JungleBook/Preplan2

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JungleBook log 2 (pregame)

This is the pregame planning session with all three players. BigPat learns about Exalted and we indulge in some more-or-less amusing banter.

Session Start (gryphon.magicstar.net:#StayAtHomeMoms): Thu May 05 14:39:18 2005

  • Captain (~trillian@Magicstar-2037.arlngt01.va.comcast.net) has joined channel #StayAtHomeMoms
  • Captain is ~trillian@Magicstar-2037.arlngt01.va.comcast.net (Trillian)
  • on irc via server gryphon.magicstar.net (The Gryphon's Lair)
  • Captain has been idle 46 seconds, signed on at Thu May 05 14:48:03 2005

<Ikselam> Pat?

<Captain> yo

<Ikselam> He said "yo" and then vanished.

<dissolvegirl> You're such a liar, Roger.

<dissolvegirl> You said pat was here.

<dissolvegirl> I'm a nice girl.

<dissolvegirl> Why would you lie to me?

<Ikselam> * Captain is ~trillian@Magicstar-2037.arlngt01.va.comcast.net (Trillian)

<Ikselam> * on channels: #StayAtHomeMoms

<Ikselam> * on irc via server gryphon.magicstar.net (The Gryphon's Lair)

<Ikselam> * Captain has been idle 46 seconds, signed on at Thu May 05 14:48:03 2005

<Ikselam> <Ikselam> Pat?

<Ikselam> <Captain> yo

<Ikselam> * Captain has left #StayAtHomeMoms

<dissolvegirl> You're totally making that up.

<Ikselam> This was literally 5 seconds after I said he was here.

<Ikselam> Yeah, I totally type that fast.

<Ikselam> You are just being a SARCASTIC MEANIE.

<dissolvegirl> NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

<dissolvegirl> Anyway, let's talk about me.

<dissolvegirl> ;)

<Ikselam> You know I spent like half an hour trying to figure out who on the WWforum had said you were mean?

<dissolvegirl> LOL

<BigPat> Alright, I'm back

<dissolvegirl> I am followed from Infernal thread to Infernal thread being told I'm a bad person for trying to help people understand why they are retarded.

<dissolvegirl> Nice to meet you, Pat!

<Ikselam> You -were- being kind of gloatful about it.

<BigPat> Likewise

<Ikselam> But that's -good-. In order to survive in online hobby forums, you must be a killer. A predator!

<Ikselam> King of the jungle!

<dissolvegirl> Heh.

<Ikselam> Or queen, in your case.

<dissolvegirl> Can I be sultana?

<dissolvegirl> That implies flowy silk pants and pointy semitars.

<BigPat> This is real. This is important. This is the Internet.

<Ikselam> Don't let little things like "reason" and "sense" intrude upon your arguments.

<Ikselam> It just makes you seem weak.

<Ikselam> Now we are just waiting for Peter, whom I know will be here because he emailed me like 30 minutes ago asking if we were still using this channel.

<Ikselam> So, Pat. Do you know anything at all about Exalted?

<dissolvegirl> Are you lying again, Roger?

<Ikselam> You know me; I'm just a paragon of dissimulation.

<BigPat> I have a very limited knowledge about it, and lack many specifics.

<Ikselam> So you've never actually, say... read any of the books.

<BigPat> I've only paged through the main book, although I'm going to reread it in depth once I get done all these term papers

<Ikselam> Okay.

<BigPat> Which should happen at some point next week. Either that or a nervous breakdown inspired shooting spree culminating in my inevitable death at the hands of a SWAT sniper.

<Ikselam> "Learn by doing" will probably work out fairly well, since none of my current plans involve heavy reliance on printed setting info.

<Ikselam> Beyond, "The West is full of water. There are islands and stuff."

<BigPat> That's usually how I get into games anyway

<Ikselam> "There are many pirates, but since Elizabeth does not like pirates, any who do appear will be extras who barely have time to say 'arr!' before dying."

<dissolvegirl> Killing pirates is good.

<BigPat> dammit, I like pirates and all things piratey

<Ikselam> I was thinking, do you want to integrate your hatred of pirates into your character?

<dissolvegirl> Hm. Perhaps.

<Ikselam> Like, she was captured by pirates, who were the villains who threw her overboard chained to a treasure chest?

<dissolvegirl> Pat, I enjoy pirates, but not in RPGs.. I had a couple traumatic experiences the summer of "Pirates of the Carribean."

<Ikselam> Captured by Pat's scurvy pirate crew, even.

<dissolvegirl> That definitely works, Roger.

<dissolvegirl> Heh.

