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Exalted
is a fantasy-based storytelling game, published by White Wolf. Best
known for their play-the-monster works (Vampire, Werewolf, etc.), White
Wolf tried stepping out into more overt fantasy with Exalted (which
may be shortened to "play-the-legend"). Exalted features the
Storyteller system, but with a more cinematic eye towards the anime
movies and series that floods the import market. (My friends tell me
that Exalted has the underpinnings of the Trinity Storyteller system,
but I don't have access to the books to double check.)
Exalted
features the return of the mightiest exalted (a supernatural powered
figure, for lack of a better term), the Solars. Solars once held the
Realm from the forces of the Wyld. Prosperity ensued, until some other
exalted, the Sidereal, looked into the furute and saw a bleak world
should the Solars continue to rule. Enter the Dragon-Blooded, descandants
of the elemental dragons, desperate for glory and power. They aligned
themselves with the Sidereals, and took down the Solars-even hunting
them down for their Empress until her disappearance.
The world
of Exalted is changing. For the last 800+ years, the Empress and the
Dragon-Blooded have hunted down the Solars as they were being reborn.
The Wyld Hunt, made up of powerful Dragon-Blooded exalted, has made
it its job to wipe out the Solars wherever they may appear. Until five
years ago, when the Scarlet Empress disappeared. Without a strong will
to guide the Realm, things that had been taken for granted have collapsed
under bureaucratic pandering for the throne. The Solars have returned.
That's
where the game starts, a new dawn for the world of the exalted. A world
where your character is a legend reborn-but weakly equipped. Not quite
as powerful as they once were, but still more mighty than the Dragon-Blooded,
Solars need to rediscover themselves and their powers, while fighting
an uphill battle to reclaim the Realm for their own.
Exalted
takes cues from melodramatic anime, comics, and hyperkinetic motion
pictures. Exalted's Storyteller system has one set difficulty rating
(7, for those counting at home) and each dice pool that they have-built
from a characters stats, like Strength, Manipulation and Wits, used
with abilities, like Stealth, Linguistics or Occult-has to roll a success
that matches or exceeds that number (7,8,9-10s count as two successes).
A character in Exalted may wish to perform stunts to add to their dice
pool. To gain these bonus stunt dice, a player describes what their
character is doing in vivid detail, maybe even trying something more
reserved for a wire-stunt movie set (the stop-motion leap or wall running
from the Matrix, perhaps).
Solar
characters come from castes, a term to pigeonhole characters into one
basic set or another. A caste is the pull that the Unconquered Sun has
on one Solar versus another. The castes are named after positions the
sun may have in the sky, or a celestial event that happens rarely in
the world. Dawn caste members form the brightest warriors for the Solar,
with the new sun, bright rays stab forward into the world, making it
a better place for others. Those of the Zenith caste are full of the
sun's power, speakers for the Unconquered Sun, the priests or shamans
that display the sun's power and glory. With the Twilight caste, the
sunrays glimmer on the edges of learning, a place in the sky full of
reflection and acknowledgement, making those Twilight caste members
the best keepers of knowledge or secrets. While the sun slumbers, its
powers still reach members of the Night caste, the assassin or the mistress,
the learner of the whisper and more; these caste members notice things
more easily than other castes. There is another caste filled with the
sun's power, though balanced with the moon; the Eclipse caste is the
caste of balance, an almost neutral player between the extremes that
the sun may reach, the diplomat or advisor.
While
the book makes a great plea against stereotyping character roles based
on caste, the rest of the book reinforces the caste-concept lock. Those
from the Dawn caste are made to be fighters; those from the Eclipse
caste are the diplomats, etc. The drama section of the book really drives
this concept home but breaking certain gaming systems into caste sections.
One of
the nice things about Exalted is that a Solar's Charms-a character's
magical abilities-are broken into feats, special tricks that a character
can perform while using that ability. One ability may allow the Solar
to fire an arrow against the wind with no penalty, while another may
grant insight into the cost to get a person to do whatever they wish
done. The Solar's Charms are fueled by Essence, the power of magic in
Exalted.
There
is little fun in a rulebook of this nature, as most of what Exalted
does is set up the world and gets lost in the thickness of too much
backstory. The book introduces the Solars, but whatever fun may occur
must work around a wealth of detail about the world of the Dragon-Blooded,
Lunar or the Abyssal exalted (even the Fair Folk) when I wanted to know
more from the Solars' prespective. With the main thrust of the book
being setup and rules, the Solar exalted seem to get the shortest stick
as other books in the series will get to spend more time dealing with
the full development of their focus, while Solars get to sit in the
same bus as the setting.
Overall,
Exalted has a nice basic idea for a fantasy world where the elements
of anime and adventure come together, but it weakens greatly by not
setting their focus more on the Solars, which the book is supposed (according
to itself) to be focused on.
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