Each to His Own

    Get it. The Solars don't do what the Sidereals tell them. They did what the Unconquered Sun told them. The purpose of the Sidereals was to advise the Solars by giving them insights they didn't have access to. A recurring problem with Exalted is the repeated portrayal of classes as dupes. Who wants to play a fucking dupe? Even one who knows they are? It would be a far better game if they got over this idea and portrayed people as having more autonomy. If everything is just a big conspiracy by the Sidereals, Deathlords etc. it's just shit cause no one has any free will.

   The Solars are beholden to no one but their Celestial master. Certainly not lesser Exalted like the Sidereals. The whole point of the Gold Faction is to restore Solar rule. Solars outnumber the Gold Faction drastically and once they attain comparable levels of Essence to the Faction's elders will be nigh unstoppable. Indeed the Gold Faction wants them to be. Who else will combat the Deathlords and other dire threats to the world? The Gold Faction are under no illusions. The Solars are chosen for their desire to use power for their own ends and can oppose anyone who tries to stop them as the Primordials found out to their cost. The Solars were made to rule Creation and don't take orders from anyone.

Manual of Exalted Power: The Lunars

    I wasn't very keen on the Lunars based on their description in the Exalted rulebook. Not that I didn't like the idea but I way they wrote about the Lunars didn't enthuse me. This didn't do much good even compared to that. It's not the description of the Lunars' powers that bothers me it's the various factors included in their background. The writers seem to have come into this with a colossal agenda, possibly based on the Garou from the World of Darkness, that the purpose of the Lunars is to protect Creation. This wouldn't be such a bad thing except like in the Abyssals they insist that this has to be the source of the character's motivation. The other major disappointment is the Silver Pact and their project, the Thousand Streams River. Even from an out of game perspective it has the abominable aim of creating a world that can exist without the Exalted, even the Lunars. They should have junked this whole book and started again. The Thousand Streams River takes the form of 'experiments' that Lunars perform on societies, primarily barbarian ones, there's a distinct antipathy towards civilisation in the character of the Lunars as if that would endear them to readers. These take the form of all sorts of half arsed dabbling that characterises the Lunars as sociologists. How this monumentally crap idea got into print is a mystery.
   Unlike the Solars who are given the power and the inclination to do whatever they want, a trait that should have been portrayed even more in the Lunars, the players' choices are considerably restricted. For one thing the Lunars are still an organisation unlike the Solars or Abyssals and the way the younger members are treated is rather patronising like they were at a kindergarte while the senior members talk about the real business. Their powers themselves aren't bad (although don't have the potential or the juice of the Abyssals') but if the Dragon-Blooded were more animalistic then their powers would have to be different. This would be a good thing because then they could be more orientated towards the Wyld which would be far more suitable. As such there are some powers that deal with the Wyld but not many and not in the way they could have dealt with it. As always making this book in colour would have been advantageous considering it's importance. The way they make the flow diagrams for Knacks is good, using dark colours to distinguish them, but it's something they should also have done for Charms. Writing Attribute Charms the same way as ability Charms makes abilities seem rather cheap by comparison.
   Although this book is still useful, including at the end additional Wyld mutations including derrangements and Wyld diseases, they could still have done a much better job and the way they portray Lunar society isn't going to do storytellers' of characters' visions any good. When I bought the Abyssals I was disappointed that I couldn't realise the characters I had in mind the way I wanted to. I don't even have much desire to make characters based on this book. Altogether this is a creative failure and unfortunately for such an important group there's nothing else you can use in it's place. The Lunars would be far better portrayed as individuals, which in a way they are but in an annoying turnaround their society is strangely restrictive. If you have better visions of what the Lunars should be don't bother with this and use your own ideas.
    As a few final points, to use the example of the Haslanti League in particular, human organisations in Exalted that seem to be doing things for themselves are all too often the result of some other party' scheming rather than the result of originality such as the Angry Ghosts of Scroll of the Monk. The way the Haslanti League believe they're making genuine technological advances and rediscoveries but are actually being led to them by Lunars is another example of such supernatural manipulation. This is especially out of place since the Lunars are trying to make self sufficient societies (I believe that a core of Lunar characters is that they should be self sufficient or at least individual) but guiding them all the while. It's very annoying. You'd wish that people could make their own discoveries and that it wouldn't be down to Exalted and other supernaturals to do everything, but at the same time they wouldn't do anthing as stupid as creating a world that didn't need them since they are in fact here and they're doing this all themselves. The very fact that people haven't created a world that doesn't need the Exalted proves they are required as if that needed saying. Secondly they have some sort of antipathy towards civilisation (despite the fact it makes humanity strong- look at Lookshy, they're not a bunch of club wielding neanderthals) and seem happy to debase humanity by breeding it with beast stock to create beastmen rather than humans. A final point is their relationship to the Solar Exalted. The Chosen of Luna were marked by a 'strong preference for individualists, iconoclasts and outsiders.' Especially considering the ways of their goddess why would they be so bonded to the Solars? It seems to go against everything the Lunars (should) stand for. Why would Luna want her champions to be seconds and partners dominated by other Exalted. It's far more fitting and desirable that they should have the opposite role. On a related point their demanded affinity for Creation is somewhat misplaced as well. I know Luna was Gaia's consort (although it was Gaia's loyalty that brought her into the rebellion, there's no reason the two of the shared exactly the same ideals.) In the section about the Charms the Lunars seem more like Chosen of Gaia than Chosen of mercurial Luna. The Chosen of Gaia are by extension the Dragon-Blooded who I think would be better served by animalistic Charms rather than pure elemental ones in the way that they are described.

