I was just recently thinking about how I would have done exalted, and came up with a nifty game idea. I really would like input on what I have churned out so far, esp. on: the gods and their flavor, and possible game mechanics.

Here is the rough concept I began with:


Seven gods seek to dominate a primitive tropical world. Each has its own bundle of godlike power to unleash on the savage lands of Xaan. Once one of them has earned enough divinity they can seize the divine crown from ZhuTaal and become the divine (one true ruler). The others will then be cast out of Xaan except...

Eons ago Elyria, one of the eldest champions at the time, rose up against the last divine and broke the ancient covenants which guarded the universe. In doing this the realm fractured into one thousand universes- each with slightly different qualities. In fact each time a new divine is crowned, a new thousand realms are born.




Here are the features I'm working towards:


Truly epic scale action for the seven gods.
Players customize their god from the rich details already layed out for each.
There is no GM, just one player that holds the divine proxy at any given time.
A rich world that can be customized but always starts from the same point.




A *really* short intorduction to the seven gods:

Elyria - Slayer of the Divine: The goddess that landed the fatal blow against the last divine.

Syndel - Ritesmith of the Divine: The god that forged a new crown of divinity and its proxy.

Xaat - Subearer of the Divine: The god which took up the tremendous task of bearing the sun of Xaan and its world maintaining light.

Maal - Sealer of the Divine: The god which took up the task of sealing Xaan (death) and maintaining its stability.

Celine - Memory of the Past: Appearing shortly after the divine's passing, this goddess holds sway over: Dreams, fantasy, and the past of Xaan.

Kull - The Forgotten One: Once the divine passed and the convenants broke, Kull was once again able to enter the realms of Xaan. While he has no connection to Xaan's realms he has the power to wreak havoc upon it being its most ancient ruler before the age of men.

Hito - God of Heroes: After Kull returned Hito was called back to Xaan. Hito is the creator of man and the one that sealed the new convenants after defeating Kull with his band of Champions.

A little longer introduction:
http://greyearth.com/DOT/Gods%20-%20Short.pdf
(PLEASE DON'T PRINT/COPY/DISTRIBUTE, I HAVE NOT SECURED THE PERMISSION OF THE ARTISTS YET).

Gaia - mechanics of it

The mechanics of the game work around the flow of lifeblood from Gaia and back to it, as it passed through the realms and forms of Xaan. In short lifeblood flows from gaia into eternity as sunlight, down the mountains as fire, through the valleys as aura (fresh air), over the plains as wind, into and out of the oceans as color, then through divinity as starlight, finally returning to Gaia (*whew*). Lifeblood is the energy of the gods and can be caught as it moves through its cycle by them. Spending lifeblood make it enter back on its journey and allows other gods to capture it.

Realms & Forms Gaia

The gods of Xaan are gods of the land (mostly) and derive their energy from it. There are four land realms and two doorway realms to gaia. The four land realms are: Mountains, Valleys, Plains, Oceans. The two doorway realms are: Eternity and Divinity. Each realm contains three forms of it- one earthly, one airy, and the other heavenly. Here are the forms of the realms (earthly, airy, and heavenly):


Mountains: Ash, Smoke, and Fire.
Valleys: Flora, Aura, and Shade.
Plains: Anima, Wind, and Sparkle.
Oceans: Aquatica, Storm, and Color.
Divinity: Diamonds, Rainbows, and Starlight.
Eternity: Stone, Clouds, and Sunlight.



Form Levels and lifeblood

When a god earns lifeblood they can elect to draw into into a form. This increases that form level one step. Form levels are needed to power magics which your god wields in creation. Many magics also cause a drain on a form.

In all, I have much of the mechanics ready too. I need to look over them before I post them however. What I really need to a cool way to customize the realms of Xaan before play, since each rpg game begins at the same point and with the same but customized gods.

Any ideas or thoughts are welcome :)

There're some very interesting elements at play here, like the flow-of-lifeblood currency, that I'd be curious to hear some more about.

What does it mean for a player to hold the divine proxy?

