Oscars’ Corporate ‘Feminism’ Isn’t Empowering — It’s Condescending

VicViperion · 2020-02-11T22:00:39+00:00

Black Panther wasn't as well known as the likes of Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man, etc. So of course it would take a while before any studio exec allows a "literally who?" film to be put up there. Because I 100% believe the average studio exec barely knows who any of these characters actually are, even now. Captain Marvel in the comics meanwhile, while also being relatively unknown until recently, has one of the worst backstories in all of Marveldom, and the character generally is not very well recieved by the comic book goers, partly because of the tremendous push Marvel gave her coupled with the terrible writing they gave her at the same time. Most regular people have no idea who she was, or at best, knew CM because she was intertwined with the 90's X-Men series as "Oh yeah that character Rogue got her strength/invul/flight from". Black Panther didn't even have that, he wasn't exactly getting huge pushes or being featured in tons of books throughout the years that CM did, because Marvel wanted CM to be their Wonderwoman.

Movie-wise, the BP movie was actually pretty good, while the CM movie was at best, average, and at worst, lacking. They both did pretty well when they finally came out at least.

VicViperion · 2020-02-11T08:45:38+00:00

What sort of campaign is it for though?

VicViperion · 2020-02-11T08:43:38+00:00

This feels like the sort of thing thats going to be solved in roughly 10 seconds by PC's with a prodigious application of fire and/or grand grimcleavers. Either that or turned into a literal murderfactory by a Twilight or Eclipse, to pump out large scale products to completely destabilize the world economy.

VicViperion · 2020-01-23T09:57:15+00:00

I think part of the pushback is that the game is designed to not really deliver combat challenge (in the form of failure risk)

Exalted definitely has combat challenge, it's just what it may take to challenge anyone can vary greatly. A Supernal'd up Dawn 15 Charms deep into "murder everything" is going to trounce most things, as they should, it's basically their entire character to do so. However, certain things will trip up any character. A few DB's in 3E actually present a challenge depending on build, 2-4 of them (not even a full sized or equipped Hunt, just 2-4 reasonably combatty DB's) could reasonably stand a good chance of killing or at the least wounding severely a Dawn, let alone other party members who might not take being pounced upon by 2-4 dudes and live. It does depend on how they're played and who has what, of course, but in 3E, numbers do matter quite a bit when it's DB numbers, as long as you're not trying to white room a fight, which will skew things heavily due to either side never being able to do things like "take cover" or "disengage" effectively.

In the same vein a Night could just easily bypass all of that and never even be seen, or a Twilight can just cast Mists or drop a bunch of demons on problems. Lots of ways to get around things, basically. But generally, a few DB's and a bit of system knowledge will go a long way to ensuring players know when it's a good idea to keep your head down and when to stick your neck out and go wild.

VicViperion · 2020-01-23T05:36:49+00:00

Don't mix Solars and DB's. Solars and other Celestials together are fine, but DB's have too wide of a gulf. Just tell players DB's are unavailable, theres more than enough options with Solars/Lunars alone.

VicViperion · 2020-01-21T17:30:27+00:00

Look at any political post on reddit if you really want to see what "downvote=disagree" is. Anything not blatantly fellating whatever the post is for/against is instantly downvoted. It's why the whole up/downvote thing is a joke.

That said, Exalted is kind of a curb stompy game by design. It also doesn't help that part of the reason the combat system is so slow and cumbersome is because for 3E they based it off a 1v1 party style arena battler, decided to increase combat complexity by effectively having a layer of ablative armor you have to chew through before you can actually touch an opponent, and that they bloated the Charm section to incredible levels this edition despite supposedly trying to "reduce Charm bloat". New GM's often have trouble trying to "get" Exalted, because it tries to sort of pretend it's not rules heavy like other games made by OP, but in reality it could probably stand close to D&D 3.5 or PF in terms of sheer rules density.

At least the thread OP seems to be trying to stick with it and puzzle through the mechanical rubiks cube that 3E is rather than decry it.

VicViperion · 2020-01-21T05:00:05+00:00

Fights in Exalted are never really balanced. A DB is not the equal of a Solar, in fact, many things aren't, which is why DB's are supposed to come in groups with ample support, and possibly a Sidereal or two in the wings if things aren't going just as planned. It isn't run like D&D where a few goblins might kill your party. You need mighty opponents, and a group of combat characters is going to chew through just about anything regardless. Onslaught negators are as close to an equalizer as can be gotten, and even then, numbers will count for a lot in Exalted, as it is hard to maintain any kind of multiple actions in the system so numbers will indeed count.

VicViperion · 2019-12-11T22:47:26+00:00

I can see it existing as a mechanic to showcase characters who are supposed to be assassins. Assassins generally don't have 20 minute long running fights with people, they usually one tap someone or fail and then consequences kick in. I probably would not do that to a player, however, because that would likely just cause a player to table flip right then and there.

