I've got another sneak peek from the second half of Chapter 2 for you today. A reminder that the draft manuscript for this will be released to all backers on Tuesday, and by the end of the campaign everyone who's joined in will be able to read the entire approved manuscript for this book - before any pledges are processed or payments collected.
In the first half of Chapter 2, we saw alternate combat rules and options. In our most recent sneak peek, we saw some of the alternate Social Rules and options. I don't know about you, but that covers 90% of my games. But now we'll see stuff that can be used to modify that other 10% in the "Shining Miscellany" section!
Before we get to that, however, one quick note since my last update!
ACHIEVED! -At $50,000 in Funding - Adventures on the Blessed Isle
Exalted: Essence Storyteller's Supplement - Adventures on the Blessed Isle - A set of plot hooks, scenario ideas, and perhaps story outlines set in and around the Blessed Isle will be added to the Exalted Essence Storyteller's supplement being built by Stretch Goal achievements.
We unlocked our second section of the Ex: Ess STG Storyteller supplement. Can we add a third? Let's set up our next Stretch Goal (and heavily foreshadow a fourth!!) and hopefully we'll unlock this before the end!
At $60,000 in Funding - Antagonists from the Threshold
Exalted: Essence Storyteller's Supplement - Antagonists from the Threshold - The Stretch Goal built storyteller's supplement will be expanded to include antagonists that could be found in or related to the Threshold.
We're in the "middle plateau" of any crowdfunding campaign, and it'll be a little quieter during these two middle weeks of the process. We'll see if we can get another push during Onyx Path's annual online gaming convention (more on that next week!), but please continue to invite other Exalted: Essence fans to join in with us. The more backers we have, the more rewards we get, so it's just win-win.
And now, for a sneak peek at next week's draft manuscript download. These are just snippets and sections from a much bigger piece, so get excited and tune in on Tuesday to read the whole thing.
Shining Miscellany
The following systems offer alternative systems and additional rules to the Manse and Demesne, Sorcery, and Thaumaturgy — Creation’s idiosyncratic common magic, as well as additional options for stunts and narrative control.
Thaumaturgy
The small magic of thaumaturgy takes 1,001 shapes: the possession-revealing apothegm spoken when the Sijanese Morticians bury their own; the elderly Icewalker’s hippiatric adjuvant that restores vitality to a wounded steed; a back-alley Wu-Jian haruspex who reads destiny on benthic oil-slick liver. There is no hard line between the exploitation of Creation’s unusual fauna, magical beasts, strange lands, and the arts of thaumaturgy. Only sorcerous scholars invested in the topic or occult charlatans fleecing villagers with useless rituals assert to know the difference. For system purposes, making use of Creation’s supernatural bounty fits into several Ventures using Craft, Navigate, Physique or Sagacity, such as a Crafting Venture to work with Haslanti feathersteel or the Treat Pandemic Venture to treat a supernatural illness. Thaumaturgical rituals often replicate such efforts with greater ease, transforming the tasks of dozens to one, or significantly reducing processing time.
Thaumaturgy, like sorcery, cannot be taught to those without the capacity to learn. Nor is it clear what makes one Lintha grandmother’s wicked curse pass to her pirate-sorcerer kin, while the mercenary fleet drawing sails to fight the demon worshipers hasn’t found a soul able to learn from their aging Corpsicoral alchemist.
Thaumaturgical rituals are those unique small magics that aren’t charms, sorcery, or unique properties of Creation’s supernatural bounty, and each is a bespoke product of the history and culture of the practitioners that keep the art alive. Each ritual is either an unrolled lesser ritual or a Sagacity based Venture, a greater ritual. A third category of community rituals are reserved for rituals that require tremendous efforts from hundreds or thousands of mortals and dozens of thaumaturges to produce uniquely potent creations, such as Haslanti airships or Chiaroscuro’s infrastructural wards against the dead. Community rituals are the product of generations of mortal effort, or a Circle’s dedicated endeavor for months or years. Often, it is far more expedient for a sorcerer to achieve similar, and more potent, results with a magical working.
Example Thaumaturgy
Linowan Masks: Gifted to truly exemplary Linowan, the exalt propitiates spirits then embeds the blessing into crafted masks. The ritual is a personal-scale mundane craft venture roll with Attribute + Sagacity against a difficulty 4, with two additional obstacles, and a time scale of one scene. The wearer receives a supernatural bonus such as double 9s to vision-based rolls, swimming, or making a campfire she lights never go out from wind or cold.
Summon the Mountain: The Last Bastion — the eschatological cult dedicated to Unrelenting Aton — may summon their ancient gargantuan elemental by carving his name in the turning-to-stone flesh “Fist of Aton,” the elemental’s blessed servant. Conditions only allow for one calling and no control over the living apocalypse; other than he returns his sanctum if the Fist of Aton dies.
Epic Stunts
Stunts reward players for describing their actions, making the game feel more immersive. If you’d like to encourage players to continue to improve their descriptions, this optional system gives exceptional rewards to exceptional stunts.
What is an Epic Stunt?
Sometimes, a player comes up with a description that’s so evocative, so poignant, so cool that it’s a highlight of the game for everyone at the table. Epic stunts are meant to reward those moments. Sometimes it's fairly obvious when a stunt qualifies; if anyone says “wow!” or feels the urge to applaud, that’s a good sign. Ultimately, though, each Storyteller will have their own vision of which descriptions best improve the game, and thus deserve the title of epic stunt.
As a Storyteller, you should aim to reward about one epic stunt per combat, or per session for out of combat scenes. This isn't a strict limit, but if you're handing out three or four epic stunts every combat you should start being pickier with what counts, and if you haven't handed one out in several sessions you can lower your requirements. It's a good idea to keep track of when you've awarded epic stunts, and to who. You're allowed to adjust your requirements to meet each player where they're at: a quiet player who’s stepped out of their comfort zone might deserve an epic stunt for it, even if their description wasn't as dramatic or poetic as another player’s.
Epic Stunt Rewards
An epic stunt provides a pair of stunt dice, and also one of the benefits you can spend those dice on (restore resources, dramatic edit, instant training). These do stack, so the player can use their dice and also take a benefit at the same time, but the benefit cannot be converted into more dice.
At your discretion, you can allow them to pick one of the following epic stunt benefits instead of the default options. These cannot be saved for later or passed to another player.
Anima Boost: Double your current anima points, to a minimum of two and a maximum of 10.
Instant Rout Check: All opposing battle groups are so intimidated or impressed, they must immediately make a rout check or begin fleeing.
Dramatic Reroll: If you fail to succeed on the roll that your epic stunt described, reroll all dice and keep the higher of the two results.
Have a great weekend! Good gaming! I'll be back on Monday with information about Onxy Path's onling gaming convention - COMING IN ONE WEEK - and then our next download on Tuesday.
