User:Olaf: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 02:11, 28 June 2008

Basic Info

Name: Dan (Mun)
Age: 21
Concept: Storyteller
Political Affiliation: College of Mathematical and Physical Sciences
Anima: The Shaper (see the John Gardner novel, Grendel)
Motivation: Learn to play Dancing Mad on a pipe organ

Weapon of Choice: Freshly cut rhymes
Armor of Choice: Articulated Turn-table plate
Fighting Style: It is like ice dissolving in water.

Background

Dan is usually the group's primary storyteller, but is currently on a bit of a hiatus, as he's turning more into a writer than a storyteller. He's also currently hooked on Age of Conan (27 ToS on Stormrage), and plays a bit of TF2, DotA, and EleTD every now and then (CS:S has fallen out of favor). He's pursuing a major in Chemistry with a minor in Computer Science. Scientifically, his biggest interests (presently, anyhow) are photovoltaic cells and quantum-tunneling enzymes.

His major influences include Cowboy Bebop, most Final Fantasy games (especially Tactics), Kenshin, Inuyasha, and old epics (Odyssey, Iliad, Beowulf, Gilgamesh, etc.). His favorite game is Exalted, though he is of the opinion that the combat system could use a little streamlining. He'll be writing a program to do just that.

Grievances

(Revised)

The mass combat system doesn't handle troop-splitting or within-magnitude mismatches that well (i.e. 12 vs. 75 -- if all other factors are equal, including identical commanders, the 75 should crush the 12). Dan had a pretty good thing going with the suggestion to figure in size difference to the wound penalty of the force, though this could get hairy if the match-up is across magnitude.

Combat is very calculation heavy for storytellers hoping to run legitimately cool fight scenes. The Exalted system of minimum damage being based on Essence heavily disfavors single opponents of a higher power level than the players. This is fine, but managing a larger number of NPCs of similar power-level to the players gets really messy, and things get bogged down on both ends of the screen. There's no way to fix this if the game is to retain its almost video-game like feel to battles (I mean this in a good way -- it feels like you're really gaming when there's so many mechanically-defined things you can do), though an automated combat calculator would do wonders (working on it).

I still don't think piercing damage should have a sliding scale -- I understand that it's Exalted, and it's magic, and it's epic, so my begrudging compromise would be that piercing damage deals 50% soak damage when piercing weapons are in the hands of Exalts. In the hands of a mortal, there's no excuse for a target arrow penetrating only 50% through breastplate if it pierces 50% of the way through chain-swathing (presumably much sturdier and thicker). If I were to implement this rule, it would be a fair number, so as not to make these weapons useless for mortals -- most likely, it wouldn't do much good against articulated and above, but might completely negate low-level armors such as chain shirts

