Post originally by Christopher Page at 2003-04-08 16:16:06
Converted from Phorums BB System

I'd characterize the real problem as this: Exalted attempts to portray its protagonists as , in some sense or another, rebels against the established order. But it fails to convey, in the core book at least, what the established order they're rebels against/leeches off/hunted victims of/whatever is actually like. There's some discussion of the empire, of course, but a clear picture never really emerges. This works fine in Vampire/Werewolf/et al because we're all viscerally familiar with the "host society" of the creatures they describe. But I think it broke down when WW used the same tack for a game where the "host society" was extremely alien.

The Dragon-Blooded hardback does a bang-up job of clarifying these things, incidentally; so much so that by the time I finished reading it I was much more enthused about the setting than I'd ever been able to muster on the basis of the main book. I'm still not terribly interested in the Solar Exalted, but I'd play in a Dragon-Blooded game in a heartbeat, and I can think of at least a half-dozen campaigns I'd be interested in running.

-cwp