Context

Exalted was reedited in 2006 after a successful first edition launched in the early 2000’s. This was, at that time (and most likely still today?) one of White Wolf’s most successful game lines and as for many second editions it deserved to be consolidated and synthesized. The core book had to undergo the perilous exercise of bringing together a rich and detailed background while at the same time making a complex game playable in about 400 pages. Did it succeed?

Initially turned down by the anime/manga style of the first edition’s covers, I got totally hooked, over the years, by the intuition that Exalted was an over-the-top and epic heroic fantasy done just right. Having missed the boat with 1st edition I had to put my hands on the second edition to check out what it had become.

Pitch

Exalted basically delivers exactly what it has promised. It has advertised itself as an inhibited heroic fantasy game located in an antic setting and drawing as much from the Asian fantasy tradition (think Ninja Scroll, Wu Xia Pian movies, Ancient China and Journey to the West…) than from the European one (Roman empire and Homer, to put it simply). The game lets you play Exalted, which are essentially semi-gods of almost endless powers meant to rule the world.
Several kinds of Exalted (7 in the second edition, if I’m not mistaken) travel the World and fight to impose their own visions and objectives. They may or may not unite their efforts, depending on their circumstances, but what you should remember is that the Dragon-Blooded (basically ruling the ‘Realm’) are by far the most numerous and strive to destroy all other types.

Background

The setting is called ‘Creation’, an incredibly huge continent that encompasses all climates and government styles. Creation is largely dominated by ‘The Realm’, a kingdom ruled by a (now missing) empress and noble houses which command superiority in economic, military, technological and bureaucratic fields (reminding the Ancient Chinese and Roman empires) over its neighbouring lands and dominates about half of Creation.
Creation is surrounded by ‘the Wyld’, which is a kind of maëlstrom of chaotic energy operating in balance with Creation and attempting to destroy it (and everything that lives on it) if it could. The Wyld is hosting the ‘Fair Folk’ (kind of faeries, supposedly ancestors to the WoD ‘Changeling’) which have frequent and complex interactions with the people from Creation.
I will say little about some of the other places of the setting such as the ‘Underworld’ (hosting the terrific Abyssal Exalted), Yu-Shan, or Malfeas.
The game takes place in the ‘Second Age’, a disenchanted period of time whereby the Empress of the Realm is missing and the Solar Exalted (supposedly what the PCs will be playing), which have been slayed by the Dragon-Blooded and gone missing for 600 years, are randomly reappearing en masse all over Creation.

System

Exalted is essentially run upon a beefed-up version of the Storyteller System. The game is basically complexified by the charms that the Exalted can rely on and that can be combo-ed, and the game “benefits” from a relatively crunchy system.
The combat system allows manoeuvers and is relatively technical to handle (about ten steps in a single round) while the power of the Exalted lead players to throw loads of dice.
As the game designers wanted to dissociate the epicness of Exalted from a game that would mostly rely on combat, the combat system has been seconded by a mass combat system and a social combat system. The social combat system is a relatively easy to manage system to manage social situations (persuasion/negotiation…) while the mass combat does what it promises.
It is rare to find a mass combat system integrated in a core book but here it totally suits the pitch of the game as the PCs, no matter what type of Exalted they will play, are expected to lead armies or groups or NPCs to battle. On paper it is really tactical and allows a lot of freedom, although it seems pretty complex.
Overall this is a Storyteller System on steroids, the system is old school but seems to work relatively well. One could have hoped for some options to cut through the chase and be able to run some situations faster but the game seems to be targeting your usual heroic fantasy TTRPG fan that basically needs a crunchy system to feel like the game is worth his money.

Writing & structure

Exalted 2nd edition is very dense. Small size fonts, relatively scarce illustrations, few tables, no chapter summaries, and actually very few examples. I think the idea was to store as much meat as possible to make the game playable in less than 400 pages.
I must admit that the core book is very complete and that there’s enough to launch an epic campaign without the immediate need for supplements. The shortcoming is that it feels very packed. It is not exactly pleasing to apprehend such a complex gaming system without any example. Yes, without ANY example. More accurately there must be 2 or 3 in the whole book, on trivial elements. No example of a full combat scene, charms utilization and so forth. This is really a brick of rules and text to read, understand and memorize. I pity the newcomers (to Exalted or to RPG in general) who will lay their hands on this.
However I must admit the writing itself is of a pretty high standard. The genesis and setting descriptions are comprehensive and lively. The system rules are as clear as they could be. The whole thing is easy to get into, sprinkled with a manga-style comics story that runs from the introduction to the last pages of the book.
With that willingness to pack all info into a book, the consequence is that there is a lack of a detailed small area that would have allowed a GM to start from somewhere, and of course no scenario...
The designers have had to make some choices. It will serve some of the audience but not all of it. The book efficiently delivers a comprehensive description of a new edition that revises a former system while giving all elements to kickstart a campaign right away. It is not beginner-friendly, though.

Artwork & layout

Overall this is a really beautiful book. Despite the super tiny font (Capharnaüm, you have found your master) it is pleasing to read thanks to the clear and contrasting layout. The illustrations are relatively sparse but most of them are really nice. Oh, and I love the cover, it’s powerful and to the point. Paper of very high quality. Nothing to complain about for that price.

Conclusion

Overall feeling
Exalted was conceived as a way for White Wolf to compete with D&D. It has managed to avoid or even thwart the numerous weaknesses of D&D (in terms of cohesiveness, PCs ethics and purpose, etc.) but it could not get away from imposing a crunchy system that will flatter players looking to build up a powerful character and turn it into a kind of optimized war machine. That is fine if that is the intended audience, but I always expect from White Wolf to take the RPG audience to a more mature level, which it does not fully achieve here. That being said, the game is full of high stakes, it has an ethics (values) system which is miles above D&D’s in terms of gaming interest, and loads of setting richness which I don’t have time to expand on here.

Strong points
Epic style handled the right way
Cohesive and huge heroic fantasy setting that allows many gaming styles
Elegant mixture of Western and Asian fantasy that simply works

Weak points
My God, this is complicated
No examples, seriously?
OK, I got the system, but where do I start? ( )

Same setting as the first edition. Better rules. ( )