Exalted

Re: Second Edition, is it worth it?

Blackwell — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 13:10:36 GMT

cogrie:
Okay, so I have 26 books for Exalted 1st Ed. Every fat-splat, every Caste book, and most of the supplements. It represents quite an investment. So, what I am wondering is, is it worth making all of my books obsolete, and spending more money, to switch to 2nd Ed?

If you want to treat your books as an investment (compared to, say, my approach to them, which is more like a selective subscription), my suggestion would be to invest in the second edition core book. Read it for a couple months. Play a few sessions of a back-back-to-basics game, with a few Solars running around Creation doing stuff. Don't try to get all fancy with mixed-Exalt-type parties or custom stuff ported from 1e.

Having done that, you can make an informed decision vis a vis your investment strategy.

Re: Second Edition, is it worth it?

molez — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 09:13:03 GMT

To move this thread slightly back towards its original topic. I do indeed think that 2nd ed is worth upgrading to from 1st.

I own every 1st ed book and I'm very glad that I also own every 2nd ed book.

Social combat is a nice idea, it needs a little refinement to be perfect - but it gives you a nice yardstick to measure how well your Solar is doing to win over the crowd. It doesn't force out RP, it aids it.

The tick based combat system I find far preferable to the old turn based one. It means you are tracking another thing but it shows a difference between fighting with a dagger and a sledgehammer.

Mass Combat - again, could do with a couple more refinements - but a nice add to the system.

Lunars - dear sweet mother of god. SO GOOD. So much better than 1st ed. Moved Lunars into a pretty solid 1st place in terms of my prefered Exalt to play.

Infernals books - pure awsome. A great resource.

CoCD: Malfeas - as had been said, even more ROGDII. Yes, there are a few slip ups in the book, but in general I find something exceptionally cool in every chapter and the expansion of canon statted demons was exceptional.

Sidereals & Dragonblooded - really the only books which I would say don't live up to 1st ed. Everything else has been improved upon in one way or another.

Re: Second Edition, is it worth it?

Hekatonkhire — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 08:32:23 GMT

Telgar:
Hekatonkhire:
Telgar:
orbital neuromentacular mind lasers.

I would never agree with you about orbital neuromentacular mind lasers. Only the non-orbital variety do we see eye to eye on.

Can we agree to negotiate in regards to stratospheric neuromentacular mind lasers, then? Cause they just dont work as well on the ground.

We'll speak about it at the extreme-altitude-objects summit this summer.

Re: Second Edition, is it worth it?

Telgar — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 06:49:35 GMT

Hekatonkhire:
Telgar:
orbital neuromentacular mind lasers.

I would never agree with you about orbital neuromentacular mind lasers. Only the non-orbital variety do we see eye to eye on.

Can we agree to negotiate in regards to stratospheric neuromentacular mind lasers, then? Cause they just dont work as well on the ground.

Re: Second Edition, is it worth it?

Kashi — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 05:08:18 GMT

Neall:
It's an unspoken secret of doctors and women who have given birth that crapping on the birthing table isn't just normal, it's actually very, very common. I mean, you've been in labor for most of the day, and you're pushing real hard. So you're crapping your pants and pregnant, but there's the miracle of life, and miracles are really cool.

I was aware of that happening to women in labor, but never used in the context of something being cool.

Re: Second Edition, is it worth it?

RadRyan122 — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 03:23:15 GMT

BogMod:
Nicely solved by making Craft more like Linguistics. It might not be at all realistic but its a nice system tweak.

I haven't actually done it out, but I've thought of re-working the different crafts to be a bit more like thaumaturgy for Occult. It won't work as a direct port, but I like the idea better than basing it off of linguistics.

Re: Second Edition, is it worth it?

Rafilar — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 23:56:19 GMT

BogMod:
Nicely solved by making Craft more like Linguistics. It might not be at all realistic but its a nice system tweak.

I did this for my home campaign. It works very nicely.

Re: Second Edition, is it worth it?

Adamant Siaka — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:16:34 GMT

BogMod:
Nicely solved by making Craft more like Linguistics. It might not be at all realistic but its a nice system tweak.