Graceful Wicked Masques

    Fantasy in fantasy

   This is the first Exalted book in a long time I've read without skipping any of it. This is Exalted on a new better level. I wish they made all the books like this. There's no agenda the characters have to adhere to like in the Abyssals or the Lunars which really brings them down. They just tell the story of the Fair Folk as they are. The hardback series about supernatural denizens is more serious than some other Exalted publications but this is easily the best I've read. I just wish they did them all like this. The description of the Fair Folk and their world is brilliant. This book has descriptions of Shinmas which are mentioned elsewhere but not described, and what role they played in Creation and how they are relevant to the Fair Folk. It also includes things like aspects of thee Shinmas and secret names, the sort of occult fantasy lore than many people mention in their work but never describe.
   After a general section about the raksha there's a chapter on Unshaped Fair Folk. These two chapters are exhaustive with Charms specifically for the Unshaped Fair Folk. Very interestingly from my perspective (because of my work on R'yuk) and probably to other with interest in Spirits as well they discuss in great detail the relationship between Spirits and their Virtues, in particular the unique way they Fair Folk relate to them. There is more magic in this book than you can shake a very big stick at. In addition to a tremendously lengthy chapter on Charms including four Fair Folk 'martial arts' styles, there are descriptions of other Grace (Virtue) magic including shaping and shaping combat (a unique form of Fair Folk battle,) Adjurations (oaths), behemoths, Fair Folk sorcery called Oneiromancy (not a direct companion to other sorcery), Treasures and how they make freeholds. There's also descriptions of Glamour and Gossamer and of course the various ways the Fair Folk feed from mortals.
   If only they did the rest of the books on spirits as well as this one. It's far more serious and interesting than The Roll of Glorious Divinity. The Charms all have proper trait minimums including Graces and are presented in flow diagrams like they are for Exalted. The comics are also better than in most other books, reflecting it's more serious nature and more complete so you don't feel like you've read half the story. This book is if anything better than the main rulebook. If only they did it in colour. I'd recommend anyone who's interested in Exalted buying this to show what the designers can do when they put their minds to it.

Roll of Glorious Divinity I

    You are the weakest link.

