Exalted Rant of Sorts Because I Can
Well, it's been a while since I lasted updated this thing, so I figured now was as good a time as any for me to do so. And heck, what better topic to write about than another one of the games our group plays, Exalted.
We started our game of Exalted near the end of summer with a core group of James, Andrew, Brandon, and AJ playing while I GMed again. My only previous experience with the game had been a brief quest played out over a few weeks the previous summer with Andrew, Charlie, and a couple other people, so I wasn't entirely sure whether I could handle running a game so drastically different from the constant chaos of BESM. But on the whole, I think I've done swimmingly. Since we first started, we gained Clay, Lisa, and Isaac as players while at least temporarily losing Andrew to the hell that is Manchester. The first story is winding near an end, meaning I'll have to implement my next plans should the group follow certain individuals or take things on the fly should they choose to separate themselves from the current mover of plot. Either way, fun should be had by all.
Of course, things haven't gone 100% according to plan, and there have been several problems, most of which pretty minor albeit annoying. What follows is my honest critique of each member of the group (sans Isaac since he so very recently joined) in their strengths and weaknesses. If any of you people are being discussed, try not to get upset if I say something bad about you; this is just open, honest critique. But hell, I doubt most of you even read my LJ.
James: Typically the leader of the group, James normally assumes positions of command one way or another and has usually been one of the most reliable members of the group in terms of eagerness to play and ingenuity. This is largely the case for his Exalted character. Now a de jure leader as opposed to his de facto role in BESM, people tend to look to him to do things in several situations, though some of the other players are quick to shut him up whenever any sort of talking is involved. He shows a flair for creativity in combat matters, routinely making battles more interesting when he participates in them.
Strangely enough, there were long stretches of time where James became merely a presence in the game as opposed to an active player. He'd do things, but he wouldn't do much. He'd interact, but his interactions would often feel distant. It generally seemed to be part of a funk following the fall of our DBZ game (total speculation on my part), but he just didn't seem as in to the games as he had previously been. He certainly had his moments of greatness even during this funk, but his overall level of play was down. Fortunately, he seems to be in better spirits as of late and has been regaining his form.
AJ: A relative newcomer to our roleplaying group, AJ joined BESM only a few months before Exalted began, but he has thrived in both games. I give AJ real credit in finding his niche within a group. Despite being a good bit lesser powerful than his peers in BESM, he managed to find areas where he could excel and add something to the team. With both games, he shows a great desire to be involved in things, paying attention the going-ons of other members and even working on stuff during time when we aren't holding meetings. Though new to games like these, he picked up the skills for play rather quickly and has since become a strong player in both games.
Holding the position of "Talky Guy" in Exalted, the main problem I see in our game is that he often doesn't display the charisma that his character is capable of. There are stretches of time where his character will be downright unpleasant to speak with, using cold, hard logic instead of charm in his discussions. While I certainly wouldn't call this a major problem, it makes it more difficult for him to interact with NPCs in the way he might want to. It certainly is within the realm of his character to act like that occasionally, but it seems to crop up more often than not. His character also holds some fairly petty prejudices against other individuals, both player and NPC, and these prejudices are often without reason or based upon very sketchy information and leaps to conclusions.
Lisa: The newest player other than Isaac, she has had essentially no roleplaying experience prior to Exalted. While lacking in experience and knowledge of how to play, she displays tremendous effort in her attempts to become a better player, and these efforts have already borne some fruit. She has buried herself in the Exalted books and probably knows sections of a few books better than even I do. She has experimented with numerous character ideas, and after being dissatisfied with her first character, she worked to make a character that corrected the problems. She still isn't the best player in the group, but her effort to improve herself is refreshing.
Coupled with her lack of experience, she tends to get overshadowed easily by the other more dynamic personalities of the group. Between the egos of AJ, Brandon, and Clay, she often can't find her place in a situation, especially social ones. She just needs to throw herself into the fray in times like that, asserting her place in the group.
