5 YEARS with no Abyssals, Liminals or Sidereals.

[Serpent Axis]

Half a decade has passed since 3E became a thing and we've just got Dragon-Bloods, with Lunars crawling in development.
I cannot imagine running a game long-term as Storyteller and not having need of an Abyssal and Sidereal books.

What are Abyssal Mains doing in the meantime? Staying in 2.5? Switching to Solar/DB in the meantime? Giving up and moving on to other games?

I've sort of switched to DB, but lost my group so I guess I'm mostly in the "giving up and moving on to other games" category.
What about you?

[DrLoveMonkey]

The people I know with a favourite non-released splat have been pretty well enjoying the ones that we have. Solars and DBs are fresh and different enough from how they were in 2e that they feel cool, I haven't seen any Lunars yet but I'm sure I will. We've moved onto 5e DnD for the past long while, but it has nothing to do with Sidereals not being out and everything to do with DnD just being rock solid. We'll be going back to exalted kinda soon I hope, with some lessons learned.

I've been spending the last few months compiling ideas and plot notes for my Dynastic game. I'm hoping to introduce my players to a lot of the concepts like how the different ministries and military branches work so that they've got all the tools they need in the second half to start manipulating things.

[Sandact6]

I converted Alchemicals. I can die happy.

[Tikor]

On a mercantile level, I understand that fresh content is needed to keep an audience, and an audience kept for a profitable game line. I wish the development team haste and a lack of obstacles producing more of the Exalted we all love.

But on a more personal level, one gets out what one puts in. First and second edition are a font of ideas that can be translated into 3e. And many forumites have posted their homebrew here on the site! For the Abyssal impatient to bring darkness or light to Creation, or the Alchemical Champion to cross the seal of eight divinities, a little google-fu will get a charmset to your monitor.

I've homebrewed up a Sidereal Charmset / Resplendent Destiny mechanics / Sutra / etc. for my table (probably completely unbalanced!) so that my players can enjoy a Vizier in the group. Same for Alchemicals. And though they are not professionally done, and I will buy and be delighted by the (vastly more) thought put into their official release, the splats are accessible if you reach.

[vwllss trnt prncss]

Abyssals at least can be built as Solars with too much eyeshadow and sorta-kinda work. I've been chronically unable to use a Sid in my game despite there being a few situations where it would be perfect to include one.

EX3 is in a really terrible place where there's basically zero GMing advice, a very limited set of premade foes, and zero advice on custom creation of new content. Anyone who wants to GM an Exalted game is plunging blindly forward while making mountains of homebrew and praying that it works well enough to entertain their players.
Charm(set) creation guidelines shouldn't have been in Exigents. They needed to be in core. Storyteller advice shouldn't have been a not-even-yet-on-the-horizon book. It needed to be in core.

[DrLoveMonkey]

Are there any fanmade Storyteller guides out there? If not maybe somebody should start one.

[Tikor]

... a very limited set of premade foes...

For premade foes, perhaps check out adversaries of the righteous.

Regarding adding things to Core, spare the poor book's binding! Especially the print on demand version!

[Kyman201]

I cannot imagine running a game long-term as Storyteller and not having need of an Abyssal and Sidereal books.

"Is it just me or has every Sidereal we've run into completely only ever used Martial Arts? Like yeah they're good at it, but it's a bit odd that none of them use ANY of their Native Charms."

[TheCountAlucard]

"Is it just me or has every Sidereal we've run into completely only ever used Martial Arts? Like yeah they're good at it, but it's a bit odd that none of them use ANY of their Native Charms."

Meh, I've just been using 1e Sidereals as inspiration. It's worked fairly well so far.

[Deamonlight]

Are there any fanmade Storyteller guides out there? If not maybe somebody should start one.

There is an entire fan made series on youtube by one of our forum goers. Also a book to go with.

[Blaque]

So speaking from experience, Exalted 1e didn't have any Charm creation advice, the storytelling chapter was like a dozen pages (incluidng advancement rules that are actually in the core), and about half as many to a quarter the sample enemies per type. Yet, it was still WW's most successful RPG since Vampire at the time, and had a pretty healthy and lively homebrew community before Dragon-Blooded came out.

I guess to me, Exalted 3e isn't as intimidating, but I think Exalted 2e got folks in a veiw that 1) Everything would be statted and provided for them and 2) That there'd be advice (that no one raed, as the joke about Chapter 7 went) and 3) The pace was pretty breakneck, so you would get everything soon.

