A deluxe supplement detailing the Lunar Exalted for the Exalted 3rd Edition tabletop RPG
Latest Updates from Our Project:
Tula wheeled through the air
about 5 years ago
– Sun, Feb 24, 2019 at 06:00:52 AM
Tula wheeled through the air above a snow-covered forest valley, not far from her secret encampment. From her vantage she measured the flaws in her small army’s hit-and-run wilderness exercises. As soldiers, they were green as her wings, distrustful of their arms, armor, and comrades. Still farmers at heart. If they relied on muscle instead of maneuverability to fight the Realm garrison, Cathak soldiers would scythe through them without slowing.
Tula remembered well.
She issued an “exercise halt” command by birdsong, but words were better for lecturing. So she swooped down to the treeline to find a perch, and traded feathers for leathers and beak for mouth. Tula allowed them no time to goggle at her transformation; there weren’t enough hours left in the season.
“Gather close!” she commanded, noting who was slow to obey. She addressed her squads as they came within easier shouting distance, calling out flaws in their teamwork. “Vahi, look before you break cover. Maccus, you got to keep moving. Shreya and Lali, stop running ahead of Calder.” Tula pointed to the vulnerable straggler. “Your squadmate. Probably caught or killed. Never...”
Never going home to his family. Tula wasn’t sure it was what they needed to hear. It wasn’t what she’d meant to think. But she thought it all the time.
She’d helped Calder’s family herd cattle more than once. The women who’d just let him “die” were his cousins. They’d been pranksters when they were younger. Now they were so serious. Now they looked at her like someone new. Someone with the power and experience to stand against the tax collectors and their cruel Imperial enforcers. Tula wasn’t sure she wanted to be someone new.
She still cared, like they did. She still felt like a farmer at heart, with hands itching for honest work. She was still as young, hopeful, even stubborn, as she’d ever been, as they all were. The difference was that, unlike her, none of them had ever really been alone.
Tula remembered what it was like.
She remembered the roar of flame and the crack of lightning. She remembered the panic in her comrades’ eyes, the tense silence of once-boisterous bandits, the rank smell of fear in their hideout. Tula wished she could remember Ajit’s smile as well as she could remember his blood-drenched grimace. She’d have given anything to taste Karu’s cooking again, instead of the smoke that billowed from her flesh. It was hard to recall Blue Spring’s courage and leadership instead of her begging and wailing, cut short with a meaty chop while Tula squeezed her eyes shut.
She remembered being alone, too afraid to call out. She remembered being trapped, and wishing for freedom. She remembered her fear and shame bleeding away as her heart beat faster, louder, demanding that she become —
Tula was someone new, now. The sweaty, mud-spattered recruits in their hand-me-down leather armor didn’t need Tula the Rider or Groundbreaker or Brewer. They needed the Reaver, and the Reaver would use them all up if it meant cutting a hole in House Cathak. The Reaver would rest when the battle was done, and Tula would console their families, one by one. But she couldn’t think of them now. There weren’t enough hours left in the season.
“...Never forget, your job’s not winning,” she said, improvising a speech, projecting her voice and confidence across the camp. “Your job’s losing less than the enemy, every time. Don’t be aggressive; be protective. Don’t be greedy; be stingy. Your squadmates are part of you, now. Never let them out of sight. You’ll never forgive yourself if you do.”
#FangsAtTheGate
#EX3Lunars
Second Saturday Summary
about 5 years ago
– Sat, Feb 23, 2019 at 12:47:45 PM
Hello Gatecrashers!
It's the second Saturday of the campaign, and time for another weekly summary!
Why don't I wait a day and do these on Sundays? Because SUNdays are for SOLARS!! COME ON!
We are currently sitting at just over 315% funded, with more than 1,730 backers joined together in our cause (#SilverPact) to bring this book from a manuscript into a physical form. And not just any physical form, but a deluxe hardcover version that's a true artifact.
And, in keeping with the theme, we're spreading the content over multiple forms - including building another book entirely - a Lunars companion called Many-Faced Strangers.
