XerExaltedLite/FirstRun

First Run

Figured I am well past overdue in recounting this here, since it happened months ago. Due to real-life situations and such I ended up calling things drastically short, but there were a few combats in addition to the mock ones and I still learned a lot. What follows are my general observations, what went right and wrong.

Pros

• Cutting out most of the die pool mods is a serious boon to the players. There's a lot to be said for just letting them make their normal rolls most of the time. This is especially true for multiple actions.
• The squad rules seem to work well. Haven't had a good chance to work the mob rules or companies, unfortunately.
• The new wounds and damage system works nicely. Combat with non-extras goes a lot faster.
• The less to grasp, the better new players get a handle on things, and are generally more confident of their starting ability set when there is less math for minmaxing to hide in.

Cons

• Talents are confusing to new players. I suppose this can be lived with, but they aren't properly done. There are still too many Charms, and, from Geoff's own advice "Anything everyone has to buy..."
• So many of my own rules are different from the book it's... problematic. Players easily get confused referencing between these rules and the official ones.
• While removing rolling for damage speeds things up drastically, it also takes away a bit of the feel. A greatsword does not nick unless you are wearing armor in this system. However, this is balanced a good deal by the general impression that typical hits are nicks.
• Rolling once for init in Exalted was a silly mistake.
• I should have killed bonus points from the get go.

Thoughts

• Merge some of the Talents into the core Exalted nature. Make some of them part of the Caste abilities, perhaps, and make some of the Caste abilities more powerful. More importantly, make them more original depending on the type of Exalted.
• Kill a few more Charms, and make some others more generic and powerful.
• Thus, Charms should be fewer, and more expensive.
• Streamline some of the rules so the independant books don't confuse the players so much. At the very least, a new player should only have to look through one book to start (Typically either the Core Book or the Dragon-Blooded book for important setting information).