Exalted Forum Introduction Thread

[Totentanz]

This thread is for introducing ourselves to the forum at large, sharing a bit, and helping this place feel more like a community. I'll start.

I'm Totentanz. I'm a sysadmin/devops guy living in Texas. I've played RPGs for about twenty years, with a majority of that spent on various DnD versions and White Wolf games. I bought my first Exalted book back in 2003, but didn't actually play the game until around the release of Glories of the Most High. Since then, I've been an off and on contributor to the forum.

If you're new, welcome! Please introduce yourself. We don't bite...often.

[Jetstream]

Huh. Okay. Tot's doing the intro thread. Sure. What the hell. (Who are you and what've you done with Tot?)

Anyhoo, I'm Jetstream. I'm a paper pusher for the Texas State Government. I've been an RPG nerd for... oh... I'mma call it 15 years now, I think that's about when someone got me into Vampire and Demon. I got my first Exalted book in 2001 or 2002, can't recall, but I didn't play anything at all until 2003 when I moved and joined a group. Tot's group, in fact. We still game together. Didn't actually play Exalted until the game we started in... either late 2009 or early 2010. The game I was running, in fact. I'm sporadic on the forums in general.

Hi.

[The Unsung Hero]

(I would say share whatever you want to share, nothing is required except courtesy. Introduce whatever you want people to know)

I'm The Unsung Hero. I work at Costco Wholesale Corporate Office in Washington and do 90% of my forum reading at work, because oddly enough it helps me focus. I've been doing tabletop RPGs for 21 years (mostly D&D) and I've been into Exalted since 2003 (actually this feels a lot like Totentanz's post). I've only been active on the forums since 2012 or so (whenever Shards of the Exalted Dream released) and I've become extra involved since 3E released.

I am probably best known for my homebrew work on Artifacts, which is linked in my signature. I don't always have lots of free time, but I do like to help people with game stuff (Design, philosophy, whatever) when I am available.

Be welcome to our community, and count yourself among our number.

[Erinys]

Are we obligated to tell everyone where we live and work? Because I'm not going to.

Hi, I'm Erinys. A decades-long Werewolf: the Apocalypse fan, I've been interested in Exalted since 1st Edition but have never had a chance to play any RPGs offline (except occasionally at a convention). I came for the Prehistory of the WoD, and stayed for the awesome setting. My first exposure to RPGs were actually D&D and the Hero Quest board game, but I don't care for either (except Planescape). On the earlier WW forum and on ShadownEssence I used to be Erinye. In some other fandoms I call myself Faelivrin, Arcades Sabboth, and Vaevictis Asmadi (named for a character, not a philosophical statement!)

I love Infernals* and I'm not ashamed of it. Solars are my second-favorite Exalted, but I also dig Dragon Kings and non-Bronze Sidereals. I express strong opinions and ask weird questions. I'm fascinated by setting fluff, but don't really understand mechanics, and there are gaps in my knowledge because I don't have many Exalted books, have not yet read most of the ones I do have, and relied a lot on the internet to learn about the setting. I know almost nothing about 3rd Edition or Essence.

My interests swing between Exalted and various other subjects**, so I leave this forum for months at a time, and then act confused when I wander back in. When I'm away I read fantasy and scifi and actual science, fiddle with GURPS, work for a nonprofit, and try to make the real world a little better place. I WISH I had time and people to play this game.

*Not the rape parts!

**Real science, various science fiction, Middle-Earth+Arda, WTA and some other cWoD games, Planescape, various fantasy novels, more fantasy, gardening, social justice bard-ing, etc.


I've been told my signature reads like it's supposed to be a joke, but actually it's 100% serious. I am very literal-minded. I really really don't know how to "read between the lines" and I have trouble communicating without being misinterpreted. Also tend to misinterpret others' posts, and I very often miss sarcasm. I promise it's always accidental and not me being a jerk. Usually I don't realize it, even after I do it. So if it looks like I "implied" something in a post... I almost certainly didn't. (The very few times I try to imply anything, I generally fail hard.) Please please don't ever read implications into what I write. If I'm trying to be funny or sarcastic, it'll probably be obvious (and bad) because I suck at humor and subtlety.

If I'm rude it is also a mistake, and if I don't edit my post you can assume I didn't realize I did it. I accept gentle, nonjudgmental, PRIVATE MESSAGE corrections for huge social gaffes, but otherwise just give me the benefit of the doubt, OK?

[Foxcalibur]

It feels weird saying "Hi, I'm Foxcalibur" when everyone can clearly see my name is Foxcalibur. Makes me feel like this is a support group and everyone should be all, "Hi, Foxcalibur..."