Clay: Joining later than the original group because of the belief that the game would only last a couple weeks, Clay has proven to be one of the most interested and active members of the group. He routinely discusses stuff out of game and often even roleplays interactions with NPCs and such outside of the normal meetings. He has an eagerness to fill his role, and he plays his chaotic nature out with the gusto that he is capable of.
Clay's problem is that sometimes he overdoes the chaotic, mysterious nature of his character, turning off the members of the group to him and making his job more difficult to pull off. While his chaos is less of a problem than it was in DBZ, it is something that needs some moderation.
Brandon: Brandon has always taken great pleasure in games of tormenting NPCs and other players with his actions, so it is only fitting that he pick a sadist for his Solar. When Brandon gets into things, he plays with immense enjoyment, and the results can often be very entertaining. He has solid roleplaying ability and certainly isn't afraid to voice his character's opinions.
Brandon's major failing is that he is almost totally disinterested in every aspect of the game that doesn't directly relate to him slaughtering people. He has slept through parts of many of the last several meetings (sometimes rather large chunks), and he has on numerous occasions retreated to his room when he felt that there was nothing else left for him to do. He would often do very little in any meeting by choice, having his character nap through entire meetings or simply stare at the sky. In addition to this, he would also often rudely insist that things move ahead faster, chafing those who actually wished to be doing more things such as interactions with NPCs. While the game did need to move on at times, on most occasions it was simply Brandon not wanting to listen to people doing what they wanted. He has wanted the group to reach Denandsor as quickly as possible, and now that we've gotten there, he has done little and once again slept through a portion of the meeting.
That's pretty much how things seem from my point-of-view, and I'd say my judgements could be agreed upon for the most part by most everybody. Things will continue, and I figure that the Denandsor chapter will be closed within a meeting or two, barring some catastrophic event. Everybody has a chance of losing their life in the city, and some of them might just do so. If they do, I'll be able to see how they respond to circumstances like those. If I am capricious enough, I might even write up a report card of each player once the quest is finished. That might prove interesting.
We started our game of Exalted near the end of summer with a core group of James, Andrew, Brandon, and AJ playing while I GMed again. My only previous experience with the game had been a brief quest played out over a few weeks the previous summer with Andrew, Charlie, and a couple other people, so I wasn't entirely sure whether I could handle running a game so drastically different from the constant chaos of BESM. But on the whole, I think I've done swimmingly. Since we first started, we gained Clay, Lisa, and Isaac as players while at least temporarily losing Andrew to the hell that is Manchester. The first story is winding near an end, meaning I'll have to implement my next plans should the group follow certain individuals or take things on the fly should they choose to separate themselves from the current mover of plot. Either way, fun should be had by all.
Of course, things haven't gone 100% according to plan, and there have been several problems, most of which pretty minor albeit annoying. What follows is my honest critique of each member of the group (sans Isaac since he so very recently joined) in their strengths and weaknesses. If any of you people are being discussed, try not to get upset if I say something bad about you; this is just open, honest critique. But hell, I doubt most of you even read my LJ.
James: Typically the leader of the group, James normally assumes positions of command one way or another and has usually been one of the most reliable members of the group in terms of eagerness to play and ingenuity. This is largely the case for his Exalted character. Now a de jure leader as opposed to his de facto role in BESM, people tend to look to him to do things in several situations, though some of the other players are quick to shut him up whenever any sort of talking is involved. He shows a flair for creativity in combat matters, routinely making battles more interesting when he participates in them.
Strangely enough, there were long stretches of time where James became merely a presence in the game as opposed to an active player. He'd do things, but he wouldn't do much. He'd interact, but his interactions would often feel distant. It generally seemed to be part of a funk following the fall of our DBZ game (total speculation on my part), but he just didn't seem as in to the games as he had previously been. He certainly had his moments of greatness even during this funk, but his overall level of play was down. Fortunately, he seems to be in better spirits as of late and has been regaining his form.
