Thus Spake Zaraborgstrom/FunWithMortals
ganked from RPG.net 9/27/05
Originally Posted by SJE Mortal heroes are far more interesting than Charm bloated Exalts. Their combats go quicker, their stunts matter more (and are more interesting) and their sense of achievement is so much greater when they win against the odds!
Mortals living by their wits and outhinking, outmaneouvering and outfighting those arrogant Exalts who wouldnt know how to wipe their own bum without a Charm or Artifact to do it for them are clearly the way forward!
As a simple patch for an exciting mortals game using the Exalted rules, you can do the following:
- Replace Solar Charms with mortal Charms. Mortal Charms are things that mortals can do when they're cool enough.
- Cool mortals use heroic mortal rules, but can sometimes buy low-level Charms. Really cool mortals use Solar rules. Really cool but also evil mortals use Abyssal rules.
- Replace the Great Curse with---well, you know how people are always saying that the Solars would be exactly as corrupt if the Great Curse were fixed? With that exactly-as-bad-but-perfectly-mundane thing. You can either use the exact same mechanics or ditch them and occasionally say, "Innate human stupidity, guys. Stop coming up with all these elaborate plans and somebody do something stupid, kay?"
- Remove the glowy Solar animas and sun-related anima powers. Replace with natural bleedoff of Z-rays and other special effects from humans who are just being too cool for the pattern spiders to cope.
- Allow people to change caste by spending 10xp or Exalt type by spending 30xp. The xp cost is mostly to compensate the Storyteller for having to make up the specific rules for how to do this at the time. Note that really cool mortals and really cool evil mortals (that is, Solars and Abyssals) can swap for free using the existing rules.
- Sidereals are now "mages," while people with sorcery remain "occultists."
- Lunars are now "initiated shamans." Their war forms and weird Charm f/x are mostly in their heads and in the heads of anyone who fights them.
- Dragon-Blooded are hereditarily cool. Note that this actually makes them weaker than people who come to their cool the Solar "I just rock" way.
- The Zenith anima no longer burns the dead. Other animas may need slight adjustment.
Keep the numbers the same. The Unconquered Sun still talks to each Zenith at the moment of their exaltation---or, at least, some Elohim, some universal principle of good and meaning, does. Perhaps it is the Unconquered Sun; perhaps it is God; perhaps it is a vision of their own making, for who can say what drives a man to heal the world?
Rebecca
