For me 2nd is immediately out.
This is the one my players know well, but that also means that they know all its flaws well. I’m not interested in relitigating this system, it wasn’t especially good then and now unsupported there is really no reason to revisit it.That leaves Exalted 1st verse Exalted 3rd.
The Exalted 1st setting is in my opinion by a very far cry the best iteration of the Exalted setting overall, though there are a few nice refinements/additions in 2nd and 3rd. Ultimately however setting is mostly window dressing and can be mostly ported between editions freely with little loss.So, this brings me to my primary question. For those that can remember, how well does 1st edition hold up and how does it compare against 3rd?
Specifically:
- I have run 3rd for a few one-shots and despite itself the system SEEMED to play fairly well. But that was with static low tiered pre-generated characters. Does the system become unwieldy later?
- Given that charms have an absurd number of triggers for effects, does that become overwhelming in play? Example: effect triggers on 3s, 8s,2s and doubles on pink elephants? or power recharges on x.
- How much trouble do players have creating and maintaining characters? I find it unlikely that a player is going to be able to parse the sheer number of charms.
- Follow up. How likely is a player to mess up or miss important charm choices that later cripple their character? Example: Whatever is going on in crafting. Important defense charms.
- Additional follow up. How likely am *I* to miss broken charm combos, or pitfalls? For example, charms that are unfair vs a player (2nd was rife with these) or players combos of doom.
- I know 1st stayed playable up to very high levels of play, 2nd did not, does third?
- Do you think it is more work to:
- Hack 1st ed up to a smoothly functional state with later edition functionality
- Hack 3rd to add useful and interesting adversaries such Abyssals or Sidereals. AND keep track of the antagonistically relevant charms out of a potential 2000+ charms.
- The baffling charm design left an almost impenetrable mass of charms with tediously fiddly mechanics.
- The publishing speed/decisions that leaves Abyssals (The primary antagonists of the setting) till 6 years after the published core. The creative equivalent of publishing rules for Dragons in D&D 6 years after release. Additionally, the Underworld is full third of the setting and it won’t see publication till 2023. WTF?
Leave a comment: