Oy. *sigh* That might have gone better.
Played Exalted tonight--it was great in that I was really in an Exalted-y mood, and Wizard ran Exalted, but there was one thing that massively sucked, and then frankly my own childishness made it worse....but regardless.
We built starting characters plus 40 XP, and I had a Dawn Caste with Fivefold Bulwark Stance plus Iron Whirlwind Technique (and a few Medicine charms plus some Ox-Body). I built this character *knowing* that I would have bloody fuck-all to do all game right up until the final combat, but figured, hey once I get there, I'm a fucking Dawn Caste, you all take it like bitches. After all, that's what Dawn Caste Solar Exalted *do.* So having started planning all this at 8, we kick around until about 11 when we finally start playing. I sit there, mostly silent, until about 2:30 when the final combat starts. Yay! But I have to spend the first round activating my "I roll to parry every attack" Fivefold Bulwark. Fine. The Sidereal we're up against deals me 8 lethal in the first round--AFTER my parry and AFTER my 8 lethal soak (so I could have taken 16, but cut it in half.) Ouch. Second round? Smack him with a low end Melee charm because I just want to plink his Essence away parrying pissant blows so I can knock him the fuck out later. I hit. I do 4 lethal of damage. It rebounds on me, knocking me to incap. So I get to participate in two combat rounds, then go back to sitting on my ass waiting to see what everybody else does.
I kind of pitched a fit, in that I was really fucking tired and so I felt like crying, just because I was so damn frustrated at waiting and waiting and then getting plinked down without half a chance to even *do* anything. And yeah, I kinda acted like a child for about 15 minutes, and seriously thought about just going to bed because it was pointless for me to stay there, I couldn't do anything. Things like that *really* piss me off. The game was kind of the spreadnparanoia and Blue Guy show, just because they were social characters who spent most of the game interacting with people. I mean, yeah, I built a character who's designed to break things and not interact. If I'd known it was going to be the negotiation oneshot, I'd have built an entirely different character. And I don't mind that Sam and Blue got to do their schtick and do it a lot.
But still, it's IMMENSELY frustrating to wait an entire game to do your thing, only to have your thing not only not work, but knock you out of the game so you spend another hour or so waiting, once again, for everybody else to do their thing while you've got fuck all to do. Yeah, it makes me shallow and petty and childish. I'm shallow and petty and childish. But it's just a thing that immensely frustrates me and it's one reason why, in any game session I run [chronicle or oneshot], I try very hard to give every person at least one opportunity to do their thing and do it in style, and if the dice mess it up (particularly in a oneshot) then deus ex machina is the players' friend. Granted Dave didn't realise quite how broken the "I parry everything, I automatically do 5 lethal every strike, and I have a soak of 12, your damage rebounds onto you" combo could be--I think he was expecting us to be a lot more combat-monster-y--but I still feel like I built a character totally unsuited to the game and then couldn't change it.
I'm really kind of pissed at myself for losing it for those few minutes there. But dammit, in a game that from character gen to finish lasted 7.5 hours, I only got to do something for 5 minutes. That just aggravates the shit out of me. *sigh* You should not have half of your game sitting silently with nothing to do for better than 3/4 of the night. It went roughly like this:
pooka_madness's old kung-fu master showed up, and told us to go to Gem and clear out this thing being excavated in a mine. We go. Sam and Blue spend a while charming and wheedling information out of people. Mike D makes an abortive attempt to sneak into the mine. We regather, decide to meet with the overseer. Sam and Blue present themselves as merchants, and spend a while negotiating with the overseer. We head for the mine. Meet the overseer's demon servant, whom Dana, Blue, and Eben negotiate with for a while. Get to the mine, meet the overseer. Combat begins. I go down in round 2, with Mike D two or three rounds behind me. Dana gets dematerialized by the demon, and Sam gets plinked to Incap. *sigh* so. incredibly. exasperating. And yes, I'm whining. I'm acting like a goddamn child and being petty. It's my journal, it's 4:30 in the morning, I'm tired, and I'm fucking allowed to whine here.
Oh well. Now I will relent on the whining and go back to being at least calm Meglet, if not happy. Dillo Day is tomorrow! Drinking all day long is *fun.* I will enjoy it. I will.
