In which Dixie sits down for a chat with Eric Minton, Monica Speca, and Neall Raemonn Price to chat about Exalted and Exalted Essence.
- Developer Introductions
- How Eric transitioned from fan to developer
- What sort of nerds are we?
- We throw it to Monica for the fan to developer question!
- A bit on Essence development
- Some wider thoughts on Exalted development
- Chat about the density of the setting
- Our favorite design pieces of Exalted
- A little on the feel of Exalted
- More on Exalted content and what we like about it
- Some thoughts on balance in Essence
- Different ways of presenting Exalted setting
- Final thoughts!
- A long outro, full of tangents!
Links:
Legendlore Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/339646881/legendlore-rpg-setting-for-5th-edition-fantasy-roleplaying-0
Exalted Third Edition: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/162759/Exalted-3rd-Edition
Dragon-Blooded: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/261732/DragonBlooded-What-Fire-Has-Wrought
The Realm: https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/276067/The-Realm
Onyx Path YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheOnyxPath
Onyx Path Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/theonyxpath
Onyx Path Discord: https://discord.gg/5uckcBk
Oh nice, let me take a listen then
While I appreciate the effort to ground exalted in its older humanized roots, I think the detractors of second edition are overly severe. High concept play like first age conflict, celestial wars and having a functional metaplot are not inherent flaws in a game, and while reducing their prominence might make the game more accommodating for newcomers, it’s actively frustrating to see aspects of the setting pruned or winnowed down to create a broader appeal. The promotion of discovery and mystery is a welcome reintroduced first edition trait, but leaving things like the motivations of lore characters and the course of story progression almost entirely subject to the fiat of the readers begs the question of what you imagine all your players value. If engaging in the design of a game demands such a controlled structure, where you feel the necessity to spell out what qualities a plot should have or how characters need to behave to adhere to an overarching design philosophy, is so fraught with difficulties you must alter most of it to work, perhaps you aren’t making a new version of an older title so much as something wholly different.
I like the balance they want to bring, but I kind of worry about it, cause the whole scenario tells that solar exalted is the strongest, and if the system doesn’t make it clear, so the system is going against the scenario and it is one of thing that is really frustrating in a game. Like when you read the scenario has a lot of ideas for your character but you can’t do it cause the system and the history are not connected. I hope it is just an impression. Sorry for my bad English.