Tell me about Exalted

[Assenpfeffer]

A couple things:

Exalted is very well done, and is very close to the top of the list of Games I'll be Running Real Soon Now.

Generally speaking, I loathe anime. Yet I adore Exalted, despite its obvious anime roots and anime-flavored art. This is beacuse I like to set up big, sprawling epic campaigns, and both the system and setting of Exalted are designed explicitly with that in mind.

The system can be clunky for some people, though I myself have always found Storyteller to be fairly intuitive, and Exalted has, probably the best implementation of the Storyteller mechanics.

There is a learning curve, specifically with Charms, but also in the game's "feel". Until you get to know them well, Charm cards or something like them will help a lot. It took me a couple of tries at reading the Exalted core book for the game to "click" for me, but once it did, I fell in love with the game.

Exalted is so popular at RPGNet that Open often resembles an Exalted board as much as a general-interest roleplaying board. I highly recommend dropping by if you're interested in Exalted.

 

[Welverin]

Maddman has it right. Flesh out a locale, some people, and a few events. Drop in the PC's. Watch things explode. It's not even worth trying to stop them, roll with the punches, roll with the punches.

This is my friends method as well, set things up and let the players get themselves into trouble.

 

[cignus_pfaccari]

Okay, let the players try and drive the plot. But, I have a few more questions...

Like, are there supposed to be a lot of manses? What about artifacts? Are they findable or are you limited to your initial purchase?

And for fights...do you throw other Exalts at them until they drop, or what?

Brad

 

[Truth Seeker]

Okay, let the players try and drive the plot. But, I have a few more questions...

Like, are there supposed to be a lot of manses? What about artifacts? Are they findable or are you limited to your initial purchase?

And for fights...do you throw other Exalts at them until they drop, or what?

Brad

1. Concentrate on character development first, let everyone get use to the mechanics of the system and their PCs.

2. Manses: That can be dealt with at a later time in the game.

3. Artifacts: Start with low level ones, or none at the creation of the character, better yet, allow no backgrounds at creation, until you deem it proper within the storyline to have it later on. *This allows the DMs to only concern themselves with the PCs, and no extra attachments at the beginning*

3a. Finding a artifact, should be a great quest, a gift for service, etc, etc...not to be picked up while walking the back alley ways.

3b. Getting a background ratio number in artifact:Yes, if using backgrounds, whatever the current number at creation of the PC, is the level it can be attained at.

4. Fighting EXALTED: The Unconquered Son frowns in disapprove, upon this greatly, there is enough enemies that exist, that can give an EXALTED a run for their money. Please read the main book, and player guide for them.

 

[Staffan]

Okay, let the players try and drive the plot. But, I have a few more questions...

Like, are there supposed to be a lot of manses?

Book of Three Circles has some stuff on how common demesnes are. In civilized areas, there's usually one per decent-sized city or town - when the Princes of the Earth decide where people should live, they pick a place where they can also get some magic juice. Really big cities may have a handful of demesnes inside or nearby, but almost never more than one per five square miles. Demesnes in civilized areas are usually capped with manses, because otherwise you're gonna get locals with various mutations and that's not as fun as it sounds in the long run.

In the wilderness, demesnes should be about four days' travel away from one another. Wilderness demesnes are not as commonly capped by manses, and if they are they're usually under the control of some Lunar or God.

What about artifacts? Are they findable or are you limited to your initial purchase?

Artifacts are supposed to be findable and makable(?), though not as common as magic items in D&D. Creating an artifact in Exalted is more of a legendary task than in 3e D&D (more like the way it was in 2e), but that's only to be expected since Exalted characters tend to be more legendary than D&D characters. One thing that's generally needed for pretty much any artifact is a supply of one of the Five Magical Materials, most supplies of which are pretty heavily guarded by people who don't want your PC to have them: most Jade is controlled by the Realm (but it's still the easiest to get a hold of), Lunars guard Moonsilver deposits jealously and consider the use of it by non-Lunars to be blasphemy against Luna, Sidereals tend to snap up any Starmetal that falls from the heavens almost before it's touched the ground, Soulsteel is only found in the Underworld, and the Realm keeps most Orichalcum deposits under VERY heavy guard to make sure young Solars don't get any.

 

[seankreynolds]

How far along was the game before the company went in the tank?

Sorry for the delay in responding, I'm on deadline.

We had started to tweak the Renderware engine. We had character generation worked out, context-sensitive combat planned out, charms and all magic defined in game terms (the Storyteller system isn't the best to use for a computer game, especially considering the power of Exalted characters, so we had to tweak some things) the story finished, encounter areas defined in general terms and a couple of them almost fully described. Still had 9-12 months of work to go.

 

[Testament]

Have to chip in with a comment a friend made yesterday:

Exalted is the only game out there with Plot Ninjas* built into the system, the Sidereals. As diviners par excellence, they write the plot, and if the heroes are going outside their little schemes, then they go out there and fix it.

And with their Martial Arts charm trees, no-one can even think about disputing their ninjahood.

* The term Plot Ninja is a reference to any unstoppable foe designed to ensure that the plot of an adventure goes in a certain fashion.

 

[maddman75]

Okay, let the players try and drive the plot. But, I have a few more questions...

Like, are there supposed to be a lot of manses? What about artifacts? Are they findable or are you limited to your initial purchase?

And for fights...do you throw other Exalts at them until they drop, or what?

Brad

Fighting other Exalted, even Dragon-Blooded is a long and arduous process, suitable for a climax of a long campaign, not something you do every day. Other than that there are Extras, hordes of nobodies you can throw at the PCs and let them slaughter to show how cool they are.

I have no problem with buying Artifacts with background points myself. Dunno on the manses, haven't decided yet. (I'm not as interested in what some sourcebook I don't have says, more like what I need for my game).

I ran a minigame of Exalted and it was a big hit. The characters got into a little fight with 20 angry undead, rescued a foolish child, and met up with a Sidereal who's going to show them the ropes. And is not at all going to manipulate them into his schemes and plots. At all. I promise.

 

[Welverin]

Sidereals tend to snap up any Starmetal that falls from the heavens almost before it's touched the ground

Hah! Considering where it comes from, it's not surprising (at least based on what I heard about what it says in S&S, which I don't have yet myself).

Sorry for the delay in responding, I'm on deadline.

Eh, no problem. I haven't exactly been around a lot myself.

We had started to tweak the Renderware engine. We had character generation worked out, context-sensitive combat planned out, charms and all magic defined in game terms (the Storyteller system isn't the best to use for a computer game, especially considering the power of Exalted characters, so we had to tweak some things) the story finished, encounter areas defined in general terms and a couple of them almost fully described. Still had 9-12 months of work to go.

Hmm, still sounds like you guys had a fair bit of it defined.

 

[mmadsen]

I want over the top, uber-powerful demi-god characters, but not all the work that goes into running and playing a high-level D&D game (but that doesn't mean I want something rules light.)

You might want to give Mutants & Masterminds a try. Characters are powerful -- they're superheroes! -- but not complicated.