<Ikselam> Before the curse they thought to avoid by sending you to Davey Jones' locker descended upon them!

<BigPat> lousy curses, why do they always seem to decend on murderous corsairs?

<BigPat> Although that does explain why they chucked her in the drink attached to a treasure chest, rather than just a big rock or something

<Ikselam> So anyway, the main things about the setting you need to be conscious of are that

<dissolvegirl> Howdy, Peter.

<Ikselam> 1) it's like a kung-fu movie where goofy stuff happens but people generally take it seriously.

<Domino> Whoops, look who's the rotten egg.

<BigPat> Got it

<Ikselam> 2) if you tip over a rock, chances are that four or five gods will scurry out.

<Ikselam> My best capsule descriptions are "The Illiad as directed by John Woo" and "the Old Testament as a Final Fantasy game."

<BigPat> lots of gods, varyingly consequential, got it

<Ikselam> If you think of Exalted as Final Fantasy without as much magitek, that;s pretty accurate.

<Ikselam> The world is currently ruled by Dragon Blooded, who are not actually descended from dragons in any literal sense.

<BigPat> How common are angsty badasses searching the world for themselves?

<Domino> 1/ 10 of the population, give or take.

<Ikselam> DBs are instead the Exalted of the Five Elemental Dragons, major gods whom no one ever sees, really.

<Ikselam> They are people who have super, semi-hereditary kung-fu abliities and the power to control the elements.

<Ikselam> Most of them come from the Scarlet Dynasty, which exists on the Blessed Isle at the center of the (flat, rectangular) world and resembles the Roman Empire painted over to look like Dynastic China.

<Ikselam> The mighty Scarlet Empress, who ruled for many centuries with an iron fist and her arsenal of magical superweapons, has recently disappeared without explanation.

<Ikselam> This has caused varying degrees of chaos and consternation around the world.

<Domino> Man, Pat, too bad you missed the free Exalted download.

<Ikselam> He apparently has access to a book.

<BigPat> Me too. Free = better

<Domino> Indeed. Free > Cost.

<BigPat> I ordered it about a week ago, it ought to be here before too much longer.

<Ikselam> Anyway, other major thing is that, like any decent fantasy world, Exalted's "Creation" is filled with ruins of a past civilization which flourished during the "First Age."

<Ikselam> The First Age was a time when the world was ruled by devilish Anathema, villains who stole power from the moon, sun, and other celestial objects.

<Ikselam> Eventually, the heroic Terrestrial Exalted rose up and slew them!

<BigPat> those bastards

<BigPat> Our heros!

<Ikselam> This is what the Immaculate Order, state religion of the Dragon-Blooded Realm, has to say about the past.

<BigPat> Sounds appropriately self-promoting

<Domino> Which magically explains all those magitechnological wonders that scavengers uncover.

<Domino> "Yes... uh... that's an EVIL magic icebox!"

<Ikselam> Actually, the Anathema were Celestial Exalted of varying degrees of heroism, empowered by the gods of the sun, moon, and planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn).

<Ikselam> They are also significantly more powerful than the Dragon-Blooded, though about 100x as rare.

<BigPat> So the terristrials rolled them and then rewrote history

<Ikselam> Yeah, there's more too it, but that's basically it.

<BigPat> I'm working off old memories of the last time I talked to anyone about the game, but isn't there something about the vengeful spirits of the dead celestials become deathknights or something?

<Ikselam> The PCs in this game will be Solar Exalted, their heroic souls finally risen from their jade prison beneath the earth to walk the earth and bring righteousness in the name of the Unconquered Sun!

<Ikselam> Deathknights (Abyssal Exalted) are something brand new, which are like yet unlike the devilish Anathema of old.

<BigPat> gotcha

<dissolvegirl> See, traditionally, Solars did not wear leather pants or eyeliner.

<Ikselam> They serve the eeeeeevil Deathlords, super-powerful ghosts who live in places called Shadowlands, where the Underworld overlaps with the land of the living.

<Ikselam> Other types of Anathema include feral shapeshifting Lunar Exalted, and mysterious Sidereal Exalted who have not been seen on earth for many centuries.

<Ikselam> The world is divided into five basic sections, each themed after an element.

<Ikselam> The East is Wood, and it's all forests and stuff.

<Ikselam> Tacked onto the East is a place called the Scavenger Lands or the River Province, which is where a lot of First Age ruins are.

<Ikselam> It is more plains-y.

<Ikselam> The North is the direction of Air, and it is all arctic and stuff.

<Ikselam> The South is fiery and desert-y.

