Exalted: Essence - BookWyrm

eBook, 338 pages

Published June 14, 2023 by Onyx Path Publishing.

(2 reviews)

Chosen by the gods, their power tempered only by human hearts, the Exalted are all that stand between Creation and the forces that would ruin the world. Set in a rich and intriguing setting that draws from real-world histories and fantasy archetypes, Exalted has thrilled players across three editions.

Exalted: Essence is a streamlined version of Exalted Third Edition, designed to welcome new players and reintroduce old friends to the world of Creation. It contains all the mechanics and advice players and Storytellers need to run complete games of Exalted: Essence, though setting material and character, place, and creature ideas can be supplemented by the core line’s content.

All the material in the book is compatible with Exalted Third Edition, so new and established fans can collect the core line’s books and use them with a beginner-friendly and less mechanically dense system. Inside you will find:

Rules …

Chosen by the gods, their power tempered only by human hearts, the Exalted are all that stand between Creation and the forces that would ruin the world. Set in a rich and intriguing setting that draws from real-world histories and fantasy archetypes, Exalted has thrilled players across three editions.

Exalted: Essence is a streamlined version of Exalted Third Edition, designed to welcome new players and reintroduce old friends to the world of Creation. It contains all the mechanics and advice players and Storytellers need to run complete games of Exalted: Essence, though setting material and character, place, and creature ideas can be supplemented by the core line’s content.

All the material in the book is compatible with Exalted Third Edition, so new and established fans can collect the core line’s books and use them with a beginner-friendly and less mechanically dense system. Inside you will find:

Rules for creating all 10 Exalt types: Solars, Dragon-Blooded, Lunars, Exigents, Sidereals, Abyssals, Infernals, Getimians, Liminals, and Alchemicals.
A brief overview of Creation, so players and Storytellers can dive right in.
Rules for Universal and Exalt-specific Charms, Artifacts, Martial Arts, Sorcery and Necromancy, and more!
Advice for running and playing Exalted with mixed parties or same-Exalt parties, in multiple interesting styles of play

Exalted: Essence is not a revision to the Exalted Third Edition system, nor is it an outright replacement. Instead, Exalted: Essence provides an alternate framework to interact with the characters, setting, and story of Exalted. Where the Exalted Third Edition game features a robust system of mechanics and rewards system mastery, Exalted: Essence streamlines the system, shifting focus to the characters and story. Exalted: Essence paints in bold, bright colors, showcasing epic tales of action, intrigue, and heroism, whereas Exalted Third Edition delves deep into the details, allowing you to examine individual brush strokes and each thread of the tapestry.

Both games are tales of the Exalted, set in the same world of Creation. Both share the same characters, have the same histories and geographies, and chronicle the same epic legends. Exalted: Essence and Exalted Third Edition simply provide different interfaces to connect with the world of Exalted. The systems are not designed to mix-and-match — they're different engines powering the same car — but all of the lore for the setting, all of the information about Creation presented in either game is consistent and equally valid.

1 edition

DigitalRaven reviewed Exalted: Essence by James Huggins

A broken promise

2 stars

This excited me to begin with, but Essence takes entirely the wrong method to streamline Exalted.

Because the book covers playing every single kind of Exalted, it doesn't give anywhere near enough information on the world to actually run a game without further information — there's not enough setting information to play several types of Exalted (such as the Liminals and Getimian) because everything's given in broad strokes that work for many but don't have the room for exceptions.

Rules-wise, while traits are a little simplified — fewer Attributes and Abilities, fewer and more expansive Charms — the systems themselves are mostly the same baroque nonsense that breaks everything down into checklists and flow-charts, meaning that the "simplified" version is anything but. Making a combat system that didn't require a flow-chart, for example, would have actually simplified things. So would having even fewer Charms but a real system for making …

This excited me to begin with, but Essence takes entirely the wrong method to streamline Exalted.

Because the book covers playing every single kind of Exalted, it doesn't give anywhere near enough information on the world to actually run a game without further information — there's not enough setting information to play several types of Exalted (such as the Liminals and Getimian) because everything's given in broad strokes that work for many but don't have the room for exceptions.

Rules-wise, while traits are a little simplified — fewer Attributes and Abilities, fewer and more expansive Charms — the systems themselves are mostly the same baroque nonsense that breaks everything down into checklists and flow-charts, meaning that the "simplified" version is anything but. Making a combat system that didn't require a flow-chart, for example, would have actually simplified things. So would having even fewer Charms but a real system for making them, rather than several pages of "eyeball it". Instead, Essence tries so very hard to remain compatible with Exalted 3rd edition and so can't simplify things anywhere as much as the book promises.

Michael P

rated it

Sept. 28, 2023