From what I've seen of the game, there are seven pre-set gods your players have to choose from. Yet the quote about a thousand suns being created everytime a new god is crowned somehow suggests to me that it will be an option in this game to create new and diferent deities and worlds for them to play in. Is this correct?

Spooky Fanboy,

Indeed that seems a contradiction. As I intended it to mean:

The slaying of the divine broke 1 covenant, and changed others. This is a big no-no, since in this universe god's covenants must remain true or some of the universe unravels. This is what happened to the universe when the divine was slain, and now its in a loop (:D). Every time a divine is crowned a thousand new Xaans are born. Each begins at the slaying of the divine and with the same seven gods but minorly different.

However, you make a good point. It would be nice is players could add develop their own gods. In this design however I think that would be hard to accomplish, given the scope of each god. I plan for each to have their own book (20-30 pages) mostly covering their magics and rules.

Shreyas Sampat,

I think the flow of lifeblood as currency will add a different dynamic to the game. When a god elects to use powerful magic they suffer drain. This drain can possibly cause the lose lifeblood. This lifeblood then enters into the lifeblood cycle for others to capture. This is an example that demonstrates the mechanical method of it:

Elyria is in Waaklo, a village in the plains of Xaan, and fighting a beast of Kull called The Clockwork. As its large metal and deadly form approaches she decides to employ a magic called 'Divine Knife Strike'. To do this she suffers 2 Wind drain and 1 Sparkle drain (all under the realm plains). She has a 6 power in the realm of plains and therefore saves against drain on a 6 or less of a d6- heh, however, 6 always fails. She rolls 2 dice for the wind drain and gets a 4 and 1, both save. She rolls a 6 for the sparkle drain and therefore will lose a level of sparkle as lifeblood.

Ok, so one lifeblood enters the next realm of the cycle. In this case one lifeblood enters the Oceans realm. All the present gods compare their Oceans score and the one with the highest can elect to capture the lifeblood or let it pass. Letting it pass gives the god energy instead of a level of a form. Maal is in play and has the highest Oceans power. He elects to capture the lifeblood and selects its form from the three of Oceans. He records another level of storm and this ends the lifeblood cycle

The above example pretty well demonstrates the mechanism. Basically lifeblood enter into the normal cycle at the next realm from where the god is located. If the god was in Mountains, the lifeblood would first appear in Valleys.

The Divine Proxy is the power to manage Xaan. The god that holds the divine proxy cannot manifest (appear in play) because they are everything. They actually manage the game as the GM, with three simple rules.

1.) They can never initiate action.

The divine speaks through the actions of other gods and heroes, but is not allowed to set forth action themselves. Doing this ejects the divine one back into creation with one energy drain from their primary realm - after the action.



2.) Control the invocation of keys.

Gods may invoke the divine one to summon any of their keys. Granting their request earns you light, denying it earns you lifeblood.



3.) Voice the Unspoken Gaia.

In all actions you act as the voice of gaia. This allow you to manipulate the outcome of trivial actions, and alter the effect of powers that call for the voice of gaia.



The gameplay is meant to be set forth by the gods themselves, with the divine meddling in what it can to further its own ends.

The tesxt already contains a few terms that need defining, and I introduced another here as well.

Keys

The gods were once mortal and many things in their life held personal meaning. While their mortal memories have faded like a dream, these things are keys which unlock passion and power. Every key falls under a symbol which restricts how it may be applied in play. When a key is applied to a task in play the god rolls 2d6 instead of 1d6 and takes the highest result. The ability to invoke (call upon) a key is up to the current divine however, and bribery is not unheard of.



And the Stars Fall...

While the world turns and the gods wage conflict to decide who will be the next divine the star continue to fall like they always have. The falling of a star sets forth the lifeblood cycle of gaia. The loose rule is that every 20 or 30 minutes of gameplay (player time) a star will fall. The exact effect of the star depends on who is hold the divine proxy at that time.



If your interested, I'll keep posting the mechanisms as I work them out.