And, we've just hit another Stretch Goal to make it even better -
UNLEASHED! - MANY-FACED STRANGERS – Chapter Fiction: Added chapter fiction to the Lunars Companion.
How awesome is more fiction? You tell me...
The only things that thrived in Nexus’ polluted rivers were catfish, and even they more crawled than swam through the grime below the water’s surface. Yet even in the mud with the bottom feeders, Seven Devil Clever could see the Immaculate’s anima, a dark and shimmering current that flowed against the river and illuminated a place the moon’s light never touched.
A Dragon-Blood’s searching eyes would only see a fish, however. Seven Devil Clever risked waggling a fin at the Immaculate as he floated in the river. With any luck, he’d give up the search with the two other shikari waiting above the water, and she’d have a bit more breathing room in the city for at least another day.
With a single deft motion, the Immaculate opened a pouch on his belt, thrust his hand in, and made a sweeping motion. Seven Devil Clever flinched, but then she caught the scent of corn and crawfish as the fragments floated to the bottom. Realization dawned too late, as all the bottom feeders suddenly swarmed, and the Immaculate caught sight of the one fish who apparently wasn’t hungry.
Seven Devil Clever twisted in the muck, shimmering silver inside and out, until she was a river dolphin that she’d hunted far upstream from Nexus. Fear twisted in her gut, but the rage was there under the surface too, closer than catfish to the water’s surface. She surged forward, crashing her argent-shining snout against the Immaculate’s nose with a crunch that was as satisfying physically as it was spiritually.
For a brief moment, she considered fighting, swimming rings around him until she could land a telling blow. Then he reached out with a shining hand to slap a pressure point beneath her slick skin. Her rage sputtered out as her lungs filled with water, and Seven Devil Clever decided to go with her original plan of swimming the hell away.
With two powerful movements of her tail, Seven Devil Clever broke the surface and leaped high into the air. She took an arrow in her hide — the Wood Aspect had also caught up, it seemed — thorns erupting from the barb and digging deep into her ribs. She snarled and shifted again, landing on Nexus’ dirt streets as a fox.
She bit down on the arrow’s shaft, winced at the taste, and yanked it out, along with a gob of her own flesh. When she looked back, the Immaculate stood on the bridge over Nexus’ district river, still shining faintly. He bowed stiffly out of respect, then assumed some graceful and elegant stance. The Water Aspect’s anima flared, while a stream of pure, fresh water ran from his feet to trickle and foam into the fetid rushes.
Right. Stick to the plan.
The early morning crowd parted easily for her, or perhaps for the three robed demigods charging in her wake. No matter how quickly she ran, they were faster. But this was her city, and no fox ever ran straight in a chase.
Seven Devil Clever’s razor-keen eyes swept the streets for an escape route, finding a stack of crates climbing to a low roof. She raced up and over them, bounding across rooftops shrouded with early-morning mist. She could see every step, every perch, every route before she took it, and within minutes she was at her den, bursting through a third-story window and frightening every crook and petty thief within.
A query from her lieutenant was silenced by a bloodied finger. She waited and watched the window, and none dared move for an hour. Finally, Seven Devil Clever breathed, and every one of her Band of the Fox breathed with her.
“Well,” she said, standing gingerly. This wasn’t defeat. She could feel her Essence growing each day, and more and more of the city’s spirits agreed to her pacts as the Immaculates made their presence known. The gods’ blessings would strengthen her gang, assuming the ruffians survived.
“Tyo, Shaina, Vere,” she said, beckoning. “I’ve got a task for you. We’re going to hunt the hunters.”
It's James, your point person for this kickstarter campaign.
So, let's keep at it! Spread the word - share this campaign with your friends on social media and in your social circles, and let's keep adding additional rewards and building an awesome assortment of Lunar extras with Many-Faced Strangers.
At $195,000 in funding -DIGITAL WALLPAPER – An awesome digital wallpaper for your computer desktop featuring the Lunar Exalted.
