The Road Between Light and Dark: The Dust Settles (Exalted)

Holy heck, it's been a while. Sorry about that, just been juggling a lot of mental health stuff, and there've been a number of little things that escaped my attention and had to be corralled.

Wow, that was a sloppy metaphor. See, this is why I have imposter syndrome, because I write shit like that and someone still occasionally pays me to write things.

Friggin' heck. Still, it could be worse. My group's been playtesting some material that I'm not gonna put up on the blog just yet because, well, playtesting. It's still secret. But that means it's not like I'm getting further and further behind on The Road Between Light and Dark.

Speaking of which...

The Road Between Light and Dark: What Did or Didn't Happen (Exalted)

Hey there, folks, apologies for how quiet it's been here. Juggling things here, etc. Also, I didn't get around to getting those core system Alchemical builds up while the crowdfunding campaign was up, but I will get to them. But I'm still behind on my session write-ups, so I wanted to knock out another of these first. I could probably go into much less detail than I do on them, but especially on the chattier sessions, I have trouble finding a middle ground between 'excruciating amounts of detail' and 'summarize the entire session in half a dozen paragraphs.' But between a brief holiday hiatus and the fact that I'm playtesting something with the group (which won't go on the blog right away), I should have a little time to get caught up.

(Speaking of which, this is another talking-heavy session, so there might be details I get wrong or put things in the wrong order. If any of my players see this and would like to offer a correction, let me know.)

So here we go. Oh, and before I forget, I hope everyone reading this is having a happy and safe holiday season.

The Road Between Light and Dark: Battle at the Summit (Exalted)

Okay, still trying to get caught up, so on and so forth, usual blah blah blah. I still need to get my Alchemical write-ups finished (I've got the ExEss write-ups, now I need to do the core system versions), but I don't want to get too far behind on this.

I'm gonna tell you now, it might be a little long, because this post features a fight that took multiple sessions to resolve (and gets a little graphic in places, be warned), but it was a ton of fun -- hopefully I can make it fun to read.

Before we get into it, just a couple of reminders: First, the Alchemicals splatbook (which, in case it needs repeating, I worked on) is still funding on Backerkit; come pledge and check out the previews! Second, the Trinity Continuum Player's Guide (which I also worked on) is up on DriveThruRPG in PDF and PoD. I'm always proud of the work I do on the books, and the TCPG was a delightful challenge because of the material I was covering.

And now, on with the show!

Building a Character: Exalted Essence (Another Alchemical!)

Hey there, back again with another magical robot Exalt for the blog. In case you missed it, the Alchemicals Backerkit is running and going into its last week. Here's a second Essence Alchemical character, and as soon as I can swing it I'll post a core system version using the crowdfunding manuscript preview material.

In case you missed it, I've already posted an Adamant Caste Alchemical based in Creation, and you can follow that link for the basic gist of what the Alchemical Exalted are and where they come from. (Also, there's a bunch of fluff from that write-up that's relevant to this one but for the sake of brevity I'll just refer back to it rather than repeat myself more than necessary.) But now I'm going to do an Alchemical based in Autochthonia itself -- a Jade Caste, this time.

So let's get into it.

The Road Between Light and Dark: Once Above, Now Below (Exalted)

Hey there, here we are again, so on and so forth. Unless something's gone horribly wrong, the last thing I posted before this should have been an Alchemical character build, and I have another almost ready, as my little way of celebrating the Alchemicals: Forged by the Machine God crowdfunding campaign on Backerkit! As I post this, the campaign's about half-over, and so far a big chunk of the manuscript has been previewed, including one of the sections I worked on.

Also, as a reminder, the Trinity Continuum Player's Guide is available in print and PoD. In fact, between backing it on Kickstarter and working on it, I have an extra 'free PDF' code for DriveThruRPG. I'll put a time limit on this of, say, until the Alchemicals campaign wraps up (so about two weeks), and the first person within that time who tells me they saw this can get that code.

And now, on with the show!

Building a Character: Exalted Essence (An Alchemical!)

Greetings, programs!

That seems kind of a fitting opening, given that we're talking about magical robots here. Not that they're strictly programmed, but whatever. Today I'm posting an Alchemical Exalt in honor of the upcoming crowdfunding campaign on Backerkit, which is to begin today (November 14th) at 2PM Eastern, AFAIK.

