Greetings All.
I ran a 2nd Edition Exalted game at Seaxe And Sorcery starting in September 2009 and ending in December 2009.

It was my first ever GM experience and I started out knowing a decent amount about Exalted but I certainly wasn't as "up-to-scratch" as I maybe should have been.

I did not know the combat anywhere near well enough (Exalted is quite hard to get into that aspect of) initially so I started out by doing fight scenes in a manner more akin to D&D and gradually learnt along with the players! Having someone (Dave/Kavod) who had played 1st Edition Exalted helped though, as while things had changed they were not majerly different.

These are posts I made to my thread on the Seaxe forums so I will enjoy re-reading how I played the game with them. I am aiming to run a new game in Colchester if I can find anyone interested!!

So, for those who have not played Exalted before the next post details some basics and then I launch into the game post-play posts!

Sam / Bifford

Harken! Anathema, or the Solar Exalted as you used to be known. Listen unto me.

[OC stuff]

Hi guys. I just want to clarify each of the major divisions within the Solar Exalted in basic so that I can draft basic characters for next weeks tabletop which can then be fleshed out during the night and hopefully I can start the story rolling before the end of session!

There are Five Castes within the Solar (Anathema) Exalted:
Dawn: The Forsaken: Tanks - Physical & Combat
Zenith: The Blasphemous: Priests & Leaders - Faith, perseverance, inspiring & converting others
Twilight: The Unclean: Scholars - Practical application of knowledge & learning (magic)
Night: The Wretched: Underhand ones - Precision, subterfuge & covert activities
Eclipse: The Deceivers: Diplomats - Organisers, communication & social interaction

A group of players who join together is called a "Circle" and if there is one of each Castes within this it is called a "Perfect Circle" and is supposed to be uber-powerful.

Players

* Dave, playing Dawn (The Forsaken) Caste Follower "Kavod" [male]
* Kim, playing Twilight (The Unclean) Caste Singer "Dazzel" [female]
* Chris, playing Zenith (The Blasphemous) Caste Warrior Priest "Shalpeng" [male]
* Wayne, playing Eclipse (The Deceivers) Caste Shamanic Defender "An Mo" [female]
* Martin, playing Twilight (The Unclean) Caste Blacksmith "Master Vulcan" [male]
* Paul, playing Night (The Wretched) Caste Noble Rogue "Kane" [female]

[IC Stuff]

Each player was given a piece of paper detailing their character's history and also talking about a recurring dream they have been having for the past few months in which different things were happening depending on the character. One thing was in common between them all however - a Baby that needed rescuing for some reason.

We started our Exalted game with three main areas:

- Kavod (Dave) alone in the Scavenger Lands somewhere between Great Forks and Denandsor, battling whatever evil and nasties got in his way.
- An Mo (Wayne) and Vulcan (Martin) travelling away from The Hundred Kingdoms westwards in search of the dark-skinned one of their visions.
- Shalpeng (Chris), Dazzel (Kim) and Kane (Paul) all in the Mule Stop bar in the Hexagon district of Lookshy. Dazzel was entertaining, Shalpeng was being vain and Kane was being, well, shifty and arrogant.

---

Kavod defeated a Wood Spider easily enough and is now looking for a new place to rest for the night. We'll assume you find somewhere safe.

An Mo and Vulcan have made camp around their fire having crossed a hefty river and then dried themselves and their gear.

Kane caused a ruccus in the Mule Stop then succeeded in passing the buck.

Dazzel did her stint singing and then watching, listening with interest. We'll assume she (and the rest of the performers) retire to the bar's rooms until the next day.

and Shalpeng drew attention to his being an Anathema in the bar but luckily Lookshy can be a forgiving place to an extent. Shalpeng stays till late, then wanders back to his lodgings.

---

So we still have separate groups, but that's fine by me :D

Until next week..!

Week two.

