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Exalted 2nd Edition is a big, heavy book. It is reasonably priced for a full-color hardback of its size. The cover art is of decent quality, but if I hadn't heard good things about Exalted before, I doubt I would have picked this up. The paper is of a good quality, but the binding feels a bit flimsy for a book of this size. The interior art is generally of a high quality, and is clearly inspired by manga. I enjoyed the full-page comics that introduced each section, although I felt that the art implied that the game is directed at a younger generation of gamers - I have been gaming for over 20 years, and I don't find half-naked anime girls particularly exciting anymore.
The layout of the book is good, although there are a few poor choices. There is a big, hard-to-read, red text box on page 35 that was particularly jarring. Unlike some of White Wolf's older games, though, the text is consistently easy to read, and the book is fairly well organized.
I found the setting to be the best part of the book. The authors refer to a large number of inspirations, but my take is that Exalted tkaes most of its cues from a fusion of Wuxia films, such as The House of Flying Daggers, and ancient epic literature. This is much more appealing to me than manga. The world is a tremendously vast area, called Creation, and it is flat. The game doesn't go into the physics of this world in any great detail, but the sheer size of everything lends itself to some truly epic adventuring. I have long been a member of the "grim and gritty" school of roleplaying - Warhammer Fantasy was one of my favorites - but the setting of Exalted makes me much more interested in playing a high-powered game than, say, the Epic Level Handbook. The amount of detail in the book is pretty good - there is lots left open for the GM to determine, and lots of room or White Wolf to bring out new setting supplements. On the other hand, there are a few cases where strange things pop out wihtout adequate explanation - for example, the Character Creation chapter makes reference to "diminutive, hairless, panda-spotted Djala people", but they are not described anywhere else in the book, at least that I could find. This isn't terrible, but is an example of weak editing.
The world is inspired by ancient literature; it is full of strange cultures, and there are gods and spirits operating behind everything - from stars to mountains to rowboats. Characters in Exalted are heroic mortals who have been infused with the divine power of the gods. The main player characters presented are the Solar Exalted, who were raised to demigod status by the Unconquered Sun, and tasked with destroying the creators of the gods, and ruling Creation. Nearly a thousand years after a great revolt which cast the Solar Exalted out of power, they are once again reincarnating in great numbers, and the player characters have the opportunity to conquer the entire world. This is, if nothing else, a refreshing change in campaign focus from the more traditional "Fight evil, take its treasure, and level up" theme of many role-playing games.
The rules system is a refined version of the old Storyteller system, which has always involved throwing fistfuls of 10-sided dice around. I am not a great fan of the d10 (for one thing, it is the only "standard" die that isn't a Platonic solid!), but I recall the system working tolerably well in my old Vampire and Mage campaigns. With Exalted, the floating "target numbers" are gone, which is good, because most players and GMs misjudge the impact an increased difficulty can have. It looks like Exalted uses even larger numbers of dice than the other Storyteller games, however, which seems to be a poor choice. I haven't tested it in actual play, but I can imagine that constantly counting out the correct number of dice to roll could slow down a game quite a bit. Give me a single d20 roll any day. Still, players always enjoy rolling large numbers of dice, and it has a nice flattening effect on the probability curve.
The system itself is quite "crunchy". Characters have lots of special powers, and are able to break the normal rules of the game in all sorts of ways. This is a great thing for players, especially powergamers, because there are lots of options available to optimize a character. Unfortunately, I find that these systems tend to make it more difficult to GM a game, because the GM has limited time to develop challenges appropriate for his earthshakingly powerful players. I am sure that this is a good way to sell lots of books, though. What did impress me is the fact that the Storyteller system scales nicely to high power levels. Many games, such as the d20 system and its derivatives, start to fall apart when player characters reach a certain power level. In Exalted, the system actually seems to get stronger. Charms are welll thought-out strategically; they all have some sort of weakness, so that it isn't possible to build a completely invulnerable character. The setting also allows for challenges that scale well with the players.
Overall, my impression of Exalted is pretty good. The setting makes me want to run a game, and the rules aren't so complicated that I want to run away. Apart from some minor design and layout issues, my biggest concern about the game is that it seems focused towards a very specific audience. The epic-powered characters, the PG-13 manga illustrations, the complicated Charm trees, and the extensive (and expensive) upcoming product schedule all suggest that this game is firmly directed at 13- to 17-year old boys. This is unfortunate, mainly because the setting is broad enough that it could potentially appeal to older gamers, women, and brand-new roleplayers; the presentation and complexity, however, aren't particularly welcoming to these types. Nonetheless, I will see if my group of crusty old gamers and their wives/girlfriends are willing to give Exalted a try.
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