Latest revision as of 04:23, 9 June 2010

UncleChu and You

You know in Lord of the Rings where they show one of the walled cities and instantly outside of it there's New Zealand wasteland? BULLPOCKEY! Unless those folks are all eating mushrooms and lichens from underground farms, there should be miles and miles of farmland in all directions. The geniuses behind Exalted recognized this simple fact of sustaining civilization, and for some reason I derive great joy from calculating how big a city is and how much organized agriculture is required to sustain it.

Speaking of LotR, in general I dislike "Tolkienesque" fantasy greatly. Any author that decides using elves and trolls is a good idea makes me very, very sad. There are so many new and original ways to do fantasy, why stick to stuff that's been done (usually better) a thousand times. Exalted is fantastic solely because its NEW fantasy. Yes, I know, it has many influences, but its still got its own powerful look and feel and a setting that is quite original indeed.

Otherwise, give me sci-fi and post-apocalyptic games any day of the week.

Hey guys. This community is amazing, and I've already utilized the a number of systems I've found, and outlined for you below. I find that I do a lot of demographics and keeping track of numbers in Exalted (populations, land area, travel times, Demesnes frequency), and a lot of time ends up going into what amounts to accounting, that I'd like to share my rather simple collections of numeric information with the rest of you. And offer my insights into things like language.

In general, I prefer canon mechanics and trying to justify how they reflect the underlying systems of Creation instead of reworking things. Then I read Power Combat, and then instantly thereafter Sol Invictus, and was floored in a great way.

2econd Edition? Well... I'm not sure. Its certainly a pretty book, and although the Charm trees design looks worse than ever, the mechanics are currently something I have no desire to dive into. I enjoy the idea of Social Combat, but not enough to adopt completely new systems. Really, my biggest reason for holding back is simply because I want more detail for all the splats. 1st Eds covered everything, so until 2nd Ed does, I'll probably just use it for tweaks. This same mentality applies to television and anime: I hate watching any series that I know is still going on. I'd rather watch everything in a short amount of time, after it's complete and on DVD, than wait and wait for the next episode to come out. Of course, without my viewer support, series will get cancelled sooner! Damn!

Contributions to the Wiki:

• Spirits
  • Haradur, Air Elemental Forest Fire helpers
  • Niha, Water Elemental A gross one, but quite useful
• d20 Monster Randomizing Index Just a personal reference for when I need a random beastie for inspiring a spirit or creature
• SpiritBuildingGuidelines A seriously autistic numeral project I started
• Taming Demesnes Got this started up with GreenLantern's help.
• DB 1E Charm Summary
• UncleChu/Art
• 2econd Edition Calendar
• UncleChu/Language tells you why Linguistics are fine
  • UncleChu/LanguageDescriptions gives some neat ideas about how the Tongues sound
• UncleChu/Demographics a thorough examination of the numbers of Creation
  • UncleChu/Lookshy
    • UncleChu/SunLions one of the big three mercenary companies in alliance with Lookshy, run by a Celestial Lion
• Added page refs for the canon HearthStones from all the Solar Caste Books, as well as all the Aspect Books. (Eclipse was a bitch, and Water didn't have any)
• Added Demographic Speculations to the Lap, Lookshy, Nexus, and Centak
  
  

• UncleChu/Junked

Wikisystems I Use and Recommend

• CrownedSun's Familiar system to build funtime familiars, putting them on the scale of other Backgrounds
• Shataina's Manse Creation system to determine the built-in functions of a Manse, finally giving them the attention they deserve instead of just being a Hearthstone stat
• Gyro's Resource system to make the currency presented in Manacle & Coin more useable and realistic.
  • This is awful hott though. Hard not to use it. Thanks, Chuckquin!
• GoldenCat's Re-envisioned Lunars system to recreate the Lunars as something more majestic, albeit still similar and quite compatible with the canon fluff.
• I can't decide if I like Madwand's Social Fu or Hapushet's Social Fu better... do I want speed or thoroughness? Madwand may win in the end.
• Wordman's PolarCompass is a very clever way for people to get around in Creation.
• The Yozi Pantheon, based on the Scriptures of the Maidens outlined in Sidereals, is brilliant and comprehensive. I doubt anyone could make a better connection than this, so I'm using it.