At $200,000 in funding - MANY-FACED STRANGERS – War for the Caul: An adventure path and Storyteller resource for playing out the conflict between the Lunar Exalted and the Realm on the mysterious continent of the Caul.
At $205,000 in funding -MANY-FACED STRANGERS – The Shadow Fang Vanguard: A discussion of this autocratic splinter group of the Silver Pact, including its traditions, political culture, and ambitions. Also provides stat blocks for its leaders: the majestic, brutal caribou prince Tayan Silver-Crowned; and her black-crowned night heron advisor Feather Drenched in the Blood of the Fallen.
At $210,000 in funding - MANY-FACED STRANGERS – Signature Lunar QCs: Stat blocks for the four signature Lunars: the charming but cold-hearted mantis swordsman Tegama; the fennec fox trickster Sazay Shadow-Dancer; the nautilus shaman Silent Pearl; and the emerald dove warleader Tula the Reaver.
#FangsAtTheGate
#EX3Lunars
Backers Only - Charms Preview Part 2
about 5 years ago
– Fri, Feb 22, 2019 at 02:55:17 AM
This post is for backers only. Please visit Kickstarter.com and log in to read.
Another Charming Preview
about 5 years ago
– Thu, Feb 21, 2019 at 05:10:11 AM
Hello Gatecrashers!
Another peek at some Lunar Charms, these coming from the second Charms manuscript section that will be posted for Backers Only tomorrow. If these are intriguing, you've still got plenty of time to jump on to this kickstarter campaign and follow along! Backers will be able to review the entire manuscript before the campaign concludes!
Nest-Raiding Slyness
Cost: —; Mins: Dexterity 3, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: None
The Lunar steals the safety of home, and with it, identity. She performs a sacred hunt to claim an animal or human shape by infiltrating a place her target considers home: a peasant’s hovel, a Dynast’s estate, a wolf’s den, etc. To do so, she must be in the home at the same time as her target, escape without being captured, and do something that reveals the extent of her intrusion — stealing a precious heirloom, carving her name into a wall, leaving a letter scented with her favorite perfume, etc. — such that her victim forms a negative Tie toward her, or whoever he believes she is.
If the Lunar is captured or retreats to avoid capture, the sacred hunt fails, and she can’t take her target’s shape through this Charm for the rest of the story. She may still attempt sacred hunts against him by other means.
Twisting Penumbra Veil
Cost: 7m, 4i, 1wp; Mins: Dexterity 5, Essence 3
Type: Reflexive
Keywords: Clash, Mute, Perilous, Protean
Duration: Instant
Prerequisite Charms: Silent Swooping Owl
As an enemy lunges at the Lunar, she recedes like evening mist, vanishing into the shadows. To use this Charm, she must have Initiative 12+ and be within at short range of a viable hiding spot. She clashes an attack with (Dexterity + Stealth), ignoring penalties for Stealth in combat. If successful, she moves one range band to enter the hiding spot, if necessary, and automatically establishes concealment against her attacker. All other onlookers roll (Perception + Awareness) against her roll to determine if she establishes concealment against them. This doesn’t count as her move action. If she loses the clash, she doesn’t enter concealment.
This Charm can only be used once per scene, unless reset by landing a decisive unexpected attack that resets the Lunar’s Initiative.
Protean: In animal shapes with the Tiny Creature or Minuscule Size Merits, those Merits impose their penalty on larger foes’ clashing attack rolls as though they were Awareness rolls.
The Lunar’s flesh twists and writhes, portions of her body transforming into small animals or parts of larger creatures. Skin unwinds into serpents; hornets burrow out of her flesh; sharp-fanged maws open across her body. When an enemy successfully attacks her from close range, she can make a decisive counterattack with an unarmed attack or natural weapon. This deals (Essence) dice of lethal damage, ignoring Hardness. It doesn’t include or reset the Lunar’s Initiative. She adds (Essence) dice of damage to counterattacks made with Coiled Serpent Strikes (p. XX) from close range using unarmed attacks or natural weapons.