Now more talking to Matt, and then sleep.
We built starting characters plus 40 XP, and I had a Dawn Caste with Fivefold Bulwark Stance plus Iron Whirlwind Technique (and a few Medicine charms plus some Ox-Body). I built this character *knowing* that I would have bloody fuck-all to do all game right up until the final combat, but figured, hey once I get there, I'm a fucking Dawn Caste, you all take it like bitches. After all, that's what Dawn Caste Solar Exalted *do.* So having started planning all this at 8, we kick around until about 11 when we finally start playing. I sit there, mostly silent, until about 2:30 when the final combat starts. Yay! But I have to spend the first round activating my "I roll to parry every attack" Fivefold Bulwark. Fine. The Sidereal we're up against deals me 8 lethal in the first round--AFTER my parry and AFTER my 8 lethal soak (so I could have taken 16, but cut it in half.) Ouch. Second round? Smack him with a low end Melee charm because I just want to plink his Essence away parrying pissant blows so I can knock him the fuck out later. I hit. I do 4 lethal of damage. It rebounds on me, knocking me to incap. So I get to participate in two combat rounds, then go back to sitting on my ass waiting to see what everybody else does.
I kind of pitched a fit, in that I was really fucking tired and so I felt like crying, just because I was so damn frustrated at waiting and waiting and then getting plinked down without half a chance to even *do* anything. And yeah, I kinda acted like a child for about 15 minutes, and seriously thought about just going to bed because it was pointless for me to stay there, I couldn't do anything. Things like that *really* piss me off. The game was kind of the spreadnparanoia and Blue Guy show, just because they were social characters who spent most of the game interacting with people. I mean, yeah, I built a character who's designed to break things and not interact. If I'd known it was going to be the negotiation oneshot, I'd have built an entirely different character. And I don't mind that Sam and Blue got to do their schtick and do it a lot.
But still, it's IMMENSELY frustrating to wait an entire game to do your thing, only to have your thing not only not work, but knock you out of the game so you spend another hour or so waiting, once again, for everybody else to do their thing while you've got fuck all to do. Yeah, it makes me shallow and petty and childish. I'm shallow and petty and childish. But it's just a thing that immensely frustrates me and it's one reason why, in any game session I run [chronicle or oneshot], I try very hard to give every person at least one opportunity to do their thing and do it in style, and if the dice mess it up (particularly in a oneshot) then deus ex machina is the players' friend. Granted Dave didn't realise quite how broken the "I parry everything, I automatically do 5 lethal every strike, and I have a soak of 12, your damage rebounds onto you" combo could be--I think he was expecting us to be a lot more combat-monster-y--but I still feel like I built a character totally unsuited to the game and then couldn't change it.
I'm really kind of pissed at myself for losing it for those few minutes there. But dammit, in a game that from character gen to finish lasted 7.5 hours, I only got to do something for 5 minutes. That just aggravates the shit out of me. *sigh* You should not have half of your game sitting silently with nothing to do for better than 3/4 of the night. It went roughly like this:
pooka_madness's old kung-fu master showed up, and told us to go to Gem and clear out this thing being excavated in a mine. We go. Sam and Blue spend a while charming and wheedling information out of people. Mike D makes an abortive attempt to sneak into the mine. We regather, decide to meet with the overseer. Sam and Blue present themselves as merchants, and spend a while negotiating with the overseer. We head for the mine. Meet the overseer's demon servant, whom Dana, Blue, and Eben negotiate with for a while. Get to the mine, meet the overseer. Combat begins. I go down in round 2, with Mike D two or three rounds behind me. Dana gets dematerialized by the demon, and Sam gets plinked to Incap. *sigh* so. incredibly. exasperating. And yes, I'm whining. I'm acting like a goddamn child and being petty. It's my journal, it's 4:30 in the morning, I'm tired, and I'm fucking allowed to whine here.
Oh well. Now I will relent on the whining and go back to being at least calm Meglet, if not happy. Dillo Day is tomorrow! Drinking all day long is *fun.* I will enjoy it. I will.
Now more talking to Matt, and then sleep.