Anywho, I'm Foxy. I've been roleplaying since I was maybe 8 and started telling my friends make-believe had rules, and no you can't all be Michelangelo at the same time, and April should have some agency, dammit! I've been a GM/ST way more than a player and mostly like it that way, and am currently running Werewolf: the Forsaken and Changeling: the Lost in a shared near-future setting called The Edge of Everything, which I tried to make really grim only to have the universe out-grim me with Donald Trump: Possible President. Werewolf is about to finish its second season, at which point I'll make my triumphant return to EXALTED, BOYEEEEE! WUT-WUT?!

I prefer talking about fluff to talking about crunch, and I'm heavily, aggressively narrativist. I'm also a bit of an iconoclast about games. NWoD is way better than oWoD (except for Wraith/Orpheus, which are better than Geist.) 4th Edition is objectively the only good D&D.

I worked for CCP back when the WoD MMO was a "thing," but I was never a big insider with the White Wolf crowd. I'm doin' okay as a freelance copywriter.

Ol' Foxy enjoys pro wrestling and is an unabashed Social Justice Warrior, which is a term we should wear with pride because it sounds fucking awesome. If you see the gamertag or online handle Foxcalibur anywhere, it's almost certainly me. You can tell because he'll tend to go on.

I was born in a log cabin I helped my father build--

Too long? Sorry.

[wonderandawe]

Hello!

I'm wonderandawe. I'm best know for my crazy Shogunate Sidereal Quest, silly humor threads, and occasional clickbait threads. My three favorite splats are Sidereals, Dragonblooded, Solars, in that order. Homebrew and other crunchy mechanics aren't my strong suit, but like Winnie-the-Pooh, I'm stuffed with fluff. I got a few setting ideas, I've been slowly (very slowly) fleshing out. You can find them on my blog.

I've played/run a bunch of Classic World of Darkness, new World of Darkness, Pathfinder, FATE, Savage Words and various indie games like Dogs in the Vineyard, Mouse Guard, Diaspora, Fiasco, and Primetime Adventures. I found Exalted when I started grad school. It was around the time Dreams of the First Age came out. I came for the crazy magitech and stayed for the godly politics.

I'm a telecommuting Database Monkey, so this forum has replaced my water cooler talk I'd get at work. Thankfully less football, kids, and church and more anthropological debates.

[Octopoid]

Salutations! I go by the handle Octopoid, because I am an octopus (also a liar). I've been involved with RPGs in general since I was introduced to Advanced Dungeons and Dragons WAY back in 1988-1989. I have played White Wolf, D&D, Shadowrun, Fate, Warhammer Fantasy Role-Play, Warhammer 40K RP, Pathfinder, Star Wars... you name it, odds are I've played at least a session. I've been involved with Exalted since its initial, First Edition release and have played extensively throughout all three editions. I work in higher education administration and live in Seattle. I have a 'blog about Exalted stuff (https://tentacledvitriol.wordpress.com/), upon which anyone is welcome to comment. I have occasionally been a toxic voice on the forums, but I'm struggling hard to be a more positive and reassuring voice. If I ever say something offensive, rude, oblivious, or just plain stupid, please feel free to politely draw it to my attention, and I will blush and hide behind my tentacles. Thank you.

[Saur Ops Specialist]

Hello, my handle of Saur Ops Specialist is a terrible pun. I tend to do things like that.

Where I started playing tabletop games is debatable. The Milton-Bradley/Games Workshop collaboration of HeroQuest, aka Warhammer FRP In a Box, could be said to be my first experience, but in terms of games utilizing primarily just books, it was Shadowrun, then in its second edition. though the first book I bought, Paranormal Animals of North America, was older than that. I have books from all five editions of it, but burned out on it after all of the wait what contained in Running Wild. Still like BattleTech and its attendant RPG component, though. I quit D&D before 3.5 came out; it just isn't something I can wrap my head around anymore, in terms of character types.

I put a cautious foot in WW;s stuff back in 1996 when Kindred: the Embraced was on TV. I promptly switched to Werewolf when I saw the Rokea and Mokole in the player's guide. I got on Exalted in the first edition, and got hooked on Scavenger Sons and the encouragement to make up places and just put them anywhere you felt like it. I have most of both editions, and my favorite Exalted tend to follow from Werewolf, which also gives me some interest in Dragon Kings.

I mostly played first edition, and mostly acted as an ST for 2nd edition. I wouldn't recommend playing 2e. I'm trying to get a grasp on all of the Charms from EX3 to act in either capacity.

My online name for the White Wolf forums used to be Adamant Siaka, with A_O/Alienated One preceding it on the very, very old version of the forums. I am also Dinosaur on the Freedom Stone Forums, where you can find stories that I wrote nearly a decade ago and some concepts of which I am planning on rewriting for EX3. Predictably enough, I am also SaurOps on the GItP forums, and less obviously, Poisson Resistance on rpg.net.

