An Overview Of All Exalted Editions

[@veronicavanvoorst]

I want to echo something you say at around 31 minutes in the video: the quality of the books in Third Edition is a lot higher than Second Edition. There's been a lot of talk about this online, some of it more useful than others, but I get the sense that Third Edition is willing to trade fewer releases (compared to Second Edition) in return for a higher quality product. That being said, I understand the disappointment and controversy surrounding a lot of the delays. Some I think are forgivable (COVID hurt everyone), others I think are less so (the Third Edition Core and some of the art process for the first few books of the line). But at the end of the day, I don't think I'd still be playing Exalted if I was still playing Second Edition. Third Edition has kept my love for this game alive, and I'm still very excited for the years to come. Thank you for making this video.

[@SamuraiMujuru]

I'm easily one of the most vocal critics of the glacial release schedule and unending delays of 3E, but the overall quality of what we're getting is leaps and bounds above 2E and 1E. Which is honestly part of why I'm so noisy about it, because the game is the best it's ever been, but it makes it really hard to get other people excited too when we've been waiting on the setting book for over five years.

[@ekorren]

@@SamuraiMujuru I wish I knew more about the state of the setting book myself. I wrote the sections on Whitewall, the Icewalkers, and Ascension back in 2018 and have been eager to see the final versions.

[@SamuraiMujuru]

@Ekorren: Roleplaying & Worldbuilding 2018? Jeezus tap-dancing christ. all I know is prior to earlier this year the last official update was 11/22/2021 saying they were collecting art notes. which means, based on how they update, it took over a year to get the art notes to Maria for some reason. Unfortunately, every attempt I have made to get any insight whatsoever into what on earth has been going on with anything/everything has been completely stonewalled by Rich (while he brags about how transparent OPP's process is. 😑) including, but not limited to, an actual dig at me in a MMN update and my comments now getting filtered on the OPP website, even when talking about unrelated things. That said, I was already excessively excited after finding out Rai wrote a bunch of the West, finding out you wrote for the North just makes me more so. Goddammit, I will pay full price for an advance goddamn manuscript. They did "sorry it's taking an eternity, here's a manuscript for Heirs", why the hell do they refuse to do it for At8D, Crucible, Many Faced Strangers, etc.

[@ekorren]

@@SamuraiMujuru I haven't done any work for OPP since 2020 and am no longer under NDA since 2022 (it's funny how the NDAs have run out before the books have been released). If you're interested in more of the stuff I've written, I also worked on Empyrean Aegis, Sunset Blaze, and Cynis Megara in Heirs, the War on the Caul scenario in Many-Faced Strangers (wrote this in 2019), and the Puppeteer in Exigents (I came up with the spider theme and the creepy self-puppetry Charms which the devs then liked and went with). When I put my first original thing on the Storyteller's Vault, I earned more money than I did writing for three official books combined, though, so I'm happy to do my own things now.

[@SamuraiMujuru]

@Ekorren: Roleplaying & Worldbuilding so not only has it been longer since At8D's announcement than close of Ex3 KS to official release, it's been long enough for NDAs to expire. What in the flying fiddler's fuck is going on with Exalted? My current theory is that after Wraith 20 finally released the wraith curse passed to Exalted like it was the ring tape or something. Regardless, keep dropping quality STV stuff for Exalted and I'll keep buying it like the Exalted addict I am.

[@robertstryjak1973]

That was a really good video. I used to be curious about Exalted but completely clueless about its history beyond "1e was supposed to be a prequel to oWoD but wasn't" and "2e was a total mess".

[@HWJoker]

