I played a lot of Scion, which is Exalted's cooler younger brother. The systems are not really all that similar. No combat wheel, for instance.

Shard's system is a lot less complicated, since all the special powers are in the stunts as opposed to having to keep track of all sorts of boons, etc.

Oh, and I'm running a Shard campaign now in addition to having Played Scion for almost a year (from Hero to God!).

I gotta try a Scion game one of these days. Too bad you don't live closer, Joe, I'd make you run a game for us.

Not like I have any sort of time to game. But hey, all work and no play...

Originally posted by Aaron de Orive
I gotta try a Scion game one of these days. Too bad you don't live closer, Joe, I'd make you run a game for us.

If I ever move to Austin (are any community colleges in that area looking for Tenure-Track History teachers?) I would require a game group.

Not like I have any sort of time to game. But hey, all work and no play...

I make time for gaming. Even as a busy adult, I've managed to game every week. You can do it!

Originally posted by Draj
Havn't played Scion... for that matter, I havn't made it to the combat chapter of the welcome booklet yet. :p

Scion is almost exactly the same system as Exalted, and Shards combat effing ROCKS! You'll never know how to run a game without reactions ever again...

I have not played D&D or a variant in ten years. What is OA and IA?

I know in Shard you're given the chance to use one combat action as a reaction to anyone's spending an action.

It plays better than it reads, for shizzle.

Originally posted by Draj - D+D lately has been getting all kinds of flak for some newfangled thing called class balance. :p Wizards are useful even at level 1, and fighters are still worth having even after level 20.

I'm given to understand that this may *cough* Character creation and Characteristics *cough* bcome an issue with SHARD as well. :p

Draj, I agree with you about D&D 4E - I'm a fan of the new system, and I've been a D&D gamer since 1st edition. 4E is fantastic when it comes to balancing characters and classes, and has really given new life to the class system.

But comparing D&D with Shard is like comparing apples and oranges. Both are good fruit, but they are very different organisms. Both D&D 4E and Shard are fantastic games, but their systems work very differently.

D&D's class-based advancement system works differently than Shard does. When a D&D character advances, that character can choose from a certain selection of powers and abilities that are in keeping with the character's class.

(Please note - I don't think this is a bad thing at all; I think class-based systems have some definite advantages.)

This limitation imposes a certain level of balance on the game that can otherwise be difficult to create (one of those advantages I was talking about), because the game designers will have done the work before the gamer sits down to play - the players will only be able to use certain powers at certain levels in certain ways.

Shard is point-buy, which is often a playground for twinks, munchkins, and power-gamers of all shapes and sizes, because there is usually no structure around which to construct the character. Point-buy is also a creative playground, because you can build any kind of character you want, within your point limitations. Shard's profession system creates that structure, making it possible to have the advantages of class-based systems with the freedom of a point-buy system.

The character and game balance in point-buy systems doesn't come from the system as much as it does from the players and GM working together - for example, if a character was created to be a warrior, with all the stats and skills of a warrior, and they bought a warrior profession, then they are going to be a skilled warrior.

The Shard system is designed well enough that even if that character continues to specialize as a warrior, they will continue to be an effective character throughout the game, as long as the GM builds things into their story to give that character warrior-based encounters and events.

Same with a character who is a healer, a mystic or a crafter.

(In truth, it works the same way in D&D; a character can play a martial class, but what happens when the GM makes most of the encounters into skill challenges for skills the wizard or the rogue have? That martial class doesn't get to do much.)

THe trick of it in Shard is that character growth is noot based on having certain powers and abilities unlock as you go up levels - it's a more organic character growth designed to work around role-play as much as anything else. For example, the warrior from a couple of paragraphs back? Could focus on crafting skills, and although remain a warrior, could gain reknown as a crafter, if the roleplay and story lead them that direction.

The same with a healer becoming a master of knives and fighting in the Spiral Arena or a mystic becoming a legendary general, or a singer becoming a feared assassin.

Shard has such an open world and such an open system that anything is possible - but to make that kind of epic story work, the players and GM have to really communicate.

I think Shard is less likely to have characters stuck in specific 'roles' than almost any other game I've seen, and I think the system is such that even if something becomes unbalanved, it's very easy to tweak and adjust it to fix the problem.

Here's hoping that made some sense!

Jayiin got it exactly right. I have little to add.

If you want maximum flexibility and characters that can develop and progress in any direction you want (and the GM allows), then Shard is a great system for that. But the players and the GM will have to work at it.

Let us know how your Shard games goes!