While clinched, counterattacks enhanced with this Charm ignore penalties for being grappled, and the Lunar can respond to her enemy’s restrain, drag, release, or other non-attack grapple actions with counterattacks. If she controls a grapple, she may make one reflexive decisive attack on each of her turns against her victim, which functions identically to this Charm’s counterattacks.
Special activation rules: When the Lunar uses Deadly Beastman Transformation (p. XX), she may reflexively activate this Charm.
Totemic: Lunars with a hive-dwelling spirit shape may learn this as a Stamina Charm, with Salamander’s Tail Feint (p. XX) as its prerequisite.
Raiton’s Dark Auspice
Cost: —; Mins: Intelligence 2, Essence 1
Type: Permanent
Keywords: None
Duration: Permanent
Prerequisite Charms: Crossroads Walker Entreaty
Even if her wanderings lead to the Underworld, the Lunar shaman’s wisdom is recognized. She adds (higher of Essence or 3) dice on bargain and persuade rolls targeting ghosts. Ghosts whose corpses the Lunar’s provided a proper burial or similar funereal rites recognize her deed; they’re considered to have Major Ties of friendship toward her. Ghosts whose heart’s blood the Lunar took in life also have this Intimacy, though they don’t recognize this fact, feeling an inexplicable affinity for her. If a ghost has reason to oppose the Lunar, this virtual Tie is only Minor. If the Lunar attacks a ghost or threatens one of his Major or Defining Intimacies, he can pay one Willpower to suppress this Intimacy for (his Integrity) days.
The Lunar feeds someone her blood as a catalyst for transformation, twisting him into a bestial shape. In combat, this requires a difficulty 5 Brawl or Martial Arts gambit. Outside of combat, her target must either be willing, helpless to stop her, or tricked into consuming her blood unknowingly. The Lunar then rolls ([Intelligence + [Lore, Occult, or Presence]) opposing his (Stamina + [Integrity or Resistance]) roll. Success transforms him into an animal whose shape she possesses (except Legendary Size or Minuscule Size forms). This functions like Lunar shapeshifting (p. XX), except that the victim’s actions use the lower of his or the animal’s dice pool or static value (3 dice if the animal has no listed pool). His intellect isn’t diminished.
This transformation lasts (1 + Lunar’s extra successes) days. She may undo it, or set a condition that will end the transformation. She can inflict permanent transformations on mortals or animals whose Willpower doesn’t exceed her Essence. This Charm is a shaping effect that Destiny-Manifesting Method (Exalted, p. 304) or similar magic can defend against.
The Lunar binds her mightiest prey’s Essence into wonders worthy of the hunt. Upon beginning a superior project with any Attribute to create an artifact that incorporates the remains of a supernatural creature she participated in slaying, she gains (its Essence x2) gold points, which must be spent towards the project’s interval rolls or the costs of Charms enhancing it.
Upon completion, the Lunar rolls (prey’s Essence), awakening one Evocation whose prerequisites she meets at no experience cost for every two successes, minimum one Evocation. Alternatively, she may awaken Evocations for another character that participated in slaying the quarry, or for her Solar mate.
This Charm can only be used once per story.
#EX3Lunars
#FangsAtTheGate
On the prow of a gleaming warship...
about 5 years ago
– Wed, Feb 20, 2019 at 05:30:00 AM
On the prow of a gleaming warship, Lukha Palash regarded a city about to fall.
“Look,” he instructed Kamezi, pointing to the docks. “You see that?”
The Issyk lieutenant placed muscular forearms on the galley’s railing, squinting across the waves. In the port of Rist, defenders lined the docks to make one last stand against the Bronze Tide. But that wasn’t what Lukha wanted Kamezi to see. Throughout the city beyond, columns of smoke furled into the sky.
“They’re all across the city. What are they burning?”
