Exalted in general (and 1st vs. 2nd Edition)?

[Cergorach]

I've bought most of the 1st edition Exalted books, mostly because i liked the art and loved the 'feel' of the setting. I still haven't read everything and most of what i've read is background 'fluf' (yeah, so i buy more then i read, sue me ;-) , i've never played a game of it though.

First: I recently came across the situation that i was able to DM a game (of Vampire the Masquarade in this case), but didn't have anything prepared nor was i sure that i would have the time in the future to continue to prepare for the game sessions. That gave rise to the idea that it would be nice to have some campaigns in the freezer (prepared, ready, and waiting), so for D&D/D20 i've got a short list (Age of Worms/Shackled City/Ptolus). But to be honest most of the players i game with are a bit burned out on D&D in general, that's the reason we changed to Vampire in the first place (and the current DM is getting way to bussy with RL to continue DMing). While trying to find the inspiration to conytinue were the previous DM left off, i came across Exalted (again) and suddenly felt the urge to pick it up and prepare an Exalted campaign, in the silent hope it would inspire me for Vampire (or if that failed have a backup in place that might apeal to my friends).

Exalted ain't no D&D and the 'heroes' starting in some tavern would be... Anticlimatic... For 'exalted heroes' (on the other hand it might be interesting what they could do in a barfight *evil grin*). Because we all have rather bussy lives we tend to communicate through our website, so a lot of character building an prelude telling can be done there. I will assume that the players will have very little real knowledge of the Exalted rules and background (i won't assume that the start by picking up a $40 book and take the time to read it cover to cover, all 400 pages worth). I will give them a general overview of the game (think the free introductionary kit) to get them hooked and a specific taste of the start of the campaign. So how would i get Exalted newbies started with Exalted withouth them reading 400 pages of gaming material to make a character?

Second: I've read good things about the second edition of Exalted, especially the streamlined rulesset. While the 2nd edition is in full color, i think the 1st edition is graphically more appealing (i find the use of color not consistantly strong in the book). Could someone list the changes between 1st and 2nd edition Exalted (or if someone already has, please provide a link)? Are there conversion rules for conversions between 1st and 2nd edition (if so, where)?

Third: Are there Exalted fansites, i'm especially interested in campaign sites? Care to share your experiences of does and don'ts (or however the hell you spell that ;-) ?

 

[Ao the Overkitty]

I'll point our GM to this thread. He'll likely email me any responce he has, since he is too lazy to make a login for enworld.

Personally, I'd suggest you start them out as Solars and stick to the corebook. Learn the basic rules first before you branch out. Then they don't need to read 400 pages of gaming material. They don't even need to read all of the character creation section, just the parts that pertain to their character. Cuts down on a lot of reading time. You're the only one who needs to 'know' the setting. I've been playing for a while and still don't really know the setting.

As for second edition, the differences are both small and large. Solars got a few more points at character creation for abilities (they haven't come out with players rules for the other exalted types). A lot of charms got tweaked and a few 'speed bump' charms got dropped. Ride and Sail charms are now actually nifty and worth taking. Endurance has been folded into Resistance and Brawl has been folded into Martial Arts. There are now the War (mass combat) and Integrity (mental defense) abilities. Social combat rules were introduced. Physical combat was reworked to be more like Feng Shui in terms of turns. Oh, and the caste powers have been altered slightly. I'm sure there is more, but that's what I can think of.

I don't know of any actual conversion rules.

As for the last one, I keep the storyhour for our game (second link in sig). I'm actually taking a break from transcibing the most recent session to reply to this post. Our Gm keeps a thread on rules changes he makes here.