Exaltred Second Edition

[memesis]

It sounds like the team that is designing second edition is trying for a D10 version of D20' date=' and I hate D20 and every other level based system.  Level based systems are okay for video games but are only fit for roleplaying games for preteens.[/quote']
Where in the depths of Hell did you get "Exalted 2nd is a level based system" from?  Or for that matter, "is a d20 system"?

 

[Persell]

Maybe he's been talking to Exalted Midget too much.

 

[Flagg]

Maybe he's been talking to Exalted Midget too much.

"Too much" being ever, at all.


-S

 

[Obsidian Soul]

You miss understood me.  I was ranting on how WW screws up all of their crap and then I was ranting on how much influence d20 was having over WW.  I know that second edition is not level based.  Hell, if they did do something that stupid, I would sell all of my Exalted books and never buy another WW product.  Though, if you want to play d20 like it should be played, you need to check out the Munchkin system.

 

[memesis]

You miss understood me.  I was ranting on how WW screws up all of their crap and then I was ranting on how much influence d20 was having over WW.  I know that second edition is not level based.  Hell' date=' if they did do something that stupid, I would sell all of my Exalted books and never buy another WW product.  Though, if you want to play d20 like it should be played, you need to check out the Munchkin system.[/quote']
Yes, I noticed you were ranting.  The rant was singularly broad and unfocused, to the point where I couldn't distinguish whether you had just gone off-topic entirely, or if you had actually misunderstood the rule changes Exalted was making.

 

[Solfi]

There's a blurb about Charm Excellencies on the WW-site.

 

[Forn Clakes]

I eagerly await to see how, now with the Excellencies, the other Exalted pan out with their Charm specifics, for example, Lunar's success conversion and DB's re-rolling.  I take it that the Excellencies will be given to every Exalt, just with differing levels of power, much like die-adding caps?    


~FC.

 

[Jakk Bey]

OS--I suppose pointing out the Eberron setting, which is essentially Exalted for D20 is just moot then.  That would be a D20 game looking damn hard at trying to emulate what WW does.


Yes, the industry influences each other.  And WW has a working relationship with the nice folks at WotC--the entire Swords and Sorcery line--including their Gamma World redux--shows what WW writers and designers can do with with the WotC's flexible system.


Blaming a system for twinks...that's damn silly.  I've seen folks twink hard in Exalted, and much worse than anything that they'd be able to accomplish in a D20 setting--there are innate checks and balances there and it takes a long while for a character to get fully grogged out in that system, as opposed to Exalted, where you can build a pretty sick, and limitied, character in a very short time.  


While we're on the subject...like it or not, the d20 system saved RPGs.  WotC saved a lot of smaller companies from going under at a time when it was hard to be involved in the business.  Their open license gave those companies a chance to show their stuff, and do so with a saleable market, as opposed to a tiny sliver.  


WotC saved the venerable D&D system, and created not only marketable game--but a flexible and inherently balanced system.


It's kind of like the Mac vs Windows debate.  


WW gives you great setting material, and a rules set that is flexible, but has gaps and flaws that an ST has to tweak.  The WotC approach is to make a system that is rock solid and expandable, and let the screen monkey come up with a setting.  And then, later on, after the tools are distributed, then they come back to establish setting material--and fairly generic stuff at that.  


WW gives you very specific plot points and setting info, and sometimes is a little fuzzy on the rules section of the show. It depends on how crunchy you like your rules, and how specific you want your flavor text.  


Don't get me wrong, I like the Exalted setting, but I can certainly appreciate the work, and the reasons, that WotC approached their product like they did.


Comes down to it: if you don't like what WW does with the Second Edition--don't buy it.  Stick with your old campaign, and if you feel the pressing need to get new material, because your own pump has gone dry, then improvise, adapt, and overcome the changes.  


Wah. Wah. Wah.  They're changing things.  No shit.  And as a consumer, you can either buy it, or not, and vote with your dollars how well recieved that change is.


I'm NOT a fan of the nWoD.  At all.  So, I haven't bought it.  I loved the old setting, and I still use it.  Plenty of great material and plenty of great ideas and stories left in the old girl.  


So, there'll be a Second Edition Exalted.  Kind of like there's a new model of every make of car, every year.  Does that mean that you're throwing your's away?  The new one has whistles and bells, but maybe you don't like the styling, you don't like the new steering or braking.  Big whoop.  You've still got a great car in your hands, so why worry about how they're "ruining" your favorite model?


Maybe you dislike the D20 system, but they made the most playable and most enjoyable Star Wars game to date.  The previous games sucked donkey pizzle, and WotC did a damn fine job, in my opinion, at saving that franchise.  They made a solid, reliable system.  And one that is flexible, and with great instructions on how to adapt it to other situations.  Their Modern and Future editions were manuals on how to build a setting and campaign--not a setting.  They give the GM the tools to create, and good guidelines to work with.


And WW doesn't.  They just don't give the best guidelines on how.  It took them two Savant and Sorcerer books to get a fair idea on how to build goodies.  


You get guidelines in the basic books for any D20 Core book, right off the bat.  


Your rant is interesting, because it ignores how to use products effectively.  I hate the GURPS system.  I just don't like it.  But Steve Jackson Games does great setting material, and I've got better than a dozen GURPS based books in my collection, because they do such a good job for research and they're highly adaptable for other games.  That's they're strength, and why I buy GURPS products, when I don't play the game.  


I don't use d20 all that often either, but their builds for materials is top knotch as well--and they pepper their books with great story seeds and great little ideas that can blossom into others.  


