Editing How to Run:Exalted
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I basically choose one grid from the map ( 6400 square miles! ) and set-up local stuff for each character at the start of the game. Then, I let them choose which direction they want to go. While the players have their characters direct the game itself, my job as a stint is to keep things in perspective. Here are some of the things I try to do for Exalted campaigns: | I basically choose one grid from the map ( 6400 square miles! ) and set-up local stuff for each character at the start of the game. Then, I let them choose which direction they want to go. While the players have their characters direct the game itself, my job as a stint is to keep things in perspective. Here are some of the things I try to do for Exalted campaigns: | ||
− | '''1 | + | '''1. Start Small.''' |
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Stay small as long as you can. Any chance that you have to focus on small instead of big, do it. That war between Lookshy and Nexus that so-and-so has always been wanting to play out? Well, one of the non-player characters has a fourth cousin in Nexus. Ready to break the Guild into quarters? The plan falls out on the day of a Sister's friend's recital. | Stay small as long as you can. Any chance that you have to focus on small instead of big, do it. That war between Lookshy and Nexus that so-and-so has always been wanting to play out? Well, one of the non-player characters has a fourth cousin in Nexus. Ready to break the Guild into quarters? The plan falls out on the day of a Sister's friend's recital. | ||
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Tomorrow, a Scarlet legion will arrive in the player-characters' hide-out village, but right now, little Sipping Water needs help to find his teddy bear. | Tomorrow, a Scarlet legion will arrive in the player-characters' hide-out village, but right now, little Sipping Water needs help to find his teddy bear. | ||
− | ''' | + | '''2. Make A Copy of The Map.''' |
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− | + | This is very important to keep in mind when dealing with sweeping political or geographic campaigns. Not only are the player's characters going to want to rename the cities they conquer, they are going to want to rename the streets. They also will want to build their own city-nations and name them. In this kind of campaign, keeping things straight through notes is important, but so is that drawing of the enemy's battle line. Depending on who your players are and their tastes, it might be prudent to have a way to draw ( and re-draw ) the invisible borders that your players' armies will shape. | |
− | + | Did one of the party characters hear that the enemy was marching? Where were they marching to? What speed? What morale? Do they have materials for fortification? | |
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− | Did one of the | ||
Conversely, one of the characters wants to found a village! Where is this village? What topography is in the region? What resources does the area have? How will the new village effect the neighbor civilizations and the region as a whole? What is the political climate of the village leadership with the nearby major powers? ( Does the Mask of Winters want to stop by for tea? ) | Conversely, one of the characters wants to found a village! Where is this village? What topography is in the region? What resources does the area have? How will the new village effect the neighbor civilizations and the region as a whole? What is the political climate of the village leadership with the nearby major powers? ( Does the Mask of Winters want to stop by for tea? ) | ||
− | '''3. | + | '''3. Casualties Are Not Numbers.''' |
− | + | That bloody revolution that your players just pulled off for the good of the region? A familiar non-player character refused to evacuate. That wound that the circle member suffered? It still hurts, and the locals express their sympathy. The subversives are planning a gorilla attack? Little Sipping Water has gone missing. | |
− | The | + | The long and the short is that everyone knows everyone through someone else. Vast as Creation is, it's really the confined space of one little planet. |
− | + | '''4. Get A Room!''' | |
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The Real Life Table doesn't want to know about a single character's flirtatious escapades ( and inevitable failures ) with the five-gender species the party just encountered. | The Real Life Table doesn't want to know about a single character's flirtatious escapades ( and inevitable failures ) with the five-gender species the party just encountered. | ||
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As a stint, I have a Fade To Black rule. It is admirable that the courtesan decided to protect little Sipping Water during the raid, but this is not an excuse to bog down the entire session with rolls on every possible sound uttered in the building following the characters' learning of her generosity. ( No, it is not a good reason to ask for her address. Or her phone number. You know who you are ). | As a stint, I have a Fade To Black rule. It is admirable that the courtesan decided to protect little Sipping Water during the raid, but this is not an excuse to bog down the entire session with rolls on every possible sound uttered in the building following the characters' learning of her generosity. ( No, it is not a good reason to ask for her address. Or her phone number. You know who you are ). | ||
− | ''' | + | '''5. Alternate Universes Are Good!''' |
− | ''' | + | I can not stress this enough. The source material, diverse as it is, may not suit all the tastes of the players. One of the best ideas for a game that ever crossed my table was, "Can we do a Stargate theme game?" Before it was all over, the players had gone to another dimension, procured technology from the First Age that never fell, and came back to enact their characters' plans of liberation. Their characters had met themselves, talked to themselves, and fought themselves. It was a blast, but keep in mind that each game is different. |
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+ | '''6. Never Use The Same Formula Twice.''' | ||
Ideas are like atoms that when combined in a certain way produce a certain chemical. Changing ideas around is fine, good, and expected, but getting caught in a familiar formula makes a game boring. The players ''and'' the stint will get up and walk away if they are bored. The point is to not be in a rut so I keep random words and names handy on the pad to pull out if it looks like the players are merely grinding. | Ideas are like atoms that when combined in a certain way produce a certain chemical. Changing ideas around is fine, good, and expected, but getting caught in a familiar formula makes a game boring. The players ''and'' the stint will get up and walk away if they are bored. The point is to not be in a rut so I keep random words and names handy on the pad to pull out if it looks like the players are merely grinding. | ||
− | + | '''7. Every Story Ends''' | |
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Remember those clearly defined rules you set-up at the beginning? One of them was the long-term goal of the game. It is the event or ( set of ) condition(s) that passes to announce the successful completion of an Exalted campaign. You did set a clearly defined goal for the end of the game, right? | Remember those clearly defined rules you set-up at the beginning? One of them was the long-term goal of the game. It is the event or ( set of ) condition(s) that passes to announce the successful completion of an Exalted campaign. You did set a clearly defined goal for the end of the game, right? | ||
− | + | '''8. Do Not Over-Stint.''' | |
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The reason man-kind calls it a stint is because it is temporary. No one will care if you are the best storyteller in the world if you are tired of doing it. Let someone else run a campaign. Let them get their feet wet. I tend to have more free fun as a player because being the stint means I have to keep focus with the campaign. | The reason man-kind calls it a stint is because it is temporary. No one will care if you are the best storyteller in the world if you are tired of doing it. Let someone else run a campaign. Let them get their feet wet. I tend to have more free fun as a player because being the stint means I have to keep focus with the campaign. |