So, first, off, if you don't know what Alchemicals are, they are a type of Exalt -- the Chosen of Autochthon, the Machine God (not the God-Machine, that's something different). If you don't know Exalted, try this setting primer to get you caught up. Autochthon himself is one of the Ancients, a primordial titan who helped build Creation and the gods and the humans and all that. When the gods rose up against their cruel creators, Autochthon was one of two that turned against his own kin and sided with the gods.

Arguably, Autochthon made the Divine Revolution possible -- the gods were prevented from acting directly against the Titans, but Autochthon showed them how to create human champions who could fight for them -- the process of Exaltation itself. After the Revolution, for a handful of reasons, Autochthon left Creation entirely after scooping up his followers and a bunch of random mortals to populate his world-body. There's a whole society inside him, called Autochthonia.

Autochthonia has its own Exalted, the Alchemicals -- but unlike the Exalted in (and adjacent to) Creation, these aren't mortals gifted with power but techno-magical constructs with the souls of heroic mortals and the same sort of divine power with which other Exalted are gifted. In the past, Alchemicals usually get printed up towards the end of an edition because they're sealed off in their own little world and aside from some adventure hooks involving Autochthonia re-establishing contact with Creation (the most well-known being the Locust Crusade), there's not a lot that can be done with them in the larger game.

Third Edition tweaks this, somewhat. It's established now that before leaving Creation, Autochthon built some prototypes that for one reason or another got left behind. There are one or two other possibilities of how they can wind up in Creation, and I can't recall if the details of how that could happen have been expounded upon so I won't get into that here. So for that reason, I'm planning on doing two Alchemical characters -- one in Creation, one in Autochthonia.

This is the Creation-side one first, and we're building them up with the Essence rules. So let's get to it!

The Road Between Light and Dark: Freezing Below (Exalted)

Still getting caught up, yadda yadda. I actually started this right after finishing typing up the previous post, which is funny. Then I got held up. So anyhow, that gives me an excuse to properly plug the Trinity Continuum Player's Guide, which is out now on DriveThruRPG! Also, another book I worked on, Alchemicals: Forged by the Machine God for Exalted 3rd Edition, goes into crowdfunding on either November 12th or 14th, and I'll certainly have a link in the show noteson here when that begins. 

I'll try to get them in without interfering too much with getting caught up on the updates, but I've been planning on doing a couple of Alchemical character builds for the blog -- a couple of characters first written up in ExEss, and then once the relevant preview manuscripts are out for the core system, I'll do core versions for them.

Anyhow, with that out of the way...

The Road Between Light and Dark: On the Breeze (Exalted)

I know it's been another quiescent period around these parts. If anyone's been paying attention to this blog and/or following along with my group's adventures, I apologize and I'll get caught up as soon as possible. I've just been running on an extreme spoons deficit as of late, and fell out of the habit of getting them regularly done over the summer. I need to build back up to that rhythm. Please be patient with me while I do so.

In the meantime, I've got a couple of minor announcements to make. This Wednesday, at DriveThruRPG, the Trinity Continuum Player's Guide is officially released! I'll link it when that happens. Also, according to this week's Monday Meeting Notes over at the Onyx Path site, next month the Alchemicals book is being crowdfunded! Oh heck! I was planning on doing a little something for that, should probably get on it. I'll update you as I have more info.

The Road Between Light and Dark: Business Partners (Exalted)

Greetings, my good peeps. I'm aware I fell behind a bit and I'm still getting caught up. 

By the way, I didn't want to tack it onto the previous post, but a recent episode of the Onyx Pathcast has developer Chazz Kellner and writer Elliott Freeman talking about the Alchemicals book for Exalted Third Edition. They don't talk about anything I specifically wrote (with one possible tiny exception), but if you've been curious at all about Alchemicals and how they're being presented in this edition give it a listen! You can find it here!

The Road Between Light and Dark: Medicine (Exalted)

Hey there again, I know it's been quiet here. I'm a little behind on these Exalted posts -- just as soon as I got caught up, I know -- and I don't have a good reason, just grappling with some stuff and couldn't line up my brain right to get into it.