Well, this week saw much hilarity ensuing between An Mo and Vulcan but also some rather nice roleplay from them! Well done Vulcan for keeping your calm when all about you was a storm. Are you sure you are not the spiritual one and An Mo the Blacksmith!?? {Basically An Mo, despite being a local shaman decided she would eat some of the local orange berries. When she wandered back to Vulcan he saw this and promptly hit her round the back of the head to make her discharge her mouthful, which caused a nice row. But then An Mo was hideously sick which made Vulcan somewhat smug. Then a bit later a rather large wood spider gently landed on An Mo's head so once again Vulcan hit it(her) on the head to kill it. Which again caused a nice ruccus! LOL}

An Mo and Vulcan met up with Kavod {Kavod is the dark-skinned one in both Vulcan and An Mo's dreams} and tentatively joined forces. They know there is supposed to be more people in their group, but they don't know who or how many, just that they need to head west, and by heading north they can catch a river barge to make that journey easier and quicker.

Meanwhile, in Lookshy, Kane sits and watches then runs off to the docks to go to the next town despite the fact she's pretty damned sure this is the correct place to be. {This is basically Paul being an arse LOL but it adds to the overall gameplay}

Elsewhere in town Dazzel intercedes into the affairs of Shalpeng (rightly so) and strikes up conversation, only to discover a joint purpose in finding a baby and some more of the travelling party they dreamed of. Where to next? and who are they looking for? Well, Dazzel is fairly sure about that last one but all she knows is the woman in question headed down the road in a rickshaw....

Week three.

Shalpeng was played by the GM for the evening as his character needed to be included in plot - in future any single player missing becomes the archetypal cardboard waste-of-space! :) lol

Shalpeng and Dazzel sleuthed their way to the ship with Kane on board and booked passage. The ship headed up the main west-east river through the Scavenger lands and docked at Nexus.

Meanwhile An Mo; Vulcan and Kavod got passage from their area down river and also pulled into Nexus at, by some weird old twist of fate exactly the same time and pretty much next to the other ship.

Realisation dawned. The two groups merged into one and they hired a conference room and sleeping rooms from a nearby tavern.

The roleplay night ended near the bedtime hour with the players hoping for more dreams of lucidity and insight.......

Week Four.

Shalpeng was a cardboard cut-out for the most part, except for one instant of near-pulpification when he mentioned you-know-who but also jogged the rest of the groups memories to the dream....

It wouldn't have mattered if they had not gone after the suggested person.... it just would have taken a hell of a lot more time and that to get where they were going..!

After some nice roleplay - I especially praise Kane and Vulcan for holding back against their natures - they made their way to the home of Chouko Mui an honoured citizen of Nexus.

Chouko Mui, which translates to "Butterfly Child with No Fear" is a traveller and Sidereal. One of the Chosen of the Five Maidens (in this case Mercury, the Maiden of Journeys) he keeps this closely guarded and I think only Kavod realised the full meaning of this although Kane may grasp the basic meaning and importance inherent to this information.

[img]http://www.seaxeandsorcery.co.uk/forum/attachment.php?aid=39[/img]

(That is the actual way to write No Fear Butterfly Child in Japanese Calligraphy and how it was written above his door.)

The group are now about to board Chouko Mui's Excellent Air Boat and head North.

Week Five.

Having taken off in Chouko Mui's Sky Ship he brought them all into the master quarter to see a map and ask again where they were headed. The group re-told about Ice Caves, presumably up North. The odd thing about the map was that it was from the First Age and showed places and cities no longer around...

Chouko Mui then explained that as payment for this passage there would be a few things he would want them to do along the way. Also they would soon be stopping for supplies at a small tribe where he had traded before. This group was very set in its traditions and he would expect no one to speak out of hand.

At this tribe's home, each member of the party was greeted, and returned the greeting. A trade medallion was given to Kane, and Kavod acted foolishly but stubbornly.

Further into the trip Chouko Mui stopped the Air Ship over the vast and sprawling city of Sijan and pulled up slightly above and to one side of an enormous Crypt. He explained that his dead sister lay inside and he required the group to recover a Circlet from around her neck. This Starmetal 12-band item changes in size, so if it around the skeletons neck still might be fairly small.

The group huddled and talked about whether to take on this mission - in a way a blackmail by Chouko Mui for passage. Some willingly chose to go in, some did not want to but would for the group and others were not too bothered.

