nourishment given by one mortal. Crying Sapphire, a desert nomad abandoned by his tribe, who wandered out to what was once known as the grand line in search of a new home. When he touched the Heart of the Bastion of Grace and Power it fed from him, draining him of his dreams and his soul. From him you were born, commoners designed to bring back the greatness of the Bastion of Grace and Power. Will you be the dream to reignite an age of glory long forgotten? Or the nightmare that ends the Bastion once and for all?




So I am looking to run an Exalted game where all the players are fair folk. I am planning to make a few game adjustments for the sake of enjoying the game, and making for a more narrative oriented game. This is a game that will require heavy moderation so if anyone has the time and would like to apply as a mod let me know.

5 Beats Equals One Dead Horse

The God Machine chronicle adjustment for World of Darkness was amazing, and it introduced a system of experience that was made for more narrative players known as Beats. The way beats work is by completing certain conditions you gain a beat, 5 beats equals one experience. Now for the purposes of this game, the experience cost will remain the same. "But how do I gain beats" you may ask well:

~ When you complete an aspiration you take a beat
~ When you act on a goal towards completing your Motivation you take a beat
~ When you do a 1 die stunt you take a beat but do not gain essence
~ When you do a 2 die stunt you take 2 beats but do not gain essence or willpower
~ When you do a 3 die stunt you gain 3 beats but do not gain essence or willpower
~ When a Fair Folk inflicts a mutation or glamor effect on you, you take a beat. This only applies if the effect lasts until you remove your assumption.
~ When one of your Graces gets broken you gain an experience
~ When you lose control of one of your Graces you may take a beat
~ When you take damage in your first incapacitated box you take a beat

Aspiring to Greatness

So I mentioned Aspirations earlier and did not mention how they work. For anyone who has played the God Machine Chronicles you know already. Each character has 3 Aspirations, these are things you want to see in the story. They are not necessarily things you character wants to happen, just things you as the player want to accomplish.

Examples:

Give Away Sword Grace
Find the Heart of the Bastion of Grace
Create a "Dream Eaten" mortal
Become inflicted with a Permanent Mutation
Discover a Bordermarch
Get the Bastion of Grace to take a humanoid body
Find nearby village

A Fair Folk may take additional Aspirations beyond 3 equal to their Sword grace.

What is life if not to dream?

So the book makes mention of the "Dream Eaten" these are mortals who have lost all Permanent Dots in a single Virtue or a mortal who has lost all their Permanent Willpower Dots. These men are hollow, and nearly valueless. These mortals have lost their ability to dream. This means mechanically, that the mortal can not be used for Oneiromantic Conjuration and can not be host to a Fair Folk who uses Soul-Carving Artifice. When a mortal has no willpower they also can not experience strong emotion, and thus their emotions can not be targeted by Banquet of Crumbs.

When a Creation Born Mortal has lost all dots in two tracks of any of their virtues, or lose all dots of permanent will power they are no longer considered Creation Born for the effects of your charms.

Wait! This is such a better ending!

So Fair Folk in creation have a special restriction and that is they can only spend experience at the end of a story. But wait, if we are all fair folk and all playing in an online setting with a non-linear story how does it end? Well my friendshippy fellows I have a solution to this one. The Story ends when a Fair Folk's Heart Grace is given to the Bastion of Grace and Power, as well the Bastion of Grace and Power has a special charm (That I totally made up) that entirely devours said Fair Folk and converts it into the end of a story, and a temporary Wyld Zone allowing players to redo their assumptions.

But Wait! There is More!

So when the story ends a special thread will come up called "The Heart of Bastion" in which players will get to place bids on how the Bastion of Grace and Power will change. From taking on new assumptions to adding more parts to the city to reshaping its Graces, the Bastion will take bids. All bids are final, and once bid the resources will be expended. Once you enter the Heart of the Bastion Thread you may not enter any other threads until the Heart Closes.

"What Can I Bid" you ask?

Followers ~ Because followers can be gained with a charm this works very simply, you gain a number of bids equal to your dots in followers, so you get between 1 and 5 bids depending on how many followers you have.