Very good Video and summary of the story of Exalted Roleplay. I reallly was able to feel the ups and downs, since I started with First Edition in 2003. For me it was the best experience since I played Exalted, it felt the most fluent in combat for me, because of the stunting system. That caused, that players and also the storyteller took more effort in explaining the scenery than in the act of dice rolling. Then came Second Edition and the managing of the tick system drew so much attention, that the players were losing more and more effort in describing and stunting. And it felt very unbalanced, even if it might just be personal feeling. PCs with light weapons like knifes or unarmed combat dominated the fights, not because they were stronger, because they took their turn twice before someone with a heavy weapon could do. That's where we started to create our own house rules, to have fun again. So no wonder why we were hyped for Third Edition too. And yes it frustrated a lot and still frustrates, that it takes so infinitely long until new releases come out in third edition. Now with your explanation it is more understandable that it takes so long, but then there are decisions, I really cant understand. The Exigents Rulebook for example. They are not generic Exalts like the others, so it is clear that every Exigent must be built by its own, so ppl must be creative and create their own Charms for their Exigents. Then what sense does it make to release a Rulebook for them when there are just 3 Exalt-Types released? Wouldnt it be better to release the Liminals first, because they are also new Exalts but they have castes or aspects and so can be released with a Set of Charms and Mechanics. And after I saw the Exalted Essence Kickstarter, I share the fear that this might kill Third Edition and Third Edition will end before even all Exalt Types, that were released in previous Editions will come out as splat books. For me and my player the Third Edition Mechanics are really a lot of fun. Yes we created some house rules, especially for fights with non-trivials, to fasten up the fights against those opponents. We also balanced the weapon stats a bit, because for example wielding a short sword with a shield is so much stronger, than having a Greatsword or a Lance, but house rules were always been made in roleplay systems, even in Dungeons and Dragons, so that is not really a big downside. We also established a house rule for a sniper shot or a stealth attack, because they are not existing in Third Edition; it seems they were afraid, that they might become as overpowered as they were in Second Edition. And what I like most tbh in Third Edition is, that there are a lot of low level Charms that are still needed for higher experienced Exalts, to "fuel" the big powerful high end Charms. We have a lot of fun with Third Edition even if the fights take long; the feeling from First Edition came back in good way, in my opinion.

[@ekorren]

One of the reasons for why Exigents was put out so soon was because of its chapter on charm design. Because the splats take so long, the devs wanted to give the community the tools to homebrew missing splats.

[@paladinebahamut]

Honestly, I prefer 2.5 and Exalted vs World of Darkness

[@blacklodgegames]

Will watch this later, love exalted.

[@deathpunchdingo2981]

First edition forever (after the Player's Handbook fixed everything)! I had notebooks full of home-brew spells and artifacts and npcs of all types. If I could find anybody who wanted to play anything but Dnd these days I'd still be gleefully exploring the world of First edition. After your Abyssal party takes it upon themselves to sunder Autocthon's connection to Creation, you'll see that nothing holds a candle to it.

[@parokki]

The horniness of second edition was quite understandable if you're familiar with the artists. I have many pleasant memories of Meluran, Kiyo etc. sharing their less SFW art on the Freedom Stone forums back in the day.

[@screenmonkey]

God I miss the cheesecake and homo erotic art of 2nd

[@magnus_lundgren]

I definitely prefer 2.5 out of all Exalted editions, but pilfer things from the other editions and changing some stuff with home-built. Second edition has always been a toolbox edition to me, and I've never understood why some people took a few optional adventure seeds as meta-plot. I don't like the ideas presented in Return of the Scarlet Empress. So I just ignore that book. While there are some valid gripes with that edition, a lot of the complaints are quite stupid.

[@ThePiachu]

At the moment, the only Exalted project I'm really looking forward to is Exalted Demake, a much more streamlined game by a former Ex3 dev. It looks to be a neat balance between Ex3 crunch and trimming the fat from the system, kind of like Essence aimed to be...

[@ekorren]

I'm working on a similar project called Invictus.

[@Jimalcoatl]

I'd always found the edgy writing of the early 2000s white wolf staff sometimes interesting, but mostly just offputting. They were definitely trying to introduce shock into their games and make players feel like the bad guys were deparaved and sick. They also often tried to justify their "mature content" with gross content. Cynis Anbor is a perfect example of this. He's gross and off putting, but he would make for a satisfying villain to defeat for a certain group that was able to deal with the sick shit he does. There is a catharsis in defeat the most horrible of monsters. A more repulsive character from that time was from the Vampire: The Masquerade suppliment, Ghouls: Fatal Addiction, where they introduced the "Revolting Revenant' character. I'll spare the details but just know it involved some gross NSFW stuff involving dogs. Not ethically as horrible as Anbor, but worse because it's presented as a player character option. None of this stuff ever saw the light of day in my campaigns, but I didn't have a major problem with it being there when I was young. Looking back at it now as a middle aged man instead of a college kid... yeah it probably shouldn't have been there.