Kane went to talk to Chouko Mui in her usual fashion. They both then went back to the group to talk. Chouko Mui led them on deck of the ship where they discovered the city of Sijan fading into the distance. Chouko Mui pronounced he was well happy with the group, the way they act and think together and would do things, if needed, that they did not like.

The group groaned, swore and weeped.

The GM laughed. :D
mawhawhaw. ahem.

Hope you enjoyed that guys!! :D I certainly did. hehe.
Sam / Bifford

Week six.

The boat flew onwards. The group approached a Mesa on top of which was a First Age Industrial City, known for it's Jade and Iron mining. Also known for the mines having been turned into underground caverns for concerts and the like.

The circlet that Chouko Mui described previously he sad is real enough, and somewhere in one of the music hall areas. There were two possible entrances that he had found.

The group went into the one near the ship and encountered a large bear and defeated it rather easily. They then went to the other which was a large structure that some of the group mistook for a temple. It was actually a Entrance hall for the underground concert area.

Brains were needed rather than brawn to enter unto these underground passageways.

They proceeded down, and through caverns and came across a hall with personal chambers off it. One of which belonged to Chouko Mui's sister during her last performance there. They eventually gained entrance and found the circlet.

The group managed to leave with one item of value each (Chouko Mui refused to let the place be stripped bare at this time - what they did later was of no concern of his however) and the ship flies onwards toward Icehome.

Week Seven

Minus Martin, Wayne and effectively Kim (though she turned up she was shattered)

The group landed in Icehome. Chouko Mui said there was a physic they should go see called Tanala'Ce.

Mistress Li, Kavod & Shalpeng went first to one of the two Guard/Message towers whereby Mistress Li used her feminine wiles to entire and allure Sub-sergeant Vishnor for information and future knowledge of any new information. She left her coat behind as a hook.

The three then made their way towards the area where Tanala'Ce abides. They asked an old Crone where she was and got nowhere, except that Kavod got eyed up. Using the threesomes "abilities" they stopped a young girl and Shalpeng flirted, got the information they needed as well as a date with the young lady, Saleese, at their pub at 8pm.

Shalpeng and Kavod entered Tanala'Ce's house while Li stayed outside. They were bid to sit and drink. Meanwhile Li was coaxed into entering through a different entrance and joined them. Once inside Tanala'Ce "analysed" their dreams, bringing them into cohesion and explaining that in each dream a flame-figure could be seen in the background of each. She further analysed Kavod's dream in regards to the foggy part of his dream.

The three went back to the Cold Snap (pub) and Shalpeng made himself ready for his date. The group waited for the young lady and she entered with the the Crone at her heels who turned out to be her mother. Shalpeng chatted to Saleese and the crone tried chatting to Kavod. Nothing much happened and the group retired for the night.

Week Eight.

Minus Martin. Introducing Sam as a new character (whose name most of the group still do not know) Pang Lo.

The next morning the "ladies" have left shortly after waking up. Vulcan and Shalpeng wash (the others may have also). After much discussion, and after bringing the members of the party who did not visit the psychic up to date the party head downstairs.

There is a crotchety bent-backed old man sitting uncomfortably at the bar perpetually drinking hot water. As the group come down they see a tall dark haired lady finish talking to the man and then leaving (along with her man-servant). Mistriss Li is fairly certain it was their psychic contact from the day before. The group decide that they should go sell some of their "items" that they gained recently and then buy provisions for their trip. Master Vulcan and An Mo stay to order breakfast for all and to eat their own.

The rest of the group (Li; Shalpeng; Dazzel; Kavod) head to the guard tower previously visited and are told by one of the watchmen where to head to sell their items. Across town they go into the Emperor's Emporium and sell three items for one hell of a fecking lot of Jade.

Kavod has a thought!!!!!!!!!!!!! (gasp) Airship!

After a slight inconvenience with a door and someones face, Kavod gets pointed "upstairs and over that way!" for to find Airships.

The group decide to go back to the Cold Snap, eat and decide what to do next.