AJ: A relative newcomer to our roleplaying group, AJ joined BESM only a few months before Exalted began, but he has thrived in both games. I give AJ real credit in finding his niche within a group. Despite being a good bit lesser powerful than his peers in BESM, he managed to find areas where he could excel and add something to the team. With both games, he shows a great desire to be involved in things, paying attention the going-ons of other members and even working on stuff during time when we aren't holding meetings. Though new to games like these, he picked up the skills for play rather quickly and has since become a strong player in both games.
Holding the position of "Talky Guy" in Exalted, the main problem I see in our game is that he often doesn't display the charisma that his character is capable of. There are stretches of time where his character will be downright unpleasant to speak with, using cold, hard logic instead of charm in his discussions. While I certainly wouldn't call this a major problem, it makes it more difficult for him to interact with NPCs in the way he might want to. It certainly is within the realm of his character to act like that occasionally, but it seems to crop up more often than not. His character also holds some fairly petty prejudices against other individuals, both player and NPC, and these prejudices are often without reason or based upon very sketchy information and leaps to conclusions.
Lisa: The newest player other than Isaac, she has had essentially no roleplaying experience prior to Exalted. While lacking in experience and knowledge of how to play, she displays tremendous effort in her attempts to become a better player, and these efforts have already borne some fruit. She has buried herself in the Exalted books and probably knows sections of a few books better than even I do. She has experimented with numerous character ideas, and after being dissatisfied with her first character, she worked to make a character that corrected the problems. She still isn't the best player in the group, but her effort to improve herself is refreshing.
Coupled with her lack of experience, she tends to get overshadowed easily by the other more dynamic personalities of the group. Between the egos of AJ, Brandon, and Clay, she often can't find her place in a situation, especially social ones. She just needs to throw herself into the fray in times like that, asserting her place in the group.
Clay: Joining later than the original group because of the belief that the game would only last a couple weeks, Clay has proven to be one of the most interested and active members of the group. He routinely discusses stuff out of game and often even roleplays interactions with NPCs and such outside of the normal meetings. He has an eagerness to fill his role, and he plays his chaotic nature out with the gusto that he is capable of.
Clay's problem is that sometimes he overdoes the chaotic, mysterious nature of his character, turning off the members of the group to him and making his job more difficult to pull off. While his chaos is less of a problem than it was in DBZ, it is something that needs some moderation.
Brandon: Brandon has always taken great pleasure in games of tormenting NPCs and other players with his actions, so it is only fitting that he pick a sadist for his Solar. When Brandon gets into things, he plays with immense enjoyment, and the results can often be very entertaining. He has solid roleplaying ability and certainly isn't afraid to voice his character's opinions.
Brandon's major failing is that he is almost totally disinterested in every aspect of the game that doesn't directly relate to him slaughtering people. He has slept through parts of many of the last several meetings (sometimes rather large chunks), and he has on numerous occasions retreated to his room when he felt that there was nothing else left for him to do. He would often do very little in any meeting by choice, having his character nap through entire meetings or simply stare at the sky. In addition to this, he would also often rudely insist that things move ahead faster, chafing those who actually wished to be doing more things such as interactions with NPCs. While the game did need to move on at times, on most occasions it was simply Brandon not wanting to listen to people doing what they wanted. He has wanted the group to reach Denandsor as quickly as possible, and now that we've gotten there, he has done little and once again slept through a portion of the meeting.
That's pretty much how things seem from my point-of-view, and I'd say my judgements could be agreed upon for the most part by most everybody. Things will continue, and I figure that the Denandsor chapter will be closed within a meeting or two, barring some catastrophic event. Everybody has a chance of losing their life in the city, and some of them might just do so. If they do, I'll be able to see how they respond to circumstances like those. If I am capricious enough, I might even write up a report card of each player once the quest is finished. That might prove interesting.