[@jasonpurcellau]

And this is the type of mentality that turns every quirky game into a generic cookie cutter safe for work game that everyone ends up hating and ditching causing the company to sell or fall off the map.

[@karthrain5463]

Say, have they fixed the Twilight caste anima power back to what it was or do they keep on giving a worst discount for magic than Lunars?

[@giovannimorenohernandez4656]

Excellent video! I will have to read the making of exalted book, this setting is one of if not my favorite setting in fiction I love coming back to read the setting books from time to time. The only thing I would disagree on is the view that the sexualization of the setting as something bad, both pulp and anime thrive with handsome shirtless men and scantily clad women. The setting lost a bit of it identity imo removing this aspect, it became more generic instead of this setting where both the highest gods and the lowest mortals took part in it's decadence and brutality.

[@0Tempura0]

Neen-yah Scroll huh.... hmm Ninja Scroll my guy :) Great video though, I just recently started playing this again with my table.

[@ekorren]

I can't do much about the way I pronounce things in a language that isn't my native one unfortunately. I have to let myself say things wrong before I can say things right, and I rather say things wrong than not at all. I'm glad you enjoy the video though.

[@JasonTheFavorite]

Thanks! This explains why i was so enamored with 1st ed and only enjoyed 2nd. 3rd turned me off immediately with its huge price point and page count

[@phatpat63]

Calling 2E horny and hypersexualized is pretty ridiculous outside of a particular, deeply ideological prudishness, but saying 2E hadn't really included or represented LGBTQ characters is a massive outright lie.

[@n.ludemann9199]

Well, it depends... I am an ace trans* person who is repulsed by explicit display of sexuality. Not because of being prudent but... Of being repulsed of this. But I am used to the allo-cis normativity is like that, emphasising on the physical parts. I haven't read/seen much art from 2e, but I know Manga and Anime style quite well (being a Macross and other older stuff fan). There is much normativity in those, but representation has grown over the last decades...

[@n.ludemann9199]

I've done some research - the cover of Savant & Sorcerer actually is a bit... hypersexualized - if this a thing of the whole edition, I can't tell, I haven't looked into many books yet...

[@screenmonkey]

Savant and Sorcerer camel toe edition was an outlier in the art.

[@doombringer35]

All the play testing I have done in essence has just solidified it as trash and way more complex than 3rd, in fact, when I had tried introducing players through Essence into exalted it lead to tons of confusion and players being at a complete loss. If Essence becomes the new focus and support from the onyx path for 3rds, development is dropped. I will likely leave the game in its entirety.

[@ekorren]

While I do appreciate some of the changes, 3E is very streamlined in many regards compared to other editions. I think it gives the illusion of being crunchy because it's bloated and offers little to no ST advise. Essence is more friendly to newcomers due to the way the book is written, but I agree that they made many choices I would've preferred to be without. Am exploring this more in upcoming videos.

[@doombringer35]

@Ekorren: Roleplaying & Worldbuilding Yes, I totally agree. btw I love your work, and ghost was great

[@n.ludemann9199]

​@@ekorrenI have to admit I am really new to exalted. I rediscovered my wod books back from the mid to late 90s and started browsing drivethrurpg where I noticed that there are 3 different companies doing wod stuff. And much more... I had seen exalted (Die Hohen in German) in the shops in the 2000s, but we were all D&d 3e back then, later Pathfinder and The Dark Eye 5e. As I could get the Core book of Exalted 1e and a massive number of splat books for a reasonable price, I started exploring the realm/creation. While almost-adult daughter got enthralled by Scion, which she will be using for a Percy Jackson like game with her coterie, I became fascinated by Exalted. On drivethrurpg, all the core books are expensive like hell as pod, regardless of edition, so I was happy to find so many 1e books for the price of only one of those. There were even some hardcovers included 😊 thanks for the interesting video, especially the 1e section was great. I bought the 3e pdf bundle on black Friday which was drastically reduced. Can you give a complete newby like me give an advice where to start? I have seen there is an introduction called Tomb of 5 corners, is this a good starting point? I also got essence as a pod, but the tome is a beast, a had expected a streamlined version...