Back at the Cold Snap tavern some hilarity ensues. The old man at the bar mutters a few replies to the overheard conversation and claps also at some of the brilliant deductions (sarcasm) certain group members come to. For some reason he is invited to join the group for breakfast!!

Most of the food has been eaten by An-Mo in their absence, so more is ordered and An-Mo and Vulcan are told to eat! eat! eat it or else! An-Mo has no problems with this but master Vulcan does and refuses. Kavod picks up the plate of food and hurls it at Vulcan who ducks and barely misses getting covered in food. The old man, who is sitting next to Vulcan and in the line of fire expertly ducks, easily avoiding the food.

The group decide they want to buy an Airship. Preferably metal.
At that moment Sub-sergeant Vishnor turns up with a package and asks Mistress Li to take a short walk with him. She agrees and it turns out he has had her coat (that she left behind) dry-cleaned and mended. She flirts a bit and is thankful and then asks if he knows where they could buy an Airship from. He tells her at Madame Akiyuoyou's, that she should say Vishnor sends his greetings, and that she likes Turkish Delight.

The group set off for Akiyouyou's, buying some expensive Turkish Delight en route. After an interesting start they get to see holographic displays of the Airships and discover nothing really suits their needs. At the end Li passes over the Turkish Delights and Akiyouyou suddenly remembers she has a ship just out from repair that they could hire. The group decline.

The group then heads towards the docks to hopefully hire the ship Li has previously gained information on. We leave them en route to the docks. Old man in tow.

Week Nine.

(Full compliment of players and welcome Emma as replacement to Wayne playing An-Mo)

The group head towards the docks but find themselves down an unfamiliar street with the end of their road blocked by crowds of people cheering half-heartedly. An Mo and Pang Lo peel away from the group to look at the distraction. An Mo sees a parade of soldiers then gets fireman's lifted back to the group by Kavod. Kavod returns for Pang Lo and does the same and on his way into an elevated position he too sees the soldiers.

They go up stairs to the top level and enter a tea-room. Shortly after soldiers enter and demand to know why the group isn't by the road-side cheering and clapping. Mistress Li does her usual social thang and Kavod does his usual threatening thang and soon all hell breaks loose culminating in all bar four of the soldiers being dead. (Two were outside and ran off to inform their superiors. Two were escorting Pang Lo to the crowd, then got called back by Mistress Li, then got told their boss told them to go do their usual thing. This confused them, but they left. Though they may wish they had died once their superior finds out the full story.....)

The group scarper and head to the docks where Master Vulcan makes enquiries about ships for sale or use. Mistress Li does similar in a more casual manner. They eventually find a ship going East to Iron Fall that can take them for payment in coin and repair work by Master Vulcan.

The group board ship and that's where we leave them.

Week Ten.

(Full compliment)

On board ship to Iron Fall the group are all (bar Master Vulcan who is down in the hold doing repairs) in a group playing cards, watching or similar. They have a group vision, which is quite fuzzy and indistinct and a lot of what is gained is through sound rather than sight. The general gist of it is thus: a room in a hospital with a woman giving birth then the door being smashed open and everyone being killed and a man standing over the mother and baby, killing her then trying to kill the baby and failing. Twice. He then leaves with baby and they hear the voice of the Flame Lady saying "He survived and has been taken."

Once the ship docks and the group disembarks they stand chatting, but Dazzel slips off and sits on a bench. She re-creates the original vision she had of her in the Ice-Cave with the baby and the group. This vision is in ethereal matter around her for all to see like ghosts in daylight. It draws attention.

The group find a hotel and purchase a room and rope and wine and tea (all at Kavod's behest). The group then tie Kavod up and pour a wineskin worth of wine down his throat which he hopes will induce visions of his own. It partially works but mainly just makes him feel the worse for wear for quite a while after. While Kavod is unconscious Dazzel once more performs this time re-creating the most recent vision in the hospital. Through skill it comes through clearer than the original vision and Pang Lo (Sam) is clever enough to pick out details no one else can.

