RPG Soapbox

Star can edit this post as she sees fit, but i figured ide throw it up there as its a new chat ive found that only recently seamed to open



For reviews and discussion of Trouble in Paradise, a 2nd edition Exalted game.

Setting: An-Teng
Venues: Solar, Lunar, Sidereal, Abyssal, Dragon-Blood, Infernal, Fallen Races, Mortals
Chat Platform: X7 Chat
Age Requirement: Unknown

Trouble in Paradise


Side note: i am in no way affiliated with the chat as staff, admin or development. Only spreading word about another one out there, as the exalted games currently seam very limited.

I've not been able to tell yet if this chat is a public chat or a private chat. It appears to be a public chat, but there is almost no open role playing that goes on. The rooms are open for anyone to go into, but in the two weeks I've logged in as a Guest to check it out, I have not yet seen a single instance of people going into IC rooms just to see what's going to happen, like I've seen on literally every other chat I've ever played on. It's possible that this happens on the chat, (perhaps in a different time zone?) but it is a frequent occurrence to find 10+ people online, and every single one of them are in the OOC room chatting, with not a single player anywhere else. Then when a Storyteller-run scene is announced, people go off to play in the scene.

The OOC/General Chat room has been fairly polite and nice, and people are rather nice, contrary to some reputations. The Storytellers seem to be quite easy to work with and willing to bend over backwards to help new players, and very little is outright banned. There is also much more of an acceptance that not everyone wants to play a Hero, which is a nice change from other chats where everyone must play a Hero, to the point of caricature. (One Infernal or Abyssal who are Rebels or looking for Redemption is okay, or a Fair Folk who's not a danger to Creation and wants to fight the Deathlords, fine, but when it's a an unofficial pre-requisite to play that kind of character, it takes all of the tension and suspense out of interactions.)

The Wiki is well set up, though the forums are slightly difficult to navigate. It isn't obvious where the chat is, or how to log in, and is not explained very well on the forums. Another thing that isn't very well explained on the forums/Wiki is that the chat is very much a Realm protectorate. There are a few posts about it, but a number of players have come in with obvious Anathema concepts, and have been surprised to see that this chat, unlike others in the past, is sticking fairly close to Canon. However the chat is just a couple of months old, and is still in the process of working out the bugs. (And hopefully a new platform - I really, really dislike the X7 chat interface and functions. Supposedly the chat is going to change platforms sometime, so I have my fingers crossed it's one I like better than X7.)

Overall, it looks like it could be a fun place to play Exalted. Some of the people there have reputations from other chats, and I was warned of them beforehand, but in the two weeks I've been around it, I haven't seen any of the problems that I was warned of, which is good. It's just that in order to actually play on the chat, it seems like you have to make friends with people OOC before you can go IC with them. It's not a bad things, it's not a good thing, but it's a thing on this chat.

I decide to check this game out after a few people tormented me until I bought the books, and I am so happy that they did. There is so much going on until it made my head swim the first few days.

The players and ST's are a joy to play with and there is such a lack of Drama Llama's that it will put a smile on anyone's face that has had to deal with Digi games for the past 12 years. My first week was rather slow as I had to find my niche, but that is due to playing an Anathema. The players however were welcoming and willing to drag my into play, and it has been non-stop action ever since.

Yes, it is an Addon chat, which took a few days to get used to, but after dealing with Digichat going down on a regular basis, it is a joy to know that when I log in, it is actually going to work every time.

The only problem that I have found with the game is the power levels of a small number the PC's. Now, that is not actually a real problem in and of itself when i is something that is open to all players. However, it becomes a problem when you find that the pcs with the most broken stats belong to only a select few who are Admin, St's, or connected to St's. One so obviously broken that I have witnessed open complaints about it which were shouted down in the OOC room.

Now, this does not mean that I love the game any less, only that it is a problem that needs to be addressed, and from the level of growing annoyance by some players, it would be wise to address it soon.

All in All, it is still a very fine chat with very enthusiastic players, and quite a few learned ST's. I actually love the chat and would hate to see it implode because of favoritism.