“Look closer,” Lukha said. The Changing Moon closed his eyes and let wave-crash and the smell of brine fill his consciousness. Behind him, a Mygdon war fleet’s bird-prowed hulls cut through the wreckage from this morning’s hard-fought battle. The Bronze Tide had lost a dozen galleys to Rist’s cannons. Decks ran red with blood, and the cries of the injured blended with those of the gulls wheeling above. But steep as the Tide’s losses were, it was Rist who’d truly lost — Lukha’s ships had utterly destroyed their navy.
Lukha had spotted the first wisps of smoke shortly after the fleets engaged. More and more had appeared, the longer the fighting went on.
“Ahh, I see,” Kamezi marveled. “It’s the storehouses, isn’t it?”
Like any city in the Cinder Isles, Rist traded in the sea’s riches: redfin, pearls, murex dye, and whale blubber oil. Word had reached Lukha of a kill so huge that it would light the city’s lanterns for a thousand nights, calling the Bronze Tide like raitons to a corpse. Now it seemed Rist’s citizens were determined to deny the Bronze Tide the spoils.
“The storehouses,” said Lukha, “and the fields beyond. They’re burning them as they flee.” He admired the strategy, even though it made things harder for his own people.
“What a shame to waste those resources,” the lieutenant lamented. “It’s not just food and oil, though, is it? Surely the flames will spread. Why would they do this to their home?”
“How did we leave ours, Kamezi, and why? We are our people — not our cities, not our ships. Pride in what we’ve built is a luxury.” He turned, gesturing to the fleet with a lithe, tattooed arm. “Did we want to leave our soil, the shrines their mothers kept? Are you any less Issyk for not looking back? Am I any less Mygdon?”
The lieutenant wrestled with this in silence.
“You know what we’d see if we did.” All who had set sail with the Bronze Tide had heard the stories of the Fair Folk’s arrival on the Cinder Isles. But in the moment of Lukha’s Exaltation, he’d seen it. When Luna came to him, they showed him what his people fled: the impossible beauty with which Spear-Empress Bhadri and her companions ripped away the faces of kings, inhaling souls like vapor from their dreamlike boiling pits. For Lukha, the stories were memories, the Bronze Tide as much flight as conquest.
His tattoos shone with silver anima now, wings unfolding from his back, his feet becoming talons. His galley and those beside it breached the mouth of the port. A defiant roar went up from the warriors awaiting their arrival. The fleet’s sailors answered it with one of their own.
“Wait for my sign. When you land, Kamezi, fight with respect. We all do what we must.”
It's James, your point person for this Kickstarter campaign.
Greetings, Gatecrashers!
We've finished our first week of this campaign, and I'm happy to say that we're currently sitting at slightly more than 1635 backers and just over 300% of our initial funding target! That's a FANTASTIC start to our campaign - now it's time to keep it going and growing. Spread the word across all eight directions and invite others to join our #SilverPact. I know that we've kicked around a ton of cool ideas for Stretch Goals to expand the Lunars content for Exalted, and I think the developers would love to develop a ton of more stuff for Many-Faced Strangers.
And speaking of the developers, Eric was recently interviewed by The Story Told podcast, discussing this kickstarter and the Lunars of Exalted 3rd Edition. I shared this link yesterday, but that was part of the Backers-only update, so posting it again for general consumption. ("General Consumption". /salute)
To add to our note about our first week, we've not only funded, but unleashed six Stretch Goals, including 4 that added content to the Lunars companion supplement, Many-Faced Strangers. We're closing in on our seventh Stretch goal, and have even more content to add ahead...
At $185,000 in funding - DELUXE UPGRADE - Art Budget Increase: We'll increase the art budget for the Lunars: Fangs at the Gate deluxe book, adding even more awesome action-packed and evocative art!
At $190,000 in funding - MANY-FACED STRANGERS – Chapter Fiction: Add chapter fiction to the Lunars Companion.
At $195,000 in funding -DIGITAL WALLPAPER – An awesome digital wallpaper for your computer desktop featuring the Lunar Exalted.
And a sneak peek hint at what's in store if we cross $200,000... some words scribbled on a napkin...
