General Exalted Discussion Thread XI: Great Job, You Broke the Scale.

[Turalisj]

You use a Tether to whip-snap it at someone.

[Zelkon]

I just bought the core rules today. What else should I get? (it's the one printed in 2001)

[Turalisj]

Get the Second Edition one

[Sanguine]

I just bought the core rules today. What else should I get? (it's the one printed in 2001)

Get the Second Edition one

You are an awful person Turalisj.

I'm came into the game with Second Edition so I'm not terribly familiar with the First Edition books. However, I have heard that Scavenger Sons and the Aspect Books are really good. You also probably want the "Exalted: The X" books as they give the rules for playing non-Solar Exalted.

Also there is a Third Edition coming out in a few months that is being written by a top-notch team, you may want to wait for that.

[Exthalion]

I just thought of something:

Gyroscopic Beamchakram.

I mean, how would you even throw it?

Like it is a Beyblade. Then you use the nonsensical story of fighting with them against each other to distract the Populat.

[Hiro Protagonest]

You're probably best off signing up for DriveThruRPG (assuming you picked up the book from Amazon or eBay), getting second edition core, Manual of Exalted Power: Infernals, MoEP: Alchemicals, and Shards of the Exalted Dream. Maybe also Books of Sorcery, Vol. III: Oadenol's Codex, and the Scroll of Fallen Races. The Scroll of Errata is also practically mandatory: the vast majority of games formed after it came out uses it, and a good amount of the ones that came before but are still going also incorporate it to some extent.

Also, download Ink Monkeys' collection, and look at their fluff articles as well. They've got some great stuff.

If you want to run Infernals, or just want to see what Hell is like, get Compass of Celestial Directions: Malfeas. Also get The Broken-Winged Crane. CoCD: Autochthonia is desirable if you want to run vanilla Alchemicals. Masters of Jade is for when you want to play Exalted Kings II, and it also has great stuff on the Guild and how people see them. Books of Sorcery, Vol. I: Wonders of the Lost Age is good for STs, since they need it to outfit Lookshy, and some of the Realm's elite forces. It has five things big things.
1) Concussive Essence Cannons. The lowest elite forces worth mentioning have Essence Cannons. Entire mortal platoons in Autochthonia, most of them Estasian, are outfitted with them.
2) Power armor. From ones that mortals can use at the cost of one Willpower and accelerated aging (exalts can just attune with essence and age at their normal pace, of course), to Celestial Battle Armor, this is THE personal protection.
3) Airships. From the small one-man... hoverboard, basically, to the Kireeki-class airships employed by Lookshy, to the f**king Five-Metal Shrike (sadly, it doesn't have stats for Directional Titans or the Daystar), airships are awesome.
4) Warstriders. Warstriders are what are employed to up your threat level, so you can fight Wyld and Primordial Behemoths on even terms. Unfortunately, Warstriders as presented are badly laid out, unbalanced, and just plain annoying. Also, Kyeudo's Warstrider Fix is functional without the original rules, and while it doesn't make it great, it does make it better. Also, in Kyeudo's Fix, you can get your Animating Intelligence a Charm that lets him repair the warstrider, so that's slightly less annoying.

Reasoning: Even if 3e comes out on time, and it's great, Infernals and Alchemicals aren't coming out for years, and have the two most balanced charmsets in the game. Shards might not even come out again, at least not in 3e. Oadenol's Codex is one of my favorite books. It's not the best balanced, but it has the rules for crafting with the magical materials, and also rules for manses as well as a ton of new Hearthstones.

[golentan]

Hey, would people be potentially interested in a video-chat based valkhawsen game? I'm setting it up for my friends and I'm a couple players short at the moment.

[Sanguine]

Hey, would people be potentially interested in a video-chat based valkhawsen game? I'm setting it up for my friends and I'm a couple players short at the moment.

I would be if it weren't for the fact that I don't have a webcam.

[Plague of Hats]

I just bought the core rules today. What else should I get? (it's the one printed in 2001)

For First Edition, I would suggest getting Scavenger Sons, The Book of Three Circles and Exalted: the Dragon-Blooded as your "core" set. You can certainly get along with just the core rule book, but I think the aforementioned are pretty indispensable whatever type of game you happen to end up playing. Get comfortable with those, and then you'll probably have a better grasp on what other books you might want. You can get all of the First Edition books as PDFs on DriveThruRPG, but I believe the bulk of them are scans.