<Domino> (It's also more fertile, which is why there's simply more people and stuff in the East.)

<Ikselam> The Center is earthy and not-much-going-on-here-except-the-decadent-and-corrupt-Scarlet-Dynasy-y.

<Ikselam> The West, where we are, is watery and islandy.

<BigPat> So how do they form Captain Planet exactly?

<Ikselam> We're in the subtropical Southwest.

<Domino> Kind of Earthsea, but more tropical.

<Domino> Thanks, by the way, for making it so I didn't have to make that joke.

<BigPat> any time, man

<Ikselam> Did someone make up Captain Planet Charms for Dragon Blooded one time, or am I lying again?

<Domino> Not sure.

<BigPat> So we're in a Carribean/Mediterranean environment, then

<Domino> But no pirates. Elizabeth fears pirates.

<BigPat> I've already expressed my lamentation over that

<dissolvegirl> Pirates wouldn't be so bad.

<Domino> Ah, behind the times again. Go me!

<dissolvegirl> As long as there isn't, like, some huge plot line which involves covert trade wars and 3 years on a ship.

<Ikselam> Whether or not pirate characters are in the game, piracy is not currently a major part of my plans for the game.

<BigPat> I was thinking more burning of coastal villages and spontaneous musical numbers

<Domino> But covert trade wars are the stuff legends are made of!

<dissolvegirl> See, I have no problems with musical numbers.

<Ikselam> Which is currently more like, "Hop from island to island, discovering interesting things."

<BigPat> thrill at the actuarial returns! Tremble at market explotations!

<Domino> Singing in the Rainforest!

<dissolvegirl> It IS like the Jungle Book.

  • Domino has the bare necessities.

<BigPat> just the simple bare necessities?

<Domino> That's all I need.

<Ikselam> Any burning questions before I crack the whip and we start fleshing out characters?

<dissolvegirl> Yes.

<dissolvegirl> When did you get a whip?

<BigPat> i was kind of wondering where my pants are, but I figured this wasn't an appropriate time to ask, honestly

<Domino> And why are so many people asking silly questions?

<Ikselam> Okay.

<Ikselam> Peter is a bare-chested jungle guy!

<Domino> Cap'n Loincloth!

<Domino> Love the Loincloth!

<Ikselam> Elizabeth is a tale-telling marooned person!

<Ikselam> Pat is...

<Ikselam> pirate?

<Ikselam> ninja?

<Ikselam> ninja pirate?

<BigPat> heresy!

<Domino> Monkey?

<Domino> Robot!

<Ikselam> No robots in -this- game.

<Ikselam> Or dinosaurs.

<BigPat> there does my next two ideas

<Ikselam> Well, no dinosaur PCs, anyway.

<BigPat> *goes


...


<BigPat> I'm always up for a pirate

<BigPat> Subject to modification once I learn a little more about the game

<Ikselam> Okay, if you're a pirate you are probably a shipwreck survivor, too.

<BigPat> I lose more ships that way

<BigPat> Lousy kraken, that's the third one this month

<Ikselam> And Elizabeth's character will probably hate you, which could be fun as long as we all keep in mind the no-pvp rules.

<Domino> Ba-dum, ching!

<Ikselam> So, throw some ideas at me.

<Domino> Is your plan still to start in media res with the trial going?

<Ikselam> What makes your characters nifty and special, and what will make them want to stick together through various crazy adventures?

<Ikselam> I'm not sure you'll get put on trial right away, but if not, it'll happen pretty soon.

<Ikselam> Like, in the first session.

<BigPat> Well from the little we've mentioned thus far, it sounds like Elizabeth was on my ship for at least a little while before, for whatever reasons, she got deep-sixed

<Domino> Well, I grew up on an island of animal spirits and was raised to enjoy the freeing sort of life on an island far from boring mortal people... wait, I'm bad at this speed dating thing, aren't I?

<dissolvegirl> Heh.

<Ikselam> At some point, Chief Magistrate Kaa will come slithering around and tell you that if you can't clear yourself of the murder of Shere Khan, he'll swallow you whole and slowly digest you in the name of justice.

<dissolvegirl> Ummm.. I'm good at smashing things.

<Ikselam> I feel that it would be pretty awesome if all of you took Brawl as your primary combat ability.

<BigPat> I'm disturbed by the lack of appeal process in this judicial system

<Ikselam> But that's just me.

<Domino> I'm just wondering if I know these two malcontents for a while before the trial starts, or if they show up and then BANG ape-man need civilized persons' help!

<Domino> Sure.

<dissolvegirl> I feel you have a pretty wacked-out definition of awesome.

<Domino> Punch!

<Ikselam> Smash good!

<Domino> Chop-chop Master Onion!

<dissolvegirl> How about if I promise not to take MA?

<Ikselam> I might allow you to take the custom Brawl Charms I made up.

<Ikselam> But a promise to avoid Martial Arts is just as good.

<dissolvegirl> ...Wait, I'm a dawn. Okay, chances are I'm taking Brawl.

<dissolvegirl> But MA = no.

<Ikselam> I'd prefer we avoid it, yes.

<Domino> But... but... Citrine Poxes!

<BigPat> I can dig Brawl, I generally dislike martial arts on principle anyway

<Ikselam> Watch that Jigsaw Organ Condition.

<Domino> Thanks.

<Ikselam> Martial Arts is kind of a pain in Exalted.

<BigPat> can't we have a single conversation where someone doesn't vomit up an organ?

<Domino> What are you, some kind of conservative?

<Ikselam> It started out cool, but its coolness took on a malignant life of its own that threatens to throttle the life from every other type of Charm (i.e., magical power).

<dissolvegirl> Socialize is still going pretty strong. But other than that.. yeah.

<Domino> Don't forget Ride!

<Ikselam> But anyhow, Peter's character is assumed to have grown up on the Isle of Beasts, so he'll have some knowledge of the gods who live there and run it.

<Ikselam> None of them assume human form, ever.

<Domino> Welcome to the Island of Misfit Gods.

<Ikselam> Elizabeth and Pat's characters are the first living humans he's ever seen.

<BigPat> And what a comedically mismatched pair we are!

<Domino> Which I think is a pretty good reason to follow them through a series of adventures.

<Domino> I mean: Humans!

<Ikselam> He knows what humans are, though, thanks to murals and stuff on the ruins you can't walk 10 yards without tripping over.

<dissolvegirl> Here's a question. Since we're talking gods here, would Peter's native language be Old Realm?

<Ikselam> Probably.

<Domino> Huh.

<Domino> Neat.

<Ikselam> But if he takes Linguistics favored, he can instantly learn new ones.

<dissolvegirl> That makes things soooo much easier when we try to communicate, then.

<Domino> Wasn't I going to be an Eclipse, anyhow? Or was that Zenith?

<Ikselam> You hadn't decided.

<Domino> Ah.

<Ikselam> I kind of like Zenith.

<Ikselam> Oh, right.

<Ikselam> Pat: every type of Exalted is divided into five subgroups.

<Ikselam> For Celestial Exalted, these are called Castes.

<Domino> Indeed; it doesn't make much sense for me to be good at Sail or Ride.

<Ikselam> Solars come in Dawn, Zenith, Twilight, Eclipse, and Night flavors.

<Domino> Except for Lunar Exalted, who are split into three groups. But ignore that.

<BigPat> consider it ignored

<Ikselam> Dawns are warriors, Zeniths are priests, Twilights are scientists, Eclipses are diplomats, and Nights are ninjas.

<BigPat> I presume this affects skill sets or something?

<Ikselam> Due to the way skills get assigned, these divisions don't really mean a whole hell of a lot; they're just general thematic things which mainly have to do with why your character got tapped for Exaltation by the Unconquered Sun.

<Ikselam> Yeah. I'll email you a pdf character sheet.

<dissolvegirl> Eclipses can also be rock stars, mind.

<Ikselam> Hold on a sec.

<Ikselam> Okay.

<Domino> They can also be rock stars of the mind.

<Ikselam> The main reason you'd want to be an Eclipse is their awesome anima power which allows you to make binding oaths.

<Ikselam> (Anima = aura of magical power which glows like a DBZ character when you go all-out with your magic powers.)

<BigPat> binding as in your explode if you violate the oath?

<Ikselam> Not quite, you botch critical rolls at inconvenient times.

<BigPat> ah

<dissolvegirl> "Nice to meet you, Satrap V'Neef. Have I told you that I fucked your mother? I mean, uh, CRAP!"

<BigPat> man, that is inconvenient

<Ikselam> Dawns have a the power to look big and scary and make mortals run away like Sir Robin, Zeniths do the same thing to demons and the undead (and can zap undead with solar fire), Nights can be stealthy like ninja and avoid displaying an anima flare when they use their powers, and Twilights have a super-damage-soak power.

<Ikselam> A scurvy pirate rogue would most likely be Night, Eclipse, or possibly Dawn.

<Ikselam> Cpt. Jack Sparrow is an archetypal Eclipse.

<dissolvegirl> Also, Eclipses automatically favor Sail.