   Among the outstanding Books of Sorcery series that brought us the White Treatise, First Age Glories of Wonders of the Lost Age and the advanced manse and artefact rules (very useful) of Oadenol's Codex this book stands out. Unlike in it's successor II the Charms for the gods and elementals are very bland compared to the Charms for ghosts in volume II which have Virtue minimums and are grouped into cascades. Unfortunately rather than having a proper set of individual powers demons use the same Charms as gods do. It makes for very uninteresting reading. As with much in Exalted it creates more potential in the mind of the player than it actually expresses itself. The idea of Spirit Charms being expressions of the spirit's nature and personality is excellent but they don't realise this idea in an interesting way. The definition of the ghosts' Charms in volume II is far better, as with Yu-Shan the atmosphere of this book is very bland. I think it would be better if they drew directly on mythological ideas or created characters and traits similar to them, the gods in Exalted both in this book and in Yu-Shan lack an elemental power that's present in mythology and other, more basic forms of fantasy. I was looking at a book of fantasy art one day and although it was primitive had a certain fundamental power that Exalted lacks and I think would be better if it had. Players not particularly committed are better off looking at Exalted Charms and creating their own gods' powers from original ideas or using the Glorious Divinity vol.II for inspiration.

Manual of Exalted Power: The Abyssals

    Looking at some of the reviews on Amazon.com I need to make the following points. Firstly I didn't find the colour of the book a problem when making out the words. Secondly this is not poorly organised. I don't know why one of the buyers said this, they exaggerated the number of Mirror Charms.
   This was one of the few books I originally intended to buy to let me develop some characters I'd thought of after buying the main rule book. The short section in the core rulebook was promising. Unfortunately with a lot of Exalted publications they show more potential and realisation. From what I've read so far the Manual of Exalted Power series is the ultimate example of this.
   For one thing I was expecting the characters to be death knights. In this book they are unquestionably Abyssal Exalted. In the rulebook it said some Abyssals are taken to the Mouth of Oblivion, but in The Abyssals it's a part of each Exalted's education and a part of becoming a death knight. I was expecting a more deathly, morbid edge to their powers and an association to Oblivion and even a direct association to the Deathlords to be more optional. The character's relationship with the Deathlords is one of the most troubling things about their conceptualisation of Abyssals. I can't even remember if I thought one of the Deathlords was responsible for Exalting the Ghostwalker when I first thought of her (probably) but they spell everything out in chapter and verse that gives you little room for your own ideas. Much worse if the grip the Deathlords and the Neverborn have over the characters. Each Abyssal Exaltation, when not inhabiting a body is contained in a object called a Monstrance of Celestial Portion (once amusing misunderstood by a god as a Monstrous Centennial Partition) and whoever has control over this artefact has control over the Abyssal whose Exaltation it belongs to, giving the Deathlords control over the character allowing them to punish them at will. On a more understandable note the characters build up Resonance (a trait they possess since they are relieved of the Great Curse) which build up by performing benevolent actions. This was a good idea when I read about it in a book review but I think it was mishandled, suggesting they would gain resonance for even the smallest good act. In the review that was part of it but it was more along the lines of doing things that were unfitting for the living dead.
   The thing I disliked most about it was their dictatorial approach to character creation. Games exist to serve the players not force them to do things. The character's motivation has to be to do with destroying something. Also the player has to chose between being a 'slave or fugitive' the character is either a slave to their Deathlord and the Neverborn or is running away from them. Frankly it's frustrating and bad story writing and just turns me off the book and their perception of the Abyssals completely. Another annoying fact that also comes up in the Underworld is a failure to explain where the lines of power are between being in the service of the Neverborn and being in the service of Oblivion. The book has a very intolerant, and sometimes intolerable, overbearing and fatalistic tone. It also is printed in black and white. The main rulebook was in technicolour to great effect and that wasn't too expensive. Considering the importance of the supplement series about the Exalted at least these should be as well. This book in particular is screaming to be printed in colour with dripping blood emblems in the background. Also the writers didn't channel one obvious influence for the Neverborn and that is the work of H. P. Lovecraft. There are major parallels between Call of Cthuhu especially and the Neverborn but they totally fail to use them. Also some ideas that have inspired me greatly are the Path of Shadowcrafting, a Thaumaturgical Path from Clanbook Tremere (p. 53-56.) It is brilliantly described and would inspire anyone with a penchant for Oblivion. The original film version of Ring is also another big one. With it's sinister Lovecraftian angle where the sea almost takes on the status of a character, it's otherworldliness of Shizuko and the sheer, deep, ubiquitous blackness (watch it at night on a cathode ray TV to see what I really mean) and this should get you thinking.
   Another disappointment was the technology associated with the Abyssals. I was looking forward a great deal to a description of how they made soulsteel instead all there is is one rather limp Craft Charm. There's a chapter on 'Necrotech' unfortunately all is amounts to is stitching pieces of bodies back together, adding some metal components if you want and casting a Necromancy spell to animate your creation. It does have a full set of rules, but completely lacks vision. There was no juicy mixing of life and death in obscene and blasphemous ways. Herbert West- Reanimator is a far more imaginative alternative for what they could have used in Necrotech. Chapter five if especially good with a gory description of a 'necrotech' laboratory. Another obvious source of inspiration was Dr. Logan's lab in Day of the Dead. For my creation of Black Magitech I was initially inspired by the mentioning of 'soul capacitors' in The Atrocity Archives by Charles Stross.
   This book does do some things right. The Charm section in general is good (that God they got that bit right) taking the chance to use juicy phrases like 'Abyssal surgeons can quickly determine whether a particular patient will recover from her ailment or belongs in the flesh vats with the rest of the raw materials.' The Martial Arts section at the end of the chapter was the most interesting for me covering Dark Messiah Style and the extraordinary Hungry Ghost Style. However I don't think they really hit Dark Messiah Style on the head, making it about inflicting malice and cruelty (good) but I didn't like the wording and it made it sound more like a martial art for bullies rather than something that could be developed into something altogether more sinister. In my mind Abyssal Charm should be more associated with death, but Dark Messiah Style is truly what the Abyssals are all about, not just killing but destroying. If you want to get the idea just listen to Come to Daddy.
   Altogether this book didn't live up to my expectations. They try to dictate what the Abyssals are to the players saying 'you have to do this' and don't leave enough to choice. It feels a bit too much in some ways like Vampire which Exalted is really the polar opposite of.
   As a final note it does contain an number of new Solar Charms which players might want to check out.