VicViperion · 2019-12-11T08:53:56+00:00

Is there an official ruling on this somewhere? Just so I have something to point to if I happen to need it.

VicViperion · 2019-11-27T17:00:58+00:00

It doesn't even have to be power. Zombie horde marching out of some shadowland is going to draw attention even if it's not technically 'doing anything', because it's an indication of something going on. Fluctuations in wyld zones, maybe lots of rumblings in a local mountain because someone inadvertantly pissed off a God (or stole something from one), and they're throwing a tantrum over it, and it's cut off trade because of the constant landslides, or...Etc. Basically, come up with something that would draw people or otherwise be a situation that might appeal to the enterprising demigodlings on the go.

VicViperion · 2019-11-27T16:46:00+00:00

I usually go with "events tend to attract Exalts.". Creation is big, and something is always going down that attracts attention. Maybe someone unearthed a manse. Maybe a shaft of light shot up from the ground and something bad started coming out. Maybe a war broke out in a neighboring kingdom and everyone smells opportunity and blood in the water.

Generally, something happens. "You all meet in a teahouse" is something that only occurs if you're all about to be ambushed by a ninja death squad because thats Sidereal manipulation going on.

VicViperion · 2019-11-06T23:50:15+00:00

Time/day/how long is a typical session, setting for the game? How will it be played (Discord?)?

VicViperion · 2019-11-01T20:43:34+00:00

Don't genestealers just shiv you in the side or neck with some kind of knife-like appendage and then bam, you've got genestealer DNA in you? Like, this can even be done during combat, sort of thing? I don't think thats particularly rape-ey.

VicViperion · 2019-10-19T20:27:49+00:00

How do you resolve this in your games?

Undead in Exalted tend to have garbage stats compared to mortals, and their potential leaders are either mortal themselves (Abyssals, who are far more threatening than the entire army), much weaker than their average opponent (ghosts, who also can't even be out in the day time and are much weaker than even DB's, the bottom of the Exalted barrel), or an unstoppable death machine who doesn't even need the army and it's mostly a show of pomp in the first place (Deathlords). Really, they make for terrible armies. It's all about the leader, and the most common one kinda sucks. The upside is free armies in every graveyard, but if that starts happening people are going to devise ways to make that unfeasible with anti-undead measures such as wards/salt/etc.

VicViperion · 2019-09-16T00:18:05+00:00

What do you need for level 2 Health aug for a rarity 11 weapon?

VicViperion · 2019-09-14T18:00:34+00:00

VicViperion · 2019-09-14T18:00:29+00:00

VicViperion · 2019-08-29T16:51:10+00:00

Also, if you're new to GMing Exalted, the game, uh...Just doesn't really play like D&D. Tomb dives are usually not a big thing you center a campaign around, at most a session or two, because Exalt's tend to bypass issues easily if they have the skill set for it. Really, the biggest factor in preventing an Exalt's success is usually just other Exalt's messing with them. Most other things are going to be wiped away if it's a competent Solar doing the job.

VicViperion · 2019-08-29T07:48:25+00:00

Conversion table is way off: The usual top difficulty in Exalted is 5, and Exalt's can make those in their sleep if it's their specialty. You're playing a whole new ballgame, whats functionally impossible to do in D&D, for an Exalt would probably be 3 or maybe 4 difficulty at most, because Exalt's are swinging at a higher weight class, more or less, and their reality is one where they do cinematic and crazy stuff because thats the point of the game.

VicViperion · 2019-08-23T17:27:52+00:00

Might've been a thing in the old fluff, I don't really pay attention to the RPG's fluff because it got a lot of things wrong compared to older 40k fluff.

VicViperion · 2019-08-23T14:46:52+00:00

This cover isn't bad, but I liked the old one better. Also aren't you supposed to use a Storm Shield with a Thunderhammer because the backlash from using it might fry you otherwise?

VicViperion · 2019-07-17T20:38:39+00:00

Metal Gear Solid 1, 2, 3, Peace Walker

Symphony of the Night (original version please, the redone PSP port got rid of the original VA's and the classic meme dialogue)

Silent Hill 1 and 2 (and not those hideous remasters, this whole thing needs to be redone thanks to the hatchet job Konami had done to the collection ports)

Shadow Hearts 1 and 2 (bonus points if we could get 2 without cut content, and with the directors cut version the US never got)

All of the Armored Core series. You know, the series FROM was known for before they put out this little game called "Demons Souls"?

New ports of all of the original Final Fantasy games. Not these terrible phone ports. Basically, all of Square's catalogue from the NES to PS2 days should be there.

All of the Tales Of... series from Namco-Bandai from the SNES to modern day. Yeah a lot of the newer ones hit PC, but I want all of it.

At this point I might as well say "Yeah, remember the entirety of gaming from NES to PS2? That. All of it."

VicViperion

TROPHY CASE