CharmRelay/ThemeDiscussion

Discussion of CharmRelay format

I think there's a problem with the CharmRelay setup. Not all Charm cascades require only five Charms. Some cascades may cover the idea with only 3 Charms, others (say, Martial Arts!) go for much longer. How about this proposal: for every theme given, a created Charm may come from any type of essence user (so, all exalts, spirits and ghosts... I think that's all of them?). Each Charm must be clearly labelled with it's native user's type. More than one Charm per type is allowed, and the Charms do not need to build off each other (since they're from different types anyway), though they may if desired (so cascades of Exalt Charms can develop). So long as the Charms reflect the Theme they are legal.

I feel so verbose at times. How does that sound? That gives everyone free reign as to whichever Exalt type they want to write a Charm for, as well as allowing cascades to develop if people are inspired that way. nikink

I will explain to you why this is a bad idea.

The power of the CrunchRelays is that they constrain creativity. This is a good thing. By imposing unnatural structures on things, as I did with the structure of ManseRelay, you make people think. Just having a Charm theme and some mess of Charms isn't enough structure to create actually interesting material, IMO. Cascades are a lot cooler than lone Charms, and the way the tree structure forces you to riff off someone else's work makes this more collavorative and cool. - willows

I'm with willows here... I like the structure as well. Let's just try to get some variety on the Exalt type & ability here, as well as a little less specificity on the themes. Shouldn't be a problem now that everyone's seen these comments, yes? -LiOfOrchid

Agreed. - Quendalon

Ok, so a Theme Constraint isn't seen as a constraining factor, then? Cool. What about altering the game structure such that for every theme, a Charm of each Exalt type must be created, Solar through Terrestrial, then the next round builds upon the first round's Charms, so that each theme gets 25 charms created?

Just offering up ideas, Have Fun... Nikink

Sounds overly ambitious. If you want to continue on a Charm tree or make a spinoff for another type of Exalted, I'd say it should be a seperate side project. The wat I see it, the crunch is a big factory for lots of different ideas, not a workshop for infinitely intricate and limited personal interests. That's what the rest of the Wiki is for. :) Resplendence

So, by that reasoning, does that mean a given theme may not be repeated? So for instance, I couldn't finish a round and choose "Non-Violent Demon dealing Chamrs for Terrestrials"? Have Fun... Nikink

Sure you could. But it would be more interesting to choose some different category of DB Charms. _Ikselam