Essence ~ Essence is gained very very extremely easily. 5 Essence equals 1 bids.

Gossamer ~ This is the real deal here, each point of gossamer amounts to 2 bids.
This message was last edited by a moderator, as it was in need of a minor tweak, at 15:23, Wed 29 Oct 2014.
Alexei Yaruk-Mundhenk
member, 1555 posts
Ad Majorem
Dea Gloriam
Fri 24 Oct 2014
at 19:22
  • msg #2

Re: Exalted - Graceful Wicked Masques - The Fair Folk

Sounds Fun, I am game for this, though I have some questions:

1: what are you thinking in terms of pacing and post rates?

2: Are we using the errata or core G&WM?

3: Everyone starts as a commoner right? Can we ascend to noble status?

4: How likely is it that we are attacked by Solars or Abyssals with the Wyld destroying charms?

5: Will you be allowing any other splats and/or scroll of heroes?

Thanks in advance for answering my questions, I look forward to the game!
meschlum
member, 151 posts
Sat 25 Oct 2014
at 06:47
  • msg #3

Re: Exalted - Graceful Wicked Masques - The Fair Folk

Yesssssss...

Fair Folk games are hard to do, so I'd be quite gleeful to participate. There are such wonderous glories that must be crafted...


To (presumptively) answer question 2) above, it looks like it's pre-errata. Data points: no reference to the new feeding charm that allows the consumption of a soul to serve as a story's worth of training (or the post-errata training times). Mention of permanent mutations, which are no longer a thing post-errata.


Hm. I want to play, but it might be saner for all concerned if I were to mod as well, time permitting. I am that meschlum, for what it's worth.


Magnificient Astrolabe

When the Raksha wander into Ceration, they find themselves easily lost, distracted and delayed by endless landscapes in which nothing happens yet which they cannot simply ignore. This is an obvious flaw in the stuff of reality, which the Fair Folk seek to correct in diverse ways. Some establish themselves as terrifying horrors, so that something happens when travelers come through. Others ignore the empty wastes, denying their very existence.

The Raksha who formed the Astrolabe found their very absence of meaning fascinating, and sought to explore Creation's hollow spaces. But such travels could not take place without ample provisioning, and thus the device was forged, from a hunger for travel and the marvels it might reveal.

Where the Astrolabe is set, mortals will gather, to discuss the mysteries of the landscape surrounding them. They will eat and drink freely, celebrate wildly, marvel at the strange figures depicted on the Astrolabe - and vanish into insignificance once the Raksha have left, as is proper.

Mechanics

1-dot Oneiromancy (post-errata)
Assumption of Dreams and Passion - the Astrolabe is wanderlust and fear of the unknown, mixed into one.
Adored By All the World - where the Astrolabe is set, people cannot help but come to admire and discuss it.
Ordinary Object Conjuration - harsh spirits, bland food, and fragile furniture are always available for those who want to bask in the proximity of the Astrolabe.
Heart Stealing Kiss - those who spend too much time in the vicinity of the Astrolabe (and why wouldn't they?) find their appetites and impulsiveness overwhelming the petty restrictions of common sense.
Illfirin
member, 10 posts
Sat 25 Oct 2014
at 12:25
  • msg #4

Re: Exalted - Graceful Wicked Masques - The Fair Folk

Alexei Yaruk-Mundhenk:
Sounds Fun, I am game for this, though I have some questions:

1: what are you thinking in terms of pacing and post rates?

2: Are we using the errata or core G&WM?

3: Everyone starts as a commoner right? Can we ascend to noble status?

4: How likely is it that we are attacked by Solars or Abyssals with the Wyld destroying charms?

5: Will you be allowing any other splats and/or scroll of heroes?

Thanks in advance for answering my questions, I look forward to the game!


1) Post Rates I would ask for setting aside time like one day out of the week, though I am willing to go with every other week with special exception. The reason being I suck at tracking this strudel.

2) I am most familiar with Post Errata actually. And all the new training times are Tale post errata, which means at end of story.

