Return of the Scarlet Empress

[Aasharu]

Upon looking more closely at the cover for the Under the Rose PDF, I just now realized how fetishistic the picture actually is. And now my mind is unavoidably wondering if anything else went on between Tepet Ejava and the Scarlet Empress.

 

[Persell]

I don't understand all the Chejop Kejack hate. I mean, sure he probably made one of the biggest mistakes ever, but he can hardly be blamed for being a Sidereal in the largest gathering of Sidereals ever and succumbing to the Great Curse.
Have I just not been reading the right books?

Firstly, we don't, and secondly, you haven't.


As other posters have said, we celebrate his death because it's narratively appropriate. The ultimate manipulator, done in by the child of his own scheme-it's just so Greek a death, perfect for the guy whose entire life has been one long Classical tragedy.


As for my bet on what the taunt is, I go with something I read on White Wolf:


"Ayesha tried to warn you with her last breath. Wonder what that implies?"


This will prove a sticking point for coaxing a certain Essence 9 ghost out of his self-loathing should I run ROtSE.

 

[polajum]

The problem with Sidereals, and Kejak specifically, is that they ought to be the Exalts that bend Fate around their fingers. Instead, they let Fate push them around.


How the great Great Prophecy should've gone-


"We've only got three choices? Nah, those all suck. What else have you got? Nothing? Hmm, that means we're going to have to bend Fate around some. This is probably going to take some powerful outside of fate mojo-who's up for running some Yozis through hoops?"


If you don't think this'll work with Elder Solars around, then the Usurpation's probably still necessary. No excuse not to get to work on the problem after that, though.

 

[Jaksio]

Since no one posted it jet I'll do it.


IT'S OUT. Finally!!! Let's rejoice this great moment by buying it and reading this ( let's hope so) magnificent piece of work.

 

[chalicier]

Just finished reading it.


Yowser. That's... a heck of a lot of material. A LOT.


Probably not going to end up using most of it, but some of the ideas really appeal. My party have a pet heroic mortal I assigned Destiny 5 to a while ago, and I think I might have to bump it to Destiny 6 now...

 

[Aasharu]

Just got it, just read it.


...


...


...


Damn.


I mean, wow. It's like the developers sat down, and said, "OK, this is Exalted, and everything has to be BIG and AWESOME. So how do we take an apocalypse scenario, which naturally implies BIG and AWESOME, and instead make it BIG and AWESOME beyond belief?" And then they did it.

 

[chalicier]

Yeah. Quick pocket review:


Chapter 1: Realm Civil War. Seriously awesome stuff, with loads of suggestions for twists on the theme and takes on the Houses' reactions to the War.


Chapter 2-5: Directional plots for the Reclamation. Good storylines, but variable in quality, and thereby of variable utility in a campaign not completely based on this material.


Chapter 6: Reactions in other realms - Yu Shan, the Underworld, Autochtonia etc. Absolutely brilliant stuff - essentially a long series of vignettes, many of which would be worth buying the PDF for alone IMO.


Chapter 7: The Endgame. Ways to handle the victory of the Scarlet Empress and her Big Bad Husband. And where to go with the game next. A really well done chapter all round, it really is.


It also starts and ends with magnificent multi-page comics that require a little re-reading to completely understand. I didn't get the point of the babies in the second one until someone explained it to me...

 

[Aasharu]

My big love of Chapter 7 was the Ebon Dragon write up, specifically the revelation of the Essence 10 Primordial charms that, presumably, all of the Yozi's have versions of. It's a tantalizing hint of what the Infernals can truly become.


My favorite part of Chapter 6, on the other hand, was the part detailing the reactions in Malfeas proper, and all the various things that can go wrong on the home front.

 

[MuscaDomestica]

My big love of Chapter 7 was the Ebon Dragon write up, specifically the revelation of the Essence 10 Primordial charms that, presumably, all of the Yozi's have versions of. It's a tantalizing hint of what the Infernals can truly become.
My favorite part of Chapter 6, on the other hand, was the part detailing the reactions in Malfeas proper, and all the various things that can go wrong on the home front.

I knew I liked Szoreny, any clue how successful his plot will be?


Also remember Sidereals like getting forbidden styles, how many do you think finished Infernal Monster style and were hit with the downside of the capstone charm?

 

[Aasharu]

It's explicitly stated, in the detailing of the Lotus Massacre, that it was the combination of the sudden arrival of a number of Infernals, the sudden reveal of a number of Sidereal Akuma, and the sudden control of all the Sidereals that had mastered One-Handed Fury, that led to the (sudden) destruction of most of the Five-Score Fellowship.


And how successful Szoreny is depends on the players and the storyteller, I assume. That said, I'd expect an offer like that to at least get a hearing. It does say that Szoreny would prefer to wait until Halta is destroyed, as it would be the perfect spot to relocate to. (It also says that, after his parole, he'll start plotting about how to get revenge on the gods. Szoreny cannot be trusted, apparently.)

 

[chalicier]

As an addition, the Lotus Massacre writeup goes into the ramifications of multiple potential outcomes, ranging from "Chejop Kejack and the other Bronze leaders kick the bucket" through "All the elders die" all the way to "Only PC Sidereals survive".

 

[cyl]

Just got it...


Holy crap that book is dense ! :shock:

 

[wordman]

Anyone know the story with the letters from the developers in the book? They read very much like the end of the line for Exalted.

 

[cyl]

Anyone know the story with the letters from the developers in the book? They read very much like the end of the line for Exalted.