They hire a new boat to travel North and head towards Shield. However the weather is against them and while the ship will make it through the ice it wont have the speed needed to do so efficiently. The sailors start praying to their Goddesses of Water and Wind to aid them but the whisperings on the wind seem somehow unimpressed..... An Mo joins them and talks to the Water Goddess persuading her to aid them. She also tells the sailors how to better appease their Goddess of the Water. The waters calm a little.

Week Eleven.

(Full compliment)

We resume where we left off with An Mo starting a conversation with the Goddess of the wind. She had been totally forgotten by the sailors and was narked. An Mo sorted that problem and soon the ship was sailing fast and on course for Shields.

After being put ashore by boat they entered Shields, a small village comprising a series of Yurts and went to talk to the local shaman who also had the maps to these parts. Kavod and Shalpeng did not come over at all well but Li, Dazzel and An Mo made up for their lack of respect and won the map they needed as well as travel further up the coat with Seth and his huskies on four sledges.

They started the four day journey with ease, had a few misgivings on the way with Kavod and Shalpeng getting covered in huskie **** and pee.

Vulcan looked for tracks on the 2nd night after the camp had been set up and found some reindeer which he tried to take down with an arrow or two. The first one went totally wide, startling the deer who then started to flee. His second shot ripped through a fleshy part on its hind quarters making a nice blood trail out from its position.

Later that night, near to day-break the group are woken by a very loud noise that turns out to be a special warning call made by Seth. On investigation some rather large polar bear tracks are found which Vulcan and Kavod track. They find a family of three and set about killing them. They then try to pick one of the dead beasts up, fail, and so drag it back to camp where Kavod skins the beast and Vulcan cuts off chunks of meat for the huskies and for drying and curing.

Later that day they make it to Shields and ask for somewhere to stay and wash, and a place to sell the hide. While Li and Dazzel wash Kavod goes to the tanners and bargains for a coat made of the polar bear hide in exchange for the tanner keeping the left-overs. This will take two days.

Kavod and Vulcan also find out that there is a water-barge always ready to take them across the river to the ice-sheets so they plan to provision themselves with whatever is needed for the journey to the Plains of Pictures.

Here endeth the session.

Week 12

Having gotten across the river, with their backpacks full of hiking equipment they manage to hire some beasts of burden to travel with. A few days into their journey, amidst a nasty snow blizzard and during a camp for the evening the group has a major fright when a ma-hoosive boom resounds their way and a shape looms out of the snow shortly afterwards.

Looming out of the snow comes an Atronauch that calls himself Soltranauch due to the fact he was built to aid and serve Solars and no other Exalted. The group use Soltranauch to fast-track their passage through the Northern wilderness and he soon gets them to within safe distance of the chasm and "bridge" they have to cross to get to the Plain of Pictures.

Some of the group disembark and go to scope out the bridge which turns out to be millimetre thick, hand-span wide, impervious and extremely tough. One by one, in various ways, the group passes over the bridge and Soltranauch makes his way down the chasm and back up the other side.

He then takes them up and over the mountain range and they pause briefly looking down onto the massive bowl of the Plain of Pictures.

Soltranauch takes them into the plain, surrounded by high cliffs and with the interior of this stepped downwards towards the plain proper. They make their way to one edge and order the machine to sweep boulders and cliff-face off the side wall and over the Dragon-Led army that is mobilizing in front of them. This does quite a bit of damage!

From the back of the camp comes some sort of missile that annoys Soltranauch but does relatively little harm. The group decide to disembark and order him to go stomp on some bad guys. Meanwhile two of the characters take up stance to perform the sorcerous task of Obsidian Butterflys and the others gear up for a fight or defence.

We leave them there, arms outstretched, spear and swords ready for the on-rushing army.

Week 13

We re-enter the story just as An-Mo and Pang-Lo cast Obsidian Butterflies one after the other. An-Mo does a fair bit of damage but Pang-Lo does a fair bit more!

As the group makes their way around the havok along the edge of the bowl of cliffs Kavod and Vulcan take up arms to take down a small group of militia that have formed up into a wedge, less afraid of the Solars than they are of the commanders. Vulcan does most of the work for once with kavod merely play-fighting with his opponents.