3) Everyone will start as a Commoner, the ways you ascend to nobility is by activating a second feeding grace, which can potentially happen at the end of a story. I forgot to mention that Feeding A Heart To The Bastion Will Result In Potential Power. Each time you feed the Bastion a heart grace he will tell you a little bit about his part in the grand line, and potentially arm you with shaping weapons, orniromantic spells, artifacts, or by ripping open a new feeding grace.

4) Early on it won't be terribly likely, unless the fair folk go out of control. The Bastion has pulled into itself in order to not be noticed, Crying Sapphire woke it back up but it takes its children to bring it back to power. The players will shape who this city becomes.

5) Absolutely not, this is a story strictly about the Fair-Folk. These baklavas are hard enough to deal with without including all the others.

~~~~~

Another thing I neglected to mention is things like you will be limited in which backgrounds you can take. Birth cant Exceed 2 because you are all commoners, No Gossamer background, and no Rakshasa follower thingy background thingy.

You are playing new borns, you have no place in this world and nor will any new player who enters. You are a fancy, not yet a dream.

The idea is that The Bastion which as of now is merely a dried up fountain somewhere in a deserty/arid plains between the Pole of Wood and Fire, with a naked tribal man sitting in front of it by the name of Crying Sapphire, has lost all it once was. At one time it was a glorious unshaped, a member of the Grand Line which gave the fair folk their power... But now it lays dry hoping that the children it created from the dreams of Crying Sapphire will help it reemerge as a power to be reckoned with.
This message was last edited by a moderator, as it was against the forum rules, at 12:32, Sat 25 Oct 2014.
Alexei Yaruk-Mundhenk
member, 1557 posts
Ad Majorem
Dea Gloriam
Sun 26 Oct 2014
at 20:50
  • msg #5

Re: Exalted - Graceful Wicked Masques - The Fair Folk

Very well then: count me in well and fully.

I have a few more questions however:

1: If we are using the post errata is the 'Way' Grace implemented?

2: We are on the planes between the south and east, yes? Where about roughly?

http://cdn.obsidianportal.com/...Map_2nd__Edition.jpg

The map above provides reference, so allow me to ask closer question: are we near any of the following points: Khryal, the Ruby Court, the City of the Mad, or Gate 58?

If not can you use the system set out on THIS map to declare which 100x100 square we will occupy?

http://cdn.obsidianportal.com/...5777/CreationMap.jpg

To reference our location declare which row with it's number and element and then which column with it's letter and element.

3: How large is the freehold that The Bastion has created? If the Bastion has not created a freehold around itself I think based on my understanding of the fair folk rules that this will be a very short and unpleasant story for our characters, without cysts or pennants we all are going to calcify and be destroyed.
CrazyIvan777
member, 143 posts
Mon 27 Oct 2014
at 04:19
  • msg #6

Re: Exalted - Graceful Wicked Masques - The Fair Folk

Very interested, with the caveat that I, sadly, -suck- at that rules-system. Still, interested!
meschlum
member, 152 posts
Tue 28 Oct 2014
at 07:54
  • msg #7

Re: Exalted - Graceful Wicked Masques - The Fair Folk

Definitely interested, in case it wasn't obvious. Limiting the starting options to something sane is a very good starting point, for all the wonderous madness that the Raksha offer.

A quick question: how do you plan to deal with Shaping combat? The rules as written are terribly broken, and the errata did nothing to change them. If we're all on the same side, and suitably impressed by any nobles who happen to come by, we can largely avoid the entire issue. Otherwise, I'll have to degenerate into rules babble to explain why Shaping combat fails (and all the ways in which it does so).

The idea is a lot of fun, but the mechanics are terrible.


And I remain willing to mod (and help mechanics-wise), if acceptable. More chances to poke at Raksha are always good.


Heroic commoners have the unique opportunity to begin with Essence 5, which is incredibly useful in long lived games where it' a massiv time and xp sink. This is probably silly and should be avoided.