Clearly... I felt almost sad reading those lines.

 

[Kyeudo]

They still need to put a book out detailing Autochthonia. Alchemicals didn't do a very good job of filling in details about their society. Other than that, though, they've kinda run out of potential supplements for Exalted.

 

[Plague of Hats]

Anyone know the story with the letters from the developers in the book? They read very much like the end of the line for Exalted.

Possibly something like this:
Step 1: Run customer satisfaction into the ground with Scroll of the Monk, Manual: Sidereals, an execrable "crown jewel" in Dreams, and Scroll of Heroes.


Step 2: Decide to go out with a bang, since the line is doing not-great, and put farewell letters in the back of this capstone book. Get said farewell book written and send it to the printers.


Step 3: Revitalize the line by assigning your best writers to appropriate tasks for the remaining books, doing vital, comprehensive and more timely errata, opening up a gold mine of content for free on the internet and coming out with a few more top-notch bits of material.


Step 4: Start making the good money again, increase customer good will, plan new projects for line. At this point is probably when you rethink those letters in the back of your "last book ever."

They still need to put a book out detailing Autochthonia.

It's coming.

 

[Kyeudo]

It's coming.

Doesn't mean I can't complain about it not being here yesterday. How else will people know I want it?

 

[HowlingCoyote]

Anyone know the story with the letters from the developers in the book? They read very much like the end of the line for Exalted.

This was addressed on the Exalted blog, but it basically goes like this: they are still producing new content, but as pdf copies only, with the option to print on demand. They will not release hardcopy books, but you can still order one, and everything will be available through pdf.


Exalted is *not* coming to an end, White Wolf is just switching to a more efficient and profitable format.


I, for one, think this is a great idea since most of my books were pdf anyway, and if it keeps the company alive and churning out new stuff then great!

 

[Kyeudo]

I like hardcopy. So much easier to reference three sources while still typing on the computer. As long as I can get one, I'm happy.

 

[Cthulhu_Wakes]

PoD is NOT confirmed, folks. It's something they're looking into. They still don't know if they can make it work. Keep that in mind. PDFs, sure. PoD? Not so sure.

 

[Ledaal Kajiri]

Anyone know the story with the letters from the developers in the book? They read very much like the end of the line for Exalted.

Possibly something like this:
Step 1: Run customer satisfaction into the ground with Scroll of the Monk, Manual: Sidereals, an execrable "crown jewel" in Dreams, and Scroll of Heroes.

Personally, only one of these supposed bad products did I find to be utter crap. Sidereals. Scroll of the Monk was actually pretty good. Main issue I had with it is some of the Sidereal styles. Namely, most of the new ones. Sidereals...yeah. They needed a fix. Badly. They didn't get it, unlike others. Dreams had some issues, particularly in the Solar charm section, however overall it was pretty good. Scroll of Heroes, frankly aside from one or two nitpicks, tied to one or two of the merits, I actually find quite useful.

Step 2: Decide to go out with a bang, since the line is doing not-great, and put farewell letters in the back of this capstone book. Get said farewell book written and send it to the printers.
Step 3: Revitalize the line by assigning your best writers to appropriate tasks for the remaining books, doing vital, comprehensive and more timely errata, opening up a gold mine of content for free on the internet and coming out with a few more top-notch bits of material.

The errata and the like was quite needed. Still waiting on a real Sidereal fix, but not holding my breath. Otherwise...generally quite good.

Step 4: Start making the good money again, increase customer good will, plan new projects for line. At this point is probably when you rethink those letters in the back of your "last book ever."

They still need to put a book out detailing Autochthonia.

It's coming.

Considering this 'Last Book' is available for free, online, as is most of the 'improved content', and I'm not really sure whether it's really making them any more money. Some of the Errata fixes were quite needed, and some of the PDF releases quite good, though...and worth paying for. Thousand Actions of the Upright Soldier and the Glories of the Most High books in particular.

 

[chalicier]

Considering this 'Last Book' is available for free' date=' online, as is most of the 'improved content', and I'm not really sure whether it's really making them any more money. Some of the Errata fixes were quite needed, and some of the PDF releases quite good, though...and worth paying for. Thousand Actions of the Upright Soldier and the Glories of the Most High books in particular.[/quote']
Holden (or possibly someone else) mentioned on the WW forums that the Glories OTMH PDFs were selling like blazes, and that RotSE has broken records on DriveThruRPG already. It does look very much like Exalted PDFs have been a success on at least some level. Enough to maintain the line? Different question.

 

[Ledaal Kajiri]

Holden (or possibly someone else) mentioned on the WW forums that the Glories OTMH PDFs were selling like blazes, and that RotSE has broken records on DriveThruRPG already. It does look very much like Exalted PDFs have been a success on at least some level. Enough to maintain the line? Different question.

I certainly hope so. I just don't think that such invalidates the existence of prior pen and paper published books. I'm seriously hoping that the success means we have plenty more Exalted work to come. Rather fond of it.

 

[Aasharu]

Question. On page 218, (that's book page, not PDF page,) there's a line:

One Primordial refashioned for war managed to fight a century-long guerilla war against the Solar Realm at the height of its power,

Any idea what they're talking about?

 

[Holden]

Question. On page 218, (that's book page, not PDF page,) there's a line:

One Primordial refashioned for war managed to fight a century-long guerilla war against the Solar Realm at the height of its power,

Any idea what they're talking about?

The Aftershock War, detailed in Dreams of the First Age.