A big thing to note is 2e had very little actually new content also. It mostly was just taking 1e and retaking it in the 2e system a lot of the time, or expanding what was already stated, so there was a bit more "backporting" you could do. 3e has a lot cleaner "This is a reboot" going on, which I think make sit harder to just loot previous editions. WHich mind, I'm fine with. We already have those.

But for most groups and my group at least, we just play with what we got. Though I also admit I don't find folks "main" an Exalted type much, so might be my own annecdotal experience being different in these things.

[Serpent Axis]

Meh, I've just been using 1e Sidereals as inspiration. It's worked fairly well so far.

But that's just you filling in the blanks with homebrew and essentially saying "This Is Fine".
It's not a real solution, it's a temporary bandaid - worse, it's the kind of bandaid that works in one group but fails another and changes from Storyteller to Storyteller.

[TheCountAlucard]

But that's just you filling in the blanks with homebrew and essentially saying "This Is Fine".

If I rent an apartment, there will be things I want to have, that will not be there. I don't rent an apartment expecting there to be a couch and bed ready for me; I bring my mattresses when I move in.

[Serpent Axis]

I guess to me, Exalted 3e isn't as intimidating, but I think Exalted 2e got folks in a veiw that 1) Everything would be statted and provided for them and 2) That there'd be advice (that no one raed, as the joke about Chapter 7 went) and 3) The pace was pretty breakneck, so you would get everything soon.

1) But there are certain stats and rules that you need in order to run the game. Character Creation rules, for instance. Charm trees, for instance. Base mechanics like how things like Sidereal Astrology and Resonance would work in 3E, if they'd still be things, for instance.
This is one of the things I don't get about this argument, which I've heard before - "people are spoiled brats because they expect the developers to supply them with RULES! Pfeh! Back in my day we made our own rules!".

So why do I need Exalted, then?
I can just make my own game - system and all - and make up all the things I'm lacking here.

2) I read it. It does sadden me that not many do, but I did read it. And I bet newbie Storytellers would have loved to have some tips. The Storyteller chapter isn't a thing that's crucial to me, personally, though and it's not my main concern here.

3) The breakneck pace you mention was roughly 2 years. Within 2 years we've had various splat books for 1E and 2E. Second edition Infernals and Alchemicals came in at about 3 years (so 1 year after the others) if I recall correctly.

A big thing to note is 2e had very little actually new content also. It mostly was just taking 1e and retaking it in the 2e system a lot of the time, or expanding what was already stated, so there was a bit more "backporting" you could do. 3e has a lot cleaner "This is a reboot" going on, which I think make sit harder to just loot previous editions. WHich mind, I'm fine with. We already have those.

But for most groups and my group at least, we just play with what we got. Though I also admit I don't find folks "main" an Exalted type much, so might be my own annecdotal experience being different in these things.

You can criticise the copypasta and rushed nature of the books and you're not wrong to do so, but at the same time those editions had every splat available within 3 years tops. Our current edition took 4 years to give us Dragon-Bloods.

We are now at 5 years since core book release and we have two base splats and just one more on the way.

It has now been 5 years and we are lacking some essential stuff.

FIVE YEEEAAARRRSSS ! ! !

...At what point do I stop being thought of as being overly needy unimaginative/uncreative brat versus someone with a legitimate complaint? At what point do the defensive arguments of "quality takes time!" and "tHiS iS fInE" stop working? By what year can we expect people to figure out that "Star Citizen" is a lie?

............That last question may not be related to the rest of this.

If I rent an apartment, there will be things I want to have, that will not be there. I don't rent an apartment expecting there to be a couch and bed ready for me; I bring my mattresses when I move in.

Except you didn't rent an apartment, you bought a game where Abyssals and Sidereals are essential cast members for long-term Series and you have not been supplied with any way to run long-term Abyssal and Sidereal cast members for... Let me check here... Oh yes...

FIVE YEEEAAARRRSSS ! ! !

[TheCountAlucard]

Except you didn't rent an apartment, you bought a game...

Right, this is called an "analogy." I'm describing one thing to explain my thought process about a different thing.

And in this case, Abyssals and Sidereals are akin to a bed and mattress, in that they're obviously something you're going to want in your apartment, but are not included by default.

(Except, in this case, we got samples of both in the Antagonists chapter, so it's like your landlord saw you not bringing a mattress on move-in day, and, out of the goodness of his heart, provided you with a cheap one, because it's better than nothing.)