Had my first session of my new Exalted game this weekend. Went far better than anticipated. vinnydapoo has gushed about it more than once, so my head is a little big for my neck at the mo.
It’s a very tight time slot. Because of a game the night before, I can’t really start earlier than noon. And due to player schedules we can’t really run past 5. We started closer to 1 due to a couple players that were running late, so it was a tight four hours. I’d really like to try and hit the ground running next session. Let’s see how well that pans out.
There were some notable gaps in my preparation. Some players just seemeed to have a lot of lag and I really need to prep for them a lot more. ogremarco, on the other hand, was a force of nature. I really need to plan for him less as he’s just great at driving his part of the game whereever he wants. Him organizing a celebration at his house before going on campaign in the north was a fun bit of action, though the camera then revolved around his character seeking out other PCs at the celebration. The other PCs didn’t mingle too much and I was having trouble improvising events at the party.
I was also a little surprised that the players didn’t share information as much. So a few secrets managed to stay well hidden, including the prophecy that was done out loud but not shared in character.
The basic groundwork laid out so far is that the newly Exalted Solars and Lunars were back in Cherak and feeling the heavy breath of the Wyld Hunt on their necks. One PC also found out that he was a son of the Scarlet Empress and was being pressured by his Daimyo into an arranged marriage engineered to take the Imperial throne. Some of the PCs, feeling the heat of the Hunt, decided to go campaigning in early winter in the tundra to the north. By the end of the game, the group was split in two main groups. Four of the PCs were battling further north, tracking down icewalkers connected to the group that killed off a chunk of their house and slowly revealing their Exalted nature to their followers. The other two remained in Cherak to try and root out what they can there, as well as prepare for the arrival of one PCs future bride.
So, things to work on for next time:
Planning more for players who didn’t get as much camera as last time.
Rub some salt in some of those psychic wounds that some of the characters have. I didn’t get a chance to read sirriamnis‘s character quiz until after the game. Had I known, I would have had a lot more lighter fluid for this session.
Figure out what to do with the folks on the march. I have some ideas, but it involves a bit more GM fiat. We’d sort of glossed over a month but I’d like to cover some finer bits of what they learn.
