Editing Tips for Storytelling Exalted (section)

==So what exactly is a Hero?==

You might find it a little strange to find a discussion of heroism specifically in the GM tips section - after all, aren't the PCs the heroes? Wasn't that what we were trying to drill into your skull with the "just say yes" thing?

Not really - and the root of the problem lies in the fact the word "hero" is bandied about in too many contexts. In Exalted, it doesn't just mean the PCs, it doesn't have any moral implications, and it's definitely not "ordinary person doing something that's difficult for them". In Exalted, to be Heroic is to be mighty - to rise above the squalor and grit of the world and change it with your deeds. It is about doing great things, being larger than life, being above the great masses of humanity. Heroes are epic people.

You're going to need to get very intimately acquainted with them, because you will be dealing with many, many Heroes, far more than those lucky players who deal with one (or a few, if their main character has Heroic retainers). It's easy for them - all they need to do is be bold, sweeping, epic and proactive. You need to create many, many heroes who are interestingly heroic without muscling the PCs out of the picture - these will be the majority of your significant NPCs (after all, significant and Heroic are pretty much syonymous in Exalted). Luckily, that's not too hard in this game, for the very same list of exclusions I listed above. When we say heroes do great things, we mean they're epic and impressive, deeds of might that are exceptional - not that they are necessarily nice, helpful or particularly wise. Exalted's canon is full of intelligent and powerful heroic beings who do amazing things, yet have no hope of saving Creation because they are flawed, deluded, misguided, fixated upon petty matters that they adress in epic fashion, ignorant of vital matters, hopelessly mired in tangental conflict, and entirely decadent and self-interested. They are all heroes, but it is patently obvious why there's immense scope for the PCs taking a hand in the destiny of the setting: the canon NPCs are going to bollocks it up in singularly epic fashion.

They are thus perfect models for NPCs in your game. You should never have the "nailed to their chair" NPC-quest-dispenser problem, because your players will see (or will be able to find out after being legitimately confused about it in or our of character) *why* your heroic NPCs aren't addressing a problem. Lysander, Hammer-of-the-New-Day, Zenith Caste Solar Exalted and peerlessly virtuous rising God-King is undoubtedly heroic and does and excellent job of making himself look perfect, but his overwhelming passion for Mirror of Disharmony, the Moonshadow whom he hates and desires in equal measure, shows the cracks in his armour - if he went anywhere near the interests of her Deathlord, you'd get a gut-wrenching tragedy that would do Shakespeare proud. The PCs can either act decisively and proactively to solve the problem before he makes a torrid mess of it (and as their greatness increases, sooner or later Lysander is carrying *their* banner), or they can decide freely that they don't even like Lysander, and let his spectacular tragedy play out as a counterpoint to their own epic deeds. Or you can have an NPC that is peerlessly victorious, but constantly makes moral judgements with wilful disregard for consequence. The key is to have these interesting and mighty beings (not necessarily more mighty than the PCs, they should span a range, ideally) make unwise choices for what seem like very good reasons to them, or to act in a fashion that is nowhere near objectively good for all, stirring up conflicts and clashes, not solving problems and making the PCs look redundant. It doesn't matter whether they're allies or adversaries (though it's less necessary for allies acting under close PC direction). This is what seperates interesting NPCs who enhance story from pet NPCs who look great at the expense of the PCs and achieve little more than pissing the players off.

Of course, once you've used their heroic flaws to save them from the danger of disenfranchising the PCs, you're free to make them as heroic as you like! 

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Original Author: Kasumi on RPG.net

[[Category:Exalted]]