Comments on: The Meta-Plot and Game Design

By: extrakun

extrakun — Sat, 16 May 2009 03:38:55 +0000

I do not have much experience with Exalted; the meme that “You make us super-beings but make our enemies ultra-super-being” comes from my reading of RPG.NET – and there are some gashing of teeth about Perfect Defence too (that it is broken etc.). Though so, I guess the point is that when the characters created does not mesh well with the Meta Plot, players would complain

By: Helmsman

Helmsman — Fri, 15 May 2009 16:39:35 +0000

Well that’s the situation yes. But it’s hardly untenable. The characters are ultra-powerful in a hostile world, which to me makes for a good game. Granted it means that as an experienced Storyteller, I recommend Solars take certain charms right out the gate that would seem horribly twink in any other game but in mine just mean that the character will be more likely to survive his first big learning experience. The obvious example is the perfect defense which is an absolute negation of an attack. In any other game this would have the GM throwing out the book, in Exalted it’s par for the course, that’s because of the Meta Plot imposing an overall apnosphere of hostility.

By: extrakun

extrakun — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:17:50 +0000

This is what I gather from RPG.NET – it seems that the Meta Plot is beating down the heroes in Exalted, because the opposition are like 10x stronger than the heroes. Sure, the heroes compared to a mortal are kickass, but the Meta Plot clamps down heavily on them.

By: Helmsman

Helmsman — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:38:16 +0000

Neat article, I’m interested in the rest… as Exalted is one of my favorite games, I’m surprised to hear people say that the characters don’t feel like the big damn heroes. Most of the critiques I hear say that the game is munchkin paradise. Both miss the mark as far as I’m concerned, though as a big advocate for setting consistency, I know there are certain mechanical elements that tip parties over the top of where I’d put them, but they’re quite minor.