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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Iron Sky" data-source="post: 4578064" data-attributes="member: 60965">We've played three Exalted campaigns of varying lengths, two 1st edition, one 2nd edition. The first involved the a Realm noble, Ryshan of the house Kashak, who had been exiled to the Wyld Hunt (the Realm's monster and Exalt hunters - same thing since the Realm pretty much considers non-Dragon Blooded Exalts monsters). Needless to say, for a mortal, the job is exceedingly dangerous. During a hunt for a Solar Exalted known as the Great Bear, Ryshan himself Exalted (became a Solar, the most powerful of the Exalts). He then slew the rest of the Wyld Hunt in self defense and fled. Along the way, he met Zeke the Redcoat, a Solar Pirate who was far inland for some reason I never learned. After boarding a three-decked river barge, we inadvertantly sailed through a Shadowland, areas that during the day are part of Creation, at night are gateways to the Underworld. There, we got the attention of an Abyssal, the perverted Underwold versions of Solars, who used a charm that killed any mortals that fell asleep and were attacked by zombies that came in through the bottom of the ship. After fighting off a few waves, we boarded off the bottom of the ship to hold the rest of the horde and went top side, only to face the Abyssal's pet River Dragon, a giant dragon-snake. After an epic fight that killed half the remaining mortal crew and destroyed half the top deck of the ship, we killed it. Then the Abyssal himself leapt onto the ship and dropped Zeke with a single blow from his Soulsteel (steel forged from shackled souls deep in the Underworld) daiklave (swords so big that most mortals can't lift them much less wield them). The fight between Ryshan and the Abyssal destroyed most of the ship, ending with Ryshan, almost out of essense and bloodied, kneeling before the Abyssal. Confidant he had won, the Abyssal lowered his defenses (and released his bone-armor charm that had turned his skeleton into and essense-hardened exoskeleton). Ryshan threw every last bit of essense and will into a single blow that caught the Abyssal off guard and cut him in half. Ryshan threw the Abyssal's abomination of a sword into the river, grabbed Zeke, and headed onward on foot, hoping he'd walk out into Creation and not farther into the Underworld. The campaign lasted for another year, ending with Ryshan proclaiming himself the Phoenix, bringer of a 4th age, ruled again by Solars, and creating a city in the Scavenger Lands known as the Citadel of Ten Thousand Spirits and slowly conquering his neighbors while Zeke ruled the seas, even starting hit-and-run raids on the Realm itself. Unfortunately, he, Zeek, and all the others were each caught alone by the most elite agents of the Realm's Wyld Hunt - the Immaculate Martial Artists - and killed. Some died in epic battles, others were assassinated alone, but eventually all were taken down due to our hubris in thinking we were better than the Realm and beyond the reach of the Wyld Hunt.  Game two was the wandering adventures of Shaen Jan'Gallows, a Night-caste swordsman who didn't realize he was a Solar - just thought he was a mortal badass so good he didn't even need armor - and his companion Eben, a slightly Wyld-mutated giant of a man who walked around in Orachalicum Heavy Plate (imagine a golden suit of anime-style power-armor powered by essense rather than technology) who distained weapons and beat everything down with his fists and bulk. It was a cool contrast, Shaen small, light, fast, unarmored, and Eben, huge, lumbering, armored like a tank. Shaen was so fast and skilled he was almost impossible to hit, but when something did, he dropped. Eben didn't even try to dodge, just taking the hits and wearing the enemy down through armor and toughness. That game ended due to our Storyteller getting burned out (only 2 players without alot of motivation made it hard on him).  Last game was the first I ran and was 2nd edition. It started out fun, the group trying to save their city from attack by a Wyld Barbarian army led by Fey Nobles, but eventually the 2nd edition rules killed it for me - well, that and my girlfriend at the time not getting the rules and my attempts to teach her turning into fights <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f641.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":(" title="Frown    :("  data-smilie="3"data-shortname=":(" /> Between "social combat," diplomacy ability rules not being in the book, static defenses, the "tick" combat system, integrated power-combat rules that were optional in an add-on book in 1st edition, and the "auto-Immune" Zenith party caste ability - not to mention not one of my players ever really got how the "third excellency" rules worked... bleh. The only real improvements I saw in 2nd edition was the more consistant art, cool comics, the increased usefulness of non-combat charms, and the slightly better book-binding (1st edition books' spines just came apart). So, overall, 1st edition Exalted has one of my favorite rulesets and settings in one package. I'd recommend it to just about anyone. 2nd edition might not be so bad if you've never played 1st edition. For us though, when we get the hankering for some Exalted, we go to our beaten-and-tattered 1st edition books while the 2nd edition book collects dust on the shelf.</blockquote>

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