Shortly after this Vulcan does a few things that pushes him over his limit-break and the Curse that is his comes into force and he became cold-hearted, merciless and compassionate about nothing.

They make their way towards the rear and ask Soltranarch where the ice caverns are. In answer it jumps into the air and lands, smashing through a layer of rock and ice to expose the system beneath. When ordered to he climbs back out revealing the tunnels. This took all of the group totally by surprise (his jumping up and landing that is) and they were all thrown onto their knees and were somewhat annoyed and surprised by his actions. They were also surprised when he chuckled (!!) when they told him to go get rid of any other bad guys in the Plain of Pictures.

The Solars found the entrance to the ice cavern system, quickly passed under the hole the machine had made and followed the tunnels on, underneath the side of the Plain and out the other side into more Ice tunnels.

They came across a group of six nasty hybrid beasties, warped by the Wyld. And quite easily massacred them. Moving on they entered a small ice chamber.

In one curve of the wall was the baby, surrounded by a force shield. Out of a small tunnel in another curve stepped a man, a well dressed man who when questioned gave his name as Corvellus Palladio. The group tried to talk to him as Dazzel, made invisible by magic edged around towards the baby and as Pang-Lo took up residence in a specific location.

Corvellus loosed a throwing dagger which embedded itself very close to Dazzel's head and then ran towards Kavod. He of course took up the challenge with relish. Any blows that landed on Corvellus also dealt damage back on Kavod.

Pang-Lo unleashed Obsidian butterflies towards them both. Kavod parried every butterfly that came at him with dexterity and Corvellus ducked and weaved out of the way. He then announced that he wasn't there and disappeared to re-appear closer to the rest of the group, near the entrance. Mistress Li's hand naturally went in for the pockets on the inside of his jacket while An-Mo took a swipe at him, the result of which hurt her more than him.

A few seconds later however and Corvellus stepped to the side and vanished out of this time and place. Li's hand was in mid-air with nothing in it and there was blood on the ground where Corvellus had taken wounds.

Dazzel picked up the baby, who shrunk his shield around himself and the group left the ice-tunnels the way they had come.

Once outside, and back inside Soltranauch, the baby pointed West making it obvious which way they should head.

A short journey (in the mechanical leviathon) later and they came upon a great circle of stone with a flame in front of it that changed shape into the form of a woman.

Talking to her she tells that the baby was, in his previous Exalted life, a great Solar Warrior and Leader. he was also her partner and she has been inexorably linked to him and that he would one day rise again to be great.

She also tells the group to walk through the portal in front of them and it will return them to Nexus. The group complain somewhat about this, saying that's not where they want to go, but others point out that it would be better to go there initially than to have to make their way back south by their own means, even if this is with the aid of Soltranauch.

So they comply and walk through the gate........to Nexus?

From the feedback I got from each player I think I did pretty well for a first timer GM, especially with a system like Exalted.

I initially ignored WhiteWolf's combat system and went with a more D&D style initiative based rounds scheme, but then to start with I kept the combat basic and quick. I learnt with my players and with a bit of down-time practice. By the end of session 13 we had it pretty much worked out (though I'm still not even 75% certain of what I'm doing with combat!)

Play wise they enjoyed the route. Only one player (Paul's Lady Kane) said their character had no real "reason" for staying with the group as she was very monetry-gaining driven and would have probably ignored the dream....but I know Paul, and he is one of those "I'll rail-road the GM wherever possible to upset the cart!" sort of people, so I didn't mind that. In fact the fact that he stayed with my game proved he liked it, and me as a GM.

A few people left, a few people joined. Wayne is used to playing necromancers and their ilk so I don't think the spirit-talker sat well with him, while it suited Emma much better.

In the end I think I had a well-balanced group of players AND characters, and for a first time out I think I did reasonably well! :)

I look forward to having another go sometime.....though now I've moved an hour away from Seaxe & Sorcery I'm not sure when that will be. I'm thinking of starting a Colchester (Essex) based group on a casual basis, but need to make RPG friends here first! :)

Sam / Bifford