<Ikselam> Errol Flynn as Cpt. Blood would be a Zenith.

<Ikselam> Long John Silver would probably be a Night.

<Ikselam> Cpt. Hook would probably be Dawn.

<Ikselam> Can't think of a really great pirate Twilight example right at the moment.

<dissolvegirl> It could happen, though.

<Domino> No doubt, that's how Sparrow managed to dock his sunken boat.

<BigPat> Captain Kidd, maybe?

<Domino> How about one of the pirates in Treasure Planet?

<dissolvegirl> A captain obsessed with how to improve his ship, and finding the ancient treasures of the past.

<Ikselam> Any kind of captain whose lust for knowledge and lore be as great as his lust fer gold!

<Domino> Captain Cook?

<BigPat> Wasn't a pirate

<Ikselam> Or in this particular setting, his lust fer jade.

<Ikselam> They use jade for money.

<Ikselam> Because jade is magical.

<Domino> Most ship captains were piratey in a few ways.

<Ikselam> You can make all manner of useful artifacts out of it.

<BigPat> He was British navy, very unpiratey

<Domino> I.e., magic is money.

<dissolvegirl> That was the one thing that confused me the most when I started playing Exalted.

<Domino> Fine. Colombus?

<BigPat> done

<Ikselam> Columbus would be a decent Twilight.

<dissolvegirl> "artifact" means "magical," not "old."

<Ikselam> Although many of them are both.,

<Domino> Some people write "artefact!"

<Ikselam> Solars have the tendency to go and find artifacts in the tombs of their past selves.

<dissolvegirl> Because they are artsy and/or dumb.

<Ikselam> Or English.

<dissolvegirl> Roger, I think being English is covered in my options. ;)

<Ikselam> Ah, American hubris.

<Ikselam> Nothing quite like it.

<BigPat> it's one of the best parts of being an arrogant superpower

<dissolvegirl> That and the nukes. And the apple pie.

<Ikselam> In any case, digression over -- all of you have Exalted recently.

<Ikselam> Probably within the last week.

<Domino> I have the power!

<dissolvegirl> So do we take the "weak Essence" flaw? ;)

<BigPat> Describe exaltation. In my mind's eye it sounds similar to awakening in Mage, but I imagine it isn't

<Ikselam> It's a similar idea.

<Domino> That's smack dab on it. It's the moment where you go from mortal to super.

<Domino> With more flashy golden lights.

<Ikselam> You are typically in a really stressful situation, you suddenly get a big zap of god-juice, you start glowing and kicking ass.

<Ikselam> Sometimes you get a (possibly pre-recorded) message from the UCS, telling you to go out and kick ass in his name.

<Ikselam> Everyone around you runs in terror at your awesomeness.

<Domino> Actually, recent Exaltation makes for a great reason why I'm being blamed by the animal spirits. I was just this mortal they could trust. When I Exalted, I became an object of suspicion. The entire murder may well be a frame-up by someone scared of me.

<Ikselam> Over the next few minutes, your awesomeness subsides from "phenomenal" to merely "remarkable."

<BigPat> UCS?

<Domino> UnConquered Sun

<Ikselam> UnConquered Sun

<BigPat> ah

<Domino> Ha!

<Ikselam> We use lots of abbreviations.

<Ikselam> Becauise things in Exalted have flowery kung-fu names.

...

<Ikselam> Focus, class.

<Domino> Shall I do the problem at the board?

  • Ikselam gestures lazily with whip, which you now see is actually a gun.

<Domino> I think I'm going insane.

<BigPat> wow, that's one remarkably gun-shaped whip

<Domino> Continue, Mr. Threatening.

<Ikselam> Flawless Weapon-Concealing Discipline!

<Domino> One detriment of playing via chat: You can't squirt people.

<dissolvegirl> Your gun suggests a level of tech in Exalted with which I am not entirely comfortable!

<dissolvegirl> I demand you trade it for a beamklave.

<Ikselam> Anyway, my current state of knowledge about these recent Exaltations is, "Elizabeth's probably happened while she was struggling to escape being chained to a treasure chest under a lot of water. If we even use that idea."

<Ikselam> Yeah, like a lightsaber would be so much less inappropriate than a gun.

<dissolvegirl> I like that idea. Well, both ideas contained in the over-idea.

<Ikselam> By the way, there are no guns in this setting.

<BigPat> I'd figure when the Kraken or whatever sinks my ship would work for me

<BigPat> I figured

<Ikselam> There are gun-like devices called firewands.

<Ikselam> Which are like muzzle-loading flamethrowers.

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