Still, the fact that we're picking up experience points and creating characters with bonus points introduces all sorts of problematic incentives in the long run. Charms are cheap after character creation, while high Willpower, virtues, and Graces are expensive - so a character who starts out hyper specialized ability-wise with few Charms will quickly outpace a charm focused generalist.
Illfirin
member, 11 posts
Tue 28 Oct 2014
at 18:52
  • msg #8

Re: Exalted - Graceful Wicked Masques - The Fair Folk

Alexei Yaruk-Mundhenk:
1: If we are using the post errata is the 'Way' Grace implemented?

2: We are on the planes between the south and east, yes? Where about roughly?

3: How large is the freehold that The Bastion has created? If the Bastion has not created a freehold around itself I think based on my understanding of the fair folk rules that this will be a very short and unpleasant story for our characters, without cysts or pennants we all are going to calcify and be destroyed.


1: Now the way I am understanding this is that there are other Shima a fair folk can potentially find and create but it sounds like something you would have to leave creation and become unshaped. So put simply, no. The Way Grace is not being used.

2: We are placed on the map at W-16 3x3 on this map
http://cdn.obsidianportal.com/...5777/CreationMap.jpg

3: So a fun part of this game is that to start there will be no freehold. What this means is players will need to be cautious and act quickly. Now you can bid with Bastion once the heart has been unlocked to set up a freehold but that means feeding a heart to Bastion.

meschlum:
Definitely interested, in case it wasn't obvious. Limiting the starting options to something sane is a very good starting point, for all the wonderous madness that the Raksha offer.

A quick question: how do you plan to deal with Shaping combat? The rules as written are terribly broken, and the errata did nothing to change them. If we're all on the same side, and suitably impressed by any nobles who happen to come by, we can largely avoid the entire issue. Otherwise, I'll have to degenerate into rules babble to explain why Shaping combat fails (and all the ways in which it does so).

The idea is a lot of fun, but the mechanics are terrible.


And I remain willing to mod (and help mechanics-wise), if acceptable. More chances to poke at Raksha are always good.


Heroic commoners have the unique opportunity to begin with Essence 5, which is incredibly useful in long lived games where it' a massiv time and xp sink. This is probably silly and should be avoided.

Still, the fact that we're picking up experience points and creating characters with bonus points introduces all sorts of problematic incentives in the long run. Charms are cheap after character creation, while high Willpower, virtues, and Graces are expensive - so a character who starts out hyper specialized ability-wise with few Charms will quickly outpace a charm focused generalist.



Well right now Shaping is limited in the fact that there is no where to do it from my understanding you must be at least in a Bordermarch, or in an area where Assumption of the Wyld Tainted Land. But also, I don't exactly know the problem with Shaping Combat as the results are spelled out on page 124-125 of Graceful Wicked Masques.

By the by, you are starting as Commoners, not Heroic Commoners. Not as many bonus points.
meschlum
member, 153 posts
Wed 29 Oct 2014
at 04:59
  • msg #9

Re: Exalted - Graceful Wicked Masques - The Fair Folk

If we're ordinary commoners, we can't even initiate shaping combat, so the issue is (temporarily) bypassed. It's (theoretically) possible even in tainted lands, though the difficulty increase is rather extreme.

Going in depth as to why Shaping combat does not work mechanically - the consequences for losing are sort of sensible in a courtly context - would divert away from the topic of the thread. I'm amenable to babbling in PMs, but I'd rather encourage people to play than rant about problems with rules!
Illfirin
member, 12 posts
Thu 30 Oct 2014
at 21:58
  • msg #10

Re: Exalted - Graceful Wicked Masques - The Fair Folk

Oh my door! I just thought of something great, the way to ascend to hero could be that you gain control of all your graces! Yes! (Because Bastion created you all he has your graces.)
Illfirin
member, 13 posts
Fri 31 Oct 2014
at 00:20
  • msg #11

Re: Exalted - Graceful Wicked Masques - The Fair Folk

Well guys this game is now a thing, if you all want to go ahead and send RTJ and start with character creation we can get started.

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