Just Another Gaming Post
But first, just another reason to love the Mythbusters.
We assimilated a couple coworkers for Wednesday night's roleplaying game. Both newbies - one totally and one with very old/limited experience. The game went pretty well and was laugh-out-loud funny at multiple points, though the "grumpy old gamer" in me finds new players something of a burden.
One opted paladin-ish. He was pretty reserved, understandably, and fixated on generic civilian-giving-information NPCs as possible threats (actually, they both did to an extent). The other went with biiig, dumb, half-orc fighter-type (after having to be talked down from wanting to play a half-ogre vampire - which wouldn't really fit in the setting). He provided much entertainment by getting into a non-lethal (though he couldn't really help the snapping bones here and there) fight outside a bar in which he casually brutalized something like nine guys who took offense to him.
They'll probably be back, and that's okay. I kinda miss the smaller, more-experienced group dynamics, though.
So most of the dust has settled from the fight with the First and Forsaken Lion. We picked up in the wake of the battle, so I'm still unclear on how the actual end of the battle played out and whether there's any reason to believe he was killed in a final sense. I suppose we could theorize that if the shadowlands in Autochthon don't connect to the Underworld (which was established in OOC discussion even though it seems to go against my understood definition of what a "shadowland" is in the game), then the Neverborn may not be able to collect him to give him a new body.
We were missing a player for the night. That's unfortunate. I know real life family issues always must and should come first, but I'm wondering more and more if the disconnect I feel with our swordswoman Twilight character stems from the player being late/absent fairly often. It's hard for bonds between characters to grow when some of them are stuffed into the big bag of non-interactivity-but-still-there. Already the dynamic between Alexandra and Selina doesn't seem to lend itself to being casual pals anyway.
So... Three dead, undead armies broken. The Circle returned to Autochthon to report. He was pleased and asked for further assistance. He also caught the souls and shards of the fallen trio, explaining that he had prepared for possible deaths and would place the souls into alchemical bodies. So Kashim, Naga, and Tamara get to continue existence as alchemical exalts, more or less. The shards of their exaltations were turned over (presumably to be delivered to Lytek, though I didn't see that explained in the game), but they could not be infused into their current forms. Tamara seems fine with it. Naga's complaining and "wanting to go home." Kashim actually isn't awake yet, but probably won't be altogether thrilled. Still, it beats being dead.
And I, as a player, have some odd feelings about it. On the one hand, "yay, friends aren't truly dead and we can avoid angst." On the other hand, cheating death in a game cheapens it. And Exalted is actually one of the more death-is-final-type games in that you can bring someone back from the brink, but actual resurrection is one of the very few things completely impossible in the rules (the other, if I recall, being time travel - though stasis/altered time flows are possible). So it's in the realm of GM fiat only, and this is one of the few plausible ways a GM could even swing it. Already characters have a limited degree of immortality in that their shards go on to exalt other people with (some) memories of previous lives. So ultimately, I'm not sure if I consider this a good thing or a bad thing. I guess I just have to file it as a "thing" and continue on.
More Star Wars thoughts and considerations. Feedback seems to indicate having multiple Jedi isn't really an issue. KotOR era seems fine. I didn't get much feel for what people think is a good number of PCs for a group, though. What are the preferred methods for generating (roll? point-buy?) stats? And I'm still wondering how much story is desired versus an ability to roam free of it.
And I think I want to divorce any game I may run a little more from my stories. Oh, they can run in parallel and may intersect at points, but I don't think I want to set the PCs up against the Sentinels as their primary opposition. There's too much risk that way of story characters stealing the limelight form the PCs or vice versa. And I'm rolling around ideas in my head (and text files) of an alternative enemy.
Hmm. I'm not sure what else to say or ask at this point, though.
Edit: Ahhh yes. The Destiny mechanics. I look for thoughts and recommendations there. On the one hand, they seem kinda cool. On the other hand, if you start with a destiny, that puts a theoretical load on the GM to fit it into the campaign. I'm not sure if it's worth the effort, or if it should be done secretly (where the GM chooses the desinties) or what...
We assimilated a couple coworkers for Wednesday night's roleplaying game. Both newbies - one totally and one with very old/limited experience. The game went pretty well and was laugh-out-loud funny at multiple points, though the "grumpy old gamer" in me finds new players something of a burden.
One opted paladin-ish. He was pretty reserved, understandably, and fixated on generic civilian-giving-information NPCs as possible threats (actually, they both did to an extent). The other went with biiig, dumb, half-orc fighter-type (after having to be talked down from wanting to play a half-ogre vampire - which wouldn't really fit in the setting). He provided much entertainment by getting into a non-lethal (though he couldn't really help the snapping bones here and there) fight outside a bar in which he casually brutalized something like nine guys who took offense to him.
They'll probably be back, and that's okay. I kinda miss the smaller, more-experienced group dynamics, though.
