Oh hoh hoh. I am really having FUN with this new Exalted game I'm in on RPoL. I never thought I'd ever end up in a game with a guy who's willing to go all out with the military applications of magitech in First Age Exalted (and in 2nd edition, at that!).
I'm seriously posting multiple times a day in this. :D I don't know yet if it'll take off long term, but it may be the game that could replace Wardragon for me. I mean. Not that I'd leave Wardragon unless it ended, but in terms of Exalted wargaming, the ST really knows what he's doing. AND I get to play with all the Ex2 versions of fun magitech toys and vehicles. As well as Dreams of the First Age backgrounds. And I'm playing a Lunar at the Established level. SO fun.
I'm totally squeeing now because Jon is playing my warbird aerial escort. As previously mentioned, Shu Lesalier is a character based on Mu La Flaga, with incredible stats in Ride, Sail, and other appropriate Attributes and Abilities to make him a consummate pilot. Also Sid Awareness :D
And of course he has the TN-reducers for piloting related stuff. In Ex2 you can use a TN-reducing Excellency to grant perfect success on a dice pool if you spend, I think, 4 motes and 1 wp. Generally, I tend to think high guaranteed success wins over high pools with a great deal of variability. It's why I've gradually started to get more interested in using 2nd Excellencies (success adders) over 1st whenever possible. Usually that means if I have a max adder pool of more than 5, I'll go for the 2nd Ex.
Shu only has a couple wingmen, so it's not like... an incredibly huge escort, but his warbirds are all custom upgraded. Besides, Snow's ship (the North Wind Defiant) isn't really meant for large scale combat. Now if I could only get enough recruits to bump my command up! THAT would rule. :D Snow has a bunch of the Lunar charms for training troops and proofing them against fear, so given enough prep time she could totally beef up an army or train a new one.
At the moment, though, Snow Tempest has a battle carrier with a crew of 30 dragon-blooded and 70 enlightened (i.e. essence using) beastman scouts and shock troops.
Man, I'm totally stoked about this game. I hope it lasts. It's actually very rare that I find a game that can keep up a level of quality I enjoy. Not because people are bad writers but because it is actually difficult to keep going long term. I know this because I do it myself, and it can take up a great deal of time in the day with my standards and level of detail. Not all the time -- but sometimes.
I have to admit too that a part of me feels a little too satisfied about finding another Exalted wargame. It's part of my desire to distance myself from a certain group (and individuals in that group) more and more. And wanting to find RP out there that is enjoyable and I can be a part of without feeling left out, or out of place because my tastes and sensibilities are so different.
Recent experiences with a certain player loss in my RPoL games has actually depressed me quite a bit more than I let on. I'm starting to realize over these past weeks how utterly disappointed it made me and how it's very, very unlikely that will ever be resolved. I will never feel that what upset me about it will be understood, and it will just be wrapped up in neat sugary bows because this person 'didn't mean it that way' (ignorance) or 'is a really nice guy' (avoidance of responsibility). And that's so much easier than confrontation, right??
Sorry, I figuratively bent over and took it in the ass for two and a half decades that it's ok for people to hurt me because 'he doesn't really mean it'. I had to listen to excuses for years that always ended in ME giving in: that I should be more forgiving or understanding, that I should FORGET that I suffered, or worse yet that I'M the one that did something to deserve the behavior. And that was from (particular member of) my family. I am so not doing that again.
By the time I hit about 28, I think, or was it 29? Geez, I'm not even sure it was that long ago. But by that point, I'd freaking had enough. It's why I'm so difficult to reach and connect with online nowadays. I am more inclined to cut acquaintances off early, rather than suffer through an uncomfortable situation without it being acknowledged in a satisfactory manner to me, or being excused away. Sure, maybe they 'don't mean it', that's 'just how they are', but I don't have to BE THERE to experience that behavior more than absolutely necessary (or at all, if I can get away with it.)
The end result is that I've lost, and may continue to lose, a lot of (potential) friendships. But when I can finally find that balance in my life -- when I'm not overcompensating with my paranoia because people mistreated me in the past and I LET them (and learned in some way to enjoy it) -- the people who I keep around me are the ones I know I can trust. I would vastly prefer a small group of trusted people over a huge group of acquaintances. That's how I am and that's how I'll continue to be.
