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Not unless you already wanted to. There’s still such a thing as an unacceptable order. Exalted in its current state doesn’t have outright mind-control powers. Even extraordinary persuasiveness relies on existing Intimacies and can’t instantly bypass people’s core values. There’s not going to be...

Yeah, pretty much everything about Exalted characters, from the fiction in which they’re semi-immortal divine heroes, to the character creation (streamlined in Essence but still rather involved), signals that this is a game in which individual characters are resilient and you’re probably going...

I should probably give Blades in the Dark another chance. I tried it a couple of years ago, but I found running it to be nerve-wracking. Replacing prep almost entirely with improv was a big step, and I got worn out constantly grasping for complications when people rolled partial successes. I...

I’m interested in Between. But first I had to go for Brindlewood Bay, since I grew up watching Murder, She Wrote and love the idea of a game about old widows solving murder mysteries with some Lovecraftian goings-on in the background. The options on the character sheet are genius for...

I think in terms of scenes and skip stuff that’s not pertinent or interesting (seems obvious, but I’ve seen GMs fail hard at this). Scenes end when, or preferably before, people start to get bored. My signal is something like, “Is there anything else you want to do here?” I’ll also tell them if...

Yeah, it wouldn’t even be hard for them to just take a look at the current state of the OSR and publish stuff under the OGL that basically is the D&D they’d want to produce, and they might even get paid a small sum while building their brand. But that would require they 1) understand the current...

Again, I think they’re just trying to emphasize that an Exalt’s death should be a climactic event. They’re already hard for an ordinary person to kill, so this isn’t even a big deal because players will tend to know when something is dangerous to them, but it’s not a game in which a rock thrown...

Me too. I ran the Sunless Citadel, which is a perfectly fine adventure, and then never touched it again. Not sure why I bothered getting the 3.5 core books, honestly, since they never saw use of any kind. I was so excited for 3e before it came out, but no matter how much I wanted us to like it...

Indeed, you should at least get a couple of seasons into your show before you pull a Duck Dynasty. Agreed. It’s an uncalled-for show of ignorance that’s not going to play well with most people outside of a very restricted and aging demographic. I’m not sure who they think their target audience...

Started with AD&D 2e, original cover. Sold it a long time ago. Got both 3.0 and 3.5, then sold them when I finally admitted to myself how much I hated that edition. Bought into 4e at the very end of its life, via the Essentials books. Still have them. Got the 5e PH and then gave it away...

With the exception of Philoctetes and his wound, none of that is what the average person understands “gritty” to mean, and festering wounds are not something that happens to the Exalted. Also, Philoctetes is hardly a major character. Stuff like that happens to minor characters in Exalted too...

You’re using a very different definition of “gritty” than what people usually mean by it. Yes, these mythic stories are often tragic, but the fact remains that the protagonists don’t suffer the ordinary indignities and vulnerabilities of everyday humans. Their capabilities are on another level...

Pretty much how it’s always been, except that the Great Curse is a negotiation now instead of a thing people start ignoring altogether because it only pops up at the least appropriate times and in ways that don’t make contextual sense because you picked X at character creation. The splats have...

Forbidden Planets

This is definitely lighter than 2e, which was a nightmare of a system. Though system weight is somewhat subjective, based on what a person finds tedious, I’d say 2e > 3e > 1e > Essence, though you might also say Essence is like 1e with the crunch in the right places.

Maybe if they rebranded mainstream Ex3 as Exalted: Hardmode, it would appeal to a certain demographic who don’t want to be seen as filthy casuals. :devil: But no, I wouldn’t recommend a new player pick it over Essence. Essence is already crunchy enough to appeal to most people, and while I...

Well, everything up to now has looked like amateur hour, so…

Well, Shadow of the Demon Lord also has Will, which combines the traditional functions of both Wisdom and Charisma (but not the more recent use of Wisdom to modify perception, which this system gives to Intellect). So you have Strength, Agility, Intellect and Will, and all the necessary...

Yeah, remember when everyone online spelled it T$R?

One of the smartest things in Shadow of the Demon Lord is how Strength covers what would be both Strength and Constitution in D&D. A passive endurance stat just isn’t very interesting, and it’s hard to imagine someone being really tough but not strong or vice versa. Constitution really is...