Help! ST'ing Exalted

[Rockbird]

I'm hoping to get my rp group back together to play some Exalted. HOWEVER! My previous stint as ST has showed me that my experience with dm'ing other systems is useless. USELESS I SAY! And so i come here for help.

Basically, i am asking for advice on two things:

1. In what way do you recommend i set up a plot for solar exalts? I know such things vary from group to group and all, but i'm completely lost on how to engage my players in a satisfactory way. Let's say, to pick a common thing, that my players want to kill/defeat/pwn Mask of Winters. What do i do... i just don't know. Like, start them in some approperiate place and wait for them to form a plan of their own? Maybe... i don't know, hint at some secret weakness or other? Because all the little cheap tricks you can pull in other systems (Persuasion, threats of more powerful people, situations they cannot control, have two issues. The first is that it doesn't really fit the whole feel of being awesome on steroids, and secondly that these are more of an aid to pull the PC's into a plot of the ST's own making, which also doesn't feel quite right...)

Okay, i rambled a bit. But any advice on the topic would be golden.

2. Is there an easy way to stat up enemies in such a way that they have the same general powers and skills as they would had i statted them as PC's, and not have it take hours each time? This, i should specify, is the real cruncher.

In case it should be relevant, i play 2nd ed. and have the following books availible:
Corebook, Dragonbloods, ST Companion, Black/White Treatise.

[BobVosh]

1. If they decided to do it they should be driving the plot. Making alliances with fey, gods, sidereals, hunting through ruins for mcguffins, tricking DBs into joining them, etc. You really shouldn't be doing too much but be reactionary, and don't be afraid to reward the players for thinking out of the box. Not like they are fighting a target with set stats.
2. Depends on the enemies. But mostly no. Easier to just bs out the stats, then determine the spells/charms/combos/etc This isn't D&D where 1 really wonky stat/power/etc will wipe PCs. Unless you spam it as an "i win" button, but that is more a ST thing...

[BrainFreeze]

Yea, mostly just run it as a player driven adventure, if their main goal is to remove the Mask of Winters then great. If they move off track give them some leeway, if they move too far setup a scene where they are reminded of this evil they set out to remove. (random villages turned into shadowlands..etc..)

[Jerthanis]

2. Is there an easy way to stat up enemies in such a way that they have the same general powers and skills as they would had i statted them as PC's, and not have it take hours each time? This, i should specify, is the real cruncher.

I find Dragonbloods to be the least work intensive antagonists to run against PCs. Their charms, for the most part, don't really do anything that amazingly useful, and they get free reflexive use, so you don't have to worry about efficient Combo building or anything like that. Mostly combats against them are just high die pools on top of artifact weapons and armor, and social combats are mostly high stats and excellencies.

Other than that, when I have to wing something, I basically default to 6-7 dice if they're an Exalt or competent Heroic Mortal acting in an area they aren't specialized in, and 10-13 in an area they ARE specialized in. If they're notably untrained I default to 3 dice or fewer. Unheroic mortals and other weaker things usually fail, but if they're good at something I give them 6-7 dice... like alert guards on perception checks.

[GryffonDurime]

As a new storyteller myself, the only advice I can give for the first case is just to keep the world around them populated and stocked. You're the bartender. Enemies are delicious kegs of ale to be consumed/stolen/sold. The players move Exalted forward, you just make sure the world responds as it should.

As to the second count, however....
live it. learn it. love it. (http://wiki.white-wolf.com/exalted/index.php?title=Epsilon's_NPC_System)

[Rockbird]

Thanks for the answers, i really appreciate it! :smallsmile:

I guess the problem with the game being player-driven stems partly from the fact that my players aren't used to it, what with generally having played more low-powered settings where you're at the mercy of my evil dm plans, muhaha et cetera :smalltongue:.
I've already decided to talk to them before we start the game, to make sure they understand that they'll actually have to make their own plots for once :smallamused:.
Also, i'm going to force them all to read Keychain of Creation. Might give them more incentive to do some research on the setting themselves. It's kinda hard for them to be their own bosses when they don't know how things work...

Oh, and this (http://wiki.white-wolf.com/exalted/index.php?title=Epsilon%27s_NPC_System) was exactly the kind of thing i was looking for. I'd say it's worth like .4 internets, at minimum. Thank you.