Scroll of Kings

    World at War

   This book provides an unusual combination of an in depth and comprehensive guide to all major civilisations in Creation. Each chapter is a description of one of the directions of Creation finishing with the Realm with details on all aspects of how the cultures in that direction fight, what problems they face and examples of their military units. They also include to predominant directional military gods and detailed rules for the complications of fighting in each direction. Unfortunately they don't really go to town on naval warfare, I was expecting something different since it's such an unusual arena of conflict and rules for fighting with vehicles are included in Wonders of the Lost Age rather than in this book. This is an important point since there's a long list of conventional vehicles in the back of Scroll of Kings as well as an armoury of new equipment including artillery.
   Covering the entirety of Creation (including the supernatural creatures that live within it such as the Lintha and Black Fleet Spectre Commandos ("Deeeaaathhhhh") who are catapulted into battle) keep this book interesting and you can base the army of any ally of foe you're likely to meet on what is in here. Smaller, more esoteric cultures are covered in the Compass of Terrestrial Directions series.

Scroll of the Monk

    Guide to Exalted Martial Arts

   This is one of my favourite books from the Exalted series. It starts off with a description of the 'Martial Arts World,' the subculture of martial arts practitioners and how it differs from other fighting arts. There's also a treatise on the three different levels of martial arts styles, how the Exalted and other supernaturals relate to them, and how mortals can learn supernatural martial arts through Essence enlightenment from esoteric practices, dangerous artefacts, or most intriguing for my character the supernatural drug Celestial Cocaine.
   The main part of the book is a description of a plethora of styles, one chapter on Terrestrial martial arts, one of Celestial and one on Sidereal. The Terrestrial styles although unusual have an air of insubstantiability about them. I personally think they should be the opposite, very direct and solid. The Celestial Martial arts are great, especially Silver Voiced Nightingale Style, created by a Lunar with a very unmartial Spirit Shape who learned to use her voice as a weapon; the deadly Mantis Style, esoteric Righteous Devil Style that solely uses flame weapons and the Abyssal Laughing Wounds Style (which partly inspired my Denied And Forsaken Widow Style.)
   The Sidereal Styles go beyond conventional notions of Martial Arts. The first, Border of Kaleidoscopic Logic Style that starts the chapter isn't representative of all Sidereal Styles, the write ups are very long and it starts at Essence 6 Charms going all the way up to Martial Arts and Essence 8. The Charms of this style are quite disturbing to read, it attacks people's perception of identity rather than attacking them physically. The other styles are somewhat more ordinary but are still exotic. This chapter is doubly important since not only are Sidereals unable (according to Dreams of the First Age) to develop Sidereal Charms with an Essence above five, it provides a valuable guide to people who want to develop high Essence Charms.
   At the end is an appendix of new martial arts weapons and artefacts versions, including ones for weapons in the main rule book. I'd definitely recommend this as a book for storytellers as it can open you eyes to an important an exciting aspect of Exalted that you may not have considered before. It also gives storytellers and players plenty of reference for developing their own martial arts styles.