[Kyman201]

Hello potential newbies. I'm Kyman, but I also respond to Ky.

I'm an aspiring writer in Washington, but my day job is selling bees (family business) and it puts me behind a desk for a good portion of the day.

I've done a lot of roleplaying. D&D 3.5, Pathfinder, 4th Edition, 5th Edition, so many FATE hacks, several metric asstons of Freeform Forum Roleplaying...

Ran a couple Scion 1E games. The setting and ideas are fine but if you want to play Scion I recommend waiting for the new Edition to hit, or look up one of the many homebrew erratas since Scion 1E unmodified is... Well... You know how people say that 2E Exalted was borked? That shit ain't got nothing on Scion 1E.

Got into Exalted in Second Edition. My memory's a bit hazy, but I want to say that it was before Infernals hit? It was certainly before the major 2.5 overhaul in the Scroll of Errata, Merchants of Jade, or Shards were released.

Played a couple of 2E games... Then Ex3 hit and I love it to pieces. Mostly I pop into threads and make observations, and I occasionally have moments where I post things that aren't half as clever or insightful as I may think they are. I don't claim to be an expert on anything aside from writing, and have negative levels of understanding on mechanical balance. That's why I preface a lot of my feedback about homebrew (which I have no confidence in doing myself) with what I feel when reading it rather than any actual critique of the mechanics.

Also, as a note: I try to recognize that taste is odd, and different, and I try to disagree politely rather than dislike someone personally. That being said, I can get passionate. If I edge into jerk or jackass territory, give me a gentle note and I'll probably back off. Just "Hey dude, don't be a jerk about it" usually snaps me out of whatever I'm in.

Edit: My posts can be full of tl;dr and I can ramble. If my intro weren't obvious.

[Kell_Tamer]

Hi everyone, I'm Kell Tamer. Been gaming for almost 20 years now in tabletop games. I started with DnD and just kinda devolved from there. I've played a bit of FATE, obviously DnD, 3e, 5e, and Pathfinder. I tried Scion before Exalted. Played some nWoD before I tried oWoD. I have also gotten my hands dirty with Aberrant. I got into Exalted near the end of second edition (a little bit before Shards came out.) I am known among my group as the guy to go to when a rule needs referencing because in the few months from when I started to when that game ended, I devoured everything 2e and 2.5.

My favorite splats are Dragon Blooded, Lunars, and then probably Infernals. Solars are the one I like least, yet I have played most.

I try not to cause any conflicts on the forums as mostly I'm a lurker, but occasionally something piques my interest enough to chime in.

My current schtick in games is small children doing absurdly superhuman things. Usually involving figuring out which mountains make the best ballistics.

[Leetsepeak]

Hi. I've been playing tabletop for somewhere approaching 4 years, but I really enjoy it. Came late to the hobby, and have only really come to Exalted since the advent of 3rd edition. I like Solars since that's all I have experience with, but I am very interested by the concept of Sidereals, the ubiquity of the Dragon-Blooded and the potential for Lunar Exalted, though I am a bit dismayed by the lack of any more info on those things.

I game-master a lot but my girlfriend and my other friends occasionally run games where I play. I love playing social characters and sorcerer types, especially some combination of those two things.

I'm interested in homebrewing since that seems the chief way to get new content in this edition, but I am very uncertain of how to do stuff like designing evocations without stepping on the toes of charms or doing things that are imbalanced.

[AnubisXy]

Hey, AnubisXy here, obviously.

I've been playing White Wolf games since the early 90's (I got sucked in during the goth period and the "mature games for mature minds" label). I had a few friends who playtested the original Exalted, and was buddies with a couple of authors for 1st and 2nd edition, so i've had my head in the door for awhile. I enjoy running games with small goals and then having things slowly grow over time until everything is completely over-the-top by the end of a campaign.

I love Abyssals and Infernals (I guess I never did grow out of my goth phase) and am looking forward to Exigents.

Right now, I'm working as an over the road truck driver, so it makes gaming in person difficult at best.

Whenever I come across a post I disagree with, I try and find at least one element or idea in there that I can agree with. It helps to keep me from being overly aggressive and confrontational.

[Omicron]

Hi! I'm Omicron. I'm French and a 25-years old student and aspiring writer. I got into Exalted at the tail end of 2e, although I was into White Wolf games for a while before that (Vampire: the Requiem is one of my first loves). I've loved Ex3 since the first concepts of it were put forward, and even did some playtesting. I run online because it's hard to find Exalted players where I live.

I write stuff. Lots of stuff.

[Crumplepunch]

I'm Crumplepunch. I live alone in a remote part of the UK with a lot of books and a lot of time. I'm basically a Gothic horror novel villain who has discovered the internet. Sometimes I write things.

[semicasual]

I'm Batman.