Also, making Genesis a function of Craft (Water) and the three prerequisite Abilities instead of its own Craft, with Magitech being Fire, Air, Lore and Occult. Fate and Glamour are still odd enough to enjoy their own classifications; Vitriol, being its own element and not part of Creation, also maintains its distinctness.

Re: Second Edition, is it worth it?

BogMod — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:12:51 GMT

Telgar:
Jutlander:

2) Craft (Air), Craft (Earth), Craft (Fire), Craft (Water), and Craft (Wood) instead of a bazillion different Craft abilities.

That isn't really an improvement because there are still other Crafts like Fate and Magitech and Necrotech and suchnot. No one ever took Crafts (Doilies) anyway.

Still waiting for an Exalted edition that just has ONE freaking Crafts ability. Either that or you better start having to learn Lore (Spirits) and Lore (History) and Lore (Math) all on their own.

Nicely solved by making Craft more like Linguistics. It might not be at all realistic but its a nice system tweak.

Re: Second Edition, is it worth it?

Adamant Siaka — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:33:55 GMT

Telgar:
That isn't really an improvement because there are still other Crafts like Fate and Magitech and Necrotech and suchnot. No one ever took Crafts (Doilies) anyway.

Doilies are under Air. Magitech and Genesis are two broadly applicable Crafts, and Necrosurgery got rolled into a function of Fire and Medicine. Fate is taken only by employees of the Bureau of Destiny, anbd Glamour only by individuals who can work with semi-solid dreams. Given that the old Craft system never gave any help at all in determining what your Ability could cover, it is, in fact, an improvement over the open-ended nonsense that hobbled 1e. Not perfect, of course, but it doesn't have to be to qualify as a step above the past.

Re: Second Edition, is it worth it?

Jutlander — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 17:14:07 GMT

Telgar:
Jutlander:
2) Craft (Air), Craft (Earth), Craft (Fire), Craft (Water), and Craft (Wood) instead of a bazillion different Craft abilities.

That isn't really an improvement because there are still other Crafts like Fate and Magitech and Necrotech and suchnot.

Well, yeah... it is still a slight improvement.

Telgar:
Still waiting for an Exalted edition that just has ONE freaking Crafts ability. Either that or you better start having to learn Lore (Spirits) and Lore (History) and Lore (Math) all on their own.

For some reason Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd edition came to my mind. Weapon proficiencies... *Shudders*

Re: Second Edition, is it worth it?

Telgar — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:52:23 GMT

Jutlander:

2) Craft (Air), Craft (Earth), Craft (Fire), Craft (Water), and Craft (Wood) instead of a bazillion different Craft abilities.

That isn't really an improvement because there are still other Crafts like Fate and Magitech and Necrotech and suchnot. No one ever took Crafts (Doilies) anyway.

Still waiting for an Exalted edition that just has ONE freaking Crafts ability. Either that or you better start having to learn Lore (Spirits) and Lore (History) and Lore (Math) all on their own.

Re: Second Edition, is it worth it?

Neall — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:02:48 GMT

Kashi:
That's a whole new breed of cool I was completely unaware of.

It's an unspoken secret of doctors and women who have given birth that crapping on the birthing table isn't just normal, it's actually very, very common. I mean, you've been in labor for most of the day, and you're pushing real hard. So you're crapping your pants and pregnant, but there's the miracle of life, and miracles are really cool.

Re: Second Edition, is it worth it?

Adamant Siaka — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 14:01:16 GMT

Lord Darkview:
That depends on if you think the time till 3E is enough to wait. Considering there aren't even rumors of it, I suspect that's a minimum of two years, perhaps more.

If you can wait that indefinite and uncertain time, do it. If you can't. 2E is while not perfect, definitely superior to 1E.

I suspect that there are rumors of 3E because Exalted is a second edition that's past the first few rounds of its production schedule. The veracity of such rumors is up in the air.

Re: Second Edition, is it worth it?

JiveX — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:59:47 GMT

Lord Darkview:
That depends on if you think the time till 3E is enough to wait. Considering there aren't even rumors of it, I suspect that's a minimum of two years, perhaps more.

And not to be a downer, but who the hell says ther will even be a 2E. This line could keep going for a while, or it could go the way of Changling. I don't particularly want to contemplate that, but, yeah, couldn't hurt to pick up 2e books.