You're off the Fucking Chain

    Wonders of the Lost Age

   This book is for people who want Exalted gone mad. It's a category by category description of all the greatest things from the First Age. Some of the other Exalted supplements (ironically the ones about the actual Exalted) I found disappointing but not this. In it are finally a comprehensive description of the cryptically mentioned Warstriders and a short but brilliant chapter (starting with my favourite Exalted comic strip ever) about First Age Essence weapon such as the fabulously named Implosion Bows. Add a bucket full of megalomania for an 'All Form The Head' type game and you have the ammunition to go completely bezerk. Although that's just my ego running away with me, it does have a huge amount of the quirky exotica that makes Exalted so interesting. Including descriptions of the Eight Gifts of Celestial Grace including a full write up of the Five Metal Shrike (on the cover of the Compass of Terrestrial Directions: The South.) A great book that an Exalted fan could read purely for entertainment.

Exalted Second Edition

    A major difference between Exalted and other fantasy works is it's created completely apart from any Tolkienian influence. Many other fantasy writers try to create a setting using mainly their own imagination and they all seem the same. Exalted is a rare creation of a fantasy universe that has genuine scope as well as bringing a new set of influences that make it unique. It's a rare example of truly innovative fantasy.

Dreams of the First Age

    I bought this book to find out about High Essence Charms for Celestial Exalted largely so I had some idea of scale for spells since I decided that the Essence and Occult requirements for sorcery should be much higher. Unfortunately they rarely go into Essence 7 territory, a few Lunar ones go up to 8 and they don't go any higher. There aren't any Charms for Essence 9 and 10. Warning, there aren't any Sidereal Charms in this book. And since it sticks strictly to the First Age there are no Abyssal Charms either. The lists they do have are rather short, not like the long lists they have in other source books. I would have probably written a chapter about each Exalted. This is annoying because at Celestial Circle Sorcery having Essence 7 and Solar Circle Sorcery having Essence 9 it gives very little detail for the scope of their spells which I was looking forward to. The cloth map is nice but I thought Creation would be vast compared to what it is now. What's left is just an island in the sea of the Wyld under the control of the Terrestrial who were never meant to be in control, rather than the vast empire ruled over by the Solars. As is unfortunately the case with Exalted they say how it should be a game of epic scale with legendary heroes but they don't take the breaks off and go completely bonkers which you need to do to write about such all powerful personages. The book does have a list of luminaries like Salina herself and the soon to be infamous Anjei Marama. It only gives an idea of like at the peak of the First Age however rather than describing it from start to finish. It's a nice idea in itself with more of a feeling for the moment, it even comes with it's own guidebook for Meru, but doesn't describe the epic was against the Primordials or how the Realm became so degenerate that the Sidereals thought the Solars had to be stopped and their final downfall.
   Basically the designers need to think bigger and act completely without restraint to describe the Celestial Exalted at the height of their powers which I imagine to be the end of the First Age when they're at their most powerful but also their worst. Scroll of the Monk regularly goes up to Essence 7 and in one style has several Essence 8 Charms, but the designers' decision to not do any high Essence Sidereal Charms because it would cause damage to the Tapestry of Creation limiting them to sorcery and martial arts is very bad. Lunars, Solars and Abyssals each have their supernatural speciality and have ordinary Charms so why shouldn't the Sidereals. Once again I'm very disappointed by the fact that I haven't seen an Essence 9 or 10 Charm that would help me with perspective for Celestial/Solar Circle Sorcery and my project, Dark Messiah Style. I guess I'm going to have to get creative...