Telgar/HighPulpExalted

High Pulp Exalted

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A setting that brings the pulp back into Exalted. While Exalted has the setting elements to be a really high-fantasy, insanely weird and pulpy setting, they generally aren't used. Flying islands, air-borne whales, dinosaurs, dancing girls, airships and magical six-shooters are all present in Exalted, but not really emphasized. The goal of this setting is to bring into Creation some of the cool, high-fantasy elements of E:tFF and re-emphasize some of the elements already present like dinosaurs and dancing girls.

Dinosaurs

By "dinosaurs" I also mean "all manner of strange creatures". I include real dinosaurs, fantasy dinosaurs, dragons of the non-diety persuasion, unicorns and such things. But mostly dinosaurs. Exalted has in its flora and fauna ever creature to ever have lived on the surface of Earth and legend. Why not make them common? Why aren't wagons drawn by triceratops instead of horses? Wouldn't the triceratops be cooler? YES!

Included in "dinosaurs" are the Dragon Kings. No more will the Dragon-Kings be feral stalkers and pointless oddities. Rather they will be a thriving, if somewhat isolated, culture that interacts with humanity. Clearly no longer in charge of the world but still a viable presence. All four breeds of Dragon King will be doing well, have stable populations and be present in all five directions. Yes, even on the Isle you can see a giant lizard-man trying to get the best price for cheese at market.

Things that Fly

Exalted needs more flying. More flying kung-fu, more air ships, more flying islands. When things fly they are made cooler. It's a fact. We need more then just the primitive Haslanti airships, we need Escaflowne airships powered by flying rocks and we need Weatherlight from MTG. Airships should be just as common a means of conveyance as caravans and camels.

Flying islands, continents, whales, etc. People should live in the sky. It's fun, its fantastic, it's pulpy. It just helps.

Metal and Wheels

While Exalted has "firewands", I think that six-shooters and matchlocks are just as much fun as hand-held flamethrowers. Now obviously they aren't quite as common as swords because they're going to be a bit more expensive, but they should still be fairly well known and used all over Creation. Magical six-shooters such as in Outlaw Star are cool and in no way conflict with the themes of Exalted.

Similar to six-shooters and matchlocks, I enjoy steampunk and technology similar in level to MTG and with a very Fullmetal Alchemist feel. I'd like clockwork men walking the streets and giant metal spiders destroying Gem when Mothra and Godzilla are on break. Wild, Wild West, MTG (especially the novels "The Thran", "Planeswalker" and "The Brothers' War"), Fullmetal, Escaflowne, the Secret of NIHM, Land of the Lost, Gummy Bears and Stargate all offer great sources for magical technology of appropriate levels. Autochtonians is too Borg for my tastes.

Campaign Ideas

I hope to run a High Pulp Exalted game along the following lines.

The characters would be natives of Brume, a nation which claims several flying islands located in a scattered circle orbiting the Blessed Isle. They rotate around the Inner Sea, making them a popular trading facility because of their mobility and access to almost all the Threshold and the Realm.

When one of the islands of Brume is destroyed, pulled from the sky and sent crashing into the ocean, the characters become concerned. A group of death-worshipping sorcerers claims responsibility and threatens to use the rest of Brume's flying islands as monsterous weapons of destruction against the Realm and Threshold alike if their demands are not met. They wish for nothing less then the Throne of the Empress.

The characters, having known eachother prior to the beginning of the chronicle, decide to do something about this. And thus the adventures start.

All characters would be either Brume natives or otherwise closely connected to the flying islands. They must all know eachother. Solars or DBs are the only allowable PC types, though a Dragon-King might be permissable with a really, really good story.

Character generation would be standard. No extra freebies. DB characters would use Realm background numbers, but have Solar-type Manse and social backgrounds. Everyone uses Abyssal Artifact. Familiar is undergoing consideration, ask before taking it.

Comments

Well said. That's exactly what I feel about Exalted, and something I hope to emphasise in my game too. I congratulate you on expressing something I couldn't find the words for.

- Trithne

I just want to say that I really like this and feel that this is exactly what Exalted needs, if not in official Exalted than as fan workings. And I'm not just saying that. -Heru

I think I have to keep these things in mind while I work on Enlightened. More flying and dinosaurs. - FrivYeti