You might instead give Second Edition a try. I'd recommend against it, as it suffered a greater amount of "misses." Even so, you may want to pick up some Second Edition books regardless of the edition you go with, such as Masters of Jade (highly recommended), or if you get into Alchemicals Compass of Celestial Directions, Vol. VI—Autochthonia.

As mentioned, Third Edition is around the corner, but unless you're really super-tight on money I wouldn't wait to actually get into the game with the latest edition. Strike while the iron is hot.

[Volthawk]

I just thought of something:

Gyroscopic Beamchakram.

I mean, how would you even throw it?

Well, with normal beam weapons it's a handle and then the beam, so I'd imagine with a chakram the middle bit where you hold it would still be there as the handle, and the spinning blade bit would be the beam part.

[omegalith]

Masters of Jade (highly recommended)

People keep saying this, but the book appears to be about merchants, traders and economy...

[Rikandur Azebol]

Yes. And it shows also how to be a "legal" pirate and employ Exalts while still being just a "sweaty merchant".

[Kobold-Bard]

People keep saying this, but the book appears to be about merchants, traders and economy...

Well a big part of Exalted can be building Empires from the ashes of the Second Age. In those sort of games it's probably really useful (IIRC it has a superior version of the Mandate of Heaven Bureaucracy rules).

[omegalith]

Well a big part of Exalted can be building Empires from the ashes of the Second Age. In those sort of games it's probably really useful (IIRC it has a superior version of the Mandate of Heaven Bureaucracy rules).

If you're running a Trade Empire based game, sure, I imagine it's pretty invaluable.

Beyond that, it's probably a well written and interesting sourcebook... But you can improvise pretty easily just from hearing "So there's this international Guild that trades useful stuff including slaves and drugs, negotiates with Fair Folk and the Shadowlands, and owns a city called Nexus used as their headquarters that the Core Book describes".

Just because it's a good book doesn't mean it's subject matter isn't fairly peripheral for the majority of games.

[Kobold-Bard]

If you're running a Trade Empire based game, sure, I imagine it's pretty invaluable.

Beyond that, it's probably a well written and interesting sourcebook... But you can improvise pretty easily just from hearing "So there's this international Guild that trades useful stuff including slaves and drugs, negotiates with Fair Folk and the Shadowlands, and owns a city called Nexus used as their headquarters that the Core Book describes".

Just because it's a good book doesn't mean it's subject matter isn't fairly peripheral for the majority of games.

I guess people think of it like the Compass books. You can play the game without them, but they're good to read and useful if your game will be in that Direction/involve the Guild.

[Tavar]

Just because it's a good book doesn't mean it's subject matter isn't fairly peripheral for the majority of games.

Yeah. The Sole World Wide Mega-Corp, which is one of the two world wide powers(the other is the Realm), noted for being a huge boost to Exalts if they work together, or a huge threat if they don't, is just a peripheral thing.

[Kyeudo]

If you're running a Trade Empire based game, sure, I imagine it's pretty invaluable.

*snip*

Just because it's a good book doesn't mean it's subject matter isn't fairly peripheral for the majority of games.

You haven't played much Exalted, have you?

Most games get into the empire building to some extent or another. It's almost inevitable due to the nature of the Exalted. I've got a group of players that have a force of 300 men that they picked up by accident.

[Hiro Protagonest]

You haven't played much Exalted, have you?

Most games get into the empire building to some extent or another. It's almost inevitable due to the nature of the Exalted. I've got a group of players that have a force of 300 men that they picked up by accident.

Yeah. Dragon-Blooded are pretty much told "here, you can have this patch of land in our backyard to play with, have fun". Lunars have their pet projects. Solars have a divine mandate to rule, and any Solar without either War Charms or social Charms is pretty much screwed, unless he's a Twilight Caste who's pretty much dedicated to crafting artifacts and staying out of the spotlight, or a Night Caste focused entirely on Night Caste skills plus fighting skills. And in both those cases, it really only works if you're working with another exalt who is doing the leadership stuff.

Alchemicals in Autochthonia are pretty much the only playstyle not to get into the Guild and nation-building. Hell, even a mortals game will pretty much inevitably lead to founding an organization, as it's pretty much the only way to get recognition as a mortal. If you breach the Seal, tough luck. Even if the Alchemical players don't go through, Guildsmen will.

