Editing Exalted101:Storytelling advice (section)

==Work with your players to create their Circle==

This can be quite an important element - at the very least, it can save a lot of headaches. In Exalted, many characters can be powerful, self-sufficient, and passionate. This is aggravated by the fact that the setting is vast - so very different bits of it will leap out at players. If they create their characters independently and you have them meet in a bar, you could have this scene (with some exagerations):

'''Dawn:''' I am the Invincible Sword Princess! With no fear of death, I shall singlehandedly crush the armies of the Realm in revenge for my fallen sister!

'''Zenith:''' Hey, good luck with that. I am personally so magnificently inspiring that I favour my chances of entirely reforming the spirit courts of the South, and convincing everyone not to destroy Gem.

'''Twilight:''' Awesome. I'll only be a mere half-world away on my archaeological dig in Rathess. My plan is to create a sorcerous utopia from its ruins and contemplate the ages in perfection.

'''Night:''' Sounds cool. Personally, because I am pretty sure no-one can pierce my invincible stealth, I'm going to steal the library of the Bodhissatva Annointed With Dark Water from under his nose.

'''Eclipse:''' Hey, I'll listen out for his screams of rage. Me, being the suavest thing in Creation, I plan to stop the war-machine of the Bull of the North by romancing Samea, his shaman. I'm just too damn slick for her to resist.

Suddenly they've cleared out of Nexus in five different directions, and your lovingly planned story of Guild vs Lookshy intrigue is gone in a puff of smoke. The characters are strong and driven enough not to need each other OR your story. While the example is slightly contrived and exaggerated, beginning by at the concept stage giving a group of potentially willful and independent characters reasons to be together and explore your story will make things much easier. True for most games, especially true for Exalted.

In addition, like many point-based character creation systems, Exalted does not offer any particular niche-protection. There's no reason why an Eclipse couldn't be a superior warrior than a Dawn, for instance. This tends to be a good thing, but it helps (to the extent to which players in your group dislike being overshadowed in areas they thought they owned, or like to have characters of diverse and unique capabilities) for the players to discuss which niches they'll be shooting for, and make sure they have a Circle that has a range of capabilities appropriate to the game.

Finally, it's good to have a bit of back-and-forth with your players about just what the capabilities of their characters are. Players assigning points to their characters are not only stipulating what their characters are capable of, but voting for what they want to actually do. This is worth discussing with them, and it's definitely worth listening to them. If the players create five social-heavy characters all ready to wax lyrical on political issues, jumping them with a surprise five-Immaculate Wyld Hunt in the first session is something you may want to rethink - better to have them hear about the Wyld Hunt coming and use their political nous to avoid facing its wrath. Conversely however, it's absolutely fine for you to say things like "I understand that from the characters you've created that you're not interested in combat, but you should be aware that you will have enemies, and in this savage world they will attempt to use your lack of martial might against you. You better be prepared to deal with that somehow - it's too rich a source of drama for me to just disregard." Make sure the characters get an opportunity to be heroic with the capabilities they've focused on, but don't feel obliged to make Craft (Basket Weaving) the solution to Creation's problems. Everybody gets a say in what sort of things the story/gameplay will involve, nobody is disenfranchised, but the players don't escape conflict or surprise thereby.

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Original Authors: Kasumi and Poisson Resistance (Dragon King section) on RPG.net

[[Category:Exalted]]