Cannon Vs. Canon

for god's sake... exhibit A:Canon: (n) the context of fiction, the canon of a fictional universe comprises those novels, stories, films, etc. that are considered to be genuine, and those events, characters, settings, etc. that are considered to have inarguable existence within the fictional universe. Usually items that are considered canon come from the original source of the fictional universe while non-canon material comes from adaptations or unofficial items. ... exhibit B: Cannon: (n) a large artillery gun that is usually on wheels

UncleChu Commentary

Wecom to the Wiki! Hope you have fun. -- Issaru

I just realized I actually had a comment on my resources system. <.< >.> I'm probably going to be doing further revising very soon, as I'm actually going to be STing a game. I found your addition incredibly helpful for thinking about renting and such-I don't think I addressed that particularly well in my reworking. -- Gyro

Hey, happy to be of service. That kind of math and number-crunching is exactly the sort of thing I love. I'd be happy to help with any reworking or revising of your system. I like your system because it goes smoothly with M&C, which I have paid money for, so I'd prefer to salvage as much as I can from it instead of scrapping it for a new resource system. And you seem to have a similar mentality. Let me know if I can help! --UncleChu

I love your 2econd Edition Calender. Would it be alright if I put up a link to it on the White Wolf Wiki if I directed people to this page? Kukla

Help yourself, Kukla. I'll probably end up double-teaming over at the WWWiki myself in the end, once there's more content there. I've mentioned elsewhere that I like enriching a community, but I'm no trailblazer. But yeah, if you'd like to put up the Valdrax-Chu Calendar for them to use, it'll be great. Inundate those wikiwhippersnappers while they're fresh! I hope my new seasonal names catch on... Fallstorm sounds awesome. --UncleChu

Your 2e Calender has been added at http://wiki.white-wolf.com/exalted/index.php/Uncle_Chu's_Exalted_Calendar . I'll link it in to the Locations category, lacking a better one for the moment. Kukla

In regards to the page at http://exalted.xi.co.nz/wiki/wiki.pl?UncleChu/Lookshy --
I will reinvestigate the numbers from MDME by hand instead of trusting the Qzil script. And maybe I need to warm up the weather a bit as well. –UncleChu
I would very much like to know if the numbers that my script generated were in error. I wrote it to match the parameters of MDME as best I could, and if it is producing bad data, I would like to fix it.
Look forward to hearing back from you, --Frakkle

Just to comment on those LOTR cities: Minas Tirith is like that because it imports all its food from the farms in south gondor using the river traffic, although there also should have been some farms shown inside the Pelennor wall. In the case of Helm's Deep, it's only occupied in wartime and normally has only a tiny nominal garrison. --JohnBiles

LOTR is not a new story in the least bit. When it was written, elves, trolls, dwarves and goblins were not common place. If the trilogy was written now, I would say, "Oh look, more elves, woo hoo." Your comment of, "There are so many new and original ways to do fantasy, why stick to stuff that's been done (usually better) a thousand times.." doesn't really apply. As when it was written it was new and original. And any rpg or table top games based on LOTR are not going to change what species of being existed, otherwise it wouldn't be based off of LOTR anymore. Madoka

I believe his comment was more of a "If you want something LOTResque, why aren't you playing LOTR? It didn't strike me as a dislike of Tolkien, only of the (approximately) eleventy-billion spinoffs, most of which manage to ape only a hollow shell of the original story. - FrivYeti

Indeed, FrivYeti hit the nail on the head. I fully recognize Tolkien's world was a brand new one, Madoka. Had I the chance to view it first, I'd probably be a lot more enthralled with it. However, it became the 'default' fantasy setting, and as Friv points out, has been bootlegged to the point of eye-rolling cliche. Thus I was forced to grow up with billions of the same fantasy books, driving me with much force into science fiction. I think the mathematical and clearly-defined source of magic in Exalted appeals to that sci-fi fan in me.

If I were forced to play a Tolkienesque game, I'd definitely dig it best in the Warcraft setting, because they at least came up with a neat background and more importantly, some powerful stylistic alterations. But I don't want to play such a game, and until I find the perfect post-apocalyptic game, Exalted is one of the finest settings there is! You gots to agree with me on that one, Mads! --UncleChu

I have a copy of your calendar. I'll email it to you.
--DarkWolff

You are teh Great! Thanks! --UncleChu

I want a copy too! It's such a great piece of work. Let me know when you've got it - my email address is rehughes NOT AT mit NOWHERE NEAR A DOT edu . --Kukla

You, sir, have just made me a very happy person. Your demographics have just solved the problem of Scavenger Lands for me! Especially the stats for Lookshy are extremely useful, what with my current Exalted project being centered around Lookshy and its politics. Brilliant work!
- Kahavi 21:44 Feb 12 2008