I don't really have much in the way of personal announcements or anything. Closest thing to such is that the Trinity Continuum Player's Guide is now out as a backer PDF for folks who crowdfunded, and it's been interesting going back through and seeing how my writing got through editing, now formatted and with artwork and stuff. I was dealing with a few things when I wrote it, and it's weird to look back on almost two years later. But at the same time, it's always exciting to see my work presented in a final-ish form (and I legitimately hope it always will be).

Anyhow, this is about to take a needlessly-maudlin turn, when we're supposed to be focusing on my group's Exalted adventures.

The Road Between Light and Dark: The Root of the Problem (Exalted)

Hey there, folks, here we are with me trying (and failing) to get this write-up assembled and posted with plenty of time to work on/worry about other things before the next session.

And, um... yeah. Can't think of anything else to add. So let's do this thing.

The Road Between Light and Dark: Clash in the Crypt (Exalted)

Hello there, hello there. If you follow my blog normally, there's a chance you'll see this right after I post a couple more entries because I got a couple done and ready to go all at once. But unless something stupid happens between me typing this sentence and tomorrow, I should officially be caught up in time for my next session. Thanks for sticking with me.

Speaking of which, I'm not gonna keep harping on about it after this post, but here's another call for a response or some other feedback regarding my plans for this blog.

The Road Between Light and Dark: After Death (Exalted)

Something something still getting caught up...

I keep wanting to think of something else to put here, but nothing's coming to me, especially since I'm working on some of these 'catch up' posts back to back without any time for interesting thoughts or personal news to break them up. Maybe I'll do one of the character builds I've got in mind between this one and the next one, who knows. (Here's Chris from the future, saying I went ahead and got fully  caught up, as you may know by now.)

Anyhow...

The Road Between Light and Dark: Leaves (Exalted)

Okay, unless for some reason this is the first one of my posts you've seen, you know what this is -- me getting caught up on past sessions. But with this post, we wrap up "Nightmare" and move into the next story -- which is the current story as of this writing, which means I'm making progress!

And at the risk of sounding like a broken record, still looking for input on the blog itself. As of this writing/posting, literally the only response I've gotten from someone is "Sorry, I don't read the blog, I'm not a blog reader." Which is usually the only response I ever get, if I get one at all, but at least this time it's from someone different than usual.

Anyhow, before I put myself into a spiral, let's get this show on the road...

The Road Between Light and Dark: A Glimpse of Heaven (Exalted)

Okay, if you've been keeping up with the blog, you know where we're at and what we're doing. Just a quick reminder that I'm still seeking some input about other things I could be doing with this blog, if anyone's got any interest in that.

The Road Between Light and Dark: Nightmare (Exalted)

Hey there, folks, I've got another Exalted post for you in my Sisyphean quest to try and get caught up while sessions are still happening.

Just as a quick note, I'm still looking for input and feedback regarding my recent post elsewhere on this blog.

And now, let's get into it!

The Road Between Light and Dark: The Stars Align (Exalted)

Okay, here we are, on my ongoing trek to get caught up on my session write-ups. This one wraps up the eighth 'episode' and kinda starts the ninth, hence the overlapping tags.

First, here's a quick reminder that I recently did a Pathfinder character write-up elsewhere on my blog, for those of you who prefer your fantasy with d20s instead of d10s.

Second, and more importantly, I'm also looking for some feedback on stuff about the blog in general.

And with that...

The Road Between Light and Dark: Spawn of the Underways (Exalted)

Alright, here we are again, as I'm getting caught up on Exalted posts. As of this posting, after completing this one I'll have... ugh, four left, including the session we just had. I really kinda fell apart in June, didn't I?

(This also means that I might screw up or fudge details in the talkier bits, and I apologize if I get something wrong. If one of my players sees this and lets me know, I'll fix it.)

In addition, I finished up and posted a character build the other day, too. You can find it over here, where I made a Kitsune Bard based on my fursona (because I'm furry trash) in Pathfinder 2e Remastered.

Anyhow...

The Road Between Light and Dark: Descent (Exalted)

Welp, me again, on my quest to try and get caught up on my Exalted write-ups.

Can't think of anything to add, so let's just get into it.

The Road Between Light and Dark: Life, Death, and the Space Between (Exalted)

Hey there, sorry it's been quiet here. As I've mentioned before, it's been a little busy on my end, both with writing and in my head. But my Alchemicals draft is in and I've emerged from the Realm of Brass and Shadow to start getting caught up on way-too-many Exalted sessions.

So let's get into it.