ExaltedThaumaturgicalCinema3000/SlipperyWhenWet

Slippery When Whet

Xeriar: So here is the original recruitment message on the OpenRPG game / player ad forums:

• The 7th Majestic I am looking to run an Exalted game on the weekend (Saturday/Sunday). I'd like to have 3-5 players. Exalted type to be determined by player consensus. If interested, please email me (removed)

Sophia: Suspiciously vague, but hey, what is Xeriar if not desperate?
Xeriar: Enough, you. Anyway, I e-mail him and he sends a well enough message back.
Sophia: No note of an Instant Messenger, however.
Xeriar: Silly me, I figure he's just a private person and assume otherwise.
Sophia: Xeriar has gotten into worse places by assuming the best of people.
Xeriar: I'm hard pressed to remember. Anyway, his next post...

• The 7th Majestic Yes, I'm using Exalted 1.0 rules. The new rules won't be out until March. I'm going for a one-type game given the rules sets that I do have (DB, Solars, and Abyssals) are the ones who are rather opposed to each other. I fear a mixed bag would end up being violently short.

Sophia: Obviously thinks very highly of the ability of his potential player base to get along!
Xeriar: Indeed. I note the lack of books but don't pay it much mind. Everyone's gotta start somewhere, you know.
Sophia: Xeriar gives people waaay too much credit.
Xeriar: So now let's begin with a few choice points from the forums.

• kalliger So is this game going to be in 3e or 3.5e?

Sophia: You just have to love it when someone not only assumes that WotC is the only company out there, not only assumes that D&D is the only RPG out there, but even, on top of that, that there are only two versions of D&D that someone would want to play.
Xeriar: That's excessive, Sophia.
Sophia: I learned from the best.

• Xeriar Nice to see you here Goddessgood :-)
• GoddessGood NOOOO! ... Must ... escape ...

Xeriar: HEY! How'd that get in there!?
Sophia: As we can see, Xeriar's motives are already established in his very first post. Unfortunately, she did not escape.
Xeriar: I made you! I can destroy you! I can DestroyEverything!
Sophia: Again with the shameless plug...

• Xeriar Also, do you have an instant messenger? Games are easier if we can bug eachother in real time.
• The 7th Majestic No, I don't have an IM service.

Sophia: When Xeriar says "Games are easier if we can bug eachother in real time.", he means: "Campaigns in OpenRPG require the use of instant messengers. They make everything more better and more possible. Use them. Love them. Sleep with them."
Xeriar: Err, yeah, this is the first major red flag. A lot of really, really computer illiterate people use AIM, YIM, MSN, and ICQ. These things do not take a great deal of technical acumen to use. No one capable of using OpenRPG cannot use an IM.
Sophia: That leaves problems of a more ... social nature.
Xeriar: Regardless, the real reason for this section follows:

• The 7th Majestic One of the players has mentioned that it seems many of this Circle's members are gearing up as combat monsters. Let me remind everyone this is NOT a combat-heavy game. There is going to be need for skills outside of combat that are sorely lacking in many of the members. I'm not mandating any changes to any characters, just providing a heads-up.

Sophia: So, I'm not sure which of our passengers this was, but... of theExaltedThaumaturgicalCinema3000/PassengerList, before equipment is taken into account, everyone's attack and defensive ratings come in at 8 or 9 dice.
Xeriar: If anything, obscene base pools were heartily avoided.
Sophia: One of the Nights did end up taking the entire Violet Bier of Sorrows style.
Xeriar: Given this, however, it should be noted that Majestic is not thinking too deeply in terms of Charms at this point. Here is Majestic's next post:

• The 7th Majestic There's also the knowledge abilities that seem a bit lacking, specifically: Who is the team medic? I don't think anyone has taken any of the Medicine Charms except for maybe the most basic. This adds up to a group that will need some long recovery times if something goes sour.
• ETA: Correction -- NOBODY has ANY Medicine Charms OR ability. The only prospective character is the MA wank-off Jack William. He's got Medicine 3 and no Medicine Charms. Just 2 Athletics Charms, 1 Dodge Charm and 8, count 'em, 8 MA Charms.

Sophia: Team medic, in Exalted? Let me guess, the Circle's first adventure is going to begin in a tavern, where they get gathered by some mysterious individual. Who tells them to seek out a dungeon, in which they will find a deadly, fire-breathing dragon. After a valiant battle, they will kill it and take its stuff.
Xeriar: If, as a ST, you find yourself yelling at your Solars for not taking anything past the first Medicine Charm, you really need to read them again.
Sophia: Probably end up finding some dragon eggs, too, because, y'know, everyone knows the elemental dragons reproduce by laying eggs just like everyone else.
Xeriar: Anyway, that wraps up the 'Warning Signs' part of this series.
Sophia: Read, he made a bet with the girl, about how the game might turn out. He won.
Xeriar: Apologies for the brevity, but I decided to move the character roster out of this and into something better organized.
Sophia: A rare feat, for him.