@@ Line 2: / Line 2: @@
 [[image:avatar.jpg|frame|right]]
 '''Name:''' Dan (Mun)
-<br/>'''Age:''' 20
+<br/>'''Age:''' 21
 <br/>'''Concept:''' Storyteller
 <br/>'''Political Affiliation:''' College of Mathematical and Physical Sciences
 <br/>'''Anima:''' The Shaper (see the John Gardner novel, Grendel)
-<br/>'''Motivation:''' Find a way to play Exalted every day and still maintain a relatively productive lifestyle
+<br/>'''Motivation:''' Learn to play Dancing Mad on a pipe organ
-<br/><br/>'''Weapon of Choice:''' Jones Reagent
+<br/><br/>'''Weapon of Choice:''' Freshly cut rhymes
-<br/>'''Armor of Choice:''' Molozonide Shell
+<br/>'''Armor of Choice:''' Articulated Turn-table plate
-<br/>'''Fighting Style:''' Overwhelming carboxylic acid oxidation style
+<br/>'''Fighting Style:''' It is like ice dissolving in water.
 ==Background==
-Dan is the primary Exalted storyteller.  He's currently pursuing a major in Chemistry and minor in Computer Science, but would major in Citrine Poxes of Contagion Style if it were offered at OSU.  His motivation for playing Exalted is his overwhelming hope that he is, in fact, part of this world, and will awaken from a Mists-of-Eventide-induced-coma in due time.  Shockingly, he also enjoys most video game RPGs, especially the <i>Final Fantasy</i> series.  His favorite is Tactics, though his second favorite is a matter of much internal debate.  Counter-Strike: Source and TF2 are enjoyed as well.
+Dan is usually the group's primary storyteller, but is currently on a bit of a hiatus, as he's turning more into a writer than a storyteller.  He's also currently hooked on Age of Conan (27 ToS on Stormrage), and plays a bit of TF2, DotA, and EleTD every now and then (CS:S has fallen out of favor).  He's pursuing a major in Chemistry with a minor in Computer Science.  Scientifically, his biggest interests (presently, anyhow) are photovoltaic cells and quantum-tunneling enzymes.
-Science is his excuse to do cool shit in the real world.  Given the chance, he'd instead happily play host to an Exalted shard and run off to slay a behemoth, daiklave in hand.
+His major influences include Cowboy Bebop, most Final Fantasy games (especially Tactics), Kenshin, Inuyasha, and old epics (Odyssey, Iliad, Beowulf, Gilgamesh, etc.).  His favorite game is Exalted, though he is of the opinion that the combat system could use a little streamlining.  He'll be writing a program to do just that.
 ==Grievances==
-*I've made my peace with piercing damage; it's here to stay, and I've accepted that.  It is, however, fate's last cruel revenge that dire lances shall remain relegated to standard damage, despite their overwhelming tendency to... well, pierce things.
+(Revised)
+*The mass combat system doesn't handle troop-splitting or within-magnitude mismatches that well (i.e. 12 vs. 75 -- if all other factors are equal, including identical commanders, the 75 should crush the 12).  Dan had a pretty good thing going with the suggestion to figure in size difference to the wound penalty of the force, though this could get hairy if the match-up is across magnitude.
-*The mass combat system is hellishly broken, and not just in the sense that you can abuse it if you want to.  It actually doesn't account for commanders who want to split a group within a given magnitude range up into smaller groups still within that magnitude range, which is a fairly common scenario, especially for medium size groups conducting guerrilla attacks.
+*Combat is very calculation heavy for storytellers hoping to run legitimately cool fight scenes.  The Exalted system of minimum damage being based on Essence heavily disfavors single opponents of a higher power level than the players.  This is fine, but managing a larger number of NPCs of similar power-level to the players gets really messy, and things get bogged down on both ends of the screen.  There's no way to fix this if the game is to retain its almost video-game like feel to battles (I mean this in a good way -- it feels like you're really gaming when there's so many mechanically-defined things you can do), though an automated combat calculator would do wonders (working on it).
-*To White Wolf: Dude, we know it's high fantasy and you don't want us to piss around with exact money calculations, but it totally ruins the mood to have an NPC merchant say, "Well that'll cost you about Resources 2 worth of jade."  GIVE US NUMBERS TO CORRELATE TO RESOURCES DOTS.
+*I still don't think piercing damage should have a sliding scale -- I understand that it's Exalted, and it's magic, and it's epic, so my begrudging compromise would be that piercing damage deals 50% soak damage when piercing weapons are in the hands of Exalts.  In the hands of a mortal, there's no excuse for a target arrow penetrating only 50% through breastplate if it pierces 50% of the way through chain-swathing (presumably much sturdier and thicker).  If I were to implement this rule, it would be a fair number, so as not to make these weapons useless for mortals -- most likely, it wouldn't do much good against articulated and above, but might completely negate low-level armors such as chain shirts
-*In a rare turn of events, I actually think Exalted charges too much for a powerful item.  I just don't think artifact Superheavy Plate, as awesome as it is, is Artifact 5 awesome.  I'd give it artifact 4.  Just a thought, though.  House ruling will follow pending discussion with players.
-*People say it wouldn't have made for much of a game, but I think everyone would have been perfectly happy if Sephiroth would have disemboweled Cloud about halfway into the story.