You want to have a hate on for the d20 thing, because it's what the cool kids do.  No hoo hoo, but let's not pretend that it's anything but that.  You reject it out of hand, because it's easier than looking at the product for what it is, and a good gamer doesn't look inspiration in the mouth.


Heck, I still use my old Star Frontiers and Space Opera stuff for inspiration from time to time.  HATE Iron Crown Enterprise's RPG, but still have a copy of Dark Space because it's chock full of great ideas.  Not a fan of the Fading Suns system--it was counter intuitive in my opinion--but the material was good, and I'm glad that they got a second chance with the setting, because it's a nice idea.


And that is exactly what WotC did: they helped a lot of developers, with great ideas, but who were hampered by the cut throat world of RPG construction to come up with inventive ways of doing things that didn't step on anyone else's copyright.  The Fading Suns folks had a great idea, but horrible game design.  By publishing it as D20 they not only got a great market, they could instead focus their energies into building the world better.  


If anything, WW has influenced, and brought about some of the more radical changes to the d20 system, as seen in Eberron and other variants.  The emphasis for story telling in the new d20 system--especially seen in the Star Wars setting, and in the amazingly well done SS imprint Gamma World Storyteller's Guide which is one of the best supplements to come out for d20 in years.


I think that your rant is moot. I think that it's based on fanboy brand adherence.  


And, your socks smell faintly of elderberries.  

 

[Persell]

Hey Jakk, didn't we just this conversation? Huh, deja vu.

 

[Jakk Bey]

There's always someone who gets their panties in a bunch, because WotC did something decent with the property.  


I think most folks just figured that that WotC would turn it into a card based system, and never guessed that they'd revitalize the industry, or turn out such good products.  


Then again, most folks don't look at it from an industry standpoint, and just concentrate on the games they like, developing that slavish devotion to a brand, no matter how crappy the service might be *cough*GamesWorskshop*cough*...

 

[Forn Clakes]

Then again' date=' most folks don't look at it from an industry standpoint, and just concentrate on the games they like, developing that slavish devotion to a brand, no matter how crappy the service might be *cough*GamesWorskshop*cough*...[/quote']
:lol:  So true, my fellow forumite, so true.  I love the Warhammer 40K universe, trying to keep up with certain novels as much as I can, but after trying to follow the rules anf the games, man, it became too much after a while, to focused on winning and not on any sort of good story.


~FC.

 

[Jakk Bey]

I was referring more to their business practices.  They are damn nasty to Mom and Pop shops and aren't all the decent to their proper distributors.  As much as folks might bash WotC for being the Microsoft of the games industry, they treat their people and even their competitors with a modicum of respect and fair handedness.  


Not so much a few other companies out there.

 

[Solfi]

Blurb on Sorcery is up on the WW-site. Nothing much new...


... although that Lexicon-entry for Sorcery can be interpreted so that Necromancy:s inner secrets would no longer be the sole province of those sworn to the Malfeans, but to one who has specialized in either Sorcery or Necromancy (one seem to still preclude the other).

 

[Flagg]

... although that Lexicon-entry for Sorcery can be interpreted so that Necromancy:s inner secrets would no longer be the sole province of those sworn to the Malfeans, but to one who has specialized in either Sorcery or Necromancy (one seem to still preclude the other).

It never was. Solars in the First Age used Necromancy.


-S

 

[Persell]

Yes, though they only reached the Shadowlands Circle.

 

[Elcief]

 "Only the darkest Solar necromancers grew powerful and learned enough to touch upon the powers available in the Labyrinth Circle."

 Some of them reached as far as Labyrinth. However, they fucked up themselves in the process (Whiiiiiiiiispeeeeeeeers!  :twisted

 

[Forn Clakes]

Martial Arts are the order of the day.  Looks the same, but I noticed a couple of interesting things.  Firstly, the Solar Hero Style mentioned in the second paragraph, and secondly, the Five Scrolls of Esoteric Wisdom, the first of five volumes detailing different martial art styles.


~FC.

 

[Persell]

You are incorrect sir. Only the first book will have Martial Arts. The books detail organizations and social groups.

 

[Persell]

Does anyone know which  books will be reprinted or go out of print with the second edition? I never got round to autochton and the fair folk cause I rarely use those but I wanted to buy them at one point... good idea or will they reprinted anyway? And what about the softcovers? Anyone knows anything?

 

[Forn Clakes]

You are incorrect sir. Only the first book will have Martial Arts. The books detail organizations and social groups.

My apologies.  If what you say is true, then it sounds better than i'd hoped  


~FC.

 

[Persell]

I'm sure one willl be about the guild. Another about the Lintha.


Some suggestions:


Yozi Cults


Organized Crime (Triad/ Tong/ Yakuza)


Spirit Courts


Malfeas

 

[Persell]

I'm sure one willl be about the guild. Another about the Lintha.
Some suggestions:


Yozi Cults


Organized Crime (Triad/ Tong/ Yakuza)


Spirit Courts


Malfeas

One of my bets is the guild.

 

[Solfi]

... Seems WW is going to go for this 'splat-series by theme'-thing for the 2nd edition. What with the First Age lore series and all that...

... although that Lexicon-entry for Sorcery can be interpreted so that Necromancy:s inner secrets would no longer be the sole province of those sworn to the Malfeans, but to one who has specialized in either Sorcery or Necromancy (one seem to still preclude the other).

It never was. Solars in the First Age used Necromancy.

... I was referring to the fact that Solars cannot master Void circle. Without swearing to the Malfeans I suppose.

 

[Solfi]

blurb about Antagonists: Dragon-Blooded in 2nd. ed is up on WW.

 

[Bodhisattva]

Love the image of the dragon bloods.