So most of the dust has settled from the fight with the First and Forsaken Lion. We picked up in the wake of the battle, so I'm still unclear on how the actual end of the battle played out and whether there's any reason to believe he was killed in a final sense. I suppose we could theorize that if the shadowlands in Autochthon don't connect to the Underworld (which was established in OOC discussion even though it seems to go against my understood definition of what a "shadowland" is in the game), then the Neverborn may not be able to collect him to give him a new body.
We were missing a player for the night. That's unfortunate. I know real life family issues always must and should come first, but I'm wondering more and more if the disconnect I feel with our swordswoman Twilight character stems from the player being late/absent fairly often. It's hard for bonds between characters to grow when some of them are stuffed into the big bag of non-interactivity-but-still-there. Already the dynamic between Alexandra and Selina doesn't seem to lend itself to being casual pals anyway.
So... Three dead, undead armies broken. The Circle returned to Autochthon to report. He was pleased and asked for further assistance. He also caught the souls and shards of the fallen trio, explaining that he had prepared for possible deaths and would place the souls into alchemical bodies. So Kashim, Naga, and Tamara get to continue existence as alchemical exalts, more or less. The shards of their exaltations were turned over (presumably to be delivered to Lytek, though I didn't see that explained in the game), but they could not be infused into their current forms. Tamara seems fine with it. Naga's complaining and "wanting to go home." Kashim actually isn't awake yet, but probably won't be altogether thrilled. Still, it beats being dead.
And I, as a player, have some odd feelings about it. On the one hand, "yay, friends aren't truly dead and we can avoid angst." On the other hand, cheating death in a game cheapens it. And Exalted is actually one of the more death-is-final-type games in that you can bring someone back from the brink, but actual resurrection is one of the very few things completely impossible in the rules (the other, if I recall, being time travel - though stasis/altered time flows are possible). So it's in the realm of GM fiat only, and this is one of the few plausible ways a GM could even swing it. Already characters have a limited degree of immortality in that their shards go on to exalt other people with (some) memories of previous lives. So ultimately, I'm not sure if I consider this a good thing or a bad thing. I guess I just have to file it as a "thing" and continue on.
More Star Wars thoughts and considerations. Feedback seems to indicate having multiple Jedi isn't really an issue. KotOR era seems fine. I didn't get much feel for what people think is a good number of PCs for a group, though. What are the preferred methods for generating (roll? point-buy?) stats? And I'm still wondering how much story is desired versus an ability to roam free of it.
And I think I want to divorce any game I may run a little more from my stories. Oh, they can run in parallel and may intersect at points, but I don't think I want to set the PCs up against the Sentinels as their primary opposition. There's too much risk that way of story characters stealing the limelight form the PCs or vice versa. And I'm rolling around ideas in my head (and text files) of an alternative enemy.
Hmm. I'm not sure what else to say or ask at this point, though.
Edit: Ahhh yes. The Destiny mechanics. I look for thoughts and recommendations there. On the one hand, they seem kinda cool. On the other hand, if you start with a destiny, that puts a theoretical load on the GM to fit it into the campaign. I'm not sure if it's worth the effort, or if it should be done secretly (where the GM chooses the desinties) or what...
Well, the Exalted thing was actually a little different than I intended. I had that loophole for if someone died, and when Kashim bit it, I thought 'good, we can see how he takes this, and that would be interesting'. I didn't expect Naga AND Tamara to bite it as well. But in the end, we get to see how they each react to this. Also, though -- this isn't resurrection. The PCs did die, this is, in essence a 'next incarnation but not quite'. It is a suspension of going into their next life. They're very much a 'ghost in the machine' sort of thing, which is kind of cool, if a bit creepy. Anyway. This is easily in Autochthon's power. But it does make things interesting for the game, which is ultimately for the good.
ReplyDeleteThree or four players is, I think, best. I looked at the Destiny Mechanics, and I think I actually used them for Deveron, I forget.
ReplyDeleteWell, as I said: and this is one of the few plausible ways a GM could even swing it. I can never known for sure that you had Autochthon plan this in advance, save that you say so. ;) But it's not unbelievable that he would and it's a way that could, theoretically, work. They fell in battle, but they're not dead and gone. And yeah, what they are now could be described as creepy. In a sense, they are deathlords of Autochthon - they are ghosts of exalts given a new body and powers by a Primodial. Though no one really understands the parallel ICly (as I think Kujath is still the only person who was told death lords are solar ghosts anyway), it's still unsettling. I'm also a little unclear on how the hun/higher and po/lesser souls fit into something like this. The hun tends to involve the individual's personality and can become a ghost after death - so at least that was stuffed in the new bodies. The po is the more primal side, sometimes becoming a hungry ghost. It's unclear whether those three still have a po and what difference it makes if they don't.
ReplyDeleteI believe you had picked out something regarding restoration of lost Jedi knowledge. But I'm still looking for more feedback on the pros and cons and how worthwhile you think such things are.
ReplyDelete