[Turalisj]

Just because it's a good book doesn't mean it's subject matter isn't fairly peripheral for the majority of games.

That's.... um.. pretty false, really. Just see the statements above.

[omegalith]

Yeah. The Sole World Wide Mega-Corp, which is one of the two world wide powers(the other is the Realm), noted for being a huge boost to Exalts if they work together, or a huge threat if they don't, is just a peripheral thing.

It's an unscrupulous worldwide trade federation: It's pretty obvious how it's agents are going to react in any given situation without needing to buy an entire book on the matter.

You haven't played much Exalted, have you?

Most games get into the empire building to some extent or another. It's almost inevitable due to the nature of the Exalted. I've got a group of players that have a force of 300 men that they picked up by accident.

Which still has very little relevance to a trade organization unless you're trying to run one yourself, and entirely different prospect to trying to run an Empire.

All I'm trying to say is that it's very odd to say something like "If you only buy one or two Second Edition books, get the one about merchants", and it's not the first time I've seen someone say that.

There's a pretty huge difference between recommending a book because it's a good book, and recommending it as critical.

[Tavar]

It's an unscrupulous worldwide trade federation: It's pretty obvious how it's agents are going to react in any given situation without needing to buy an entire book on the matter.

Have you read the book in question? It spends pretty much it's entire time going over that, and it provides quite a bit of useful information for general games.

[omegalith]

Have you read the book in question? It spends pretty much it's entire time going over that, and it provides quite a bit of useful information for general games.

Exactly my point: Who doesn't already know how a bunch of crafty but unscrupulous merchants are going to act?

[Tavar]

Exactly my point: Who doesn't already know how a bunch of crafty but unscrupulous merchants are going to act?

I'm pointing out that, no, you don't know how they're going to react unless you know their capabilities, structure, goals, and feats. Which the book explains.

[Lord Raziere]

you don't understand.

The Guild? that world-spanning organization of "mere" mortals?

they are more important than Yozis.

and Exalted is pretty big on not relying on cliches or judging books by covers- just because its an Evil Mega-Corp doesn't mean it'll behave the way you think it will behave. its not a centralized thing. The Guild is everywhere, but it isn't the same everywhere, the people working for it? well they probably aren't all cartoon greedy merchants and corrupt corporate execs. there are probably a lot of them who are just normal people with their own agendas, who are just using the Guild to their own ends and so on and so forth….

it would like looking at the Scarlet Empire, and saying you don't need a book on it, its just an Evil Empire. its completely denying the depth, thought and work put into making the Scarlet Empire and ignoring what it truly is.

[Turalisj]

Exactly my point: Who doesn't already know how a bunch of crafty but unscrupulous merchants are going to act?

And how are they going to act? Because not everyone in the Guild is crafty and unscrupulous. The Guild is not an organization of a single color, but many shades.

[Kyeudo]

Exactly my point: Who doesn't already know how a bunch of crafty but unscrupulous merchants are going to act?

First, the Guild is far more diverse than you give it credit. They aren't all unscrupulous. They just like money.

Second, if you want to do anything with Bureaucracy or Socialize, you pretty much need the Creation-Ruling Mandate rules unless you want to give your Storyteller a headache adjudicating how you grow your empire/buisness/traveling circus.

Third, there is so much other stuff crammed in that is just plot hooks for normal play.

The top three books to own for 2nd Edition are MoEP: Alchemicals, CoCD: Auotochthonia, and Masters of Jade.

[Gensh]

Slight interruption: we are in need of a new thread title. I don't know any 12 jokes, so someone else will have to start this.

You may continue the argument now.

[Turalisj]

General Exalted discussion Thread XII: There are only 12 Deathlords

[omegalith]

Yes, I am in fact aware that a large group of people consists of individuals rather than clones.

[Lord Raziere]

General Exalted Discussion Thread XII: Iselsi was behind it all. All of it.
General Exalted Discussion Thread XII: Our Karkat is Nuclear Green
General Exalted Discussion Thread XII: Our Zodiac has 25 symbols.
General Exalted Discussion Thread XII: Erza For Empress 2012!

and it still means you gotta get Masters of Jade, if the devs think its worth writing about, its probably worth reading about. Exalted goes big on quality.